Hands up those who got to the garden tours on June 26. If you didn’t, I bet your friends who made it are still raving about it as I am. Brilliant job by the Creston Valley Garden Club and the gardeners, and I am not just saying that because a good portion of both groups are frequent visitors to the library both as patrons and volunteers. Each of the gardens was a delightful surprise, the day was so well organised I could take some lessons and the bus arrangement with the lunch available was a perfect addition. There was also an unexpected — and, judging from the fact I was squeezed right out of the room, welcome — spread of food and cold beverages at probably the most surprising garden. I don’t think the day could have been better.

The garden club and their association with the library has resulted in a rich and well used gardening collection we are proud of. The collection of books held by the club was incorporated into ours several years ago and since then we have added some excellent book requests by the gardeners. The DVD gardening selection grew by leaps and bounds this year and I don’t think I am alone in being drawn to the DVDs featuring Penelope Hobhouse and the gardens in the U.K.

In the back of the library directly in front of my office window grow a laburnum and a locust tree. They are two of my favourite trees and among six generously donated by the garden club when the new library was even newer. This spring, both have been glorious and I thank the garden club for the added beauty to my view. I am not saying I don’t mind looking out over the brewery but… Our wonderful landscape assistant, Fred and I planted and babied those trees from the first year. They all lived, some just barely and I figured I was a gardener after that and still do. The laburnum and locust are working hard to become shade trees for the grass area left for kids and the summer reading program. The trees have been integrated into a reconfiguration of what was really non-landscaping brought about by the Lawrence Lavender Reading Garden. Christine Miller, the Capability Brown of the new garden, has brought the trees, the garden and the play area together and added an entirely new dimension to the library.

All kinds of artwork is being dropped off at the library and will find its way onto the walls for this summers ArtWalk. Jennifer and Carol Huscroft, acting as curators for the library art for the Community Arts Council of Creston, have the summer off and are already thinking of the show for September, which I hear will feature the work of Jennifer, who is attending art school in Lethbridge. If you know of someone or you have work you would like to show in the library give me a call at the library, I will hook you up with Carol and Jennifer and see what arrangements can be made. We also have some extra room over the summer in a closed glass case if you have artwork to display that requires protection and a shelf rather than a wall. Again, give me a call to set up an appointment.

So far, I have covered gardens and art, and it might be time to actually talk about books or at the very least some of the periodicals the library has. The two I am going to recognize this week are for the readers among you or those looking for something different and perhaps thought provoking. These would be ideal summer reading, with their rich, shorter writings and magazine format.

Prairie Fire is a Canadian publication and full of new writing and book reviews from Canadians not on the top 10 lists. Go to their website, www.prairiefire.ca, for the online book reviews and more of the content of the latest issue. A quiet, unassuming but powerful and provocative publication that comes to us from North Carolina is the Sun, with its essays, interviews, fiction, photographs and poetry. They also have a website well worth investigating. I suggest the magazine format for reading while on the patio, the light or as has been the case lately, rain can detract a great deal from reading off the computer.

Ann Day is the chief librarian at the Creston and District Public Library.