Walking Arlington Part 3 - little free Libraries

The week before Christmas, Bill and I, and Rosie our dog, finished walking the residential streets of Arlington. It was a bit anticlimactic. We should have had a marching band following us around, but none was available. The last streets we had to sew up were just a couple roads that wrapped around Arlington Ridge.

We had walked many, many hills. Arlington has a lot more challenging terrain than we ever imagined. Some walks were a real work out. When we had the time, we would walk three or four miles, sometimes it just felt like that.

We spotted many Little Free Libraries on our walks. A lot of the book libraries have similar designs, but some folks construct their own unique libraries. I photographed some of my favorites. Some people repurposed other containers into libraries: full size telephone booths, American and British; newspaper boxes; and even filing cabinets. Some people added adjacent boxes for magazines. Of course little food pantries pop up too. One house had a library dedicated to trading puzzles, and several Little Free Libraries held a container of dog biscuits inside, which made Rosie very eager to stop at all little book boxes. I started to bring along a book from home on most walks. I probably de-accessioned over a hundred books. I only took one book out, and eventually even that one made it back into a box.

It made me think, what else could you swap in boxes? Small toys, art supplies, sports equipment, knick-knacks. I like that last idea a lot, it could be called the little box o tchotchkes.

I started to think about getting my own little book box and turning it into a mini art gallery. With LED lighting for the interior and an exhibit card on the outside - or QR code-, it could be a tiny museum. On display each month, one art work or several small works, perhaps a collection of tiny things. The question is, would it be better to make it a place to swap art, or a place with art for sale? I like the idea of inviting people to have a mini show in the box. “Small Space/Big Audience” could be the tagline. I could have art openings in the front yard and serve tiny snacks and little drinks in cordial glasses. I kind of like that idea.