Serenity Room

The long winter is a time for relaxation and renewing one's spirit.   It's a time for catching up on reading, working on hobbies, spending time visiting friends, and generally doing quiet things.   When the temperatures are below zero outside, it's good to stay indoors and be cozy.  It's peaceful!  When the outdoor conditions are muddy or windy, that's also a good time to stay inside and enjoy quiet time.  When spring comes,  we kick into high gear up here in the north country, making maple syrup, getting the gardens tilled and ready for planting, and cleaning up the yard from winter debris.   Then, all summer long, we are so busy with yard and garden chores and canning and preparing produce for our market booth, weeding and watering and mowing, etc.  Things don't really slow down for fall either, as then we are busy with harvesting honey, more garden chores, and then clean up and preparing for winter!  And of course, there's wood to be cut and stacked - a never ending job.    
     That's why I enjoy winter so much and the quiet, cozy times when we don't really have to be outside!  As much as possible I enjoy hours in my library room.   With a mug or two of tea or cocoa or hot cider, and some good books to read, I'm happy as can be!  I cherish these wonderful peaceful days, as I know that shortly we will all be more than busy. 
     It's always been a dream of mine to have my own library room!  As a kid I would ride my bike to the local branch library and check out several books each week and read them quickly, then go back for more.  Libraries were always a special place for me.  The library had it's own aroma of books and ink and old wood, which always was a great smell to my way of thinking!  Later, in my adult life, I lived in Rhode Island for a while and would visit the great mansions of the millionaires in Newport.  Every one of those mansions on Ocean Drive had a magnificent library room - great, beautiful rooms filled with perfectly arranged books.   I always dreamed about having such a room (on a much less grand scale, of course!) in my own house someday.
     When we built our house in 2005 up here in northern MN, I knew it was time for that dream library!  By this time I had collected quite a large number of books and needed a place for them.   I DO love books!  Modern culture encourages things like Kindles and digital devices to read from, but I don't care for any of that!  Give me a real honest-to-goodness book to hold in my hand!  I enjoy all kinds of books, but my favorite reading is short stories.   Whenever I go to a used book store, or an antique store, or a thrift shop, I search for anthologies of short stories.   My second favorite thing to read is of course, cookbooks!  Do I dare tell you that I have about 700 of them?  And I also love daily devotional readers, Christmas books, and poetry.  Occasionally I'll read fiction, but usually classics or historical fiction. 
     Here is my library.   It is my serenity room.  My quiet little bit of heaven on earth!  And my "dream room"!  It is a room to spend hours reading in, or a quiet place to work crossword puzzles (another passion).  When the weather allows and I can open the window, it is so pleasant to hear the birds singing in the woods or hear the trumpeter swans flying past the house.  These days I rarely have to visit an actual library, as I have so many books of my own to read and re-read.   Come spring and summer, I won't have much time for reading, so now is the time to enjoy my special little room.

My library in the early morning hours.   The pink wing chair was purchased years ago by my son at a thrift shop for 5 or 10 bucks.   It is SO comfortable!

A better view in late afternoon with the overhead light on.   Harold built these great shelves for me.  They go from floor to ceiling and can hold so many books. 

The other side of the room.   The pile of books on the floor are some that I will be selling at a friend's garage sale this spring.   I have to make room for more books, you know!!  The other side of the room could probably have more shelves, but instead I will put my old floor model radio from 1947 over there.  One of these days I hope to find someone who will fix it for me, so I can listen to it again.   I used to love listening to short wave radio.   Does such a thing still exist?