SLC PL: Voted Best in 2006 (and a house buying update)

Pretty rainbow cloud...a picture taken last week.

Life has continued at a breakneck speed. I hardly have time to be on the computer at all since I started work on Monday.

Work is going fine; I like my boss, and am enjoying getting the tiny library into shape.

Since I was hired the company has purchased two more schools; I am now in charge of those libraries as well.

The first days at work are always a bit floaty; the IT department needs to get you into the system before you can do much of anything, so I have been inventorying the magazines.

It is easy duty; I am not complaining!

Another cool cloud...

And another. I love the way the cloud look against the mountains. After living without mountains for 10 years, I just can't stop gaping at them!



But.... what I really wanted blog about was my first visit to the Salt Lake City Library.
For some reason it took me quite a few tries to figure out where the under ground parking garage. It was in the back, and this is the back view of the place. Am I the only one who thinks it
looks like the Coliseum in Rome a bit?

Yes, I do remember that this was the Library of the Year in 2006.

And I don't blame them at all for etching that honor on their front doors!

The Library Journal always chooses one library (that usually has just been heavily remodeled to be the Library of the Year, and then also features pictures of runner ups in various categories, like small or academic or such.

I read that issue with library lust; they are always such gorgeous libraries.

Stepping inside the door...you see this:

There is an area that is like a mini mall, somewhat reminiscent of the Galleria in Italy, modernized. The coffee shop can be entered from the mall, but also from inside on the ground floor of the library. The smell of fresh brewed coffee mingled with the fragrant scent of fresh squeezed oranges, and pastry, all of which wafted through the "Browsing" area of the library.

Also in the mall: Small shops dedicated to gardening, gifts and in this case, an organization highlighting a cause.

The Library book store (which sold both de-acquisitioned library books and reading related merchandise) made good use of the outdated card catalogue.

The "browsing" area had books clustered in displays on various topics, plus new books.

Throughout the area were posters promoting various classes and speakers. I think "Hawk Talk" sounded like a great lecture. Maybe I will try to go to the one on Eagles tomorrow!

Or maybe I should go to this class instead. Darn, they meet at the same time. Well, maybe I should wait until it is a little colder out before setting in for knitting session in front of the fireplace at the library.

Pretty nifty fireplace...guess you can really seat a crowd around it!
(And yes, fires burn in all three of them.)

I am definitely going to the Mountain Meadow Massacre talk. I want to hear what the experts from BYU and University of Utah have to say on this horrific historical topic.

Back to to exploring the library. I've got six floors to cover!

I headed down stairs through the two glass "wings" rising above the stairwell.



Downstairs is the glass ceiling room that is the children's area. Sail cloth covered the glass while I was there; I am not sure if the cloth can be pulled back on a cloudier day. The effect was quite interesting; a little like being about a tall sail ship somehow. It felt fast, energized overhead.

Just outside was a patio area with a two story wall of water sheeting down a wall. The dragonfly darting above the water was about as big as me!



On another wall inside was a large wreath made from hand prints cast in bronze. Apparently this is the first stage of a sculpture in process. I will be interested to see its on going process.

In the ante room of the children's room were books illustrated by children; there was no text in the books, the pictures told the stories. I thought it was clever to have each page sealed in plastic, and the book's pages held back by an elastic band which could be slipped off so each page could be turned by anyone passing by.

(I had to get a picture of the Mermaid book for Laura of course. )



I could have hopped into one of the glass elevators to go back upstairs, but there was some minor repairs being done so I choose not to. I imagine any little boys who would visit the library would be fascinated by being able to see the elevator machinery working through the glass.
I admit it; I lingered watching for a few moments myself.

Each floor of the library has floor to ceiling walls framing beautiful outdoor scenery. Here is a study desk beneath a window with a mountain view.

Or you could chose to sit in a comfy leather chair. I did like the orange one...a little orange is nice in a library
(Note to Houston PL: I said a little. Not wall to wall orange!)
I grabbed a book on photography, and enjoyed myself for awhile, then went about getting a library card for myself.



I wondered how the leather chairs would hold up with such tight upholstery. As I suspected, the points were worn through. A good argument for some kind of cap.

An James Audubon book under glass. Called an "double elephant" portfolio, the book is the size of medium sized coffee table, one of only a few in print.

Oh...nice hat!

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is having a showing of Impressionistic art; cleverly the Library has created a display using a huge straw hat to draw attention to the posters.

Hat shaped pieces of paper were made available for children to draw their own hats; those hats in turn were used to embellish the display of art books on the Impressionists.

This was the view at the very top of the building's staircase.

I thought it looked like a sculpture.

The whole building seemed like a sculture.

It was fantastic.

From the edges of the library you can see various parks that are on the library's grounds.

You can also step outside to the Roof Top garden area. What a view! What a place to head to after grabbing a cup of coffee with a friend. Or a romantic tryst/discussion over a good book.
Or just to sit and stare and gather your thoughts.

Being alone, I grabbed a croissant and a fresh lemonade, and sat downstairs in the mall area to people watch. That wasn't too bad either.

The library is a stop for the local TRAX public transportation.

Another park beside the library done with natural grasses appropriate for the low desert.

Across the street is this old church. I've cropped out all the businesses around it...it must have been beautiful when it was first built on the prairie.

This morning we drove to work past the front of the library; it has a lovely fountain with more great sculptures of children playing. The library is about five blocks from where I work, I made a note to go back when I have time and take more pictures from there.

*************

On a sad and disappointing note: We were scheduled to go to the Cottonwood view house for a property inspection today at 3.

As you may recall, we had made an offer on the house, and it had been signed and accepted. Now we just needed for the house to be inspected so the bank would know if the house was "worth" the amount that we were planning on paying.

B. and I both scheduled time off from work to be able to be at the house during the inspection.

At ten am today B. got a call: our real estate agent had news to tell us, and she was just sick about it.

Not good.

It turned out that the seller's agent hadn't informed the people who had earlier place a low cash bid in on the house a few weeks before that we made our full price offer on the house.

Their offer was so very low that it would have required the house to go into a short sell, getting the bank to agree to a short sell (accept less than what is owed on the house,) which wouldd require a process that takes many months to complete. Their offer hadn't even been signed by the owner.

Apparently though, by law, the people who had made the first offer HAD to be informed of our offer so they could raise their bid if they wanted to.

Now the owner had already SIGNED and agreed to take our offer about a week ago.

When it was discovered that he owed additional moneys, we offer even more money so he could walk away from the house without putting more money into it.

We offered the new money in a new document, which he offically accepted.

Today the low bidders upper their offer, probably going just a few dollars above our bid. They also added that since it was a cash offer, they could finish the deal in two weeks time.

Since we were only able to propose leasing back the house until ours sold, of course this new offer was quite appealing; a chance for the owner to be finished and done with dealing with the house.

He took their offer, rescending his agreement to sell to us.

The whole deal was mismanaged by the sell's agent; I also wonder if she "leaked" our offer price to the other buyers.

Yes, we are VERY disappointed.

But...

We are trusting God on this one. We don't understand it, but for now we have no choice but to accept this turn of events, and trust that when our house does sell, the perfect house will be there waiting for us here.

We are going to try to not look at any more houses until our own house sells; we will live with Jeff for a few more days then get an apartment after all.

It has been a really sweet time with Jeff (now that our cats aren't here trying to kill his cat...) and I am reluctant to move on.

And I am really reluctant to go apartment hunting again.

Oh shoot.

Oh well.

Darn.