Do you know how sometimes a line from a book sticks with you for years and years afterwards, even though it wasn't necessarily a central point in the book's argument or even particularly well-written? I haven't read Lewis Mumford's The City in History since we lived in North Carolina, and I still remember that what he wrote about urban planning--that the best designed cities are all about foot traffic over and against automotive traffic.
By the way, The City in History is an excellent book. Among it's other solid points were that Rochester, NY is a far better place to live than Greensboro, NC, which Mumford called "a giant parking lot." I was thinking about Mumford's insights when I visited Pittsford with James and Owen yesterday morning. We lived practically in Pittsford (technically on the Brighton side of the street) on the slopes of Mount Wegmans for one glorious year, and we still aren't ready to switch our library allegiances. I'm sure that the Webster and Irondequoit libraries are perfectly lovely--we haven't tried them yet--but James always insists that we go back to OUR library. The "Picksford Library."
There's a lot to like about the Pittsford Library. For one thing, every library should have Bruegger's at the front entrance. A cup of coffee in hand is totally the difference between a positive experience in the Children's section and the experience of having some random Mom with a stroller tap you on your shoulder because your kids started to pull down all the books in the 800 section while you dozed off in the armchair.
The children's section is really well done, of course. There are always creative displays up, you can't beat the quantity and selection of titles, and, of course, there is Library George. Library George is the exact duplicate of James' George except that, well...he doesn't look nearly so awful. Whenever I see Library George I look at him and think "Oh, THAT'S what George used to look like. And smell like. I remember now!" Interestingly, by the way, Library George was entrusted to Owen on this particular visit, who promptly kicked his little feet in delight and snuggled/kissed him repeatedly. There were many tears when we had to put him back.
The adult section of books is great too, but it's hard to really enjoy it unless you go with two parents. The boys are okay for about three minutes in the upstairs part of the library, so you have to go (in an ELEVATOR) with your call numbers already written down and then get out before they start "hiding" in the shelves and disturbing the patrons who are trying to get some Very Serious Work done. James and Owen did okay this time around. I had Owen in the stroller, so he couldn't get out...he just leaned towards the shelves and pulled off any loose books as we went by. James was wearing pants that were about twice as big as he needed around the waist, so he was kept busy by shifting stuffed animals from hand to hand as he trotted behind and yanked his pants back up every few steps.
We came out with many spoils--Curious George, the Berenstain Bears, Dr. Seuss, and (of course) Curious George Counts from 1 to 100. And this is why Pittsford is wonderful--when you finish at this beautiful library you can walk down along the canal for a mile and admire the boats in the water. Or you can cross the bridge over to Schoen place and get some gelato or pop into the bike shop. Or you can get some ice cream at the dairy...all without needing to get into your cars.
Yesterday I took them across the street to get some macarons from the Village Bakery. (And James requested a cake pop from Starbucks.) The Village Bakery might just be my favorite place to eat in Rochester. We looked at bread loaves, admired the different sweets, and picked out a few macarons to bring back home for J. I offered James a cookie from the display (no thanks, he'd like a cake pop) and then loaded him up on my shoulders (his pants were falling down with every step) and put the macarons in the back of the stroller with the library books. (Daddy, don't forget about my cake pop.)
He got his cake pop. We walked up to the main light and went into the high-end lingerie shop where I've occasionally picked up some items of a marital nature. It's hard to feel discreet when you've got a 4-year old (eating a cake pop) riding on your shoulders and a big stroller to push around, but we got into the store without seeing any former students from LCS. I thanked the clerk for helping us with the door and she exclaimed "Oh, I remember your son! How's Curious George doing?"
It had started to rain by the time we left and walked back to our car, but we went through the beautiful little park behind Thirsty's and listened to the drops in the leaves before making a break to the car. I don't think the library books got too wet.
To be clear, we will never live in the Village of Pittsford. The taxes are just nuts. But it's a pretty great place to visit.
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