Recycled Tuesday

A beautifully sunny day, temps near 80*F. My day off from work.

You would think, living where I do, that I *might* go to the beach on a day like this, right??

Well, it had crossed my mind and I was thinking of going down there with a book and the dog.
But then, I remembered.

I had said I was FINALLY going to bring the three overflowing bins of recyclables (empty bottles, cans, and plastic containers) to the dump.

So, off I went this morning (the bins already loaded into my car the night before by my thoughtful hubby), the car *slightly* stinky from having the bins in there already overnight. (guess some of those cans and jars don't get rinsed out too thoroughly).

As I drove through the open gate to the "transfer station" (fancy term for 'The Dump'), I noticed how pretty it looked there. A whole hill covered with masses of white and yellow and purple wild flowers. Of course, a hill with garbage buried underneath it!!

Even inside of the dump, there is a well-tended flower garden, complete with birdbath and gazing ball in the little traffic island where the cars turn around to get to the recycling center.

After dutifully dumping the empties in the appropriate dumpsters, I pulled my car over to the concrete shed, otherwise known as the "library". You can dump off unwanted reading material (magazines and books), and look around at what other people have left and take whatever you like. I can never resist having a look around in there.

I dropped off three books, and came home with eight others!!

I found a few books that I remember from my childhood ("The Witch of Blackbird Pond" and "The Four Story Mistake"), thinking Rachel might like them for summer reading. Although, I will probably end up reading them myself. I also found a copy of Eleanor Estes' "Ginger Pye" which I read to Rachel from the library a few years ago (and she was excited to see that book in particular when she came home).

I also found "The Shipping News" by Annie Proulx (which was recently recommended to me by someone, so I found it funny that it was right there, staring at me from a jumbled shelf in the dump library today), "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin (which I think I read a l-o-n-g time ago), "Time And Again" by James Hilton (didn't he write "Lost Horizon"?), a book by A.J. Cronin (I read something by him years ago-- something about a doctor and I found it very moving, so thought I would give this one a try), and a thick hardcover book of interviews with people who experienced World War II (my father had this book and I read some of it, so thought this would be a good book to have).

So, yet more books for my "to-be-read" pile. Since these were free, if I don't like any of them, I can just pass them on, or bring them back to the Rose Hill Library.