Birdie's Nook
5/14/2017 7:23:09 PM
About a year and a half ago, my sister, Patricia approached me with an idea to create a Little Free Library in honor of our mother. Our mother always, and still does, love to read. I'm talking like 3 or 4 books at a time...even now, in her 80's she continues to read all the time. Both our parents insisted we get educated and be contributors to society. Education ...understand how to reason, how to calculate, how to create, how to make good decisions, to learn about different ideas, cultures, and thoughts. All this could be possible if we could learn to read - and we did. She would pile us all in the car to different libraries each week, and we would come home with all the books we could carry. If we weren't driving somewhere, we would be walking down the block when the mobile library came. She insisted we read, she encouraged us to read, she led us to read. And for that, I am thankful. Any problem I ever want to solve can be done so by reading. I know there's YouTube, but let me tell you, if I read something, I'll understand and retain it better. Yes, I'm that guy who prefers to read (although today's journalists have a lot to learn about writing) rather than watch a video. I actually can read something faster than listening to a video. And I prefer it that way.
I wrote all that to make you read....ha! And I'm going to write a bit more, so I hope I can hold your attention. The Little Free Library and Birdie's Nook idea blossomed into a very big project over the last year and a half. From a modest idea that we thought might run us about $750 to create, it turned into an architectural project that involved interns from Overland Partners, an architectural firm in San Antonio, the City of San Antonio, Jefferson Area Historical District, the Historic and Design Review Commission of San Antonio, and the Monticello Park Neighborhood Association. It was a collaboration of ideas beginning with input from each one of the siblings, and then designed and built by the Overland Partners interns. And the entire project symbolizes our mother's influence - beginning with the story of "The Giving Tree," by Shel Silverstein.
The interns took our ideas - the SELFLESS giving of our mother, creating a WELCOMING environment that would be a BEACON in the community that would be DURABLE and long-lasting, that would "connect people of all ages with the landscape, while providing a welcoming and inspiring place to escape into a story" (from the Mission Statement). "And she loved a little boy very,very much - even more than she loved herself." - The Giving Tree - Please read more about the project here. (along with images of the ideas and plans)
We held a ribbon cutting ceremony on May 13, 2017, to the complete surprise of our mom! It was a great Mother's Day gift, and brought all of us together to honor her that day. I'd like to take a moment to briefly explain the symbolism of some of the components (including the artwork).
The library kiosk serves as a beacon of knowledge by providing opportunity through literacy and shared space, and represents our mom. There are 2 walls, held up by 6 pillars, representing the 6 siblings, and connected together with cables that support slats that represent the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There is a bench that represents a place to rest, and one wall has baskets that the community can share plants and harvest with each other. Inside the kiosk are 6 shelves, again, representing the siblings, and each shelf holds the books and knowledge to share with the community. On one side of the kiosk is a painting of a 2-trunk oak, representing one tree with 2 individual trunks - each unique, but inseparable. The trunks each have individual branches representing the family, And overall, the tree as a whole represents our family, providing steadfastness, shelter, life, a place for the weary traveler to find shade and rest. It is situated by a river that represents life. The landscape represents the community and its history.
The other side has a cactus - the bottom petal is our mom, and there are 6 petals. 35 flowers are representative of each grandchild and great-grandchild. The butterflies and hummingbird are 2 of our mom's favorites.
Here are some of the pictures from the ribbon cutting ceremony:
Mom "cutting" the ribbon
Brothers and sisters and Mom
Placing books in the Kiosk
The interns and Lead Architect from Overland Partners (and Ben Rosas)
The family
This was by far, the greatest project I've ever been involved in. It was very fulfilling! I would like to thank Overland Partners for their donation of thought, materials, the interns, and the manpower to build it, Ben Rosas, the City of San Antonio, The Jefferson Area Historic District, Monticello Park Neighborhood Association, all of those businesses that donated materials, books, and their time to be at the ceremony! Thank you from my heart.
