Today, in my quest to renew my library books at a different (new to me) public library, I found a whole new neighborhood of DC I didn’t even know existed: Lamond-Riggs (also known as Riggs Park). It’s tucked right up against the Maryland state line in the Northeast quadrant of the city.

Pretty exciting! I drove on all kinds of roads I had never been on before and even found a place I got lost looking for a few months ago!  It was too rainy to get out of the car and do much exploring, so I’ll have to come back another day.

But once again, the library, though small, impressed me: a bright, quiet space in the middle of the city, with a nice section for children, colorful animal banners,a designated selection of books for teens (magna, graphic novels) and study rooms upstairs.

That’s one of the (many) things this ONP project has led me to appreciate: how much effort DC puts into making their libraries accessible and appealing, especially to children. Actually, that’s just a smaller observation of a more general one: how many people are out there in this city and elsewhere trying to brighten up the places we live, with their gardens and flowers and books and murals and nature trails– little touches of creativity and caring.