The library of two halves and a couple of jelly fish.

My husband and I have been having a bit of a holiday this week - we had bus passes for a week. Not that we went any further than Liverpool! 

On Tuesday we visited the newly refurbished Liverpool central library. I used to work there (I5 years ago! Where has the time gone?) so I was interested to see how it has changed. When you enter (through what used to be a stone wall) you can now see up to the top of the building.

This part of the building, the William Brown library, has been completely changed. Everything behind the facade has been removed and the new structure has been put in its place.

Whilst this part of the building looks amazing, the atrium is fantastic, there are hardly any books! There's lots of computers, tablets and sockets to plug your own computer into but it doesn't feel like a library to me.

The domed ceiling in the Picton Library.

Detail of the stone facade of the Picton Library.

Exterior of Picton, Oak Room (the smaller building on the left) and the Hornby Library (the one in the middle).

The Atrium.

The outside of the Picton Library.

The children's library is in the old Internaltional library, though the floor has been raised. Here, again, there are hardly any books on the shelves, which does look a bit daft in such a large room.

The Picton Reading room, the Hornby Library and the Oak Room remain fairly untouched. Though a lot of structural work has been carried out, especially on the roof of the dome.

As soon as you enter Picton you can smell the books and there's lots of them!

In the Oak Room they now have one of the volumes of the Audubon, a book about the birds of America on display. Plus there's a computer in there with all of the images in the books on it.

The Audubon volume on display.

Image from the Audubon on the display screen.

Peacock binding of a book displayed in the Hornby Library.

The Hornby has a selection of books, the King John charter and library memorabilia on display, as well as the book filled shelves. 

On Wednesday I had a pootle about the beach around the Fort in New Brighton and took a few photographs. It was tea and toast at the Floral Pavilion after that.
 

Seaweed swept by the sea receding.

The first jelly fish.

The second jelly fish. When they're out of the water they look just like blobs of jelly. Although you can see the jelly fish's tentacles in the first photo.They're so graceful when they're in the water.

Thursday involved another trip to Liverpool, this time to Abakhan's, a fabric, wool and craft shop. I used to go there quite regularly when I worked in Liverpool and before I had chronic fatigue. They have increased their stock hugely, the last time I went there was just fabric, wool and a few ribbons, bits of lace etc.

They still sell fabric by the weight, but I don't really like buying fabric that way, but they loads of fabrics on the roll, along with huge amounts of ribbon and lace! They now have a huge range of paper crafting, bead making and needlwork stuff. I could happily spend a happy couple of hours wandering around there.

With all of the gadding about this week I haven't been able to do too much in the way of making things. But Wimbledon starts tomorrow so I'll be spending a fair bit of time in front of a television screen so I'll have plenty of time for sewing.

Have a great week everyone.

TTFN 
Louise

P.s. I have a small sale going on through my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/elsiemayandbertha) all of the items for sale are in this album. Indicate via the comment for an item if you want to buy. If you have a problem doing this you can either message me via Facebook or Twitter or my email address is elsiemayandbertha@virginmedia.com.

P.s.s. I'm also taking part in Handmade Monday, pop over there to see what everyone has been making.