At the entrance to the Larkspur Library is a prominent display case featuring monthly exhibits. Recent exhibits by library patrons and members of the community include water colors, drawings in colored pencils, ceramics, a collection of snow domes, kangaroos from all over the world, rabbits, homemade dolls, and miniature rooms.

Collections of old Valentines, Fourth of July and Halloween memorabilia are reminders of Larkspur's past in keeping with the old time feeling of the community. Exhibits are scheduled a year in advance.

For further information about displays contact:
Elaine James, Larkspur Public Library, (415) 927-5005

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ON DISPLAY ~ JUNE 2008

Charleston, South Carolina: a photo essay
by Jeanne Azen

Charleston is a charming City. As described by one quintessential South Carolinian, "The Lowcountry is Gawd's Country." I visited there in March of this year for a photo workshop and found it delightful. We stayed downtown at the Francis Marion hotel. The City is very walkable. The people are friendly and the food superb.

If you are looking for somewhere to visit in the US, put Charleston on your list. [There are half a dozen guidebooks on South Carolina between Larkspur and Corte Madera libraries. Take a look, next chance you get. To give you a little history, South Carolina has had a fierce independent streak. It figured significantly in the American Revolution. It was the first to secede from the Union, as it believed that the Civil War was as much a war for freedom as the Revolutionary War. Even through the worst of times, South Carolinians have always revered their history.

The largest and best-known city is Charleston. Southern Hospitality could have been invented in this town. This is where the English first settled in South Carolina. They established Charles Towne at Albemarle Point on the Ashley River in 1670. The rowdiness of the early port town, combined with the later affluence that indigo, rice, and the slave trade brought to the area inspired the love of parties, fun, good food, and ample drink that flourished during the antebellum years and characterize Charleston to this day.

When you visit Charleston, you can expect a great party, good food and spirits, easy access to important historic sites, interesting shopping, gracious lodgings and of course, a hospitable welcome. Traditional cuisine of the region is low-country cooking, based on the crops and seafood indigenous to the area. This means fresh seafood, especially shrimp, crab, and oysters; rice; okra; sweet potatoes; and biscuits.

There are two themes in the photos you see here. The first is Downtown Charleston, shot at night. The second is the beautiful plantation gardens at Magnolia Plantation and Middleton Place.

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens claims to be one of America's oldest gardens. Fifty acres of formal and informal gardens blaze most of the year with seasonal blooms - 900 varieties of camellias, 250 of azaleas, and 150,000 new bulbs every year. The plantation's owner, Drayton Hastie, tries to introduce as many new plants to the property every year as possible. The result is color and bloom almost year-round, some in formal and theme gardens, others in cottage-style gardens. Eighteen gardeners maintain it all. Small footbridges and boardwalks create walkways to the Audubon Swamp Gardens, 60 acres of black water in a natural Cypress and Tupelo swamp filled with water birds, small animals and alligators.

Middleton Place has the oldest formal landscaped gardens in America, planned in 1741 along the bank of the Ashley River. Like Magnolia Gardens, Middleton Place incorporated new planting vogues into existing designs rather than destroy any of the original formal gardens.

All photos will be for sale at the end of the exhibit, June 30, for a $20 donation to the Friends of the Library. They will be sold on an "as is" basis, released from their core boards. Or, if you would like the trilogy shown on the core board, that will go for $50. If you will leave your name and phone number at the desk and the photo(s) you would like - I will be happy to get in touch with you to discuss it.