"The Marvelous Toy"

We're having a mild winter, but Saturday was wicked cold. 
The new girlette, Five, and Pensive Bear went to our library one block away. It's a restored old Carnegie library--one of my favorite things in the neighborhood.

Pensive Bear had been feeling sad that she didn't have a proper Orphan Red dress (even though most don't wear them, the plaid dress is the girlette's official garb), so the others gave her one, and a hair ribbon. 

The girlettes pulled out Snow Sisters but ended up on the windowseat reading The Marvelous Toy.

As I was lying on the floor taking their photos, the librarian came by and said,
"Thank you for using our library this way," and she invited me to post photos on their mostly inactive Instagram!

Funny little local detail--in the top photo, below, there's what looks like a white crystal on the floor, by Five's foot. 
If you live in a snowy climate, you'll probably recognize it:
It's a piece of rock salt, which the library (and lots of people) spread on their winter sidewalks to melt ice and provide grip.
People track bits of salt and sand inside on their boots all winter long.