Monsters and Dinovember

 

10-25-2024

In the interest of public safety, patrons need to be aware that next over the next several weeks the library will be overrun by monsters, dinosaurs and furry creatures. I’d say we are becoming a veritable Jurassic Park, but I can’t promise all the dinosaur will be from that period.

The danger begins on Wednesday, October 30^th at 1:00 pm with the showing of the most recent installment of the Hotel Transylvania series: Transformania. Hmm, actually that movie premise involves the old switcheroo. Instead of an all but one cast of monsters, it showcases an all but one cast of humans. Good thing, as the East Troy Community School District is closed for inservice. Impressionable young children may accidentally attend the viewing and wear the emotional scares for life. Perhaps the popcorn would make them feel better.

Thursday at 3:00 pm is the time for Teens & Tweens programming in our Lower Level. Each of the first four Thursdays of the month have a specific theme. The 31^st is the fifth Thursday of October. To celebrate, we have spooky board games available for groups of friends to play. Trick or Treaters are invited to wear their costumes and start the evening at the library where we will be passing out candy - hopefully not in the snow like last year.

The really big reptile ancestors take over the next day as part of Dinovember. We are inviting local dinosaur enthusiasts to bring in their dinosaurs to display in our glass case. They can be plastic, stuffed, Lego, etc. just not living as we don’t have the proper budget or staff to handle the feeding and cleanup required. They will be returned safely at the end of the month. Patrons of the smaller variety will receive a dinosaur sticker each week. Ms. Maria will stick to a dinosaur theme for that month’s Storytime on Fridays at 11:00 am.

Finally, the furriest event will be on Thursday, November 14^th at 2:00 pm when we’ll host a special dino-storytime. Mr Nibbles, a local bunny and sometimes library patron, will wear his dinosaur costume and share his favorite story. Snacks will be provided. I’ve been instructed to make them dinosaur shaped. Fans of Drew Daywalt’s The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors may be disappointed to learn, they will not be dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets. For those of you who don’t know the book, I highly recommend it and will happily do a read aloud upon request for patrons brave enough to visit us amidst the upcoming dangers.

Audiobook Options

 

10-18-2024

The second weekend of the play kicks off without me as it is also Parent’s Weekend at UW-Eau Claire. I shall be taking Emma her new winter coat per her request, which means I’ll probably be covering my Eau-Claire Mom gear with my own.

It’s a long drive, but I hope to negotiate with my husband on a good audiobook. Listening to a Joy Ellis mystery on my way home from dropping Emma off in August is what stopped got me home safely: focusing on the investigation distracted me from the empty passenger seat. Being able to select what I listened to went a long way to reconciling me about leaving Emma behind.

In all likelihood I’ll use my phone and my car’s Bluetooth capabilities to listen to an audiobook on Libby. Gone are the days most vehicles allowed for books on CD. That includes mine. I love the Bluetooth option, but sometimes the waits on Libby are discouraging. We’ve been exploring viable options for listening to Playaways without headphones and CDs in a time when even home CD players are disappearing.

The easiest way to use a Playaway in the car is through an auxiliary cord. The one complication with that method is programming newer cards to play from the auxiliary port. Playaways are also compatible with FM Transmitters. They plug into the Playaway. The transmitter and the vehicle’s radio are then tuned to the same otherwise static filled station. Of these two methods, I prefer the auxiliary cord as the FM Transmitter purchased for the library didn’t block out all of the static.

We also searched for a portable CD player. Amazon reminded us, portable CD players were popular after the Walkman and before vehicles had CD players. We have come full circle. Too bad I didn’t keep mine. Today’s models have a few upgrades beginning with the built-in rechargeable battery that saves money if not time. My circa 1990’s model used a cassette adaptor to play through the car stereo. A new model can use the auxiliary port, Bluetooth, or a built in FM transmitter.

Frequent audio book listeners will probably want to own their own devices and cords. However, the library does have an FM Transmitter, a portable CD player, and a portable speaker (for Playaways at home) available to try before you buy or for use on the occasional road trip.

 

Honoring Women Veterans - I Am Not Invisible

 

10-11-2024

The article will run on the opening day of Wine, Cheese and Murder. You know where I am; however, even though the play still pulls my focus, it is time to turn at lease some of my attention to our next program. Since Veterans Day is exactly one month away, it’s time to announce that program.

This will be ETLPL’s third year hosting a military program in November. We started with Ace of Aces: The Dick Bong Story by Mike O’Connor. Last year Mike came back to talk about his second book, Badger Aces: Wisconsin Fighter Aces, 1917-1972, paired with the traveling exhibit Wisconsin Remembers: A Face for Every Name from the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.

This year we will again host a traveling exhibit from the WVM paired with two guest speakers. I Am Not Invisible began in Oregon as an awareness campaign highlighting the role of women veterans. It is now a nationwide program. The traveling exhibit is composed of pop-up banners each featuring a different veteran. More information about these women can be found on the museum’s website which hosts the oral history interview.

On November 4^th at 4:00 pm we are pairing the banners with a presentation from two local women. Commander Michelle Himsel is in charge of East Troy’s American Legion Loomis-Martin Post 188. She will be joined by 3rd Class veteran Eleanor Montano.  Himsel and Montano will give a talk about their experiences in the military.

One of the goals in our strategic plan reads, “Create solutions to minimize facility shortcomings.” With that in mind and knowing a portion of our target audience includes patrons who find the stairs to our lower level difficult to manage, we have asked the East Troy Intergenerational Community Center for use of their space. Located in the back of the East Troy Community School Districts business office, the former Doubek Elementary building, the Community Center is one level and offers plenty of parking.

The exhibit will be set up for the November 4^th talk at the Community Center. Afterwards it will be on display at the library November 5^th through November 16^th. It is important to note that the ETICC entrance is accessed from a driveway on Division Street rather than the district’s entrance on Beulah Avenue. It is set back quite bit so don’t let the open grass areas confuse you.

We hope to see you there as we honor these and all military women for their service.

Reading Now: Twilight by Stephanie Myer (I WILL finish this book. Maybe after the play.)

Listening to Now: Graves on the Fens by Joy Ellis

Library Field Trips

 

10-4-2024

We go on a lot of field trips at the library. To the lower level, to the kitchen area, to the storage/bookdrop room, to the spider (there aren’t actually any there)/Kostopolis/periodical room, to the Lion’s Club room, to the Friend’s room.  After years of teaching, the phrase comes out anytime I want to show a staff member an idea I have to use the space differently and, hopefully, more efficiently. It’s actually reached the point that staff has begun calling out, “Field trip,” to announce a move to a different room. They even manage to sound excited.

This past week has sent Friends and me on several actual, leave the building field trips in preparation for next week’s play. Mary Hubbard Nugent and part of the cast took a field trip to the Honey Creek Collective’s Brown Barn. Formerly the property of Michael Fields and still home to its office space, the Brown Barn is a beautiful space housing several other businesses, a folk school, and two churches. The play will use the same space in which the churches congregate. Mary and cast visited to familiarize themselves with their performance space as rehearsals move into run-throughs and solidify blocking.

Another group with Friends and me met with Jason Neu, HCC’s owner, to plan the logistics of the lower level for placement of ticket/will call, tables, bar, and cheese plate sales as well as a layout of the parking spaces. A note on parking, we are limiting ticket sales to 85 each performance not because of the space, but because of the parking. There are more parking spaces than a drive by the site might indicate; however, we want to be certain to use the space efficiently. Therefore, Don Roberts has volunteered to direct traffic. Before the performance the north entrance will be an entrance only, the south entrance an exit. Between the entrance and exit is the white barn. After the performance, all driveways will be available for exit.

Our next field trip was to Hill Valley Cheese Shop and Cheese Bar. There we selected the three cheeses that will make up the bulk of the auction’s cheese baskets. In addition to selling those cheeses at wholesale cost, Hill Valley donated 10 blocks of cheese for the cheese plates and a $40 gift card for the Cheese Bar which will also be auctioned.

Individual field trips took place to Global Glass, Kelly’s Pot Pies and Yaya’s Skordalia. Yaya’s, also located at Honey Creek Collective donated containers of their almond spread for the cheese board. Kelly’s Pot Pies donated six gift cards, one for each performance, for the cheesecake in the cheesecake basket. Rather a pivotal donation. The gift card will allow the auction winners to choose when to bring a cheesecake home. Whether that is during a family gathering or when the family is all far away is their call. Also in that basket will be a Wine, Cheese and Murder apron. Melanie at Global Glass helped select the majority of the wines in those auction baskets.

Thank you to all the business that are partnering with our Friends and Off the Square Players. We look forward to two fun-filled weekends. October 11, 12 & 13, and 18, 19 & 20. Tickets are still available at the library.

Reading Now: A Man of Two Faces by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (PBS Great America Reads title)

Listening to Now: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin