Salt Lake City Library

After I wrote about the Puyallup library, I got many emails. THANKS AGAIN, everybody --- I miss you, too!! And if I ever do get to Puyallup again, I'll let you know via this blog. The Pacific Northwest is a stunning place and I am so grateful I got to meet so many people there -- I'm only sorry I didn't visit your library when I had the chance!!

I loved hearing from some of the Sew Expo CTA's. They are among the hardest working women in America, that's for sure. Barbara is a big fan of her library, too!! (I was delighted to find this photo!!)

Hey -- next month, I'll be attending the Spring Quilt Market in Salt Lake City -- and I don't think there is a more beautiful library anywhere in America.  If you ever get there -- you MUST visit their library...

The last time they had Quilt Market in Salt Lake City was 2011...

AND I GOT TO VISIT THEIR STUNNING LIBRARY.

WOW. I was simply blown away.  It was fun to look back and find these pictures...and I'm headed to the SLC library website to see what's happening there when I'll be visiting.

If you're going to Spring Market -- let me know (ritafar@aol.com) -- and we'll meet up AT THIS BEAUTIFUL PLACE...

I'm just going to let the pictures tell the story...

Library Summer Concert Series

Wow...I am having so much fun writing about LIBRARIES...I might give this topic a weekly spot on the blog.

Many libraries do an summer outdoor concert series. Once a week (on Wednesdays, I think) the Bettendorf library hosts a local band.  It's a family friendly event (OF COURSE -- IT'S THE LIBRARY!!).  People bring a picnic supper, or pack snacks.  Sometimes the little kids play board games with other little kids while their parents enjoy the music.

This outdoor area, adjacent to the library (the blue roof) -- is called Faye's Field.

In the summer, people bring their blankets, and lawn chairs -- and listen to a concert. The other three women in my TMBC live in Bettendorf -- so they often attend the concerts. In 2014, I tried to take the kids...

The first week, Warren kinda stayed on the blanket...

But Lilly insisted on RUNNING AROUND...and she fell on the sidewalk...

Luckily, there were a lot of Grandma's there to comfort her...

Gee...I miss that baby...

This was a temporary exhibit at Faye's Field

Lilly took some pictures.

Books, art, music -- the library is where you go for ALL THAT and more! If you haven't been to your library lately...TRUST ME -- YOU COULD BE MISSING SOMETHING WONDERFUL...

Library events: Ezra Meeker

I am grateful for the wonderful library system we have in this country and, THAT'S TRUE IN EVERY STATE -- certainly not just Iowa.

Because I have many friends in Puyallup, Washington (hello, Joanne, Laura, Linda, Connie, Sharon, Ann, Janet, Stacy, Jill, Mary, Violet, Marsha, Pat, Elaine, June, Nancy, Kay, Sue, Brenda...) I went to YOUR library website...

I was not surprised to learn that Puyallup also had a Carnegie library!!

The original Carnegie Library in Puyallup, Washington.

And I was also not surprised to learn that your current library offers a huge selection of books, events and programs to benefit the community.  For example...

Ezra Meeker and the Oregon Trail
Apr 27, 2016 7:00 pm
Location: Puyallup Public Library
324 S. Meridian
Puyallup, WA 98371



Come hear author and historian, Dennis Larsen talk about Ezra Meeker's travels on the Oregon Trail.

Mr Larsen is Ezra Meeker's official biographer, and the author of five books, including Slick as a Mitten: Ezra Meeker's Klondike Enterprise. Dennis and his wife were two travelers on the 2006 Centennial reenactment of Meeker's first trip back of the Trail. No one knows more about the Life of Ezra meeker than this tireless and talented historian. Don't miss this chance to celebrate our local history!

This program is co-sponsored by the Puyallup Historical Society at Meeker Mansion.

All those years I went to Puyallup -- I can't believe I never thought to visit your library!!

Hey -- if I was going to be in the vicinity next week -- I'D MEET YOU AT THE LIBRARY!!

The Splendid Sampler™ AND My Library

The Splendid Sampler™ Wednesday
(...skip this part if you're not new here...)

The Splendid Sampler™ is an internet sew-a-long created by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson. It is an EPIC sew along...

• 83 fabric designers have created specific blocks that feature different quilting techniques. (paper piecing, fused applique, etc.).
• The blocks will be released each week, and are FREE to participants until March 2017. (at that time, they'll use the designs to publish a book).
• You can use whatever fabric you like.
• There will be pictures on their Facebook page, etc.

The new block designs come out twice a week....on Sunday morning and Thursday morning. I'm doing this with my TMBC...and, therefore, it is my pleasure to BLOG ABOUT IT every Wednesday.
************

When Block #15, Family Affair, came out -- WE ALL STRUGGLED. It was paper piecing, and none of us had ever done it before. I had 42 failed attempts before this happened...

And, yes, there was some gloating...but I had made up my mind to NEVER do paper piecing again.

Linda and I were hanging out in a nearby small town -- Eldridge -- and we went to the library...

Our Fiber Arts group had a small quilt show there...

We walked around and admired the beautiful quilts.

Thanks to the Splendid Sampler -- we are actually QUILTING now -- so this work is even more amazing...

THEN -- WE NOTICED THIS LITTLE POSTER...

TALK ABOUT YOUR RITA LUCK!! We are all struggling with the paper piecing...and have spent countless hours, reading instructions, watching YouTube videos...WHAT WE NEED IS A CLASS!!

So, two days later -- three of us were able to attend.  LK, Sandy and me...

We were eager students.

And the tulip pattern was PERFECT

Our teacher was terrific and well prepared.  Her pre-cut kits were PERFECT.

Learning when to cut away the excess was SUCH AN EYE OPENER!!

GREAAT JOB, Eldridge Library!!

THIS WAS SUCH A THRILL...

Playing With The Enemy

If you're thinking libraries are only for children -- THINK AGAIN.  Today's libraries are working overtime to be RELEVANT in your life.  In every state, in every town across America, the libraries are working hard to develop a full roster of interesting book/historical/musical events...AND THEY'RE DOING IT FOR YOU!!

Last month, I received an email from my library, telling me the author of this book was coming to town:

Playing With the Enemy, by Gary Moore

Because the event was sponsored by a Scott County Reads grant -- the library had some free copies of his book, so I picked up a copy.  I "planted it" in our home library (the bathroom), thinking John might read it. (this is how he meets most books in his life).

Here's what the book is about:

(From Publisher's Weekly:)  In 1940, at just 15 years old, small-town baseball star Gene Moore was signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers, who saw in him the potential to become one of the great catchers of all time. Before that could happen, though, WWII intervened. Gene's story is told here by his son, a first-time author who exhibits the confidence and pacing of a pro. His gripping material certainly helps: after several years overseas in the Navy's touring baseball team, Gene was brought back to Louisiana and assigned to guard secret German POWs, whose U-boat was captured just days before the storming of Normandy. Gene teaches his German captives how to play baseball, with a number of unintended and life-altering consequences. When Gene's finally able to return home to Sesser, Ill., he's "on crutches, depressed and embarrassed," holing up in the local bar and prompting one bartender to lament, "he's become one of us, when we were hoping he would make us like him." Gene's journey from promise to despair and back again, set against a long war and an even longer post-war recovery, retains every bit of its vitality and relevance, a 20th-century epic that demonstrates how, sometimes, letting go of a dream is the only way to discover one's great fortune.

John finished reading the book before I did. He identified with the boy-loving-baseball story in the book, and he also enjoyed the WW II history lesson. But the story of the German sailors being held in a top secret POW camp really hit home with him. The Germans failed to scuttle their submarine -- so the Allies captured a working Enigma machine.

John and I attended Gary Moore's presentation at the LeClaire library.  The author did a wonderful job of telling his father's story -- I could have listened to that guy talk all night long...AND -- the book has so far, enjoyed 19 reprints!!   Next year, it will be made into a movie.

So -- what events might be happening at YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY this month??

Down The Rabbit Hole

This week, every blog post will be about libraries...

Growing up in rural Iowa in the 1950's, the library came to us. It was a very special event -- every-other-Wednesday it came to the very small town of McCausland, Iowa.  It is thrilling to me that this program still exists.

The Bookmobile, based in Eldridge, Iowa, visits rural areas six days a week.

But so much has changed. Today's library is nothing like the library of my childhood.

Libraries are no longer just about reading books...OH NO...they have CD books, and movies, and puzzles and art...And -- Holy Cow -- THEY HAVE EVENTS...and programs...and interactive ways to learn new things and connect with the world.

When Lilly was four years old, I took her to her first Library event. At our local library, in Princeton (it used to be the bank)...

It was an event about a local woman who rescues animals...

A random picture I took that day -- the library is across the street from the bank. On the other side if the bank is the Mississippi River...

This wasn't Lilly's first visit to the Library -- but it is the one she will remember for the rest of her life...

The woman brought dogs, cats, rabbits (lots of them), and other assorted critters...Lilly was SO EXCITED...

She talked about kindness...

People get strange animals as pets, then realize how much work pet ownership can be..and the animals are often abandoned.

This tortoise had been living in an apartment bath tub.

Lilly COULD NOT WAIT for her turn at petting a rabbit!!

Nobody does quality programming for children better than YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY. And every event I've ever attended has been FREE.

IT IS AMAZING, REALLY, when you think about it... Warren enjoys the Wednesday morning toddler play group at our local library, my niece Kelcy takes her pre-school children to the Friday afternoon craft day activity at her local library.

They do Easter Egg hunts, Christmas decoration projects, weekly Lego clubs, after-school programs...!!

If you are lucky enough to have a child in your life -- TAKE HIM/HER TO THE LIBRARY!! 

Let's Hear it for Libraries

Lately, there has been a lot of hub-bub about Bill and Melinda Gates giving their fortune away via their charitable foundation. They made big headlines when Warren Buffet came on board, and they started to ask other billionaires to do the same...

Warren said, "I want to give my children enough money so they can do anything, but not enough money so they feel they can do nothing..."

This is not such an original thought. Rich people have ALWAYS struggled with this issue. What happens to the money after you die? And, at what point is it doing your children more harm than good??

So, let's talk philanthropy....

After the Civil War, one of the biggest problems in America was European immigrants. Millions of young men were coming to this country to find a better life for their families. They came from all across Europe -- from Ireland, Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, etc.  They didn't speak English, and they were mostly illiterate. 

Many towns tried to start libraries, but books were expensive, and there was no government money. Public support was scarce or non-existent.

THE REASON WE HAVE SUCH A WONDERFUL SYSTEM OF FREE LIBRARIES IN THIS COUNTRY IS BECAUSE OF ONE MAN...his vision....and his philanthropy...

Thank you, Andrew Carnegie!!

From 1892 to 1917, Andrew Carnegie built an amazing 1700+ libraries in the United States. It was interesting to learn that the first library he gave money for OUTSIDE the State of Pennsylvania was in Fairfield, Iowa.

If a town accepted the money to build a Carnegie Library -- one of the rules was the BOOKS MUST BE FREE.  Free to everybody, not just the first class citizens.  Everybody should be allowed and encouraged to learn how to read...and have access to the books. 

I was shocked to learn that 101 Carnegie libraries were built in the State of Iowa. (I was not shocked to discover that there is a list, by state, on Wikipedia.)

I have enjoyed many of these libraries...notably, the beautiful public library in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and also in Clinton, Iowa. BOTH Carnegie libraries, still doing daily business.

Pottsville, Pennsylvania -- STILL a working library.

Clinton, Iowa. I used to visit this library every week. One day, I walked in and the woman said, "are you Rita Farro?" I replied, "how do you know my name? Is there a wanted poster in the back?"

I am declaring next week LIBRARY week...