Bookworm Bookmarks

My friend Rena Worthen is the genealogy librarian in Fincastle, VA.  This is the library in Botetourt County that has the most extensive material for researching your roots.  Fincastle is the county seat for Botetourt County.  She has added tons of material and researches names at as many local cemeteries as she can find.  Now she needs more bookcases.

  

On a recent trip to a library in Pennsylvania, she saw that they were selling bookworm bookmarks as a fundraiser.  Rena decided this was a way to help her purchase her bookcase.  Then she decided that I would be the perfect patsy best one to make these bookmarks.  I was a willing servant and started making some based on the pattern she provided me.
    

I have a lot of yarn from various other projects, so I made a few in several colors.

  

  

Most are long enough to use in a hardback book.

  

Googly eyes make them look more wormlike and kind of cute!

  

I made a few short ones with no eyes for little kids so they can't choke on them.  I didn't make too many of the little ones as a kid book is usually finished in one sitting, but if someone wants to buy one for their little one, who am I to argue?

I have a large, flat, heart-shaped basket made with patriotic fabric that I thought would nice for a display.  A silly sign finished off my contribution.

  

If they sell, I will make more.  This is an experiment to see if there is a market for hand crocheted bookmarks in the library.  It is up to Rena to price them.  The cost of the yarn and the googly eyes is negligible, but each one takes about 10 minutes to make, so I hope she gets a decent contribution for them.

Jigsaw or Wasgij?

The Fincastle Library now has jigsaw puzzles you can borrow.  We got one for the winter days when we couldn't go out and didn't feel like working.  It was a Ravensburger puzzle and we liked it.  So when Lee was wandering through a Goodwill store he found a Ravensburger puzzle and bought it for us.

This was a different kind of puzzle and one we had never seen!  It is so different they call it a Wasgij puzzle, or jigsaw spelled backward. The picture on the box was only an indication of what the puzzle was supposed to be.  The real puzzle was in the future from the picture on the box.  This was not an easy puzzle.  Imagine working a puzzle when you don't know what the outcome is supposed to be.

  

We started putting together pieces that fit, but we didn't know where to put them within the borders of the puzzle.  It started to get very frustrating.  That is when we decided to cheat. Yeah, I said it.  Cheat.

I Googled the name of the puzzle and wouldn't you know it?  There was a site to find the actual puzzle design.  It seems another person had had the same issue and so he bought and completed the puzzles and took pictures of the finished product.  Cool, I thought!  Then I realized that he was charging for the finished puzzle.  Not a lot, but I am cheap.

I found another site and downloaded the picture, but it was fuzzy and hard to read.  But at least it gave us an indication of how to go on with this puzzle.

We finished the puzzle and are going to donate it to the library the next time we go. As a public service to all future wasgij solvers, I took a picture of the puzzle before I took it apart and I printed it out. I put the picture in an envelope and placed it in the box the box with the wasgij pieces.

If someone wants to solve the puzzle, and not be a CHEATER, they can do that.  But if they are lazy, (that's me!), they can open the envelope and cheat away.  Or just check below!

  

Just another example of the customer service we provide to the community.  Oh, NO!  Don't thank us.  Just being neighborly.

Baskets on Display

  I
If you follow my blog, you will know that I have been making baskets to sell at Mountain Magic in Fall in the Town of Buchanan.  I got the first book of instructions on making coiled fabric baskets from the library.  I wanted to keep it, but libraries frown on that, so I found one on Amazon and bought it.  There are a few more books on making my new favorite type of baskets on Amazon, so I recently bought them as well.  Once I finish making baskets to sell I will try some of the different techniques in the new books.  I can't sell baskets I am learning on.  No one wants those. 

 

The library in Fincastle has a display case and various people or organizations show what they are working on for a month at a time.  I have the month of September.

 

I placed the book that I am using there, too.  It is my copy of the one the library consortium owns.  I also placed the books I will use next, in case people want to encourage the library to get those, too.  Libraries are good about that.  Tell them what you want and you have a good chance that they will get it for you.

 

This year Mountain Magic will be held October 1st.  I have reserved a space and am excited about it.  If I don't sell any baskets, I will be less excited.  I'm hoping my friends will at least stop by and visit me.

 

Naturally, I forgot to take pictures when I finished setting up the display.  The children's librarian sent me these, so I didn't have to make another trip.  It helps to have friends in high places. 

I hope to have about 50 baskets by the time Mountain Magic in Fall rolls around.  I am also hoping I don't have 50 baskets to take home at the end of the day.  My friends and family share this hope.  If I don't sell any, they have a pretty good idea what gifts they will be getting for every birthday and Christmas for a very long time....

Love A Library

I love libraries.  I have ever since I turned five and was able to get my very own library card.  Now I love them even more because I can go on the Roanoke Library website and order any book I want.  I generally go to the Advanced Search page.  There I can just look at the newest Fiction or Non-Fiction published this year, or late last year.  I can also choose to look for only paperback books or hard covers.  The library lets me know when I have books and I just walk in and pick them up.

This last week I really scored.  I got a bunch of new books that I have had on request for some time.  They all came in at once.  Isn't that always the way?

Check these out!



I haven't really liked the most recent Stephanie Plum books.  It seems like Evanovich was just writing the same book over and over with just different names.  This one took the characters forward a bit and was better than the last few I have read. 



I ALWAYS like Robert Crais.  He writes several different characters and then combines them every once in awhile.  Elvis Cole and Joe Pike frequently share a book.  Both characters are equally appealing and for different reasons, but always because they do whatever it takes for Elvis to save the day in his role as private investigator.  These take place in Los Angeles and I like revisiting places I know, while I go along the exciting ride with these interesting characters.  In this book he brought in three different characters from previous books and that made it fun.  It works just fine as a stand alone novel, if you have never read him.  But I predict if you do, you will go back and read all his novels.  He's that good. 



Every once in a while you have to read some non-fiction.  I prefer novels, but this book sounded interesting.  It tells the story of the pirates along the Barbary Coast.  Some countries paid tribute so that their commercial vessels weren't attacked by pirates.  When the US gained freedom from Britain, we lost the protection from them for our ships and they were boarded, had their cargoes stolen and their crews enslaved.  The fledgling country had a limited amount of money available to pay these pirates and no Navy to protect them.  This book explains how the problem was solved with the Muslim pirates that had no respect for any non Muslim nation and felt they could enslave all captured sailors and torture, kill or hold them for ransom.  They could take tribute money and still take a ship or two.  We also would have had to make deals with, and pay tribute to, many of the groups along the Barbary Coast.

In this book you also understand why the Marine Hymn includes "to the shores of Tripoli".  It was a quick read and you might find you like history presented in this form, rather than the dates/battle form most history books use.



I ALWAYS like David Rosenfelt. He writes a series about an extremely wealthy lawyer, Andy Carpenter, who only works when backed into a corner.  And when he believes his client is innocent.  In addition, he runs a dog rescue and all of the titles involve dogs.  He is funny and interesting.  He also writes stand alone novels, but I prefer the Andy Carpenter ones.

After all, who doesn't like a murder mystery with dogs??  Look at that FACE!

Dogtripping by David Rosenfelt

I need to start this off my saying that I love David Rosenfelt.  I have read all of his books and his Andy Carpenter series is amazing.  When I worked at the Fincastle Library I used to pick an author each month that I thought was wonderful, but wasn't as popular as, say, Patterson or Grisham.  David Rosenfelt was so good and so funny that I went to his web page.  Then I discovered that the Tara Foundation he writes about in the Carpenter series is a real foundation that he and his wife started in California to rescue and adopt out Golden Retrievers...or basically any dog that he can fit in at the veterinary office he uses and his house.

After one of the California fires that almost burned his house and MANY dogs, and I grew up in California and know how devastating they can be, he and his wife decided to get out of the state and move to Maine.  We also left California to get to the east where people are friendly and less concerned with the superficial and to have seasons.  This winter has not made us rethink that decision...much.

When I featured Mr. Rosenfelt, I sent him an email.  I figured if he put an email address in his books, he must want people to write him.  I also assumed that I would get a form letter back thanking me for my interest, like I would get from a politician.  But, no.  I got a real email wanting to know where in the heck was Fincastle?  We were thrilled and told everyone who came in to read his books.  Sadly this won't help him pay for his dog food, being a library and all, but maybe the patrons will recommend the book or get impatient waiting on the list to get the new issue and go BUY one.  It could happen!

When he decided to move cross country with all the dogs they were keeping, the old, sick or unadoptable ( this included many they kept just because they loved them and couldn't bring themselves to let them go),  he asked for suggestions.  I suggested an all pet airline,  thinking they could fill a plane and just go from point A to point B, but this is not how it works and Mr. Rosenfelt thanked me for the idea and went on to decide to drive them all across country.

We had recently driven from California to Virginia with 2 cats and knew how hard that would be.  Each time you stop you have to put them back in a carrier and that is just to get gas or a meal.  Then you have to find a motel that will take pets and pay the extra cleaning fee...per pet.  Imagine that times many drivers and 25 dogs!   Remember these are mostly old or ill pets.  Don't forget the pills and feeding 25 dogs.  And the potty breaks.

When we lived in Orange County and walked our Golden Retriever we had to get used to carrying plastic bags to pick up after them.  Now we live on 57 acres and have no idea where our dog goes.  We also used to have 2 very large horses who processed a massive amount of grass and hay.  This filled two buckets a day, every day.  I imagine 25 dogs could do that, too.  But dogs don't eat hay and what they process has an olfactory issue that I am sure we can't imagine.  The Rosenfelts don't have to imagine anything.

I started reading the book that chronicles his journey called Dogtripping  25 rescues, 11 volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure.  I got to page 13 where he explains about their precious dog, Tara, the impetus of the Foundation.  I'm crying and write him another email.  I thought this book would be a funny account of his cross-country adventure and didn't want to read a SAD story.  The following is part of what I wrote:

Message Body:
Thanks a lot.  I just finished page 13 and I'm crying like a baby.  We have had
2 Goldens and each only lived until 10.  Ten years of complete love and devotion
to our family and amazing dogs for our children. 

I intend to finish this book, but I better not cry any more.

He unexpectedly wrote back within just a few hours.

On Sunday, February 23, 2014 2:54 PM, "davidrosenfelt@aol.com" wrote:

My goal is to bring misery into as many lives as possible.

(I don't think you'll find the rest of the book nearly as sad as the Tara part).

Hope you like it…)

David

Now do you see why I love this man?  He has an entire kennel living in his house and on his furniture in order to give them a few good years or even months.  He goes to the massive trouble of transporting them across country.  He only whines and moans just a little when he is required to take one to the vet or his wife goes "shopping" at a shelter and brings home 3 or 4 more old or sick dogs.  He's a prince.  And he writes BACK, something my own cousin rarely does.

I called another cousin to tell her to go out and get this book.  She is on her second Great Pyrenees rescue.  The most recent one is a Golden Retriever mix who sheds white and golden hair at a prodigious rate.   She also has a poodle mix from a puppy mill with a lot of digestive issues.  She will be able to relate.  I told her the book was guaranteed to give her sniffles and giggles. 

Interspersed with the trials and tribulations of their travels, the book details some of their most poignant or funny or just plain interesting rescue stories.  I highly recommend this book.  As I do all of Mr. Rosenfelt's books, particularly the Andy Carpenter series. 

And while I freely admit I love this man and his wife, based entirely on his writings, I do not want to come stay at his house for a visit or a meal.  I have a rescue dog and two rescue cats and entirely too much pet hair on my floor and furniture.  I don't need to have a good imagination to have an idea of the potential hairy abode from 25 mostly large dogs.

But I'm glad they are the kind of crazy nutjobs that enjoy this type of work.  I wish there were more like him (not next door).  Even more, I wish there was no need for this kind of work.  Makes me sad.

A Card From Julia

Shortly after getting a job at the Fincastle Library, I met a wonderful family.  They home school the kids so they are library regulars.  It wasn't until a few years later I discovered we were cousins.  Our great grandmother's were sisters.  My side of the family went to California from Des Moines, Iowa.  Her family left Iowa and moved to New York.

We both ended up in Botetourt County.  Can you imagine???  My father wrote a genealogy and would have been so fascinated. I wish he were here to meet them.

 

Julia, one of my young cousins, sent us a Valentine's Day card that she made herself. 

 

Isn't that the sweetest thing?

 

So, of course I had to make her one, too.

 

I love that she thought of us and sent us a card.  People who make cards to send understand the time and thought that goes into making one.  So I know she will appreciate the one I sent back.

 

I need to finish the quilt I have been working on in the craft room to make room for some serious card making.  If we start sending cards between the two families, this means I have to ramp up my card making.  Julia is one of 10 children!

T-Shirt Quilt

When I said I was only going to do one more project this year, I lied.  Well, I misspoke.  I meant it at the time, but facts have proven me wrong.

 

I cleaned up my closet and discovered a bunch of old Federal Express T-shirts that I had saved.  Some were from when we lived in Hawaii and the rest were from when we were in California.  Rather than tossing them, I thought I might try my hand at a T-shirt quilt.  This is when you cut out the printed part of a T-shirt and use it to make squares for a quilt.

 

I would never start a project without my able, slothful, assistant.  And who would want to work with fabric that wasn't covered in cat hair?  Well, I would, but I don't always have that option.  And Lee would never help me, so he is company, of a sort.

I even have one from when I worked in Burbank, before I met Lee.  I may leave that one out.  It was in the early days of Federal Express and the guys all got together and had some shirts made.  The planes flew in to the Memphis hub and then the packages were sorted and flown to their destination overnight.  Back then the service commitment was that the packages would be delivered by noon the next day and Federal Express was the only company that could  consistently do that.  We were proud of that and so the T-shirts were born and they said:  Federal Express - keeps it up all night and gets if off by noon.

Ah, youth.  They all thought it was funny.  Ok, I admit it, I thought it was funny, too.  I still have the shirt.  I probably won't put it in the quilt.  Most likely.

Most of the quilts have been worn and have various stains. I didn't have enough to discard those and I just decided that that will be part of the charm of this quilt.  Or I may applique something over he worst of the stains.  I'll decide that later.

 

I haven't made a quilt on my own, without a class to tell me what to do.  I went to the Fincastle library to find a book on T-shirt quilts.  They have an extensive collection of quilting books and I found one. 

 

Then I hit the Old Trinity Schoolhouse Quilt shop for advice and some supplies.  I bought some fusible interfacing to iron to the back of the T-shirt material to stabilize it.  Federal Express had Purple and Orange as their colors, so I got some of that.  Now that they are FedEx, there are variations on purple and orange for the different services.  The T-shirts I have are from the olden days, though.  Antique.  Last century.  Gosh, I'm old.

 

I cut out the fronts and ironed them to the stabilizer.  This took forever.  I had to force myself to make the first cut and after I was successful with a few of them, it became easier.  Then I cut them to sizes that will work in rows.  Some will be larger than others because I didn't want vast area of white T-shirts on my quilt. 



 

I don't  have an even number, so I think I will fill in with pictures I will attempt to download onto fabric I can run through the printer.  Also purchased at the quilt shop.

 

I am not going to stress about this project, because there is no deadline, so I will work on it when I feel like it.  And when I can decide what goes where.  I need a class!

 

Free Magazines

 I read about a new program through the library to get free magazines to download on my iPad or other electronic devices.  I like free.  It's one of my favorite things.

I gave up magazine subscriptions because I don't always read them or there is only one or two things I find interesting and therefore, not worth the cost.  Plus, where do I put them? Must I keep them forever?  Can the shiny pages be recycled?

But if I could read them on my iPad and never have to recycle or worry about cost?  I'm in.

I generally go to Fincastle or Buchanan library and got help there.  The system also works through the Roanoke library system.  I assume that most libraries in the United States that have a e-library system are also hooked up.

This is how I did it.

Go to the county site. In my case it is  http://www.co.botetourt.va.us/  I don't know why I can't go through the library site, but I couldn't figure it out and this is what I was told.  You folks elsewhere will have to check with your libraries!

 

From there click on LIBRARY and then ONLINE SERVICES.

 

Scroll down to Magazines and News and click on  ZINIO.

 


You will need to have a library card number to sign up ( which you can get in any of the county libraries) and you have to download the free ZINIO app.

Follow the prompts and then choose a few magazines and start reading.

You can bookmark pages to return to, which is good for those that want to refer back to recipes and decorating ideas.  Like ME!

I have only been doing this for a few weeks, so I don't know if the next month of the magazines I chose will pop up or if I will have to go choose them again. It isn't an onerous thing, so I don't mind either way.  There is quite a few to choose from.   I really like this new program.

But, PLEASE, libraries.  Don't stop buying BOOKS.  They don't run out of power in the middle of the book.  I can flip back and forth in chunks and I just like them better.  My potential future grandchildren may not , though.

I'm OK with e-magazines, though.

Christmas Card Classes

The Fincastle Library has asked me to orchestrate some activities in the meeting room.  Library usage is down all over and a slight drop in a small library is a big deal.  I have been trying to come up with some things to do during the day to get in the adult crowd.  My father and my grandfather both used to do slide presentations of their various travels.  Travelogues were big events and they could fill an auditorium at Pasadena City College back in the day. My father was the school Psychologist and my grandfather was on the Board Of Trustees, so maybe they came to avoid losing funding or getting psychoanalyzed .  My brother kindly, and with ancient slide-type technology,  put some of them on DVDs and I may try that.

 Our good friend from New Zealand, Grant Foster, used to travel around the United States presenting travelogues of many interesting counties including New Zealand, Greece and Portugal with witty dialogue and glorious scenery.  I have thought of using some of them, assuming I can get the rights.  The question I have is whether people would come out for a travelogue, or is the National Geographic Channel in a La-Z-Boy all they want?

In the meantime, I thought I might offer some card making classes.  Without assistance I can probably teach about 10 people at a time and if we can fill the room with crafty adults they might just check out a book on the way out.  Maybe they will check out a book on card making and teach ME the next week. 

I decided to start with a Christmas Card.  I won't be able to get the room scheduled and the class advertised earlier than that.  If it goes over well I can do one more class before Christmas and then maybe Valentine's Cards?  Who knows.  Maybe some generic cards would work.  I guess I will ask the attendees what they want to do.

In the meantime I have been practicing a simple embossed card with a handmade envelope.  I may need to make a trip to Michael's or Jo-Ann's craft stores to get more ideas and an idea of costs.  I want them to be able to make two cards and envelopes and to keep the classes under $5. I also want them elaborate enough to be a challenge, yet easy enough to teach a room full of people to do in under 2 hours.

   

First I cut the card stock in half.  I may do that before the class...a bit worried about X-acto blades and distracted crafters.  Just fold it in half and then open it to see where to stamp.

   

I tried white and colored stock and different placements.  After stamping, I embossed with gold embossing powder and colored the card.  I covered the ribbon with matching glitter glue for a nice effect.  I like the gold on the green card, but the colors are hard to see.  Gotta rethink that.  Maybe I should use a lighter color.

   

I had the idea to use Christmas paper to make the envelopes.  This probably wouldn't work with cards to be mailed, but hand delivered cards could be pretty.  I have an template that is easy to use and makes the right size envelope for these cards.   I also made one using card stock. It would hold up for mailing.   I learned some lessons about gluing them together that I am thankful to have figured out before the class.

   

So here are a few ideas that I may use.  I'm hoping a "field trip" to some stores will give me more ideas so that each card can be embellished to suit the "artist".  I'm kind of excited about the whole thing.

   

 

 

The Glebe, Rena and Genealogy

Rena is a co-worker of mine at the Fincastle Library. She loves, loves, loves genealogy. I think she likes dead people because they can no longer disappoint you. She helps people from all over the United States find members of their family from long ago. She also helps people trying to get into the DAR even though she thinks it's silly to brag about something over which you have no control or responsibility.

That being said, she also loves to go to various groups and teach them how to do the research they need to flesh out (or leaf out) their family trees! For the last month or so she has been going to our local senior living gem, The Glebe. It is a large complex similar to the San Clemente Villas where my mother is living. They have libraries, restaurants and a multitude of activities for the residents. Rena has been giving classes in genealogy research to a group and the culmination was a visit to the Genealogy Room in the Fincastle Library.

Now, I don't know how Rena does this. She has several groups a year in to tour and use our resources. She always manages to have a nice buffet table of delicious food and a modicum of decor to match. One thing you have to know about Rena is that she does not cook. Not ever. Except microwave coffee...blecch. It is something about which she is most vocal. So while Rena sits in her blue throne at the front desk of the library she has her minions do the work. And by minions, I include Paige who is the HEAD LIBRARIAN. Paige and I bake, Doris and Cathy organize and decorate and Rena gets the kudos. (Insert surprised and amazed face here!)

So The Glebe crowd loved the food and thanked Rena as they all filtered out.




As I was the scone baker, I was very pleased to hear the conversation between a husband and wife as they left the library. She was either much younger or just in better shape than he was. I got stuck behind him in our hallway as he stopped many times to breathe heavily and rest. She kept urging him on because the bus from The Glebe had come to pick them up. As he walking slowly out the door, I heard him complain, "But I want another scone." I wish I had thought fast enough to grab one and take it to him. Next time we should include doggie bags.

Easter Egg Hunt at the Fincastle Library

Every week during the school year, we have story hour in the library. On holidays they usually have a small party hosted by Miss Jackie and "catered" by the parents of the kids. This week we had the annual Easter Eggs hunt.

Last year it was cold and rainy for our hunt, so we hid eggs in the children's section of the library. When Jackie brought out the eggs that the moms had brought, I assumed we would hide them again inside. Not so fast, grasshopper. It was a beautiful warm day, no inside hiding for us. Cathy, Doris and I took them outside and started hiding them. It was a large turnout, however, so hiding soon gave way to dropping them any old place. I thought it would be fun to hide them on the cars that were in the parking lot, but the others wouldn't let me and insisted the eggs stay on the library side of the sidewalk. Safety shmafety, there were way more hiding places under and around cars!


We have a great group of kids and they all had fun gathering the eggs...finding is too strong of a word. So enjoy the pictures of the Fincastle story hour group going about the serious business of egg gathering!