Swing down to the Library

Swing on down to the Liberal Memorial Library and get ready for an evening, outdoor concert with the "Swingin’ Saints Jazz Band” on Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m.                                                                                                        

It’s free to the public so bring a lawn chair and listen to music from the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. It also might be appropriate to bring your dancing shoes.

Under the direction of Darin Workman, the band is of comprised of 14-18 community and student musicians, who will take you back to the days when Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman were the kings of swing and ruled the music world.

You’ll hear the combination of trombones, trumpets, and saxophones along with the piano, drums and bass that will bring you back to an era gone by. Memories will start flowing and the urge to get up and start swinging and dancing may overtake you.

Come down to the library, bring a lawn chair and enjoy what sure will be a wonderful trip down memory lane and an exciting new experience for those who have never heard the Big Band sound.

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We are continuing with our journey into outer space on Mondays in October. Learn about the wonders of the universe and NASA programming at the Library through a series of fun and educational events, which will include speakers, demonstrations, and activities.

Monday, October 8: Movies and video clips on NASA, featuring “Toys in Space”

Monday, October 15: Aaron Johnson of the National Weather Service in Dodge City will be presenting a program on the introduction to the basics of the atmosphere and climate controls of the earth along with the beginnings of the NWS.

Monday, October 22: Space Food. What did the astronauts take we them to eat in outer space? We’ll find out. And you’ll get a chance to taste space food!

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Just for a refresher, here’s are the policies of the Liberal Memorial Library.

Liberal Memorial Library’s collection includes more than 77,000 items: books, audio books, videos, DVDs, magazines, music CDs, reference materials, puppets, and audio files through the Kansas Library Card.

Library cards are free to all residents of Kansas. A form of state identification must be presented to show that a patron is a Kansas resident along with a piece of mail. Out-of-state patrons are required to pay an annual fee of $25 per family.

All library patrons over the age of 18 MUST present a government-issued form of identification and a utility bill.

Library cards are sent through the United States

Postal Service to library patrons and should arrive within one week of application.

A patron cannot check out items until they receive their card in the mail.

Children are entitled to the same check out privileges as adults. They must have a parent or guardian present to get a library card. This parent or guardian will be held responsible for the safe return of all library property and any fines or fees that are accrued.

The staff asks that parents or guardians monitor the appropriateness of library materials that their children borrow. The library staff is not responsible for making that judgment as individual families have different ways of deciding what is suitable for their children.

All materials in the library may be checked out for two weeks, except for DVDs and video cassettes which may be checked out for one week.

All library patrons must have their own library card to check out materials.

In an effort to circulate as many materials as possible a patron is limited to no more than 15 items: which may include four DVDs, six VHS, six audio CDs (including audio CD books and music CDs), six audio cassettes, six magazines, one equipment, and four interlibrary loan items.

Overdue items are $.10 per day except for DVDs which are $1 per day.

Materials may be renewed in person, by telephone, or online.

Most materials may be renewed twice unless another patron has reserved the item.

DVDs, video cassettes, pre-literacy kits, and items that have placed in the New York Times Bestsellers cannot be renewed.

A request for renewal of interlibrary loan materials must be made three days before the due date or they may not be subject to renewal.

Variety of Things for Patrons at Your Library

Some exciting things are happening here at the library!  Last week staff attended a training session for a new early literacy concept called 6 by 6 Ready to Read.  The library also applied for a grant to help update our parenting collection, which has found its way once again to the children’s side of the library in the non-fiction section.  Watch for more news on these exciting ventures in the weeks to come. 

 If you haven’t come to one of our NASA sessions, be sure to check the schedule for more information on the upcoming programs. The next program in the series will take place on Monday, September 24, at 4 p.m. when a speaker from the Kansas Cosmosphere will be presenting “Living in Space” in the Cooper Clark Room and will address such things as what an orbit is and how it is achieved, what micro-gravity is and how it affects human physiology and function, and how an astronaut spends a typical day in space.   This is a great opportunity to hear a Cosmosphere program without having to leave Liberal.  Plan to join us at 4 p.m. on Monday.

 Some of the new books to recently arrive are now in our non-fiction section.  Learn to Speak Fashion – A Guide to Creating,Showcasing & Promoting Your Style by Laura deCarufel  provides the interested young person with information on every aspect of fashion from creating to modeling to photography to marketing.  The author is very down to earth, shares her opinions, and uses lots of examples from her own experiences.

 Nature’sPatchwork Quilt – Understanding Habitats is by Mary Miche’ with wonderful illustrations by Consie Powell.  This book explains several different habitats and their occupants and how the existence within the habitat fits together like a patchwork quilt.  Terms such as adaptation, interdependency, and biodiversity are explained in easily understood terms.  Age range is listed as 4 to 10, lending itself well to some parent and child time with lots of discussion about the various smaller pictures in each spread.

 Note on the schedule below that our story times will take place on September 27.  That day will mark the end of the first session of story times for the school year.  Though we normally take a two-week break between sessions, this next session will be the exception.  We will only break for one week and resume story times on October 11.  Check the library’s website or in-house postings for the complete schedule, or stop by either the circulation desk or children’s desk for a printed copy. 

 The library is seeking national political campaign buttons and other small memorabilia from past elections to place in the glass display case in our hallway for the month of October up through the election in November.  If you have any items you would be willing to loan, please phone 626-0180, ext 4 or stop by the library.  Make sure the person who accepts your loaned items catalogs them and gets your name and phone number to insure their safe return. 

 Another thing the library is seeking are names of daycare providers who cannot bring the children in their care to the library for our special celebration of Kansas Reads to Preschoolers the week of November 12 and would be interested in lining up a home visit from a library staff member to share the selected story.  If you know someone in this situation, please have her call the library to get on the schedule. 


Check out what’s going on below, and we’ll see you at Memorial Library!

Happenings at Your Library the week of September 24

Sept 24         4 p.m.          “Living in Space” presented by KS Cosmosphere

Sept 27         9:15             Infant Storytime

                   9:55             Toddler Storytime

                   10:15            Preschool Storytime

Sept 27         4:00             Teen Gaming

 

Fiction

Okay, Poppets, the vacation is over, the deep tan is fading, lazy afternoons of swimming or hiking or the main, easy Summer events are coming to an end—maybe not entirely in that you can still do a few of them for another 30 to 34 days, but, according to the calendar, we’re headed into Fall—and not a moment too soon, for most of us! Certainly I’m not suggesting getting out the Christmas ornaments, but it is a time to leave one season behind and I think we all do that, mentally. For instance, all the magazines and stores are finished with Summer clothes and accessories (bar-b-q sets, rattan chairs and plastic tables, and kiddie pools!) However, there’s one enjoyment we have all year round—books to read—and it’s great fun to “lose yourself” in a good story—which brings us to the subject of this column which is good Fiction.

Just so you can begin noticing, the further we get into Fall/Winter, the more you will be seeing popular authors in print and don’t forget to notice the new authors,’cause they are tomorrow’s best sellers! To put it in a current frame, Paul Ryan and our mayor, Julian Castro, are the up-and–coming powerful politicians of the next 12 to 14 years -- and, I hope, Condoleza Rice! I’ve vote for her for president now, if I could!

Well, I doubt if she ever runs for the top office but since we’re talking Fiction, let us go to the first title (how’s that, Patrice? Slick, huh? After another 100 or so Fiction columns—and their graceful segues—a simple bracelet would be nice—probably for you for making me aware of a smooth beginning to the column! We’ll discuss it later.) About the time that I think I’m pretty “in the know” about Fiction as to authors, trends, what’s developing in the field, Memorial Library sends me books to review that,
A. I’ve never heard of the authors and/or
B.  I find them hard for me—strictly as a reader now—to get “in sync” with.
It doesn’t mean I won’t be and won’t ever like the authors, it just means I can feel like a dog on a waxed floor, for a time.

So, “A City of Broken Glass”, by Rebecca Cantrell, is in that category, for me, and it says, on the cover, “A Hannah Vogel novel”, and if that rings a bell for you, great! She’s received starred reviews, by the august Publisher’s Weekly, and written three other books that, apparently, like this current on deals with the awful rise of the Nazis and their rise to power and, certainly, what it took to dominate several countries in Europe.

Hannah is a former spy for the Brits, as well as being an editor, and is traveling to Poland with her 12-year-old son, Anton, to write an article on a local festival,”when she hears that 12,000 Polish Jews have been deported from Germany”, and she changes plans and rushes to get the story on the refugees, regardless of the consequences. Her ex-lover enters into it, she helps a Jewish friend, Paul, search for his missing toddler, and tries to get the requisite paperwork together to exit the country. Along with all of this is a toddler whom she is determined to help, even though it puts her family at risk.

This all takes place before the terrible”Night of Broken Glass” where the windows and everything glass was broken to drive the Jews out of their homes and businesses—and, I imagine, to make their places of worship as well by the broken glass. It makes one shake their head and murmur—“Man’s inhumanity to Man.” The pace is exciting and the story is, while true, certainly frightening.

Now we have "This is How It Ends", by Kathleen MacMahon. It’s a love story and seems, upon perusal, quite charming. The plot is simplicity itself; "Bruno, an American, has come to Ireland to search for his roots and Addie, an out-of-work architect, is recovering from heartbreak and taking care of her infirm father." That’s how it begins, as two strangers try to get to know each other, in a fairly limited space of time.

"Back in the States, he had visited his mother every week." He just didn’t tell anyone about it, not even his girlfriend. Something she found impossible to understand—In Bruno’s opinion, she refused to understand. She was furious to find out his mother had been alive all that time. “I assumed she was dead! You only ever talked about her in the past tense—you never mentioned visiting her." He hadn’t actually intended to lie to her, but he could see that it amounted to the same thing. She thought it was about her and white with outrage she walked out. Bruno was shocked to find that he wasn’t even sorry."

That small segment showed a great deal about Bruno, his kindness and attachment to family—which was what he was doing in Ireland—and his eventual being close to Addie is done charmingly and well. A good author to "tune into" and just enjoy. She enables her characters to deal with love and learning of a dreadful fate, all being considerate and coping as well as they can—how does it end? Well.

Okay, next book—and I thought it was to be a Western by the title; “Tombstone Blues,” by Ken Hodgson, and couldn’t have been more wrong. Samantha Sterling has a new job, running a B and B in Tombstone, Arizona "The sprawling B and B is owned by a group of" –are you ready for this?--“gay hit-men and their tough-as-nails mother looking for help with their 'real' business of whacking people (killing them, that is) for The Company. All in the name of National Security, that is.”

Well, Samantha, after witnessing the poisoning of "a client on the first day on the job, is given a choice—joining in the family business or follow the dead man down an abandoned mineshaft.” Peachy. So, she wisely decides to play along—while planning to escape. The question, as always, is How? She will have to join forces with and learn from Esther, the experienced hit-lady who carries her gun in her purple beehive hairdo, so she begins learning "the hit-woman’s craft". Of course, before long Samantha "learns that removing the scum of the earth from the earth has its advantages……Soon, an outside force comes in and the gang has to battle in earnest to save themselves.

It’s a fun book to read, too. At one point, they are all discussing a certain gentleman and what should be done about him; "We’re not going to kill the man, are we?" asked Samantha and Esther chimes in with "We haven’t been paid to whack him", as she chugged down the last of her wine, “so that’s the end of that. Dinner sounds good—I’m off to take my nap. Wake me up if I’m not up by 6". I’m certainly glad that Esther understands basic business! Great, fun book and the lead man seems to understand cats—so I’ll overlook his chosen profession. Disregarding the gang’s choice of profession, this story is hilarious and I’m going to look forward to reading the next book along the same vein. Go find this.

Speaking of odd or interesting or laughable or just plain off titles, let’s consider “Serenade to a Cuckoo; A P.I. Mystery”, by Flo Fitzpatrick—and recipes are included! Heckuva deal! I always like looking at recipes., even though I may not bother to actually cook them, you understand. (Whatever happened to “help in the kitchen”?)

I’ll keep in the moment and tell you that this is about P.I. McGinnis, “who tends to dive into dangerous situations with nothing big a strong sense of humor as her back-up and who has a TV show about her life.” There is an antique clock that holds the key to the murders and if she can’t produce it, she’ll be next on the list of the recently deceased. If you like “light mysteries” and a good cast of people, this might be the one for you. The Brownies and Fudge Sauce look wonderful and if you want to try to make them, I think they’ll make you proud.

These titles are all good Summer reading, not “heavy”, and these books will sit well with any preference readers might have from romance to mystery to “characters” and you can thank me later! “The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of other things—of shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings”—and for the time being, we must part company—but a Non-Fiction will arrive next and in a relatively short time. So, fire up the grill, shape the hamburgers but do not pack them tightly, perhaps a small casserole of a mixture of baked and chili beans and, if you can find it, three tab. Out of a jar of the wonderful “Bacon Jam” and some onions, and sliced tomatoes—and no bread or bun, just put the hamburger on the plate—and read a book after the meal—outside, on the porch or patio.

The time will come soon enough when it will be too dark and cold to sit outside after dinner, so take advantage of this “soft time of weather” and if all you do is watch the sparrows or Mourning Doves or the kids playing ball, do it! Rufus Cooper likes watching the trunks of trees carefully to see if he can see the quick flick of a squirrel’s tale—the insult will not go unnoticed—and the chase is on! He never catches one but “hope springs eternal”, does it not? Take care and Caio! Bye!

Knitting for an important cause

Attention! Attention! Calling all knitters and crocheters! Join the Liberal Memorial Library for a “Knit In” to raise awareness about normal infant crying and the dangers of shaking an infant.

The Library is participating in the CLICK for Babies: Period of PURPLE Crying Caps campaign, which invites knitters and crocheters to make purple colored baby caps.
 

The “Knit In” will be held on Saturday, September 8 at the Library from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The public is invited to come and make baby caps. We’ll supply the yarn and served snacks and refreshments.

The caps will be donated to Kansas Children’s Service League who will distribute them in November and December to new babies by hospitals and birthing centers across the state.
 

CLICK for Babies, now in its second year, is a collaborative effort between the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome and invited states and provinces who have implemented the Period of PURPLE Crying. Oregon, Washington, Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, North Carolina, West Virginia, New Hampshire and Maine have joined the 2012 campaign in addition to the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
 

Last year, over 60,000 PURPLE colored caps were donated and distributed to thousands of families across North America in an effort to prevent infant abuse.

Organizers have set a goal of collecting 100,000 purple caps for the 2012 campaign.

For more information about the CLICK for Babies campaign, including patterns for caps, guidelines and details about the national campaign are available at www.CLICKforbabies.org.

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Liberal Memorial Library now offers the Mango Languages online language-learning system to its patrons, through the State Library of Kansas.
 

Learning a new language with Mango Languages is free for all library patrons, and offers a fast and convenient solution for our community’s increasing language-learning needs. Each lesson combines real life situations and audio from native speakers with simple, clear instructions. The courses are presented with an appreciation for cultural nuance and real-world application that integrates components of vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar and culture. Users learn actual conversation, breaking down complex linguistic elements within an audio-visual framework that draws important connections and builds on information they have already learned.
 

Mango is available in two versions. One is Mango Complete, a 100-lesson course that is designed to provide a deep understanding of a language and its culture. The second is Mango Basic, which teaches everyday greetings, goodbyes and helpful phrases in a short period of time and is designed to appeal to a beginner in a new language. There are more than 40 foreign language courses available and 16 English as a Second Language courses.
 

To access Mango Language, go the Library’s website at lmlibrary.org, scroll down to the Mango Languages icon, and click on it and get started.

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Don’t forget that we’re on facebook at facebook/lmlibrary. It’s a great way to communicate with us. We want to let you know what we’re doing and we want to hear from you. What programs would you like to see at the Library? What books would you like us to carry? How can we better serve you – the community? We’ll keep you posted and hope that you’ll do the same!

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Upcoming events for September:

September 11 (Tuesday): Library and Lunch at noon.  “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn will be discussed.

September 15 (Saturday): Mexican Day Independence Day Carnival from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Library lawn and parking lot. (The Library will be closed that day).

September 18 (Tuesday): The Gardening Club will be meeting at 6:30 p.m.

September 20 (Thursday): Book Chat at 6 p.m. Come down and tell us what books you’ve been reading.

All events are free and open to the public.

Saunter into the library this September!

The kids are back in school.  Autumn is slowly approaching. The library has a lot of activities planned for September.

Teens looking for activities after school can stop by the library on Thursdays. Chess classes run every two weeks.  They will be held on Thursday, September 6 and 20 from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.  Teen Gaming will be on Thursday, September 13 and 27 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  for video games, board games, and card games.  Snacks and refreshments will be served.

The library will be holding a Knit In on Saturday, September 8 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the Kansas Children's Service League Period of PURPLE Crying. Come and knit purple baby caps for newborns across the state.  The library's goal is 100 hats! Purple skeins and light refreshments will be provided. The gals at the circulation desk are furiously working on their hats through looming.  It is remarkably similar to knitting.  Some of us are trying our hand at it for the first time and bring our mistakes for our master expert Debbie to fix until we learn how to fix them ourselves.

Our weekly NASA program for middle schoolers will commence on Monday, September 10 at 4 p.m. with Space Rocks! A Giant Meteorite Board Game where students assume the roles of meteorites and learn about meteors, meteoroids, and meteorites competing to get to Antarctica! On Monday, September 24, a speaker from the Cosmosphere will be at the library for a Life in Space program detailing what an orbit is and how it is achieved, what micro-gravity is and how it affects human physiology and function and how an astronaut spends a typical day in space…  still harboring dreams of becoming an astronaut.

We will be hosting a Mexican Independence Day Carnival at the library in Cooper Park on Saturday, September 15 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Entertaining activities will include: raffles, bingo for books, musical chairs, soda toss, basketball toss, piñatas, chicken chuck, fishing, kissing booth, fortune telling, tortilla toss, beauty salon, and many more! 

The Library and Lunch gang is growing!  The next meeting will be on Tuesday, September 11 at noon.  The book “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn will be discussed.  A husband comes home and discovers his wife missing… Trying to avoid spoilers from patrons at the circulation desk until my copy comes in utilizing a lot of shushing.  The book has been making its rounds on the New York Times Bestseller list. 

The Gardening Club meets every third Tuesday of the month.  The next meeting will be on Thursday, September 18 at 6:30 p.m.  Discover what autumn and winter plants and activities are in store for the group.

Book Chat will be held on Thursday, September 20 at 6:00 p.m.  Come down to discuss what books you are currently reading and discover what new books have hit the shelves!

Out in the community, the library will have a booth at the Duck Races on Saturday, September 22. So before you get a duck, stop by the booth and say hello!

The final stages of programs are in the works for a lot of excitement for all age groups this coming fall so stay tuned!

For the latest library programming take a peek at the library website or grab a newsletter from the circulation desk. Stay tuned and connected through our social media pages.  If you have any question or suggestions about books or programs don’t hesitate to ask.  See you at the library this coming month!

Storytimes for Little Ones Begin this Week

School will have already started when this column reaches you.  For those of you with children, that means changing gears in your household from the pace of summer to a more set routine.  Here at the library the official end of summer programming came with our summer reading tee shirt claim which took place on Friday, August 10.  Youngsters who had earned shirts came to pick them up and enjoyed ice cream sundaes as well.  Those who were unable to claim their shirts last Friday will need to pick them up by August 25. 

If you didn’t come to  Bettman & Halpin Acoustic Duo at the library on the 7^th, you missed out on a great concert.  Watch our website for the next concert event.

 Fall programming at the library always means the start of our story times for little ones.  This year a change has been made in the schedule.  The day is still Thursday, but now the Lapsit Storytime will start off the morning.  It will begin at 9:15 and end at 9:35.  This age group is birth to 19 months.  Toddle-In Storytime, for children 19 months up to age 3, will begin at 9:55 and end at 10:15.  Our 3 to 5 year old Preschoolers will have the final slot, which begins at 10:30 and goes until 11:15.  Dates for the story times are August 23, 30, and September 6, 13, 20, and 27.  Patrons may call ahead to sign their child up, or may do it at the first session.  If you have never been to story time, why not give it a try?


The Southwest Kansas Library System, of which Memorial Library is a part, will be launching a new early literacy initiative next week entitled 6 x 6 Ready to Read.  It involves six skills that children should know in order to be ready to read at about age six.  Since parents are a child’s first and best teachers, there is valuable information in 6 by 6 for them.   Be watching for forthcoming information about this program.

For you older youngsters, see if you are familiar with the following authors and illustrators who are celebrating their birthdays this week.  Ogden Nash, author of The Tale of Custard the Dragon, whose birthday is the 19^th; On the 20^th, Margaret Bloy Graham, illustrator of the Harry the Dirty Dog books, and Belinda Hurmence, author of A Girl Called Boy.  Claudia Mills and Arthur Yorinks have birthdays the 21^st.  Mills authored Mason Dixon: Fourth Grade Disasters.  Yorinks is probably best known for Hey, Al, winner of the 1987 Caldecott Medal.  Moving on to August 23, children’s science topic author, Melvin Berger will celebrate.  Ian Falconer who is both author and illustrator of the Olivia titles shares August 25 with Charles Ghigna, author of early reader books like Mice Are Nice, and Lane Smith, illustrator of Jon Scieszka’s  hilarious book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.        Why not come on down to the library and check out one of these titles, don your party hat, and celebrate the author’s and/or illustrator’s special day?

The Library will be continuing with its journey into outer space in September and October. Learn about the wonders of space and NASA programming at the Library through a series of fun and educational events, which will include speakers, demonstrations, and activities.  Watch the Library’s web page and in-house postings for further details. 

Speaking of NASA, there is a lot of excitement surrounding the Mars Rover Curiosity.  Fifteen- year- old Kansas high school sophomore Clara Ma is responsible for the name ‘Curiosity’.  If you would like to follow the progress of Curiosity, check it out at www.nasa.gov.  That site also contains some interactive things for young people.  If you scroll down, there is a section entitled Participate, following your curiosity.  It contains educational games, landing videos, and much more.   

 Don’t forget to pick up your summer reading shirt and plan to attend our NASA activities in September and October.  See you at Memorial Library!

Non-Fiction

The great charm of books that are “true and not given to idle fancy” is that our element of trust is with the author, his research, his point of view and we like the manner in which he expounds, that is, puts forward his ideas and, at least to him, his point of righteousness/viewpoint/ "this-is-the- way-to-look-at-this." Many times, the author doesn’t particularly care whether everyone—or even the majority of readers—agrees with him—he’s not running a popularity contest in his writing and stated opinions to support his theories but he does care that the readers at least consider the points he raises. I think all of us do, when the point is, to us, clear and obvious and needing to be recognized as its own authority. Fine. I can trust an author’s intelligence and messianic spirit as well as the next person, but I do reserve—as is my right, to disagree with a theory or “point”-- yet still see the author’s point of view. "Civil discourse" was, I think, the idea of the Founding Fathers, the right to disagree but not become bitterly personal and use vicious verbal or written attacks. Ah well, you can see how well our country is doing now vis a vis with the president and Congress “communicating” and “discussing strong opinions”, but I digress from the realm of Non-Fiction books.


So, let’s look at a selection of books that are available in the library and I hope you find one to suit your mood and tastes from it. To begin: “Life Everlasting; The Animal Way of Death”, by Bernd Heinrich, who, according to the literary experts at the “New York Times Book Review”, says about this book, “Heinrich, who combines his keen scientific eye with the soul of a poet, glimpses an entirely different realm, one filled with wondrous activities both above and below the seemingly lifeless countryside.” So there—now you know. For those of you still reading, with slightly glazed eyes, thinking there has to be more to be said—pay attention.

This author has a hunting camp in Maine, and when a friend asked to be buried there so that he might have “a green burial”, it got Heinrich to asking lifelong questions, i.e. “How exactly does the animal world deal with the flip side of the life cycle and what lessons can be learned from a close look at the animal world?”  His work/field research (literally out in the fields and observing) focused on “the fascinating doings of creatures most of us would turn away from”, as in the field mouse burials conducted by carrion beetles (do they have a way to play the perennial “Amazing Grace” on leaves?), “the communication strategies of ravens” and the teamwork displayed by wolves. Foxes and Weasels (animal not human, that is)and bald eagles in the dispersal of their prey in the harsh cold winters and the author talks about and proves that humans still play out “ancient and important as scavengers, thereby turning life to life.”

The details are thoroughly written about, the decay, the smell, what each animal body taught him, from bees to elephant dung, but there’s no denying that the subject has its rules and methods and the outcome always in the genes.  To the tiny mites, for example, beetles are simply a vehicle for hitchhiking to more fresh fly eggs, and, I must admit, his adventures with the large animal carcasses was fascinating and I’m sure the odor, after 5 days, was daunting.  An interesting book, by a very smart man who is a contributor to national publications and is professor emeritus of Biology and the Univ. of Vermont. Check it out from the library.

“Be a Great Single Parent; Be Stress-Free and  Happy”, Susie Hayman, has some really common-sense advice combined with smarts and humor. There are, today, so many single parents with so many hurdles to jump both with their children and looking at their own wants and needs, that I’d think this book would have appeal and support.

Some of the topics are very personal and these topics are talked about, i.e.Getting Over Feelings of Guilt and Failure; Helping Your Children Cope; Going Alone; New Partners, Dating and Mating; and, in my opinion, a powerful thought/weapon is the “I” statement, which are all about to say “what I want”, “what bothers me is” and “I need”—they help both the person speaking and the one being spoken to and makes it clear as to what is going on and what can be done to help. All behavior experts agree that using the “I” pronoun is always non-confrontational, expresses your feelings, you can –and should—explain why you feel that way, and , at the end, you express what you would like to see happen. “You” is usually the percursor to being antagonistic and will not resolve the issues---but, as I’ve said, simply changing some wording is helpful.  A most sensible book and written in an easy, conversational tone, not a lecturing one.  Go find a copy!

“Osa and Martin; For the Love of Adventure”, is the story of an extremely well-known couple who lived an adventurous life, were world movie wildlife pioneers and, “on Osa’s initiative took their wildlife series onto the vaudeville stage to raise money for expeditions to the South Seas, her decisions were usually valid and valuable and they were together until Martin’s tragic death in a plane crash in 1937”.

Martin had been so well thought of that he was offered membership in the world-famous Explorer’s Club, but, at the time of course, women were not admitted to that select group.  They honeymooned in cannibal country and did early, dangerous safaris into lion country and they explored and were delighted with the world around them. Their mission was to bring Africa to Americans, and they did well, but the KKK were deeply suspicious of them. A wonderful life, inhabited with their “pets” and they were almost continually exhausted, traveling all over America , but “did it for Africa” and their next big expedition was to also be using the movies’ newest thing of “sound”. I really enjoyed this story and loved, particularly, reading about a couple who completely agreed on what they wanted to do with their lives—and did it. You’ll enjoy it, too, and it’s amazing how far we’ve all come in how we regard Africa, adventures, lions, and other cultures. A most delightful book.

I had never heard of “Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain: How to Retrain Your Brain to Overcome Pessimism and Achieve a More Positive Outlook”, by Elaine Fox, which certainly includes those people who are prone for depression, anxiety, fears, and addiction for those on one end of the scale while the pleasure seekers, who want to stay “up”, “are inclined towards risky or destructive behavior can learn to take control of their lives.”

I find it encouraging that she feels that we can retrain our brains to brighten up our lives, feel more positive and in control, and that, in essence, we can influence our own personalities—rather than letting others tell us what we “should do” or “you need to get a grip and change things in your life”. It’s a more positive thought to feel you—just you—are responsible for your decisions. She and other researchers discovered, both with their patients and returning vets, that reliving the experiences of assault, rape, burglary can and will re-trigger the feelings of panic and helplessness, and the studies go on with how to help people conquer their fears—whether of spiders, or getting on an airplane, or clowns or ticking clocks—if you’re in a state of panic over your personal demon, this book really has some excellent helpful ideas.

One of the most interesting, cutting-edge technologies, is “extinction training” and, prior to that (it involved working with the brain’s cortex and mild electric shocks on the wrist as the bad memory was re-lived by the patient) being exposed over and over to what the person was afraid of i.e. spiders, barking dogs, etc. Fascinating book, not, however,an “easy read” but well worth sticking with.

Okay, Poppets, time to go  to the stores in the mall and force myself to look for a couple of things in Chico’s, so, walk the dog in early morning cool, call a friend you haven’t talked with in awhile, get a double-dip ice cream cone, and I’ll see you next column. Bye!