The library will be closed, Monday the 30th of May. This year the observance falls on the original date. Before it became another Monday holiday, Memorial Day was observed on the 30th of May each year.
And for those of us born Hoosiers, this is the weekend of the Indianapolis 500.
Greta Ehrig has wowed the little ones and their caregivers on a number of occasions for Circle Time here at the TP MD Library. But this Takoma Park poet, singer,and song-writer will usher in summer with an evening for all ages, Wednesday, June 1, at 7 pm. Check out her website
The yard sale on the library lawn today is sponsored by the Takoma Park Independence Day committee. Come and buy to keep the fireworks flying.
The construction crew again cut the conduit into the library and we lost both computer connections and electricity early Friday. Although electricity was restored some time Saturday, we are still closed as we have no way to check in and check out books.
Please use both bookdrops. The blue one is on the ramp leading down to the library. The silver one is harder to find - it is near the library back door. If everyone uses just the blue bookdrop it gets full and jammed before we can get it emptied.
We will check in all books placed in the bookdrops as if they had been returned Friday.
CDs? We do not want them in the bookdrops, ever. They are much too fragile. When you return them next week just tell us that you tried to come in Friday or Saturday.
Update: it is now 12:12 and the computer network is again operating. The library will open within the next few minutes.
2005 Takoma Park Film Festival
The new film festival committee is now accepting applications until September 1st. The festival itself will be November 18th - 20th.
Clean energy open house and native plant garden tour
May 14th. 7125 Willow Ave. 11-4, free. Sponsored by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the Chesapeake Native Nursery.
Related: check-out (and of course read) Electric Dreams. Mike Tidwell (whose house you will be visiting) wrote one of the blurbs for this book. We also have, and enthusiastically recommend, his own books.
Leslie Sapp, Takoma Park's own zany spinner of tales, combines acting, mime, expressive movement, physical comedy, and narration in her own unique style of performance. On Monday, May 16th, at 7 p.m. in the Children's Room, she will enthrall all ages with a Spanish/English bilingual program of folktales. Tell your friends, por favor !
A recent post on the ETakoma blog mentioned that Yahoo Local can be used to find child care services within 5 miles of Takoma Park. If you have some sort of Yahoo account you can leave a review. Appearances to the contrary, the library is not a child care service. This will again surprise some people who have told their children to wait at the library after school today. The picture shows the current view from inside the library's front door.
The child care list looks genuinely useful, but, to our chagrin, Yahoo Local doesn't list us among the libraries. Google Local doesn't list us either. Yes, we made application to both some months ago. You can find us on AskJeeves local only if you ask for Takoma Park City Library (which is not our name) and the listing will have the wrong phone number. Consequently, we do not think highly of the quality or completeness of search engine "local" features.
We are sad, disappointed, but not surprised when books about sex are stolen. But the religious books? That seems to be the runner-up catagory in the most-likely-to-be stolen competition. Why would someone steal Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton? We are contemplating that today.
We will be closed Friday, May 6th, because of sidewalk construction.
Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival May 7-8
Parade of breeds, cook-offs, shearing, fleeces, wool, spinning. Ever dream of becoming a shepherd? Sign up for a basic shepherding workshop. Festival attendence is free, but there are some wonderful things for sale. Please do not bring any pets.
For all you fans of The Sheep-pig, AKA Babe, the working sheepdogs exhibitions can be seen in the field area at 11, 1 and 3 both Saturday and Sunday.
Have you seen the 1995 movie Babe? It is based on a terrific book - J FIC KING Babe : the gallant pig written by Dick King-Smith, illustrated by Mary Rayner. Originally published in Great Britain under the title The sheep-pig. We also have an unabidged version on tape: J AC200 The sheep-pig. Other great pigs in literature include the radiant, humble Wilbur of Charlotte's Web (E.B. White), though the sheep only have bit parts in that one.
To get to Sheep and Wool: Go up Georgia Avenue (97) for twenty-some miles until you get to the light at Cooksville. (A scant fraction of a mile before the I70 entrances.) Take a right and the festival is just a couple of miles down that road with the entrance on the left. This is a lovely trip once you get past Olney. You will go through Brookville, where Dolley Madison, her wagon load of stuff, her husband and his cabinet all stayed when the British burned Washington, August 1812. ... and you will be going up the road which was the route JEB Stuart's cavalry took to Gettysburg, late June 1863. You can read much controversy about his choice. At Brookville his cavalry released wagon trains captured at Rockville, and at Cooksville they took a couple of days bashing up the BO railroad .....
During the unlovely first few miles of trip you will be going up the route of Jubal Early's raid on Washington. Check our Maryland history collection.