Manchester Library Friends Newsletter

December 2007

There will be no December 2007 meeting.

2008 Schedule

Jan 23 7:00 pm FOML mtg

Feb 9 9-3:00 Book Sale

Feb 27 7:00 pm FOML mtg

Apr 19 9-2:00 Plant and Bk Sale

Jun 15 12-4:00 Salmon Bake/Bk Sale

Sep 13 9-3:00 Book Sale

Nov 11 9-3:00 Book Sale

Message from the President

My term as president of the Friends of the Manchester Library is drawing to a close in February. For the past two years I have made recognition of our “Friends” a high priority. In support of this, we have added annual recognition brunches, booksale pre-sale events with hors d’ oeuvres and beverages, “Special Friend of the Library” honors, and a concerted effort to get newsletters out quarterly. These special efforts are intended to show, in some small way, how the labors of our loyal band of “Friends” are appreciated. Without this generous donation of time and labor, our community library would not have a home.

I would like ask all of our patrons to help with this effort by personally expressing your appreciation to a “Friend” the next time you see one laboring away on a project in support of the Library. Also remember, we love having company in our efforts; feel free to join us!

---John Winslow, President FOML

Penny Drive Passes $2007

The Family Inn’s penny drive passed a major milestone this month, with the donation of a huge jar of coins netting over $60. Seems fitting to reach $2007 at the end of this great year. Our continued thanks to Doug and Sissy for hosting the collection box!

Election coming up!

Each year FOML elects officers and directors. If you would like to participate in FOML and could attend the monthly meetings, please consider serving your community this way. Contact John Winslow at 871-7115 or Carol Campbell at 871-7820 by January 10, 2008.

Holiday Book Sale

The annual holiday book sale netted just over $1000; our thanks to those mystery “friends” who donated so many books, and to the wonderful volunteers who do all the work!

The Library Staff Recommends:

Dee: Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell. A lost Shakespeare play potentially worth millions is the catalyst for this suspenseful thriller from first-time fiction writer Carrell. You’ll follow the adventures of main character Katharine Stanley who’s drawn into a murderous plot when her long-time friend and mentor, an eccentric Harvard Professor of Shakespeare, is murdered on the very stage on which Stanley is directing Hamlet at the Globe in London. If you enjoyed the Da Vinci Code’s mysterious plot twists and puzzles you are sure to relish this whodunit woven into real Shakespeare history and mysteries. Even if you are not a Shakespeare fan you will appreciate this good read.

Plant Review: Vines for our area

---by Norma Brady

An old fashioned favorite is trumpet vine (Campsis radicans), a flamboyant late summer and autumn bloomer. These huge melon-orange flowers push out through the fern-like foliage and blend in perfectly with other fall colors in the garden. Because this is a vine, it adapts beautifully to a strong trellis or lattice, garage or garden wall. I saw a spectacular vine climbing up a telephone pole, and it was stopping traffic. The Rufous and Anna hummingbirds and butterflies are attracted to the blooms and because it blooms late it feeds these birds after the annuals have expired. Another plus for the vine is that is a native plant in our area. This is important, as natives require much less attention and water, and sill survive through drought conditions. In our area we do not have a lot of native vines to choose from. Trumpet vine, Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus) and honeysuckle are three very hardy and strong examples. Sometimes trumpet vine will send up a start from the root; I have dug up a few to sell at our spring sale (April 19, 2008). Honeysuckle can become a bit uninteresting in late summer and won’t suffer if cut way back for cosmetic reasons. It will return in spring much happier. Virginia creeper turns a brilliant red in fall, and is easily started in water for new plants.

Another interesting plant note:

Gaillardia, a lovely summer and autumn blooming plant, was named after an 18^th century French botanist. The Native Americans admired the plant and copied the colors and markings to design their plants, hence the common name: Blanket flower.

Festive Holiday Book Marks

---by Leigh Ann Winterowd

These bookmarks are easy to make, inexpensive and utilize many materials you probably already have.

Supplies Needed:

Old Postage Stamps

Glue stick

Rubber Stamps

Ink

Card stock cut into 2 1/4 x 7 1/4 rectangular strips

Edging Scissors

Clear Vinyl Bookmark Sleeves available at www.joann.com

Directions: 

Measure and cut out rectangular strips of card stock using edging scissors. Use glue stick to affix stamps to card stock. Create a decorative collage on front and back of bookmark using postage stamps and rubber stamps. Be creative!  Let the bookmark dry completely and then insert into vinyl bookmark sleeve. These make great stocking stuffers and gift tags.

Stop by the Manchester Library to see a sample of this project. A limited supply of vintage postage stamps is available.

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee --a review by Bill Lounsbery

Every two years or so I re-read a few books I’ve found inspiring. To Kill a Mockingbird is an excellent portrayal of small-town society in the Deep South.

I met Lee when a college friend took me to Monroeville, Alabama to “meet his aunt”. A petite, genteel lady, in her mid thirties, Lee served us tea on her porch as we discussed the fortunes of Auburn University football. (Frankly, if it weren’t for football, I don’t know what Auburn would do. Lee had attended the U. of Alabama, but nobody’s perfect.) We didn’t discuss her book, though a movie was being made of it at the time, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. (In the film, Robert Duvall makes his first movie appearance as Boo Radley.)

The story: Scout Finch lives with her brother Jem and her widowed father Atticus (a prominent lawyer) in the sleepy Alabama town of Maycomb. Jem and Scout befriend Dill who has arrived in Maycomb for the summer. The spooky house owned by Nathan Radley, a home Nathan’s brother Arthur (Boo) hasn’t left in years, fascinates Dill. Scout starts school that fall, and hates it, but through the year she and Jem finds gifts left for them in a tree on the Radley yard. Dill returns the next summer, and the three invade the Radley property; Nathan shoots at them, and Dill loses his pants in his rush to get away. He returns to find them hanging on the Radley fence, mended.

To the consternation of Maycomb’s racist white community, Atticus agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. Maycomb’s children subject Scout and Jem to much verbal abuse, but during the trial it becomes clear that Tom’s accuser, Mayella Ewell, propositioned Tom until she was caught by her father, Bob Ewell. To cover up, she accuses Tom of rape. Atticus provides telling evidence that Bob Ewell, not Tom Robinson, administered the marks on Mayella’s face. Despite this, the biased, all-white jury convicts Tom.

Bob Ewell, publicly embarrassed, seeks vengeance by attacking Jem and Scout as they walk home from a Halloween party. Boo Radley saves them, kills Ewell, and carries the injured Jem to the Finch residence, where the sheriff absolves Boo, claiming that Ewell tripped over his own knife.

Scout finally determines what life must be like for Boo, who has returned to the confines of the Radley home. She learns sympathy and understanding, and even this brush with violence doesn’t sully her faith in human goodness. One suspects that she will grow up to be a strong and fair-minded individual – in other words, Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird is a powerful story and, in my opinion, one of the best novels to come out of our country in the last century.

Recently Harper Lee received the Medal of Freedom (the highest award given to a civilian) for her book and her other acts of charity.