Memorial Day 2010

What a gorgeous day we had for this year's Memorial Day Service! The cemetery was lined with flags seen above and the American Legion Color Guard saluted those who gave the "ultimate sacrifice" with a 21 gun salute. The Memorial Rose Garden is part of this blog post as they are also commemorating loved ones no longer living. It is sad though to see less and less in attendance at these memorial services. The weather certainly couldn't be used as an excuse! May God continue to bless America and those still putting their lives in jeopardy for our freedoms!

Playground fun

This is a view of our brand new beach playground equipment. Sure is a lot different from when I was a young girl. With the great weather we are having this Memorial Day weekend I'm sure the many campers who are already at the camp close to this beach area will make good use of the equipment as well as the other activities Blackhawk Lake offers. The fish design is most timely for this year's Summer Reading program at the library - "Make a Splash". I have been hearing fish splash as I sit on my lakeside deck. The end of the program's award ceremony may be held at the beach if weather permits. This new addition may be an added incentive.

Special Visitors

The Lake View Library recently hosted the annual Northwest Iowa Regional meeting. Six of their members were blessed with a calm day to travel after all the wind Iowa has experienced recently. The decorative table was set up to give them a "feeling" of the monthly Cafe de Poetry event held each month at the library. The only thing missing was the dinner music usually playing as poetry lovers begin arriving. That event will be without decor this week due to the annual library book sale going on as I type. That is also why there are boxes underneath the table! Ooops! Just couldn't get them completely hidden.

Golf anyone?

Golfing season has begun now that warmer weather has arrived. In driving by our local country club this week I finally saw golfers braving the wind that seems to be quite prevalent this spring. The pictures on this blog were taken yesterday at our recently opened miniature golf site along the shores of our beautiful lake. This is also part of our popular camping area called Camp Crescent. The lilac bushes caught my attention as I love their scent. I am sad to report though that the white lighting covers had to be replaced this spring due to "winter vandals" of the two legged kind.

The books along the top shelf of our Memorial bookcase are all books on golf that were given in honor of loved ones. The books seen on the bottom shelf are other memorial books on display at this time.

Going "Green" with Books!

Saw this clever way of recycling book and magazine pages at a recent library "jamboree". The breakout session was all about "going green" and each table had one of these unique "books" on display. They are all made from folded pages from either a discarded book or magazine. The smaller item represents using this same process in making hanging decorations. There were several of these "decorations" displayed on a small artificial Christmas tree for everyone to view and drool.

Remember When?

How is this for a Before and After change in the weather!! Oh, how good the sun feels lately! Now this "lakeside bookworm" can again sit outside and read. I even think this lovely weather will last an entire week but time will only tell. One of my library board members was even busy today sprucing up the library with new plants. Library patrons must be spending more time outside as well, instead of watching movies, as our video checkouts are down considerably the past few days. We can only hope that winter has finally decided to make way for spring and summer.....until next year!

Exciting Teen Books

Wild Man Island! Shark Girl! The Sea Trolls! These are 3 more new books from our Libri Grant. I actually read Will Hobb's book several years ago while teaching in New Mexico. I got to meet the author at one of the annual reading conferences I used to attend. The story is about a 14 year old boy who ends up stranded on a remote island off the coast of Alaska. Starvation forces him to seek shelter away from the coastline when a dog living with wolves leads him into the adventure of his life. I recommend the book to any age reader.

Puzzle Update

Hooray!! This puzzle started over a month ago by a father and daughter is now completed. Several people added pieces from time to time including the two avid library patrons seen here. Needless to say, once all the colored pieces representing land masses were put in order, the many blue pieces for the oceans took much longer to complete. I, myself, am an avid puzzle fan as one would see if they visited my home. I choose mostly scenic puzzles and glue them to be hung on walls in my home. I presently have up over a dozen such puzzles which include pictures of birds, horses, Indians, Thomas Kinkade scenes, tropical scenes and desert scenes.

Barbies galore!

Barbie fans this is for you! Come see the gorgeous window display we have for the month of May. These are just some of the dolls collected by a local resident, Gina Schlepp, who started her collection from when her mother started giving the dolls to her as gifts. Gina's two daughters are now the recipients of their grandma's tradition.

It's a "ducky" life!

Meet some of the water fowl I get to see from my lakeside windows. Mr. and Mrs. Duck are regular visitors. The pelicans are more limited in the months they visit. Mr. & Mrs. Duck enjoy feeding off of the bird seeds that fall from my birdfeeder. That is probably what keeps them around all spring and summer.

With the 2010 summer reading program soon to get underway, I have pulled out all the many books we have related to a "water theme" as the national theme is "Make A Splash". The book in the front of this picture is one of our new ones received from the Libri Foundation grant. It is by the author, Amy Hest of which we have other books by her as seen in the picture. Eric Carle is a popular children's author and we just received his book "10 Little Rubber Ducks" also from this special grant.

More Spring foliage

Arbor Day was just last week and these beautiful pictures attest to why we enjoy trees and flowering shrubs. All around town people are now out working in their gardens and doing yard work.

In Honor of Boy Scouts of America

What an outstanding centennial memorial to the Boy Scouts of America! It is also part of our memorial collection, those books given in memory of loved ones. It will definitely be a book to enhance our collection for years to come. The book has 272 pages which includes over 300 full color photographs and many other memorabilia with narration from the groups early foundation to the present.

I have a special fondness for this group as my own son was once an active scout. He was also part of a special Boy Scout group called the " Thunderbirds", a group that performed native Indian dances. We were living in New Mexico at that time and became involved in a lot of the native Indian cultural events.

The other two books in this picture are 2 other new memorial books available to our patrons. The Walk by Richard Paul Evans has been a popular book as he is a favorite author. The other book is about the friendship of Martha Stewart and Mariana Pasternak entitled The Best of Friends.

Coffee at the 'Ole Log Cabin

What a great morning we had for the beginning of this year's "Coffee at the Cabin" get together. This event was started last summer after the grand opening of this renovated original log cabin that had been donated to the town of Lake View by the original Belt pioneer family. The main "difference" with this cabin is that electricity was installed which is how we kept the coffee warm, but there is a great working fireplace inside that was used this past winter for a kid's sledding event. Will wait until next winter to share those pictures as all of us don't want to see anymore sights of snow anytime soon!!!! Our next coffee time will probably be toward the end of June but our annual fundraising pancake meal is scheduled for Saturday, May 29th at the Centennial Shelter House in Speaker Park. Watch for news on our 2nd annual Kid's Pioneer Day Event as well coming in August!!!