Library Talk – March 7, 2017

Once again, Ripley was a bit lucky with the weather. Last Wednesday was a nuisance without power, and tree limbs down, no Internet, no phone calls because our phones go through an old-fashioned key system (no worries, our elevator phone always works), but compared to many other parts of Brown and Clermont counties, we had minimal damage.  Ripley stayed open ‘in the dark’ until 3:00 p.m., and the branches remained open the full day—they had power, but no Internet.  Thanks for understanding.

On Friday and Saturday of last week we had the pleasure of being invaded by young researchers from Nebraska. It was wonderful to have enthusiastic, bright and inquisitive high school age students visit Ripley with the intent of researching and then nominating multiple dwellings for the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom site status.  It was fun to see the ‘ah ha’ moments as they were reading through the files, books and microfilm at the library, as well as hearing about the great things they found at the Ripley Museum and information that they discovered at the individual buildings. It was a strong reminder that we have a tremendous amount of history, we have great resources we are willing to share, and there are still surprises and new material to find in our own backyard. It isn’t the only thing we do, but it is one of the most satisfying to help the wide variety of researchers that visit our little town.

Last Saturday we also held a very informative talk on bee keeping.  While the program is over, Gary Keuffer left a packet of the information he covered as well as lots of different bee keeping supply catalogs that will be here for your perusal and can be photocopied if needed.

Two non-fictions added this week caught my eye as I think they are fun and generally circulate well. Flea Market Style by Better Homes and Gardens gives the reader some fresh ideas using stuff that you may have in the house, find at a garage sale or at a flea market.   The gardening ‘itch’ is early this year with such a mild winter, so the books and magazines with all things green are looking mighty fine right about now, so we are adding the Container Gardening by the editors of Southern Living. Not just pots are used in this book—wall-mounted gardens, of course hanging plants, seasonal plantings, indoor ideas and more are included.