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“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
In case you have not wandered out behind the library, wondrous things are happening back there. Our “Mack and Lorraine Beers Children’s Garden” is magical!
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Children’s Garden – Growing With OMP Love
There is a xylophone dedicated to the members of the Old Mission Women’s Club that makes soft rainforest sounds, a dragonfly crafted by Old Mission resident Gilbert Carrizales from an old cherry harvester, a sundial, a whirligig, hopscotch blocks, fairy houses given by Gladys Maguire, log stools and more.
If you happen to be in the garden when there are blueberries or strawberries, be sure to sneak a taste. The herbs are free for the cutting – take a few sprigs of rosemary, sage or parsley, but leave the plant.
Just installed this week is the “Zwemer Family Little Free Children’s Library.” Help yourself to a good kid read! ADA compliant picnic tables are on order, gifted by the Old Mission Women’s Club, as well as two benches, one in memory of Rick George and the other given by the Leslie and Martha Jamieson Family.
Chance to Order Engraved Bricks Coming Up
Still to come in the spring is a willow tunnel for little ones to crawl through. Many of you have asked about the engraved bricks. This is a project of the Friends of Peninsula Community Library and chairperson Michele Westcott. Look for the opportunity to order more this January when Friends membership renewals are sent out.
In the meantime, we invite you to come out and enjoy. Through Labor Day, our Story Walk is set up there. The book, “Come On, Rain” by Karen Hesse, is a beautiful story for young and old alike.
While Ralph Waldo Emerson did say that a weed is “a plant whose virtues have never been discovered,” we are hoping that some of you will volunteer to adopt a bed in the garden to remove them! Call the library, (231) 223-7700, and let me know.
This would make a good family project while helping out your community, and you can do it on your own schedule, even when no one else is here. A bed will take an hour or less per week!
A New Normal – Whatever That May Be
Some of you have asked when library life will go “back to normal.” To be honest, I am not even sure that I remember what “normal” is! The simple answer is that we will once it is safe for us to do so as determined by the State of Michigan, the Library of Michigan and the Grand Traverse County Health Department.
Of course, normal in the future may look different from normal in the past. For now, thank you for helping us to stay open by wearing masks, using the hand sanitizer, and keeping a six foot distance from those not in your household. You have done an exemplary job! Keep up the good work!
Programs Continue – Thank You, Zoom!
We do have programming going on thanks to the wonder of technology and Zoom. Story Stew, Pageturners and French Conversation Group are happening virtually. (Editor’s Note: This month’s Pageturners book is “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter” by Hazel Gaynor – loved it. We’ll be discussing via Zoom on August 20 – email Carol Olson, [email protected], to join us! -jb)
There are often “take out” bags of crafts, activities and more for children to take home and enjoy. We have a few surprises up our sleeves for adults this fall. Be sure to check our website and our FaceBook page, which is accessible through our website should you not be a Facebook user.
Staff member Mary Morgan has developed a great instructional pamphlet on how to use Zoom if you need help with this virtual platform. It is available in the library and on our website.
To the People Who Hit the Light Pole and Dropbox…
I am so very proud of what we have done together as a community. Peninsula Community Library is a resource, a gathering place, and a community center through good and difficult times. We made this happen for each other and ourselves.
Peninsula Community Library belongs to all of us, as well as future generations. We must take care of it, and most of you do. Yet accidents do happen. To the person who hit the light pole several weeks ago and to the person who damaged the dropbox this week, both of whom drove off without telling us, shame on you. There must be considerable damage to your vehicles, as you left behind shattered parts of your car.
I understand that these things do happen. However, the responsible thing to do would have been to own up, come inside to tell us, and make arrangements to repair the damage. You can still make it right. Call me. ‘Nuff said!
Audrey Hepburn once quipped that “to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” We believe in tomorrow here at PCL. All the good things that were a part of who we are will return in time. In the meantime, we are glad to have you inside or at curbside any way we can!
Happy August!
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SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper.
Because Old Mission Gazette is a "Reader Supported Newspaper" -- meaning it exists because of your financial support -- I hope you'll consider tossing a few bucks our way if I mention your event, your business, your organization or your news item, or if you simply love reading about what's happening on the OMP. In a time when local news is becoming a thing of the past, supporting an independent community newspaper is more important now than ever. Thank you so much for your support! -Jane Boursaw, Editor/Publisher, Old Mission Gazette
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