“Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble …
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”
– Song of the Witches from Shakespeare’s MacBeth
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It certainly has been a year of trouble. Shakespeare’s witches themselves could have brewed up no better than what we have all been imbibing this year! Still, we have each other, we have found our own altered versions of pleasure, and the library is open!
Take-Out Bags and Spooky Garden Friends
While plans for a traditional Halloween are questionable this year, we are doing our best here at Peninsula Community Library to help with some fun. Check out a movie and plan a spooky film night. Cook up some scary recipes with the help of one of our holiday cookbooks. We have takeout bags this month for kids AND adults! The adult bag is available now and features a wine cork pumpkin. Materials are included. You only need a hot glue gun and glue sticks to make a beautiful fall decoration. Kids’ bags, available beginning Saturday, feature crafts, activities, a themed snack and a small treat. All bags are first come first serve, so come get yours while they last!
Our Mack and Lorraine Beers Children’s Garden is taking on a haunted look this season as some spooktacular guests have taken up residence. Beginning today, we invite families and other patrons to walk through. Please do not touch the creatures, and please wear a mask and stay at least six feet away from those not in your household. Watch out for the four-foot spider! We think he is friendly – at least, he has been so far!
Virtual Programs Still in Go-Mode
Many of you have mentioned how much you will miss Witch Wendy and her ghostly stories in the woods of Old Mission Peninsula School. Wendy has kindly offered to consider a Zoom program with all your favorite tales. Let me know if you are interested. Details to be announced this week.
During this time of distancing, we offer several of our ongoing programs virtually. Call the library to register. Story Stew for kids is offered the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 11 a.m. Chapter Chicks Mother Daughter Book Club will meet Oct. 17 and Dec. 19 at 10 a.m. Pageturners Book Club meets on the 3rd Thursday at 6:30 p.m. (This month’s book is “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” by Michele Richardson. – jb) Books for our book clubs are available on a first come basis. Our French Conversation Group calls all language Francophiles, fluent and beginning, to meet the 3rd Saturday at 11 a.m.
Local History Room Donations Welcome
While our Johnson Carroll Local History Room is temporarily closed, we are still accepting donations of historical documents that highlight life on the Old Mission Peninsula over the years. Information on early settlers, immigrant workers, prominent individuals and events are all important subject areas to preserve for future generations. Formats may include but are not limited to books, pamphlets, manuscripts, diaries, maps, business records, minutes, photographs, postcards, scrapbooks and personal papers.
In case you didn’t know, we have a fabulous Old Mission postcard collection we are looking to grow. This is our shared past. Please help us to preserve our stories for all.
Library Life Goes On
While things look a little different until we get through this, we still offer books, movies, puzzles, games, large print books, copying, faxing and more. Coming soon are STEM kits for kids to take home, thanks to a grant from Newton’s Road. Notary services are available on a limited basis. Call to make an appointment and for procedure. Wifi service is accessible in the garden and the parking lot 24/7. Assure the kids that the toys they love are safe and well. They are taking a rest right now, but will return once we are all on the other side of this.
The moon will offer up its own special Halloween treat this year – a blue moon. A blue moon is not actually blue, but rather the second full moon in a month. A blue moon happens about every two and a half years, but only on average every nineteen years on Halloween, hence the phrase, “once in a blue moon.”
If the night is clear, three bright planets should also be visible – Mars off to the right of the moon and Saturn and Jupiter in the southern sky. A telescope is not necessary to see any of this, but if you have one or even an ordinary pair of binoculars, you will be able to see the craters on the moonscape. However you choose to celebrate Halloween, please be safe!
“Halloween is not only about putting on a costume, but it’s about finding the imagination and costume within ourselves.” – Elvis Duran
Happy Halloween!
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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