To the Library and Beyond Nice weather reigned for Friday’s winning homecoming football game for the Pirates. Great to see the creative class floats and the stands filled. While the weather holds those who use the library’s book drop at the alley-side of the Community Center will notice a few decorative changes underway on the drop. Stay tuned for the finished project which we hope will occur before the weather gets unseasonable. Meanwhile I hear plums and apples in yards are ripening yielding the last fruits of the season. Praying mantis have been finding secluded places to prepare for their next life stage and cedar waxwings seem to be gathering around mountain ash trees. While nights are getting longer here’s a prescription to perhaps follow for health and well-being: Find a hobby that produces something just for you. Something that’s not monetized, optimized, or posted. Like draw something, plant something, build something, or read something. The point is that there is no point. Just do something. A visit to the riding event on Sunday at the Cottonwood Riding Club reminded me of a novel I read recently & one that will be at the library soon: Riding Lessons, by NY Times bestselling author, Sara Gruen. It’s a story where horses shape connections between family and other characters with horses in their lives. My review this week is the novel, Unsheltered, by New York Times bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver. Do you like history? Do you like nature? Do you like alluring characters? Here's an interesting historical novel with a story that rotates chapters between families from two different time periods: the 19th century and modern time. The connecting thread is the characters from both times lived in the same house in Vineland, NJ near the Pine Barrens. Published in 2018, this is an intriguing story with themes pertinent to today. From an important American author. Perhaps checking out this book will fulfill the prescription to do something different, just because it’s good for us. Keep reading! Frances Conklin
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