As we get ready to begin a new year, we look back at 2014 and say, “What a year this has been.” The Altamont Free Library has gone through some major changes but our mission has stayed the same.
We are committed to serving you all to the best of our ability. We would like to thank everyone who helps make the library such a bright spot in town. The library would not be the special place that it is without the support of our patrons and members of the community.
Creative ideas
Do you have an interesting talent or suggestion that you would like to share with us? We are always looking to try something new. We know that there are plenty of folks out there with creative ideas and the library is just the place to bring those ideas to life. Please contact us to get things started.
Display case
The library has a beautiful display case in the entryway and our meeting room has space available to hang local artwork. If you have a collection for our case or something special to adorn our walls, please contact the library.
Goodbye to 2014 and welcome to 2015 and all that it brings. May you all have a Happy New Year.
As we get ready to begin a new year, we look back at 2014 and say, “What a year this has been.” The Altamont Free Library has gone through some major changes but our mission has stayed the same.
We are committed to serving you all to the best of our ability. We would like to thank everyone who helps make the library such a bright spot in town. The library would not be the special place that it is without the support of our patrons and members of the community.
Creative ideas
Do you have an interesting talent or suggestion that you would like to share with us? We are always looking to try something new. We know that there are plenty of folks out there with creative ideas and the library is just the place to bring those ideas to life. Please contact us to get things started.
Display case
The library has a beautiful display case in the entryway and our meeting room has space available to hang local artwork. If you have a collection for our case or something special to adorn our walls, please contact the library.
Goodbye to 2014 and welcome to 2015 and all that it brings. May you all have a Happy New Year.
It is hard to believe but some of the books checked out this week at the Altamont Public Library aren’t due back until 2015. Where has this year gone?
The lighting of the Library Lights was once again a beautiful and touching ceremony. Thank you to everyone who made a donation to the library in the name of a loved one.
Victorian Holiday
The village will be filled with merriment this Sunday as the Victorian Holiday festivities take place on Sunday. Stop in between 2 and 4 p.m., and enjoy music by local favorite David Warner. While you are there take a chance on the beautiful quilt on display. The drawing will be that afternoon. Once you see it, you will want to grab the quilt, a book, a cup of hot cocoa, and get cozy on the couch. Note: The library is open from 2 to 5 p.m. for usual business.
Book talk
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock and The Rosie Project are next in line for the adult book discussions. Leonard isn’t scheduled for Dec. 15 as originally reported. How could I forget the evening discussion is on the penultimate Monday? The correct date is Dec. 22, at 7 p.m. We’ll have to go some to beat last week’s lively discussion of Lolita. The teens will be discussing The Circle in early January. Copies of all the books are available at the library.
Journey to Norway
This month’s potluck dinner delights will be coming from Norway. Dinner is served at 6 p.m., on Dec. 29. We won’t be able to see the aurora borealis but the food will be just as amazing.
Holiday schedule
The library will be closing at 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, closed on Christmas Day Dec. 25, and closed the day after Dec. 26. We will open again on Saturday, Dec. 27 at 10 a.m.
Save the date
The annual Gala is set for Feb. 7, 2015. The live auction is guaranteed to get exciting as attendees bid on two pieces of artwork by Ed Cowley. More details to come.
The winter cold has finally set in, just in time for Thanksgiving. Frigid winds are coming over the river and through the woods and down from the mountain and into the village and apparently into my cell phone, judging from how often it’s been freezing up lately. However, down in the considerably-warmer Altamont Free Library…
The library has an exciting addition. We are now the proud owner’s of 39 audio CDs which contain the spoken words of Rev. James Keenholts (“Keen” to the entire community) Hilton. O Jesus I Have Promised – The Keen Hilton Legacy is a collection of sermons dating from 1981-1990, including 3 Christmas Eve services.
Open mic night
Open Mic Night that was originally scheduled for Nov. 29, has been rescheduled for Dec. 12, at 7 p.m.
The Dojo
On Nov. 21, as on every Friday, the Dojo will be meeting at 6 p.m. This will be a club for Anime, video game, and Magic: TG fans alike. Feel free to kick back as we set up multiplayer Nintendo games (Generally SSBB, Mario Party, or Nintendo Land), and the occasional anime. This is aimed at ages 16 and up.
Around-The-World Potluck
On Monday, Nov. 24, at 6 p.m., we’ll be trying out Thai cuisine. Balance and attention to detail are apparently of tantamount importance in most Thai dishes, so plan to go ahead and eat a sliding scale before you show up.
Kids’ Thanksgiving craft
On Wednesday, Nov. 26, at 1 p.m., have your kids make something creative for the Thanksgiving table. No, we’re not telling you what it is just yet, so please leaf us alone.
Library Lights
On Sunday, Dec. 7, at 4:30 p.m., we will have a gazebo lighting ceremony in memory of loved ones. Please make your donations to the library by Saturday, Dec. 6.
Story time
As always, story time will be held on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m., for preschoolers and on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m., for toddlers. Join us all for stories, songs, rhymes, and movement.
Halloween is right around the corner, so be sure to put your turn signals on as you head down Main Street. Last year, there was a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer. Rubber bats flew as far as 50-feet. If it happens to rain this year, the fallen candy corn will melt into a runny mess that will harden into a brown-yellow-orange paste all along the roads just in time for Thanksgiving.
Don’t forget to test your kids’ candy to make sure it’s safe for you to sneak handfuls of when they’re not looking. Keep your eyes out for the annual holiday specials for shows debuting either on Saturday morning or Wednesday evening, depending on your age. Take your orange and black clothes out of the closet for a festive look that would be right at home on some of Hollywood’s more refined celebrities, such as the Adams family! For some E-Z Halloween decorations, simply refrain from doing any dusting, vacuuming, cobweb-cleaning, or general routine home maintenance for a little while, and watch as your residence turns into a perfect example of a spectacularly elaborate Halloween decoration. At least, that’s my excuse. Of course, it will be necessary to burn said home down afterwards, but that is a small price to pay. Tell your friends! Please don’t mention my name!
As you head out into the night with your kids and their officially licensed costumes that make them look just like their officially licensed hero or heroine, save for the fact that they’re three feet tall and wearing little red sneakers. They also tend to wander into things – bushes, ravines, houses, you – because they can’t see through their masks since the alternative is usually makeup. This wouldn’t be so bad, except their makeup tends to smear after an hour or so, so that as the night wears on, they start to look less like you remember their beloved fictional character, and more like the character after they have fallen victim to a zombie plague. This, come to think of it, is quite appropriate for Halloween.
Don’t forget to stop by the Altamont Free Library during your trick-or-treat rounds this year, and happy Halloween to all of you out there!
We’re well into October, and there’s something of a nip in the air. Maybe it’s the darker days that seem to be settling over the town, as Earth’s axis tilts us away from the sun a little more. It could be the spirit of Halloween setting in.
Or perhaps it’s your neighbor’s bitey kids, clinging to your leg because they found their parents’ Halloween candy early and have gone on a sugar-fueled rampage throughout the neighborhood. At any rate, as soon as you detach them from your tibia, come to the Altamont Free Library for…
Library teen night
Teens 14 and up only are invited to come in and hang out at the library on Friday, Oct. 24, at 8 p.m.
Eat-Around-The-World
Potluck
This month, we’re heading to Croatia. Bring in a Hladetina, some Ražnjići, or just enough tuna fish sandwiches for everyone. The dinner will be on Monday, Oct. 27, at 6 p.m. Sign up at the front desk.
After-school craft
Halloween is coming. We have a spidery craft for younger patrons on Oct. 29, at 3p.m., and don’t forget to stop by the library when you make your trick-or-treating rounds on the 31st!
Fall is finally here, leaving a handful of us joyful for the cooling weather, glad for the upcoming fall harvests, and exchanging lawnmowers for rakes. Thus, we unwittingly give additional joy to small creatures that live in the leaves. Try not to think about that next time your kids jump in a pile.
Eat Around the World
Potluck Canada
On Monday, Sept. 29, at 6 p.m., the Altamont Free Library will be feasting on some recipes native to more northerly latitudes. Feel free to bring anything from a variety of places and climates, from salmon to cloudberries to – on second thought, leave the whale meat at home, please.
Book club
For the book club next week, we’ll be reading The Book of Unknown Americans and discussing it on Oct. 6 at noon. Feel free to bring any of the title characters along, and allow them to introduce themselves.
Build it!
As always, we’ll have Lego, K’nex, Snap Circuits, and more every Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Lawn games continue
Lawn games will continue (for now) on Friday afternoons from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. This is generally our cue for an unseasonal snowfall.
Story time
As always, story time will be on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for preschoolers, and on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. for toddlers.
As the air cools off, the skies become grim, and the kids are bouncing merrily off to school (sometimes led by a tractor, some very thick ropes, and inch-deep claw marks in the pavement).
At the same time, Mr. Sun starts slacking off until he gets a warning slip on his desk in mid-December. In the midst of the chaos, our Altamont Free Library activities will continue as always.
Name That Tune —
oldies style
On Wednesday, Sept. 24, at 7 p.m., teams will test their knowledge of songs with the musical styles of Don Snyder. For a time, quiet shall not be enforced in the library as strictly as usual. No, the owner of the Washington Redskins will not be able to arrive here.
Build it!
Every Wednesday at 3 p.m., bring the kids out to the library to build stuff. We have Lego (I’m informed that this is the correct plural), K’nex, Snap Circuits, and more. Leave the steel girders at home this time, please.
Not-quite-summer
lawn games
The Lawn Games League will be rolling on into the fall. Join us on Friday afternoons from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Don’t leave us a-lawn. And don’t pun-ish us for that last joke.
Story time
As always, story time will be on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for preschoolers, and on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. for toddlers.
It’s fall migration time! Join Dan Capuano as we search out warblers, raptors and other autumn travelers. Meet at the Altamont Free Library on Friday, Sept. 12, at 9 a.m., and we’ll carpool to our birding destination.
Candy science
Determine the density of a marshmallow, test pixy stix for acidity – we’ll explore the principals of science through a most delicious medium. For school aged kids. This program is on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 4 p.m.
Story times
School is back in session and story time is in full swing. This month we’re offering two sessions a week – Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m., geared toward kids in pre-kindergarten, and Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., for toddlers. All programs are drop-in and sibling are welcome.
Sunday hours
In other autumnal news, the library has resumed its Sunday hours. Come in between 2 and 5 p.m., to read the paper, print out homework, browse books, or movies or just avoid your messy kitchen.
Book club
The library’s Penultimate Monday book club is meeting a week early! Join us at 7 p.m. on the antepenultimate Monday of the month (that’s Sept. 15) to talk about Karen Slaughter’s mystery BlindSighted.
Summer’s almost over (much to everybody’s sadness), and things are going to be changing around at the Altamont Free Library; starting on Sept. 7, we’ll be open from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
However, we will be closed on Sunday and Monday on Labor Day weekend. (That’s Sunday, Aug. 31, and Monday, Sept. 1). Remember, if you need a crowbar to get in, we’re probably closed.
In the event that you are out of reading material when we are closed, fear not! Your library card gets you access to over 18,000 downloadable ebooks. So next time it’s two a.m. and you are desperate for a good read, go to altamontfreelibrary.org and follow the link for downloadable ebooks. Need help? Schedule an appointment for one-on-one help with your Kindle, Nook, iPad or thingamabob.
Book club
Our next book club meeting will be on Sept. 8, at 1 p.m., and will be The Good Lord Bird by James McBride. Copies of the book are available for borrowing in the library. The meeting after that will be Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter, on Sept. 15, at 7 p.m.
Murdoch on Main Street
The library is now receiving The Wall Street Journal on a daily basis. Stop by and catch up. Thanks to Mike Seinberg for donating the subscription.
Story time
As always, this will be held for all ages every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.; story time is followed by a craft and free playtime.