“[Judith] passes The Sow’s Ear [café] and tries to peer inside but the blinds are lowered. Judith even visits the library with its impressive display of local quilts hanging from the walls. (p.239)”
– The Sow’s Ear Café
Sometimes when reading a book, you come across an unexpected treasure: the answer to a long-held question, or the solution to a pressing mystery, or perhaps a description of a place you have been to that is uncannily accurate. Sometimes, the words just leap off the page because you realize that the description is very close to home: it is about your local library and as with the quote at the beginning of this article, the quilts are more than likely yours as well. The novel, The Sow’s Ear Café, by local author Holly Quan, is full of many wonderful depictions of our local area throughout the year, in all its glory. The novel, published in 2017, was the result of Holly’s masters level diploma program through Humber College’s Creative Writing Program. If you have not read it yet, we can put a copy from our collection in your hands.
Our winter programs are off and running with some additions to those in the program guide published last month. There is now an additional Zumba class on Monday mornings at 10:00. There is a $5 fee for this drop in class. On Thursday, April 2 at 7:00 we have photographers and intrepid explorers Ian Wilson and Jacinthe Lavoie returning with their multi-media presentation, Exploring Newfoundland. This 45-minute multimedia presentation is a mix of vivid images, traditional music, and entertaining stories from colourful coastal villages, to whales playing in the surf and puffin life through the summer. After the presentation Ian and Jacinthe welcome questions and shared memories of this special place.
If you are interested in knowing how to access the e-resources that are free with your card, Jan and Gita will show you how on Thursday February 6 at 7:00. Along with e-books and audio books there are thousands of free newspapers and magazines at your fingertips. Movies, music, reference materials and language learning can also be accessed at no cost with your library card. Come and find out what you are missing out on!
In a recent article in the Western Wheel, singer-songwriter Julia Roar made mention of the Diamond Valley Songwriters Group under the leadership of Al Doc Mehl and Eva Levesque. This group holds its monthly meetings at the fireplace in the library. If you are interested in this or any other local group that regularly meets at the library, please check our website for details.
I will leave with another quote from The Sow’s Ear Café which aptly captures how unique our library truly is:
Lucie explains to the trio that she’s new to this endeavour and doesn’t have her own pair of snowshoes. “We don’t either, we borrow them from the library,” Janet explains, “They have an outdoor program; they organize summer hiking and winter snowshoe and ski trips, and they even have telescopes you can sign out.”….That’s crazy, the library rents snowshoes. (p. 251-252)
