25+ Opportunities to Create, Explore, Learn & Enjoy in October
Posted on September 17, 2024 at 6:00 am
Page through the latest issue of Engage, our programs and events guide, to find an ample variety of adult programs covering topics such as:
- Creative, Memorable & Delicious classes
- Gardening
- Genealogy
- Health, Wellness & Support
- Medicare
- Small Businesses
- Spokane Is Reading
- SCLD Online Authors Series
All SCLD programs are offered free of charge.
Creative, Memorable & Delicious
For anyone interested in sewing and embroidery, the Spokane Falls Needlework Guild Retreat provides an opportunity to consult experts, work on your own project, or try a starter kit.
During Spooook-ane Ghost Painting, add your own personalized poltergeists to a historic photo of Spokane and learn different methods for painting them to achieve a variety of effects.
If you’re curious about 3D printing, you can create a frame with a sleek design or with embellishments, including text, shapes, and seasonal themes, during 3D Printing: Festive Frames.
Stop in for Maker Open Hours in The Lab at North Spokane Library to ask questions, receive instruction, and work on your creative projects using our equipment: Glowforge 3D laser printer, laptops with Adobe Creative Cloud software, a sewing machine, digital media transfer equipment, and other available tools.
Experience Virtual Reality, including the high-energy Beat Saber rhythm game and more contemplative pursuits with breathtaking, natural beauty using Brink Traveler.
Project Memory: Digitizing Home Movies is a program where you learn to transfer different home-movie media into digital format using various types of archiving equipment so you can save and share your memories.
Explore World Cooking: Mediterranean Food. Chef Susan from Gabe’s Gourmet Foods demonstrates the preparation of a traditional Mediterranean dish in an online presentation while you follow along in your home kitchen.
Gardening
Discover the time-honored gardening tradition of Seed Saving, including techniques to identify, harvest, and store seeds. Delve into Seed Saving with Spokane Valley Library’s Meadow, practicing with seeds from purple coneflower, black-eyed Susans, common yarrow, sheep fescue, and more.
During Gardening: Getting a Jump on Spring, explore fall gardening tips and tricks that can help you enjoy beautiful winter and relaxing, rewarding spring gardens.
Learn general identification methods and rules for mushrooms found growing in the Spokane region, with a focus on edible species at the Mushroom Identification class.
Genealogy
During Genealogy for Beginners, discover the tools and tips you need to get started on your journey of genealogical discovery, including how to research to get results and which websites and databases are useful to find family histories.
Come into the library during our Genealogy Drop-In Session to learn about our genealogy resources and get help from experienced genealogy enthusiasts to learn how to fill out your family tree and explore various genealogy websites and charts.
Health, Wellness & Support
Our weekly Tuesday Memory Café is a comfortable way to connect with other caregivers and people experiencing memory loss while socializing, building new support networks, and trying activities, crafts, and more.
During a Dementia Friends Information Session, learn about dementia, what it’s like to live with dementia, and actions you can take to support people living with dementia in your community. Dementia Friends Champion Training is designed for potential volunteers who would like to contribute to making Eastern Washington more dementia friendly.
Sign up for the October series of A Matter of Balance: Preventing Falls classes to learn strategies for setting realistic goals for increasing activity and identifying environmental adjustments to reduce risk factors. Plus, discover how gentle movement can increase flexibility, strength, and balance and how a shift in viewpoint can make falls more controllable.
Identifying Indications for & Administering Naloxone (Narcan) learn the basic facts about Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and Narcan, the characteristics of an opioid overdose, and a demonstration of how to use intranasal naloxone to treat an opioid overdose.
Medicare
Take the guesswork out of Medicare during the free, unbiased class Medicare: Getting Started. This session is for anyone new to Medicare and those wanting a refresher. The class covers parts A, B, C, and D and goes over your Medicare benefits and options, including a comparison of Medicare Advantage plans and Medigaps.
The class Medicare Open Enrollment: What You Need to Know covers what you can do during open enrollment (Oct 15–Dec 7, 2024), how you can choose and change plans, what Medigaps are and how they work, what the qualifications are for programs to help you pay for Medicare, and what Medicare fraud looks like so you can protect your benefits.
Also get free, unbiased one-on-one counseling that is specific to you and your Medicare questions during Medicare One-on-One Counseling.
Small Businesses
During the workshop Marketing Tips for a Winning Holiday Season, presented by a SCORE Spokane business mentor, get useful tips and actionable steps to stand out from the crowd with a holiday marketing plan that leverages the channels that matter most to your business and customers.
Spokane Is Reading
Mark your calendar for an insightful, in-person author talk on Thursday, October 24: Spokane Is Reading Presents Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling. Earling will read from a section of her work and then take questions from the audience about the themes found in Perma Red, the author’s creative process, and anything else readers are wondering about Earling’s writing.
SCLD Online Authors Series
Drs. Rachel Page, Dina Dechmann, and Teague O’Mara discuss the remarkable biodiversity of bats on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, where an astonishing 76 species coexist, and the book resulting from decades of study: Bat Island. Sign up today for A Journey into the Hidden World of Tropical Bats with Scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia discusses her writing, which includes fantasy, horror, noir, and historical genres, in her author talk Liberating Latin American Genre Fiction. Moreno-Garcia is the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, and The Seventh Veil of Salome.
During the author talk Examining the Truths and Fictions We Tell Ourselves with Lori Gottlieb, she discuss her memoir Maybe You Should Talk To Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed and shares her wisdom on examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves to help us breakthrough what is holding us back and getting in the way of living the life we desire.
