Explore and Discover
Tidying up: Embracing the KonMari Method
Posted on September 28, 2017 at 6:00 am
By Stefani Miller Three years ago, organizing consultant Mari Kondo released her mega-best seller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Many a home and closet were whipped into shape, but no one I knew had taken on Kondo’s challenge. Certainly not me, with my infamous bin full of winter clothes that may or may not […]
Tags: ARC of Spokane, authors, books, clutter, declutter, DIY, donating, downsize, downsizing, Dress for Success, KonMari Method, Mari Kondo, q&a, reading, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, tidy
Mixtape: The Vietnam War era
Posted on September 19, 2017 at 6:00 am
by David Wyatt Music is just as messy and various as life. There are few examples as poignant as the Vietnam War and Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s documentary series about the war (airing now through September 28th on our local PBS station KSPS) to remind us there is no single truth to war, and […]
Tags: adults, Atticus Ross, Bob Dylan, Brad Keeler, documentary, Doug Bradley, events, hoopla, Ken Burns, KSPS, Linda Parman, Lynn Novick, movies, music, Nina Simone, PBS, soundtrack, The Animals, Trent Reznor, Vietnam War
Overabundance: What to do when the produce is piling up
Posted on September 7, 2017 at 6:00 am
By Susan Goertz This spring, I bought a house with a lovely little backyard. At the time, it was pretty hard to tell what was growing back there—just what looked like lots of promising looking twigs and buds. As spring warmed into summer, my vegetative bounty slowly revealed itself. Every new discovery was a delight […]
Tags: bounty, compost, composting, cookbooks, dehydrating, dehydrating produce, food preservation, garden, gardening, harvest, jerky, pickling, produce, recipe books, recipes, urban farming, vermicompost, vermiculture composting
Sgt. Pepper is 50: How an album revolutionized popular music
Posted on August 31, 2017 at 6:00 am
by Melissa Rhoades According to Rolling Stone‘s definitive list: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, the Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band stands as “the most important rock & roll album ever made.” When I fell in love with the album as a preteen in the early 1980s, I had no clue […]
Tags: baroque trumpet, Beatlemania, George Harrison, greatest album list, harmonium, hoopla, John Lennon, Lovely Rita, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, modulation (music), movies, music, musical revolution, Paul McCartney, Penny Lane, Ringo Starr, Rolling Stone magazine, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band, sitar, The Beatles
Hiking the Summer Reading Program Around Spokane
Posted on August 29, 2017 at 6:00 am
by Abra Cole If you signed up for the Summer Reading Program at scld.northwestreads.org, then you might have noticed all the great hikes listed within many of the library-specific challenges. As a non-native to the Spokane area, this was just the motivation I needed to explore my new home. The summer for my family means […]
Tags: Centennial Trail, Dishman Hills Conservation Area, guidebooks, hikes, hiking, hiking trails, Holmberg Park Conservation Area, local hikes, online summer reading, spokane, Spokane Centennial Trail, Spokane Fish Hatchery, Story Trail at St. George's School, trail guidebooks, Turnbull
The Great American Eclipse of 2017
Posted on August 17, 2017 at 6:00 am
by Nathaniel Youmans Shortly after 10am on Monday, August 21, 2017, a terrific spectacle of light and darkness will leave millions of people suspended in awe. It has happened before (most recently through the Pacific Northwest states back in 1979), but on this morning many will witness the first total solar eclipse since 1918 to […]
Tags: adults, astronomy, books, events, family, kids, math, mathematics, moon, mythology, myths, parents, partial solar eclipse, science, sky, solar eclipse, stars, STEM, Sun, technology, teens, total solar eclipse, tweens
Save a life: Ask FAST questions when you spot a stroke
Posted on August 15, 2017 at 6:00 am
by Debbie Rhodes I woke up wandering into my living room thinking why wasn’t I at work? My husband looked at me strangely and in a very uneasy tone asked, “How many children do you have?” I replied, “Why are you asking me such a stupid question?” It turned out he had a very good […]
Tags: adults, books, education, Fast, health, health concerns, heart disease, hoopla, parents, recovery, spot a stroke, stroke, stroke recovery, stroke victim, TIA, Transient Global Amnesia, Transient Ischemic Attack
Sharing your harvest’s bounty at library produce swaps
Posted on August 8, 2017 at 6:00 am
By Gwendolyn Haley My eyes are bigger than my freezer and pantry. Every year, I plant a little garden, only to be overwhelmed when everything starts to ripen at once. My family starts to groan and say, “No more… beans, tomatoes, squash” and so on. Each spring, I underestimate just how much produce will come […]
Tags: backyard bounty, bounty, community, food, fruit, garden, gardening, produce, produce swap, vegetables, veggies
On Tyranny: A reading list
Posted on August 1, 2017 at 6:00 am
By David Wyatt “Lesson 9: Be kind to our language. Avoid pronouncing phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. Make an effort to separate yourself from the internet. Read books.” For obvious reasons, this may have been one […]
Tags: adults, Aldous Huxley, booklists, books, J. K. Rowling, Neil Gaiman, On Tyranny, Philip Roth, Ray Bradbury, reading, Timothy Snyder, tyranny
My journey in downsizing & killing the clutter
Posted on July 25, 2017 at 6:00 am
By Jane Baker Call it what you want—downsizing, minimalism, a trending fad, or decluttering—it is a state of mind that seems to be crossing the generations. Lifestyle websites catering to Millennials promote experience over things. Baby boomers and Gen X are inheriting housefuls of lifetime collections into their already full houses. TV shows l […]
Tags: Baby Boomers, clutter, declutter, donating, downsize, downsizing, Gen x, generation x, hoarder, hoarding, inheritance, inheriting, junk, millenial, minimalism, recycling, stuff
