Deschutes Public Library, Revisited

Last August, we visited the Bend, Oregon area for the first time.  It was so beautiful we planned a return trip in the spring with the hopes of being able to snowshoe at higher elevations and hike at the lower.  We made the return trip last weekend, staying in Sunriver this time.  And of course, as soon as we picked our lodging, I knew that the Sunriver branch of the Deschutes Public Library would be on my list of places to visit!

There was a little bit more snow at the lower elevations than we had bargained for, but it was still a great long weekend trip.  When we walked into the cozy library after the morning mile-ish walk in the light snow, I was thrilled to see that the DPL’s A Novel Idea…Read Together 2013 book is The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey.  I read this book through the Maiden Voyage Book Club from Elliot Bay Book Company last year and it’s a complete, haunting and bittersweet, delight.  It’s also the perfect story for the spring season in a place like Sunriver and Bend…I won’t share too many details of the book to prevent spoilers, but the cycle of the snow and seasons is an important element.

Tickets for the author’s event in Bend in early May are already sold out and I’m definitely looking forward to her next book!

Inspiring Cooks. Nourishing Communities.

KCLS has an amazing selection of programming and as I enter my last year of service with Redmond’s Library Advisory Board (two term limit!) they couldn’t have picked a better theme in my opinion. A Place at the Table is a year long series to inspire and provoke thought about, for, and with, food. As you might recall from Jaime’s Jaunts, books and food go hand-in-hand in my life! I’ve already attended two programs in the sure-to-be-popular events – Wendy Albee’s “Design A Kitchen for the Way You Live!” for our upcoming kitchen remodel and Tames Alan’s  “Dining at Downton Abbey: A Trial by Fork”, which needs no explanation due to the popularity of the PBS show. (Our local PBS station, KCTS 9 is a sponsor of “a place at the table”, too. :-)) If you can’t make it into the library for an event, consider taking advantage of two online databases available - Universal Class and Access Video. They have thousands of topics available anytime. Watch www.kcls.org/cooks for weekly featured food-related classes and shows. In addition, to help everyone find A Place at the Table, KCLS is accepting nonperishable food that will be distributed to 45 local food banks from March through December 2013. Hopelink and Food Lifeline are great further resources for ideas. I hope you get an opportunity to visit one of the spring programs in this series – there’s something for everyone!