Oh my, here we are going into the last month of 2020! Although I don’t think that many will be bidding a fond adieu to the year, I do believe we will all be welcoming 2021 with a bit of trepidation.
The kids used to swarm into the library hoping to find an empty chair at one of the computers. COVID-19 brought that to a screeching halt many months ago. Consequently, the number of children coming through our door dropped considerably. Reading kids walk in knowing pretty much what they want and off they go. Lately, we have seen the number of children coming in, just to hang out, rising as the library is somewhere warm to go.
So as much as I like seeing them walk in the door, it does present sort of a conundrum. If our young patrons are at the library and they are not interested in reading, then there had better be an alternative. We have incorporated encouraging our young patrons to finish color sheets, connect-the-dots sheets, and word searches before receiving a snack when they are heading out the door! Trying to plan within the borders created by COVID-19, space, and time restrictions are the components that makes up this conundrum.
We have decided that we will play bingo for 60 to 90 minutes at the end of the day. Using grant money, we recently purchased a Bingo game, disposable sheets, and a good supply of daubers. It may not be a perfect solution, but it is probably going to come as close as anything else! It is an activity that all ages like to do, each participant will receive a snack when leaving the library for the evening, and we will work out a point system where the winners can vie for prizes.
I said all of that to say this, we would be so very thankful if anyone would like to donate snacks or prizes, or even take a turn or two of calling Bingo. Investing in the lives of these kids is worth every dime and every minute. They can be messy, wild, and teeth-clenching annoying; and then there are those other times that makes everything okay and extremely worth it all.
Word of the Week: The word of the week is “petrichor.” It is a noun and is pronounced /ˈpe trīkôr/. The word means a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather. The musty, barky smell of fresh rain fallen on the dry earth is petrichor.
Saturday is Halloween and Saturday is the Halloween parade that starts at 4:00 PM. We can do this safely and have a splendiferous time while doing so! So, the plans are that we gather on First Street on the sidewalk that runs from the door of the library west towards the City Office. Each family will walk together with six feet in between families. We will do the parade single file instead of the usual conglomeration. Not only will this be safer, this will make it so much easier to view all of the costumes and be such an advantage for the spectators.
Lincoln Library has recently been the recipient of memorials from friends and family of Kathryn Roberta McSpadden McLain, but she was known to most everyone as Brenda. Her obituary, although less than a page in length, tells of a woman who lived just a little over 98 years. I read her obituary with interest; I didn’t know her, but I did have numerous conversations with her.