Halloween is around the corner...

I will admit it. Orange and black are my favorite colors. I start to think about Halloween in August and I am the first in line to purchase new Halloween magazines and books that come out in early fall. Yes, I am 40-something and I still love Halloween every bit as much as I did when I was a youngster in the 60's and 70's.

The monster that gets my neck hairs tingling is not the high tech digital creation of today, nor the slasher-flick blood and gore type.  My monster crawls out of a dusty old crypt with his clothes literally crumbling off him as he hitches along slowly and surely towards his target. He might lose a few body parts along the way but I know in the end he will get me.  He looks realistic to me because he is covered with god knows what secret concoction of special effects goo and slime.

 I can imagine this thing creeping up behind me on a moonlit walk and slipping his slimy skeletal hand around my ankle when I am only a few steps from the safety of my front door. The porch light is shining like a beacon and it is the last thing I will ever see. I won’t be making it home this Halloween. Now that I have set the mood, let’s talk decorations.

I have a huge collection of Halloween decorations. I also have a lot of books and magazines on decorating. The books I really like and recommend this year are:

HowTo Haunt Your House Books One, Two and Three by Lynne Mitchell.  There are some really cool ideas in these books and the pictures are fantastic. There is also a website that the authors have with pictures and free downloads;  if you can't get your hands on the book right away, you can view the books page by page on their website. (All three of these books are available from the Annapolis Valley Regional Library.)

I love these books! I made a project from Book Three called "coffin dolls". They were fairly easy to make. I purchased some old porcelain dolls from a thrift store and painted them with craft paint. The only part I found tricky was making the ruffle for the coffin. I could not figure out how to do this on the sewing machine and had to do it by hand. Getting the right amount of gathers was a challenge for me. I opted for some craft ribbon and a Halloween window drape from Dollarama on the second two coffins instead of making more tricky ruffles. The dolls look really creepy at night. A battery candle or an LED flashlight can be used to light up their faces in the dark.

For more inspiration and ideas, here are some Halloween blogs and sites that I enjoy:

 

Pumpkin Rot

Martha Stewart

Fanatics Attic

Steampunk Halloween

 Sherie Keans, Talking Books Clerk

Thanksgiving - Let's Talk Turkey

It's harvest time in Canada and for many of us that means Thanksgiving. This annual feast, held the second Monday of October, gives Canadians the opportunity to gather as a family or with friends and celebrate the bounty that surrounds us.

Whether we are feeding 2 or 20 this feast will most likely feature a turkey as the centerpiece. Last year at Thanksgiving 3.0 million whole turkeys were purchased by Canadians, equal to 32% of all whole turkeys that were sold over the year.

For some useful information on the preparation and serving of turkey visit this website .  Whether it's the oven or the BBQ there are lots of helpful hints and wine and beer pairings as well.

Traditionally the dinner will also include harvest vegetables, pumpkin or apple pie and of course the bird.  There will be choices to be made of course, free range or store bought, to stuff or not to stuff, whole or half, whether to make gravy and is dinner on Sunday or Monday?

With the growth of the local food movement, getting your hands on fresh poultry and produce is easier than ever.  For anyone looking for new or tried and true recipes this year check out some of the many cookbooks and magazines at your local library.

Whatever your menu, have a wonderful weekend and be thankful for not only the harvest, your family and friends but the King of Thanksgiving dinner - the Turkey! 

Here are just a few of the books we have to help you prepare your menu:

Roastit! : Good housekeeping favorite recipes 

Thefarmers' market guide to vegetables

 

Better homes and gardens 365 pies and tarts

 

Patricia Milner, Head of Reference Services

Web Tool – Wordle

Wordle is amazing and best of all "fun".  It is a web tool that easily generates word clouds.  You don't need to download any software, login or create an account.  Simply go to www.wordle.net and begin to have fun.

You enter the words you wish to use; the more times a word appears, the larger that word is in the cloud.  You can copy and paste text or type directly into the form.  From the examples in the image to the left,  you will see three separate word clouds using the same set of words.  You can change the structure or direction in which the words are placed and the colours.  It is a great way to create an image when you don't have one specific to an event.  After you've created the image you can save it online, which means it is visible to others.  Or you can capture the image before it is saved to the web using Jing or the Windows Snipping Tool. 

A tip for keeping multiple words together is to leave out the space e.g. TwoWords or use the symbol “~” e.g. Two~Words.  This is useful when using names.

Have fun with this one.

Charlotte Janes,
Head of Systems and Administration