Light and Darkness 2

So, here we are.
December 21st -- the shortest day of the year.
(the longest night of the year)

The full eclipse of the moon happened early this morning on the east coast, around 2 am. Did anybody see it? Not me. I was sound asleep. But the full moon was very, very bright in the early evening.
Large and bright.
Which means, when it was eclipsed, darkness took over for a few moments.
Light and Dark.
The theme of these Solstice days.

I don't know about you, but I'm READY for the days to get longer.
And beginning tomorrow, they will.
(I'm also ready for days to get warmer, but that's not gonna happen for a while.)
-wendieO

Light and darkness

Soon we'll have the darkest, the shortest day of the year.
December 21st.
This is the time of the year when light and the promise of more light to come becomes very important to our lives.

We huddle around our fires.
or woodstoves.
or electric heaters.
Fully aware that winter won't be over when the days begin getting longer. It will be just beginning. But we'll have hope, because we'll have more LIGHT.


Once Darkness falls, we turn on artificial light to keep us going.
This light doesn't just shine down on us.
It's a globe light.
It also shines up into space.


But lights from space also shine down upon us in wintertime.
The Northern Lights!
(Which we can't see here in Maryland, but we certainly do enjoy seeing pictures of them shining in Alaska.)

Yes, the shortest, darkest day is coming, but fear not -- Light will come back.
-wendieO

Hanukkah fun fact

Hanukkah is over.

So, there I was, putting away the Hanukkah books at my library, when I discovered this Fun Fact in the book Eight Lights for Eight Nights, a Hanukkah story and Activity Book by Debbie Herman and Ann Koffsky:

In 1997, astronaut David Wolf celebrated Hanukkah in outer space. His dreidel spun and spun for an hour and a half! It could have been even longer, but it got lost. They finally found it -- caught in an air filter!
-wendieO

Nonfiction Monday

Friday the 13th came on a Monday this month and I didn't find any easy reading nonfiction goodies on our new book shelf at the library.
But you can get your fresh baked Nonfiction Monday blog posts right here at the Books Together blog.

Call your local helpful librarian

So -- How many of you were yelling at your television sets during The Amazing Race final, "Find a Los Angeles Library. Go to the library. THEY have computers with internet. Librarians know how to find the answers to those clues. And they do it for free!"

None of the groups even thought of calling the library for help. Sad.
-wendieO

Santa Brunch

Today the Woman's Club of Joppatowne held their Brunch with Santa at our library.
It's a joint project. We handle the publicity, the registration and the tickets.
They supply the 'brunch' and the Santa. And the presents for the kids who attend.

I do a short Seasonal storytime complete with some activity that the kids 'help.'
This time they helped me sing Jingle Bells, while they shook wristbands of jingle bells and I showed a pop-up version of the song.

My theme this year was "The Night Before Christmas."
I read What Santa Can't Do, and one up-to-date Night Before Christmas. (The illustrator had put Santa into aviator goggles.) Showed a few other versions, including the Robert Sabuda papercut version.
A favorite part of this program is a visit from Maynard Moose who tells the story of The Night Before KissMoose. (Actually Willy Claflin's voice on a tape in a tape player at my feet.) The Moose puppet (2 and a half feet long) does this about every third year.

One of these days, I'm going to have to go to the link above and buy the CD of Willy Claflin and Friends so that I can play this piece on our CD player.

For the past few years, a REAL Santa's helper has come to be the Santa at this program -- real beard and all.

I've been doing this for 11 years now. To get a peek at the various themes I tend to use, follow this link to my 2009 post, and then follow the links there to previous years.
-wendieO

The Wright Brothers Fly again

Mary Ann Dames is featuring my book, To Fly, The Story of the Wright Brothers, on her blog, Reading, Writing, and Recipes, this week.

Nice job, Mary Ann.
-wendieO