Pumpkin Patch at the Library

Library Assistant Donna Kirchgatter has decorated the library and the window for October. Donna is always willingly to share items throughout the library and the year that she has made.

Plan your trips at TripCart

As the weather slowly shifts from summer to fall, many of us are left thinking about traveling south for some sun. With plenty of trip planning websites out there, TripCart focuses on combining all attractions into a single convenient location.

When the time to getaway rolls around, check in with TripCart. This travel website focuses on attractions that would be interesting to hit up when traveling in the U.S. Select a destination and TripCart pulls up Google Map with pinpoints of places to check out, including hotels, places of interest, theme parks, shopping, golf, sporting events, nature/parks, zoos and aquariums. It certainly takes the hassle out of visiting multiple locations for vacation planning.

Even more useful are the in depth descriptions of cities and the locations around where you are searching. Great if you have never been to the area before.

Friends of the Library Meeting

Thursday, October 27th 10am at the library, the Friends will hold their third meeting of the year. All are welcome to attend and help out with Friends projects.

Membership cost is $12.00 for adults and $6.00 for seniors. The officers are: Clint Patterson-President, Mona Draheim-VP, Fran Johnson-Secretary, Lois Gardner-Treasurer, Nancy Bauman-Bookkeeper, and Sybil Haugen-Historian. If you have any questions, please call the library 507-634-7615.

Johnny Appleseed's Birthday

Johnny Appleseed was born in Leominster, Massachusetts, on September 26, 1774. His real name was John Chapman, but he was called Johnny Appleseed because of his love for growing apple trees.

Johnny Appleseed was a legendary American who planted and supplied apple trees to much of the United States of America. Many people think that Johnny Appleseed was fictional character, but he was a real person.

Johnny was a skilled nurseryman who grew trees and supplied apple seeds to the pioneers in the mid-western USA. Appleseed gave away and sold many trees. He owned many nurseries in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana, where he grew his beloved apple trees. Although he was a very successful man, Appleseed lived a simple life. It is said that as Johnny traveled, he wore his cooking pot on his head as a hat!

Johnny died at the age of 70; he is buried in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He had spent 50 years growing apple trees and traveling to spread his precious trees around his country.

Mary Poppins Debut

Mary Poppins debut on this day in 1964. It is a well loved musical for all ages with a magical nanny that takes the two young children, of a wealthy London banker, on a journey into playful worlds and eccentric characters.

Though already an acclaimed Broadway actress, Julie Andrews had never made a movie before Walt Disney chose her to play Mary Poppins in his adaptation of P.L. Travers famous children's books. Andrews captured both the character's stern authority and maternal warmth and won a Best Actress Oscar for this, her screen debut performance.

Two of MARY POPPINS' six Academy Awards went to the film's technical crew for its outstanding work bringing the story's magic to the screen. The movie won Oscars for Best Film Editing and Best Visual Effects.

Newsletters in a Pop!

To create great looking newsletters you no longer need a graphic artist's degree (or even access to MS Publisher templates). Thanks to LetterPop.com, newsletters are now a "pop"!

LetterPop is a nifty free online website that lets you create great looking newsletters and announcements with a few clicks and drags of your mouse. The site lets you freely drop and drag elements on the screen wherever you want and with over 90 templates (be sure to check out the multiple page layouts available with each template) there’s so much you can do.

Discovery Exercise:

1. Play around with LetterPop.com and mock up a newsletter or announcement of your own
   
2. Post a link to it from your blog and share your creation and discoveries with others.
   

Try it yourself and see if you don't agree that creating great looking newsletters with this tool is a ... POP!

H.G. Wells Birthday

Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Doctor Moreau. He was a prolific writer and his early science fiction novels are widely read today. Wells and Jules Verne are sometimes referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction".