A Recap of Recaps

Submitted by Lindsey Allison

Here is a sampling of recaps from April 14 through April 20, 2023: 

Books and Babies at HP
8 children, 7 adults
“I read ‘Spring Sings for the Grouchy Ladybug’ by Eric Carle and LeAnne and Kayla did a wonderful job with puppets in the puppet theater. Our tip was about visual tracking and different activities for the baby to practice using both eyes together which is an important developmental skill for later reading. We used little yellow pom poms for our bees and moved it over the babies for them to track with their eyes. Other visual tracking exercises were the scarves and bubbles.” – Kelly Hollis 

Mah Jongg for Beginners at SF

8 adults

“The introduction to Mah Jongg was packed with information! I now understand why it needs to be a 8-week course. Stacey and Cheryl are very knowledgeable and obviously passionate about teaching this game to others. At one point a woman popped in and told the group how great Stacey and Cheryl are at teaching. She attended the course at Sharon Forks in 2019, and now she plays with them weekly. One attendee told the group she was learning the game because her new daughter-in-law is Chinese and she wants to learn as much about her culture as possible, which I thought was really sweet.” – Brooke Rose

Forsyth County Aging Expo with Outreach 
“My visit to the Forsyth County Aging Expo was a huge success! I had 160 people visit the library's table and heard over and over again how much people loved our libraries. After seeing one of the Savvy Senior Kits, a patron shared that she had checked out the Travel kit, enjoyed it so much that she purchased one of the books from the kit, Travel Hacks and gave it to family members for Christmas. Several ladies stopped by and commented on seeing the library presentation that Outreach had done at Sexton Hall the week before. A gentleman stopped by and mentioned that he was always asking our librarians for good books to read. I took this opportunity to sign him up to receive reading suggestions. While filling out the form with him online, he commented on how he just recently lost his wife of 58 years and that books helped keep his mind occupied. I love that books have the power to make a positive difference in so many people's lives.” – Lorraine Lane 

Edible Wild Plants of Southern Appalachia at CU
6 children, 58 adults
“Attendees were totally enthralled by Mark and his wife. Throughout, patrons made notes, took pictures, and recorded videos as Mark spoke. A patron told me it was the first time he attended a program! While one patron was walking out, I heard her say to her friend, ‘That was awesome.’ Patrons learned a lot and hung around to speak with Mark for quite a while.” – Brianna Schantz

Golden Hour with Outreach 
“On Tuesday Christine and I visited Lanier Place to present this month's Golden Hour: Grandma's Wisdom vs. The Weather Channel. We met the new activity director, Kaitlin, and she is super friendly and seems very eager to be there. We had a big crowd of 16 at one point (including Jennifer the activities director), and at least five of them were very interested and happily participating. One lady in the front kept repeating the facts that she was learning throughout the program and said them with such curiosity - she said she loved learning all this new information! As we were heading out, I heard two gentlemen stop to chat about their family farms since they learned that about each other as we were talking about the Farmer's Almanac.” – Karina Segura 

Adult MakerDay – Decorating Planters with Clay at PR
14 adults
“Multiple patrons took time to walk around the room to admire all of the other projects, giving lovely compliments to their fellow crafters. I heard patrons talking about other library programs they attend and saw a few patrons showing each other pictures of other crafts that they enjoy making. One of our patrons was not really enjoying the project - she became frustrated when her clay wasn’t sticking easily. I apologized to her, and she quickly said that she didn’t care at all - that she enjoys coming to the program to have the chance to try a new craft but that she is also just so happy to have the chance to get out of the house and get to enjoy the time with the other crafters.” – Melissa Reed

The Great Gatsby at SF
1 child, 8 adults
“Sabrina Lloyd from Lambert High School Theater Department discussed The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the stage adaptation by Gary Peterson. Two of the show's cast members dressed in colorful 1920s flapper dresses and recited monologues from the play as Myrtle and Jordan Baker that are part of the two-act play that Lambert High School Theater students will perform in May. The young performers were really enthused about theater and also answered some questions about performing. I put out some books by F. Scott Fitzgerald and was happy that a family ended up checking out the graphic novel version of The Great Gatsby.” – Alicia Cavitt

Photo of the Week:

 Forsyth County Aging Expo, Outreach (Photo/Greg Lane)