Holiday Theatre

Quite the busy Holiday Season. Now that Christmas Day is past (and the new air hockey table that Santa brought is assembled and positioned), I finally have a moment or two to share a few thoughts on a couple shows I was able to attend this year.

Stage III Community Theatre presented A Christmas Carol, adapted by Gayann Truelove and Tammy Barton, and directed by Heather Rankin. I read the book every year. I'm sure to catch many of the movies every December, especially Scrooge starring the late, great Albert Finney. I've also seen a few local stage productions of the story. The most impressive aspect of this version is how it begins: with Ebenezer Scrooge walking the city streets, wishing folks a Merry Christmas, and then inviting the audience to learn of how he used to keep Christmas and what brought him to such miraculous change of spirit.
In the novel, the main character's introduction as a morose miser remains so powerful that the name "Scrooge" evokes for most folks thoughts of stinginess, greed, and grumpiness--and little else. But ever since I was a young reader first discovering Dickens's work, I came to think of Scrooge as the fictional embodiment of transformation and redemption. It was, therefore, compelling to see that characterization instead serve as the introduction to CD's ghostly little tale.
Also, a ring of carolers wassailed the audience between scenes--A beautiful, melodious method of helping the cast and crew do such a fine job with accomplishing scene transitions.
Lastly, the stand out of the evening was Jeremy Patey as Ebenezer Scrooge. He did a wonderful turn with the honourable role.

We also took the family to see "A Charlie Brown Christmas - Live on Stage". This one had me excited--but also a bit frightened beforehand. I have loved this cartoon since I was a wee lad, watching it every December with my family. (We still call each other to make sure everyone knows when it's scheduled to be broadcast--and it still makes us all hungry for snack cakes.) Anyway, I did not want to sit and watch a bunch of humans ruin the cartoon. What if they "killed it!"?
They didn't kill it. They brought it to life! The cast honoured the original, doing justice to nearly every word of every line in the cartoon. The singing, the dancing, the jazz trio--each member of the cast and crew did a splendid job. Perhaps the most pleasant surprise was that they went onwards to present the Christmas play that the gang was working on through the end of the cartoon. Using Snoopy's doghouse as the stable, the cast sang carols in order to tell the Nativity story. It proved to be the perfect way to end the play.

(I just became aware that Lee Mendelson, producer of "A Charlie Brown Christmas", died upon Christmas Day. Strangely poetic to think that one of the men involved in making such an enduring fixture of modern Christmas celebrations passed into eternity upon the sacred day.)


Finally, I spotted a handful of students at both plays. Pupils know that if I catch them at a public library or museum or, yes, a theatre, they earn a prize at their school library. I look forward to seeing the kids when we return to school


 

Thanks to NCPL and "Friends of the Library"

The Natrona County Elementary Librarians collected at the Public Library yesterday for their monthly collaborative meeting. Heaps of appreciation to Twyla Gaylord for showing us up and down and all around the facilities and explaining the available resources and services.

Thanks also to Sherry Good for inviting us all into the "Friends of the Library" room and outlining the numerous ways the Friends can help support our school libraries--and also for sending so many of us away with armfuls of books. 
The Friends of the Library is a magnificent organization made up of extraordinary folks. 

A great way to support the Friends is to attend their seasonal sales. 
The next sale is coming up December 5th-7th. 
Here's a link for all the details: https://www.natronacountylibrary.org/support-us/friends/

Better Late...

Here are pictures of our House Painting (mis)adventures this past season.


Took us 7-1/2 years to get around to painting the place.

Only took 1-1/2 months to share the photographs.

Before:

After:

  

Not too shabby for not knowing a lick about paint and painting.

Thanks to Jereco Cleaning Systems for the advice, equipment, and assistance.

Crest Hill Celebration

I am astonished and honoured at how Crest Hill students and staff helped celebrate my Outstanding Librarian of 2019 from the Wyoming Library Association.

I'll never be able to hear "O, My Darling Clementine" in the same way for the rest of my days.

Here's a link to the story:
Oil City News Article
 

My 2nd Grade Twins

2019 WLA Outstanding Librarian

I am honoured to be recognized as 2019 Outstanding Librarian 

by the Wyoming Library Association.

Rocket Builders Celebrating Apollo

This Summer, of course, marks the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11.

To commemorate the mission, let's bookend today's anniversary of perhaps the most vital part of the mission--returning safely to Earth--with last week's anniversary of the initial launch.

On July 16th, the Natrona County Public Library, in conjunction with the Casper Planetarium, hosted children on the lawn to build their own rockets to celebrate the launch of Apollo 11.

While there, my children and my niece were interviewed on the news!

My son and daughter on the evening news...alongside their cousin with the evil stare!

Here's a photograph of the rockets they built:

They really zoom!

Wyoming Library Leadership Institute - 2019

This year's Wyoming Library Leadership Institute focused on the future of the Institute: how to ensure its services keep progressing and how to strengthen its impact on communities throughout Wyoming and beyond.

Past Graduates collaborated on fortifying the Institute's mission, vision, and organizational structure, its communication strategies, its regional networking capabilities, and its prospects for funding.

As a team, we established a firm foundation for carrying such vital work forward, in order to make certain the Institute continues to help librarians all across Wyoming lead their communities toward excellence.

It wasn't two days of constant work, of course. We had the chance to meet up with old acquaintances and meet new friends from Institutes across the years. Also, Jep Enck of Enck Resources facilitated some intriguing discussions, helping attendees examine their leadership acumen and strategize methods for sharpening their skill sets as leaders in all sorts of situations. 

Our collated collection of librarians also had the opportunity--after enjoying dinner at Pizza Carrello--to take a walking tour of downtown Gillette and learn some of its fascinating history from Mary Kelley of the Campbell County Historical Society, topping off the evening with ice cream and ghost stories!


Our appreciation to Campbell County Public Library for hosting, also to La Quinta of Gillette for putting up us out-of-towners.

Special thanks to Johanna Tuttle for all her hard work in coordinating this year's Institute!

And as always, thanks to Chris Van Burgh for her inspiring dedication to the Institute and to Wyoming's Libraries and Librarians!

Photograph courtesy of Chris Van Burgh
(And taken by a gracious employee of the Campbell County Library whose name I did not quite catch...
but later found out was Kevin Kauffman.)