Happy Birthday To.....

Shirley Jones, stage, screen, and television actress, who was born on this day in 1934 in Charleroi, PA.

Here is her website: Shirley Jones

And here is the IMDB (Internet Movie Database) page on her:
Shirley Jones on IMDB

You may remember her as the Mom in the TV show The Partridge Family. I remember her more for her work in Broadway musicals...especially those by Rogers & Hammerstein. Miss Bun particularly remembers her for that famous scene in The Music Man which is near and dear to her heart for obvious reasons.
Check it out below!

Marian the Librarian

Gotta love this!

Knock Yourself Out!

According to Today in History today is the day in 1842 that anesthesia was used during an operation for the first time. (Kinda makes you glad to be living in this century, huh?)

Here is a site with links to various anesthesia museums and an anesthesia history calendar by Thomas J. Evans, CRNA, MS.

Anesthesia History Page

Also, take a look at How Anesthesia Works on the HowStuffWorks site.

Another Amazing Resource!

(click on logo)

A National Preserve of Documentary Films about American Roots Cultures
streamed with essays about the traditions and filmmaking. The site includes transcriptions, study and teaching guides, suggested readings, and links to related websites.

"Folkstreams.net has two goals. One is to build a national preserve of hard-to-find documentary films about American folk or roots cultures. The other is to give them renewed life by streaming them on the internet. The films were produced by independent filmmakers in a golden age that began in the 1960s and was made possible by the development first of portable cameras and then capacity for synch sound. Their films focus on the culture, struggles, and arts of unnoticed Americans from many different regions and communities."

Really, this is what the Net is all about (or should be). It boggles the mind to think that these films are offered for anyone around the globe (who has Internet access) to see and enjoy for free. What an incredible legacy!

There are films from a broad range of subject categories or you can search by region or film title. If you don't have RealPlayer installed you might have to download it ( it's free) to play the videos.

Here is one I'd like to share to get you started: New England Fiddles
(Once you are on the page click on "Play Real-Surestream Film")

A toe-tapping film for a rainy Sunday.

Enjoy!!!

In Honor of Spring I Give You....Pseudacris crucifer (aka, Spring Peeper)!

This is one tiny frog with a HUGE sound!
It wouldn't be Spring around here without him.

Learn about them here: eNature.com (Who knew about the "X" marking?)

And have a listen below.

spring peeper pair

How cute is that???

Welcome to the World of Jan Brett! (TGIFF!!)

(click on Hedgie!)

If you do not know Jan Brett's work or have never been to her site you are in for a real treat!

This amazingly talented, amazingly generous children's author/illustrator has a website that offers all kinds of projects, coloring pages, printable games, how-to-draw videos, classroom help-a-longs, her blog, and more!

Some of us (even though we currently look like adults) still like to color now and then. (Miss Bun thinks it is a wonderful form of therapy!)

Enjoy!

Conducting the Road Not Taken

If you have never heard Frostiana: Seven Country Songs by Randall Thompson check out the selection below. If you like choral music (Miss Bun does, of course!) you should like this.
(Sorry for the link instead of the actual video but YouTube was being uncooperative.)

The Road Not Taken (click to see the video which features Jessica Israels' graduate choral conducting recital....Very well done!)

See the Happy Birthday to Robert Frost below.

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Happy Birthday To ...

Robert Frost who was born on this day in 1874. While he is mainly considered by most to be a rural New England poet, his work often addresses dark and universal themes.


Here are some other sites with good info:

The Friends of Robert Frost
(be sure to scroll to the bottom of the main page)

The Robert Frost Farm

Another Amazing Digital Collection.....For Children!

The International Children's Digital Library: A Library For The World's Children


This is an amazing site with an ambitious goal and it appears to be hitting the mark! Check it out!

Mission statement

The mission of the International Children's Digital Library Foundation (ICDL Foundation) is to support the world's children in becoming effective members of the global community - who exhibit tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas -- by making the best in children's literature available online free of charge. The Foundation pursues its vision by building a digital library of outstanding children's books from around the world and supporting communities of children and adults in exploring and using this literature through innovative technology designed in close partnership with children for children.

The ICDL Foundation is a non-profit corporation.

Overview

• The ICDL collection includes 3745 books in 51 languages.
• Over a million people have visited our Web site.
• ICDL visitors come from 166 countries worldwide.
• After the United States, most ICDL visitors come from South Africa and China.

Give Peace A Chance - John Lennon

A blast from the past.....

Click HERE to go to the video.

Ok, who remembers this???

Today is the day in 1969 when John Lennon and Yoko Ono held their first bed-in. Get the facts here: Bed-in and then take a look at the video below. Gotta love the 60's!
(And somehow this is still strangely relevant today, n'cest-ce pas?)

Happy Birthday To ...

Harry Houdini who was born on this day in 1874. Check out this rather cheesy (and I mean that in the best possible way) site that has great info, photos, audio, videos & more!

Houdini

(One of Miss Bun's favorite movies is Houdini with Tony Curtis & Janet Leigh which came out in 1953.)

Dear Miss Bun ...

Q: Is it ok to return Annville Library's stuff at another county library?

A: (Another excellent question!)
The short answer is : "Why yes, it is perfectly ok for you to return items from any of the six county libraries to any of the six county libraries!" The items will be checked in at the library they were returned at and sent by daily delivery to the library they belong to.

The long answer is: that all six county libraries (Annville, Lebanon, Matthews, Myerstown, Palmyra, & Richland) are members of the Lebanon County Library System. System members share certain resources such as the online circulation system which enables a nifty service like this to exist. (Another reason why Miss Bun thanks her lucky stars on a regular basis for computer technology!)

And Now.....For Your Saturday Listening Enjoyment ...

Here is a lovely little German folksong that is perfect for the first full day of Spring! Listen to the song below and follow along in German or English. (The birds are certainly singing of Spring this morning at my house!)

Alle Vögel sind schon da

Alle Vögel sind schon da,
alle Vögel, alle!
Welch ein Singen, Musiziern,
Pfeifen, Zwitschern, Tireliern!
Frühling will nun einmarschiern,
kommt mit Sang und Schalle.

Wie sie alle lustig sind,
flink und froh sich regen!
Amsel, Drossel, Fink und Star
und die ganze Vogelschar
wünschen dir ein frohes Jahr,
lauter Heil und Segen.

Was sie uns verkünden nun,
nehmen wir zu Herzen:
Wir auch wollen lustig sein,
lustig wie die Vögelein,
hier und dort, feldaus, feldein,
singen, springen, scherzen.

And the English translation:

All the Birds Are Already Here

All the birds are already here,
All the birds, all!
What singing, music playing,
Whistling, chirping, trills!
Spring wants to arrive now,
It comes with song and sounds.

How cheerful they all are,
They move, nimble and gay!
Blackbird, thrush, chaffinch and starling,
And a whole cloud of birds
Wish you a happy new year,
Higher holiness and blessing.

What they announce to us now
Go straight to our hearts:
We want to be cheerful too,
Cheerful like the little birds,
Here and there, out and in the fields,
We want to sing, to jump, to joke.

German Folksong - Alle Vögel sind schon da .wmv

Have a listen!

Happy Vernal Equinox!

time and date.com has some great information about this yearly event: The March Equinox Explained.

And to celebrate, here is one of Miss Bun's favorite Spring poems (enjoy!):

in Just-

by E. E. Cummings

in Just-

spring when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far and wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's

spring

and

the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles

far

and

wee

Origami = TGIFF!!!

THE ORIGAMI CLUB

Here is a way cool origami (LOVE those paper crafts!) site that has:

• lots of origami to try
• difficulty ratings
  
• little animations to go along with the diagrams (brilliant!)
• nifty origami paper you can print out

(I think the origami alphabet would be neat to use for scrapbooking titles.)

Have tons of fun with this!

Bookmarks & Goldfish:

Women's History Month

Discovering American Women's History Online

This excellent site was developed by Ken Middleton, a reference librarian at Middle Tennessee State University Library.

Here you can access digital collections of primary sources (photos, letters, diaries, artifacts, etc.) that document the history of women in the United States.

You can browse this collection by subject, state, time period, and primary source type. It is very user friendly and intuitive. (Two of Miss Bun's favorite cyberspace attributes!)

Get Your Learning On!

(click on the logo)

This site offers just what it says and is a good resource for homeschoolers, life-long learners, folks needing to brush up on those math skills and the avidly curious. (Miss Bun is among the latter.)

This from the free-ed.net homepage:

"By using Free-Ed.Net, you are participating in a revolution in education. Since 1997, Free-Ed.Net has been providing totally free, relevant courses in the most critical vocational and academic subjects. Now we offer our study programs in the awesome 3-dimensional "social" world of Second Life where you can chat and explore ideas in real time with others in your situation."

There are courses in the following subject areas:

• Arts & Humanities
• Automotive
• Aviation
• Building & Construction
• Business, Marketing, & Economics
• Computers & Information Technology
• Electricity & Electronics
• GED & College Prep
• Health Care
• Industrial Trades & Technologies
• Mathematics
• Science
• Social Science

There may be some advertisements to contend with but Miss Bun would like to remind you that since there is no such thing as a free lunch one should just ignore them. Check out the FAQ and the Terms of Use tabs if you have questions.

In Keeping With the Spirit of the Day ... Leprechauns!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Just in case you need to refresh your info on these magical little people Wikipedia has provided once again: Leprechauns.

Then there is the Leprechaun Watch (complete with webcam). Please peruse the tabs at the top of the page (you can even print out a certificate) and keep your eyes peeled liked bananas!!!

And, Peeps, don't forget to wear a little GREEN today!

Play This Game = Learn Something/End World Hunger.....Win/Win!

What a cool concept: Get the answer right and donate 10 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to end world hunger.

(Click on the Logo)


This from their About page:

"FreeRice is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Program. Our partner is the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

FreeRice has two goals:

1. Provide education to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the generosity of the sponsors who advertise on this site."

Word Nerds.......what are you waiting for??? Go forth and PLAY!!! (Click on the logo)

Yet Another Happy Birthday to...And a Book About....

yet another Pennsylvanian (albeit a transplant) Joseph Priestly (born March 13, 1733) who made his home in Northumberland, PA from 1794 until his death in 1804.

His is one of those vaguely familiar names that you kind of feel you should know but don't.

It turns out that Joseph Priestley is best remembered for his pioneering work in chemistry and in particular for the discovery of oxygen. But he was also a prolific theologian ( he founded Unitarianism), an innovative educator, and a liberal political philosopher. His inner circle included Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.

You can go visit the Joseph Priestly House in Northumberland and learn more about him on Wikipedia.

And if that's not enough (and why should it be?) my favorite creative non-fiction writer
Steven Johnson (author of The Ghost Map) has just published a book called The Invention of Air : A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America. Check out the video of him talking about his book below.

(Miss Bun thinks Mr. Johnson is rather cute!)

The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson

Have a listen!

Another Happy Birthday to......

fellow Pennsylvanian Barbara Feldon (remember the tv show Get Smart?) who was born in Bethel Park, PA in 1932. Happy 77th birthday!

Happy Birthday to.....

James Taylor who turns 61 today.

I've seen him in concert several times and I never get tired of his music. (Is that groaning I hear from New Hampshire???)

Happy Birthday JT! Everyone send good thoughts!


Check out the video below for some early stuff.

Mockingbird - Carly Simon and James Taylor

A New Threat to Homeland Security!!!

I give you The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug! I've seen more than a few of these little buggers (sorry) meandering around my house lately. Bet you didn't know they're not originally from the U.S. but were first found in Pennsylvania. Check it out!

P.S. In spite of the fact that many folks have less than stellar opinions of Wikipedia I find it a useful place to start with questions.

Sign Up for an eBay Class!

Hey Peeps!

Now is the time to learn about buying and selling on eBay. Wouldn't it be cool to take all that STUFF you have sitting around the house and turn it into BIG BUCKS? (Rule #1: Always have a positive attitude.)


Well, to help you out with that, the Annville Free Library is offering an eBay Buying Class on Tuesday, March 31st @ 6:15 pm.

This is part one of two eBay classes (Guess what part two is?) and will be presented by Liz Conrad from Lebanon Valley College. Thanks to Liz we will be able to use one of LVC's computer labs so everyone will have a computer to use! Sweet!

Students will meet at the library and walk as a group to LVC (which is right across the street) so please try to be prompt. (Miss Bun will be very appreciative!)
There is a $10.00 fee for this class and registration is required.

Folks signing up should come to class prepared to open an eBay account and will need the following:

1. drivers license
2. credit card
3. bank information

See you on class night!

The Toymaker Website ...

I really like papercrafts and this is an amazing site by Marilyn Scott-Waters if you share the same passion.


Marilyn says that "my goal is to help grownups and kids spend time together making things. It is my wish to amuse and delight."

I say "Mission accomplished!"

The Toymaker

She also has a book by the same name. (Check out the video from Matthews Public Library below .)

Paper Toys from the Toymaker

Check out what you can make in the book . There are even more free projects on the website! (Thanks Sheila from the Matthews Public Library!)

Daylight Saving Time...

Ok, I don't know about you, but for me, these time changes have some downsides....especially when we jump ahead! I spent my day in three meetings (and I have one more to go later tonight) and I've gotta tell ya that all anyone could think about was taking a nap! So much for daylight savings time and being productive!

Just in case your curiosity got the better of you and you want the skinny on this particular annoying (to some of us) ritual of modern times go here: Daylight Saving Time.

(By the way [BTW]...this website has a nifty little feature where you can choose between a page view or a node view....think Tag Cloud. Can you say "Holy information visualization, Batman!"???)

Another TGIFF...

Wow, the week just flew (no pun intended) by ... didn't it?

We find ourselves looking at another Fun Friday and I have just the thing to get you in the mood for the weekend (if you happen to be a Word Nerd like me):

A new barnyard game between you and seven hens. Each hen bears a letter that you must use to spell as many words as you can before time runs out. Watch the hens drop eggs and then catch their expressions when you shoot the eggs back

(click on the logo)


This is an hysterical word game with great visual and auditory treats that is also deceptively challenging.

If you think you really like this game and you don't want to bother going to the website every time to play it you can download it on your computer. (I did.) I also didn't bother to pay for the upgrade....I like playing the timed version anyway.

Be sure to have your sound turned on!

Let me know how you like it!

OK, OK...... I admit it.....

I do CUTE!

This is the place to go if you're having a bad day or you just need a little pick-me-up. I guarantee it will make you smile!
(The AWWWWW factor is off the charts!)

Check out the categories and archives. (The comments are pretty amusing too.)

CUTE OVERLOAD

Warning: can be addictive!

Dear Miss Bun...

Q: What is a "Friends of the Library" group?

A: Dear Library Patron,
I'm so glad you asked! A Friends group is a gaggle of folks voluntarily working together to assist the library (usually) in the following ways:

• Promoting the library and its use to the community
• Organizing community cultural activities in the library
• Giving practical help to the library staff
• Arranging fund raising activities to support the library & its goals
  

A Friends Group is a separate organization with its own officers, budget, and membership. It might be helpful to think of them as a library boosters club. (Just like high school Band Boosters!)

We here at the Annville Free Library feel we are very fortunate to have a lively and active Friends Group which has been busy putting on some great raffles to raise money for a new sign in the front yard.

Their next meeting is Saturday, March 21st @ 10 am at the library. I'm sure they would love to see your smiling, eager face in attendance. What a great way to get involved in your community! If you have questions you can always call Abbey Beidler (she's their President!) @ 867-2924.


Note: Miss Bun will be happy to entertain (and perhaps even answer) all your information needs. Ask away!

Happy Square Root Day!!!

When confronted by things mathematical I normally say something like "I was an English major...you do the math!" so this momentous (it only occurs 9 times a century) day would have never crossed my radar screen. Thanks to my friend Sandee I will now be thinking about square roots, as well as things square & things "rooty" all day today. I think you should too!

Check out this article: Have a rootin' tootin' Square Root Day!
where you can see the man behind the day!

Happy Birthday to....

Dr. Seuss....who was born on this day in 1904.... which makes him 105!

To celebrate, try this Dr. Seuss site by Random House and learn about the man behind the Cat in the Hat, play some games and don't forget to eat some cake!

SEUSSVILLE

Then watch the out-of-print video below.

The Cat In The Hat Song

Enjoy!