Shows Over

Here we are, the week after the Shows and the weather already thinks it is winter. Our feelings could perhaps be summed up by this Giddy Limit strip by Alex Leonard.

No.207. The Orcadian 13th August 2009   http://www.giddy-limit.com/Year4Archive/no.207.html

But with a week to go before the schools go back we are determined to squeeze ever last drop of fun out of the summer, so even if the weather is less than sunny you'll still get a warm welcome at the library. 

There is still time to complete  the Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge, so get reading and come along to the library to exchange your returned books for stickers, a bookmark, wristband and fortune teller. All those who complete the challenge will also get an invite to our award event, which will take place in Kirkwall library on Saturday 23rd August with special guest, local writer and storyteller Fran Flett Hollinrake, and a presentation of certificates and medals. 

We also still have our holiday reading display up, with books to keep you and your little ones entertained, whatever the weather.

The Knitter Scientific

It's been a wonderful week of weather here in Orkney, with visitors and residents alike enjoying sunny strolls along the street in Stromness. We've enjoyed meeting those who have taken a break from the sun to visit the library, both new visitors and familiar faces. 

It was particularly nice to get chatting to a regular visitor who turns out to be a fellow knitter and Ravelry member Westendangela from Dundee. Combining her job as a biochemist with her passion for all things woolly she has been using knitting to bring her research to life. 

Her most recent project,  as part of the Women in Science Festival, involved creating a knitted display for her local yarn shop representing the human  blood stream when dealing with the sleeping sickness (her area of research) , with knitted red blood cells, white cells, Trypanosomes, the flu virus, and the DNA helix. 

knitted Trypanosome being attacked by antibodies

We are hoping Anglea might be able to join us at Yap and Yarn on a future visit to Orkney, but in the meantime she has very kindly left us a knitted Trypanosome of our very own. 

While researchers like Angela are studying the behaviour of the Trypanosome parasites, in the hope of developing more effective drug treatments, charity MSF (Doctors Without Borders) is responsible for supplying and distributing the drugs currently used to treat Sleeping Sickness, the disease caused by the Trypanosome parasite.

Sleeping Sickness is a devastating disease spread by the Tsetse fly, which  poses a risk to 60 million people in 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. To find out more about Sleeping Sickness and the role of the Trypanosome parasites visit the MSF website, where you can also donate to support the work of MSF in offering treatment to those suffering from this, and other, neglected tropical diseases. 

Mythical Maze

It's the first day of the school summer holidays and of course it's raining! But never fear the library is here to save the day, with the launch of this year's Summer Reading Challenge Mythical Maze!

For children aged 4-11 this free scheme will keep you reading all through the holidays as you collect stickers to complete your Mythical Maze poster. For every two books read you will receive a set of stickers and a special gift, and if you read six books and collect all three sets of stickers, you will be invited to a special closing event which will include an author visit, crafts, and a presentation of certificates and medals to all who complete the challenge. 

Visit the Mythical Maze website to find out more about the challenge and share book reviews and recommendations with other readers. 

Midsummer, St. Magnus, and a (knitted) mouse

Despite the low cloud, the slightly chilly air, and a lack of sun, it is in fact midsummer. Here in Orkney this means not only an excuse to celebrate what George Mackay Brown described as 'the over-brimming of the year's well of light'*, but also to enjoy this year's St Magnus International Festival. 

Today in Stromness Town Hall at 5.30pm the first performance of this year's Johnsmas Foy will take place, when Sarah Jane Gibbon will direct 'The Raven Banner, Twelve Valkyries & a Ghost Army'. This will be a commemoration of the 1000th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf, through song, poetry, story-telling and Old Norse writings performed by Sarah, along with poet Emma Grieve, composer Aimee Leonard and storyteller Tom Muir. 

For those who would like to know more about how midsummer and Johnsmas were traditionally celebrated, then we would recommend Midsummer, Johnsmas and bonfires on the UHI Centre for Nordic Studies website and also the excellent articles on Orcadian Bonfire Traditions  and A Year of Orcadian Tradition from the Orkneyjar site. 

In a break from tradition this year's St Magnus Festival features two workshops by Norwegian knitting celebrities Arne & Carlos. These have proved so popular that both Kirkwall and Stromness workshops have sold out, but we know that at least some of our library Yap and Yarn group members have been lucky enough to get tickets - including our library assistant Becky. During the workshop Arne & Carlos will be leading participants through their pattern for Magnus Garden Mouse, from their latest book Knit-and-Crochet Garden, which is, of course, available from the library.

We hope Becky will bring her Magnus into the library for a visit when he is finished and we'll try to get a photo to show you. If anyone else has knitted Magnus do please send us a photo and we'll share them on the blog. 

 Arne and Carlos

Magnus Garden Mouse

So it's going to be a busy weekend here in Stromness, but however, and where ever, you are going to be celebrating, we hope your solstice, St Magnus Festival, and Johnsmas  are full of midsummer magic.

*  from "Solstice of Light" in Under Brinkie's Brae, 1979, p.147

Creepy House

Apologies for our extended silence, some of us have been on holiday and with the excitement of the St Magnus Festival, June just flew by.

Here we are in July and the start of the school summer holidays can only mean one thing - the start of the  library Summer Reading Challenge 2013.

This year young readers are invited to join a gang of explorers as they discover the secrets of the Creepy House - collecting stickers as they read books from the library and adding them to their own special Creepy House fold-out poster. 

There are three floors of the house to explore and for every two books read there are stickers to complete one of the three stages:

Stage 1: The Awful Upstairs, 

Stage 2: The Gruesome Ground Floor 

Stage 3: The Spine-tingling Cellar. 

Read six books over the summer to collect all the stickers and complete all three levels -  you'll also get a certificate at the closing event in Kirkwall Library on Saturday 17th August. 

The stickers have special codes which will unlock extra features on the Creepy House website www.creepy-house.org.uk  . On the website you can share your favourite books, send messages, meet some famous authors, and even enter a competition to complete a short story started by a famous author  and win fabulous prizes.

Are you brave enough to enter the Creepy House? Beware -  those stinky stickers really are smelly!*

* No really, they are. We have to store them in a special sealed box and wear hazmat suits to handle them**

** Okay we may be exaggerating a bit -  but they are really pongy

Rhubarb!

Well here we are in June- the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the weeds are growing, but so is the rhubarb! One of Orkney's most reliable fruit crops, there can't be many gardens in the islands without a rhubarb patch and the accompanying favourite family recipes for crumble or jam.

This year however we were alerted to a recipe new to us, but tried and tested by the Orkney College restaurant and printed in their All Stirred Up cookbook. Orkney Rhubarb Cake features 1 1/2lb of rhubarb simply washed and prepared and then slow baked, layered between the cake mixture.

We have to admit to being unconvinced by the cake's appearance when it went into the oven, but what came out can only be described as delicious! Served hot with Orkney ice cream it makes a fabulous pudding, but is just as good cold.

If you would like to try the recipe for yourself then you'll be pleased to know we've returned the Stromness copy so it is ready and waiting, all you need to do is pick the rhubarb.

Please feel free to share your own favourite rhubarb recipes in the comments below.

Holiday Reading

A week into the school holidays and the weather is proving to be as reliably unreliable as ever, yesterday we were swimming in the sea at Birsay, today we are shivering in a woolly sweater. But whatever the weather we have a book to suit.

If the sun shines we have paperback bestsellers to read lounging on the beach, gardening books to help you pick the perfect plant, and numerous guides to help you enjoy the outdoors. If rain stops play then we have books of indoor activities for all ages, guides to help you decide what to read next, and of course children can take part in our Story Lab reading challenge. We can even lend you a copy of The Met Office Book of the British Weather so you can console yourself with how much worse the weather could be! Visitors can also join the library and take out up to four books at a time, so bad weather is just an opportunity to find out more about Orkney's history or wildlife.

So no matter what the weather has in store for us this summer the library will help everyone have a happy holiday!

On with the Shows

Well the sun shone for the Dounby Show and we hope all of you who went along had a great day among the animals and amusements. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and came home tired but happy, full of homebakes and ice cream and a few pounds poorer after all those prize draw tickets (all for good causes) and shots on the bottle stall - we were lucky for once and won a half bottle of gin (so that's the library Christmas doo sorted out then!).

Back to work today of course, and although the County Show  takes place on Saturday we will be open as usual. If you have had your fix of all things agriculatural and decide a quiet afternoon in with a good book is in order then pop along and see us, we'll be glad of the company.

It's often said that the County Show marks the end of the summer and the next thing we can look forward to is winter and Christmas - though with the weather we've had so far this 'summer' will we actually notice the difference?! Anyway, as well as the obligatory reminder that the "nights are fairly drawing in " we also want to point out that the school summer holidays are not quite over yet and there is still time for our young readers to complete their Circus Stars reading challenge. So visit the library, get reading and those final sets of stickers can be yours - as well as the chance for all who complete the challenge to take part in a Treasure Hunt at the Kirkwall Library on Saturday 27th August and collect their Circus Stars award.

Orkney feasts

With memories of the Tall Ships and Shopping Week slowly fading and more than a week before the Dounby Show  there is time to catch our breath and consider the other pleasures of summer.

The weather may be somewhat temperamental but even if barbecues end up indoors, and picnics involve woolly hats and waterproofs, this is the time to enjoy Orkney produce at its best. Whether you need inspiration, are looking for new ways to cook old favourites, or are in search of the definitive recipe for bere bannocks or clootie dumpling then our selection of Orkney cook books is bound to have what you're looking for.

In our quest to promote the importance of public libraries we are not above bribing you with food - we have been known to tempt unsuspecting passers-by into the library on the promise of a certain staff member's famous meringues!

We would love to hear your favorite recipes using local produce - we might even have a shot at making them and share the results with you if they are suitably mouthwatering.