Ah, April!

Ah, April! What a welcome thought after a long, cold winter! And if the long, cold winter seems to be continuing, there are plenty of activities scheduled at the Fosston Community Library Arts Center to take your mind off the less-than-spring like weather.
A sure sign of spring is the annual Festival of Tables, held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church as a fund-raiser for the FCLAA.  There will be beautifully set tables, a delicious lunch, and lots of door prizes. You best  buy your tickets in advance, as it’s usually a sell-out.  Call Kim Wilson (435-6753), Keri Mireault (218-230-5062) or the Fosston Library (435-1320).
On Sunday, April 27, at 3 p.m. (Surely it will be spring by then.), there will be a unique concert at the arts center, featuring Lauren Pelon. A vocalist and a performer on multiple instruments, Pelon will trace the story of music, performing music from around the  world. Instruments she plays include arch lute, lyre, gemshorn, schrierpfeife, concertina, hurdy-gurdy, eagle bone flute, and many more. This concert is co-sponsored by the FCLAA and Northern Exposure to Lifelong Learning.
A very special exhibit currently on display in the Sorenson Gallery features works by Ric Sorenson, longtime Fosston art teacher and FCLAA board member who passed away last October. The show will be up through the end of May with a reception the evening of April 26. Toward the end of the month, there will be a display in the upper gallery with work created by some of Sorenson’s former students.
April 6-12 has been designated as the Week of the Young Child. In observance of that, children attending story time on April 9 and 11 will each receive a free book.
The Mom to Mom group will be meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22, to try some Zumba. That should be fun!
Fosston librarian Tammi Jalowiec plans to have a table at the health fair scheduled for April 17 at the high school. If you’re there, be sure to stop and say hello and find out what’s new at the Fosston Library.
Book club will meet Tuesday, April 8, at 7 p.m. (The Yada Yada Prayer Group - Neta Jackson) and writers’ group will meet on Thursday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m.
Looking ahead to May, Orland Aspen’s vocal students will present their spring recital on Sunday, May 4. The snow should be gone by then.

March at the Fosston Library Arts Center

The calendar is turning to March. Will that make a difference in the weather? Here’s hoping so; everyone I know is more than ready for spring. Last year at this time I could see a 10-foot icicle out my window. This winter has been too cold to even make icicles. However, the Fosston Community Library Arts Center continues to bring opportunities to distract ourselves from the cold weather.
You’ll be seeing a new face at the library as Erwin Rud will be helping out under the Experience Works program. A Fosston native, Rud lived and worked in the Twin Cities and Rochester areas for a number of years, returning to Fosston in 2007. He has a varied work experience in his past  - retail, health care, janitorial, and maybe a few other things as well.
The library staff is looking forward to his help.
There are several events scheduled for the month, including a program by Robert Halbrook, called “The Magic of Dr. Seuss,” on Friday, March 21, at 145 p.m.; a Mom to Mom program on crock-pot freezer meals on Thursday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m.; book club on Tuesday, March 11, at 7 p.m. discussing The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce; Fosston writers’ group on Thursday, March 27; and the third grade musical on Thursday and Friday, March 13 and 14, 7 p.m. both nights.
The Hot Reads for Cold Nights adult reading program continues through the month of March. It’s not too late for you to read or listen to four books and qualify for the prize drawing.
Also during the month of March the Food for Fines campaign will be in force. Bring in a non-perishable, non-expired food item and have $2 waived from your library fine. Food items will go to the local food shelf.
Coming up some time this month will be a new display in the Sorenson Gallery of works by Ric Sorenson. Watch for more information on this later.
Looking ahead to April, the annual Festival of Tables is scheduled for Saturday, April 12. Put it on your calendar.
If you have ideas, suggestions, complaints about what you might like to see done by the FCLAA, you may want to contact any of the current board members, so here is a list: Keri Mireault, Scott Wilson, Bonnie Stewart, Orland Aspen, Wonell Miller, Becky Overmoe, Jeanne Rains, Sarah Steinbrenner, Bernadette Sorenson, Sandy Johnson and Ray Miller. Or you may just want to thanks them for their service.

Writers' Group

This is how I've been feeling for the last couple months - although now the weather may be about to change.

I’m Dreaming of Some Warm Weather (with apologies to Irving Berlin)

The snow is falling
The ground is white
It’s been so many a week.
The southland we may seek,
But it’s January, the twenty fourth,
And winter goes on here in the north.

I’m dreaming of some warm weather,
Just like we’ve had in summers past,
Where the treetops blossom
And children frolic, so glad for the swim season to last.

We need parkas, boots and mittens,
Scarves, vests for the kittens.
To survive the polar vortex,
We made sure to wear our Gore-Tex.
To plow snow we need a tractor;
Don’t forget the wind chill factor.

I’m dreaming of some warm weather
With every snowflake that I see.
May your days be merry and bright
And  every evening long and filled with light.
                                        ---Kay Carlsen

February happenings

February is here - I don’t know if that means we’ve turned the corner and will be soon leaving this frigid and snowy weather behind, but we can always hope so.
However, I do know there is an exciting event coming up at the Fosston Community Library Arts Center - Kid Jam will be held on Friday, February 14, beginning at 7 p.m. Twenty-four of Eric Olson’s guitar and drum students will be performing in five different bands for this event: Triple S, Boys n Black, Skittle Dragons, Backwoods Boys, and one more yet to be named.
Instrumentation includes guitar, bass, and drums, plus something electronic called DJ/Beat Creation, apparently done on a I pad. Musical styles include country, classic rock and pop. Three of these bands performed nine shows last year in schools, coffee shops, community centers, and other venues. If you’re looking for a new and different way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, this just might be it.
The appropriately-named “Hot Reads for Cold Nights” adult winter reading program continues.  There are weekly prize drawings - for every four books you read or listen to, you have a chance to win and what better way to spend a winter evening than curling up in the recliner with a good book and maybe a cat on your lap. The library doesn’t supply cats though, you’re on your own for that.
Make one of the books you read  Songs of Willow Frost and then plan to attend the Fosston Library Book Club in Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m. It’s always enjoyable to discuss the book we’ve read with others and enjoy a cup of coffee (or a glass of water if you’re not a coffee drinker).
If you’re an aspiring writer, you’re welcome to join the Fosston Library Writers’ Group on Thursday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m. You may come even if you haven’t yet written a line. Who knows, this just might be the inspiration you’re seeking.
One last little reminder - the library will be closed in Monday, Feb. 17, in observation of Presidents Day.

Tim Lamey photographs

Landscape photographs by Tim Lamey are currently on display in the Sorenson Gallery

January 2014

It’s January 2014 – with the temperature in the 20 below range again this morning,as it seemed to be for most of December too. I saw deer tracks on the sidewalk near my house, so perhaps Bambi is already looking for food in town. (Unless Rudolph got lost on Christmas Eve and is still wandering around.) At any rate, “Hot Reads for Cold Nights,” the adult winter reading program which begin on January 2 at the Fosston Library, seems quite appropriate. Sign up now, read four books or listen to four audio books, and you have a chance to win one of the weekly prizes. The program will continue through March, and hopefully by April the cold nights will be over.

While you are at the library signing up for the Hot Reads program and checking out your books, take a few moments to visit the Sorenson Gallery and see the current display of fine art photography by Tim Lamey. There are scenes from Minnesota, North Dakota, and even from Ireland, all very well done.

If you’ve always wanted to know more about the workings of the Fosston Community Library Arts Association, here’s your chance. The FCLAA annual meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 8, at 7 p.m. at the Sorenson Gallery. It’s open to all members and prospective members, too. Refreshments will be served.

If you’re a mom with young children, here’s an opportunity for you. A Mom to Mom group will be meeting the second Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the library. The program for this first meeting, which will be on Thursday, Jan. 9, will be presented by Terri Lundell. It’s a chance for mothers to leave the kiddies at home and connect with other moms. For more information, call the library at 435-1320.

Book club meets Tuesday, Jan 14, at 7 p.m. This month’s selection is A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. Even if we don’t always like every book we read, we always enjoy the discussion – and the coffee – and usually some goodies, too. Make plans to join the group now in the new year.

Another group you are welcome to join, especially if your New Year’s resolutions included finally getting started on that memoir you plan to write, is the Fosston Writer’s group. The next meeting is Thursday, Jan. 23, at 7:30 p.m. If you think you may be interested, you may just show up, with or without a sample of your writing.

One last reminder – the library will be closed on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Writers' Group

In honor of the upcoming holiday, here's the poem I brought to the last meeting of the Fosston Writers' Group:

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Not long before Christmas

We went on a quest.

We wanted a fresh tree,

The one we’d like best.

So off in the pickup

We went to a place

To chop down our own tree -

The fun’s in the chase.

We found one so bushy

So full and so nice

It filled up the truck box

And cheap was the price.

My husband got busy

He trimmed it on top,

And also the bottom

He needed to chop.

It came in the front door.

It just was too big

To drag all through the house.

This was no little sprig.

It fit in the front room

With little space left.

Was the tilt to one side

All from the tree’s heft?

“There’s a crack in the stand,”

My husband exclaimed.

“We best buy a new one,”

He also proclaimed.

“Computer-designed,” it

Said on the label,

With some other claims, too,

Each one a fable.

It was quite a struggle;

We transferred the tree

To the super new stand.

We were now worry free.

After one night, we were

Ready to trim it.

With help from the grandkids

It soon could be lit.

The baby was napping

In his daddy’s arms.

The kittens slept soundly -

No cause for alarms.

Decorations were hung,

Lots near the bottom,

By the other three kids.

They all put on some.

We opened some presents

And did some cleaning.

Then looked at the tree - It

 Seemed to be leaning.

“Oh, no, it was like that,”

My husband replied.

“The wonderful tree stand

Will ever abide.”

A few minutes later,

Hearing a tinkle,

We rushed to the room

And saw a new wrinkle.

The tree had now fallen; 

It lay on its side -

Ornaments all scattered

So far and so wide.

With huffing and puffing

We righted the tree,

Redecorated it

Swell as can be.

‘Twas only a moment 

The tree stood upright.

Again it fell over.

There was no delight.

We vacuumed up needles,

Also some water.

Those tree stand designers

We wanted to slaughter.

And after that Christmas

We went to the store

And we bought a fake tree 

To use evermore.
                                            ---Kay Carlsen