×

Lifestyle Columns

Waiting for snow

I’ve been waiting for snow. I am not a winter sport enthusiast or anything like that, but I do enjoy walking in the snow with my dog. She loves snow. If it’s snowing when we go out she tries to catch the snowflakes in her mouth as they flutter and fall. She can barely contain herself and ...

Steeping saffron in tiny teapots

There’s nothing like a hot drink on a cold day! How about a classic hot chocolate? Spiced apple cider? Maybe a warm cup of freshly steeped saffron? That last one might sound odd to us, but it’s a popular drink across many cultures and has been for hundreds of years. Saffron, a spice made ...

Gift prepping at the library

Are you wondering about gift ideas for the holiday season? Here are some great ways the library can inspire you to prepare your next thoughtful gift for those you care about. You can start by checking out our Memory Lab! In the Memory Lab, you can digitize old photos, VHS tapes, cassette tapes, ...

Gratitude and thankfulness

According to the American Heart Association, “expressing gratitude can improve sleep, mood and immunity, can decrease depression, anxiety, chronic pain and disease.” Consistently combining gratitude observation with the performance of acts of thankfulness can help raise your positivity, ...

Crewel embroidery keeps coming back in style

Some antique arts fade in popularity but are never truly lost. Embroidery is one of them. There are surviving examples of embroidered fabric that date back thousands of years. There is even evidence that Cro-Magnons practiced embroidery! By comparison, the embroidery of 17th and 18th-century ...

Explaining the use, history of mother-of-pearl

The art of adding mother-of-pearl inlay to lacquerware has been practiced in Korea for more than a thousand years. The Korean term for it is Najeonchilgi, from the words najeon, meaning mother-of-pearl, and chilgi, lacquer. It is a lengthy process that requires skill and patience the artisan ...