Breaking News

Lifestyle Columns

Recent Reads

I recently enjoyed these books and think you might, too! Annie is seeking a fresh start after being dumped by her boyfriend. She moves to rural New York, settling in Rowan. The first person she meets in town is Sophie. Sophie is beautiful, a wonderful cook, a skilled seamstress, and a whiz at making lotions and other potions. She makes the small town fun and magical for Annie, even though the other citizens of Rowan seem wary of Sophie. But strange things seem to happen when Sophie is around and Annie can’t help but wonder what Sophie really is . . . and if she and Annie may be more ...

Cloisonne develops global appeal from artisans

Cloisonne gets its name from the metal “cloisons,” French for “partitions,” that are filled with enamel, creating the multicolor designs. Despite the French name, the technique has been used in many parts of the world. It was revolutionized in Japan in the 19th century, when artist Kaji Tsunekichi, working as a metal gilder to supplement the stipend he received as a former samurai, deconstructed a piece of Chinese cloisonne to develop his own techniques. He soon began training other artists in cloisonne, which exploded in popularity in Japan, where it was called shippo. Many ...

Audiobooks are Awesome!

Did you know that listening to an audiobook can help a child build literacy skills? Students can develop reading skills such as decoding and comprehension, as well as critical thinking by listening to audiobooks. By engaging in listening skills, readers enhance their ability to process information and build a larger vocabulary. For those reluctant readers or those learning a different language, audiobooks can improve comprehension skills and introduce new words in context, improving both understanding and retention. Audiobooks build crucial listening skills for children. They build and ...

Rookwood Pottery features a gold medal glaze

The Rookwood Pottery Company was at the forefront of the art pottery movement in the United States. It was founded in 1880 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Maria Longworth Nichols, making it one of the earliest companies in America owned by a woman. Many of its most notable artists were women, too. Laura Anne Fry joined the company as a decorator in 1881. In addition to her skill as a ceramicist, she was an accomplished woodcarver, having trained with her father and grandfather, who carved decorative furniture and taught the art in Cincinnati. Fry turned out to be one of the company’s most ...

Recent reads

I started off 2026 by reading a lot of great nonfiction books, with one novel thrown in. Let library staff know if you’d like to place a request for any of these titles. Cartoonist Tom Gauld brings his erudite yet accessible wit to all things library, publishing, writing, and books in his latest collection, Revenge of the Librarians. His simple yet expressive cartoons lampoon the struggle of writing, reading, and loving books, as well as interacting with other people who love them, too. This is a great lighthearted read. Stephanie Thomas’ The Little Book of Rest: 100+ Ways to ...

A “Grotesque” vase sells for $455

The word “grotesque” has a few different meanings in decorative arts. It can be a general descriptor, covering anything strange and macabre. It can be more specific, referring to human faces with distorted features that appear as masks or adorn furniture or pottery. But would you use it to describe, say, a symmetrical glass vase standing on a round foot, with a flared, ruffled shape and a cobalt blue rim fading into the clear body? That vase, which sold for $455 at an auction by Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, came from the Grotesque glassware line made by Steuben in the 1920s to ...