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The open road is calling!

Lifestyle Columns

School days are soon coming to an end and summer vacation plans have begun. Are you thinking about an epic road trip this summer? I have some road trip books for you to check out. Experience the beauty of Minnesota by taking a drive with “Scenic Driving Minnesota: Including Lake Superior’s North Shore, Itasca State Park, and Minneapolis Lakes” by Phil Davies (917.7604 Davies). It includes beautiful photos and full-color maps. As long as you are touring Minnesota, you might as well take “Waterfalls of Minnesota” by Lisa Crayford (917.76 Crayfor) along with you. It is arranged ...

Graphoscope is art, science, and entertainment

Lifestyle Columns

English inventor Charles John Roswell patented the first graphoscope in 1864. The graphoscope, a device to enhance viewings of photographs and other still images, consists of a round magnifying glass attached to an adjustable stand. Later models, like the one pictured here, included a stereoscope to view stereocards that create a 3-D illusion. Collectors call these models stereo-graphoscopes. This one, which sold for $366 at Austin Auction Gallery, was made by the London firm Negretti and Zambra. Established in 1850, the company started as a partnership between Joseph Zambra, a ...

Recent reads

Lifestyle Feature

Here are few of my favorite recent reads. Library staff would be happy to help you place requests on these or any other titles. If you’d like to place your own request, visit www.newulmlibrary.org and choose Library Catalog. Cecily Foster is an excellent podcast producer, even when working for a production company in dire straits. What she is not is lucky in love. When her boss gives her a chance to save her and her colleagues’ jobs by being the subject of a new dating podcast, Cecily reluctantly agrees; at least she can exercise a bit more control over the final product if she ...

Tietz takes over again

Lifestyle Feature

MANKATO — After finishing his senior year of baseball with the Wabasso Rabbits in 2023, expectations were high for Adryen Tietz as he approached the summer and prepared to join the Bethany Lutheran Vikings baseball team in 2024. Tietz, who ended his senior year at Wabasso as the 2023 ...

‘Say it with flowers’ for Mother’s Day

Lifestyle Columns

“Say It With Flowers!” No wonder it’s one of the most successful advertising slogans ever. It works for nearly any occasion and is especially appropriate for Mother’s Day. In fact, the slogan was created for the Society of American Florist’s 1918 Mother’s Day campaign, but flowers were already an important part of the holiday. Anna Jarvis held what is considered the first Mother’s Day observance in 1908. It was on the second Sunday in May, the day her mother, teacher and activist Ann Reeves Jarvis had died in 1905. Ann Reeves Jarvis promoted public health throughout her ...

Japanese lacquerware picnic box is a work of art

Lifestyle Columns

As spring progresses and the days grow longer, warmer and sunnier, outdoor activities become more appealing. Picnics are a favorite way to celebrate the spring weather. But most of us wouldn’t pack ours in a box like this one, which sold for $2,560 at an auction by Nye & Company. This five-tiered lacquer picnic box was made in Japan in the 18th century. It was probably for a wealthy family whose crest graces the top. Today, it is a work of art, and similar Japanese lacquer picnic boxes appear in museum collections around the world. Lacquerware has been made in Japan for thousands of ...