Winter Travel Ideas

Are you thinking of enjoying a cruise vacation this winter? Steve Stern has sailed on more than 750 ships so it is a fair assessment to call him an authority on cruise vacations. Whether you are planning to sail the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the South Seas, Alaska, Southeast Asia, or the waterways of Europe, Stern’s guide to the cruise vacation, 2012 edition is a comprehensive guide, with details on all aspects of cruise ship travel. Updated annually, this edition lists descriptive information for all major cruise ships including each vessel’s history, vital statistics, appearance, itineraries, price range, and sport, dining, and medical facilities. Stern evaluates every detail using a star ranking as well as ratings in eleven specific categories. More than two hundred photographs of ships, decks, and interiors are included, along with actual ship menus and daily activity programs for each featured cruise line. This guide can assist you in selection the ship best suited to your taste, advises you on how to prepare for your cruise, and explains what to expect once you are onboard. Stern discusses every major port of call worldwide, listing details on attractions, beaches, hotels, restaurants, shopping, sports, and other recreation. He also includes guidelines on how to make the most of any eight-hour stay in port. People who’ve never cruised before or those who have but find themselves faced with a confusing onslaught of new ships need to know a great deal, and this book will go a long way in providing it.








The Muskoka Lakes Public Library in Port Carling has added other new travel books to the collection including Birnhaum’s Walt Disney World: expert advice from the inside source which includes up-to-date information on prices, changes, and new attractions for 2012, Frommer’s Italy, Fodor’s Caribbean. If you are planning on staying closer to home then Canada’s national parks and National Geographic guide to the national parks of Canada are worthwhile options.

A big thank you goes out to the Cranberry Festival which once again awarded money to the Muskoka Lakes Public Library Bala branch to add to the collection of books available for check out.

The Christmas season is fast approaching and the library has plenty of resources to help you to enjoy it—from entertaining ideas to gift making ideas, in books as well as current magazines which are chock full of great ideas. The Muskoka Lakes Public Library will be closed December 24, 25, 26, 27, 31, and January 1, 2 with regular operating hours for all other dates.

Friends of the Library AGM

Are you a Friend of the Library? The Friends of the Muskoka Lakes Public Library is holding their Annual General Meeting on November 29 at 3:30 at the Port Carling branch and all library users are encouraged to come to the meeting.

Friends groups across the country play an important role in promoting and supporting libraries through many different avenues. “Friends of Libraries are volunteers acting collectively and independently to preserve, promote and strengthen library services in harmony with library management and policies.” (Friends of Canadian Libraries website www.accessola.com) The Muskoka Lakes Public Library is fortunate to have its own Friends group doing just that—strengthening the library service in our township. Consider supporting the library by supporting the Friends, a charitable organization that works hard to support the library to make it a better place for everyone. People interested in becoming a Friend of the Township of Muskoka Lakes Public Library can do so by printing off the membership form found on the library website and emailing to FriendsMLPLibrary@gmail.com or by returning the form to the Norma and Miller Alloway Library 69 Joseph Street Port Carling, Ontario. New members are always welcome ~ There is no membership fee to become a Friend but donations are always welcome and greatly appreciated. Receipts for income tax purposes will be issued on request.

Art Workshops for Adults with Nancy Gray Ogle 1:30-3:30: Thursday November 17, Painting with Acrylics; Thursday November 24 Portrait Drawing. $30 per class. Students supply their own materials. Registrations must be made in advance by contacting Nancy at 705-764-0212 or ngrayogle@sympatico.ca

Creative Kids Club Saturdays 11-12:30. Children 8 and up welcome. FREE but please pre-register. 705-765-5650.

Book Club Meet on the last Tuesday of each month, September to April, for lively discussions of the selection of the month. Meetings are open to all and take place in the activity room at the Port Carling Branch Library. The next gathering will be on Tuesday, November 29th, when Linda McAuley will present, and the group will discuss, The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. Hope to see you there!

Pre-School Story Time Tuesdays 10:30-11:30 Port Carling Branch Library. Pre-school stories, rhymes, finger plays, simple crafts. No pre-registration required. Children and adults meet in activity room for the craft of the week then meet upstairs at 11:00 am for stories, movement, and music. Some craft activities can be messy (which makes them FUN!) so please dress your child accordingly.

Kniterary Come out to the Port Carling Branch Library on Thursday afternoons at 1:00. Bring your knitting project or other needlework project and socialize with other crafters. Discuss what you are reading or what you would like to read while enjoying the company of others. All welcome!

November is Diabetes Awareness Month

November is diabetes awareness month in Canada. Today, there are more than 9 million Canadians living with diabetes or prediabetes. With more than 20 people being newly diagnosed with the disease every hour of every day, chances are that diabetes affects you or someone you know. Diabetes is a chronic, often debilitating and sometimes fatal disease, in which the body either cannot produce insulin or cannot properly use the insulin it produces. This leads to high levels of glucose in the blood, which can damage organs, blood vessels and nerves. The body needs insulin to use glucose as an energy source.

The Muskoka Lakes Public Library in Port Carling has resources to help you cope with diabetes and to help prevent it. Choice menus, cooking for one or two : quick and easy meals and menus to help you prevent or manage diabetes by Marjorie Hollands and Margaret Howard is one such resource offering a meal planning guide and cookbook for people with diabetes and for those looking for help to prevent Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes without drugs : the 5-step program to control blood sugar naturally and prevent diabetes complications by Suzy Cohen is another book that will help you cope with the disease. Based on breakthrough studies, Cohen's program claims to reveal how people with diabetes can reduce their need for prescription medication and minimize the disease's effect on the body.

Art Workshops for Adults with Nancy Gray Ogle 1:30-3:30: Thursday November 17, Painting with Acrylics; Thursday November 24 Portrait Drawing. $30 per class. Students supply their own materials. Registrations must be made in advance by contacting Nancy at 705-764-0212 or ngrayogle@sympatico.ca

Creative Kids Club Saturdays 11-12:30. Children 8 and up welcome. FREE but please pre-register. 705-765-5650.

Book Club Meet on the last Tuesday of each month, September to April, for lively discussions of the selection of the month. Meetings are open to all and take place in the activity room at the Port Carling Branch Library. The next gathering will be on Tuesday, November 29th, when Linda McAuley will present, and the group will discuss, The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. Hope to see you there!

Pre-School Story Time Tuesdays 10:30-11:30 Port Carling Branch Library. Pre-school stories, rhymes, finger plays, simple crafts. No pre-registration required. Children and adults meet in activity room for the craft of the week then meet upstairs at 11:00 am for stories, movement, and music. Some craft activities can be messy (which makes them FUN!) so please dress your child accordingly.

Kniterary Come out to the Port Carling Branch Library on Thursday afternoons at 1:00. Bring your knitting project or other needlework project and socialize with other crafters. Discuss what you are reading or what you would like to read while enjoying the company of others. All welcome!

Operation Jubilee: Wednesday, 19th August 1942

History might have been recorded differently if a skirmish between a German flotilla and British commandos hadn’t taken place in the seas off of Dieppe that August night in ’42. . The Germans were on alert, taking away a crucial element of the plan: the element of surprise. The raid across the English Channel, dubbed Operation Jubilee, took place on August 19, 1942. The target was a section of the French coast between Le Havre and Boulogne. The mission was meant to test Hitler’s defences in Europe. Lord Mountbatten’s original plan was to send flanking brigades inland to meet and attack the Nazi forces from behind, but plans were changed to a frontal attack but with little air support. The raids on Dieppe were a combined Canadian-British operation, with Canadian infantry forming the main body of the assault. Simultaneous assaults on Dieppe were to be conducted at three landing spots but through a series of errors and miscalculations this was not to be. In nine horrible hours, of the 5,000 Canadian soldiers involved in the attacks on Dieppe, 907 of our soldiers were killed and 1,300 were taken prisoner.

One of those prisoners, the father of staff member Barb Neibert, was Lt. A.L. Breithaupt who was one of the officers of the Calgary Regiment (14th Canadian Tank Regiment). Landing at was dubbed the Red & White Beach, Brethaupt’s Churchill tank, nicknamed Betty, got as far inland as the esplanade where it became bogged down in a hole. (Twenty-nine Churchill tanks successfully exited the landing craft at the beach with twenty-seven making it ashore. Fifteen managed to climb up and over the seawall on to Dieppe’s promenade but were thwarted further progress by the many road blocks.) Breithaupt was taken prisoner and moved to a camp at Eichstatt, Bavaria where he remained for almost three years.

Much in the fashion of the Great Escape movie during his imprisonment, he and other officers built two tunnels out of the camp to try and escape. About 60 escaped through the first tunnel but were quickly recaptured. When the second tunnel was ready they decided that it as best to have only three or four escape at a time. Two got as far as Switzerland but, not realizing that they had crossed the border, they crossed back into Germany where they were recaptured. During Breithaupt’s imprisonment he learned to knit and to needlepoint…activities to pass the many hours. The Muskoka Lakes Public Library in Port Carling is honoured to have on loan the petit point needlework that Lt. A. L. Breithaupt constructed while he was a POW at Eichstatt. The needlepoint depicts a camp scene of Oflag VII B. The public is invited to come and see the artwork and to chat with Barb about what she was told by her father of his war experiences.

Lt. Breithaupt, who according to his daughter Barb, did not like to talk about his war experiences, did pen a descriptive of the needlepoint outlining how he came to have the supplies to complete the project.

“The basic material was sent out by the Canadian Red Cross via Switzerland, and the Canadian Prisoners of War were given the opportunity of preference of choice of the different articles –not many wanted to do Petit Point.

“The wool and stencilled material was for a Maple Leaf. Lt. James Graham of the British Army, an architect in civilian life, suggested I do a camp scene. He tried to draw it on the fabric but as the material was too coarse for drawing, he made [a] sketch.

“The scene is one corner of the compound showing the barbed wire fence, the electrified trip wire which was about 12’ inform the fence, a sentry box and one of the dwelling huts. The flowers were from seed sent out to P.O.W.’s from Canada.

“The yellows and greens were the maple leaf colours. The dark green was a scarf; the browns were army wool socks, the white cloud was wool unravelled from G.I. underwear, the blue sky was wool unravelled from a hockey sweater and the greys from P.O.W. socks. To get the colours I did not have, I would walk around the compound looking at the men’s socks and offer to trade the owner the pair he had on, which were usually fullof holes, for a pair of clean either mended or new socks. The trade was readily performed.

“It took about five weeks of spare time during 1944, and this is one of the articles I carried when we were forced to march 120 miles in April 1945.”

Lest we forget.

The Library...more than just books

The Library
(Barbara A. Huff)
It looks like any building
When you pass it on the street,
Made of stone and glass and marble,
Made of iron and concrete.
But once inside you can ride
A camel or a train,
Visit Rome, Siam, or Nome,
Feel a hurricane,
Meet a king, learn to sing,
How to bake a pie,
Go to sea, plant a tree,
Find how airplanes fly,
Train a horse, and of course
Have all the dogs you'd like,
See the moon, a sandy dune,
Or catch a whopping pike.
Everything that books can bring
You'll find inside these walls.
A world is there for you to share
When adventure calls.
You cannot tell its magic
By the way the building looks,
But there's wonderment within it,
The wonderment of books.

Art Workshops for Adults with Nancy Gray Ogle 1:30-3:30: Thursday November 17, Painting with Acrylics; Thursday November 24 Portrait Drawing. $30 per class. Students supply their own materials. Registrations must be made in advance by contacting Nancy at 705-764-0212 or ngrayogle@sympatico.ca

Creative Kids Club Saturdays 11-12:30. Children 8 and up welcome. FREE but please pre-register. 705-765-5650.

Book Club Meet on the last Tuesday of each month, September to April, for lively discussions of the selection of the month. Meetings are open to all and take place in the activity room at the Port Carling Branch Library. During October’s meeting last week, Christine Featherstone gave an interesting and informative introduction to State of Wonder by Ann Patchett which was followed by an animated discussion and exchange of ideas. The next gathering will be on Tuesday, November 29th, when Linda McAuley will present, and the group will discuss, The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. Hope to see you there!

Pre-School Story Time Tuesdays 10:30-11:30 Port Carling Branch Library. Pre-school stories, rhymes, finger plays, simple crafts. No pre-registration required. Children and adults meet in activity room for the craft of the week then meet upstairs at 11:00 am for stories, movement, and music. Some craft activities can be messy (which makes them FUN!) so please dress your child accordingly.

Kniterary Come out to the Port Carling Branch Library on Thursday afternoons at 1:00. Bring your knitting project or other needlework project and socialize with other crafters. Discuss what you are reading or what you would like to read while enjoying the company of others. All welcome!

Literary Award Season

The nights are definitely cooler and shorter now that fall has hit. Fall also brings the literary prize season and so it has begun.

The Man Booker Prize six-book shortlist was been announced in September. The list comprised of The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman, Snowdrops by A.D. Miller. On October 18 Julian Barnes was declared the winner the £50,000 literary prize. The Governor General’s literary awards have also been awarded and the Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist has been generated too. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt and Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan made all three shortlists. The Free World by David Bezmozgis made the cut on both Canadian lists. Come to the library in Port Carling or Bala and pick up your copy of one of the winners or shortlisted books and decide for yourself if it deserved the accolade.

The Muskoka Lakes Public Library sincerely thanks those that participated in the Let’s Talk! workshops during last week’s Ontario Public Library Week events. Your valuable input into the discussions will help to guide the library’s direction and focus into the future! Thanks also to Sandy Crozier for facilitating the focus group discussions.

Congratulations to our Tuesday Pre-School Story Time participants! Their artwork won a first prize ribbon at the Bala Cranberry Festival last weekend! Come and see the prize-winner at the library in Port Carling where it will be hanging for the next little bit.

Creative Kids Club Saturdays Muskoka Lakes Public Library Port Carling 11-12:30. Children 8 and up welcome. FREE but please pre-register. 705-765-5650.

Retro-Reads

How well do you remember your high school books? Do you remember Holden, Atticus, Hagar, Francie, and other ‘ghosts’ from your literary past? Come to the Muskoka Lakes Public Library and you may be pleasantly surprised if you re-visit those books. Chances are you will have a different perspective on them now compared to when it was required reading in school. Or, perhaps, you have realized that you have not read many of the ‘classic’ books. Have fun identifying the books by the few lines given. (The answers are at the end of the column.)

1. “They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience”.

2. "In the future, when something comes up, you tell exactly how it happened but write down for yourself the way you think it should have happened. Tell the truth and write the story. Then you won't get mixed up.” It was the best advice Francie every got

3. “The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box. As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.”

4. “I know this … a man got to do what he got to do.”

5. “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

6. “Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and windows, but the dust came in so thinly that it could not be seen in the air, and it settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes”.

ANSWERS: [1.] Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 11, spoken by the character Atticus. [2.] Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Chapter 26. [3] Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 23, spoken by the character Atticus.[ 4] John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath ,Chapter 18. [5] J.D.Salinger The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield in Chapter 1, opening words of book. [6] .John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath Chapter 1

Thank you to all those from the community who took the time and effort to be part of the Muskoka Lakes Public Library Let’s Talk discussions yesterday. Your input for the vision of the library’s future is invaluable and greatly appreciated!

Ontario Public Library events continue today with special ‘guest’ library workers. Who will check your library books out today?

Special Evening Story Time: Teddy Bear Sleepover Thursday, October 20 at 6:15 pm Bring your favourite Teddy or another favourite furry friend to a pyjama story time. Then, when it's time for you to go, the Teddies spend the night in the library in Port Carling for their very own sleepover… no humans allowed! Pick up your friends the next day after 10:00 am and find out what fun they had in the library overnight!

Creative Kids Club Saturdays Muskoka Lakes Public Library Port Carling 11-12:30. Children 8 and up welcome. FREE but please

Let's Talk and Teddy Bear Sleepover

Let’s talk about your Muskoka Lakes library on Tuesday October 18, 2011. Interested in joining a 90 minute session, held in small groups of 7-9, with a professional facilitator? The library would like to have a cross-representation of community members including library users and non-users, business owners, educators, parents, youth, seniors, etc. from across the Township. Please consider submitting your name, contact information and preferred Focus Group time to pclib@muskoka.com, 705-765-5650, or sign up at the Port Carling branch library.

Special Evening Story Time: Teddy Bear Sleepover Thursday, October 20 at 6:15 pm Bring your favourite Teddy or another favourite furry friend to a pyjama story time. Then, when it's time for you to go, the Teddies spend the night in the library in Port Carling for their very own sleepover… no humans allowed! Pick up your friends the next day after 10:00 am and find out what fun they had in the library overnight!

Creative Kids Club Saturdays Muskoka Lakes Public Library Port Carling 11-12:30. Children 8 and up welcome. FREE but please pre-register. 705-765-5650.

Euchre Port Carling Branch Library on Tuesday afternoons at 1:00. Bring your playing cards and join other Euchre enthusiasts. Non- competitive fun for all skill levels.

Scrabble Port Carling Branch Library on Wednesday afternoons at 1:00. Chance to enjoy a game of scrabble with other interested players. The library has a limited number of boards and tiles, or bring your own if you wish. Non- competitive fun for all skill levels.