Our New Spanish Books Are Here

Elois, who's in charge of our reference section, came into our office the other day all excited because the new Spanish books are here. And they are! So with Josh's help, they are listed and interpreted here:

• Manual Práctico de Primeros Auxilios (Practical Guide to First Aid)
• Concepción Natural y Embarazo, Guía Completa Para Futuros Padres (Natural Conception and Pregnancy, Complete Guide for Future Parents)
• Immigración a los EE.UU. Paso a Paso (Immigration to the USA Step by Step)
• Conviértase en ciudadano Americano (Become an American Citizen)
• Cocina Rica y Nutritiva para Hipertensos (Delicious and Nutritious Cooking for Those with Hypertension)
• Cocina Rica y Nutritiva con Bajo Colesterol (Delicious and Nutritious Cooking with Low Cholesterol)
• Cómo Conseguir Su Visa Guías Prácticas (How to Get Your Visa Practical Guides)
• Esperando a mi BeBé (Waiting for My Baby)
• Cocina Rica y Nutritiva para Diabeticos (Delicious and Nutritious Cooking for Diabetics)
• 500 Recetas Fáciles, Rápidas y Prácticas Canal Cocina (500 Easy, Quick, and Practical Recipes Cooking Channel)

These books are in the first aisle past the Pines Catalog computers at the front of the reference section. Elois is dedicating a whole section in that first stack to Spanish books. Come take a look. She's quite proud of having it for the community.

Did I Tell You That We're Walking To Las Vegas?

Yep, that's what we're doing!
We just finished walking to Jekyll Island and had our "seaside" luncheon. By we, I mean all our library staff. And by "seaside" luncheon, I mean we had a potluck in the auditorium. Our tables were decorated with checked table cloths, sand pails and shovels, sand strainers, and shells. We had a great time. So great that we decided we needed to walk again.
This time we're walking to Las Vegas. Josh, whose brain is bigger than mine, figured out that from Moultrie to Las Vegas is 2,119 miles and that long distance would give us 42,380 minutes of exercise! Makes me huff and puff just to think about it.
Lots of us are wearing pedometers now and, of course, our tennis shoes. We count our steps for a week and then put the number of steps we've accumulated on the map in the break room. All the steps add up across the country until we get to Las Vegas.
When we get there, figuratively speaking, we plan to have a feast of southwestern flavored foods. Our tables will be decorated with all kinds of interesting things. And some of us may even wear our big sombreros and huaraches.
But the most important part is that we are moving...we are walking...and helping to keep healthy. That's the goal of walking to Las Vegas.
Stay with us. No telling where we'll walk next time.

Don't Forget Our Upcoming Free Nutrition Talk

Just a reminder...our free nutrition talk will be Wednesday, March 26th, at 10 a.m. in the Willcoxon Auditorium here at the library.
In celebration of National Nutrition Month, Debbie Purvis, Family & Consumer Service Agent, will speak about "What's That Yellow Bar Doing On MyPyramid?"
No registration is necessary. Just show up.

Our New Computer Tells You How To "Live Healthy Georgia"

There's a great new computer in the computer center at our library. It's right beside computer #20. David Cooper, from the District Health Office of Southwest Georgia Public Health, brought it to us. It's a health promotion to help you reduce your chronic disease risk.
Governor Sunny Perdue and the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR) have joined forces to help Georgians live healthier by launching the Live Healthy Georgia Campaign. It aims to reduce chronic disease in Georgia by promoting these five key messages:
1) Be Active - Increase and maintain physical activity
2) Get Checked - Receive appropriate health screenings
3) Be Tobacco Free - Eliminate tobacco use
4) Eat Healthy - Follow a low-fat diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and
5) Be Positive - Achieve and maintain a state of mental wellness.
It's the mission of Southwest Georgia Public Health to prevent disease, injury and disability; promote health and well-being; and prepare for disasters.
So, in the light of that, David brought the computer to the library for you to use.
When you sit down at the computer, you'll see a placard around the upper right hand corner of the computer. It gives directions to get into the health website. You might have to click on the Internet icon first and, if that's true, you'll see the Library's website home page. From there you can follow the Live Healthy Georgia instructions.
The program will track from your initial entry to your current entry to see the changes you've made in your life and see if you accomplish your goals. It also links to other information such as physical activity, stress reduction, tobacco free, proper nutrition and health screening, as well as various health websites.
We're "Hooked on Health" and you can be too.
(Sources: www.southwestgeorgiapublichealth.org, www.livehealthygeorgia.org)

Easter Thoughts

An email came to me the other day about how the speed of things around us will impose its tempo on our lives if we let it.
Rod MacIver of Heron Dance said, "We've all said to ourselves that unless we rush, we're not going to get everything done that we need to get done. We say we don't have time to plan; we've got too much to do. We don't have time to think through an objective or envision the desired outcome. We don't have time to meditate."
I had to agree with him. We don't even take the time for a long soaking bath. Or cook a full meal. Or read a good book.
And he said, "We do know that rushing contributes to low quality, wasted effort, mistakes, fatigue and even illness." And goodness knows, we certainly don't have the time to be sick.
He also said, "There's a book out there that tells about a worldwide group called the Slow Food Association. This group proposes that we add quality to our lives, and deepen our relationships with friends and family, by purchasing fresh food grown locally on small scale farms, preparing it carefully with love and then eating it slowly."
This comment made me want to ask you: What would you do to slow down the speed of life around you? What would you do to have more quality time for yourself? Let your Internet subscription expire? Give up your cable television? Make sure that your weekends off are really off work? Stay out of the car more and stay home to. . .what? Learn a new hobby, work a crossword puzzle, flop on the couch and read a good book? What?
Here's a thought if you just have to get out. . .some Saturday come to the library and work the community puzzle or pick out a DVD you haven't seen or check out the latest bestseller you saw advertised on television.
Then go to the Farmers' Market and buy some fresh veggies and cook up a stir-fry for you and your friends. Or have a pot luck with your neighbors and talk about the good old days when gasoline was cheaper.
We're individuals and one speed doesn't fit all. Tell yourself, "I'd like to slow down, and I really do have a choice."
We always have a choice. We need to remember that. And this Easter season is the perfect time to think about things like that. . . .
(Source: www.herondance.com, Rod MacIver)

Joshua's Law - It's the Law!

Are you familiar with Joshua's Law? It's a bill that changed the requirements that teen drivers must meet in order to obtain the coveted Class D driver's license they all want when they are sixteen. It started January 1, 2007. Yep! 2007!
The library has available to parents and teens the booklet 40 Hour Parent/Teen Driving Guide (Parent Supervised On-The-Road Program). And it's FREE for the asking.
TEENS: To get the coveted Class D Driver's license at age sixteen (16):
---You must have completed a driver education course approved by the Department of Driver Services and
---You also must have completed a cumulative total of at least forty (40) hours of other supervised driving experience, including at least six (6) hours at night.
If you have not completed an approved driver's education course, you cannot get your Class D driver's license until you reach age seventeen (17). Remember - 40 hours of driving experience, including 6 hours of driving at night is a MUST!
You can find an approved driver's education course from http://www.dds.ga.gov/teens/DTschools.aspx.
A Parent or legal guardian can conduct the 6 hours of night training.
If you're 17 years old, you must have 40 hours of supervised driving (6 of which must be at night).
PARENTS: As a parent, you would be eligible for a reduction in insurance premiums if you have your teen's Certificate of Completion from a State Licensed School providing 30 hours of classroom instruction and 6 hours behind the wheel instruction.
The cost of a driver's education course is determined by the particular school.
For more information, go to http://www.dds.ga.gov/Joshua/index.aspx and http://www.gateendrivereducation.com/.
Better yet, come to the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library, 204 Fifth Street, SE, in Moultrie and ask for the booklet. It's FREE! You can get a copy by asking for it at the Circulation Counter.

Three Events Are Right Around The Corner

The Tech Lunch Bunch Meets Tomorrow
At noon on Wednesday, March 19th, the Tech Lunch Bunch will learn about "Nutrition on the Web." The event will be held in the Willcoxon Auditorium. MCCLS webmaster, Aileen McNair, will provide insider tips for evaluating websites and finding reliable online information about health and nutrition. The event is free to the public and sponsored by the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library. You may call 985-6540 to register or just show up if you can't call. We'll take you either way. Plan to bring pencil and paper to take notes. The program will definitely be worth your time and effort.
"What's That Yellow Bar Doing On MyPyramid?"
That's the name of the free nutrition talk by Family & Consumer Service Agent Debbie Purvis. In celebration of National Nutrition Month, the event will be held Wednesday, March 26th, at 10 a.m. in the Willcoxon Auditorium. No registration necessary.
Food for Fines Day
Thursday, March 27th, will be our Food For Fines Day. This is when you can exchange one food item (canned or packaged) toward each fifty cents off your Library fine. The food will be donated to the Colquitt Food & Clothing Bank in Moultrie.
For additional information about these events, call the Library at 985-6540.

A Rare Georgia Bird Is Seen

Like most bird lovers, I feed birds. I have a double shepherd's hook stuck in the holly hedge just outside my workroom window. The hook holds a lantern bird feeder and a water dish.
One morning last week, I stared at a strange bird sitting on the edge of the feeder. I'd never seen such an amazing bird. It reminded me of an Indigo Bunting in size and shape, but it had a rosy-colored breast and rump, bright blue head, lime-green and brown wings, and a bright yellow patch across its shoulders. I was just mesmerized. The bird stayed on the feeder for about three minutes, then fluttered away. I wondered if I'd ever see it again.
My book about Georgia birds showed me a picture of a Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris). That was my strange bird. And here's what I learned:
The male Painted Buntings are the most spectacularly colored of all North American songbirds. This species has two distinct breeding populations in North America, but overall, it is rapidly disappearing from many of its nesting haunts near wetlands and rivers of coastal Georgia. The exact causes for the Painted Bunting's decline are not known, but they are believed to include habitat loss, cowbird parasitism, and trapping for the pet trade on its wintering
grounds.
The female Painted Buntings are not as brightly colored as the males, but they are also distinctive. The female has an overall greenish plumage which is more darkly colored above than below. Both birds are about 4-1/2 inches long with a small, conical bill. Its diet consists mostly of seeds and insects, and they forge mostly on the ground or in a low bush. But my painted bunting was on my bird
feeder!!!
It takes two years for a male Painted Bunting to become a brilliantly colored songbird. Many people are unaware that this small colorful finch is a native songbird that migrates in late April from southern Florida, the Caribbean Islands, and Mexico to its nesting areas in the U.S. (And mine showed up the first week of March!) Painted buntings nest along the coastal areas of Florida north to North Carolina, but they also nest inland near large coastal rivers in these states. In some areas, they use abandoned farmland, open woodlands adjacent to pastures, and hedges associated with farming. My Painted Bunting seemed happy to have found my holly hedge.
There's a cooperative program entitled the Southeastern Atlantic Painted Bunting Conservation Initiative (SAPABUCI), which was formed in 2001 to address the research and management needs of Painting Bunting populations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Through this group, people are cooperating in planning future research of the Bunting that will benefit the recovery of its population.
The Painted Bunting is also on the Audubon WatchList and is identified as an extremely high priority species in Partners in Flight's Bird Conservation Plan for the South Atlantic Coastal Plain.
So, now you can see why I've become so excited about the little Painted Bunting that landed on my bird feeder. And you know what? I did see him again. . .just this morning. Maybe he'll keep coming back. I'm sure going to keep feeding him.
Check out some of our library books and enjoy birding for yourself.

• Birding by Joseph Michael Forshaw R598.07234 (in the Reference Section)
• The Bird Feeder Guide by Marcus Schneck 598.2S
• Birdwatching by Rob Hume 598.072H
• How to Attract Birds by Michael D. McKinley 598.07M

(Sources: Audubon WatchList, http://audubon2.org/watchlist; Myers, J. Michael, 2004, Bird without equal: The story of Georgia's Painted Bunting, http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/pabu/)

Spring Has Sprung!!!!

The other day I drove around town and looked at all the things that were blooming. It was such a beautiful day and I saw so much color. But I know it's going to get even better, if we can just get past the cold weather dropping in and surprising us with another bout of twenty-something or so degrees.
Anyhow, back to my drive around town.
The first blooms I saw were the lavender-purple and ivory petals of Japanese magnolias. Then came the rosy-pinks of quince and bright yellows of forsythia. Paperwhites and jonquils in soft whites and yellows cropped up in many yards, and several shades of reddish-pink azaleas appeared among green leaves. High up, tiny multitudes of pale fushia redbuds popped out on spindly tree limbs, and in a small field groups of sunshine yellow daffodils floated back and forth like waves when the breeze blew them.
Any day now we will be able to see all over town tall pine trees ringed with huge azalea bushes that show their peach, white, pink, and magenta blossoms. And we will see thousands, I'm sure, of dogwood trees with their cream-colored and pale lime-green flowers lining streets and scattered in every yard.
Long before now, our local gardners were at work, spreading compost, working fertilizers of all sorts into their garden beds, and putting in bulbs and bushes and garden plants in every possible nook and cranny.
The rains continue to bring refreshing water to feed all these pleasures we see blooming around us, and we know that Spring has sprung!!!
Usually the middle of March is the best time for me to roam the city and check out where the most gorgeous blossoms are. I'll have my map all planned before March 15th gets here, and my camera ready. And if it's a nice sunny day, I'll have a full tank of gasoline in my car and I'll be gone sightseeing for the best of Moultrie's flowers, bushes and trees.
If you can't get out and drive around to see the colors, plan to come to the library and find one of these good garden books to look at. Or some of the gardening magazines on the reading racks. It's the next best thing to traveling around town.

• Gardening Without Work - Ruth Stout 635.9S
• Gardening Week by Week - George H. M. Lawrence 635.9L
• Gardening in the Shade - Harriet Klamroth Morse 635.9M
• Gardening from the Ground Up - Stanley Schuler 635.9S.

We're Going To iGoogle!

On Thursday, March 6th, the Technology Lunch Bunch will meet at noon in the Willcoxon Auditorium. Library webmaster Aileen McNair will teach you all about iGoogle on the computer.
So now you've asked, "What is iGoogle?" Well, iGoogle is a central page where you can make a personalized page in Google. Many people use it for their home page.
Aileen will teach you how you can set up and view your gmail account, your Google calendar account and Google news, as well as show how you can get a plethora (that's a big word for overabundance) of widgets that let you customize your page to be more resourceful.
Sounds like fun, huh? It will be! You don't have to pay a cent for this class. . .it's free. Compliments of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library in Moultrie, Georgia.
You can call 985-6540 to register if you'd like or you can just show up.
We'll be looking for you.

Library Honors Cray Brooks As Outstanding Employee

A great brightness appeared on the face of Cray Brooks when Moultrie-Colquitt County Library director, Melody Jenkins, announced the name of the March Employee of the Month.
"This person has been here for a long, long time," Melody said, "and she's done lots of stuff. She left for a while, but then she came back. Any idea who it is?" Eyebrows raised on the people standing around the room as they began to figure out who she was talking about.
"It's Cray Brooks!" Melody said.
And Cray's eyes grew as round as saucers. Suddenly, a big "Oh!" escaped from her mouth before she covered it with her hands, and just as suddenly, a wide grin appeared.
Cray was presented with a certificate of appreciation, flowers, and a gold Georgia Library bookmark and a lapel pin. She also will have the privilege of parking in the special E.O.M. parking space for the entire month.
It was in 1980 when Cray began with the library at the age of 15. She was a member of the JTPA (Job Training Partnership Act) program, which put people into work environments to help them learn job skills. After she graduated from high school, she left the library to raise her family. Then in 1986 she went to work at Wal-Mart where she remained for 12 years. In 1996 when she heard about an opening at the library, she applied and got the part-time job, even as she continued working at Wal-Mart. On July 1, 1998, she became a full-time employee and the children's library assistant.
Cray said what she likes best about working at the library are the people. And of course, she loves to read and see all the new books that come into the library. That makes her the perfect person to work at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library.
Cray is the daughter of Winifred Johnson and the late Carrie Johnson. Her family includes daughter Kashima, son Melvin (Marquis), and sister Joyce, as well as her dad, Winifred.