Go Thoreau! Celebrating 200 years!

Happy 200th Birthday, Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

The Dennis Libraries are celebrating all year. Visit dennislibrariesthoreaubicentennial.blogspot.com for lectures, book clubs, and other activities related to Thoreau and our appreciation of nature.

"Kindness is the only investment that never fails."

August Art Display

We have the pleasure of showcasing the works of two wonderful artists in our meeting room throughout the month of August. This month we are featuring Carol Livingston and Lee Nemmers. Make sure you stop by the meeting room to see their works.

Carol Livingston:
"Every canvas is an adventure. I don’t always know where it will lead me, but it is always fun. I try to incorporate design into each piece and I like to experiment with different techniques." 

A graduate of Vesper George School of Art in Boston, Carol started her commercial art career as a fashion illustrator and then a hard goods illustrator working for many retail stores in New England. Eventually, she became a layout and mechanical artist. She then became a technical illustrator, always improving on her pen and ink skills. When the Internet came along, Carol learned how to design web sites. She did not, however, give up her pen and ink skills, which now consist of scribble and stipple renderings. Later in life Carol began painting with oils, using a digital camera to work up compositions in Photoshop and then to translate them onto canvas. 

Lee Nemmers:

"I love color. It's a gift of the natural world that we all share, and it's my primary means of expression. The light that color contains feels like a source of life, and the way that light is revealed through the use of color can be joyful. Much like music, color elicits an emotional response. I also seek patterns and movement in the play of color and light, patterns that can suddenly mesh to suggest the natural light and human environment without seeking to represent it. Using a palette knife is a simple technique for discovering those patterns, and often feels to me like the freedom of exploring without a map, using my intuition to find a path through a playful landscape of abstract images."

The creative spark is irresistible, and so Lee fans it by stretching her imagination with the pure enjoyment of color, light, texture and composition. She finds joy in the painting process. Working in the moment generates inner harmony, for Lee a key to creativity.

Author Talk: The Cape House

Thursday, August 24th at 6:30

Join us for an author talk with author Rea Bochner about her new memoir, The Cape House. 

This unforgettable memoir is a deeply touching story of mothers and daughters, love and loss, the power of holding on to each other and the strength it takes to let go. The Cape House is a story both personal and universal, told with fearless honesty and laugh-out-loud humor. It begins on the day that Bochner’s mother, Debbi, tells her that she’s received a prognosis of terminal cancer, and has decided to move to the family’s beloved summer home on Cape Cod to die. Over the next six weeks, as Debbi deteriorates, Bochner writes the story of her family, and looks back on the winding road she trudged with her mother through addiction, recovery, and redemption.

As both a eulogy for and a celebration of an exceptional woman, Rea Bochner writes unflinchingly of the powerful bond between a mother and her daughter. The result is a moving book that carries the readers from tears to laughter, from mourning to triumph. The Cape House is a testament to love as a force of nature, and the journey of one woman to discover herself.

Tech savvy volunteers needed

Do you love technology and have time on your hands? We need you! 

The Friends of the Dennis Public Library help support Dennis Public Library. They are looking for a volunteer to help them reach their members through social media like Constant Contact, Facebook, and Twitter.

Dennis Public Library needs a volunteer starting in October to help facilitate our "Girls Who Code" Club. "Girls Who Code" is a club for middle and high school students that meets Tuesday afternoons from 4:30 to 6:00.

If interested, please contact Lisa Cunningham at the library: 508-760-6219, ext. 207 or 210.

MBLC Library Patron Survey

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) is launching a major study that will impact how they fund and support your local libraries across the state. Please take a few minutes, anytime now through September 8th, to fill out their survey to tell us how you use your public library.

Help us identify what you love, what you need, and how we can make your experience better. If helping your library wasn't enough of an incentive, survey respondents have a chance to win an iPad!

Saltworks of Cape Cod

Thursday, August 3rd at 6:00

Join Robert Kelley for a special talk on the Cape Cod Saltworks. The presentation will discuss early salt production in Europe, the dynamics of salt exports to America in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, as well as the expansion, and decline of the industry in Barnstable County. Join us to explore the probable cause for the development of manufacturing salt by solar evaporation by Capt. John Sears of Yarmouth/Dennis in the early Federal Period, and to learn more about this local industry.

Robert Dudley Kelley of South Yarmouth is a trustee with the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth, a researcher and writer of the local history of South Yarmouth with concentration in the subjects of genealogy, saltworks, Quakers, and the Native Americans of that town. He is published in the New England Historic and Genealogical Register, and local publications in Barnstable County. He is the current Chief Operating Officer of Dennis East International. 

Historic Restaurants of Cape Cod

Thursday, July 27th at 6:30

Join local author Christopher Setterlund as he discusses his new book "Historic Restaurants of Cape Cod" which details the history of some of the iconic establishments of the Cape, still fresh in the memories of restaurant patrons.

Thousands of restaurants have come and gone on Cape Cod over the past century. Some, however, have made an indelible mark. Bill and Thelma's was hugely popular with students from the 1950s to the 1970s, often packed with locals after sporting events and dances. Starbuck's Restaurant in Hyannis featured the Chief Justice Warren Burger Burger and the Larry Bird Burger on its menu and boasted about the soup du jour saying, "We don't know what it is, but we have it every day." Opinions differ on how the Reno Diner actually got its name, whether from a broken sign or a local appliance company. This book covers these and many other stories about local Cape restaurants.

Author Christopher Setterlund is a twelfth-generation Cape Codder whose roots go back to the second Mayflower voyage. After growing up on Cape Cod and working in the restaurant industry for nearly two decades, he has a wealth of knowledge as to what makes a legendary Cape Cod establishment. He is the author of the In My Footsteps travel book series featuring Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. In addition to books, the author has contributed work to the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, Cape Cod Life magazine, Cape Cod Magazine, CapeCod.com and the Travel Channel. Away from writing he is a WITS-certified personal trainer, runner, photographer and a lover of travel.  

Preschool Story Time is cancelled this week

Thursday, July 13th

There will be no Preschool Story Time on Thursday, July 13th. You are welcome to visit our children's room to read and play on your own, but there will be no planned story or craft this week. Preschool Story Time will be back next week, Thursday, July 20th.