Repurposed Little Free Libraries: British Phone Booths

Those familiar red phone booths throughout England just aren’t being used as phone booths anymore. As in the US, everyone has their own cell or smart phone, and they just aren’t using public phone booths, so the phone companies have been removing them left and right. The thing is, England’s red phone booths have been such an important part of the landscape that folks waxing nostalgic are giving the booths new purposes. They’re becoming defibrillator stations, coffee shops, and free book exchanges. Check out this CBS piece on the repurposing of the Red Phone Booths.

Reading Pirates: Events in Portland (OR)

Reading Pirates

Coming to a park near you soon! (Well, if you live in Portland

No automatic alt text available.

Oregon anyway) Come hear stories read by pirates, do a fun craft, and even take your picture with pirates!
Watch this page for upcoming events, and join us!
All events are Noon-1:30pm
Thursday, June 27 at Lents Park – SE 92nd & Holgate
Tuesday, July 10 at Khungmokwst Park – NE 52nd & Alberta
Thursday, July 12 at Ventura Park – SE 113th & Stark
Wednesday, July 25 at Wilkes Park – NE 154th & Beech
Wednesday, August 8 at St. John’s Park/St. John’s Community Center – North Central Street & North John Avenue
Don’t miss the Reading Pirates. Bring the family for Pirate stories, Treasure and fun. Join us for the Summer Free for all. Lunch, stories, surprises. Yarr! be thar or be squarr!
Check out the facebook link for more information!  Reading Pirates

Image may contain: 3 people, people sitting and hat

Featured in the library this week

Featured in the library this week:

Big Max, by Kin Platt

Nate the Great and the Halloween Hunt, by Marjorie W. Sharmat

Pierre: A Cautionary Tale, by Maurice Sendak (a childhood favorite of mine)

Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Patterson (probably one of the first books to make me cry). Please note: this book has received the Tucker Cat paw of approval!

Vogon Poetry: In Honor of a 42nd Birthday

My friend Coral turns 42 today. She decided to have herself a Image result for vogon poetry image -band -musicDouglas Adams/Hitchhiker’s Guide birthday party, and, among other things, invited people to recite Vogon Poetry if they’d like.

“What, exactly, is Vogon Poetry?”, you may ask.  And if you are asking, then you obviously have not read that Douglas Adams classic, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Wherein we learn that Vogon Poetry is the third worst poetry in the universe. The book is kind enough to give us an example.

Oh freddled gruntbuggly,
Thy micturations are to me
As plurdled gabbleblotchits
On a lurgid bee.
Groop, I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes
And hooptiously drangle me
With crinkly bindlewurdles,

Or I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon,
See if I don’t

Click through for slightly more detail here.

People all over the world celebrate Hitchhiker’s Guide and its author. As a result, you’ll find Vogon Poetry translated into all manner of Earth languages.  More examples of Vogon Poetry in English here and here. There is also a Vogon Poetry generator of sorts.  Here’s one it came up with for me.

vogon poetry book
poetry books for middle school
stretch ear infection
natural remedy
for a broken heart
explain escape the fate
deliver night season 3
start 4 episode 1
ask episode 16 the proton in chemistry
the proton in chemistry
a mole of something is an amount that
is anxiety considered a disability
in reading is sometimes referred to as
selecting official for consideration
employ official forms of id
ser and estar
Another way to write Vogon poetry yourself – Using your word processing program, type an entry in complete gibberish. Then use spellcheck to translate it into real words, deleting the ones that have no definition. Here’s my first go at it, with some artistic formatting after the fact.
weirs without wry kiwi working kiwi sis, quip

Werner welkin lower kills kills onto jute

wreak wrap town – swift Sitka balm woke

lend skew with papaw mewls
welt saw

weep so wrong

twang size, we null my kop mist

bison query grope

kith up bald shove – ah – ashen aye devisal parsifal waiver!

as jokers

suds kept

setback, fake snow digests silken set lines, as far then erasing

jokes dashed

 

I actually kinda like it. You know, in a gibberishy-poem kind of way. And if you found this entertaining, then you might like Lewis Carroll’s poetry too.  Share some of

Image result for vogon poetry image

your best Vogon poems!

 

Happy birthday, Coral!

Donation of Cookbooks

Just received a donation of cookbooks this afternoon! Thanks to a brief interaction on Facebook, Rick just brought by a stack of cookbooks (and one gardening book) for the Little Free Library this afternoon. Thanks, Rick!

Watch for these in the Little Free Library over the next week!

IMG_7424