Chess for All Ages

Posted on by Sue

We are delighted to welcome chess expert Glenn Davison, on Tuesday evening, March 30th at 7 pm, for a Zoom lesson, organized by the Falmouth Public Library!

Partly due to a very popular (and Golden Globe-winning!) show on Netflix called “The Queen’s Gambit,” about a woman who breaks gender barriers in the male-dominated world of chess, chess has undergone a bit of a renaissance: many shops have sold out of chess sets! As Glenn says, there are many good messages in the show including reading, studying, preparation, learning, and practice.

Glenn is a lifelong chess player who has taught dozens of chess classes in Massachusetts resulting in hundreds of chess players and multiple chess clubs. He specializes in animated online chess classes that everyone can enjoy, often with grandparents learning at the same time as their grandchildren.

This online class teaches the fundamentals of chess. In one hour you will learn the basics of playing chess including setting up, using the pawns and other pieces, special moves, tips and even how to win a game of chess in four moves.

Since teaching is done online with examples, interaction, animations and quizzes, a chess set is unnecessary.

This event is free and appropriate for adults, teens and children ages 8 and up, and is sponsored by the Trustees of the Falmouth Public Library. Registration is required before the event. Please register online by clicking here, or contact the reference department at 508-457-2555 x 7.

Birds at the Beach: A Look at Shorebirds and Gulls on Cape Cod

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We are delighted to welcome Christine Bates from Mass Audubon, on Wednesday afternoon, March 18^th at 2 pm, for a Zoom presentation!

Get to know the most common shorebirds that visit and nest on Cape Cod including sandpipers, plovers, and oystercatchers. We will also talk about the gulls that grace our beaches- and parking lots!

Christine Bates is a naturalist, and the Visitor Experiences and Community Outreach Coordinator with Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Prior to working for Wellfleet Bay, Christine was an Interpretive Park Ranger at the Cape Cod National Seashore. Christine has a passion for ornithology and is a skilled birder. A native Cape Codder, Christine was born and raised in Orleans. She holds a BA and MS in Environmental Studies.

This event is free and appropriate for adults and teens, and is sponsored by the Friends of the Falmouth Public Library. Registration is required before the event. Please register online by clicking here, or contact the reference department at 508-457-2555 x 7.

The Garden Tourist

Posted on by Sue

Update: this event is currently full.

We are delighted to welcome garden designer and author Jana Milbocker, on Tuesday afternoon, March 9th at 2 pm, for a Zoom presentation by the Falmouth Public Library!

Do you enjoy beautiful gardens? In this armchair tour of some of the best public gardens and hidden gems of the Northeast, you will learn about each garden’s history, horticultural highlights and special events that will inspire you to plan your own visit!

Jana combines horticulture, design, and travel tips to educate, inspire and delight both new and seasoned gardeners. She loves to visit gardens and historic sites in the U.S. and abroad, and share her trips through her books, photos and blog. She published The Garden Tourist: 120 Destination Gardens and Nurseries in the Northeast in 2018, and The Garden Tourist’s New England in 2020, both available at the library.

She has lectured at flower shows in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New York and New Jersey, as well as a multitude of horticultural societies, garden clubs, and libraries in the Northeast. She is the owner of Enchanted Gardens, a landscape design firm in the Boston area. She is the past president of the Holliston Garden Club, and she is active in the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and GardenComm International.

This event is free and appropriate for adults and teens, and is sponsored by the Friends of the Falmouth Public Library. Registration is required before the event. Please register online by clicking by going to falmouthpubliclibrary.org/events. or contact the reference department at 508-457-2555 x 7. Update: this event is currently full.

Mass Audubon: “Coming to a Suburb Near You”

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We are delighted to welcome Ian Ives from Mass Audubon, on Wednesday afternoon, February 10^th at 2 pm, for a Zoom presentation by the Falmouth Public Library.

He will explore the increase in abundance of deer, coyote, fisher, turkey, bobcat and osprey and the conflicts, management measures and ethical considerations that arise as a result.

Ian Ives is the Director at Mass Audubon’s Long Pasture, Ashumet, Barnstable Great Marsh and Skunknett River Wildlife Sanctuaries on Cape Cod. His job responsibilities include overall management of the sanctuaries and staff, community outreach, advocacy, environmental stewardship and education. He holds a Master’s degree in conservation biology from Antioch University – New Hampshire.

Ian has a strong background in wetland restoration and endangered species management and is leading environmental advocacy and conservation projects across the Cape to help protect rare wildlife and threatened natural resources they depend on. Formerly, Ian was a Field Biologist for Hyla Ecological Services in Concord MA, and was a zookeeper at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston.

This event is free and appropriate for adults and teens, and is sponsored by the Friends of the Falmouth Public Library. Registration is required, by 1 p.m. on the day of the event. Please register online at falmouthpubliclibrary.org, or contact the reference department at 508-457-2555 x 7.

Jumpin’ Juba-a Zoom musical event!

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Listen online to a special offering from Steve Hurl and Bruce Ward of Jumpin’ Juba, on Tuesday evening, February 2^nd, starting at 6:30 pm!

Jumpin’ Juba mixes regional blues from Chicago, Memphis and New Orleans together with roots-y rock & roll, jazz, calypso, and Latin flavors. It features Steve Hurl (guitars, vocal), whose playing draws from the great acoustic blues finger-pickers, and from the blues-y string benders of the 1950’s. Bruce Ward’s burly piano work recalls such greats as Prof. Longhair, Otis Spann, and Albert Ammons. The band’s two CD releases (Bumpity Bump and Slap Happy) have received regional and overseas airplay, and have garnered many favorable reviews in MA and beyond. Read more about the band on their page, here!

This is a free event, sponsored by the Falmouth Cultural Council! Registration is required to get the Zoom link. You can register online, by 5 p.m. on the day of the event by clicking here, or by calling the reference department at 508-457-2555 x 7.

Falmouth Public Library Reading Challenge 2021

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Happy New Year! If you are looking to get outside your literary comfort zone this year, join our reading challenge group on Facebook – “Falmouth Public Library Reading Challenge 2021”.

We are encouraging people to read one book a month, each from a different category. We hope the group will function as a loose book club – a place where people can recommend books to others and find their next read. The category for January is “Autobiography, Biography, or Memoir”.

(Visit the group by clicking here, to see all 12 categories!) If you’re looking for a jumping off point, check our Facebook Group for recommendations from the staff. If you’ve got one you’d like to share, visit our group and feel encouraged to post it! This is a public group, and you certainly don’t have to read a book from each category to participate. The goal is simply to create a space for readers to find books they might not otherwise have picked up, and to share highlights with each other.

Christmas in Ireland presentation

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We are pleased to welcome Irish historian Sean Murphy on Wednesday afternoon, December 16th, at 2 p.m., for a Zoom presentation! Sean was here in March for a wonderful History of Saint Patrick talk.

This presentation includes a history of the emergence of the Christian annual celebration in Ireland, and explains how some of the earlier pagan traditions in Ireland became incorporated. It also looks at some aspects of the development of the Christmas holiday in a wider European and historical context.

Much of the presentation will focus on how Christmas has been celebrated in Ireland in recent memory, and will incorporate recorded music and video to create a holiday friendly atmosphere.

This event is free, and geared for adults, although all ages are welcome! Registration is required, to receive the Zoom link. Please register online by clicking here, by 1 p.m. that day, or contact the reference department at 508-457-2555 x 7.

Child Bride, with author Jennifer Smith Turner: a Zoom book event

Posted on by Sue

We are pleased to welcome author (and Vineyard resident) Jennifer Smith Turner, on Tuesday evening, December 8th, at 7 p.m., for a Zoom presentation!

Child Bride is about a young girl who grows up in the segregated South. “Turner’s warm and personal narrative brings to life the vigor and interdependence of black communities in both the South and the North of the mid-20th century…uplifting and dynamic…” (Kirkus reviews). The book was named best fiction e-book for 2020 by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, and BiblioBoard, and has recently received the 2020 New York Big Book Award.

Ms. Smith Turner lives full time in Oak Bluffs. She is a published poet, and she is currently working on her third collection of poetry. Her work has been included in Vineyard Poets, an anthology of poems by Martha’s Vineyard writers, and in numerous literary publications. She has been featured on N.P.R. and on Connecticut Public Television. She has been a featured speaker at Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania Kelly Writer’s House. She has also worked extensively in the public and private K-12 schools in Massachusetts and Connecticut, bring poetry to students and educators. She recently served as interim CEO of the Newman’s Own Foundation, where she is a board member.

This event is free. Registration is required, by 6 p.m. on the day of the event. Please register online at falmouthpubliclibrary.org/events, or contact the reference department at 508-457-2555 x 7.

Welcome back, concert violinist Joshua Peckins!

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Listen online to a special offering from award-winning concert violinist Joshua Peckins, on Wednesday evening, December 2^nd, starting at 7 pm! In intimate settings, Josh usually presents a series of lecture recitals featuring solo violin music by Bach and other composers, with warm and personal stories about the composers and their music-his appearance here last winter was widely attended and loved. Due to the pandemic, Joshua is not able to perform in person, but has made a short concert film that registrants can listen to online, on one special evening!

“It is a 45-minute film, recorded in high-quality audio and video, with Joshua performing solo violin selections by Bach and Ravel, and a beautiful piece by rising star classical composer Jessie Montgomery.

In “Songs of Loss and Hope”, Joshua is both speaker and musician, sharing historical perspectives about the composers and their times, as well as their connections to each other as an introduction to each piece he then performs.

This film is much more too – created both in and for this difficult time of social isolation, it’s a personal statement by the artist about the meaning of music in our lives, and importance of the connection between performer and audience.”

Joshua has been among the most active recitalists in New England, performing solo concerts of “particular brilliance” (Worcester Telegram) and with “a gift for capturing audiences’ attention” (Backyard News). He has presented solo recitals nationally and internationally in over 30 venues, including the renowned Figaro Hall of Palace Pálffy (where Mozart himself presented his “The Marriage of Figaro”), Crystal Hall in Japan, the Haydn and Mendelssohn Halls in Austria, as well on the Artist Series of the Bled Festival in Slovenia, the Salzburg Festival at the Mozarteum, the Orford Festival in Canada, and the Cervo Festival in Italy.

This is a free event. Registration is required to get the link, and the film will be available to view between the hours of 7 and 9 p.m., on that evening only. You can register online at falmouthpubliclibrary.org/events. We thank the Trustees of the Falmouth Public Library for sponsoring this concert!

Visiting the Beyond-a Zoom presentation!

Posted on by Sue

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a REAL haunted house looks like? Join paranormal researcher Curt Strutz, on an interactive Zoom presentation for Falmouth Public Library, on Saturday, October 24th at 4 p.m.

“Visiting the Beyond “is an historical journey to several locations around the U.S. Curt has personally visited haunted homes, asylums, prisons, hospitals, public places, and other locations, and taken photographs. The audience will be able to select specific haunted properties off of a “menu”. It may even bring chills down your spine- just in time for Halloween!

Curt has nearly 10 years of experience in giving these presentations, at hundreds of libraries and museums, and has been a past guest speaker at Troy Taylor’s Haunted America Conference.He was a keynote headline speaker for the Illinois Paranormal Conference a few years back. He also was on a nationally televised cable access TV program known as Paranormal Generation that aired for two seasons in 12 states. His episodes at Paranormal Generation can be found on YouTube.

This event is free and appropriate for adults and teens, and is sponsored by the generosity of the Trustees of the Falmouth Public Library. It is a Zoom event, and registration is required by noon on the day of the event. Click here to register. If you would like to register after it has closed, please call the Reference Desk!at 508-457-2555 x 7!

Author: Sue