If I traveled only by car, I would miss a lot of discoveries.

This enormous mushroom, for instance.

Continue reading “Bike, Walk, and Wheel Week”

Getting outside in this spring air is grounding, refreshing and stimulating to all our senses. Budding trees, aromatic blossoms and brilliant shades of green abound. Raptors soar above us in stark contrast to the pastel sky. The creeks and streams babble terrifically cold water. There is so much life to witness and be among.

We are truly lucky in central Missouri to have a number of quality trails and natural areas where we can do just that. But keeping track of all the options can be tricky, as there are many distinct jurisdictions. There’s municipal parks, college grounds, state parks, conservation areas and even a national forest on the southwest border of Boone and Callaway counties. These trails run the gamut of accessibility and activities. Some are paved and centrally located while others are rugged, faintly developed and remote. Use the links below to discover your next local trail.

“Its landscape of entrenched creek valleys, massive limestone bluffs and caves, and rolling grassy uplands intrigues and charms…Listen for spring peepers, watch for Virginia bluebells, and catch the fragrance of wild plum.”

– entry on Rock Bridge State Park from “Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites”

Books

• “Show Me—Natural Wonders“
• “Trails of Missouri State Parks”
• “Kaufman Field Guide to Nature of the Midwest”
• “Missouri Hiking Trails”
• “Living Waters: The Springs of Missouri”
• “Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites”
• “50 Hikes in the Ozarks”

I could throw out the oft-given opinion that society is more divided than ever. I’m not sure I completely agree with that, but I do know that mending division often happens face-to-face and at the individual level.  Continue reading “Human Library: Unjudge Someone”

Baseball is happening folks! We can all exhale now. Let’s celebrate by checking out what our library has to offer on the topic of this great national pastime.

Missouri is blessed with two teams who have won the World Series in dramatic, wilder-than-fiction fashion. Relive those days of triumph with one or more of these DVDs:
“2015 World Series”
“2011 World Series Champions: STL”
“St. Louis Cardinals Vintage World Series Film, 1982, 1985, 1987” Continue reading “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”

Continue reading “House Love”

Once upon a time I had an indigo dye pot: a ten gallon bucket in the shed under the walnut trees in my back yard. It was the star of any crafting party I held. Sometimes we were overdyeing a yellow and then a quick dip would pop a green color. I remember one afternoon where one table was dyeing with red madder, another was carding wool for spinning and a circle under the beechnut tree had gathered to spin. Then there was my indigo pot with its pungent smell and colorful drying racks. Continue reading “As Blue As Indigo”

I recently learned a new-to-me Missouri saying, “the spring peepers freeze three times before it’s spring.”

At our house this year, we first heard the bright calls of these well-known frogs on a warm moist evening about three weeks ago. We knew the forecast called for the temperature to drop precipitously overnight, with the rain changing to sleet and then snow. The peepers did not seem to know this. They were silent the next night, and a good thing because the world was covered in six inches of snow. Continue reading “Spring Peepers Freeze Three Times Before Spring”