It’s the final countdown. Eight days until the end of the reading portion of the Summer Reading Program. All reading grides and lists are due no later than 1:00pm July 26, 2025. Drawing for the raffle winners will take place at 1:15pm. I am very excited about the changes made to the final Pizza Party beginning with the early drawing. This will allow both a guarantee of limiting winners to one prize and becoming a real celebration.

Nobody in the greater East Troy area with an ounce of compassion may wish/hope/think about rain for July 28^th. That will ruin the bounce house portion of the event. Arguably we would be able to face paint and make balloon animals, but our boldest change will have to stay at Martin’s Hardware Store if it rains.

This year Prairie Lakes Library System’s new Programming Consultant Kate Davis approached businesses in the three counties to solicit donations on behalf of member libraries. The donations we received didn’t fall in line with our traditional program. Most of them are coupons that will be offered up during a raffle at the Pizza Party. While winners do not need to be present to win the ice cream making kit on display in the library, they will need to be present to win these coupons. I believe the coolest of which is a free day pass (with shoes) for Climb @ the Loop in Burlington. That’s saying a lot as a free chocolate chip cookie from Casey’s is also in the offerings and I do love chocolate.

Before we reach either the due date or the party, Wednesday, July 23^rd at 2:00pm is the date and time for Mary Bub’s author talk at the IGET Community Center. (By the Pickleball courts.) Mary published her Letters to Betty: The Anatomy of One Woman’s Grief a year after the death of her husband based on letters written to an imaginary friend over the course of that year. That book was followed up by And So It Goes: A Companion to Letters to Betty, which can be described as a toolkit or workbook for others experiencing their own losses.  

Before Mary Bub’s program, on Tuesday, July 22^nd, our new website goes live. This is the second new website in seventeen months as our website provider announced his retirements six months after the last one. I’m looking at that as a rough draft. The next one is the revised final product. This is the version that will include the LocalHop calendars for the library and our Community Calendar. Check it out if you want to sign up for either Sourdough events electronically.

Reading Now: Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Listening to Now: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens