Mercer County Library Blog

The TrashedArt Contest has grown quite a bit over the past 17 years! Each year, member of the Mercer County community remake, reuse and renew items that would otherwise be recycled or trashed into unique and beautiful art. Here are some highlights from the past decade. TrashedArt Contest 2016:   In 2016, we had 3 adult and 3 high school student winners in first, second and third place. Helene Plank, a participant of the TrashedArt Contest since the Contest’s third year in 2012, won third place for “Iris Fantasia” (window ledge). To read more about Helene’s button art, check out the TrashedArt Contest interview from 2020: TrashedArt at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch – Part 1 Michele Ben-Asher won first place for the adult category in 2016 for “Jersey Birds.” She crocheted plastic bags into the unique design at the center of the table. To find out more about Ben-Asher’s art, visit: TrashedArt at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch – Part 2 Gene Dombroski won second place in the ad...

Every February you will see more red and pink, and possibly even smell chocolate in the air. Valentine’s Day must be approaching! While in modern times we associate the holiday with candy and gifts for loved ones, it actually has roots in early Roman times. Lupercalia was a Roman festival held on February 15, celebrating fertility and health. The holiday is also known as Saint Valentine’s Day, and as such honors two people with that name, Valentine of Rome (died in 269) and Valentine of Terni (died in 273). Details are vague, but both were martyred and subsequently made Saints. One or both might have married lovers after an emperor’s ban, resulting in their beheadings, or attempted to convert the emperor (unsuccessfully) to Christianity. Both were buried along the Via Flaminia, a Roman road, albeit in different locations. While it had its romantic origins in Lupercalia, love didn’t re-enter the holiday until 1382 when Chaucer wrote “Parliament of Fowls.” This work names St. Valentine’...

When I was about 13, during a family holiday gathering, my uncle Jim played an album by an Australian group I had never heard of: INXS (pronounced “in excess”). From that day on, I started noticing their videos on MTV, and was soon collecting their records myself. INXS was active from 1977 to 2017 and, to date, they have sold over 50 million records worldwide, making them one of Australia's best-selling musical acts of all time. I was surprised to read that, although they had many number one hits in their native Australia and other countries, they never reached number one in the United States, although most of their hits reached at least top-ten status. They did receive many awards and nominations in the US, including several Grammys, along with similar recognition in other countries. The band was formed in Sydney in 1977, by several upper-middle-class teenagers. Some of the members were still in high school, and a couple were only slightly older. All had previous experience in oth...

Sometimes when people have asked me what kind of books I like to read, I’d get nervous to say young adult fiction because I’m an adult. However, the more I continue to work as a Youth Services Librarian, the more I’m learning that it should not matter what kind of book I am reading as an adult. There are so many wonderful books out there for children and teens, with important stories and diverse characters, that should be read by adults. If the book is about something I like and enjoy, who cares what I’m reading? As long as I’m reading! I don’t think I will stop reading YA as an adult because it has helped me see reading in a different way and enjoy fantasy novels. The first fantasy book I ever read was Divergent by Veronica Roth. I got to meet her in 2019 and tell her how Divergent was one of my favorite novels. Divergent is what got me on the path to reading other fantasy novels. I then read The Hunger Games , as an adult. One great thing about reading YA as an adult is seeing ...

You may remember my writing about the Bucks County Ale Trail in one of my earlier posts. Highlighted on the tee shirt I received from visiting a certain number of breweries on the trail was Tranquility Brewing Company in Warminster. That’s one I hadn’t visited, so I started planning a day trip. Tranquility Brewing is in a building called “The ‘Fuge”. Huh…that’s an odd name. I had to know more. This began a fascinating dive into history. Did you know that Warminster was a major site for aeronautics research? After reading a bit on the internet, I found that there is a museum there dedicated to the history of the Naval Air Development Center and the Johnsville Centrifuge (a-ha – that’s what the ‘Fuge is!). A visit to the museum (and brewery) was on the schedule! A little backtracking to explain my interest – I’ve read many books about the space program. I wouldn’t say I’m into “space”, but I like learning about the engineering and what the scientists and astronauts worked through to g...