Pittsfield's Roger Clark Memorial Library

New Library Program
Max the Reading Dog for Kids!

Wait a minute, dogs can't read! But kids love reading to Max in a relaxed comfortable environment. It's a real confidence booster for early readers to share their new skills with an appreciative and non-judgmental doggy listener.

Max, a bichon-frise, is a certified Therapy Dog owned by Joanne McDonnell (Rochester's Town Clerk). Max will be available for private reading sessions with early readers at the library on two Saturdays during October. For now we only have three slots available and are asking you to commit to attending both Saturdays. Your session will be you, your child, Max and Joanne, for 15 minutes, the library will be closed to other patrons so you will have a private, comfortable space.

Please respond to pittsfieldvtlibrary@gmail.com to sign up.

Saturdays, October 17th and 24th from 10am - 11am.

Friday night Doug and Kelley Lewis (who run Eliteam camps) ran a fun family fitness program at Pittsfield's Roger Clark Memorial Library.  Over 70 children and adults participated.  After a quick talk about Doug's Olympic experiences and setting goals the group (kids and adults together) did a series of fun warm ups including gorilla walks and but kicks.  Following that the group was broken into 4 multi age teams for an adventure race that included frozen clues, dewey decimal number look ups in the library, and traveling across a field while staying attached to all team members. 

As with last year, Doug and Kelley provided this whole program to our library for free. I'm not sure I've ever seen so many smiling faces running in and out of our library.

The fitness program was followed by a community dinner of Picarrello's Pizza and home made desserts.

Thanks you to everyone who helped with deserts, set up and clean up, but especially Susie for manning the desk, Nancy for coming early and setting up, Angelique for photos, Sharon for Pizza pick up and Picarellos for an extremely generous discount on the Pizza dinners.  And of course thank you to the Turrell fund for support of our children's programming.

Below are two slide shows.  One of photos taken by Kelley Lewis, and the other photos by library volunteers.

Doug & Kelley Lewis, who run ELITEAM fitness camps in the Mad River Valley, are coming to Pittsfield to host a fun, fitness event for people of ALL ages. Starting at 5:00, Doug & Kelley will warm up the entire group and then everyone will get a chance to work on their agility with relays and the Obstacle course. Following that, we will pick teams and the Mini Adventure race starts. From melting ice cubes to memorizing famous quotes to carrying a team member – it will be both entertaining and a challenge.

The entire event is for all abilities and ages. Just come to watch and cheer. Following the exercise will be a free Community Pizza Dinner at 6:30. This event is free and open to the public.

See more photos from last year's event HERE.

An enthusiastic crowd of 17 headed up to the Tweed River to identify fish and water creatures with our guides from the Forest Service, Dan McKinley and Mary Beth Payne. We learned how their specialized equipment works, how they count the creatures living in the streams and rivers, and how fortunate we are to have a healthy ecosystem in our backyards.

More new books for adults have been purchased and library volunteers have been working hard to get them on the shelves for your reading pleasure!

We now have the latest from Dean Koontz, Janet Evanovich, Terry McMillan, Anne Tyler and Garrison Keillor.

Also fresh to the shelves: Shanghai Girls, Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, Olive Kitteridge, and Fool.

Many more titles are waiting in the wings. If you have a spare few hours and would like to catalog new books for the library, we'd love to hear from you. Basic typing skills and patience are all that is needed.

Join us THIS THURSDAY AT 5:15 with Dan McKinley and Megan Payne of the Forest Service.

They will lead us on a guided stream walk down the Tweed, show us how they use electrostatic fishing equipment to identify species, and help us identify fish and other aquatic critters.


Meet at Pittsfield's Roger Clark Memorial Library Thursday August 27th at 5:15.

Picnic and Adventure Race:
Remember our very popular program with Olympian Doug Lewis and his wife Kelley of ELITEAM?  They are coming back this year and running an Adventure Race for all ages.  We will be making up teams of adults AND children.  All ages welcome, if you don't want to participate, come cheer the other on.  The race will include several surprises.  After the race we'll be serving a free Pizza dinner.  Join us September 11th starting at 5:00 (dinner at 6:30).

Book Sale:
We are planning our 3rd annual library book sale to be held September 26th during the Pittsfield Bazaar.  We are asking for donations of gently used good condition books.  We will also need volunteers to help with the sale.

Other News:
Minutes from this month's meeting can be viewed on our web site HERE. (thanks Karen).

New Books for Adults:
Books purchased this week include "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larson (read NYT review),  "Relentless" by Dean Koontz, and "Medusa" by Clive Cussler. (thanks Susie)

by Annabelle Willams

On July 9, a number of us gathered at the Library for a late afternoon walk with State of Vermont and Forest Service botanist Aaron Marcus. We followed a westward path through forest and field just above the Tweed River, looping back around to return near the gas station. We identified and discussed dozens of wildflowers, ferns, grasses, bushes and trees. Aaron's knowledge of and delight in the natural bounty we explored enriched our understanding and appreciation of the natural beauty that is everywhere in our town. Did you know that jewelweed juice is a good antidote for poison ivy & nettles, or that the Christmas Tree fern's leaves are shaped like little stockings?!

From July 11th to August 15th Pittsfield's Roger Clark Memorial Library will be open Saturday mornings from 9 to 11am. 

At 9:30 each Saturday a different volunteer will host a program for children.  The programs are casual, and all ages are welcome.  Programs usually include a few stories and games or craft projects and often end at the playground out back.

Stop in and see what's new.

STREAMS, FISH & other AQUATIC CREATURES
In response to public interest, the RCML is hosting two outdoor education programs for adults. Thursday July 2nd at 5:15 we'll meet with Dan McKinley and Megan Payne of the U.S. Forest Service to learn about the inhabitants of our local streams, and stewardship of our natural resources. We'll search for and identify water bugs and salamanders, and using electrofishing gear we'll catch and identify native species in Michigan Brook.

WILDFLOWER IDENTIFICATION WALK
What are those amazing fuschia flowers in overgrown hayfields? Why all the fuss about Japanese Knotweed? Find out on July 9th at 5:15 when Aaron Marcus of the U.S. Forest Service will lead us on a 1.5 mile wildflower walk down to the Tweed river and across varied terrain to identify and discuss native and invasive plant species.