Lillian H Smith Blog

Make Garden Gold While Saving the Planet

According to Wikipedia, vermicompost is a nutrient-rich organic fertilizer and soil conditioner and contains water-soluble nutrients. Vermicompost tea has been shown to cause a 173.5% increase in plant growth by mass over plants grown without castings. Pretty impressive!

If you are interested in a hands-on demonstration, you are in luck!

On Saturday June 18th, 2-4 pm, we are hosting a program Worm Composting 101 with Cathy's Crawly Composters.

This program is open to all, including interested kids with a parent. Learn the basics of wom biology and find out how to set up, harvest and maintain your worm bin.

 

Please register by calling us at Lillian H. Smith branch, 416-393-7746.

 

 

Maintaining Your Bicycle - More spaces added for this program

The popularity of this program made us reassess the number of participants we could accommodate. If you are on the waiting list for this program, be assured that you are now registered! People on the wait-list have been promoted to the "registered" list for this program on Saturday, June 4th, 2-4 pm.

Reminder: Please do not to bring your bicycle for this workshop as there will be bicycles on site to provide demonstrations.

If your plans have changed and you cannot attend, please let us know so we can free up your space for someone else.

There are still some spaces left . Registration is limited to 40.  Please register in advance:

    * In person at Lillian H. Smith branch - 2nd Floor Reference Desk.
    * Phone: Kristin - 416-588-6288 x229 or Stanley - 647-404-8857
    * Email:  cycling@culturelink.net

About the program: many bike repairs are easy to do with some basic tools. Join us to learn how to adjust or replace brake pads, to clean and replace the chain, patch an inner tube and change a tire. Please do not to bring your bicycle for this workshop as there will be bicycles on site to provide demonstrations.

Magazines at Lillian H. Smith branch

We have been waiting for it! Nylon finally arrived. If you are interested in fashion, this is for you.

New also are Hello! Canada and Food Network magazine . These were both popular requests.

We know that many of you will be pleased to hear that we have started to get Taunton's Fine Cooking again.

 

 

 

The Chinese collection has two new titles: Vivi and Picture Stories. Vivi is the Chinese language version of a popular Japanese fashion magazine.

 

Lillian H. Smith has a fairly broad range of magazines from Adbusters, Applied Arts, Believer, Business Week, Dandyhorse, Macworld, Make, New Scientist, New Yorker, Pilates Style, Shambhala Sun, Vanity Fair, Walrus, Writer's Digest and Yoga Journal.

If you have suggestions for new additions to our collection, leave us a comment or talk to staff at the 2nd floor information desk when you visit the branch.

The Book of Lost Things

If you like creepy, and have a fondness for fairy tales in their original, dark, twisted forms, then this is a book for you!  It's England, just before the Second World War.  David refuses to move on as quickly as his father does after his mother's death.  When his father remarries and a new baby comes along, David grows even more resentful and angry.  He starts to have episodes where he blacks out, and is certain he can hear the old books in his attic room whispering and speaking to him.  David's moodiness increases: he fights with Rose, his father's new wife, and wishes his brother was never born.  One night, he hears what sounds like his mother's voice coming from the sunken garden behind his house.  He walks into the garden just as a German bomber comes hurtling out of the sky, and barely manages to escape through a crack in the garden wall.  From there, things get stranger and stranger.  David finds himself in another world, full of dangers nightmarish yet vaguely familiar.  Werewolves, trolls, giant worms, knights, enchanted castles, bizarre human-animal hybrids, and a crooked little man.  The story roars along, full of satisfying conflict and little side-eddys of tales that all eventually lead back to the urgent conclusion.  John Connelly's book reminded me of some of the stories written by the character of Olive Wellwood in A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book.  When innocence is lost on the cusp of adolescence, some may enter the dark warrens of their imagination, never to return.

Crossword Puzzles, Anyone?

I like working on the Globe and Mail cryptic crossword puzzles. Not that I can solve them. Nope, it takes two of us to collaborate and even then, we have gaps, lots of gaps!

Toronto Public Library has help, especially for anagrams with Credo Reference's online crossword solver. Once you log in with your library card, look for the link to the crossword solver on the right. Put in the letters you know and question marks for the letters you don't, and you will get a suggested list of words.

Try these websites. Solve them online or print them out. You can also check your solutions (or cheat if you wish!)

Globe and Mail - free puzzles and crosswords

New York Times - free Sunday puzzles and a free classic puzzle

Toronto Star - free puzzles

Metro News - do today's puzzle or check the answers

Readers' Digest - free online crosswords

Asian Heritage Month

For the month of May, Toronto Public Library is celebrating Asian Heritage Month.  If you've been to our branch lately, you may have seen the signs all around with the green bamboo background.  That's because on Saturday May 28th we'll be celebrating East Asia heritage and culture with a couple of programs starting at noon.

At 12pm we have "Stories from Japan and Beyond" with Yusuke Tanaka and Nathalie Vachon

At 1pm we will be having a food demonstration and tasting with Chef Winlai Wong.  She recently made an appearance on Breakfast Television to discuss Chinese dishes for Chinese New Year.

 

 

Then at 2pm we have Sekar Rasa Duo performing Balinese Dance and Music.

It's all free and no registration is required.  Meeting Room B/C.  All ages welcome.

 

 

15th Annual Fantastic Pulps Show, Saturday May 14th

Tomorrow, Saturday May 14th, the Lillian H. Smith building will be buzzing! The Friends of Merril are hosting the annual pulps show.

This show, featuring the exotic cover art of the science fiction and fantasy, crime, sports, and romance pulp magazines from the 1920s - 1950s, attracts attendees from all over the United States and Canada. Rare and collectible science fiction, original pulp art and other items of interest are also on display. $3 admission fee. Basement of 239 College Street, the Lillian H. Smith Branch, 10 AM - 4:30 PM.

The Lillian H. Smith branch shares our beautiful building with the Merril Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy and the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books. Their hours differ from ours. Pay them a visit next time you come in!

May Painting Workshops With Asha

You are in luck! At this point, we still have space in our two painting classes with Asha at Lillian H. Smith branch. If you are interested in trying your hand at water colours, Asha's session on Tuesday afternoon, May 10th will introduce you to the basics.

Or how about mixed-media painting?  Meet Asha on Tuesday afternoon, May 31st to learn about it.  These classes are free and all materials are supplied

Both classes run from 2-4 pm. To register, please call the Lillian H. Smith branch at 416-393-7746.