Best wishes from Thompson Free Library

By Kim Brawn

Wishes are more than a way to close an email, sign a card or make before we blow out birthday candles. They’re fun fantasies — a peek into what we’d like to do, change or have. “I wish things were different.” Most likely those “things” — a new car, a bigger home — won’t magically appear. But they can give us information about what we need or want and motivate us to find a path to success.

The Thompson Free Library in Dover-Foxcroft is a great resource for turning wishes into reality, or better yet, finding a doable workaround to fit your own life. Or just enjoy what we have on tap for March!

TFL’s Reading Group meets on Thursday, March 12 at 6 p.m. to discuss Ann Patchett’s bestseller “Tom Lake” set in spring of 2020 during COVID restrictions when protagonist Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company named Tom Lake. The book has been called “a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents lived before their children were born.” Check for copies at TFL.

If you’re hoping to see cats at the library, your wish is our command on Caturday, (or as humans like to call it, Saturday) March 14 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Library Director Jon Knepp brings his wonderful cats into our hallowed halls to chill, sleep and dart here and there like Kitty Kardashians stalked by paparazzi. 

Every year around this time a lot of people wish they had more space for a bigger garden. If you can relate, be sure to join Kate Garland from UMaine Cooperative Extension on Thursday, March 26 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. for “Maximizing Yields in Small Gardens.” Kate will share favorite high-performing varieties, discuss soil management practices, offer trellising tips, and provide succession planting and interplanting strategies to maximize production in small spaces. Bring your questions! Contact the library to pre-register.

TFL’s Michelle Fagan brings back her popular “Pysanky Eggs” program on Saturday, March 28 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Pysanky are traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs decorated using an ancient wax-resist (batik) method. For adults and children age 12 and up. Each person will get to design one egg to take home. All supplies provided.

Like gardeners lamenting lack of space, we often do the same thing at the library. Space at TFL is truly a hot and scarce commodity. While we wish the Maine Cabin Masters would do a special library edition and just drive up from Manchester to build us an amazing addition, that’s not on our bingo card right now. So, Michelle channeled her creativity and designed an alternative that made the best use of our space and budget, transforming the YA section into the Teen Space. 

She described the changes, “We added furniture, games and other things for middle school and high school use only, a way to make the space be just theirs during specific hours. I worked with Jenny Chase (Rowell’s Garage transportation director) so we could have a few seats on the bus for kids who wanted to come to the library. The surveys we did pretty much said the students wanted a place to hang out with comfy furniture and maybe some games. We’re hoping we’ll bring in more teens to be library users.”

TeenSpace hours for grades 5-12 only: Tuesday and Thursday: 2:30-7 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday 2:30-5 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. — adults and younger kids may still pick up books during those times.

While you may wish you had a printer at home, when you realize how much ink costs and how fast you go through it, you’ll be glad that we offer printing and copying services (25 cents a page for B&W, 50 cents a page for color). Most people think of faxing as an ancient relic but surprisingly lots of places still require it. We’ve got you covered: $2 for the first page & $1 for each page after. BTW, scanning and tax documents are free — yay!

You never know where a wish will lead, many just evaporate like other fleeting thoughts. The ones that stick are worth pursuing despite whatever limitations there may be. Oftentimes what we wished for doesn’t really suit us or live up to the hype, but something more accessible might be around the corner. Libraries can help you make the most of what you have while sharing information and resources to get you what you want. 

TFL hours: Tuesday and Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Wednesday and Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visit our website www.thompsonfreelibrary.org, our Facebook page, Instagram @tf_library or contact us at thompsonfreelibrary@gmail.com or 207-564-3350. All programs are free & open to the public. Free Wi-Fi available 24/7 in the parking lot.