May events at the Roeliff Jansen Library

COPAKE — Imagine. Think. Connect. That’s the motto of the Roeliff Jansen Community Library, and during the month of May, there are plenty of opportunities to do all of that and more. Join the new Classic Mysteries Book Club; select great titles at the sale of books from the library of presidential biographer Herb Parmet; catch the documentary film, “Moms,” followed by a question-and-answer period with producer Peter Odabashian; bring the kids to Wii night; meet award-winning author/illustrator Emily McCully; or get hands-on instruction in a radio broadcasting workshop (ages 8 to 12).Ongoing•Mondays, from 8 to 9:30 a.m., Yoga. Conducted by Roberta Roll. Weekly yoga classes are suitable for beginners and more advanced students. $20 per class or $95 for a series of eight classes. A portion of the proceeds helps support library programs.•Second Tuesdays at 5 p.m., Roeliff Jansen Community Library Trustee Meeting.•First Thursdays at 10:30 a.m., Friends of the Roeliff Jansen Community Library Meeting.•Second Saturdays, from 10 to 11 a.m., Dogs Love Books. Join Louise McCord and her canine companions, Tansy and Toast, in the Children’s Room on the second Saturday of each month from 10 to 11 a.m. McCord will read stories and kids can read to the dogs, too.May, ongoing•Tuesdays in May at 10:30 a.m. Children’s Story time: Colors. Join Emily Bennison for a Tuesday morning story and craft hour. Each week she will read stories and sing songs or make a craft focused around a certain color. Registration is suggested. For ages 2 to 3 and families.May programs•Thursday, May 5, from 6 to 8 p.m. Animation Night: “Tangled.”When the kingdom’s most wanted and most charming bandit, Flynn Rider, hides out in a mysterious tower, he’s taken hostage by Rapunzel, a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with 70 feet of magical, golden hair. (Rated PG, 100 minutes).•Saturday, May 7, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. “Moms: A Celebration of Real Mothers,” film with talk by producer Peter Odabashian.This documentary celebrates the spirit, strength, and diversity of motherhood (56 minutes). Viewers will hear stories from mothers from all walks of life. There will be a question-and-answer period following the movie.•Wednesday, May 11, at 7 p.m., Roeliff Jansen Community Library Book Group. The group will be discussing “Dragonfly in Amber,” by Diana Gabaldon. Facilitated by Taconic Hills Central School librarian Sharon Davis.•Friday, May 13, from 7 to 9 p.m., Foreign film: “Kolya.”In Soviet Czechoslovakia, middle-aged concert cellist and bachelor Frantisek Louka is strapped for cash, reduced to playing funerals, when a chance relationship results in his caring for a 5-year-old Russian boy named Kolja. Political turmoil is imminent on the eve of the Velvet Revolution, while Louka’s own emotional upheaval is just as unpredictable in this heartwarming, Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning tale. •Sunday, May 15, at 2 p.m., Friends Speaker Series: Emily Arnold McCully.Local award-winning author and illustrator and Chatham resident, Emily Arnold McCully will discuss illustration as a narrative tool, picture books, story and history. •Thursday, May 19, from 4 to 6 p.m., Roe Jan Radio Rookies.Work in small groups in this hands-on workshop to create fun, dynamic radio for broadcast on the new community radio station, WGXC 90.7FM. For youth ages 8 to 12.•Thursday, May 19, from 6 to 8 p.m., Wii Night.The Wii will be available for game play. All ages are welcome (suggested 6 and up). Turn-taking is required.•Friday, May 20, through Sunday, May 22, Friends Book Sale.This sale includes the books from the library of Herb Parmet, former Hillsdale Town Historian and presidential biographer. The sale will be held during the library’s regular hours except on Sunday, when it will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.•Sunday, May 22, at 4 p.m. Guest speaker: Jeff Wise.Science writer and Hillsdale resident Jeff Wise will speak about his latest book, “Extreme Fear, the Science of Your Mind in Danger.”•Tuesday, May 24, at 10:30 a.m. History of Mysteries Book Group.A new book group meeting at 10:30 a.m., on the fourth Tuesday of each month, discussing classic mysteries from all periods of the mystery genre. The group will kickoff on Tuesday, May 24, discussing Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” published in 1842 and considered the first true mystery story.Submitted by Howard Van Lenten, Roeliff Jansen Community Library president, Board of Trustees.

Latest News

Walk-off win sends Pirates to championship

Milo Ellison sends a fly ball to left field, bringing home Brody Ohler and Sam Hahn in a walk-off win for the Canaan Pirates June 11.

Photo by Riley Klein

NORTH CANAAN — The Canaan Pirates advanced to the league championship after a comeback victory over the Tri-Town Red Sox Wednesday, June 11.

Down 3-2 with two outs and two on in the bottom of the 6th inning, "Mighty" Milo Ellison stepped up to the plate and launched a fly ball deep to left field. The single brought home Brody Ohler and Sam Hahn for a walk-off Pirates win.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kevin Kelly’s After Hours

Kevin Kelly

Photo by Christopher Delarosa
“I was exposed to that cutthroat, ‘Yes, chef’ culture. It’s not for me. I don’t want anyone apologizing for who they are or what they love.”— Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly doesn’t call himself a chef; he prefers “cook.” His business, After Hours, based in Great Barrington, operates as what Kelly calls “a restaurant without a home,” a pop-up dining concept that prioritizes collaboration over competition, flexibility over permanence, and accessibility over exclusivity.

Kelly grew up in Great Barrington and has roots in the Southern Berkshires that go back ten generations. He began working in restaurants at age 14. “I started at Allium and was hooked right off the bat,” he said. He worked across the region from Cantina 229 in New Marlborough to The Old Inn on the Green at Jacob’s Pillow before heading to Babson College in Boston to study business. After a few years in Boston kitchens, he returned home to open a restaurant. But the math didn’t work. “The traditional model just didn’t feel financially sustainable,” he said. “So, I took a step back and asked, ‘If that doesn’t work, then what does?’”

Keep ReadingShow less
Books & Blooms’ tenth anniversary

Dee Salomon on what makes a garden a garden.

hoto by Ngoc Minh Ngo for Architectural Digest

On June 20 and 21, the Cornwall Library will celebrate its 10th anniversary of Books & Blooms, the two-day celebration of gardens, art, and the rural beauty of Cornwall. This beloved annual benefit features a talk, reception, art exhibit, and self-guided tours of four extraordinary local gardens.

The first Library sponsored garden tour was in June 2010 and featured a talk by Page Dickey, an avid gardener and author. This year’s Books & Blooms will coincide with Ellen Moon’s exhibit “Thinking About Gardens,” a collection of watercolors capturing the quiet spirit of Cornwall’s private gardens. Moon, a weekly storyteller to the first grade at Cornwall Consolidated School and art curator for The Cornwall Library, paints en plein air. Her work investigates what constitutes a garden. In the description of the show, she writes: “there are many sorts...formal, botanical, cottage, vegetable, herb...even a path through the woods is a kind of garden. My current working definition of a garden is a human intervention in the landscape to enhance human appreciation of the landscape.” Also on display are two of her hand-embroidered jackets. One depicts spring’s flowering trees and pollinators. The other, a kimono, was inspired by Yeats’s “The Song of the Wandering Aengus.”

Keep ReadingShow less