HARDWICK – Outside operations on the Jeudevine addition have drawn to a close just in time to adjust our clocks. Lighting fixtures and handrails for outdoor stairs and walkways remain to be installed, but the Main Street terrace and West Church Street sidewalk have been completed. Trustee Andrea Brightenbach recently planted 100 daffodil bulbs around the entryway. The bulbs were donated by Ecotone Landscapes and Tree Care, owned by Geoff Fehrs and Ceilidh Galloway-Kane of East Hardwick. As we move into a seasonal landscape palette of white, gray and brown, we can look forward to the bright yellow of one of spring’s first flowers welcoming us to the Jeudevine.
Phase 2 of the construction project will soon begin. That work will address the roughed-in space inside. The upstairs, with the main entrance facing West Church Street, will hold the circulation desk and librarian’s office. Continuing in a southerly direction, visitors will pass into a children’s space featuring sections for young children, older children and young adults. The original building will continue to hold the adult reading section, with a pass-through from the old to new building along the west wall of the current adult book section.
The downstairs level, with an entrance from the new parking lot along the south side of the addition, will include a large community space with an adjacent kitchen, a smaller meeting room, and more space for library staff. A limited-use, limited-application (LULA) elevator will allow for handicapped access to either level.
In a separate, but intentionally linked effort, the original wood floors of the old Jeudevine will be sanded and refinished. Together with the recently refurbished stained-glass windows, that space should feel almost new!
Our youth librarian, Rachel Funk, is beginning a new addition to the youth calendar with a writing group for children ages eight and older. You may bring a piece you have been working on, or start your story while there. The first meeting will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 3 p.m.
Later in the month, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, at 3 p.m., come to enjoy cookies and coloring, feeding both your sweet tooth and your inner artist in one enjoyable afternoon.
Storytime continues every Thursday at 10:30 a.m., for children five and under.
On the adult side, Monday, Nov. 18, at the Hardwick Community Center (56 High Street), the Jeudevine will welcome two guests to lead a two-hour evening session titled, “Welcoming Disagreement and Difference.” Polly Young-Eisendrath, a psychologist and Jungian analyst, and Leland Peterson, a psychotherapist and art and dialogue therapist, will lead attendees in a discussion around conflict and human emotion, helping us to better understand our responses to disputes, enabling us to become better listeners.
Through the coming months of shorter days consider attending CRAFTea on the last Monday of each month, October through April, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Bring favorite handiwork and while away 90 minutes in the company of fellow craftspeople. Tea will be served. Conversation is sure to follow.
A book you can find on the Jeudevine shelves is Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead.” She brings Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield into contemporary times, setting the tale in the Appalachians of western Virginia. Demon’s struggles mirror those that Dickens’ title character endured in Victorian England, losing his mother and falling prey to a series of cruel, conniving adults before ultimately emerging as a successful artist. Kingsolver’s tale, not subtly, includes many characters drawn from David Copperfield. Their names, or their initials, are similar to their nineteenth century counterparts. One distinct difference is that Demon confronts the opiate crisis in addition to other hurdles he must clear. A particular gift of this story is that it may just nudge you to read, or re-read, David Copperfield, and that would bring you into the world of the novelist I consider to be the greatest of them all. Enjoy!
