Eleanor Loback Clausen: gazebo dedication for Ida

Gazebo work party & dedication

The Ester library gazebo, across from the Ester Post Office, has been under construction since 2007. After a big work party that summer to pour the foundation, the gazebo was erected and roofed and stained glass windows installed. This summer, we will have the final work parties to complete the gazebo and make it ready for use at the fifth annual Li-Berry Music Festival. The gazebo has excellent acoustics and makes a good site for outdoor acoustic jams on warm days. It is also used as the staging site for Readers on the Run.

We'll be creating the bulletin board, a giant 4x8 foot cork board, during the weeks before these work parties, to give the glue plenty of time to dry. Anyone who wants to help put in corks, please come by the gazebo from the 21st-25th (we'll do one side, then give it a few days to dry and flip it over on the 26th to do the next side). There will be glue and, of course, plenty of corks. Please use the wooden ones only for this bulletin board.

(Materials and tasks lists will be amended on this post over the next couple of days as the librarians get more information.)

July 31, Saturday, noon
(come earlier if you like)

Tasks: building benches from the aspen logs, completing the ceiling of the gazebo, painting, installing flashing and the corkboard

Materials & Tools Needed: screws & screw guns or screw drivers, stepladders (6'), sandpaper, paint brushes (paint for gazebo supplied), varnish for benches, cordless drills, chain saw, beverages & snacks to feed the volunteers

August 1, Sunday, noon to 5 pm
(again, come earlier if you like; there will be somebody there from about 10 am on)

Tasks: removal of center post, finishing up Saturday's tasks, cleanup

Materials & Tools Needed: hacksaw with blade suitable for cutting metal, garbage bags

Gazebo dedication & party
Sunday afternoon, 5 pm

After the cleanup, the gazebo will be dedicated to the memory of Ida Lane Clausen. A short dedication event will be held, followed by a party and music! Please come to this event even if you can't make it to the work parties, and help us dedicate our library gazebo in honor of a talented, intelligent, and beautiful musician, cook, actress, singer, gardener, painter, writer, and dog groomer who for many years graced Ester with her lively presence. Bring your musical instruments and potluck dishes!

New title: biography of Jimi Hendrix

Only a few music titles have been catalogued in the Ester library's collections so far, but the newest is a biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles R. Cross, Room Full of Mirrors.

Ben Sisario of the New York Times reviews this book in an essay published in August 2005. The book was published in 2005 by Hyperion. More reviews are available on Amazon.

ISBN: 1401300286, hardcover, 400 pages

Bylaws changed

The bylaws were amended (all four proposed amendments passed) at the special membership meeting held June 13. The dissolution clause, necessary for becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was changed slightly from the proposed version. The bylaws as amended are here.

Special membership meeting!

Attention, library members! There will be a special membership meeting on Sunday, June 13, at Hartung Hall in Ester, at 6 pm. This important meeting is being called to 1) amend the bylaws and 2) brief the membership on designwork and nonprofit application status. One of the bylaws amendments under consideration is necessary for our federal nonprofit status. This is a very important meeting and your attendance will be greatly appreciated. Proposed bylaws amendments will be available for review on the library website, www.esterlibrary.org. For more information, please contact the JTEL board at board@esterlibrary.org, or call Deirdre Helfferich, president, at 479-3368.

New titles: military history of Alaska

The Natural Resources Branch of the U.S. Army's Directorate of Public Works for the Alaska Garrison recently sent the JTEL ten books in a series on the history of Alaska as it relates to the Cold War, Fort Richardson, Fort Wainwright, the Army Corps of Engineers, and so on. These military history titles are: (by Kathy Price) Tracking the Unthinkable: The Donnelly Flats MIDAS Ground Station and the Early Development of Space Warning Systems, 1959-1967; The World War II Heritage of Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska; Homesteads on Fort Wainwright, Alaska; and Northern Defenders: Cold War Context of Ladd Air Force Base, Fairbanks, Alaska, 1947-1961. By Karen Waddell, we have Cold War Historical Context 1951-1991 Fort Richardson, Alaska, United States Army Alaska; by Kristy Hollinger are The Haines-Fairbanks pipeline; Homesteads on Fort Richardson, Alaska; and The Early Electrification of Anchorage; and by Ronald J. Burr Neely, Jr., Early transportation routes, Fort Wainwright, Alaska and Early mining history: Fort Wainwright and Fort Greely, Alaska.

New title: Living with Wilderness, by Bill Sherwonit

Living with Wilderness, by Bill Sherwonit

The newest title in the Ester library is Bill Sherwonit's book, Living with Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey, published by the University of Alaska Press in 2008. Sherwonit has worked and lived in Alaska off and on since 1974, moving here permanently in 1982. From Andromeda Romano-Lax's review of the book: "…Sherwonit employs both a journalist’s skills and a non-specialist’s sense of humble wonder to deliver a portrait of the wild in its many guises. Though northern experiences take the main stage, his Connecticut childhood memories are particularly moving and instructive, reminding us all of the importance of early, unmediated experiences with nature. Throughout the book, Sherwonit taps the expertise of local natural history experts and mentors, weaving their observations and studies with his own, more personal discoveries."

Book information: 6 x 9 inches, 232 pages, paperback

ISBN #978-16022301-4-9

Library Section: Alaska nonfiction