It's a blog and a podcast, about libraries and reading and our love of both. All from Falkirk in beautiful Central Scotland
I (Tanya) am pretty excited about this crafty idea – sew your experience of the Covid 19 lockdown and send it in to be made into a huge UK wide artwork.
All the instructions are in the download or you can find them online here – but it’s very easy to share your experience of being socially isolated during this time through embroidery.
There’s a lot of crafty fun to be had with plants and gardens. From decorating a plant pot with paint to creating a little fairy garden, from growing potatoes in pots, to designing and creating a low waste garden or smallholding (if you’ve got the space and the time)
One of the most comprehensive house plant websites that we’ve come across can be found at House Plant Expert . You can spend ages browsing through, finding just the right plant for your home, and checking out how to look after the plants you already have.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has a fascinatingly informative website about all aspects of gardening. From how to start out when you’re a complete beginner, to ideas for fun family activities, to all sorts of courses for adults.
It’s a lot of fun to grow your own fruit and vegetables. From sprouting cress on a damp kitchen towel, and growing a chilli plant on a sunny windowsill, to cropping blueberries and plums from your garden, there’s a whole yummy adventure just waiting for you.
One of our favourite websites for loads of useful information on growing your own in the UK is Garden Organic
If you want to take your gardening further – to using a design system to plan and create your own productive, waste minimising homestead – then permaculture could be the system for you. Permaculture can give a whole new set of tools for how you interact with nature. There are some fantastic resources at the website of Heather Jo Flores and at Permaculture Scotland
We’re all needing a bit of kindness at the moment, but life is a bit weird – you can’t meet someone for a cuppa and a chat, or give them a wee hug. So, we’re having to be a bit more creative in the ways we show our gratitude or kindness – from people clapping on a Thursday, to Zoom calling our families, to putting rainbows or teddies in our windows for people to see as they walk past.
Here are a few of our favourite crafty ways to show someone you are thinking of them:
This free downloadable knitting pattern is very simple to make and uses up any oddments of wool you have around the house. Imagine giving this to a child, sending this to a friend or even just sending a photo of it to someone far away.
Many of us have pictures of rainbows in our windows. If you want to take it a step further, then you could crochet or knit a rainbow. Here are 2 lovely patterns:
The Brighten your day knit rainbow by Midknits is very squishable.
The Rowena the rainbow crochet pattern by The Clumsy Unicorn is a simple pattern suitable for beginners
You can sew a special message onto a piece of clothing or make it into a picture or a cushion. There are some lovely downloadable patterns online like You got this by DMC
Alternatively, you could just make up your own. I’ve used a favourite quote, which I embroidered and am quilting to make a wall hanging.
If you can draw or paint, then you could make something really beautiful to make someone smile
Bake a cake, or a loaf of bread, or a pizza, or scones, or make jam, or tablet, or ……. the list is endless. Most of us love to receive delicious food. If someone you care about is within walking distance, you could pop a little gift on their doorstep during your daily exercise. Or share something tasty with one (or all) of your neighbours
There are lots of recipe ideas in the BBC Good Food magazine which we have available to borrow for free online.
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Hello and welcome to the Library Love podcast where we share our love of books and reading from Falkirk Libraries. I’m Tanya recording from home. Today I’ll be recommending comfort reads for times of change. This podcast was recorded during lockdown from my garden shed.
What I have been reading and listening to:
James Herriott – All creatures great and small
Dana Stabenow – re-reading the Kate Shugak mysteries the first one is A Cold Day for Murder
Podcasts: No such thing as a fish. The Magnus Archives. Guided Sleep Meditations
New and forthcoming adult books:
• Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson
• The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde
• Mum and Dad, Joanna Trollope
New and forthcoming children’s titles:
• (2-6 years) I’m Sticking with You by Smriti Halls and illustrated by Steve Small
• (6 – 10 years) Wigglesbottom Primary: Break-Time Bunnies by Pamela Butchart and illustrated by Becka Moor
• (9 – 13 yrs) The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke and illustrated by Ayesha L. Rubio
• (Teen) One for Sorrow by Zoe Sugg and Amy McCulloch
Viewing Recommendations:
• Primeval (Amazon Prime)
• Good Omens (Amazon Prime)
• Crash course (You Tube)
Our Reading Agony this week:
‘I’m doing more cooking at the moment – any suggestions to help me out as I’m not very good’
Jack Munro – books and blog
Mary Berry (ebook)
Nadiya Hussein (ebook)
BBC Good Food magazine (emagazine)
Staff quote of the day: On a work conference call, “Did you get a good view up my nose?”
Our Discussion: Comfort reads – there is a lot of research about the positive impact that reading has on your mental health, which is great, but I would go one further and say that when things are quite stressful, we need comfort reads. These are my / my colleagues and family’s comfort reads:
Did you know?
We have lots of free online resources for you – our ebooks, emagazines and eaudiobooks are brilliant and you can download them easily onto your device – go to our website for information about how to sign up.
You can join our library online – it’s free and easy to get set up and you can use lots of our online resources
Our Falkirk Libraries Youtube channel has videos of storytimes for small people (BSL and spoken) and videos about the history of the Falkirk area too.
Our blog www.librarylovefalkirk.com has lots more information, including fun info about our staff and some ideas for things to do indoors
Thank you for listening to the Library Love podcast, we hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and if you did, then subscribe to our podcast. We love to hear from you and if you’d like to get in touch with us, then go to our blog LibraryLoveFalkirk.com, @LibFalkirk on Twitter, or Falkirk Libraries on Facebook or Instagram. Bye