Learning to Love Winter

I grew up loving winter, and especially snow.  However, a few years after discovering the harsh realities of cold weather in the mountains, I became disenchanted with the season. Many people are in the same boat - they dread winter. But this year is different: my goal is to not only survive winter, but to …

The Hudson Library of Highlands, N.C.

By Guest Contributor Randolph Shaffner Randolph Shaffner, a former president of the Hudson Library Board of Trustees, is the author of Good Reading Material, Mostly Bound and New: The Hudson Library 1884-1994, which is available for purchase at the library, all proceeds benefiting the library. He currently serves as archivist for the Highlands Historical Society, …

Vegging Out

As you’ve heard, the Macon County Public Library is continuing its gardening tradition this summer!  While our Youth Services Department has had and continues to have a garden for folks 12 and younger, Adult Services, with the help of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, has been gardening in two 500 sq. ft. plots at the …

Poverty Simulation

Hey, this is Laura from Jackson County Public Library.  In February, I attended a NC Poverty Simulation sponsored by the United Way, Mountain Projects and North Carolina Action Association.  Wow, what an incredibly moving experience this was for me! So in a nutshell this is how the simulation went for me and my faux family.  …

Healthy Engagement 101: Theatre at the Library – A New Community Theatre Group in Franklin, NC

  Theatre is work.  No one knows that better than Roberta Pipitone, a retired drama teacher of 30 years, who has graciously volunteered her time to help the Macon County Public Library continue to build a theatre program.  Pipitone not only wrote this season’s suspenseful comedy: “Murder by the Book” – to take place at …

Guest Blog: Domestic Violence Awareness Month by R.E.A.C.H. of Macon County

Maya Angelou stated “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” - Letter to My Daughter As we enter Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we are confronted with the stark reality that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men experience some form …

National Parks and Recreation Month

Hi Shelf Life Readers! Happy National Parks and Recreation month! I am writing to you from the Jackson County Public Library but if you tried to find me during the summer months from 2012 to 2015, you would’ve had to look deep in the wilderness of either the Sumter or Chattahoochee National Forest, where I …

The (Irresistible) American Museum of the House Cat

We love cats, right? (Right, mom?) A month or so ago my sweetie pie and I visited the American Museum of the House Cat in Sylva. We’d actually just moved to Sylva and I figured out how to give directions to our new house using the museum as a landmark (the directions make no sense …

Hike with Pride this month!

June is LGBTQIA+ Pride Month as well as Great Outdoors Month and so this blog will be about both! LGBTQIA+ is an acronym that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and the plus is for gender fluid people - people whose gender identity changes over time or per situation. Queer is a …

Let’s clear the air: a Vulture is not a Buzzard

  Today’s blog focuses on the Turkey Vulture, another one of the most commonly seen birds here in the Southeast. Before we talk about identifying characteristics though, I thought we could dive into the semantics of the terms vulture and buzzard, because it can be pretty confusing. Before researching this topic, whenever I heard the …