​Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit. 

The library is closed today for Memorial Day, and will reopen on Tuesday at our regular hours. Last Saturday was the last day to sign up for our summer library programs, but if you've missed the deadline you can call and ask to be placed on a waiting list. You can also call the library for more information.

The first official first day of summer may be nearly a month away, but temperatures are rising! With all the heat still to come, no one wants to stand near a hot stove, or really be in the kitchen very long. This week’s Port Pick will be sure to help you continue home cooked meals with less time and effort, provided you own a pressure cooker. Delicious Under Pressure by Meredith Laurence is an updated cookbook filled with recipes designed for the pressure cooker. Ms. Laurence runs the gamut of the menu from soups, pasta, and meat dishes, to vegetarian dishes, grains, breakfast, and even dessert. There is a short section at the beginning for cooks new to using a pressure cooker, but it’s still a good idea for the home cook to be fully comfortable using their own appliance before tackling the recipes in this book. Not every recipe has a corresponding color photograph, but there is an appetizing picture every few pages. Along with over 120 recipes are also sprinkled helpful tips and tricks in each section, specific to the ingredients used. The flavors in each of the sections have been updated to include ingredients not seen in many dishes until fairly recently, like quinoa, leeks, or miso. The recipes are designed for a new electric 6 qt. pressure cooker or larger, but instructions are included for other situations. So, if you’ve been using the pressure cooker for a while this book will be an excellent update to your cuisine.

You can get the book reviewed here, which was Delicious Under Pressure by Meredith Laurence, and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit. This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”

Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit. 

Happy last day of school to everyone out there! Remember this summer the library will always be a nice, quiet, cool place to relax in between your busy plans.

Nolo law guides provide practical, accurate information to beginners and those inexperienced with legal situations. Updated in February of this year The Executor’s Guide: Settling a Loved One’s Estate or Trust by Mary Randolph is a practical guide for those who have been named executor years in advance of the passing of a loved one, or even if you unexpectedly find yourself in this complicated situation. And, although this is a legal guide it takes into account that being an executor involves dealing with emotional people with tact and care. The guide is very thorough and starts by defining what an executor is and their legal responsibilities. It then starts with the basic steps from just hours after a person has passed away, dealing with funerals, then the will or other legal documents, and finally life insurance or other benefits. A large section walks readers through what to do if there was no will but there was an estate to manage, paying bills, setting up the estate for children, and dealing with taxes. The rest of the book deals with transferring property and trust estates.  Throughout the text there are example worksheets to organize information, flowcharts to help you decide which direction to go, and helpful tips and shortcuts. 

Another title in the library’s collection which may be helpful is How to divide your family's estate and heirlooms peacefully and sensibly by Julie Hall, published in 2011 or The Caregiver’s Companion by Carolyn Hart, published in 2015.

You can get the book reviewed here, which was The Executor’s Guide: Settling a Loved One’s Estate or Trust by Mary Randolph, plus the others mentioned and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit. This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”

Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit. 

Our public access internet computers will be unavailable on the 19th for some upgrading, but our free wireless internet will still be available!

Most people who garden in this area have done at least one round of planting for this year. After planting comes watering, then weeding, and hopefully harvesting! However, if the time, effort, and expense of watering your garden seems like something you’d rather avoid, consider a low-water garden.  The Water-Saving Garden: How to grow a gorgeous garden with a lot less water by Pam Penick will give you plenty of ideas for turning your traditional lawn and garden spaces into lower maintenance and certainly lower water use areas, while still maintaining a beautiful space. If you think that water-saving gardens automatically mean hard, sterile concrete and stone features, this book will prove you wrong!
  
Divided into 5 sections absolutely stuffed with color photographs, this book first goes through several example gardens, then on to water saving tactics in use, whether through catchment systems or water retaining landscape features. The third section moves on to actually installing a water saving garden, with a short section on what to plant in pots for balcony or very small space gardening. Creating the illusion of water through fountains, plants, and architectural elements features in a fourth section. Finally, at the back of the book is a section listing 101 plants, trees, shrubs, and flowers to plant. An index may help you find specific information if you already have something in mind. The author encourages the removal of traditional manicured lawns in favor of native grasses and many of the photographs are of carefully designed spaces. Most homeowners may not be willing to tackle an all-encompassing and expensive project; the reader can still glean specific, smaller scale ideas from this book

You can get the book reviewed here, which was The Water-Saving Garden  by Pam Penick, and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit. This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”

​Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit. 

Tomorrow and Wednesday the library will be closed for all day staff training.  We’ll be open our normal hours on today and beginning again on Thursday.

Some authors write books wildly different in setting, tone, character, and plot development. Other authors seem to excel at publishing successful books that repeat themes of plot or character development, while not seeming to write in the same setting or in a series. V. C. Andrews is one of the latter. Perhaps her most famous work was Flowers in the Attic, published over 20 years ago. While in a different setting altogether, Sage’s Eyes by V. C. Andrews still touches on the themes of coming of age, secrets kept and revealed, and the main character finally taking charge of their own life. And unlike most of the rest of her books, this one stands alone. If you’ve never tried reading V. C. Andrews and would like to, this book would be a great place to start.

Sage has always felt a little different. It’s not just that she’s adopted – her adoptive parents have always been up front about that fact. And it’s not that she minds living under her parents’ strict rules. From a young age Sage has seen waking dreams and heard voices. Not scary voices; her ghosts always brought her comfort. But when she mentions her visions to her parents she is immediately shushed or punished. Her parents send her to a psychologist at age 12, but nothing changes except as she gets older Sage learns when to speak and when to remain silent. It makes her a bit of an outcast. That’s why at 16 when she meets a boy who seems to understand all the weird things in Sage’s life she quickly befriends him, and possibly, dangerously, more.

​ You can get the book reviewed here, which was Sage by V. C. Andrews, and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit.  This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”

​Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit. 

Summer library program sign ups start today. Kids ages 5 through 5th grade can sign up for a four week session in June on Tuesdays at 10 am, or a four week session in July on Tuesdays at 10 am. Call the library with any questions about toddler or teen programs this summer, or for more information about our grade school ages programs. Or, find the sign up forms to print here. This year’s theme is Get Ready, Get Set, Read!

46 million Americans are on some sort of nutritional assistance from the government or SNAP. You’ve probably seen the little signs in the grocery store next to certain qualifying ingredients. The benefits of SNAP average out to about $4 a day per person. Whether you’re part of a SNAP program or the like, everyone could use a little assistance in keeping food costs low. This week’s Port Pick can help. The outgrowth of a graduate degree in food studies, Good and Cheap: Eat well on $4 a day by Leanne Brown walks you through the principles of buying and making great food on a tight budget. Over 100 recipes, plus grocery shopping strategies, necessary (but basic) cooking equipment, tips to use leftovers, plus a chart for buying vegetables seasonally make this nearly a one-stop cookbook. The recipes are made for modern palates too, so cooks won’t feel constrained to outdated or unusual recipes. Each section is populated with at least 10 recipes for breakfasts, soups and salads, snacks and sides, dinner, drinks and desserts, big batch recipes, and a few pantry basics you can make yourself to save money. Nearly every recipe has a full color photograph to tempt you, and serving sizes range from 2 to 6 people for regular recipes, to 10 or more for the big batch section. This isn’t a diet book and doesn’t take into account special diets, but the author is quick to point out that the recipes are designed to accommodate substitutions to suit your situation.

You can get the book reviewed here, which was Good and Cheap: Eat well on $4 a day by Leanne Brown, and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit. This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”