On Saturday, August 17th at 5:00 pm, The Weld Free Public Library will be hosting the annual wine tasting and auction! Come and sample wines from around the world sponsored by South Portland Wine Company. Suggested Donation is $20.00 per person. To reserve your spot and donate online, please click here. In the notes please indicate your donation is for the wine tasting. You can also donate at the door.
Auction Wine List:
GIBBS Napa Chardonnay 2020 value $27.00 We’re always keeping an eye out for one particular type of “Goldilocks” Chardonnay. We know them the second we taste them: the kind of Napa Valley Chardonnay that’s going to make both the Rombauer AND the Puligny-Montrachet drinker happy. That’s the 2021 Gibbs Vineyards Chardonnay Napa Valley. It’s the kind of Chardonnay that was once common around Napa Valley—but is now almost impossible to find under $50.
GIBBS 3 Clone Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 value $37.00 A bushel of inviting blue and purple fruits on the nose. The palate is spongy and sweet but with impressive balance and complexity at this price point. The finish ends with fine tannins and beaming acidity. Highly recommended; a truly fantastic value. 94 points James Suckling and 91 points Decanter
Cristom Paul Gerrie Pinot Noir 2021 value $82.00 The 2021 Pinot Noir Paul Gerrie Vineyard was fermented with 40% whole clusters. It’s bursting with a kaleidoscopic perfume of strawberry, raspberry and pomegranate and nuances of lavender, licorice and bitters. The light-bodied palate is elegantly styled, with understated, spicy fruit, vibrant acidity, chalky tannins and a very long, layered finish. 94 points Wine Advocate
Ken Wright Guadalope Pinot Noir 2021 value $65.00 Floral notes of hyacinth and rose petals give way to raspberry jam, cinnamon spice and saline aromas. The wine’s thick texture and muscular tannins frame flavors of black cherry and earthy shiitake mushrooms. Serve with cassoulet and no regrets. 92 points Wine Enthusiast
Mollydooker The Boxer Shiraz 21 value $32.00 Plush and polished, with ripe notes of maraschino cherry, milk chocolate and raspberry preserves. Details of cinnamon, spicy tobacco and cumin add aromatic interest, with a lingering thread of toasted herbs. Drink now through 2029. 91 points Wine Spectator
Mollydooker Blue Eyed Boy Shiraz 21 value $64.00 Dense and generous, with ripe black cherry, raspberry and blueberry preserves, accents of espresso and bittersweet chocolate, plus hints of palo santo and spices on the lush, juicy finish. Drink now through 2032. 92 points Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator.
K Vintners The Deal Sundance Vineyard Syrah 2018 value $36.00 Currants, savory spices, dried flowers, charcoal, and loamy earth all emerge from the 2018 Syrah The Deal, which comes from the Sundance Vineyard on the Wahluke Slope. Showing plenty of more savory, earthy notes, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a rounded, expansive texture, and ripe, polished tannins. It shows the more elegant, streamlined style of the vintage, yet I love its balance. It’s going to benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and keep for 10-12. 96 points James Suckling and 90 points Wine Spectator.
K Vintners Motor City Kitty Syrah 2020 value $40.00 The motor on this city kitty purrs, as bushels of black cherry and boysenberry fruit flavors are backed by a massive wall of tannins. As you swirl your glass to loosen things up, aromas of blackberries, black olives and bacon fat encircle your head. The fruit party on the palate is joined by bittersweet dark chocolate. 95 points Wine Advocate and 94 points Wine Enthusiast.
Daou Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 1.5L value $58.00 MAGNUM. The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, matured for 21 months in 100% new French oak, is youthfully shy at this stage, although it has notably pure scents of red and black currants and youthful wafts of coffee beans. The full-bodied palate is elegantly styled, with gently crunchy fruit and integrated new oak character. It has a fine frame of dusty tannins, bright freshness and a long, mineral-driven finish. Give it 3-5 years in bottle to unwind. 93 points Wine Advocate and 91 points Wine Enthusiast.
Domaine Font du Vent Châteauneuf du Pape 2019 1.5L value $122.00 MAGNUM. A red and black fruit bouquet (cherries, blackberries), hints of garrigue, licorice and spice. This wine is ideal with slow cooked foods, baked leg of lamb with spring vegetables, a beef and vegetable casserole, slow cooked lamb shanks served with jus and potato puree. 90 points Wine & Spirits.
On Thursday August 1st at the Weld Free Public Library from 10:00 am to noon, will be the August Wild Adventures Program for Kids. This program will be about Beavers, with a reading, crafts, and hands on activities. Our special guest presenter will be Ranger Jamie Cantin from the Mt. Blue State Park Nature Center.
On Saturday July 20th from 10:00 am to Noon, The Weld Free Public Library will be having a Book Sale at Lake Day at Mt. Blue State Park Headquarters at 299 Center Hill Rd, Weld, ME 04285
On Thursday, June 20th, starting at 10:00 am at the Weld Public Library, the first Summer Reading Adventure will be all about Bears! Starting with a reading by Bri Macdonald from Finding Winnie, The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear. A #1 New York Times Bestseller and Winner of the Caldecott Medal about the remarkable true story of the bear who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh!
Crafts will include FREE string bags for all participants to fill with bear in winter crafts, temporary tattoos, work books, word games, mazes, and more! Have fun with bear track stencils and experiment with making molds of bear paws. See the mold of an actual adult bear courtesy of Mt. Blue State Park and Ranger Jamie Cantin!
Activities will include Bear Paw Hop Scotch and going on a Bear Hunt! Kids of all ages are welcome!
Former Weld Public Library Board President Barbara Paiton was awarded the Boston Post Cane by the Town of Minot. At 95, she is the oldest resident of Minot. According to Barbara, she walks 25 minutes a day.
“Hosted by public libraries all across the state, Read ME connects Maine’s adult reading community through shared experiences, supports Maine libraries in their work to provide quality adult summer reading initiatives, and elevates the work of upcoming Maine authors.”
This year the Weld Library Summer Reading Program will be about Bears, Bees and Beavers! Fun craft activities!
The 2024 Summer Reading Dates at the Weld Public Library will be: June 20th, July 11th, and August 1st, from 10:00 am to Noon at the Library.
This year there will be a Grand Finale event at the Nature Center at Mt. Blue State Park on Webb Lake on August 8th at 10:00 am! Printable flyer and Map below.
Join us for the April Book Club Chat about The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.
A New York Times Bestseller, A Good Morning America Book Club Pick.
Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR! Named a Notable Book of the Year by the Washington Post!
A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times bestselling authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.
Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years’ experience as a litigator at two of the country’s premier law firms. She found her calling unearthing the hidden historical stories of women. Her mission is to excavate from the past the most important, complex and fascinating women of history and bring them into the light of present-day where we can finally perceive the breadth of their contributions as well as the insights they bring to modern day issues. Visit her at https://www.authormariebenedict.com/
Victoria Christopher Murray is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 30 novels. Her novels, The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies, which she co-authored with Marie Benedict were both Instant New York Times bestsellers and her novel, Stand Your Ground won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction. Four of her novels, Lust, Envy, Wrath and Greed have been made into TV movies for Lifetime. Visit her at https://www.victoriachristophermurray.com
Thursday, May 29th, @ 6:00 PM
Join us for the May Book Club Chat about I Know You Love Me Too with the author Amy Neswald
Eight years apart, half-sisters Ingrid and Kate suffer the loss of their shared father when Ingrid is twenty and Kate only twelve. As they negotiate their uncertain sisterhood, Ingrid struggles with her artistic identity and love life while the hairline cracks expand in Kate’s seemingly perfect life. Told from multiple perspectives, I Know You Love Me, Too follows Ingrid and Kate as they investigate the mysteries left by their father and the riddles posed by their own lives.
Amy Neswald is a fiction writer and screenwriter. Her work has appeared in The Rumpus, The Normal School, Bat City Review, and Green Mountain Re-view, among others. She is a recent recipient of the New American Fiction prize with her debut novel-in-stories I Know You Love Me, Too, to be released in December 2021. Prior to moving to rural Maine, she had a long career as a wigmaster for Broadway shows. She teaches creative writing at the University of Maine in Farmington and continues working on her next novel and a collection of short films.
Thursday, June 26th, @ 6:00 PM
Join us for the June Book Club Chat about Backward and Blind with the author Jean A. Miller Mariner.
2024 INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS FINALIST IN EDUCATION
When a young economics researcher decides to embrace change and takes a teaching position on a whim, she enters the job with confidence. It doesn’t take long until she feels as though she is tumbling downhill, backward and blindfolded, just as one of her students did while skiing, before having to take him to the hospital.
After her job morphed into a career, Jean A. Miller Mariner retired with immeasurable lessons to share—for math and for life. Turning from backward and blind to forward and focused, she witnessed the identical pivot for her students over the years and penned these hilarious, complex, and heartwarming tales to demonstrate.
Ms. Miller Mariner’s story collection is a gift for all the teachers out there, and for the students who drove them to become better educators (even while, like her, they may have been the one steering the bus). Here the good math teacher adds humor to the unthinkable and subtracts nothing, leaving us with one question with absolute value: Who helps whom turn each other’s lives around?
Raised in New England, Jean A. Miller Mariner moved to Colorado for her first teaching assignment at an independent residential high school. That led to more than thirty years at six different schools teaching middle-school through college-level math and psychology courses, all while rearing three children with her beloved husband. With a BA from Oberlin College and an MAT from Colorado College, she also coached swimming, math, and debate competitions; organized community service activities; served as a dorm parent; and wrote for a textbook company. Splitting her time between the mountains of rural Maine and the mountains of the southwest, she identifies as part Southwesterner and part New Englander. Now retired to a wealth of new life experiences, she has revived interests in writing, mountain biking, open water swimming, traveling, fabric arts, and volunteering for a local food bank.
Past Events:
Thursday, March 27th, @ 6:00 PM
Join us for the March Book Club Chat about Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • From Pulitzer Prize–winning author Elizabeth Strout comes a “stunner” (People) of a novel about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world.
“Tell Me Everything hits like a bucolic fable. . . . A novel of moods, how they govern our personal lives and public spaces, reflected in Strout’s shimmering technique.”—The Washington Post
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, NPR, Vogue, Parade
Elizabeth Strout is the author of the New York Times bestseller Olive Kitteridge, for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize; the national bestseller Abide with Me; and Amy and Isabelle, winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize. She has also been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in London. She lives in Maine and New York City.
Thursday, February 27th @ 6:00 PM
Join us for the February Book Cub Chat about The Women by Kristin Hannah.
A #1 bestseller on The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times!
Kristin Hannah is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels. Her newest novel, The Women, about the nurses who served in the Vietnam war.
Thursday, January 30th @ 6:00 PM
Join us for the January Book Club Chat Thursday, January 30th @ 6 p.m. The library has plenty of copies of Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF SUMMER by: Chicago Tribune * The View * Southern Living * USA Today
“Remarkably Bright Creatures [is] an ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut. . . . Memorable and tender.” — Washington Post
For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow’s unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.
Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.
About the Author
When Shelby Van Pelt isn’t feeding her flash-fiction addiction, she’s juggling cats while wrangling children. Her debut novel, REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES, was published by Harper Collins in May 2022. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, she’s currently missing the mountains in the suburbs of Chicago. Find her at www.shelbyvanpelt.com, on Twitter @shelbyvanpelt, and Instagram @shelbyvanpeltwrites.
Thursday December 19th at 6:00 pm
Holiday Book Club Potluck Get Together. Please bring a dish to share.
Free public domain CC0 photo.
Thursday, November 21st at 6:00 pm
There There by Tommy Orange, a National Best Seller, New York Times 10 Best Books Of The Year, and Pulitzer Prize Finalist, will be discussed at the November Book Club Meeting. Copies are available at the Weld Public Library.
Tommy Orange is a faculty member at the Institute of American Indian Arts MFA program. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He was born and raised in Oakland, California.
For an excerpt and more about the book, click here.
Thursday October 24th at 6:00 pm
Joseph D. Slater of Weld will be at the library for the October Book Club Author Chat to discuss his book In The Sky.
“A dragon-rider, a pirate, and a suspicious cook meet up in this aerial adventure of airships, spies and vengeance.
In this cat and mouse journey following the Gale Empire’s Navy pursuing the Loon’s Cry, an infamous pirate ship sailing into the territories lost in a past war, fatal decisions will be made to ensure the safety of the borders between the freedom fighters, and rule under the emperor.
The cook’s aid, Bonnie, discovers a spy aboard Captain Harley’s rag-tag crew, all while an Imperial ace flyer, Esmeralda does what she can to get combat experience from the back of her loyal dragon, Rex.
However, she will find more than she could have ever expected there.
In the world of sky shanties, dragons, and sword fights, you’ll learn that in order to get what you want, you’ll have to sacrifice what you love there, in the sky.”
Raised in the lonely western mountains of Maine, Joe is an infantry veteran who has authored several novels; The Vacation Planet series, Janie, and In the Sky.
After being stationed in Colorado for a few years, he moved back to Maine, where he surrounds himself with six women (his wife and five daughters), being sure that his children have a nourished and literate life.
His favorite haunt is in his home library, where he can be found cursing under his breath as he works on his next project.
Supporting the Library can happen in many ways. As a small Library with limited resources, just donating some items on our wish list can really help! Here are some items we need now that would benefit and enhance the operation of the Library:
Big Items:
Kohler 10RESVL-100LC12 10kW Home Standby Generator System (100A Indoor 12-Circuit Switch) or Generac 10KW Automatic Backup Generator with Transfer Switch.
Laptop Computer (contact Paul for specifications)
Automated External Defibrillator (AED)
Smaller Items:
Orange Traffic Cones (4) for events
5 foot step ladder with handles
9-10 foot step ladder to reach lights
Outside push broom
Garden or leaf rake
Outside hose holder
Postage Stamps
New comfy chair for the reading area
Glass dome for our rare bird
Frame for old handwritten note about the Library that is on display
Non perishable items for the food pantry. During the Winter months, only items that are not affected by freezing.
For specifics or any questions, please stop by the Library or call Wendy at 207-585-2439.
For additional ways to support the Library, please visit our support page.
The Book Club will meet Thursday April 25th at the Weld Free Public Library at 6:00 PM.
Saskia Reinholt, Executive Director of the High Peaks Creative Council, will discuss her book Legacy: The Barn Quilt Trail in Maine’s High Peaks.
Featured in The Daily Bulldog, this wonderful book features the design and history of barn quilts in Franklin and Somerset Counties, with excellent photos by Cynthia and John Orcutt, a forward by Governor Janet Mills, and an introduction by Maine Poet Laureate Julia Bouwsma.
The book will be available for purchase at the Library.
The Library will be upgraded with a Barn Quilt. We are now accepting donations for this project. Online: Via PayPal, Check or Cash. If donating online or by check, please indicate in the notes section that your donation is for the Barn Quilt Project.
At the May 4th Barn Quilt session at the Weld Town Hall, There will be an area for the Library Barn Quilt to be Worked on. This is a Community Project, so even if you aren’t making a barn quilt of your own, please feel free to stop in and work on a section. Anyone already signed up for the session is welcome to work on the quilt.
The pattern is to be determined. We are in the idea process for the design, and open to suggestions. The size will be 3’x3′ or a 4’x4′ and hang on the left side of the library (new parking lot side).
