Cauli Le Chat

Cauli Le Chat
Cauli Le Chat, MPL Feline Roving Reporter

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Got Cabin Fever, Teens?

Teens!  Got cabin fever?  It's only been a week of official winter.  Still.

Programma Mama has the cure.  Our program trailer elaborates.

Cabin Fever Tuesdays, by Mooresville Public Library
(MPL Program Trailer)

The detailed program description only lasts nine seconds in the video, so for a longer look, ask our circulation desk for a flyer.

No registration is required.




Your Roving Reporter On The Go,


Cauli Le Chat

Sunday, December 21, 2014

A Cozy Alcove

The Decorinator's faux fireplace makes the Friends of the Library (FOL) alcove quite cozy.

 Library Slobberdog Enjoys a Warm Faux Fire
(Click Photos to Bigify)

How About More Camera Flash, Scowl-Face?
(Eye-Roll)

All we need now is Santa Kitty coming down that chimney.

Teen Council Santa?

Close, but no kibble.

"Santa Claws," by Simon's Cat (2010)

That's the ticket!

Happy holidays, everybody.




Your Roving Reporter On The Go,


Cauli Le Chat

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

R.I.P., L.E.D.

Rest-in-pieces, library outdoor light-emitting diode sign.  Yesterday's car crash may have knocked you down for the count, but a new, improved sign will arise from your ashes.  Talk about mixing metaphors.

Ouch!!
So Sad!  Still Had Many Good Years Left
Where Will My Digital Image Be Displayed Now?

Boss Lady says that we will soon begin the process to replace the outdoor sign, but that will take time, of course.

Come inside, and we'll tell you all about what's happening at the Library. It won't be all nice and flashy, like on the outdoor sign, but we'll do our best to make it bright and shiny.



Your Roving Reporter On The Go,


Cauli Le Chat



P.P.S.  "Signs" (1971), by the Five Man Electrical Band, reached #3 on Billboard's U.S. Hot 100 Singles charts.  It was included on the group's album, Good-byes & Butterflies (1970).

Monday, December 15, 2014

MPL Signing Off

Looks like my Library is "signing off" for awhile.

MPL Outdoor LED Sign Takes a Hit

That's what's left of our outdoor LED sign.  Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.  But our electronic messages will be out-of-commission for some time.  Scowl-Face will have his work cut out for him (he programs the outdoor sign) once it's replaced. Meanwhile, visit the MPL website and social media to keep up with what's happening at the Library. You could also subscribe to our email newsletter.

Here's how the sign used to look:

 MPL Outdoor LED Sign (March 2012)

Summertime View of the Outdoor Sign (June 2010)

Luckily, my supper dish was safely far away from the accident.  You may recall my supper dish played a role in another close call for the outdoor sign.




Your Roving Reporter On The Go,


Cauli Le Chat

Four Years Roving & Reporting

This Friday (December 19, 2014) will be the fourth anniversary of my blog. From my first blog post to the present, minus my six-month hiatus, I've written 1,254 posts.  Many thanks to all my loyal readers.  I hope you've enjoyed reading my roving reports about what's happening around the Library and elsewhere.

Now that I live on the other side of town, I don't rove around the Library as often as I did when I lived in the neighborhood.  But you can still keep up with all the excitement at the Library by following MPL on our social media:  FacebookTwitterTumblr, YouTube, and Pinterest.  Of course, there's always the MPL website.

I'll continue to rove and report, but I'm really semi-retired now.  Hanging around the house with my humans suits moi as I advance toward my senior kitty years.  In fact, I'm ready for a nap.

Thanks again, everybody, for following my blog!  It has been a grand four years.




Your Roving Reporter On The Go,


Cauli Le Chat

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Victorian Christmas at the Library

Yesterday's Victorian Christmas celebration at the Library was a huge success.  Over 400 patrons queued up to see the Silly Safaris Animals of the North Pole program, and many enjoyed the music of the Central Indiana Folk Music & Mountain Dulcimer Society's concert.  Dozens had pictures taken at the holiday photo booth (thanks to MPL Teen Council for running that event), and several families enjoyed making holiday crafts during Saturday Crafternoon.  I didn't see the final door count, but it must have exceeded at least 800.  I couldn't even get near the building because of the crowds, and my minions found it difficult to move around to take photos, but we snapped a few.  As always, click the images to bigify.

 Sweet sounds from the CIFM&MDS


 Saturday Crafternoon was family fun

Patrons queued up out the front entrance into the parking lot
awaiting Silly Safaris Animals of the North Pole program


Members of MPL Teen Council (center) conducted a
popular holiday photo booth in the Young Adult Zone (YAZ)

Countless other patrons visited the Library, too, for "ordinary" services, such as checking out (or checking in) items, using the computer lab, conducting genealogical or local history research, browsing the stacks, receiving reference assistance, or handling accounts at circulation.  What I found most amazing is that all of these hundreds of patrons were being served by five MPL staffers.  Christmas bonuses, I'll venture.  Just saying, Boss Lady.

Special kudos go to Crafty Gal, who orchestrated the day's festivities.  She was everywhere at once, handling last-minute adjustments, solving problems, encouraging enthusiasm among waiting patrons, and keeping everything moving smoothly.  Crafty Gal is truly made of awesome.



Your Roving Reporter On The Go,


Cauli Le Chat


P.S.  Since the MPL community room was totally packed with patrons, Scowl-Face had to take photos through the windows, standing outside in the MPL courtyard. Furthermore, since he's a lousy photographer, we couldn't get any decent pictures of the star of Silly Safaris Animals of the North Pole, a real-live elkenfroster (humans call them reindeer).  So here's a photo from the Ghost of Christmas Programs Past.  (That's "Flat" Dovydas standing on the elkenfroster's back.)

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Climb the Book Stairway to the Center of Your Mind

The Library's seasonal reading programs give children the first step toward a lifetime of literary pleasure.  Our program trailer elaborates.

Library Children's Reading Programs Promo Trailer
by Mooresville Public Library


Drop by our youth services desk to sign-up for our children's reading programs.  Winter reading runs until January 31.  Don't be (wait for it . . .) left out in the cold.  Climb aboard a good book today.  Check-out our tens of thousands of cool reading with your Evergreen Indiana library card.



Your Roving Reporter On The Go,


Cauli Le Chat

You'll Have a Ball . . . of Yarn

I've got an old yarn to tell.

Knitting Program Promo Trailer
by Mooresville Public Library

Knitting with Joyce has been one of our oldest, best attended adult programs for many years.  Bring your knitting projects to MPL Study Room A on Wednesdays from 1:30-3 p.m. to knit, share methods, and chat with new friends.  No registration is required.

You'll have a ball--of yarn, of course.  That's something we felines can enjoy.




Your Roving Reporter On The Go,


Cauli Le Chat


Sunday, November 30, 2014

Our Gingerbread Land

The Decorinator and BizMeister have created a charming gingerbread decoration for the entrance to my Library's youth services department.

Click Photo to Bigify

That will surely inspire our kiddy patrons' imaginations.  Sugar plums dancing, and such like.  It is a beautiful frontispiece to youth services.  I hope nobody tries to eat anything--even though it all looks delicious.

Superb job, as always, Decorinator and BizMeister!




Your Roving Reporter On The Go,


Cauli Le Chat

Thursday, November 20, 2014

You Will Be, I'll Venture

If you're not scared now, you will be.  Our book trailer elaborates.

MPL Book Trailer #216
Bandwidth: the Ghost of Devlin Mallard,
by N. S. Cooke





Your Roving Reporter On The Go,


Cauli Le Chat


Watch the Books Pile Up

Watch the books pile up as your preschoolers (assuming, of course, that you have some--if not, you could always borrow) enjoy reading a thousand books before kindergarten.  That's a whole lotta books, to be sure, but your kiddies can do it in our 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program.  Crafty Gal can show you how.  Our program trailer elaborates.

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Program Trailer

Our early literacy crowd enjoys children's picture books, and read-alouds count toward reading totals.  So this is definitely doable.  Check out tons of books at the Library, and you're good to go.  Need some ideas for fun reading?  We've got a playlist for that.


MPL Book Trailer Playlist, Children's Picture Books
(Click Play Button Above to Start Videos)
(Or CLICK HERE to See the Playlist)



Your Roving Reporter On The Go,


Cauli Le Chat

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

The Beardless Warriors, by Richard Matheson

My Library has a new book trailer featuring a novel for Veterans' Day.

The Beardless Warriors, by Richard Matheson
(MPL Book Trailer #214)



Your Roving Reporter On The Go,


Cauli Le Chat

Cross-Stitch Cauli is Quite Cool Indeed

Join the Library's own Miss Kathleen for her Needle Art program, which meets in study room A on Saturdays (except the first Saturday of the month) from 10 a.m. to noon.  Learn and practice counted cross-stitch and needlepoint.  Share ideas and projects with group members. Have fun! Our program trailer (video) below elaborates.

Needle Art Program Trailer

Embroidery is fun and creative!  Stitch in time, and all that jazz.

Did you like that miniature cross-stitched Cauli Le Chat in the video? Mega-cool, if I do say so moiself.




Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

Thursday, October 30, 2014

A Tale of Two Kellers

Downtown Mooresville, Indiana has its G.A. Keller building (constructed between 1907-1910), and Columbus, Indiana, has its C.M. Keller building (constructed 1913).  These two buildings resemble each other, suggesting a similar construction plan, architect, or general contractor.  Were the Kellers whose names grace these structures relatives?

According to my Library’s self-guided downtown walking tour, George A. Keller (1859-1923) started his hardware and implement business in 1885, purchasing Alexander Conduitt’s property on East Main Street in downtown Mooresville.  In 1885 George constructed a one-story frame structure on the front of the property (nearest the street) and used Conduitt’s residence (built ca. 1843) on the back of the property as a storeroom until it was demolished in 1907.

In 1907, George began constructing a new, brick building that was completed in 1910, and which bears his name today.


The G.A. Keller building is the light-colored brick structure in the middle
(photo ca. 1910 by J.P. Calvert)
(Click Images to Bigify)



The G.A. Keller building as it appeared in May, 2008
(photo by Mooresville Public Library)

Until 1921 Mooresville High School basketball games were played on the second floor of the G.A. Keller building, which had a wooden floor and was the only space sufficiently large to field a basketball court.  Fans sat in wooden chairs against the walls—essentially on the court itself—so out-of-bounds was a tricky matter of straddling seated spectators to pass the ball into play.
 
Scowl-Face talks about the basketball games at Keller's store in this video (below).  You can watch--it's nap time, nearly.

 

 "Where Were MHS Basketball Games Played Until 1921?"
Grandpa Billy Bob's Mooresville History Super Fun Quiz 6
by Mooresville Public Library
(HINT:  The answer is C.  The Second Floor of G. A. Keller's Hardware Building)


Mooresville Times article about the new G.A. Keller building (June 6, 1907)


Enlarged article
Mooresville Times, June 6, 1907


During construction George moved his old wooden store into the middle of East Main Street and continued conducting business there while work progressed on the new brick structure.  Eventually, citizens complained to local government officials, who pressured George to remove his old quarters.  George put the old building on logs, harnessed a team of horses, and, with the help of several stout fellows, hauled the structure to the southeast corner of West Main and South Monroe Streets, where it remains today as a single-family dwelling.

Old G.A. Keller building (constructed 1885) as a single-family home
at 155 West Main Street across from Mooresville Public Library
(2009 photo by MPL)


I had my minions research George A. Keller’s genealogy, and we discovered that his father, Frederick Keller (1826-1908), moved (at age 22) with his parents and siblings from Baden, Germany, to Morgan County, Indiana.  George’s grandparents, David Keller (1790-1864) and his first wife, Salome Keller, and his second wife, Margret Keller (1810-1904), had several children, three of whom were boys.  George’s uncles (i.e., Frederick’s two brothers) were named Michael Keller (1823-1897) and Michal (possibly Michel or Michael) King Keller (b. ca. 1838-?).  So we can safely rule-out uncles as “C.M.” possibilities.  Additionally, none of George’s other relatives’ names appeared to have the initials C.M.  Most of George’s clan are buried in the Mooresville Cemetery, and nobody in the Keller family plot has initials C.M.

So I sent my minions searching the federal censuses for a C.M. Keller who lived in Columbus, Bartholomew County, Indiana, around the turn of the 20th century.

Christian Martin Keller (1860-1927) was listed as a plumber in the 1900 U.S. census.  He operated his business, C.M. Keller & Company, in Columbus, and, according to the Complete Directory of Bartholomew County, Indiana, 1903-1904 (p. 182), he owned (and presumably constructed) the C.M. Keller building in 1913, where, for decades, G.C. Murphy’s five-and-dime store operated.

G.C. Murphy Company (1950s) in the C.M. Keller building
at 415-417 Washington Street, Columbus, Indiana
(Photo courtesy of Historic Columbus Indiana website)


According to Ancestry Library Edition, Christian’s parents moved to Columbus from Pennsylvania prior to 1860, the year Christian was born (in Columbus).  So it doesn’t appear that Christian Martin Keller and George A. Keller were related, at least as far back as the late 18th century family trees.

Since both Keller buildings were constructed within a few years of each other, one may presume that similar, popular architectural styles were incorporated.  But it wasn’t “all in the family,” so to speak.

These little local historical adventures are fun.  Visit our website to learn more about the history of Mooresville and Morgan County, Indiana.



Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat