Between 2010 and 2019, Cauli Le Chat (2006?-2020), feline roving reporter for Mooresville Public Library (Mooresville, Indiana), reported all things interesting to cats (and humans) happening at the library. Related stories from across the state (and beyond) were also included.
This week "Flat" DovydasBalčiūnas, from Lukšiai, Lithuania, has been visiting our Library, and we've blogged about his adventures. Wild Thang (Miss Jaymi) and Sammy the Toucan also had two other Lithuanian friends visiting: namely, "Flat" Geidre, and ... Wait! Let's make her a surprise guest! It's like a mystery story! You'll have to watch Wild Thang's (Miss Jaymi's) and Toucan Sammy's latest video to find out who she is.
Watch for "Flat" Geidre (and her "surprise" "Flat" classmate) in this week's Explore to Learn: Early Literacy Fun blog and video, which, by the way, cover the Letter K k.
Who's Our Mystery "Flat" Visitor?
Cauli Le Chat MPL Roving Reporter Early Literacy News Beat
P.S. Zuikis Puikis: Lithuanian Children's Songs (1971), recorded 40 years ago by three Lithuanian families from the North Shore in Chicago, Illinois, is a classic collection of Lithuanian children's music. You may listen to sample tracks here or here.
As promised, here is the second installment (or, part deux, as we French kitties say) of my report on "Flat" Dovydas Balčiūnas' visit to my Library. If you missed my earlier report, go read it. Now. I can wait.
"Flat" Dovydas asks CompuGal a reference question
("I'm looking for a book. It has a blue cover.")
(That's an old reference librarian joke, about a patron asking to find a book and only knowing the color of the cover boards. Of course, "Flat" Dovydas would never ask that question, except for laughs. He knows how to use libraries quite well.) By the way, we can find that book for you. We have something called the "reference interview," which is our way of finding out what you're actually looking for. It's a trick they teach in Library school.
"Staff Only" on the Ladder, Please!
We made "Flat" Dovydas an honorary staff member for the Library's IndianaRoving Reporter Room, so he was allowed to climb the ladder (under Scowl-Face's supervision, of course). He reshelved some books for us way up high! Thanks, "Flat" Dovydas. That's more work than we get out of Scowl-Face in a week. (Just kidding!)
"Flat" Dovydas Selects a DVD
Next, "Flat" Dovydas selected a DVD from our Media Alcove. He wanted to watch a video back at my place over this past weekend. We saw A Christmas Story (standard DVD version, 2006), which is a hilarious comedy starring Peter Billingsly, Melinda Dillon and Darin McGavin. It was based on a collection of stories by Hoosier humorist Jean Shepherd, who co-wrote the screenplay and narrated the movie. Then we watched Christmas in Connecticut (1945), which is a great comedy starring Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, and Sydney Greenstreet. Thanks to the Lady With the Red Hair, who lent us her copy of the movie. We finished with Miracle on 34th Street (1947), which I recently mentioned in a blog posting. We have two books (Miracle on 34th Street,by Valentine Davies; and A Christmas Story, by Jean Shepherd) from which the movies were more or less based.
"Flat" Dovydas waits to check-out his materials
at the MPL Circulation Desk
Since "Flat" Dovydas was staying with Library staff during his visit, we gave him a temporary library card to check-out materials. He borrowed some good books and videos, which he read over the weekend and returned to the Library today. He said he really enjoyed them and was glad he could borrow from the Library. We were pleased to serve him.
"Flat" Dovydas in the MPL Community Room
If you saw our recent promo trailer about "Flat" Dovydas' world travels, you may recall seeing the Library's Bonita C. Marley Community Room, named after the Library's director (between 1961-1984) who also designed the Mooresville Town Banner in 1974 to celebrate the town's 150th anniversary. She was one of the nicest people you could ever have hoped to meet.
Bonita C. Marley (1906-2002) holding the India Likely Scrapbook
MPL Library Director (1961-1984)
Mrs. Marley's maiden name was Conduitt. She lived in a big house on North Indiana Street, which later became Comer Sanitarium, a local hospital that treated -- ahem! -- rectal disorders. Actually, the hospital was nationally (possibly internationally) famous for its innovative medical procedures in this area. We have a "treasure trove" video that summarizes the hospital's local history, which includes a photo (ca. 1911) of the Conduitt house in which Mrs. Marley grew up. Watch for it between the 1:23 and 1:38 time marks in the video.
Click to Play Video
When "Flat" Dovydas first arrived at the Library, we had just had a brief snowfall, which melted the next day. But not before my minions captured this digital photo.
"Flat" Dovydas outside the Library's front entrance
"Flat" Dovydas in the MPL Grand Hall
"Flat" Dovydas looking for books in the Library's YAZ (Young Adult Zone)
"Flat" Dovydas outside the Library's Youth Services Department
"Flat" Dovydas asking a reference question
at the Library's Children's Information Desk
(That's Cataloger Queen at the computer)
"Flat" Dovydas in the Library's Children's Programming Room
Last, but not least, I showed "Flat" Dovydas my favorite exterior hangout at the Library: the Children's Kinder Garden.
"Flat" Dovydas poses in front of the
Library's "Kinder Garden", where some
outdoor children's programs are held
It was time for "Flat" Dovydas to return to his travel log so we could write down all the exciting things we've been doing during the past week. There's a cute slobberdog pictured on the front and back, but the pooch is easier to see on the rear cover.
Cute Slobberdog!
I'm sad to think that our visiting time is coming to an end, but I know we have enjoyed our time with "Flat" Dovydas and hope he has had fun and learned some interesting things about Mooresville, Indiana and our Library. We hope he, his teacher, Shay Laws, and his classmates back home at his school, the Vincas Grybas Gymnasium, in Lukšiai, Lithuania, will keep in touch.
But, Wait! There's More Library Fun for "Flat" Dovydas! Stay Tuned!
Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
World Travel News Beat
P.S. The progressive rock band Klaatu, about which I have previously blogged, wrote "Around the Universe in 80 Days," which was their interstellar take on the Jules Verne novel, Around the World in 80 Days (1873). The song was included on the album Hope (1977), which Canadian music critics voted "best album" of that year, and which also won a Juno award for best engineered album. Maybe someday "Flat" Dovydas will be an intergallactic traveler. "Flat" Cauli, too.
We study history (or read historical fiction) to learn how lives should not be lived. That way, we know how to live better lives today. People sometimes blanche at atrocities, whether occurring in the present or the past, but we need to know evil to recognize it when it creeps upon us and pretends to be something worthwhile. This comes from careful inspection of reality, or reality-based fiction.
This is why books such as One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Aleksandr (i.e., Alexander) Solzhenitsyn, are worth reading. First published in 1962, the novel relates the struggles for existence in a Soviet forced labor camp during the early 1950s, near the end of Stalin's reign of terror. A single day in the title character's life in the camp is related in exquisitely simple, straightforward language (even in translation) to shocking effect. The book was semi-autobiographical, since its author had spent many years in Soviet gulags (beginning in 1945) for joking about Stalin in a personal letter.
When imprisonment is indistinguishable from torture, it reflects badly upon the society engaging in such practices. Simply put, it constitutes moral bankruptcy for the governments involved. As citizens of the earth, whether human or other life forms, we should beware (and be aware) of such atrocities. We ignore them at our peril. As a cat, I can tell you it's unwise to overlook danger lurking around any corner. Those nine lives come at a dear price indeed.
Historical Knowledge Keeps Us Stronger.
Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Readers' Advisory News Beat
P.S. In totalitarian states, as well as in those supposedly more free, it is against the law to do practically anything. American folk legend Woody Guthrie concisely summed up the situation in "Aginst Th' Law" (1947). Billy Bragg crafted music to Guthrie's lyrics, as we can hear from this video. The song was included on the CD Mermaid Avenue, Vol. II (2000), by Billy Bragg & Wilco.
There was more to see at the Victorian Christmas Celebration in downtown Mooresville, Indiana, and my minions and I were there to cover any breaking news. Accompanying us on our adventure was our new friend from Lithuania, "Flat" Dovydas Balčiūnas, whose promo trailer you may not yet have seen, but should, by all means.
American Civil War soldiers, both Union and Confederate, staged a bivouac (well, a reenactment) outside the old Carnegie building that once housed Mooresville Public Library (1916-1988). Click here to learn more about the history of the library.
Mooresville Public Library (1916)
We have a nice flashcard of this photograph. Click here to see it.
Just past the old Carnegie Library on West Main Street, the horse-drawn passenger cart passed by. We would have climbed aboard for a ride, but it was full. So we decided to visit a couple of slobberdogs we saw earlier.
"Flat" Dovydas with one of his slobberdog buddies
As we were walking toward the old Carnegie Library, we noticed a couple of slobberdogs watching the festivities through the doorway at 11 West Main Street. "Flat" Dovydas wanted to say hello, and the slobberdogs were quite friendly. Surprisingly, they didn't give him a big, slobbery kiss, but having the door between them probably was a factor.
11 West Main Street, Mooresville, Indiana
(as it presently appears)
This building, like all of the other historic structures in Mooresville, has a long and interesting history. That's Scowl-Face's department, so he can tell you all about it, and plenty more to boot.
Pace Thompson's Dry Goods Store
11 West Main Street
(early 1900s)
Given the size of the crowds mulling around the downtown shops yesterday, I'd say that the Victorian Christmas Celebration was once again a resounding success. Everybody looked like s/he was having fun. Well, Scowl-Face was scowling, but that's just the way he looks all the time.
We were pleased that "Flat" Dovydas could accompany moi, "Flat" Cauli III, and my minions to enjoy this holiday event. We hope you had fun, too, reading about the festivities. Next best thing to being there, so they say (assuming "they" speak in sentence fragments).
Needing a Nap After All the Excitement,
Cauli Le Chat MPL Roving Reporter Local Celebrations News Beat
P.S. "Victorian" Christmas harkens to 19th century days when life took a slower pace but was considerably more challenging than today, what with no pop-top lids on canned tuna-in-oil and such inconveniences as no refrigerators or laptop computers. But the name "Victorian" comes from Queen Victoria of Great Britain, about whom the Kinks sang ["Victoria," from the album Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969)].
We continue making the rounds with our Lithuanian VIP (very important person), "Flat" Dovydas Balčiūnas, at the Victorian Christmas Celebration in downtown Mooresville, Indiana.
Another highlight of the festivities was meeting Father Christmas outside of Biff's Pioneer House Bakery. Both "Flat" Dovydas and "Flat" Cauli III posed for pictures.
Anybody who doesn't believe in Santa Claus should watch the movie Miracle on 34th Street (1947). The Spirit of Christmas is alive and well. To paraphrase a line of dialogue from Kris Kringle in the movie, it's as real as the nose on your face. We cats just know such things.
Just up the block (we're talking East Main Street here) outside the relatively new motorcycle dealership (in a building that once housed the local post office around a century ago) were sitting a couple of motorcycles. I don't have a motorcycle operator license, so I can't drive one. Still, "Flat" Cauli III can pretend. "Flat" Dovydas, too, thought the bikes looked pretty cool.
"Flat" Dovydas & "Flat" Cauli look mighty cool
on that Harley-Davidson
The Lady With the Red Hair declined to sit on the motorcycle for a photo op. That much coolness would be too tough to handle.
Skulls, but no cross-bones, says "Flat" Cauli III
While we were horsing around on the Harleys, the Martinsville (Indiana) Community Band played close to the Main Street/Indiana Street intersection, which is the heart of downtown Mooresville. (Indiana Street remained open for vehicular traffic, so the band had to compete with traffic noise.) Several favorite holiday tunes filled the air. It was quite festive. It was too dark under the tent in which they were playing, so my pictures of the band really didn't turn out very well. The sign looks good, though.
The Lady With the Red Hair,
"Flat" Cauli III & "Flat" Dovydas
before the Victorian Christmas Tree
on the Founder's Stone
Most American school children learn the legend of Plymouth Rock, where the Mayflower Pilgrims purportedly disembarked from their ships to found the Plymouth Colony (in what became Massachusetts) in 1620. Mooresville has its own founder's rock on the Northeast corner of the Main Street/Indiana Street intersection downtown. This was the location of the first wood-frame business building in Mooresville: a general store owned and operated by Samuel Moore, who founded the town in 1824. The plaque on the rock commemorates the store's location, where it operated for much of the 19th century.
"Flat" Dovydas with Old-Fashioned Bicycles
I bet Hoosier-born world bicycle racing champion Marshall "Major" Taylor didn't race bikes like these back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Incidentally, my Library has several excellent biographies about Taylor. Of course, we have a book trailer. Would you like to watch it? Sure you do.
"Flat" Cauli III was mesmerized by a lanky fellow walking on stilts along East Main Street. He juggled, too. Amazing coordination there, and then some, I'd say. Can you imagine Scowl-Face atop those things? "Look out below!" is all I could say about that.
Shop much at the Tall Gentlemen's Shoppe? Just asking
There were some cute wild critters close by the tall dude. These included a burro, a goat, and some other small grazing herbivore--I forget now what species it was.
Cute Little Burro
We'll finish up our photos of Victorian Christmas in Part Three!
Still Stay Tuned,
Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Holiday Celebrations News Beat
P.S. Since we began this blog posting with Father Christmas, it seems only fitting that we should go full-circle and end there, too. The Kinks performed "Father Christmas" (1977) in a rough-cut video montage. The song pokes fun at Christmas commercialism.
