For the Love of The Beatles

That's what I'm talking about.

I can't think of anything better than a beautiful summer's evening and Beatles music.

If you missed the Abbey Road concert Wednesday at the Read House, the video gives you a taste of all the fun. (But, to be honest, it's just a taste.)

Abbey Road is one of the longest-performing Beatles tribute bands in the world. They have more than 30 years of experience playing the tunes of the Fab Four. On Wednesday night, they played for about 170 people outside of Mentor Public Library's Main Branch.

We host concerts at Mentor Public Library for a lot of reasons. Sometimes, it's to promote local talent. Sometimes, it's to introduce you to something new.

Now, granted, there aren't many people left on this planet who don't know The Beatles. But, believe it or not, there were some young children who came to the Abbey Road concert last night who didn't know their "Hard Day's Night" from their "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

Now they do. They got to learn about The Beatles in the funnest way possible without a time machine. I suspect they'll be some kids raiding their parents CD collections this weekend... or their grandparents' records.

Another thing we love about concerts -- the costumes.

But the two biggest reasons we host concerts is because they're fun and we love music.

So we want to thank the band and everyone who saw them perform. (And the Mentor Arts Commission who sponsored the performance.) We hope you all had as much fun as us.

By the way, that may have been the last outdoors concert of the season over at the Read House, but we have a couple of other performances coming up.

Travelin' Man Band will be playing everything from The Rolling Stones to Sam Cooke to Janis Joplin at 2 p.m. Saturday at our Mentor-on-the-Lake Branch. (The show will be right after the Labor Day Parade.)

Then, on Sept. 9, a clarinet quartet will talk about the evolution of jazz and perform songs from the 1920s through 1950s in the Garfield Room at our Main Branch.

Both shows are free. We hope to see you there.

One last thing: if you love music, you should check out Freegal. As its name implies, it's a free and legal way to download mp3s from hundreds of artists including Pink, Beyonce and Kenny Chesney.

You can download up to three mp3s per week. And they're yours to keep -- load them on your iPod, burn them on CD, play them on loop ad infinitum -- forever.

And it's free with a Mentor Public Library card.

Harvesting, Preserving & Making the Most of Your Herbs

Karen Kennedy, an educator from the Herb Society of America, visited the Mentor Public Library Tuesday to talk about harvesting and preserving herbs.

She also gave all the gardeners who attended some fun ideas on how to use their summer leftovers.

Kennedy brought several herbs with her to the library. This one is lavender -- in case you couldn't tell from the color of its flowers.

While I couldn't possibly touch on everything Karen said, I did want to share some of the interesting facts and helpful tips she offered for those who couldn't make it Tuesday.

1. What do you think of when you think of herbs? Food, right? Maybe a spice rack. Some greenery growing on the windowsill.

Actually, herbs go far beyond food. They include plants that are used for crafting, medicine, dyes and more.

For example, last year the International Herb Association named Elderberry the herb of the year. And most of us don't think of elderberries the same way we do oregano, cilantro or tarragon. (But perhaps we should.)

"If it's more than just a pretty plant, it's an herb," Karen said.

2. We're talking about harvesting herbs in August; but, frankly, you don't want to wait this long to harvest certain herbs.

Herbs get their flavor from their essential oils, and those oils dictate peak harvesting time.

For most herbs (especially annuals,) you'll want to harvest right before their flowers bloom. That often means cutting their leaves in the spring.

One big exception to this rule: sage. It's better to harvest sage mid-season (around July) because it's camphor needs time to mellow, Karen said.

On a similar note, be careful about harvesting perennials too late in the season. Harvesting stimulates growth; but if you stimulate growth too close to a freeze, your herb will be more susceptible to winter damage.

Dolores Williams and Jennifer Danner check out how Karen Kennedy dries some of her herbs.

3. Because herbs get their flavor from their oils, you want to make sure you preserve as much of their oil as possible when harvesting.

That means you want to harvest at a cool, dry time. The more excess heat you have, the more oil evaporates.

You'll also want to clean your herbs before you let them dry. Karen recommended a 10-percent vinegar solution. No soap. (Also, make sure to sterilize your harvesting implement. You don't want to accidentally spread any plant disease to your other herbs.)

You want to dry your herbs quickly with as little heat as possible. (It may sound like a contradiction but it's true.) While some people use the microwave and even the oven, your best bet is to let them air dry.

You can hang them on a coat hanger or just leave them on a counter, but you want to dry your herbs somewhere well-ventilated, dark, dry and not too hot.

This could take a couple of weeks. (Herbs dry faster in homes with air conditioning.)

When you're herbs are ready, they should have a "corn flake crisp" consistency.

Herbs can also be frozen. Karen said some people freeze herbs in ice cube trays and use them in soups and broths. Fair warning: herbs lose some of their vitamins and minerals when you freeze them.

Karen Kennedy makes a tarragon-shallot white wine vinegar.

4. Looking for a fun way to use your bountiful herb harvest?

Karen has some ideas. She especially likes to combine her herbs with different types of vinegar. (She made a tarragon-shallot white wine vinegar Tuesday night that smelled incredible and, apparently, pairs well with mushroom risotto.)

"A lot of people combine herbs with oils. It can be done, but oils make me nervous," Karen said. "A lot of stuff can grow in oils. If you're not careful, you'll grow botulism."

Karen recommended putting chive blossoms in white wine vinegar. (It turns the vinegar a pretty pink color.)

She said the herbs need to steep in the vinegar for about two weeks before its ready.

No need to refrigerate the vinegar if its base is red or white wine. If there's not at least a 5-percent alcohol base, you'll probably want to store it in the fridge.

That's just a bit of the ground Karen covered Tuesday. If you want more facts and tips on herbs, visit the Herb Society site. For more on programs and events at Mentor Public Library, visit www.mentorpl.org.

Urban Deer Hunting Tips with Gander Mountain

Mitch Leppelmeier (the one on the ground) helps Kevin Matty set up a tree stand outside the Mentor Public Library's Read House.

The professionals from the Gander Mountain store in Mentor visited our Main Branch last week to talk about urban deer hunting.

It's difficult to glean 90 minutes of good advice (itself gleaned from decades of experience) into a few bullet points, but I'll do my best.

1. While the state of Ohio has both gun- and bow-hunting seasons, only bow hunting is legal in Mentor. (Here's a FAQ for deer-hunting laws in Mentor.) Consequently, Kevin Matty and Mitch Leppelmeier of Gander Mountain focused on bow hunting during their talk.

There are three types of bows: longbows (the kind you might see the elves of Mirkwood use,) compound bows and crossbows.

Mitch and Kevin both recommended crossbows for new hunters. It takes a lot more practice to become competent with a longbow or compound bow, they said.

Also, you don't need to be able to pull back 40 pounds of pressure with a crossbow (like you would with a compound bow.)

You can get a good crossbow starting at about $300, they said.

Mitch and Kevin talk about the differences between a crossbow (left) and a compound bow.

2. Tree stands are mandatory in Mentor. You can't hunt deer from the ground.

Consequently, Mitch and Kevin spent a lot of time talking about safety and tree stands.

"You don't just put a ladder up and sit on top. You want to be safe," Kevin said.

Whenever possible, have someone else help you set up your stand. It's a safer and easier job with two people.

When you're climbing up your stand, always maintain three points of contact. Out of your two hands and two feet, at least three of them should be on the ladder at all times. It doesn't matter much if you get up the stand three seconds faster. It matters a lot if you fall off while climbing.

Along those same lines, don't climb the stand with your bow in hand. Use a bow hoist to pull it up to you once you're situated on the stand.

Every new stand should come with a safety belt. (You can buy them too.) Use it! One you're atop the stand, strap yourself to the tree.

Kevin demonstrates the strength of the strap on his tree stand.

3. Practice makes perfect.

To hunt in Mentor, you need to pass an archery test; but, in general, you want to know what you're doing when you're up in that tree stand -- especially for the deer.

Kevin stressed that most hunters are conservationists, and part of the reason they hunt is because they want the deer herds to be healthy levels.

As conservationists, they want to hunt while causing the deer as little pain as possible. That means knowing where to aim on the deer and being able to put an arrow (or bolt) where you intend.

The square on the deer's torso is where hunters should aim for the quickest, least painful death.

4. Never be too proud to ask for help or advice.

The guys from the Gander Mountain store are always up for discussing hunting tactics or equipment.

Kevin and Mitch also recommended YouTube has a valuable source of information. Mitch said he learned how to field dress a deer from watching videos on YouTube.

For more information on deer hunting equipment and tactics, visit the Mentor Gander Mountain store's website. For more on the hunting laws in Mentor, here's a FAQ. For more programs and events at the Mentor Public Library, visit www.mentorpl.org.

Step up and Help us Feed Ohio

More than 200,000 Ohioans receive emergency food assistance in any given week. More than a third of them are children.

Lake County families feel the need also. Local pantries received 4,200 requests for food last year.

The need is real, but you can be part of the solution.

Join Mentor Public Library, the Ohio Association of Foodbanks and organizations all around the state and participate in Feed Ohio 2013.

From Aug. 24 to Sept. 11, you can donate nonperishable food items at any MPL branch and they will go to a local food pantries.

The most commonly needed items are peanut butter, canned vegetables and fruits, canned soups, tuna fish, cereal, beef stew and pasta.

Everyone who donates will receive a footprint that they can sign to show they “stepped up.”

The autographed footprints will hang around the library where people can see the accumulated donations and everyone who gave. 

Why footprints? Because every donation makes an imprint.

MPL employees are donating too. They are giving money and food as part of their ongoing Casual for a Cause program.

We'll be keeping the donations in the Magical Step Room in our Main Branch. (That's probably not it's real name, but I like to call it that because it has those enormous steps inside of it. Seriously, they look like the sort of thing Jack might find after climbing a beanstalk.)

The Magical Step Room is directly beneath the stairs up to our children's department and you can see inside of it from our teen section or the public computers. That way, everyone can see as the room fills with donations.

Let's all step up and help Feed Ohio!

I want to fill the Magical Step Room with food for the needy and completely cover the library walls in brightly colored footprints.

Just so you know, this statewide food drive is not tied to library fines. That means, while every donation is needed and appreciated, contributors will not have their fines amnestied.

At the Library: Gander Mountain pros to talk about urban deer hunting

Kevin Matty, the manager at the Mentor Gander Mountain store, demonstrates the proper way to set up and use a tree stand during a hunting seminar last year at the Mentor Public Library's Read House.

With the bow hunting season beginning Sept. 28, Mentor Public Library is hosting a program on urban deer hunting with Gander Mountain from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, at the library’s main branch.

The professionals from the Gander Mountain Store in Mentor will offer tips on bow hunting, explain how to set up a tree stand, show different equipment that’s available to hunters and – most of all – talk about safety.

“Safety is the first thing when it comes to deer hunting,” said Kevin Matty, the Mentor Gander Mountain store manager.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re using a bow or something else. It doesn’t matter if you’re using a tree stand or standing on the ground. Everything starts with safety.”

The speakers will also have information on bag limits and other Ohio hunting regulations.

Bow hunting of white tailed deer was made legal in parts of Mentor last year. It’s also legal on some Lake Metroparks’ property and other areas of Lake County.

MPL Adult Information Services Librarian Cailey Williams said the library is always looking to hold programs that are relevant to its patrons.

“Urban deer hunting is a relatively new trend that people still have questions about,” she said.

“The professionals at Gander Mountain can not only answer these questions, they can also use their expertise to advise about equipment and best practices. Hopefully our patrons will walk away from this program more knowledgeable about the topic.”

The program is open to the public. However, people are asked to register for the program beforehand. They can do so by calling (440) 255-8811 ext. 215 or visiting the library’s website.

The Best Summer Ever in 25 Photos

Last week I said the Mentor Public Library had its best summer ever this year and then used a bunch of statistics as my evidence.

While numbers -- like how many people signed up for our summer reading programs and how much they read -- are important, they may not be the best way to make my point.

Instead, it might be more effective to remind you of all the fun we (and, hopefully, you too) had at the library this summer.

To do that, I'm breaking out every great-aunt and uncles weapon of choice: The Summer Slideshow!

So check out some of our favorite photos from this summer and feel free to tell us what programs you enjoyed most at the library.

Aaron Eichler and Kevin Xue prove their ninja expertise by crawling through our training course.

Altered Generation helps us kick off our Rock Roots concert series which featured several bands from in and around Mentor.

Andrea Zingale guarantees her victory in our teen Minute to Win It contest by balancing seven dice on a popsicle stick.

Annaliesse Horton comes prepared for our Fairy Garden Party.

Brandon Barton loads the catapult his team built during our Excavation Station program.

Jessica and Esther show off the dream catchers they made during the August meeting of our American Girl Book Club.

Eric Brown looks like a living Jackson Pollack canvas after our Holi celebration at the Read House.

Mentor-on-the-Lake Police Chief John Gielink checks out one of the Little Free Libraries that we set up in Mentor and Mentor-on-the-Lake.

Rebecca Rodriguez knocks Ping-Pong balls from their tees with only a water gun during our End of Summer Reading Carnival. (You can see more photos from the carnival here.)

Sasori of the Red Sand celebrates after winning the Ramen-eating contest at our Anime Club meeting. By the way, our next Anime Club meeting is this Saturday. We're making candy sushi.

Katrina Prunty sticks a needle into a doll of Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau during our Tales from Beyond program.

Ruby, a milk snake, curls around Rhea Sahoo like a necklace during a visit from Outback Ray and exotic animals.

The crowd fills the Lake Branch's lawn when the Sunset Country Band performs.

Teddy bear picnic? Teddy bear picnic.

Grady Horton and Jayden Dahlhofer give their best dinosaur roars.

A special thanks to John Antalovich and Boy Scout Troop 280 who built a pergola outside of our Headlands Branch this summer.

Angelina and Rosa Palumbo relax during our Spa Day for teens.

Craig VanDemark turns a rotary phone into a piece of art during our Junk Sculpture program.

Gabriel Wagner plays with his mom's balloon animal during one of our Fun Day Mondays.

The pros from Gander Mountain explain the proper technique for fishing from a kayak.

Evie Smith wears a Batman mask during our National Ice Cream Day celebration. It's difficult to be cooler than Ice Cream but Evie pulls it off.

Morgan reads to her sister, Bridget, and therapy dog, Kody, during our Paws to Read program. Paws to Read pairs shy readers with an eager canine audience so they get more comfortable reading in public.

Bo Brauer stands beside his Library Champion sign. More than 600 kids earned signs this summer and that's awesome!

Kids let their paper airplanes fly on Amelia Earhart Day.

Some of us dressed as superheroes for the city's Fourth of July parade.

For more information on the programs and events at Mentor Public Library, visit www.mentorpl.org.

Lowe's at the Library: Tips for Painting Your House

Each month, the experts at Lowe's come to the library to offer home-improvement tips for do-it-yourselfers (and prospective do-it-yourselfers.)

Last week, Dakota Doyle gave suggestions to those who want to paint the outside of their home.

Here are some of his tips. (If you're in a rush, he talks about the biggest mistake people usually make in the embedded video.)

1. Prepare yourself.

Don't just buy a color and start painting. Proper preparation will save you a lot of exasperation later.

Caulk holes. Clean your surface. Cover -- or, better yet, move -- everything you don't want to get paint on. Tape things off.

If you're painting over a shiny surface, you should sand and/or prime it first. (Paint doesn't adhere as well to glossy surfaces. The trade-off to that is glossy surfaces will be much easier to clean later.)

And definitely make sure you buy enough paint. There are few things more obnoxious than starting a project and then stopping because you ran out of paint.

Doyle estimated that a gallon of paint will cover between 300 and 400 square feet. However, that number can change depending upon how porous your surface is.

2. This is where I might break down the differences between oil- and latex-based paints, but almost all oil-based paints are illegal in Ohio.

(Oil-based primers, however, are still legal and great for covering stained or particularly pungent surfaces.)

Doyle recommended using a synthetic brush and urged people not to cheap out on their rollers.

A cheap roller is more likely to get lint in it and leave lumps in your painted wall, he said.

"If you can afford it, by all means, get a sprayer," he added. "It will save a lot of time and the paint will go on more evenly."

One downside to a sprayer (besides the expense): They use more paint than a roller would because some of it goes into the atmosphere. Take this into account when you're buying supplies.

3. The ideal painting conditions: 70-85 Fahrenheit, dry and as low humidity as possible.

Most paint cannot be applied if it's colder than 50 F. However, Lowe's does have a few brands that are effective down to 35 F.

Most paint is dry to the touch after 30 minutes; but you'll want to cover freshly painted exteriors before rain can get to it. If it starts to rain on you suddenly -- this is, after all, Northeast Ohio -- you'll have some streaks that you'll need to paint over later.

4. Doyle said he 2-coats everything, at least. If he's working with a brighter color (an orange, red or yellow,) he might do even more.

He also suggested using a gray primer when painting a bright color. It makes a better color base than white and might even save you a coat of paint later.

Always keep your strokes one direction whenever possible and corner as you go. Those odd strokes will stand out more if you wait until everything's finished to detail them.

5. Lead paint has been illegal for more than 40 years.

But if you have an older home and are concerned it might have lead paint, test it.

It it turns out that you do have lead paint, let the professionals handle it.

A lead test costs about $3. The fine for illegally disposing of lead paint is more than $3,000.

The next Lowe's at the Library program is 6:30 to 8 p.m. Sept. 11 at the Mentor Public Library's Main Branch. The pros from Lowe's will offer tips on how to build your own deck or pergola. You can register for the program here. You can also find more home improvement ideas and how-to's at Lowes.com.

Become an Iron Chef at Mentor Library's Anime Club

Perhaps, by now, you're familiar with our Anime Club.

If not, they're pretty awesome.

They're a group of teens who get together once a month at the library to watch anime, make duct tape swords, compete in Ramen-eating contests and paint kokeshi. They often do this while wearing costumes.

Like I said -- awesome.

Their next meeting is from 2 to 4 p.m. August 24 at our Main Branch. They'll be watching anime and making candy sushi. (Hopefully, they're better at it than some of our Iron Chefs.)

If you want to join in on the fun, you can sign up for Anime Club on the Mentor Public Library's website.

P.S. By the way, if you don't know what Meredith and Amy are spoofing in the video, here's some of the source material. (Our chairman should have worn a robe too. That would have been cooler.)

11 Things I Learned about the Battle of Chattanooga

Dave Lintern talking about the second Battle of Chattanooga at the Mentor Public Library.

Rangers and volunteers from the James A. Garfield National Historic Site have been hosting a monthly series of talks about the battles of the Civil War at the Mentor Public Library.

On Wednesday, Volunteer Interpreter Dave Lintern talked about the Battle of Chattanooga -- more specifically, the second Battle of Chattanooga.

(You can click here for 13 things I learned about the Battle of Gettysburg, which the rangers discussed last month.)

Here are 11 interesting facts from Lintern's talk.

1. There were three Battles of Chattanooga during the Civil War. You're most likely familiar with the third one in which Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant defeated Confederate General Braxton Bragg.

However, Lintern's subject was the second battle and the preceding Tullahoma campaign, which began on June 24, 1863, and continued until Aug. 21 of the same year.

Both the campaign and battle were the prologue for the better known Battle of Chickamauga, which will be the subject of the next talk in the Civil War series.

2. A little bit of context is necessary to understand what happens during the second Battle of Chattanooga -- henceforth, known as Chattanooga II.

The people of eastern Tennessee were Appalachians and loyal Unionists, which didn't sit well with many of their neighbors to the south.

The civilians often suffered at the hands of conscription agents who would plunder the towns and kill those who opposed them.

Consequently, President Lincoln wanted to protect these people and that meant taking Chattanooga.

3. The aforementioned Bragg was Confederate officer in charge during the campaign and battle. He was unpopular with both his superiors an subordinates (and this ended up making a big difference later.)

Meanwhile, General William Rosecrans was in charge of the Union's Army of the Cumberland. Rosecrans' chief of staff was a familiar name around these parts -- General James A. Garfield.

4. Chattanooga II was appropriately also the second battle of three between Bragg and Rosecrans.

The first round was the Battle of Stones River, which happened Dec. 31, 1862, to Jan. 2, 1863.

Rosencrans won that battle. It was a big win at the time for the Union who needed some good news after the Battle of Fredericksburg.

The win earned Rosecrans some good will, which he proceeded to squander with six months of inactivity.

5. Maybe "inactivity" is too harsh a word, but he wasn't doing a lot of fighting.

Instead, he oversaw the construction of Fort Rosecrans, a 225-acre headquarters that was the biggest fort constructed during the Civil War.

It took six months (from January to June) to build.

6. While Bragg's and Rosescrans' infantries were mostly inert, their cavalries occasionally skirmished.

One of Bragg's cavalry leaders was Major General Earl Van Dorn -- a tangential character to the story of Chattanooga II but interesting enough to merit a footnote.

Dorn, in addition to being a soldier, was a painter, writer and a bit of a cad. A reporter at the time labelled him "the terror of ugly husbands."

He was shot and killed in May 1863, but not by a Union soldier. One Dr. George Peters said he shot him for "violating the sanctity of (his) home." Peters was never charged with a crime.

7. Not everyone was indolent during this 6-month span. Union Colonel John T. Wilder turned his infantry into cavalry by commandeering horses.

He also outfitted his men with 7-shot repeating rifles, as opposed to muskets. When the government refused to pay for the repeaters, Wilder ordered them anyhow and his men agreed to pay for them out of their monthly wages.

When Washington got wind of their own stinginess, they were so embarrassed that they paid for the rifles.

8. On Garfield's encouragement, Rosecrans finally ordered his soldiers to attack Bragg.

From June 24 to July 3, the Union executed the Tullahoma campaign -- one of the most masterful strokes of planning and execution by either side during the Civil War.

Wilder set the tone for the offensive when his brigade held Hoover Gap against the Confederates despite being outnumbered three to one.

The odds were so bad that Wilder was actually ordered to retreat but he didn't follow orders.

Afterward, his superiors told him that his brigade's work saved three days of fighting and 1,000 lives.

The message, according to Lintern, "If you're going to disobey orders, you better be right."

9. Rosecrans both outflanked and outmaneuvered Bragg during the Tullahoma campaign, and Bragg was forced to retreat.

So, on July 3, the Union took Tullahoma without firing a shot.

This might have been a bigger deal if General Grant and General Meade didn't win even larger battles in Vicksburg and Gettysburg, respectively, in the next two days.

10. As he was wont to do, Rosecrans stalled again after taking Tullahoma instead of pursuing Bragg.

He did not press his advantage until August 21 when he began shelling the city of Chattanooga.

Once again, most everything went the Union's way. By coincidence, most Confederates were in church when the shelling began so they were caught unaware. And, when the Confederates finally set up their own artillery, the Union's cannons hit it on their first try.

The shelling continued for several days and, on August 29, the Union crossed the Tennessee River at four different locations.

On September 8, Bragg retreated again and Rosecrans took Chattanooga.

11. Then Rosecrans did something unusual: He pressed his advantage.

He pursued Bragg, stretching his own army over a stretch of 50 miles.

At about the same time, Bragg received about 20,000 reinforcements from the Army of Northern Virginia. That gave both him and Rosecrans about 65,000 men.

All of this might have provided Bragg with a tactical advantage if only his subordinates would have listened to him. (Remember, he was not a well-liked guy.)

On September 10 and 12, Bragg ordered one of his generals to attack an isolated unit of Rosecrans'. But, in both cases, his generals disregarded his orders because they feared more the Union Army was lurking nearby. (In hindsight, it wasn't.)

Thus far, almost everything had gone Rosecrans' way; but his and Bragg's fortunes were to be reversed during the Battle of Chickamauga.

Our Civil War series continues at noon on September 11 in our Main Branch when the subject will be the Battle of Chickamauga. You can register for the talk here.

Best Summer Ever! (At least until next summer...)

We handed out a lot of Library Champion signs this year -- 241 of them to be exact.

We've had a busy summer at the Mentor Public Library.

We dug for dinosaurs, made fairy gardens, hosted a half dozen concerts (and still have two more coming,) built catapults, started installing our Little Free Libraries, tested your ninja-ness (ninja-osity?) and learned about everything from the Battle of Gettysburg to Lake Erie shipwrecks to the Cleveland mafia.

Oh, and we're still trying to get the paint out of our clothes from Holi.

And it looks like you've had a busy summer at the library too.

We had 1,440 children sign up for our Dig Into Reading program. They read (or were read to) for a whopping total of 17,364 hours this summer.

Another 434 adults and 209 teens signed up for their respective summer reading programs at the library, as well.

The adults read 2,516 books; the teens, 1,214.

And all of those numbers -- the number of participants and how much they read -- are record highs for Mentor Public Library.

As a point of comparison, kids read about 4,000 hours more than last year's 13,443 hours -- which was, until this year, the most we've ever had. That's right, kids. You topped your best ever by more than 4,000 hours!

This was, in every measurable way, the biggest summer reading program the library has ever had.

We thank you for spending your summer with us and want to invite you to our End of Summer Carnival at the Read House on Thursday, August 15.

There will be games, refreshments and kids will find out if they won any of our grand prizes (which includes, as you may recall, a $100 gift card to Toys "R" Us.)

Also, we can't talk about our summer reading program without thanking all of our generous sponsors. There's no way more than 2,000 people would sign up for summer reading without your support.

By the way, our summer reading program may be over but that doesn't mean the fun or the learning is finished. We still have a lot of cool programs and events slated for the rest of August and all throughout autumn.

You can check them out on our website.

Never stop learning!

Wholly Holi at the Mentor Public Library

Sometimes, the visuals tell the story better than words ever could.

On Friday, we held our Holi on the Lawn program.

Holi is a religious and cultural holiday that's celebrated in India to commemorate the coming of spring.

Revelers celebrate Holi with bonfires, music, dancing and by throwing brightly colored powder or water at one another.

In the west, Holi is best known for these playful and colorful celebrations. (Hence, Holi also being known as the Festival of Colors.)

Teens had a chance to learn about Indian culture and get messy – really messy – during our program Friday.

But enough words -- here are the pictures.

Before they tossed around any colored powder or water balloons, the teens painted a banner that will hang in the Young Adult section of Mentor Public Library.

Even the painting got messy. Here, Shelby Woodside shows off her Hulk hands.

And then the colored powder and water balloons started flying.

Danni McDonald sprinkles a handful of green powder onto Maria Calderone.

Taylor Crow catches a faceful of red powder.

Eric Brown closes his eyes moments before getting dusted with a handful of purple powder.

Danni McDonald also sprinkled some purple powder on Michael Wilkinson.

Got to love the after shots. Michael Wilkinson and Danni McDonald are all smiles despite being covered in powder and water.

Eric Brown gives his best impression of a Jackson Pollock painting.

Meanwhile, Maria Calderone looks like she's wearing war paint.

Shelby Woodside and Taylor Crow smile for the camera.

In case you're wondering, the banner translates (roughly) to "Relax, it's Holi."

For more programs for teens, kids and adults at Mentor Public Library, visit our website, www.mentorpl.org.