The happiest memories of my childhood revolve around visiting my grandparents in the summer. My granddad did many things for me, but one of my favorites was taking me to Kennedy’s Drug Store to get vanilla cokes or a scoop of chocolate chip ice cream in a cup. If I close my eyes, I can still smell that drug store. Science actually tells us there is an intimate connection between scents, memories, and emotions. This fact sets up the premise for The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister. A story of Emmeline, who we first meet as a young girl living with her father alone on a remote island off of the coast of Canada. I was captivated by this book from the first page.
The Scent Keeper is available as a hard copy in the library, as an ebook and audiobook on the Oklahoma Virtual Library, and as an ebook on the Hoopla Digital Library.
Want to put a hold on these titles? Need to sign up for a library card? We can help! Call the Enid Public Library at 580-234-6313 or visit our website at enid.okpls.org.
People spend the majority of their time in two places, either at work or at home. Where they spend the rest of their time, though, is often where community and connections are developed. These community-building places are known as “Third Places,” a term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg. Idea sharing, relationship building, and an overall good time all happen at these locations.
Enid has a variety of third places, such as; our coffee shops, breweries, golf courses, gyms, and many other locations. Each third-place area provides the opportunity to enhance the quality of life in a community. Quality of Life is the standard of health, comfort, and happiness experienced by an individual or group. Often, third place locations offer a stress relief that can refresh individual to be ready to take on the demands of work and home.
There is always a need for more third-place locations in Enid that provide a place for fellowship and ideas to be shared. High quality of life is still a determining factor in the recruitment and retention of companies and workforce to Enid. In 1987, for example, Oklahoma City realized the importance after being a finalist for a new United Airlines maintenance facility but ultimately did not get the bid after the company sent executives and their families to OKC for a weekend. The executives couldn’t imagine living in Oklahoma City even if it was a better location for the facility. Now, through the MAPS program and invested interest among community leaders, OKC has drastically improved.
So, how does Enid learn from Oklahoma City? First, residents must continue to go out and support our current third-place locations. When you visit these third-place locations, you are not only developing community with those you are with but also helping support local entrepreneurs who have devoted their business to be a place for gathering. Second, we need more entrepreneurs who have a desire to cultivate growth in our community. If you have ever had the dream to open a place for people to gather, there are resources available to make it a reality.
As Enid grows, we must continue fostering the development of third-place locations not only for the people who live here but also for recruiting new jobs to our community.
Hungry for a spooky treat to occupy those little monsters creeping through your home? Maybe you are just hungry for a fast and easy lunch so you can get back to your latest ghostbusting adventure. How about some Ghosty Toasties for the younger set? It can be a healthy play with your food (in this case toast) activity that uses simple ingredients you probably have on hand.
You can seize the opportunity to expand the opportunity to introduce some lesser-known and even healthy ingredients while creating these timely little toasts. Nut butter works as a protein-packed coating, of course, but if you are cautious about allergies just use some honey or jam to place slices of dried fruits such as raisins, cranberries, apricots, and prunes to make scary faces on toast.
Softened cream cheese can be stirred together with jam or finely chopped ham to create a lunchtime treat. Add a couple of sliced olives cherry tomatoes for eyes, a red pepper mouth, and perhaps a pickle nose. The creamy base helps keep the features in place while this food play gets consumed by resident trick-or-treaters and monsters alike.
You can bring on some pimento cheese spread for a shaggy ghosty look with or without toasting the bread. Keep some on hand in the fridge or encourage those who love to cook to stir up their own pimento cheese spread. You will need a little jar of sliced pimentos, a half cup of shredded cheddar cheese, and just enough mayonnaise to blend it all together is super easy. You can store it in the fridge for future spread if there is any leftover.
I have a grown-up, cookie monster type, that keeps showing up at my house daily. He will go for almost any sandwich as long as there is some little dessert accompanied by a cookie for dessert. We have the usual ham, turkey, chicken, and even roast beef sandwiches as well as tuna, but one of our favorites is a smoked salmon open face creation. Delicate thin slices of salmon gathered over a whipped cream cheese spread over dark pumpernickel is a real treat.
In the past, I had to pick up packages of the thinly sliced smoked salmon at Whole Foods in Oklahoma City to satisfy our craving for it, but recently Jumbo Foods is carrying my favorite Duck Trap brand! Jumbo also carries our preferred dark pumpernickel bread to go with it. Sometimes I add a few capers and sprigs of fresh dill to top it off.
Whipped cream cheese is also quick and easy to work with. It holds the salmon in place and can be perked up with a bit of garlic salt and or chopped fresh dill. That whipped cream cheese, with a touch of garlic salt and chopped dill, are pretty amazing underneath slices of crisp fresh cucumber. We prefer the bread fresh and untoasted when building these little adult treats which are perfect for accompanying iced tea or even cocktails.
Speaking of dark pumpernickel there is a great variety of choices out there just begging to be tried. We love the Deli-Swirl bread for sandwiches and toast. All of those Rye varieties really come to life with some butter (I’m currently addicted to the Land of Lakes olive oil-infused spreadable stuff (sold in tubs) and of course some low sugar orange marmalade to go with it.
Hope these little ideas inspire you to create some little toasty edibles to enjoy along with those ghost stories or spooky evenings ahead….just in case we are all spending Halloween at home this year. Be safe and stay well!
October Recipe: “Spooky Easy Bewitching Spread”
This little spread is a perfect partner for the “SalmonWitch” and also great to secure cucumber slices on top of bread. (The neatest cucumber sandwiches are constructed on frozen bread and sliced before the bread thaws out so work fast if you are going for precision!)
Combine all ingredient in a small bowl and stir together until well blended. Spread generously on fresh slices of bread. Top with sliced cucumbers or thinly sliced smoked salmon. Garnish with a few sprigs of fresh dill. The Salmon-Witch open-face version is particularly appealing to the male species with the addition of a salty little caper placed here and there.
The spread is great year-round not just Halloween and can be refrigerated for up to a week. It is just spooky easy to have on hand.
Jen Wang’s Stargazing tells the story of two girls—Christine and Moon Lin. When Moon moves in next door to Christine, Christine is skeptical that they can become friends. They’re so different. Moon is outgoing and adventurous and enjoys dancing. She also sees visions of celestial beings in the stars. To Christine’s surprise, they become the best of friends, and it isn’t long before Christine is dancing, too. But when Christine makes a mistake, it keeps her apart from Moon when Moon needs her the most. Can Christine be the friend she wants to be for Moon?
This graphic novel offers a vibrant portrayal of friendship and being your own you. Wang also loosely based the story on her own childhood experiences with a medical scare as well as her experience of identity in the Chinese American community, the latter something that’s explored in both Christine and Moon Lin’s storyline. This adorable novel has moments of awkwardness and joy as Christine and Moon become friends, as well as a bit of sadness and uncertainty, too, when Moon’s visions turn out to be something else altogether.
Ultimately, though, Stargazing is a hope-filled and heartfelt tale with beautifully drawn illustrations that lend to an intimate-feeling novel. Readers will find Christine and Moon Lin’s journey very engaging with a relatable look into growing up and discovering your own innate coolness.
Stargazing is a Children’s Sequoyah Masterlist 2021 title, and it’s available at the library in hardback as well as digitally on the Oklahoma Virtual Library.
