Research Blog : holiday

Holiday Mail for Heroes

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:41:00 GMT

This time of year, many of us recieve e-mails, or see messages posted on Facebook and other social websites suggesting that as we prepare our Christmas cards for family and friends, we also send a card to a recovering soldier at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Sounds like a good idea, right? Don't do it. This Snopes.com article, last updated November 16, 2011, has a thorough explanation of why it doesn't work. However, as the article goes on to explain, the American Red Cross's Holiday Mail for Heroes is a valid option, if you do want to send a card to a soldier. According the the Red Cross, "Every card received will be screened for hazardous materials by Pitney Bowes and then reviewed by Red Cross volunteers working around the country."

The mailing address for the program is:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights MD 20791-5456

However, please visit the Holiday Mail for Heroes website and read the card guidelines. Be aware that this year's deadline is Friday, December 7th!

Happy holidays!

National Ice Cream Day or "Sundae Sunday" -- July 19th

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:50:00 GMT

I have a lot of fond memories when it comes to ice cream. My brother and I used to help my grandpa make homemade vanilla ice cream every 4th of July. As a teenager, I worked in an ice cream shop, which never made me tired of ice cream, in fact it made me love it even more. So learning of a holiday for this delicious cold treat made me smile.

National Ice Cream Day is the the 3rd Sunday in July each year. Think of all the ways you could celebrate! You can keep it simple and enjoy a scoop or two of your favorite flavor. If you're going out for ice cream, get creative and order a milkshake with a flavor combination you haven't tried before. Have you ever had one made with chocolate ice cream and caramel syrup? How about coffee ice cream and chocolate syrup? Those are two of my personal favorites! You might gather your family, friends and some tasty toppings and have a sundae party! You can even make your own ice cream! There's a simple way to make ice cream at home with two coffee cans.

You can tell everyone about your favorite ice cream treat or your favorite ice cream memories in the comments below!

Ice Cream: 52 Recipes for Year-Round Frozen Treats by Sally Sampson; pictures by Alexandra Grablewski

Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts by Peggy Fallon

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Homemade Ice Cream by Dick Warren with Bobbi Dempsey

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book by Ben Cohen and Jerry with Nancy J. Stevens; design & illustration by Lyn Severance

Vacation on a budget...

SuDocQueen@evpl — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:38:00 GMT

Nowadays everyone’s talking about staycations. This reminded me of the wonderful vacations my parents took me on even when we had to watch every penny. How’d we do it? By visiting our National Parks and State Parks (and camping, but that’s a whole ‘nother story). Most parks have entrance fees for an entire passenger car that are cheaper than an individual ticket to Disney World.

Starting in the winter my parents would send away for scads of pamphlets and maps of parks like the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and Slide Rock State Park. Planning early is still a good idea but now it’s even easier. All you have to do is go to www.nps.gov. From there you can learn about every national park in the country. They have a great search tool on that front page. Just click on the state you’re interested in visiting and you’ll get a list of all the parks in that state. But what if you know the name of a park but not what state it’s in? No problem. Click on the “Advanced SearchTool and Map.” From there scroll below the map and you’ll see a great browser tool that will let you pick your park by name, location, preferred activity, or even topic (like mountains or volcanoes or coral reefs).

But what about state parks? Well, if there’s a site out there that pulls all state parks under one “roof” I haven’t found it yet, but putting “state parks (insert the state name of your choice)” into Google does a terrific job of pulling up each state’s website.

And, if you’re at Central Library stop by and take a look at some of the books and pamphlets the National Parks Service still puts out. We have a whole series of pamphlets on the Blue Ridge Parkway trails. Just ask one of us about Call # I 29.149. Or if you’re interested in the historic details of sites, you might want to take a look in our I 29.88 area. Those are historic structure and site reports on places like Fire Island Lighthouse, the Eleanor Roosevelt Historic Site, and Antietam National Battlefield.

Happy May Day!

PotionsMaster@evpl — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:59:00 GMT

Today is May 1st, or 'May Day' for those who enjoy whimiscal pieces of not well known history and holidays. When people think of May Day, no doubt will someone think of the traditional May Pole with children running around it with ribbons and flowers, usually wrapping the May Pole with the ribbons or garlands of flowers. This frivolous attitude that embodies the coming of summer was unfortunately frowned upon by the Puritans, which is why Americans don't celebrate it as much as Great Britian does.

So give your sweetie a nice flower or tie a ribbon around a tree in honor of May and summer months with sunshine. Even though it isn't a major card-company holiday, it still is an excuse to throw a barbeque for all your family and friends and be happy.

For those who want to know more about how the holiday came to be, click here for a pleasantly brief (yet informative) explanation.