Do you know that :
~ instead of a bridal gown, Marie Curie, “wore a dark blue outfit, which for years after was a serviceable lab garment ” ?

Marie Curie Nobel Prize Portrait 1903 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie
~ 2015 marks the centenary of the execution of British nurse, Edith Cavell?
~ the Cavell Nurses’ Trust is organizing a fund-raising ascent of Mount Edith Cavell in Jasper National Park, Canada, 22nd – 29th August 2015?
Do you know that :
~ beginning in the 18th Century there was a craze for seashells called Conchylomania ? As the name suggests, it was the shell equivalent of Tulipmania. Some shells were bought and sold for more than a Vermeer painting.
( This is not a Vermeer painting! 😀 In the 17th Century Balthasar van der Ast perfected the art of painting shells. )

“Fruit still life with shells” by Balthasar van der Ast (1593/1594–1657) –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balthasar_van_der_Ast
Do you know that:
~ Dr Maria Montessori, educator, physician, humanitarian, and founder of the Montessori method, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, was an unwed mother? Do you know she sought refuge in India during World War 2 but was later interned there as an enemy alien?
How about this? Do you know that Florence Nightingale ‘owned’ about 60 cats during her long life? Her favourite cat, a Persian, was called Mr Bismarck. She also had a pet owl named Athena.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Florence_Nightingale_standing_with_owl_Wellcome_L0010457.jpg
AND
Do you know the Christchurch City Council Library has excellent online resources, a great Facebook page , and an informative and entertaining blog where, just occasionally, there are wonderful surprises, like the Kobo eReader competition, which I won at Matariki ?
Thank you Christchurch City Council Library and library staff. 🙂
Do you know if your local library has a blog, or wonderful digital and paper resources like ours?
Check out all the resources I found at our library!
Spirals in Time
The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells
Scales, Helen 2015
https://christchurch.bibliocommons.com/item/show/881509037_spirals_in_time
An Illustrated Work for Amateur Collectors of New Zealand Marine Shells, With Directions for Collecting and Cleaning Them
Moss, E. G. B.
Book – 1908 https://christchurch.bibliocommons.com/item/show/161551037_beautiful_shells_of_new_zealand
Marie Curie And Her Discovery
Avery, Lara
Book – 2015 https://christchurch.bibliocommons.com/item/show/894783037_marie_curie_and_her_discovery
Florence Nightingale
Small, Hugh
Book – 2000 – Chinese https://christchurch.bibliocommons.com/item/show/594982037_florence_nightingale
Rose of No Man’s Land
Perry, Anne ~
Pre-loaded Audiobook – 2013 https://christchurch.bibliocommons.com/item/show/810767037_rose_of_no_mans_land
( Quick question. Do you know the history of Anne Perry? https://silkannthreades.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/heavenly-again/ )
Maria Montessori
Website or Online data https://christchurch.bibliocommons.com/item/show/578459037_maria_montessori#bib_info
© silkannthreades
What fun to win a reader, and what a lovely place to give one as a gift. Libraries are places that feel safe and nourishing to the soul. Without wanting something of us in return, except to be good to books. All that information and imagination stored there. I watched the Big Sleep, and the detective, Marlowe (Bogart) goes to the library to research rare books. Modern movies have everyone looking things up online. I remember looking things up in actual books. I miss it sometimes.
Brenda, how true that is about libraries wanting nothing from us except to be good to books. So few places are as altruistic. (Can a library be altruistic? 😉 I too remember going to the library to check reference books. I like the convenience of online research but there is something special about leafing through a book for information. Your comment made me remember a small video I watched the other day. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/magazine/a-journey-to-the-center-of-the-world.html Check the comment at about 1.50 in! It made me smile.
The center of the world is in the California desert. Will wonders never cease? LOL XOXO
Hilarious, isn’t it? But I like his desire to record history, to create something lasting.
I love the comment that when archeologists discover it in 10,000 years, they will be like, okay then, this explains everything. 🙂
Yes! Like most archaeological sites I expect it will simply be a puzzle for those who try to decipher it.
Yes, like the rosetta stone was.
Indeed!
Congratulations on your contest win. I was pleased to see on the Facebook page that Christchurch library is a breastfeeding friendly zone. It’s wise to have mother and child going to the library as early as possible to encourage lifelong reading. And now I can’t wait to tell my cat-loving daughter about Florence Nightingale’s 60 cats. I’ve teased her about how I think she’d make a good nurse–but she insists she wouldn’t. Of course she must do what her own heart tells her to. 😉 Mother doesn’t always know best.
Blessings ~ Wendy
Thank you Wendy. I wish more places were breastfeeding friendly. Our libraries have been cat friendly too at times. Your daughter might be entertained by these stories http://heritage.christchurchcitylibraries.com/Archives/52/Library150/Articles/LibraryCats/ I suspect there may be cat stories at some of your libraries. 😉