The Schoharie Library says “thank you” to Alayna Messner for asking for books for the library instead of presents for her fifth birthday party. She and her mother brought in a bag full of goodies — over 60 books!

Understanding Medicare

If you or someone you know is turning 65, getting ready to retire, or may be losing an employer plan, this course will help you discover an understanding of Medicare. From Part A to IRMAA, learn the fundamentals of how each section of Medicare works in this class aimed at making complex information easy-to-understand. Medicare: Healthcare After Retirement, on Monday, July 23 at 6:30 p.m.Presented by Nicholas Stark and Michael Stanton of Halliday Financial.

Summer reading

Sign up for Summer Reading throughout July! Win prizes for reading, and enter in a raffle for the grand prize! All participants who read 20 hours this summer will receive a free book. You can also sign up at schoharie.beanstack.org. It’s a great way to enhance your summer reading experience, and keep it going even when you’re out of town.

Minecraft Club

Minecraft Club will meet Monday, July 23 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Build worlds and explore with this popular computer game! Please bring your own I-Pad, tablet, laptop, or other gaming device. The club meets on the second and fourth Monday; all ages are welcome.

Discovery Tuesdays

On Tuesday,  July 24, What’s in the Pond? Use a magnifying glass and microscope to see the tiny creatures living in the water.  Then on July 31 Medieval Madness. Knights and ladies, King Arthur, Rhiannon, stories, swords and shields. Aug. 7 is MiSci, The Magic of Electricity. Programs every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. through Aug. 14.

Craft club

On Tuesday, July 24 from 10:30 a.m. to noon join us for the knitting and crochet club. Bring a project, start something new, or learn to knit/crochet with this friendly group. Knitting needles, crochet hooks, and yarn are available at the library. The club meets the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. All ages and abilities are welcome.

Writing Club

On Monday, July 30 from 6 to 8:30 p.m.join us for the Writing Club. Writers of all ages are welcome! Bring your fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or any other type of writing to share, discuss, and critique. The Writing Club meets on the first and third and sometimes fifth Mondays of each month.

Open Mic Night

On Thursday, July 26 at 6:30 p.m. all are invited to enjoy local musician Peter Enders. He will open with a sing-along, then all are invited to share family-friendly stories, poems, songs, and music. We have a piano, microphones, and speaker/amps. For more information, contact .

Learn and enjoy

On Thursday, August 2, from 7 to 9 p.m. join us for  Nite Train Unplugged. Ever wondered how musicians come up with their songs? Or what it’s like to perform in a band? Members of Nite Train will share songwriting tips, ideas, and experiences, then give an acoustic performance. Nite Train is an award-winning Capital District band known for their hot rockin’ blues.

Immersion Camp

Sign-ups for A Wrinkle In Time Immersion Camp going on now! Dive deeper into the world of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic book with online and hands-on activities! The camp will be held Aug. 6 to 15, with 1-1/2 hour sessions tentatively scheduled for Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. For more information, contact .

Is working for the IRS really funny? Maybe not in real life but, in Kai Collins’ comedy workshop, it was hilarious.

Writers and performance enthusiasts from all over the Capital District gathered at the Schoharie Library on June 11 to learn from Collins — a director, producer, filmmaker, and comedian. She worked with the audience on improv exercises, and gave tips for writing comedy, breaking through writer’s block, developing characters, and being flexible with the creative process.

Collins explained the two most important rules of improv: You must say “yes,” and you are not allowed to say “no.” This means accepting and working with anything and everything your partner throws at you, even if it’s different from your own ideas.

Quick thinking, creativity, flexibility are key. She guided audience volunteers through several sketches, helping them bring out the comedy in seemingly ordinary situations. Since so many audience members were writers, she focused on comedy writing as well.

Collins, a California native, got her start at a young age, putting on plays in her grandmother’s barn, with a ready-made cast of cousins and friends. She took an improv class when the stage combat class she’d enrolled in was canceled, and discovered her passion for comedy.

After graduating from Williams College, she studied improv, sketch comedy, and comedy writing at The Second City Conservatory in Chicago and The Groundlings in Los Angeles, in addition to her studies via the Master of Fine Arts Extension Program at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.

She’s come a long way since the barn, progressing from Youtube to commercials to shorts, and is currently working on a feature-length film. Her dark comedy short, “To the Grave,” exploring friendship and betrayal, was nominated for several awards at the Nice International Filmmakers Festival this year. Her website is www.kaicollinsfilms.com.

The Schoharie Free Library will host a Writing Club on Monday, June 25, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Writers of all ages are welcome.

Bring your fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or any other type of writing to share, discuss, and critique. The Writing Club meets on the first and third Mondays of each month. Writers of all ages are welcome.

Crafts

Knit, Crochet & Needlework Club meets on Tuesday, June 19, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Bring a project, start something new, or learn to knit or crochet with this friendly group.

Knitting needles, crochet hooks, and yarn are available at the library. The club meets the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. People of all ages and abilities are welcome.

Story time

Story time with Vanessa Repicky meets on Fridays at 10 a.m. Join us for stories, crafts, games, music, and more.

Our theme for June 8 is camping; and June 15 is Father’s Day. Story time will be on break for the summer after that, but we will have at least one special story time in the summer — stay tuned for more information.

Kids of all ages are welcome; children must be accompanied by a parent or other responsible adult.

Comedy workshop

Comedy Workshop is on  Monday, June 11, from 6:15 to 8:15 p.m. Director, producer, filmmaker and comedian Kai Collins will lead this hands-on workshop to unleash your inner comedian. Participants will have the opportunity to do improv.

Custody and parenting

Our presentation on “Custody & Parenting Planning Mediation” is on Thursday, June 14, at  6:30 p.m. April Rando, director of Planning and Outreach for the Catholic Charities Dispute Resolution Center, will explain how mediation can help parents work cooperatively when making decisions about custody and parenting time, and more.

On Break

The Minecraft Club will be on break for June, and will resume in July.

Schoharie

Have you ever stood eye to eye with a penguin? Want to meet someone who has?

Lieutenant Colonel David Panzera has spent over 2.5 years of time in Antarctica, and will be talking about his “Adventures in Antarctica” on Saturday, June 2, at 10:30 a.m. at the Schoharie Library. He will also present a medallion from the official South Pole marker.

Panzera is the Chief of the 109th Airlift Wing Program Integration Office, directing and coordinating all forthcoming upgrades and modifications to the nation’s only fleet of ski equipped LC-130H aircraft. He has been flying the LC-130 Ski Equipped C-130 from 1994 to the present time, with over 400 landings at the South Pole.

He was deployed to Antarctica for two months of every year for 15 years, with many other short trips there. He has been to the Australian stations; Davis and Casey, and to the Russian station, Vostok, several times. He has been to the Italian station, Mario Zuchelli, as well.

The primary mission of Panzera’s squadron is in is Arctic and Antarctic flying in support of the National Science Foundation and for Operation Deep Freeze. He is a command pilot with more than 6,000 flying hours including the C-130E, C-130H, LC-130H(3), T-37 and T-38.

In addition to his time in Antarctica, Panzera was sent by New York Air National Guard to South Africa for 2.5 years. He has spent many weeks in Greenland and has been to its summit, where the ice is about 3 miles thick.

This presentation is free and open to all ages.