Hey kids, Patch would like to hear from you
Fun way to mark Ontario Public Library Week
In honour of Ontario Public Library week, children in the community are invited to write a letter to Patch, the mascot of the Peterborough Public Library. Letters can be dropped off in a special mailbox at the library, 345 Aylmer St., until Saturday.
For those who are not able to make it into the library, digital letters can be sent to Patch at ptbolibrary.ca/kids. Letters should include a return address, as Patch will be responding to all letters received.
PHS Talks
The next edition of the PHS Talks, presented by the Peterborough Historical Society, will be released on Tuesday on the Hutchison House YouTube channel. PHS Talks replaces the monthly meeting of the society and their public lectures, which will not be held at this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This month’s talk is titled “The Cradle of Canadian Literature: Early Literary Writing in Lakefield and Peterborough” and will be presented by Michael Peterman. Many Canadians are familiar with the writings of the Strickland sisters — Catharine Parr Traill and Susanna Moodie — who immigrated with their husbands to the Peterborough area in its pioneer days.
Less well-known are the many other accomplished writers who wrote in the area. The rich literary history of the region will be the focus of the talk.
Peterman is a professor emeritus at Trent University, where he taught in the English department from 1972 to 2008. He is one of Canada’s foremost authorities on 19th-century Canadian literature, and has written more than 24 articles about American and Canadian authors. He was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada in 2006.
For more information, or a link to the Hutchison House YouTube channel, please visit peterboroughhistoricalsociety.ca.
Weekend workshops
As part of their Continuing Education program, Trent University is offering weekend workshops in a variety of subject areas.
All workshops take place online using Zoom. To participate fully online, participants will require a webcam, microphone and speakers, or a device with these items integrated such as a tablet, laptop or smartphone, in addition to a reliable internet connection.
The first workshop is Introduction to eBird and iNaturalist, which takes place Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.
Other workshops include: Paint your Pet on Nov. 1 from 5 to 8 p.m.; Habits: Making Them and Breaking Them scheduled for Nov. 7 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Secrets to Buying, Managing and Renovating Rental Properties on Nov. 14 from 1 to 4 p.m.; and Wildlife and Ecotravel Photography scheduled for Nov. 21 and 28 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. For more information, or to register, please visit trentu.ca /continuingeducation. Questions can be emailed to traill@trentu.ca.