Another great woman!

Carole Travis Henikoff is one of our favorite local authors. Her cookbook, Star Food Revisited, and her non-fiction work called Dinner with A Cannibal, remain popular sellers here at Dark Horse. 

As you might also know, a fire destroyed her beautiful home in Alta not long ago. She escaped with the clothes on her back and with some burns on her face….. 

Our hearts go out to Carole and her husband Leo, but I’m glad to see she’s not letting a little thing like this keep her down…..

As Great Women organizer Philbin de Got Shulz wrote when she sent the flyer: “This woman is INCREDIBLE. SHe is going to speak at GWTV in spite of the fact that she LOST EVERYTHING in a fire nine days ago. Hope that you can come.”

See you there, Tuesday, August 4th.

Read Full Post »

Fundraiser for Alberto

This just in from Ann-Toy Broughton and worth marking our calendars:

There is a fundraiser for Alberto Aguiar, the young Hispanic man in a wheelchair, next Saturday (August 1st)  from 12 – 6 at the City Hall Plaza.  Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for kids, and there will be a Mexican feast as long as it lasts.  

The proceeds of this fund raiser will allow Alberto to maximize his therapy before he leaves for Mexico in December.  

Alberto has made incredible progress, and his dedication will pay off.  There is no doubt that with the proper therapy, Alberto will walk again.  His dad has moved out, and he and his mom, Letty, work their tails off making queso fresco and other Mexican treats to peddle around town to have the money they need to live and pay for Alberto’s therapy.  Alberto just wants to work, but he has a larger dream:  to return to his beloved home in Mexico, be closer to his brother and sister and his grandma, work hard raising cattle, chickens and lambs for 5 years, to accumulate enough money so he can start helping street children in Mexico.  

The progress he has made in the last year is phenomenal.  He has controlled movement in his legs down to his knees, and nervous system recovery symptoms all the way into his feet.  It is just a matter of hard, informed work, and time.  Alberto is very smart, and gerry rigs contrivances to help him with his therapy, and we will all soon see him pedaling his way round town with his newest invention, a pedal wheel for the front of his wheelchair.  He understands that it is not all about muscle,  but about training the nervous system, so every time his legs can push a pedal, even with help from his arms, he is laying down new neural wiring.

Alberto never feels sorry for himself, and it is a beautiful thing.  Everything about his attitude speaks of his courage, persistence, and belief in what he is doing.  He is excited about his “projects”, and about helping others.

The Hispanic community is putting this on for Alberto.  The contact is Maria, and her number for more info is (307) 690-6766.  I hope we can all get out there in support.

THANKS FOR SENDING THIS, ANN-TOY!

Read Full Post »

Next Wednesday!

Leonard Stephenson, author of “Life Among the Lava Beds” will be the special guest at a mid-week mid-day Meet and Greet reception and booksigning at Dark Horse next Wednesday, July 29th  at noon.

The book, subtitled “Memories of growing up in rural Idaho in the 1950s” and illustrated by Bryan Beach, is chockfull of stories about Leonard’s childhood experiences in Lava Hot Springs.

He started writing down these stories about 15 years ago to run in the newsletter for the South Bannock County Museum in Lava, and decided to compile them into a single self-published volume based on people’s response: “They kept telling me, ‘Send us more stories. People like those.’”

The boy’s adventures focus on exploring the rural world around them and doing what boys do: fish, ride horses, camp and make mischief like riding down sagebrush hills on a corrugated-metal sled.

We hope to give Leonard — still young-at-heart at age 70 — a real Teton Valley welcome. We hope you’ll stop by!

And to reserve a copy of this charming collection, give us a call (354-8882).

Read Full Post »

Book club books

At the July meeting of the Teton Valley Women’s Book Group, we chose some great titles to read over the next six months.

Remember we meet the first Monday of each month at 7 p.m. at the bookstore.  Also, keep in mind that all of these titles are 10% off at Dark Horse (all are in paperback AND you don’t have to be a book-club member to enjoy the savings!)  Looking forward to seeing you here.

Here are the photos of the covers, with the dates we’ll be discussing them below (and I’m gonna do my darnedest to put them in order,hopefully next to each other. We’ll see if this works…. almost!  Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosely is August 3rd, and Moloka’i by Allan Brennert is September 7th — what happened to the pictures for them???)

Oct. 5th

Nov. 2nd

Dec. 7th

Jan. 4th, 2010

Well, at least four of them are here, even if it is in a long vertical stripe!

Read Full Post »

More about that spraying…

A quick note to all Teton County residents: the Teton County Mosquito Abatement program, being administered by Vector Disease Control, is now underway. Currently, their surveillance crews are doing population counts and species identification throughout the county.

I just found out they’re spraying our area of Teton Valley (north of Peacock Lane) between 7 and 9 p.m. TONIGHT — they recommend we close our windows (which we will surely do!)

If you do NOT want to be sprayed at all, call the Mosquito Hotline at 354-1655 (you’ll talk to Abigail) OR 1-800-413-4445 (that’s the main office of VDC in Arkansas) — then Abigail (one of the local people– though she has a southern accent, too!) will you call you back and take your address. Then, you’ll be put on a “no-spray” list  (they  mark some sort of master GPS map to exclude your address from spraying.)

She said the concentration of the pesticide is .0002 per acre, and they mix it in mineral oil — it falls as a fine mist, and if you see anything, it’s the oil not the chemical.

You don’t have to tell them why you want to be on the no-spray list… perhaps you have a garden you’re working to grow organically, perhaps you are sensitive to pesticides in the air or are concerned about children and pets being around too much of it.

At least now you know there’s an option!  And call soon, because they’re DEFINITELY making the rounds of Teton County and if you snooze, you might just get sprayed, even if you didn’t want to be.

FYI: You can also ask to be put on the “notify” list, and they’ll CALL you before they spray your area.

Read Full Post »

Tin Cup Saturday!

 

The 2nd Annual Tin Cup Challenge takes place this Saturday morning (July 18th) in Driggs City Park, and to make sure all of us at Dark Horse can be involved, the bookstore will open at noon that day.  We hope to see all of you at this wonderful community-builder — in my mind, Tin Cup is THE event of the summer here both for fun (think running events, music, free breakfast and hands-on activities) and as the biggest fundraiser for nearly 40 local non-profit groups.

Locals: pre-register to race (marathon, half-marathon, 10K or 5K) or for the 5K Fun Walk any day this week, between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. in front of Peaked Sports on Little Avenue.

There, you’ll find registration honchos Nancy and John Siverd (they work a LOT of hours on this!) and super-volunteers like Phyllis Anderson and Lynn Sandman (what would this Valley do without these two wonderful ladies?) as well as a host of  others from many of the participating non-profits. You’ll get a cool t-shirt, too! (FYI: Event-day registration costs $20 — do it ahead of time!)

Volunteers are still needed for event-day route management and food preparation. If you can help, please email or Cathy O’Connor, (coconnor@cftetonvalley.org )or call the Community Foundatio office at (208) 354-0230.

If you don’t know what this is all about, click here to learn more about Tin Cup and  Community Foundation of Teton Valley….. In a nutshell, you write one check  (or do it all on-line) and support as many of the non-profits as you want — and CFTV has raised matching funds so contribution are matched.  Donations will be accepted throiugh 5 p.m. the following Friday (July 24th).

Click here  (Tin_Cup_Activities_Flyer) to see more of what’s in store. And see you there!!!!!

P.S. and FYI: Tin Cup is also the topic of my Main Street Shuffle column in this week’s Valley Citizen. (I’ll post it after the paper’s published.)

Read Full Post »

Weed whackin’ this weekend

DHB-er Iris Saxer told me about this yesterday, and since it’s TOMORROW (Saturday July 11), I was wondering how and where I’d find out all the details….

Thanks to the newsletter from Tim Adams of Teton Valley Trails and Pathways, here are the details:

Weed Whackin’ is Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m. on the Victor to Driggs Pathway, hosted by MD Nursery in conjunction with the Local Master Gardeners, Junior Master Gardeners, the High Altitude Garden Club, Trail Creek Nursery, and the Teton Valley Extension Office.

Weeds will be removed and then weighed at MD Nursery with prizes given to the most weeds pulled and door prizes. (Dark Horse donated a gardening book!)

A brunch will be provided by the Teton Valley Extension office. For more information call MD Nursery at 354-8816.

Read Full Post »

Today’s the day — 7-07 (for HP#7)

The costumed crowd awaits one of the rounds of judging -- July 20, 2007.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (the seventh and final book in the series by J.K. Rowling) comes out in paperback TODAY, July 7th, nearly two years after its hardback release and a week before the sixth movie (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)  premieres.  Well, we’re not having a party this year — we did that two years ago, and everyone in the photo, plus many more people, joined us! — but we do have copies of the paperback book in stock TODAY.  Call to reserve one of ’em (354-8882) or come by to pick it up in person!

And for all of you want to be publishing-savvy bookbuyers– many new titles are released on Tuesdays, so if you heard about a book recently, on NPR or TV, it may be that its “street smart” date (which means when it’s available for sale) will often be on a Tuesday (and maybe a FUTURE Tuesday.)

Read Full Post »

Celebrating our independence

Nothing like a trip out of the country to gain a renewed appreciation of the United States. Happy Fourth of July to all!

Lots of activities here in Teton Valley. Click here for the Chamber’s calendar with times and locations of events (the full schedule is also published in both weekly newspapers.)  Be safe out there, and throw in some patience for good measure. We’ll see you around!

Some quick notes — Dark Horse is open regular hours (9:30-5:30) with all kids and parenting titles 10% off today, tomorrow and Saturday.  Still have bargain books and a lot of other stock is also tagged with discounts, so come on by.  Storytime, which should be this Saturday at 11 a.m., will be an informal affair (pretty tough competition with the activities in Victor, including the free breakfast and parade).

We’re gearing up for the Tin Cup Challenge and hope you are, too. If you’re not already involved, Community Foundation of Teton Valley is seeking volunteers, runners, and of course, donations, to CFTV and to participating non-profits. A wonderful community-builder, and its impacts last longer than just the day of the event!

Lastly, wanted to say THANKS to everyone who came out to meet Aprilynne Pike last Saturday. What a fun event that was, with teachers, parents of friends, high-school chums and others stopping by to check out Wings. And she had a good time, too. (Only a couple signed copies left…..)

Just a few of Aprilynne's fans -- this family was visiting from out of town.

After the crowds were gone, Aprilynne signed more books for our stock.

Read Full Post »