“I've lost my gardening mojo,” I confessed to a friend recently. A decade ago, I anticipated transforming a newly developed plot of land into a lush oasis of vegetation. The first summer, I patrolled the yard and carefully identified each plant that was already flourishing using Lois Hole’s Perennial Favorites, Lois Hole’s Favorite Trees & Shrubs and The Calgary Gardener. The next summer, I made a list of hardy plants for Zone 3 and went on a shopping spree in my local garden centre. With naive enthusiasm, I even started a scrapbook with before and after photos to record my gardening triumphs.

In the intervening years, I've come to the sobering realization that I've taken the word “perennial” far too literally as my journal racks up a lengthy obituary of trees, shrubs and perennials. Although the name implies otherwise, perennials do not live in perpetuity as I’d thought, or hoped, they would. Their lives can be cut short by a discouraging number of pests and diseases. And the plants that do manage to eke out a fragile existence from year to year face stiff competition from weeds bent on colonizing the entire yard.

In my current state of disillusionment, I've decided that instead of fighting a perennial battle to prevent my own garden from descending into anarchy, I’d rather enjoy the attractively rehabilitated gardens which surround Memorial Park Library. Here, I’m able to relax on a park bench next to a fountain amidst colourful flowers and blossoming trees without all the work it takes to maintain them. And without worrying about which plague is preparing to annihilate the forlorn remains of my dwindling oasis.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the garden our library lives in, you’re welcome to join Donna Balzer, Calgary-based Horticulture Consultant, and Michelle Reid, Conservation Landscape Architect, for a talk and tour of the beautifully restored, award-winning Central Memorial Park. Restoring the Heritage Landscape of Central Memorial Park takes place on Saturday, May 26 from 1:30 - 3:00p.m.

And if I haven’t discouraged you too greatly with my tales of gardening woe, check out these recent titles for inspiration:

Apartment gardening: plants projects and recipes for growing food in your urban home

Gardening in no time: 50 step-by-step projects and inspirational ideas

The Living garden: a place that works with nature

Small is bountiful: getting more crops from your pots

The Complete guide to Western Plains gardening

Monday, April 23 is an important date. Unless you’ve just returned from an extended stay on a desert island lacking any mechanisms for communicating apart from a large, sandy beach and a stick, you’ll have heard it’s the date of the Alberta provincial election. And I strongly encourage all of you to exercise your democratic right and responsibility, and VOTE.

But that’s only one reason why Monday, April 23 is a noteworthy day. It’s also the first day you can register for the incredible line-up of library programs being offered between May and August. If you hear the words “library program” and immediately envision a small circle of stodgy looking individuals extolling the virtues of their favourite tome of classical literature which they hold clasped to their breast, you’re on the wrong track.

Calgary Public Library offers many free programs, covering an extensive range of topics, and appealing to people of all ages. Quite literally, we have something for everyone, about everything you’re into!

At Memorial Park, we’re offering several tours of the beautifully restored Central Memorial Park, numerous author readings, a summer reading club for kids, a musical performance by members of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, our 100^th Birthday Block Party, Spanish and ESL conversation clubs, and a program about seniors’ sexual health.

Pick up a copy of the new program guide at any library location, or go to the program page on our website to download a PDF version and to register. You may also register by phone at 403-260-2620. Remember that a valid library card in your name is required to register for library programs.

When you think of library soundscapes, what comes to mind? Is it the whisper of pages turning as someone peruses a book in a quiet corner? The loud exclamations of a child spying a favourite DVD. Perhaps it’s the rhythmic tapping of fingers on computer keyboards. Conversations between friends and neighbours bumping into each other in the checkout line. The muted slap of CD cases being browsed. Giggling school kids working on a group project. The crisp snap of a newspaper stretched across a table. A baby’s cries as a parent hurries to find a storybook.

Memorial Park Library will be hosting a unique synthesis of sound and silence on Monday, April 9 from 12:00 – 1:00pm. “Together Calgary” is an hour of accompanied silence offered by accomplished cellist and singer Morag Northey. This is a non-religious cello meditation available to Calgarians of any or no faith, a time and place “for all people to enjoy these rich, healing tones and silently just be.” People are encouraged to meditate, pray, or daydream, sit, pace, or stand – whatever way they are most comfortable enjoying Morag’s improvisations.

For more information about Morag and Together Calgary, visit her website: http://moragnorthey.com/

We've enjoyed an extraordinarily mild winter this year, although the pessimist in me is certain the weather gods will make us pay later, probably in May. And even though we haven’t had to endure knee-deep snow and weeks of frigid temperatures, it’s still a relief to know the official start of spring is imminent. We’re all searching for the slightest tinge of green in the landscape to reassure us that everything has not been irreversibly desiccated by the incessant winds that have plagued southern Alberta. The hardcore gardeners have been nursing their seedlings along for weeks already. And the procrastinating gardeners, like myself, are surveying with regret the soggy piles of leaves and perennials that we neglected to clean up last fall.

If you’re an urban Calgarian wishing for your own soggy pile of leaves or a place to plant your seedlings, you’ll be interested in an upcoming program on Community Gardening in Calgary at Memorial Park Library. There’s been a surge in urban agriculture over the past few years: more people are growing vegetables, fruits and herbs in their own yards, and community gardens and orchards are proliferating rapidly. There are approximately 52 public community gardens in Calgary now, up from 21 in 2009, and just 9 in 2008.

Apart from the obvious benefit of being able to consume fresh, flavourful produce, there are myriad reasons why you might want to join a community garden including: practicing sustainable living, improving the urban environment, being physically active and creating connections within your community.

To learn more about community gardening in Calgary, register for our program on Saturday, March 24, presented by the Calgary Horticultural Society. And check out these links to more resources and information:

Community Gardening - Calgary Horticultural Society

I’m sure you’ve heard that Calgary is Canada’s 2012 Cultural Capital. If you’re falling a bit behind in your culture consumption this year, here’s your chance to catch up. Memorial Park Library is hosting the fifth annual Writing in the Works on Saturday, March 10 at 1:30pm. Started in 2008 by Rona Altrows and Lori Hahnel, this event showcases five Calgary writers with books in progress, books soon to be published and books on the prowl for publishers. “Writing in the Works has established itself as a highlight of the spring literary season in Calgary,” says Rona, host of Saturday's literary sampling. She's also the author of two books of short fiction, Key in Lock (Recliner Books, 2010) and A Run on Hose (Thistledown Press, 2006), and was Calgary Public Library’s 2007 Writer-in-Residence.

Writing in the Works 5 will feature writers Rita Bozi, Jane Cawthorne, Lori Hahnel, Rea Tarvydas and Robin van Eck. Brief biographies of their writing accomplishments are listed below.

Rita Bozi's career spans writing for several media, acting, and dancing. She is the producer of the annual event Literary Vaudeville – Loud in the Library. Her co-authored hit play, 52 Pick Up, has been performed in five countries and won a Chapters best text award at the Montreal Fringe. Rita is working on a novel, Uprising, and a short story collection, Hungry, High and Hammered. Rita has had recent publications in Pages of Stories and the online journal Unlikely 2.0.

Jane Cawthorne was a finalist for the Howard O’Hagan Short Fiction Award from the Alberta Writer’s Guild for her story “Weight” which appeared in FreeFall magazine. This year, she was a finalist for the PRISM International non-fiction contest. The essay she submitted to this contest will be published in the Spring Issue of PRISM. Some day, it will be the final piece in a book of personal essays. Jane also has a novel in progress.

Lori Hahnel is the author of a novel, Love Minus Zero (Oberon, 2008) and a story collection, Nothing Sacred (Thistledown, 2009), which shortlisted for an Alberta Literary Award. Her work has aired on CBC Radio and appeared in anthologies and journals including The Fiddlehead, Prairie Fire and The Antigonish Review. Work is forthcoming in Rubbing Stone: A Nose Hill Anthology. She is currently marketing a second novel and working on more short stories.

Rea Tarvydas has just completed her first collection of interconnected short stories called The Globe, and is marketing this collection. She has recent publications in The New Quarterly and The Fiddlehead. Currently Rea is writing a novel.

Robin van Eck, born and raised in B.C., moved to Alberta at age 25. She became involved with and wound up working for the Alexandra Writers Centre, where she serves as program coordinator. Robin's stories, book reviews and articles have been short-listed for contests and published online, in literary magazines and anthologies. She is writing her first novel and researching a second.

Book sales will be provided by an independent bookseller during the event, and refreshments will also be available.

I've had the good fortune to enjoy long term employment in a position I love, with people I like, in beautiful surroundings at Memorial Park Library. But back in the day, when I last dusted off my curriculum vitae in order to pursue this job, sending my application via email with my resume as an attachment seemed technologically avant-garde.

The job search process has changed substantially in the intervening years. Online resources abound, allowing job hunters to research industries, companies and work opportunities, post resumes, and network with others in their field of interest. Memorial Park Library is offering a program that will focus particularly on the networking aspect of searching for employment. Networking enables you to connect with people and opportunities in a variety of ways to access the 70 to 80 percent of jobs that are never posted. Career Basics: Enhancing Your Job Search Through Social Networking will provide instruction on using the online networking sites LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to boost your job search campaign. This workshop will be led by professional career practitioners from Bow Valley College's Career Connection. Register now if you'd like to modernize your job search networking skills!

Calgary Public Library has many resources to help you explore this topic further:

• Career and Employment Resources
• E-Library databases
• a great selection of books (click on any of the titles below)

Also check out the article Networking Online on Alberta Learning Information Service's website.

It's February. Shall I ask how your New Years' Resolutions are coming along? Are you eagerly waking half an hour earlier each morning to pursue the calming benefits of yoga before riding your bike to work? Have you completely shunned fast food in favour of organic vegetables and whole grains? Are you reading stimulating literature every evening after enjoying a nutritious home-cooked dinner, having relinquished your grip on the TV remote control? No?

Maybe you hit the snooze button too many times, rush off in the car, then wait impatiently at the drive-thru for an extra-large coffee and some sort of cholesterol soaked sandwich. You leave work at the end of the day exhausted, remembering the kitchen cupboards and fridge are bare. So you hit the fast food drive-thru again, and sink onto the couch when you reach home, summoning the energy to locate the remote and click on the TV. Sound uncomfortably familiar? Perhaps the library can help you renew your commitment to living a healthier life this year!

This Thursday evening, February 9th, Memorial Park Library is hosting "Healthy Eating on a Budget: Meal and Menu Planning." Presented by nutrition technician Jacinta Bonaparte-Sargeant, this program will assist you in learning the basics of great nutrition and put you on the road to better health. This is one in a series of programs being offered at all Calgary Public Library locations in 2012 called "Our Healthy Future." The sessions are focused around several themes: personal health and wellness, family wellness, community cohesion, and environmental health. Through these learning opportunities, we hope to encourage you to build a more vibrant, healthy life.

Register now and check out more health and wellness programs offered at the library!

Every once in awhile someone stands at the front desk, gazing at the huge brass light fixture overhead and asks "What was this before it was a library?" And a few times I've heard people wonder aloud about whose house this used to be, admiring the fireplaces on opposite sides of the building. It’s a grand structure, unlike any of the other libraries you may have visited in Calgary. But Memorial Park Library has always been a library - the first in Calgary, the first in Alberta.

As Calgary Public Library celebrates its’ centennial in 2012, we're proud to be the place where it all began. After persistent endeavours on the part of the Calgary Women’s Literary Club, which still meets regularly at our branch, and with a substantial donation from philanthropist and industrialist Andrew Carnegie, Calgary Public Library opened its’ doors to the public January 12, 1912.

Of course we're equipped with all the modern conveniences library users require now, but if you’d like to experience the unique, historic ambience found only at Memorial Park Library, you’re welcome to stop by for a visit. Bring your coffee and read a newspaper in a comfy leather chair by the fireplace, inspect the intricate architectural details and original terrazzo floor, or peruse the magazines in our sun-drenched reading room.

Find historic photos and information on all our Centennial Celebrations at cpl100.ca

Read more about Canada's Carnegie libraries in a recent article by the Canadian Register of Historic Places.