Several books are on my list for this month; one very special and one which emphasizes light but informative reading, and the last not, so good.

The first is THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN written by Ron Rozelle, a resident of Lake Jackson, and a teacher at St. Thomas High School in Houston, Texas. The book is a semi-fictionalized account of the Hurricane in 1900 that destroyed much of Galveston. Many of the characters in the book are actual people, interesting and concerned residents including the brothers Cline, who worked for the Weather Bureau and had tried to warn residents of the potential disaster; the Sisters at the Orphanage on the beach, where only three children survived; and the Kempner family who gave shelter and food to many. Reading a description of those people as they tried to survive water rising and rising accompanied by the strong, gusty winds definitely brings home to us in Port O’Connor of the damaging hurricanes from which our area has survived and rebuilt.

I heartily recommend this book for any to read and learn; the sad fact for Galveston was that many residents had tried to have a seawall built for protection; but could not successfully battle the corrupt members of City Hall for its protection.

The second book which is the first in a new series is HOMICIDE IN HARDCOVER written by Kate Carlisle, a study of creative repairs of books; i.e., bookbinding. Set in my home city of San Francisco, the plot is well designed; the characters are interesting and somewhat amusing, and the fascinating procedures in bookbinding and restoration are well written and researched. Not a heavy story, but one that holds your attention. I look forward to others in this series.

But the disappointing book was written by a well established author, Lisa Jackson and entitled AFTER SHE’S GONE. The story line is a little strange and somewhat confusing; the characters seem light and not realistic; and there really is too much unnecessary off-color language to fill the pages. This is somewhat sad as the author has written other books in previous series that gave the reader a knowledge of the areas in which the major characters lived; a well written and taut plot, and an interesting twist in both the people and plot. Hopefully, this will not be the successive path this author is taking, and that she will revert to her previous skills.

We at the Library look forward every December to putting up our tree and proudly displaying the decorations we have accumulated over the years with the wonderful help of so many caring residents. But this year we will have an extraordinary addition to our Christmas Season: a stunningly beautiful house created by the very famous painter and author, Thomas Kinkade. This very unusual Christmas house is a gift from a new resident, Edna Paine, to whom we are very grateful. As Shirley and I have not completely decided where to best display this Christmas house in our Library, we welcome any suggestions from our many visitors. And, speaking of Christmas, although it is only April, we will once again be accumulating recipes for our Christmas Cookbook. So, if you or other members of your family prepared a special food during our wonderful Christmas Season, please think of giving it a place in our Cookbook for 2016. And, if you missed our very first book, come see us. We can probably find one for a special spot in your home.

“When an old person dies, a Library burns down.”
Karin Gillespie

We all have a birthday month, and for that matter a certain day in that month. It is always interesting to see if any one famous, other than you, was born in that month. Just in case you might think you are not famous, look it up. Merriam Webster says ‘famous’ is someone known to many. Many is an indefinite number of people. I definitely don’t know the exact number of people who know me. Therefore an indefinite number of folk know me. That actually fits most of us, if not all.

Be that as it may, my month has folks like Thomas Jefferson, Leonardo DaVinci, William Shakespeare and the current Queen of England. Of course, there are also a lot of recent celebrities. However, today’s celebrities are tomorrow’s reality stars or something a little less glamorous.

The real question might be what the statisticians call the Birthday Paradox. That is how many people, say in a room of strangers, have the same birthday as yours. That is a puzzle.

The amazing thing is how little a number it actually takes. It really isn’t hard to logically figure the probability out. The straight math is, like a lot of math, relatively simple but a bit like grinding a big block of wood into a pile of wood dust. It takes time.

Take your birthday, for instance, it is one day out of the 365 days of a normal year. There are 364 days that aren’t yours. When you think about it, the next person you meet has a one out of 365 days chance of their birthday being the same as yours and a 364 out of 365 (364 divided by 365) of not being yours. That is a 99.7 chance it isn’t yours.

To figure out what the probability that anyone in the room would have your birthday seems daunting at this point. However, if you remember that the two events are mutually exclusive, it is yours or it is not yours, then it becomes simpler.

In a two person deal as described above the probability your birthday is yours is certain or one. The chance of their birthday is 99.7 that it isn’t yours. So the chance that it is yours is I minus 99.7 or a 0.03 chance.

Now you can grind the block through the number of people in the room with similar combinatorial math. As you move through the second, third, fourth and so on you will get to 23 and at that point you discover that the chance is slightly better than a coin flip that one of them has the same birthday as yours. If you grind on through to 70 folks, you would find that there is a better than 99.7 chance that someone has your birthday.

Leap year and other things can change the decimal point, Mathematicians use things like binomial coefficient and factorial to make it more elegant. But, the fact is it is a very small number.

Dieter Erhard of Art Center Seadrift has been helping to preserve the history of Monastery Saint Anton in Forcheim, Oberfanken, Germany. On Sunday, March 20, an historical walkway including twelve stations was unveiled. A walk down this path illustrates the history of the monastery from its beginning in 1647, including its use as a school and military base.

Three art pieces are devoted to the most important holy feasts: Christmas, Passover and Easter. Each sculpture has text engraved with words by local church members. They are mounted on a concrete cube with stainless steel and utilize sandstone that was once a part of the monastery. Each sculpture weighs about one ton. Christmas is represented by a tree; Easter by a cornered egg and Passover by a flame.

Dieter spent more than 100 hours learning the history and about a year to find the right theme for the three larger sculptures. It was mandatory that the sculptures not be too modern, and not too round, so as to compliment the modern apartment complex nearby.

The monastery project was documented by video will soon be available at Dieter Erhard’s Youtube account: Tennenlohel.
Dieter’s next project will be four sculptures at the Carlos F. Novela museum in Guatemala City.

Seadrift School will have early Pre-Kindergarten & Kindergarten registration on April 25th thru April 29th from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Parents/Guardians will need to bring the following: students’ courthouse birth certificate, student’s social security card, immunization record, drivers’ licenses and parent-proof of guardianship. If registering for Pre-Kindergarten, proof of income will also be needed.

To register for kindergarten, the child must be 5 years old on or before September 1st and if registering for pre-kindergarten, the child must be 4 years old on or before September 1st. If the student is currently enrolled at Seadrift School in Pre-K or Kindergarten classes this school year, parents do not need to register again.