Mongolia Arm Chair Travel draws a Crowd
Thirty-one people attended the January Arm Chair Travel series on Mongolia, and were intrigued to hear Presque Isle resident, Cheryl Martin talk about her 3 year tenure in Mongolia while working as a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department. Cheryl considered her assignment in Mongolia to be a "once in a lifetime opportunity". In fact, she actually requested the assignment in 1992, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Most of her family and friends thought she was crazy.
Attendees were fascinated to learn about Cheryl's experiences living in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, a country sandwiched between two huge and powerful neighbors: China and Russia. A country that at one time was under China's rule and most recently was governed under the Soviet Union's rule. Cheryl talked of Mongolia's extreme climate, the poor housing, the lack of, or non-existence of green vegetables, and meats other than mutton, and the extreme difficulty of the language. Despite these difficulties, Cheryl had the opportunity to watch a country, formerly under Soviet rule, now its own sovereign nation, begin the slow process to develop itself economically.
Attendees learned of Mongolia's most notable leader, Ghengis Khan, and his grandson, Kubla Khan, and saw wonderful pictures Cheryl had taken from several trips that she had taken throughout the country. There were pictures from the harsh terrain of the Gobi Desert, pictures of the beauty of Lake Hovsgal in the northwest corner of the country near the Russian border, and pictures of sites from the far Eastern part of the country, with their Chinese influences.
At the conclusion of Cheryl's talk, everyone enjoyed cookies by Judy Dickert, and a delicious rum cake made by M.E. Norton. Thank you to Cheryl Martin, and everyone who helped to make this a successful afternoon.
ARTISTS OF THE MONTHMondays are fun days at the Presque Isle Community Library!Monday, January 11th at 2 p.m. 24 people enjoyed an informative conversation about woodturning and fiber art, with artists Ron and Connie Warshall. We followed the birds and an errant penguin through the dark days of winter to a bright, colorful beach where you can "go green" and even see a mermaid. We learned from the pros and gained a few insider secrets on how their beautiful work is created. Ron and Connie Warshall, from Harshaw, Wisconsin, are artists in several mediums. Ron is an accomplished woodturning artist having trained under several masters over the past 20 years. He cofounded the Northwood Turners, and performs woodturning demos whenever requested. Connie is a fiber artist, specializing in the design of studio art quilts. She is also a trained papermaker, and an instructor on machine needle felting. Ron and Connie have had solo exhibits at Nicolet College Art Gallery, and are also members and exhibitors of the Manito Art League, where both have received several awards in their respective art forms. They have also received awards through the Wisconsin Regional Artist Program. They continue to acquire additional skills when they attend Arrowmont School of Art in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. New! ClassesP.I. Library joins forces with Nicolet College! |