Happy holidays from the library staff and board!

We invite you to join us at our Annual Holiday Party on the first night of posadas, Friday evening, December 16^th from 4:30 to 6:30 pm at the Parish Hall across from the Library. Tickets for our Holiday Party are $15 per person. You can enjoy a home-cooked buffet dinner while listening to music by Los Resolaneros with David Garcia & Company. After eating, browse our Book Table & Ornament Display. You can find a fine gift for a friend or relative that also supports the Library- a packet of historical postcards, a gift book, an array of ornaments hand-painted by local artists. Stay after dinner for the first night of posadas celebrated in the village.

Pueblo de Abiquiu Library has had a wonderful and productive year, despite the tough economic times for non-profit institutions, thanks in part to your participation & support. Our statistics for Library usage have increased. More students are using the computers and more adults are checking out books. The children’s summer reading program under the guidance of librarian Rachel Reyes was well attended. Students read books about bugs and pests, started seedlings for the three sisters- bean, corn and squash, learned how to make red worm compost for enriching soil, and built a scarecrow. They talked on the computer with students in a sister library in Alabama and made handmade memory books with book artist Pam Smith.

Many of you participated in our various events- read stories about the history of Rio Arriba County during our March Read-a-thon, looked up information on the computers, found a reference to your family’s genealogy in our record books, used our notary or photocopier services, attended our May symposium on the Genizaros or simply sat on the porch to watch the mounted riders prance into the plaza during the Fiesta de Santa Rosa de Lima. Many of you recently attended a Second Sundays afternoon as archaeobotanist Glenna Dean discussed cotton pollen and ancient rock mulch gardens. Comanche dancers who participated in the Genizaro panels, came back to the village this fall to teach new dancers. This November, a fine group of novice Comanche dancers joined Dexter Trujillo and others in the ceremonies on the plaza for the Fiesta de Santo Tomas.

This year we have greatly expanded our books on art from all cultures, especially many fine books of quilts and on Georgia O’Keeffe, thanks to donations from the staff of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and Kristin Krautz. We continue to add photos and information into the digital archive of the village. The Archive now contains several historical collections, including the papers from the Santa Rosa De Lima excavations in the nineteen seventies as well as the Bodes/Gonzales Store receipts from the nineteen twenties & thirties and recordings of songs and interviews of the Santa Rosa de Lima Fiestas in the nineteen sixties. We have resumed offering Abiquiu Walking Tours.

We appreciate the help of our staff and volunteers. Iren Schio, Mimi Hurd, Marguerite Kearns, Alice Garcia, Dexter Trujillo, Sabra Moore, Isabel Trujillo and Rachel Reyes support the library in many ways by their activism. We appreciate the fine support from many foundations, including a recent grant to all RAIL libraries from Santa Fe Community Foundation and grants from the McCune and United Way Foundations as well as support from many individual donors.

 Pueblo de Abiquiu Library has had a wonderful year, but we have also had a year of financial struggle, like every not-for profit institution in our region. Now is the season when we ask our friends and neighbors for a donation to help us in the coming year. Any amount helps! We hope you join us at our Holiday Season Party, purchase an extra ticket in the name of a friend, buy an ornament or a book or reach deeper into your pocket and offer support. Every gift you give the library assures our survival and growth.

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo!

Isabel Trujillo, Director / Sabra Moore, Board President/ Rachel Reyes, Librarian Pueblo de Abiquiu Library, P.O. Box 838, Abiquiu, New Mexico 87510 Tel. (505) 685-4884

Glenna Dean, archaeobotanist and former New Mexico State Archaeologist will make a power point talk on Archaic Rock Mulch Gardens. She will introduce us to the archaic gardens around Abiquiu and tell us about what they were planting and how they cultivated the dry gardens in our area around the twelfth century. Enjoy some hot drinks and treats and stay to watch a video about Bandelier National Monument.

This year, Samuel Luchetti will be showing his art as part of the Abiquiu Studio Tour.  His is stop #21 and will be showing his art in the Pueblo de Abiquiu Library on the weekend of October 8-10^th, Saturday-Monday.  The library will also have a book sale; browse through a myriad of genres and find yourself a good read!  Thanks in advance to all the wonderful volunteers who will be helping with the book sale!

This is the 18^th annual tour and features the work of over 80 local artists.  Abiquiu is a beautiful and historic village; many tourists come to the area in hopes of seeing a glimpse of Georgia O’Keeffe’s residence, and a peek into her gorgeous gardens, as well as the sweeping views of orange, purple, green, and blue hues spread across the land like a live water-color painting.  But what most encapsulates the mind, and stirs the senses, is the historic architecture, the rich history of cultural connections, and heritage, but most importantly, the tight-knit relationships so common, protected, and nurtured in this intense and lively village.

Many authors also live in the surrounding areas and have inspired creative and intellectual conversations at the dinner table, at local events, the library and even at the local grocer store, with their work in all genres; easily weaving images, scenery, and story plots that engage the imagination.  You can find many of these books in the southwest section of the library.  Are you a local and would like a library card?  Don’t fret; Rachel Reyes the Librarian can help you fill one out.

Come by the library during the tour and get your glimpse of Samuel’s art, check-out a southwest-themed book, search through the various titles for sale, and take in the dramatic views.  See you there!

Library hours: Sun-Thurs, 1-6 PM.  Ph: 505.685.4884.

by Sandi Martinez

This year the Summer Reading Program at Pueblo de Abiquiu Library and Cultural Center focused on the theme the “Three Sisters”: corn, beans and squash.  The Iroquois legend states that these are the three inseparable sisters who grow and thrive together.  The tradition of planting these in the same mound is a widespread practice among Native American farming societies.  This is a sophisticated and sustainable system providing long-term soil fertility as well as a healthy diet from generation to generation.

Nutritionally speaking, corn provides carbohydrates; dried beans are rich in protein and balance the lack of amino acids in corn; squash furnishes both vitamins from fruit and healthy savory oil from the seeds.

The librarian, Rachel Reyes, put together a fun and educational project with the young people who joined the summer reading program. They made a scarecrow, among many other fun activities.  As the last days of summer reach the outer edges of fall, Halloween’s just around the corner, and harvesting will be the focal point of many farmers in Northern NM!

The library was a recipient of the Libri Foundation grant.  Come by the library with your children and browse any of the 60 books donated; this will certainly inspire you and yours to keep busy during the cold, winter months!  Thanks to Nancy Hopkins-Riley who donated over three hundred dollars who matched the required amount of the Libri Foundation grant.  Congratulations to the 12 children who averaged reading about 18 books during the eight-week SRP period!  Keep on reading!

Corn on the cob anyone?

Book Cart: The book cart with sale books is always being updated. Your purchase doubles the fine gifts by friends who donated their books to support the Library’s operations.New Books: The staff at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum delivered three cartons of beautiful books last month that have amplified our selections of art books and Southwest history. Come browse through the finely illustrated books on quilts, American folk art, Chinese painting, the Hudson River painters, Pueblo pottery, recent contemporary art. You will find other surprises and some samplings of adventures in the old west.  Thank you to Kristin Kautz and the O’Keeffe Museum for these donations and for printing the brochure for the Abiquiu Walking Tours.

Become a Friend: Friends of the Library help in many ways, by volunteering to assist with the children’s programming, by offering help for speciall projects with the librarian, by supporting our events or simply by being a reader and colleague. Ask Rachel or Isabel how to become a Friend of the Library.

Board: Anyone interested in serving on the Board should contact Sabra by calling the Library.

Rachel Reyes, the librarian at the Abiquiu Library and Cultural Center, is working with La Puerta, the Abiquiu Headstart and Abiquiu elementary students.  The La Puerta students visit once a month for an hour. Headstart will begin its weekly visits soon. A women’s book club is in the planning stages.

Library Hours are 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday through Thursday. 505-685-4884.

Mailing address: P.O. Box 838, Abiquiu, New Mexico 87510

EMAIL: abiquiupl@gmail.com

Twelve children read 218 books during the summer reading program from June 7-August 11.  This averages out to about 18 books per child during the eight-week period. A special thank you to all of the Ghost Ranch volunteers and to William Benson for their help cleaning out the shed and inside the library.