Escape with me!

Hello my fellow bookworms!

I've been trying to catch up on reading, but it is proving harder to do once confined. So, in order to boost my mood, I am trying other distractions in my time off from working from home. Here are a  few escapist links to try that I think are fun and engaging!

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The Escape Game is hosting an online Field Trip escape the museum with the Smithsonian! I found this to be a fun adventure, and it is suitable for children. You are at the Smithsonian museum on a field trip and have lost your class! Navigate through the exhibits, find answers to clues, and figure out where your class is, so you can go back home on the bus!

The Peters Township Library, located in McMurray, Pennsylvania, created a digital Harry Potter escape room! Thank you to Sydney Krawiec, the creator of this fun online experience! :) 

If you are into the reboot of Carmen Sandiego, or are a fan from the old cartoon / game show / computer games, you will probably get a kick out of the Google (partnered with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) game Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego? If you are playing by computer, you must play in Google Chrome, as the game platform is in Google Earth. You can also play via Android or iOS. After following a series of clues, traveling around the world, and learning some history, you can help ACME find Carmen and save the day!

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Woodwind & Brasswind are hosting daily live streams for musicians. You can take a look at their schedule here, but note that the times posted are EST. You can brush up on your music education or listen in for online concerts!

Photo by Felix Mittermeier from Pexels

Take a look at the night sky with Google and the National Park Service, which has a beautiful view of Bryce Canyon in Utah. See if you can find constellations, learn a bit about the heavens, and when you are done, you can continue exploring four other national parks.

If you are looking for more options for live streams of the Northern Lights, the beach, or wild animals, take a look at Explore.org's live cameras. With contributions from all over the world, you can see the Northern Lights in Canada, wildlife in Africa, bears in Alaska, eagles in Iowa, to puppies, kitties, aquariums, and more!

Photo by Element5 Digital from Pexels

The Young Adult Scavenger Hunt will begin on Tuesday! From Tuesday, March 31st through Sunday, April 5th, you can participate on one or multiple teams of young adult authors, read through their blogs, find out about new books, and enter in to win prizes! This year, all the prizes are digital, so if you win, there is no wait time to read your reward!

Happy escaping, happy reading, and stay healthy! :)

A Few More Fun Links...

Hello bookworms!

Still wondering what is there to do when you are stuck inside? I  have a few more links that I found out about while catching up on all the news. At least in this way, you can feel like you have some adventure in your life!

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• Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France is an art museum that has the option to explore masterpieces online, all without the tourist cameras in your face! Google has provided an interactive experience, so you can "walk" through the halls of the museum. 
• Browse around the beautiful Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France! Another lovely Google interactive experience, where you can take in the breathtaking views.
• The Smithsonian Natural Museum of History in Washington D.C. is a museum where you can look at dinosaur bones, gardens, gems, insects, and more! This is also an interactive experience, which you can choose through the different links they offer on their website.  
• Explore Yogyakarta, Indonesia's Prambanan, the Largest Temple Complex in the area with stunning architecture. 
• Take a virtual tour of Valley Forge National Park in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. You can see a tour of Former President Washington's headquarters!
• The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in Boston, Massachusetts has some interesting fashion design you can preview, as well as other styles of art.



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• Into trains? The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania located in Strasburg, Pennsylvania is offering virtual tours!
• Yaoyi Kusama's Infinity Mirrors is an exhibit that I wanted to visit at least once. Now we all can through NPR's short video walk-through, where you can see everything in detail. 
• If you like classical music, you can listen to Berlin's Philharmonic online performances. Just be sure to enter in the code mentioned at the top, as this is normally a paid service, but is free for the time being. 
• The Vienna Opera in Austria is offering online performances of their latest performances. For someone who has yet gone to an opera in person, I am watching quite a bit of these performances online...
• The Sistine Chapel in Vatican City has some of their collections online for you to browse from afar.
• The Social Distancing Festival is a mix of live streaming events from online artists that you can enjoy from home. It was made to help those artists who events and projects where cancelled due to COVID-19. 



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• Speaking of live streaming, you can watch gamers, musicians, artists and more live stream daily on Twitch. If you have an Amazon Prime membership, you can sponsor a streamer for a month for free and have access to bonus content!

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• Check out the animals via live cams at the San Diego Zoo in San Diego, California or the panda cam at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C.!
• Or check out the underwater views of animals at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia.
• The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois is releasing behind the scenes content on their Facebook page, which includes penguins running through the museum. So cute!
• Runner's World is hosting a free 15-minute LIVE workout on their Instagram page starting at 12:00 p.m. noon ET.
• Corepower Yoga is offering free streaming classes for yogis, so stretch out and feel good!
• The Everywhere Book Fest is a virtual book festival for children's literature to help make up for the cancellation of live fests and fairs. It is slated to take place May 1 - May 2, 2020. You can see information as it is available via Twitter (linked above) or via the event website here. 
• Learn a new language with Duolingo!
• Practice (or learn) coding skills with Codeacademy.
• Take a free class with Coursera, where you can learn new skills or build upon the ones you already have.

Am I missing anything that you found and want to share? Let me know in the comments!

Take care, keep healthy, and happy reading! :)

Stay Healthy & Safe Bookworms!

Hello my fellow bookworms,

I am sure you are sick of reading these posts by now, and are feeling overwhelmed and anxious, but I want to share some happier news with you. Read on for more information...

We are in turbulent times and it is imperative to know the most recent updates on the status of COVID-19 (coronavirus) in your community. Many businesses are working remotely, so you can still obtain food and other necessities of daily life. Be sure to take a walk and stretch out! It is necessary to take care of yourself during these hard times, and be sure to lend a hand to a neighbor if they need it--especially those who cannot leave their home.

Whether you are working from home, or have to go into work and can only quarantine yourself before/after work, try to not be glued to a screen! It is easy to be stuck on your computer or television set. If you can, try to step out to the library and stock up on some reading materials. Listen to an audio book, paint, do a puzzle, play an instrument - anything to keep your mind going and the boredom (and craziness) away. 

What if you're stuck inside already? Well, that's okay, I have some links for you:

Fun Links:

• Metropolitan Opera (The Met Opera is hosting "Nightly Met Opera Streams" to provide opera to audience members, best seat in the house you can get!)
• Wattpad (You can write or you can read - or you can do both! Check out some fun stories here, some of which ended up being published!) 
• Swoon Reads (You can preview and vote on books to be published! Be sure to create a free account.)
• Webtoon (My latest comic addiction.)
• Hoopla (Be sure to create an account if your library has a subscription! You can take out up to 6 "items" a month, whether it be a comic book, audio book, movie, television show, or ebook.)
• RB Digital (Another library subscription app/website - be sure to check out whether or not your library has a subscription.) 
• Youtube - the best free video service to help keep you sane! Try these channels for a good workout that you can do at home:
• BeFit
• POPSUGAR Fitness
• Yoga With Adriene
• The Fitness Marshall
• PsycheTruth
• Vudu (They have a section of free movies that you can watch with ads.)
• Radio Links:
• iHeartRADIO (I tend to channel jump based on what I feel, oldies or Top 40.)
• Movin 92.5 (Brooke and Jubal in the Morning - funniest talk show you'll hear!)
• 101.1 WKQX (Alternative music, but the morning show is fun to listen to.)
• Pandora (You can create your own playlist, but with ads.)

 

Information and Podcasts for COVID-19 Updates:

• World Health Organization (WHO)
• Center for Disease Control
• Don't Touch Your Face by Foreign Policy's James Palmer and Amy Mackinnon (Podcast that explains how the virus is affecting everyday life)
• Coronavirus: Fact Versus Fiction with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta (Podcast)
• EPIDEMIC with Dr. Celine Gounder and Ronald Klain (Podcast where you hear from leading infectious disease and public health experts on the latest information)
• Everything You Need to Know If You're Traveling During the Coronavirus Outbreak by Cailey Rizzo and Christine Burroni of Travel + Leisure

Be sure to also check out your local news channel, news website, and radio for listings on closures and alternate ways to purchase items. Some pharmacies are allowing free delivery of medicine, many restaurants have delivery of food items that they will leave by your doorstep, and some delivery services are finding ways to provide you with your online orders without your physical signature. If you are out driving, be careful of the tollways, since they are operating by pass or online purchase only.

Please practice social distancing, safe hygiene, and be sure to drink lots of water - at least one sip every 15 minutes. You can also practice a quick breathing exercise that can help determine whether or not you should visit or contact a doctor: Take a deep breath and hold it for 10 seconds. If you can hold it without coughing, discomfort, stiffness, or tightness, that is a good indication that you do not have an infection.

I know with the spread of the virus, many events that make us happy (including book fairs, sports, movies, and conventions), have been cancelled or postponed. But, you can still Skype, Face Chat, call, email, online chat - reach out to those you love and care for. We will all be together again soon. Before you know it, warmer weather will be here. I hope that we can all overcome this together and that you read many new good books while we wait for this to calm down. 

Happy reading - I hope to post again soon. If you have a favorite app or website that you have to read books or watch movies, let me know in the comments. I love to learn about new things!

Misty May Morn by John Henry Twachtman (Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly, 1899)