By John Maruskin

Clark County Public Library

Seven-year-old Harris Thornbury was visiting the library with his mother, Laura, the other day.

They had attended the Mark Wood Fun Show, and as he was leaving, Harris told me he had heard of the library’s community forum about making Winchester a more fun place to live and he wanted to offer three suggestions: a water slide park, which, considering the heat wave Winchester will experience until September, is both jolly and appropriate; an indoor skating rink, fun and fitness all year long; and a Skydome with a lot of trampolines, which I can see would be a marvelous place for residents of all ages to manage and even get a lift from life’s ups and downs.

Thanks, Harris. Those are fabulous ideas and it is wonderful to see a young citizen engaged in and thinking about his community. You are a good example for adults.

In the library’s reference section there is a new exhibit by Winchester resident Marie Quick. Marie has loaned the library eight photograms, three photographs, a drawing, a triaxial weaving and a quilt.

The photograms have both abstract and organic qualities. They feature images of flowers and leaves manipulated while developed to create effects of pure light replacing objects. They are very beautiful, almost mystical, and you will have a good time letting your imagination play with them.

Marie’s drawing of the trailer that her sister and brother-in-law lived in when they were first married in 1954 shows a lot of talent and attention to detail. Her triaxial weaving looks three-dimensional, popping up off the page.

Next time you are in the library, make sure to go to the reference section to see Marie’s work.

Saturday night, July 22, the library begins something new — a weekend-night documentary film series. The feature film for July is “The Babushkas of Chernobyl.”

This is a documentary about a defiant community of women who moved back to the radioactive Dead Zone surrounding Chernobyl’s Reactor No. 4, some of the most toxic land on Earth. They share this hauntingly beautiful but lethal landscape with an assortment of interlopers, scientists, soldier, and even “stalkers,” young thrill-seekers who sneak in to pursue post-apocalyptic video game-inspired fantasies.

Why the film’s central characters, Hanna Zavorotyna, Maria Shovkuta and Valentyna Ivanivna, chose to return after the disaster, defying the authorities and endangering their health, is a remarkable tale about the pull of home, the healing power of shaping one’s destiny and the subjective nature of risk.

It is a beautiful and uplifting film. You will be inspired by the determination of these old women who refuse to be separated from their homes.

The library closes at 5 p.m. Saturday. Seating for the movie will begin at 7:30 p.m. through the library lobby. Free and open to the public. For more information, call 744-5661, ext. 110.

Other programs this week?

— At 2 p.m. Wednesday, Kentucky Picture Show presents a 2017 romantic comedy about a successful and single career woman who asks a co-worker to pose as her boyfriend at a family wedding back home in Mexico. Her situation gets complicated when her ex shows up at the ceremony. Rated PG-13

— At noon Thursday, the Book Lunch crowd discusses “The Baron in the Trees,” by Italo Calvino. Cosimo, a boy from a family of minor nobles of the late 18th Century takes to the trees in an act of rebellion against his family, vowing never to set foot on the Earth again. He keeps his promise. Books are available at the circulation desk. Please register to attend by Tuesday.

— At 10 a.m. Friday, Write Local. Laughter and literature.

— At 9 a.m. Saturday, Lawn yoga. Limber up for the weekend.

Have a swell week.

John Maruskin is director of adult services at the Clark County Public Library. He can be reached at john.clarkbooks@gmail.com.