L is for Lovely Ladies

Today I am very thankful for the lovely ladies I meet with on a monthly basis who are in my book group.

We have been meeting together for five years now. We started the fall of 2004, and only have had one member move away, then got another to replace her.

We have read a variety of books over the years, from best selling novels, to non-fiction, and ones that really surprised me because of how good they were.

We often call it our monthly "therapy session". We solve the world's problems. Yeah, we may get around to talking about the book, especially if it was a really good one, but mostly we get together to enjoy each other's company.

And we have about a 20 year age span between all of us. I am the youngster of the group. I love sharing time with these beautiful women who have taught me so many things over the years, and we have created quite a bond.

Next month we are having our annual Christmas book club, where we have a cookie exchange, and usually share small gifts, and we are each bringing a Christmas story to share.

Most of the time, we all make it to book group. Sometimes one can't make it. But we have had a pretty good track record.

I am so thankful for these ladies...these lovely, lovely ladies.

Good Food, Good Conversation, Good Friends

Each month, one of the highlights I look forward to is gathering together with my Huckleberry Book Club to share about a book we have read, catch up on life, and share a wonderful meal together.

This month, our book was "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski.




I was the one who picked the book, but I couldn't get through it. If you read about the book on the book sleeve, you know the father dies at the first part of the book.

I didn't want to keep reading, because I didn't want the father to die.

But those who did read the book really thought it was good, and beautifully written. So I'm not giving up on Edgar Sawtelle. He just got shelved for a while.

Book club was special this month, because it was JR's birthday. We met at NP's house, and she had birthday napkins and little birthday party favors, and a birthday balloon. Birthday cake was served, and presents were shared with the birthday girl.

VA is always doing something new, and now she is volunteering at a Community TV station in Spokane, and learning how to make documentaries. She shared with us her first try with a documentary on the Saranac Hotel in Spokane. It was fun to watch her new creative endeavor, and look forward to seeing many more.

SD couldn't partake in all our wonderful feast today, because she is on a 21 cleansing detox, and is getting ready to go on a Mexican cruise with her parents next month. But she could eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

MP seems to be doing better. Her daughter passed away last summer after a brave fight with cancer, and it has been a hard season, with Thanksgiving and Christmas without her daughter. But MP is pressing on, and has the love and support of family and friends to help her through this time. I am so privileged to be one of those friends.



This month's read is a book by Norwegian author Per Petterson called "Out Stealing Horses." I'm looking forward to reading a book from a culture I am not familiar with, such as Norway.

I get to host the club next month, and look we are going to have a Norwegian smorgasbord as our menu for February. JR is half Norwegian, and is going to make homemade Lefse for us with her own Lefse iron. It should be a yummy feast!!

Wildcard Wednesday--The Shadow of the Wind

Finishing a really good book can always be a bittersweet experience. It is good to come to the end, but when the story is good, and you get involved in the character's lives, it is hard to say goodbye.

Today I finished the book we will be discussing on Friday in our book group, The Shadow of the Wind. The author is Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

The premise of the book is very original. It is set in Barcelona, Spain in 1945. The city is healing from the wounds of war, and Daniel, a book dealer's son finds a book called The Shadow of the Wind by an author named Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery; someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. Soon Daniel's seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

Yeah, yeah, I pretty much stole that from the back cover of the book. But it is a good synopsis.

It reminded me a little bit of the book "Les Miserable" by Victor Hugo. I think that is one of my favorite books of all time, because of all the twists and turns and subplots and the ways they all seem to eventually intertwine. That is how this book is on some level.

I also love the Spanish way of writing. There is a lot of dreams, and religious symbolism, and mysticism. Zafon also have a wonderful way of developing his characters in this book, especially the various male characters.

I am a very avid reader, but it has been a while since I read a book. Finishing this book was like finishing a banquet after being on a 40 day fast. It was delicious!!

I can't wait until the ladies in my book group come over on Friday, so we can discuss the book. They are to bring Spanish food, so it will be interesting to see what is on the menu on Friday.

Adios!!

Eat, Pray, Love

Today my book group met at my house today, and we discussed our book we read this month, "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert.

It wasn't only the book we read, but that theme also seemed to resonate through our time together today. What a peaceful, enjoyable, enriching experience I had today with the four other women who were at my home today. Times like this are such a blessing.

Because the author Gilbert ate her way through Italy, I decided to have an Italian themed menu for today's book group. And I think we enjoyed the food today almost as much as Gilbert enjoyed her food experience in Italy.

I contributed some cheese filled tortellini with red sauce, and some bread with dipping oil.

NP brought a lovely green salad she had "The Veranda", our fancy restaurant in uptown Kellogg, prepare.

VA prepared a wonderful pasta salad made with tubular pasta, pesto, sun dried tomatoes and feta cheese and Kalamata olives.

MP experimented on a soup, and we are so glad she did. It was a wonderful mixture of cannelloni beans, Swiss Chard, and sweet potatoes, with a special pesto to put on the top. Divine!!

SD brought dessert, which was a chocolate cake with marscapone cheese in the middle, and a thick chocolate glaze. I just had to have two pieces.

As we enjoyed our food, we discussed how much we enjoyed the book, and how Gilbert brought out the characters so well in this book. MP liked the Indonesia section the best, but the rest of us hadn't made it past India, so we are all looking forward to finishing the book.

One part I enjoyed most was her describing learning about meditation in India and how real and practical she made meditation sound, and the struggles she had trying to quiet her mind to listen to God. Boy, could I relate to that section of the story. Often, when I finally get a quiet moment to listen to what God's Spirit has to say to me, it seems as if my mind wants to go in a million different directions.

As always, we had wonderful conversation other than the book, sharing our lives with one another, our frustrations, our joys, our triumphs, and our struggles. Isn't that what life is about...having people to build relationships with and share these things.

We ate our wonderful Italian food.

We prayed as we shared our lives, and also shared about our former book group member, VG, who has moved away, but recently had a lumpectomy and found cancer in her breast. We pray for her. We pray for MG's daughter who continues to battle cancer. We pray for NP, as her son contemplates entering the military after graduation. She would like him to wait, and she cries, and hopes he goes to college, becomes an officer, then enters the military. She is scared of him enlisting because of the war.

We love, because we take the time to listen. We take the time to share our lives. Even though it is only a couple hours each month, those are precious moments for each of us...one we all look forward to and hope we don't miss. We did miss JR this month. She had a good excuse, though. She is returning from a trip to St. Thomas where she has been scuba diving.

Next month we are reading Frank Peretti's book "Monster" for our book selection. Our Christmas book group is always fun, because we always have a cookie exchange. We are meeting at MP's house this year.

I encourage those of you reading this blog post to take some time to

"eat, pray, love".

It will definitely enrich your day.

A Celebration of Motherhood

My Huckleberry Book Club met today, and in the invitation, JR said to come and celebrate motherhood. This was because of our book this month, "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards.

I, of course, was a bit confused, because I was totally reading the WRONG book and couldn't figure out how that book tied in to motherhood. Well, I was set straight at book group.

As we were visiting in our usual manner, something very special happened. JR was talking about her son Steven, and mentioned the fact he was adopted.

MGP looked at JR and told her she didn't realize that, and tears started welling up in her eyes.

"I have a special place in my heart for mothers who have adopted children," she told us. "You see, when I was 16, I had to give up a child."

She went on to tell us the story of a frightened young girl who, at 16 in the 1950's is like our 13 year olds of today. She was enamored with a friend of her older brother and he convinced her to do something, which then changed the course of her life.

At this time in history, girls were sent to Kansas to a home for unwed mothers.

"I arrived at this mansion and was snuck in the back door." she said. "The girls with lots of money were on the top floor. The girls with a little less money were on the middle floor. And those with no money, like myself, were in the basement."

And those who lived in the basement also had to wake up early each morning and help in the kitchen.

I told her it reminded me of the Titanic.

The story back home was that she had a sick grandmother and she had gone to take care of her.

When she was gone, one of her brothers was married, and she didn't get to be at the wedding.

When she returned home, it was never spoken of, not for 25 years.

Then she decided it was time to see if she could find her daughter. She put information in a reunion agency and received a reply from the agency saying they think there may be a match. This woman had put her information in within a week of MGP.

They spoke on the phone for 5 hours the first time they made contact. The girl's parents had always told her, since she was three, that there was another mother out there that loved her very much.

After visiting with her daughter, meeting her, and developing a friendship with her, her daughter told her she was unable to have children of her own.

The new found daughter has now adopted two children.

This is one of the reasons JR's story touched MGP so much....because the adoption story has come full circle. She gave up her daughter who was adopted by a lovely family. The daughter could have no children, so she shared her love with two adopted children of her own.

MGP said once she started telling this story, it was as if a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and she came to realize she wasn't the horrible person she believed herself to be for many years.

Thanks JR, MGP and NP for helping me celebrate motherhood today in a very unique and special way. And thank you for each being unique and wonderful mothers in your own right.

Huckleberry Book Club

Today I participated in one of my “highlights of the month”. I have certain things that are a standing monthly appointment on my calendar, and I rarely miss them. Today was one of them. Today was book club.

We have been going about two and a half years, and have seen a few changes in that time. When we originally began, the book club consisted of JR, SD, NP, VG and myself. Our first book was “Like Water for Chocolate” by Laura Esquivil, a novel filled with Latin mysticism and wonderful chocolate recipes sprinkled throughout. That day we were asked to each bring something chocolate to share with the others. At most gatherings, white and red wine are also served, along with tea and coffee.

I tried my hardest the first few times we met to get a real discussion about the book going. I downloaded discussion questions off the Internet and tried to have meaningful discussions about the themes and characters in the book. But it became obvious that our group was destined for a much Higher Purpose.

We were destined to solve the world’s problem under the ruse of being a book club. As we gather together, we usually all have read the chosen book. We take about 10 minutes to discuss what we liked or didn’t like about the book, then the next hour and 50 minutes are spent enjoying fabulous food we have all prepared, sipping the beverage of our choice, and discussing how we can make the world a much better place….well at least through our eyes.

After our original group met for a couple of months, we added MV. We usually rotate whose house me meet at, and, depending upon the book, there may be a theme for the food we are to share. But when the food part got to the seven course meal stage, Jill decided we needed to pare it down a bit and each just bring a small snack.

The name of our book club came about after reading “The Blackberry Tea Club: Women in their Glory Years” by Barbara Herrick, a woman MV had been acquainted with when she lived in Boise. It is a fun book about women in their mid to later years being content with who they are and taking some chances. After reading this book, it made you proud to be in this sisterhood.

MV chose this book because the women in it reminded her of our group. Especially this paragraph that helps the reader understand how the book was titled.

“We've been friends for ten years, last count, starting with conversations late at night at a bar where we sipped Blackberry Tea—a lovely ferment of Triple Sec, Grand Marnier and blackberry tea. We talk children, men, jobs, weight, clothes, food, travel, gossip, politics, medicine, healing, spirituality, adventure, books—the works.”

But, since this is the Silver Valley, we didn’t have Blackberry Tea. Instead MV made us Huckleberry Tea, with all the fancy additions mentioned above. And believe me, a tea cup is all you need of that concoction!

As we started getting a bit more organized and planned ahead what we were going to read, we wanted to have Hastings start ordering our books so we could get the book club discount. We needed a name. Because of the fun we had with the Huckleberry Tea, we decided on the name The Huckleberry Book Club.

Some traditions have evolved in our group as well. When we meet at Christmas each year, we now have a cookie exchange. This year, along with the cookies I shared with the ladies, I composed a special cookie exchange writing to accompany my tasty treats. I got this idea from my sister InlandEmpireGirl, who did the same thing with her cookie exchange. She wrote about the cookie recipe she was sharing with her friends. The writing can be found here.

Last spring, VG moved away, and we had a lovely dinner party for her hosted by JR and her husband at their home, and our husbands were included. It was a wonderful way to say one last goodbye to our very dear friend.

This fall, MG joined our group. She has been a wonderful addition, and today marks our first gathering at her home for book group. She picked the book “Cold Mountain” by Charles Frazier. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to reading it, because I found another book at the library that day to read, “The Devil in the Junior League” by Linda Francis Lee, a fun look at the social structure of the Junior League deep in the heart of Texas. I read that book, then started my blogging obsession, and didn’t quite get around to reading “Cold Mountain”. Ooops!!

MG prepared quiche and a chocolate dessert, and we all brought something to accompany that menu. I prepared my special potatoes, a dish I created myself where you fry potatoes (preferably red or Yukon gold) in olive oil, and add McCormick’s Montreal Steak Seasoning and cream cheese. You can also fry up some onions first before you add the potatoes. And some days I add a few eggs to the mix. They are DELICIOUS!!!

Our ages range from me in my early forties, to a few early fifties, and a couple in their sixties. How fortunate I am to gather monthly with these women to learn and glean their wisdom and experiences each month.

Today we had a wonderful time at MG’s house. Her quiche was very tasty, and we also had my potatoes, a broccoli salad and an oriental cabbage salad, and some fresh blueberries. MG then served a wonderful chocolate dessert topped with a vanilla ice cream/kahlua mixture that was very tasty. MV brought us all a primrose to help us get in the mood for spring approaching. Which is good because the snow keeps coming down today.

Next month our book will be “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter”, written by Kim Edwards. Other book recommendations that were shared today include:

“Amos, You Can’t Ride A Dead Horse” by Stanley Gordon West
“The Sojourner” by Marjorie Kennen Rawlings
“Woman in White” by Wilke Collins
“The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse” by Louise Erdrich
“Composing a Life” by Mary Catherine Bateson
“Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog” by Kay Burns Flory
“The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne

Time to get off the computer, grab a book and start reading. Let me know if you have any good books you have been reading lately. Our club is always looking for suggestions.