Friday Food 02-28-25

 

When Kathy hosted our Book Group in October she presented our dessert in this special way..

She got out all of her fancy stemware, made several different pudding like desserts, divided them into the goblets, and sprinkled to tops with "sprinkles". We could choose several different treats or find two that we favored. FUN!

For decades we met in the evening, but now that everyone has retired we meet in the middle of the day and we each bring our own lunch.  The hostess, as always,  serves a dessert.  

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Book Group 12-15-23

Our Book Group meets  on the third Wednesday of the month, so the December meeting was this  past Wednesday.  In December we have lunch at a restaurant and exchange gifts.  In past distant years we met in the evening and someone would hostess an actual dinner  with contributions from everyone.  But when everyone had retired we switched to daytime meetings.  I  think mostly because we no longer enjoy driving after dark.   The gifts are always thoughtful and usually useful.  I did my usual gift cards for either Amazon or Barnes and  Noble.  It was a happy time and the food was okay. 

This was our December selection which I  had to struggle through.  Four young women are recruited in the late 70s by an independent company, "The Museum", to be international  assassins to murder  "bad guys" identified by the company. They started out with Nazis, but once they had done all they could find they branched out to Mafia dons, drug cartels, human traffickers, and others who made money on the "common" people.   The story flips  back and forth from 70s to present day when the four ladies have retired after 40 years  of assassinations.   There are a few witty parts, but basically it is about imaginative ways to kill.  

This is our January selection which is promoted as

"If you liked 'A Man Called Ove' you will love this book."

For our group whoever is the hostess chooses the book for the following month.

So, we have read a great variety over the past 40+ years.

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Reading 06-18-23

I'm not sure I can keep up with two book groups.  I was invited to join the "Lit Group" (as in Literary) which has been going for quite a few years, but has lost members until they were down to four!  So, now we are six - all old and seemingly have lots of reading time.  I do read every day, but already have a stack of TBR (to be read) books that  would  probably  last me the rest of my life!  

For the LIt Group's Friday meeting we read Lisa See's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" and everyone said they enjoyed it.  I made a brief  report on Lisa and her background.  We talked about  at least a dozen books we might read, but  no decision was made.  Plenty of time as this group doesn't meet in July and August.  I have started re-reading "On Gold Mountain", Lisa's first major book which traces her Chinese roots back four generations.  I enjoyed it so much when I first read it in 1997 that I have been a fan of her books ever since.  

My longtime Book Group is reading "The Enchanted April" by Elizabeth Von Arnim  Pub 1922 Movie 1991.  But I have not started it yet - I have 58 hours before the meeting on Wednesday.  I remember the 1991 movie which was wonderfully done and stays in my mind still.  Guess I had better get reading.  

The epidural seems to be working very well and I  have cut back on the Tylenol.  I  need to  make a follow up appointment with my new primary doctor.   I picked up my new glasses, but will need to go back for an adjustment on the focal distance.  It is way too close, I almost have to put my nose on the machine to see to sew.  Can't! 

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Reading 02-22-23

Mostly I read instead of doing anything I SHOULD do or am SUPPOSED to do.  I decided at some point in the last 10 years that I wasn't going to do anything I didn't really want to do.   That was a mistake and I have been fighting that attitude ever since.  Covid didn't help because there was so much I couldn't do, although the first year I quilted up a storm.  Then along came sciatica which limited (and still limits) what I am physically able to do.   What I can do is read and so it goes!   I do enjoy actual paper books, even hard covers, but occasionally read with Kindle on my cell phone.  Lots of resources - books from friends, books from little street libraries, books from Amazon - and I tend to read different categories: anything but Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Romance, Manga or Anime.  There is always a book to read for the Book Group (of 40+ years) and now I have been invited to another group of long standing - the Lit Group (for literary).  They have lost members and need to find some new readers.  I went to their meeting last Friday and will give it a try.  I fear that they are too "literary" for me.  And the structure of their meetings is the opposite of my regular group.  The Lit Group has the hostess prepare a bio of the author and present a review of the book at the meeting.  In the Book Group we all read the book beforehand and then discuss it at the meeting.  Less formal, I think.  For March the selection for the Lit Group is "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus.   The Book Group is reading "The Personal Librarian" by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.

                                        

             

I have been seeing ads for Beach Town Books in San Clemente, so while I was down in Dana Point for a meeting I took a box of used books and drove down to find the store.  It is very, very small and sells mostly used books, but also some current popular new volumes.  They had a copy of "Lessons in Chemistry" and I found a few other favorite author's books I haven't read.  So, I came home with about half the number of books I took down there.  Their system is like the other used book stores, they start an account and give credit for the books you take in and you draw on that credit for what you buy.  Some exceptions apply, new books are full price.  I am down in that area a couple times a month so I will keep taking books down and swing by to trade them in. 

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A reading addiction 01-24-23

What do I do all day?  Beside keeping KoKo walked, fed, excercised, and petted, I read.  It is a life long addiction, but much worse since Covid slowed the world down.  I have so many projects in progress or in my mind, but instead I read.  Other than Sci-Fi and fantasy I read just about anything.  There are some series that I especially enjoy, this is the latest in one of those.  . 

This is the sixteenth volume following Maisie Dobbs, an English investigator, from before WWI to 1942 in the midst of WWII.  I have missed the last two volumes, so I will have to read those.  I don't think Ms. Winspear is a terrific writer, sometimes she is wordy and sometimes simplistic, but she has a good story line and her research is valid as far as I can tell.   This book focuses on the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary) in which women piloted war planes from factories and air bases to the forward bases for the guys to fly into battle.  In the USA we had the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) doing the same job.  [For Surfside QGuild readers this is the service that our late friend Bette Bradley participated in during WWII]

Not a series, but I recently re-read "The World According to Garp" by John Irving.  I had enjoyed reading it in 1979 and always remember that my husband asked me not to read it in bed at night because my laughing woke him up, so I always have that it was humorous.  WRONG!  It is rather a downer with only a very few funny bits.  One of them being the son who hear "undertow" at the beach as "under Toad" and thus look for the toad whenever they were at the shore.  But Irving is a very good writer and I think I have read all of his books sometime in the past. 

This month the Book Group is reading "REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES". By Shelby Van Pelt.  I understand it is about octopi and how smart they are.  I will wait to read it closer to the meeting the third Wednesday of February, so I can remember enough to participate in the discussion!  

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Busy day 12-14-22

Yesterday I did 105 steps!  Those were almost all trips to the bathroom!  Don't know how many steps today, but I was out and about a lot.  Thoughtful friend Tina took KoKo for walks both morning and night.   However, the boys in the cul de sac needed rides to school, which isn't a lot of steps, just get in the car in the garage and drive them to school and drive back to park in the garage!  But then today was the Book Group Xmas lunch, where I parked in the spot closest to the restaurant door, gimped in, sat, ate, visited, and then gimped back to the car, picked up Julian and delivered him to his house, parked in my garage and sat for a nap!  Then to the PTherapist where I didn't have my phone to count my steps, but there weren't a lot.  Finally home to the garage again,  Don't I live an exciting life? 

It was nice to see the Book Group ladies, except Carol who stayed home to protect us from her cold.  Thank you, Carol.  We talked about our Christmas Day plans and caught up with all our lives.  I left before we discussed the book.  I didn't finish it, only read about halfway and struggled with every page.  It is on Kindle if I decide I need to finish it - NOT.  Instead I started "The World According to Garp" that I enjoyed so much in 1979 that my husband asked me to not read it in bed because I kept chuckling and keeping him awake!  So far I am not finding it funny at all, but I'm only about a 1/4th of the way in.  

We always exchange smallish gifts and this year was a good year.   I showed you the bags I gave containing a book gift card, a long skinny Lindt bar, and a FIRE EXTINQUISHER!  Seems like something everyone might not have and may never need, but good to have if one forgets a pan on the burner or sets a fire in the toaster oven.  These extinguishers are a one shot deal, so no need to remember to have them recharged periodically.  I have five that require that and have to mark my calendar to remember to do the recharge.  

So, now it is almost 10pm PST and I am very tired.  I think pain does that.  So, early to bed and tomorrow is maybe another 105 step day.

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Unique gift 01-20-22

 

Our Book Group members exchange small gifts for Christmas each year.  One member likes to give something from Heifer International and this year she gave a pig, a rather large gift.  So, she printed out a pig image, sliced it into eight book marks, added some beads and string and gave us each our part of the pig.  Such an imaginative way of doing it, I am so impressed.     I am in a rut and for at least the last decade have given each member a gift card to either Barnes and Nobel or Amazon.  

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More Thanksgiving and some sadness 11-27-21

My neighbors in the cul de sac (parents of the ice cream boys)  presented me with another full Thanksgiving dinner yesterday morning.  It is the first traditional meal they have made and they took it to his parents somewhere in LA County.  They must have made a lot because I ate it last night and tonight and still have enough turkey for a sandwich tomorrow.  All of you who have to cook every night will appreciate what a boon it is to have home cooked food that I don't have to cook!  Everything was very tasty.   All I need to do is wash and return the containers.

Today I went to a memorial service for the husband of one of my Book Group friends.  He had not been sick long and she is still struggling with the shock, I'm sure.  I sometimes muse on the difference between a loved one being sick and knowing that they will not get well and the sudden loss of someone who dies or is killed suddenly.  As hard as it was to have my husband get worse over two and a half years, I would always choose that, as we had those months together to settle things and say goodbye.  The memorial today was very tasteful and praiseful.  He was an exceptional person and lent a hand to others whenever he could.  He was a avid fisherman, so I'm sure that many of the guys there were his fishing buddies.  Two sons, their wives and children and grandchildren, his sister and her daughters and four of us from the Book Group were among the many attendees.  Afterward Carol and I went out for lunch which was good for me because I wasn't ready to be alone with my memories.  

The wind has departed for now and we have not had any brushfires nearby.  Blessings indeed.  Between the wind and the sewing that I have been doing I am so dry I have resorted to lotion several times a day.  If I could only figure out something to do with my nose - humidifier and nasal spray helps, but it is still dry and uncomfortable.  KoKo's eyes need cleaning a couple times a day after we go outside.  I am almost tempted to use some eye drops on him! 

Here he is hanging out the window while we were in line at Starbuck's the other day.  The Bird of Paradise are in full bloom everywhere.  They bloom well even in a drought. 

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Sewing, Book Group 07-21-21

After the pandemic shutdown I am just not accustomed to having so much to do!  Yesterday especially, I actually had four things on my calendar, after weeks, months of blankness!  First we had to go for our morning walk about 7:15am because it warms up fast and by 8am it can be over 80F - summertime!  Then there was a QGuild ZOOM Board Meeting at 9:30am, at 11:30am KoKo had an appointment for booster shots and the vet's office was backed up so it took an hour instead of the expected 20 minutes or so.  I sewed all afternoon before taking my friend Dick out for sushi at our favorite place "Fish in a Bottle".  Carol has been in Texas for a week, returning today.  And then I sewed late into the night to finish the Challenge quilt for Surfside QGuild to turn it in today on the very last possible turn-in date!  

The reveal date for the Challenge is the August 10th IN PERSON guild meeting in a new meeting place.  So, I can't show you the finished quilt, but here are some teasers.  I doubt that anyone in the guild actually reads my blog, so it won't be too much of a reveal. 

This is the quilted background.  We had three FQ to include - at least 4" of one and 2" of the other two - and the theme was "Bucket List".  The blue on the left and the orange on the right are two of the fabrics, the other was used in applique.  The quilting suggests the different terrain of California, Oregon, and Washington.  My imaginary travels take me up I-5, Hwy 101, and US395.  

And here we are in the Lexus heading north.  Someday soon, I hope!  Sometime after Aug 10th I will post an image of the whole quilt.  It isn't my favorite I have ever made, but it forced me to sew and it does fulfill all the requirements. 

Dessert at Book Group was a lovely homemade cake at Nancy's house.   I didn't realize how much I missed the welcoming living rooms and tasty desserts  we enjoy each month.  For over 40 years we have met in the evening, but everyone is now retired and we find it is more difficult to drive after dark, so gradually we have switched to 11:30am with everyone bringing a sack lunch and the hostess providing dessert as usual.  What a lovely plate with the white cake, blue napkin showing a bright lemon; we also had lemonade to drink.  It was a lovely meeting.  The book was "Signature of All Things" by Elizabeth Gilbert.  It was a real struggle for me with a very unsympathetic "heroine", but the others seemed to enjoy it and we all learned something about science and research - mosses in particular.  Not a book I will recommend.  And I read it on Kindle which I don't much enjoy, I miss the feeling and sight of a REAL book.  One funny thing is that when I am done reading, my hand automatically reaches out for a bookmark to mark my place!  I guess after 70 years of marking my place, my brain is hard to retrain.  

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Nice day with Book Group 06-16-21

It was a nice day, only 85F and a slight breeze.  The Book Group carpooled up to Clairemont to meet at Ann's townhouse.  It is only 30 - 40 minutes depending on traffic and depending on the driver to keep track of where she is going.  I listened to GPS instead of my instincts, so it took us a little longer.  There were four in my car and three in Carol's and one member could not go.  We missed her.  We did discuss the book  "Miss Benson's Beetle" and generally enjoyed it.  It is a very different story with funny parts and tragic parts. The hostess selects the next book and Ann has chosen Elizabeth Gilbert's "The Signature of All Things" Published in 2013 for discussion at our July meeting.  

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A bit Scatterbrained! 04-20-21

I don't know if is the pandemic or old age or just losing it in general, but I can't seem to concentrate on anything long enough to finish it.  Of course, KoKo demands attention throughout the day which is one of the effects of being in isolation for so long.  He is accustomed to having me ready for his needs at all times.  I currently have four ongoing projects that I fiddle around with off and on.  And there are those three completed tops that have not be sandwiched or quilted,   And yet I am digging around in my scraps looking for pieces for another idea I have in my head.  I know I am not the only one with this problem, I read what others write on Facebook and Elder Orphans and other groups.  I have always been a last minute finisher, but also decisive about what I am doing or going to do.  I've lost that.  And finally, I am just tired all the time.  I see my primary on Thursday, maybe she will have some answers.

I cannot have KoKo on my lap when I am computing or sewing, but sometimes he insists.  I was working on my calendar with the appointment book open on the keyboard when he decided it was a good place of a nap.  He did actually go to sleep and was indignant when I put him in his bed and insisted he stay there.  

 

On Monday I watched a ZOOM presentation from Okan Arts, a shop in Seattle that specializes in Japanese Yukata fabric.  The interviewee was Kaffe Fassett and it was a really upbeat interview.  I never know what to do with his fabric, but admire it excessively and have some in my fabric library.  The interview was recorded and I think most everyone will enjoy spending an hour with Kaffe at his home in England.  The colors!  The patterns!   The information about his design "ethic".  I came away with such a happy feeling.  Above is one of his quilts which typifies his color explorations.  

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/bJxfG9KqrstvFLRjDJyl-naxS4e6rhXRxvDoRgOXLh2MFO8r-AxjKKh7NxIx_HA3mSjWVi-ck1K7bnaS.AhcbZfLQWDJpAWwL?continueMode=true

Although I shopped at Trader Joe's today to restock my shelves/frig, which were almost bare, I could not say no to my kind neighbors in the cut de sac who frequently share their dinner with me.  Tonight is was turkey with veggies, white rice (I always have to add butter!), and a decoration of sliced cucumbers.  Not too spicy and delicious.  I don't think this is Indian food, but their version of plain old American "what's for dinner" food.  The chicken stir fry from TJ's will be good for tomorrow night.  

And tomorrow our Book Group meets for the first time in over a year.  I have been in this group since the late 70s and although we have ZOOMed I have missed seeing them all "in the flesh".  We will only be seven as one member has been having health problems.  We ALL can understand that.  Only one of us has had Covid, but we are all vaccinated now.  We will still socially distance anyway.  

 

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ZOOMING 05-11-20

The Book Group I have belonged to for about 40 years had a meeting on ZOOM today.  It was fun to see everyone and hear what they have been reading.  We ran out of time before we got into what else we have been doing, but we plan to meet more frequently in the future.  Who could have known in 1978 or so how our world would be changed by electronic developments.  Meetings online might have been in someone's plans, but none of us even had a computer back then.  I don't usually remember my dreams, but one horrifying one that reoccurs is that everything electronic stops working - all over the world.  Fortunately, I wake up before all the dystopian disaster begins.

Anyway we were to read any book by Alexander McCall Smith and I read a small book of short stories "Chance Developments" which is about all of his writing I can handle.  He is a very popular author, just not one of mine!  

I'm still sewing LIttle Houses. Is anyone that reads this blog doing those?  Just curious.  

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Book Group Christmas 12-18-19

Today was our annual Christmas Lunch and we didn't take a picture!  We usually forget because we are so busy talking, eating, exchanging gifts, and just generally having a great time. 

So, here is a somewhat formal image from March 2019 taken at Placentia Library. 

Book Group  March 2019

Teresa, Nancy, Carol, Verna, Ann

Del, Marlita, Kathy, Joann

Book Group Christmas 2010

Marlita,  Carol, Nancy, Verna, Del

Kathy, Teresa

[I did a typo and had the wrong date here, this image is from December 2010 not 2019.  Sorry]

Book Group Spring Tea  Circa 1990s

Teresa, Verna, Carol, Del, Ann, Kathy

Friday Food 09-20-19

Two kinds of food tonight.  This first one was dessert at the Book Group meeting on Wednesday at Teresa's.

A lovely perfect homemade cheese cake with fruit - strawberries and red grapes. 

So refreshing as summer continues, 

Nice presentation.

The book, by the way, was Alice Hoffman's "The Marriage of Opposites", another of Hoffman's fantastic historical fiction novels.  We all loved it, but didn't especially like the "heroine".   

Neighbors in the cul de sac across the street are originally from India and Mariam shared some exotic food with me.  I LOVE trying different foods and homemade is the best. She brought me an elegant vegetarian dinner.  I cannot tell you what all the dishes are, but I liked most of them. 

In the center is a tall metal "glass" of yogurt that was VERY salty.  Starting at 12 o'clock there was (maybe) tasty, spiced mashed squash, then yogurt with something which was one of the dishes I couldn't eat, next (obviously) is ground beets that was so sour it made my eyelids wrinkle - that is the other one I couldn't eat.  But then we have sautéed veggies including carrots, okra, celery, beans, etc. which was very tasty.  And next to that (in the 10 o'clock position) was a lovely finely chopped veggie combo which I could only tell had cabbage - gobbled that one up.  I had yogurt in the frig so I put some in a dish and used it to calm the spiciness.  There were so many different flavors, but I think cumin was dominate. 

On the side was this bowl of what tasted like a good beef stew, but there was no beef.  Potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and.....?  I gobbled this up also.  Delicious.  

She also brought a large container of a different kind of rice and I asked her later about it.  She says they buy it parboiled and it is a brown rice.  Not any kind I have eaten previously, but very good and there was enough for three meals!  

It was a special treat and I hope she will think of me again in the future.  I don't cook much, but I may take them a container of the great apple salad that Mabel shared while I was in Washington state.  I have made it three times since I came home and bought some more apples today!  It isn't a diet food, for sure, but it is delicious.  

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Talking about books 04-27-19

I almost never talk about books, but I read a lot.  And I write down the names of books/authors mentioned by others on their blogs or Facebook.  I suppose if I read 24 hours a day for the rest of my life I might read a tenth of them!  But the Book Group gives me a variety of books, some I like and some I don't.   Currently I am reading "The House Girl" by Tara Conklin.  It has alternating chapters - one from Josephine in 1852 and the other from Lina in 2010 or so.  I particularly dislike books that jump back and forth, but the stories are somewhat interesting and it was a popular bestseller in 2013.  

The May selection for the Book Group is The Nightengale, which I have already read, but will review before we meet again.  For April we read "The Truth According to Us" by Annie Barrows. During the month I read four Ann Cleeves books about a detective in the Shetland Islands of Scotland: "Raven Black", "White Nights", "Red Bones", "Blue Lightning".  They were entertaining and I learned things I didn't know about the Shetland Islands, including Fair Isle.  There are another four that follow the story line and I have them on my list.  

I also read the two latest Anne Hillerman mysteries.  Anne has taken up the stories of her late father Toni HIllerman and all the books take place in the Navajo nation in New Mexico and Arizona.  These two are "Song of the Lion" and "Cave of Bones".  I have read about these characters for years, so it is like visiting old friends. 

I sometimes run out of new books to read, but right now I have a shelf full and it is hard to decide what to read next.  Other than the Book Group book for May I will next read "Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon" by Leonard S. Marens, which is a biography of the author of "Goodnight Moon".  Sometimes the Book Group choses to have everyone read a biography or memoir and report on it at the meeting.  It is so interesting to hear what members selected to read and what they thought of the book.

Read any good books lately?

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Book Club 09-04-18

I wonder how many of us belong to a book group of some kind.  I've been in the "Book Group" since about 1978.  And I have posted about the group over the years.  See "Book Group" in the right sidebar if you are interested in some of our adventures.  

At the last meeting one of the members loaned me a book " The Book Club Cook Book"  by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp (2004 Tarcher/Penquin).  Since I hardly ever cook I was interested mostly in the pages that talk about book groups around the country.  I found that most of the groups started in the late 1990s and mostly have fewer than a dozen members.  The listing is done by book titles A to Z and each has a recipe, a report on a group and some other tidbits of interest.  It was interesting to see that many of them have the same favorite books, which are also some of the favorites of our group.  Most books mentioned are contemporary fiction although some date back to The Good Earth and Grapes of Wrath.  About the oldest is Middlemarch by George Eliot, published in 1871.

Of course, being a reader, I had to read the recipes also.  They are widely varied and many look like they would be a treat.  Maybe I will take up cooking again.  They are all connected in some way with the book mentioned and some groups specialize in serving foods related to their current book selection.  

I recommend this book for anyone who is both reader and cook.  Perhaps it is available at your library.   

The Book Group Christmas  12-15-10
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A visit to La Conner, WA 06-02-18

Mabel and I visited the small water side town of La Conner, WA, on Thursday, May 24th.  It was a beautiful sunny day and there were quite a few tourists visiting this charming little town.  Our first stop was Seeds for a delicious lunch.  They had curried asparagus soup, very tasty and a first for me.  Then we checked in at the  Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum www.qfamuseum.org  which is located in an historic house with quilts in every room and lovely views from the top floor.  There is also a ground floor gift shop with many original items and packaged Japanese fabrics.  The current exhibits are man made quilts and I was honestly disappointed.  Too many negative themes for me.  But there were a few outstanding quilts that I took pictures of. 

 From there we visited Sylvia Pippen's shop "Indigo Stitch" down on the waterfront.  I wanted to just stay there - forever!  Such gorgeous work in sashiko and applique from the creative minds and talented hands of Sylvia and her mother Kitty.  But the samples are not for sale, just the patterns and the materials to create them.  I was reluctant to photograph inside the shop so you will have to visit yourself to enjoy the wonders.   Here are two websites that talk about Sylvia and the shop. 

https://okanarts.com/kitty-pippen/
https://okanarts.com/indigo-stitch/

We also spend some time browsing through the "Wood Shop" which has a wonderful display of everything it is possible to make with fine woods, or so it seemed.  I left some money to support the economy and to supply my Book Group with bookmarks made from wood. 

We drove back to Mt. Vernon for dinner and then off to a meeting of Mabel's book club to talk about Jodi Picoult's book "Small Great Things".  The book is a fiction about racism and the discussion among the dozen ladies was interesting.  It was a full day, but also a great day.  

A very nice quilt that my eyes kept going back to, I'm sure it deserved the prize. 

Outstanding workmanship and a really lovely quilt in the traditional manner. Amazing hand quilting, too.

Indigo Stitch, the shop.

Indigo Stitch, the shop, and Mabel Huseby. 

Finds from the Wood Shop - a toothpick holder, a sinuous pickle fork, and one of the bookmarks. 

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Literary Orange 04-04-17

On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending Literary Orange, a Celebration of Authors, Readers, and Libraries, sponsored by the Orange County Public Libraries.  This is the 11th year it has been held and this year it was at the Newport Beach Marriott.  It is a full day of keynote speakers, interviews with authors, three different selections of panel discussions with authors, raffle baskets, and a nice lunch.  The day starts with coffee/tea and breakfast pastries and opening remarks by the organizers and volunteers.  This year the keynote speakers were Marcia Clark (known for the OJ Simpson trial and her crime fiction series), Christina Baker Kline (author of "Orphan Train" and other books), and Fannie Flagg (whose first novel was the best selling "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café").  They were all fascinating and Fannie was very funny. 

 

The paid attendance was 200 women and a few men.  The round tables in the ballroom accommodated everyone at close quarters, but everyone was in a good mood and happy to squeeze together.  The lady in the orange scarf on the right is my friend and fellow member of the Book Group, Nancy Mastroianni. 

This is Fannie's latest book, from which she read a chapter, to everyone's delight. Each tote bag contained a copy of this book.  On site was a book store "Mystery Galaxy" which is located in San Diego (5943 Balboa Ave, Ste 100, 858-268-4747) carrying all the books discussed and a few more.  Needless to say, I added to my library.  I still prefer books printed on paper - hard or soft cover. 

 

Attending with Nancy and I was our friend, and Book Group member, Carol Bednar.  Carol and I attended two panels about mysteries, all authors I have not read - yet!  The final panel we three attended was "What do I read next?" presented by two representatives of Random House, one of the event sponsors.  We heard about all the new books Random House is issuing this year.   And we will definitely read some of them.

Meanwhile, back in Placentia, poor KoKo and Froggie had to stay home all alone.  They did fine, no accidents and nothing shredded.  KoKo is a very good dog. 

 

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A Book Group Event 06-06-16

For almost forty years the Book Group I belong to has been sharing bookmarks when the members have traveled.  We search for and bring back these little jewels from all over the USA and the wider world.  Two of members decided to sort through and categorize all of their bookmarks and arrange to have displays in two places: Placentia City Library and California State University  - Fullerton.   Today we all went to see both displays and have lunch together.

At the Placentia Library the display cases are tucked back in a corner - not easily found. 

This section is bookmarks from around the world.  As our members have retired they have picked up their suitcases and traveled the globe.

More of the World travel section.

I've never heard bookmarks called Book Jewelry, but it makes sense and is a common description in the literature about books and bookmarks.  The four across the bottom are metal.

 

 

I am so impressed at the ingenuity they used in the displays.  This showing of flower bookmarks uses the plastic sticks that come with flower arrangements - with the little fork at the end.  And they are anchored in a potted plant. 

 

 

 At Cal State Fullerton the displays are in two flat cases and a large cube.   The overhead lights make photos almost impossible.   

There is an explanation of the display and a list of books read in the early years of the group.

In the large cube the bookmarks are on a display stand that is made of long clear filaments with clips at the ends.  The filaments are from a center source that drape like a fountain. [this is really hard to describe].  The ladies needed to choose things that weighed down the filaments so they wouldn't touch the inside of the cube.

 Here is one of the metal bookmarks clipped to the filament clip.

 

 

This selection is about the out-of-doors, many National Parks represented.

 

We will continue to meet and bring back bookmarks from our travels.  We read a wide variety of books.  This month the book is "Havana Heat" by Darryl Brock.  It is fiction about a deaf baseball player in the early 1900s.  Interesting, but heavy on baseball jargon.

 

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Christmas with the Book Group 12-13-14

The Book Group started as an activity of the Faculty Women's Club at Cal State University-  Fullerton, where my husband was a professor and associate dean of Engineering. Everyone has a University connection, either their husbands were professors or they worked there, mostly in the library.  The group had been going for a number of years before I retired and had the time to participate.  I joined in 1979, 44 years ago.  Three of the current members were already members and the group was much larger then.  Some members dropped out, some moved away, until we are left with nine members who fit nicely into each of our homes.  The group is more social that it was originally, but we do read a book each month, always mention it at meetings and sometimes discuss it extensively  This month  was the writings of Lisa See; I read "China Girls", but I am a fan and have read all of her books.

We try to schedule the December meeting so everyone can attend, but this year it wasn't possible and Verna was entertaining her brother who she seldom sees. 

Our potlucks are very simple these days, since we request what we like best.  At the top of the table are biscuits (wrapped in a towel) from Ann, pot roast from Teresa (our hostess), Lisa's Carrots from Del, zucchini casserole from JoAnn, Fantastic Potatoes from Nancy, and, in the center of the table, cranberry salad from Kathy.  Not shown was the Texas Fruitcake from Marlita and the appetizers from Carol.  There was champagne and wine with the appetizers. I made a huge triple recipe of the delicious carrots so there would be leftovers for everyone to take home.  

Carol Bednar, Nancy Mastroianni, JoAnn Woodard, Ann Morgan.

Teresa Malinowski, Marlita Bellot, Kathy Frazee

The hit of the evening were these dragonflies as a table favor at each plate, courtesy of Teresa, our hostess.  They are hand painted by a Chinese-American lady and each is a bit different.  This is mine who I named Marvin, and he balances nicely on his nose on the corner of my laptop.  He shows up nicely against my 2015 appointment book.

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