August 15 Meeting at Alice's

The evening of August 15, 2013, was the monthly meeting of the Good Time Girls and their books.  It is always important to read the right book(!) that was one lesson learned and the other is that Spotted Dick pudding is a pretty good dessert (British); along with layered flashy jello bites (LA) and finally Sharon’s mountaineer brownies (WV).

The book, the correct The Midwife’s Tale by Gretchen Moran Laskas was fine West Virginia family story telling. I liked all the visual pictures described (the land, gardens, herbs and interiors of houses) and the beau coups of moral dilemmas!  We met Laskas last fall at Shepherd University when she was an author in residence.  Even though Laskas left WV when she was 3 years old her grandmother’s stories as she grew up pushed and motivated her to eventually write this book. And I do believe in miracles. (And finding a man at the carnival is one, I believe.  I’ll keep that in mind…)

Also while we were waiting for Kathy and Pam to arrive, we watched an episode of the PBS series Call the Midwife.  It is a loving and honest peek post WWII into center city London and yes, there was a baby boom but no worries: the young nurse midwives teaming up with the capable Sisters of St. Raymond Nanatus have it covered. Tonight,  nurse Trixie learns that she is vulnerable trying to find a male celebrity to host the baby contest, nurse Jenny Lee finds out how much a mother with 8 kids will do to get rid of her 9^th baby, and elderly Sister Monica Joan is the best judge of beautiful babies after all.  

Reflections: The 3^rd part was reading my sister’s Home Births for Meg from her own real experiences using midwives in Los Angeles, CA during the 1980’s…she was inspired to have her babies (one girl ‘80, one boy ‘85) born at home because her good friend Linda Holland trained as a midwife after nursing duties/ work in the Vietnam War. Linda worked in Texas so Meg used the nearby Venice Birth Center!  “I was so grateful for the women who guided and helped me,” Meg Davenport said at the end. So good, we had to have an encore and read it again. And her sweet kids are all grown up now.   

  

THANKS everyone for being at my house. – Alice xo