November 19 Meeting at Grace's

Well, we celebrated our 7th Anniversary.  Where has the time gone? It is hard to believe that much time has gone by. We just get better and better. Sharon & Alice, sorry that you were unable to make the meeting.  We missed you.

Everyone was pretty much in agreement that they enjoyed the book, "The Invention of Wings" by Sue Monks Kidd.  Many of us had never heard of the characters in the book and the active role they played in abolition and woman's rights. None of us had ever heard of Sarah Grimke or Hetty Grimke. I did not know that slaves took on the last name of their owner.  It is so hard to believe how anyone could be so cruel to another human being but do understand that during this time in history living in the south you had to abide by the law and treat your slaves as personal property. Sarah found out at a very young age when she was presented with her own personal slave (Handful also known as Hetty) on her birthday.  Sarah who loved books taught her friend/slave Hetty how to read and write and when this was discovered Sarah was stripped of access to any books and Hetty was whipped.   When Sarah's father took ill, she moved north and at that time realized life was very different up north and that slaves were not part of the lifestyle she knew in Charleston.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Love you Ladies.
Grace

Thank you Grace for our Anniversary gift package 

October 15 Meeting at Sharon's

Wow! Didn’t expect such a reaction to this book! Seems like people either liked or HATED it! It was described as a moving and funny novel of the heart, but several thought it was nothing more than a blatant bashing of Catholicism. The author is a former priest and some thought he was airing all his criticism of his religion through this story. They felt Mary, the title character, had no redeeming virtues. Others felt the story was a charming look into the Irish small town culture of the 50s. Most were in agreement that what Mary did to her close friend was unforgivable. Thankfully, everyone was in harmony before the discussion, partaking in a meal of sloppy joes, layered salad, and macaroni and cheese. As usual, desserts were in abundance and, hopefully, all went home in good spirits. We missed having Carol, Rosemary and Pat at the table. 

Sharon

September 17 Meeting at Pat's

         While eating white lasagna, we discussed Rachel Joyce's first novel, "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry". I had read recently that much of the pain people experience in our culture is from unresolved grief.  Our book discussion included the power of journey, the importance of sharing grief, both telling our story and listening well to another's story.  The time passed quickly, and I was sorry for our discussion to end.

    Love, Pat

August 27 Meeting at Carol's but with Edna hosting

      The August Book Club was held on the 27th at the home of Carol and hosted by Edna.   We started with snacks and the sweet and sour chicken was the most popular.  The recipe is found under "sweet and sour chicken" on the internet and then I went to "Mama's Kitchen".  The sauce was on a different site because I didn't want the one on Mama's Kitchen.  It stated that it was spicy. 

     After everyone arrived, we started our dinner with a picnic theme.  We ate on paper plates and did barbecue and potato salad, etc. 

     Our book this month was "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand.  I had read it a while ago but the story had moved me so that's why I picked it.  Several people had also seen the movie that came out recently.  Everyone liked the book but found it hard to take.  The story of man's inhumanity to man, is always hard to imagine!!!   Louis Zepporini was an average American guy, living his life in California and dreaming of being an Olympic athlete.   He was on track to be a winner when he ended up in World War 11, as did so many young men of that generation. 

      One of the things we discussed, was how many of us either had family members in the War or knew of someone that was there.  We also remembered how most of our family that had been there, never talked about it. 

      Roe said she found it hard to read but loved the strength that Louis showed.  Most agreed with her!!   Pat said that there was a strong pivotal point in the movie that was not really played up in the book.  Of course, we got into a discussion of government and how many Wars are fought over old men's wants!!!   Sad but true!!! 

      All in all, the book was enjoyed and next month's meeting at Pat's on the 17th, Sept. was set up.  She has picked " The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" by Rachel Joyce. 

      The evening ended, as per usual, with hot coffee and tea and more desserts than we could possibly eat; even though we gave it our best "book club" try!!!!!!  Grace brought peach cobbler, Roe brought oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies and Drika brought dream sickle cookies.  As hostess, I made dark chocolate brownies with dark chocolate icing and almonds along with vanilla ice cream!!! 

     Sorry you missed the evening, Alice!!! 

      I am looking forward to September book club and the book, even though I have already read one wrong book thinking it was the right one!!!  hahaha

Love, Edna

As requested - Coconut Muffins (Harpoon Hanna's, Ocean City, MD) Recipe 

July 16 Meeting at Kathy's

The evening started out with just the cutest appetizers- lil lady bugs:

One by one, the girls arrived and we caught up on things going on with our lives.  I had just gotten back from Folly Beach in SC and survived "shark week".  We had a wonderful meal of Iron Skillet ham & cheese cornbread and KY Salad with Bourbon Vinaigrette. Of course we had wine, my "holycraptheseareamazing" cookies, Roe brought desserts and Alice gave us a taste of France including le chocolat. We missed you - Dricka, Carol, Pat and Grace but we did managed to keep the conversation going without you.

I asked each member what they thought of the book.  Roe said she liked it to the half way point then what happened --  she throws in Red's parents Junior & Linnie Mae's history and kills off Abby the main character. What the heck?  Sharon liked Anne Tayler's other books and didn't think this was her best. As a matter of  fact we read her "The Amateur Marriage" which was better.  Louisa was upset that she not only killed off Abby but her dog too!.  If only he had one of those stretchy leaches and could have gotten out of the way.  Edna and Alice pretty much said the same,  it was an OK book about a family and that pretty much summed up the book "Spool of Blue Thread" by Anne Tyler. Sharon asked what was the significance of the title "A Spool of Blue Thread"?  We surmised it was the blue spool miraculously dropping into Denny's hand when he was going to mend his father's dashiki for Abbey's funeral.  We did get into discussion about family and how they are not perfect, how interesting family vacation can be and the problems that come with growing old ie hard of hearing and forgetfulness. WHAT!  HUH?  I was pretty upset when Linnie Mae painted the swing blue after Junior took all that time to finished it and then to throw blue paint on the walkway after he had stripped it once again as punishment.  He should had killed her, just saying.  But then that was kind of a side story.

Next month Edna will host the meeting on the 4th Thursday - August 27 and we will read "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand.  I have the ebook and will send the link so you can download it.  If you have trouble with the download please give me a call and I will help you.

Good times as always.  Enjoy your summer,
KAthy G

June 18 Meeting at Pam's

We had a great evening and I had a big surprise. I had forgotten the book I picked, so when we started discussing it, I was at a loss.. I soon caught up. There were mixed feelings about the book "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield but it was a good mystery. I hope everyone enjoyed it.

I broke down this time and actually made sauce for spaghetti. It was good, I thought, and Grace helped me with the amount of spaghetti I needed to cook. We had salad, ice cream, cookies, cream puffs and many other desserts. No dinner is complete without something burned. I forgot the bread and left it in the oven. We had Blackened Italian Bread to go with our meal.

We missed the ladies that couldn't make it and I hope to see them next month.

We are a great group of girls.

Pam

May 14 Meeting at Carol's

The May meeting of book club went off without any problems.  First--I did NOT stress out about my meeting this time.  I left up my Easter/Spring decorations for everybody to enjoy (actually I just didn't have time to decorate for my Patriotic theme of the summer yet).  I decided to keep refreshments light and everybody seemed to enjoy the meatballs, veggie pizza, and snacks.  Of course, the chocolate from Paris and my newly discovered peanut cups* went over very nicely.  Thank you to everybody who brought offerings to round out the eating experience.

The feedback was positive as most of us seemed to really enjoy the book, "Hissy Fit".  My friend, Linda, had suggested the book for a funny, light read.  However, most of us agreed while there were funny parts in the book, it was pretty serious action.  Just about everybody could relate to the small town happenings.  It's a know fact that everybody knows everybody else's business; and "Who's who" can control a lot of what happens in the business activities of a small town.  I was amazed at how people expected her to just overlook the behavior of her future husband.  The only part I find repetitive is how the girl always finds a replacement so quickly.  Real life doesn't happen that way -- or maybe it does for most of society today.  Probably the most upsetting part of the book was how those involved were willing to let her and her father suffer all those years thinking her mother had just run off and left them with no contact.  It was more important for them to uphold their "image" in the community.  At least her "ex" did finally try to straighten out his life and become a better person - but his dad remained the ultimate jerk & creep.

   

Carol

*Mini Peanut Butter Phyllo Pies

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

3 ounces Greek (or plain) cream cheese

8 ounces Cool Whip, lite - I used regular

1-1/4 cup powdered sugar

30 Athens Mini Fillo Shells (2 boxes)

30 peanut halves

Chocolate, shaved for garnish

In a medium mixing bowl, combine peanut butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the Cool Whip and powdered sugar, finishing with the Cool Whip. Spoon or pipe 1 tablespoon into each shell.  Garnish with peanut half and shaved chocolate.  Refrigerate till served.

April 16 Meeting at Alice's

The GTG April 2015 Book Club session was held at my house -- a generous time & excellent discussion was had by all. To review:

W onder was the title-- not like Alice in Wonderland -- a song and lyrics the author heard which inspired a real life experience into a story

O as in One child she saw getting ice cream. The Only thing she could think of was not let her children say something embarrassing.  By hurrying away and not even saying hello to a child with a physical deformity, RJ Palacio felt a need to respond.  To turn it around.

N would be the next step for the main character, August “Auggie” Pullman, a boy with a messed up face (one crazy birth defect) who would be transitioning from being home schooled to going to a real school called Beecher Prep.  His parents wanted this, too.

D has two 1) Daisy the dog is a very important part of Auggie’s life, and 2) Did you read all the Precepts at the end of the book?  Mine is a quote by Ben Bradlee, “ The search for the truth changes your life.”

E means the enjoyment of hearing/reading all the kid character voices in this book and feeling what they felt.  My favorite was getting to know Auggie’s sister, Via (Olivia)… and Every chapter was short!

R is for redeeming value; the overall reason for writing the book is to choose kindness.  Be considerate of others.  Push past the differences to choose acceptance especially when it’s a child.

We missed Dricka and we know she was taking care of her lovely and loved Charlene another living Wonder.    Thanks everyone!!  Alice in….

March 19 Meeting at Dricka's

This month's book club was held on March 19th.  We read "Gray Mountain" by John  Grisham.  Some thought the book was related to our way of life or heard of someone who was involved with coal related occupation and revolved around the Appalachian mountains.  I enjoy Grisham's books, but we agreed we didn't like the unresolved issues at the end of the book.  The main character, Samantha, was going to stay in Appalachia and continue the trial work that Donovan, another character in the book, started.  She will hopefully win the cases as Donovan had done before his untimely death.

We celebrated St. Patrick's day with corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and of course,  Irish soda bread.  Thanks to Grace for her cream puffs, Roe's famous cheese cake and my contribution of apple crisp.

The night finished up with  a lively discussion of intimate apparel!

Thanks, Dricka

PS So are you a "swinger" - clip in the front and swing to the back?? 

February 26 Meeting at Rosemary's

Thinking about the blog and my hosting the February book club, I realized I seem to be always apologizing for something, the overcooked turkey, the undercooked broccoli, the overcooked crumb cake.   I apologize for the apologizes.   The dinner was good and crumb cake delicious and recipe will follow below for those interested.

It was a good discussion of the book  "Home " by Julie Andrews.   Most agreed the beginning of the book went into much detail with respect to her ancestry and got more interesting as her life and career evolved.    I mentioned that Julie Andrews had collaborated with her daughter in publishing many children's books which have been well received.    The writing endeavor was prompted by the unfortunate loss of her renowned lovely  singing voice due to a "botched " surgical  procedure in 1997.   Dame Julie is a person to be admired for her courage, talent, graciousness, and one who used adversity to redefine herself.  

Thank you all for coming and thanks for wine and goodies to share.   We missed you Pam, Pat and Grace.    It was a fun evening and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Julie Andrews  and sharing an evening with friends.

..... Till You Find your Dream
Rosemary

Recipe for crumb cake

1 box yellow cake mix (moist type)-prepare and bake for only 20 minutes in a greased sheet pan.
Crumb topping:       4 cups flour
                            2/3 cup brown sugar
                            2/3 cup sugar
                            1 Tbsp cinnamon.    -   Mix together
                             
                             3 sticks melted butter   
                             1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Melt butter in microwave -add vanilla after butter is melted in separate bowl, mix flour, both sugars and cinnamon.   Slowly add melted butter to flour mixture.  Using hands, mix and form large crimes.  Sprinkle crumb mixture onto half baked cake.  Return to oven and finish baking for another 20 minutes or until crumbs are golden.  Let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Cake is also delicious warmed in microwave.
  Serve alone or with whipped cream, ice cream if you want to spike your cholesterol, but it sure is good.

January 15 Meeting at Louisa's

The evening started with everyone catching up with each other.  Edna brought the wedding album to share. What a memorable event.

Dinner was served with a lot of help from Elizabeth.  I couldn't do Book Club dinner without her help.
After dinner we began the book discussion. Unfortunately not everyone could get the book.  Some hadn't finished it, but everyone liked the cover....Ahhh
Carol wasn't pleased with the ending.  As we discussed it, Roe put her fingers in her ears not to hear it. We decided that we liked the book especially the letters about Edi during World War II.

My famous oatmeal cookies were then enjoyed by all.
We missed you Alice and Pat.
Thanks to everyone who brought goodies to share.
Louisa