06 Apr Good Free-For-All-Friday
Wishing you a great Good Friday & a Happy, Blessed Easter!
Yes, I love Friday’s, especially holiday ones. For the LOL, festivities began early when we met for our monthly get-together @ Ruth’s house to discuss her selection, the Kitchen House. Without fail, following every meeting, the emails and messages flow freely, full of praise for the hostess and her amazing home, wine selection, and tasty temptations. This month at the house of Ruth, was no exception.
Ruth and her hubby John live in a spectacular, beautifully and warmly decorated house on the lake in Kelowna. Like Ruth herself, this woman’s home exudes natural beauty and warmth and her cooking and baking? Let’s just say everyone was too busy sipping and sampling to get talking! Ruth served up these delectable little Greek salad bites on cucumber slices, melt-in-your-mouth mushroom caps, and one of my favorites, flaky, buttery, Spanikopita hot from her wall oven. Of course the wine was delicious too (isn’t it always?) and what’s a group of girls without dessert?
In celebration of the lovely lady of literature, Laurie, and her birthday, Ruth made a layered lemon coconut cake that John hoped wouldn’t be entirely devoured before he got home.
Laurie’s husband, Jack, surprised her with a stay @ the fabulous Sparkling Hills resort in Vernon (www.sparklinghill.com). Wishing you both a wonderful day…& night!
Look for Ruth’s recipes coming to the LOL blog soon.
What else to look for? The LOL Cheers! ratings of what we’ve read…which have been on their way for some time, sigh…but hey, I’m getting there. Tis’ the technology that slows me down, not the telling…
So on that note, what did the ladies on literature think of Canadian Kathleen Grissom’s book? The consensus was that this novel is well worth the read and we eagerly await the movie. Many of us found it hard to digest at times (Vikki remarked that she had to put it to rest on her nightstand more than once) because the content is so gritty and the telling so vivid. Ms. Grissom herself comments that a day of writing left her emotionally spent. “I tried on a number of occasions to change some of the events (those that I found profoundly disturbing), but the story would stop when I did that, so I forged ahead to write what was revealed.”
Again, I love that the author feels this story was told to her, that it begged to be written by souls who entrusted her with their truth, commenting, “I am forever grateful to the souls who gifted me with their sharing. I can only hope I have served them well.”
So here’s to the Kitchen House and here’s to Ruth for her wonderful choice and winning hospitality. In the spirit of giving, our hostess had us bring our gently used shoes in big garbage bags to her house so that she could gather up a collection to drop off at Roy’s Shoe Repair here in Kelowna, where owners Jim and Karen Belshaw make a point of philanthropic work, not only in their community, but abroad. Jim heads up the Canadian side of Soles4Souls, a charity that gets shoes on the feet of people who need them most, first in Kelowna, and throughout the country, then to third world countries. To learn more about the great work the Belshaws do and the Soles4Souls campaign check out the store’s site: roysshoes.com
Here we have a few samples of shoes and a bucket and a few bags of bountiful boots, trainers, some high heels! There might even be the odd purse in there because as Ruth pointed out, “What’s a pair of shoes without a handbag to go with them?”
And what would literature be without lovely ladies to share it with? Driving home I happened to catch an archived Oprah on my XM Radio. She was chatting with some women who had begun a book club with their daughters. Both moms and daughters commented on how much more they were getting out of their reading through the process of sharing and how much more they were getting from sharing with a commonly read book as springboard for conversation. The Ladies on Literature know all about that.
Please check in again on Monday, when I’ll announce our next book. Until then, gather up your old shoes, grab a glass of wine (or two or…), have some chocolate, read a little, and laugh a lot.
Cheers!
Shannon
(Cindy G, me, & Cindy W…Oh, & Judy and Cara in the b.g.)