My Book Club

Reading books has always been my favorite pasttime. I like reading all kinds of books and can't wait to read Best Sellers (which aren't always my favorites).  When I was growing up in the 40s, during WWII, books were not always available.  I remember receiving "At the Back of the North Wind" when I was in the 5th or 6th grade.  I had wanted one of the Bobsey Twins books or a Nancy Drew mystery.  Mother ordered it from Sears Roebuck and they substituted the North Wind book.  I read it but it was not my favorite.  She felt bad that I did not get the books I wanted that Christmas.

When I was in the 6th grade, our little country school  started a library.  It was housed in my classroom and I was in charge of it.  I checked out books for people to read.  I got to read the new books first!  My favorite was "Doctor Doolittle" and I wrote a play from that story and our class presented it.  I read every book in the library that year.

In the early 50's, The bookmobile stopped in our community. This was great in the summer when we wanted books to read.  We didn't have TV to occupy our time back then. Nobody had TV.  Had not even heard about TV!

So it's fitting that I belong to a book club.  We meet once a month and review the book we selected for that month.  We meet at a local coffeehouse where we can purchase a cup of latte or delicious coffee to drink while we discuss the book of the month.  It's a come if you can sort of club.  We don't count anybody absent.  Many of our group travel and can't always be there.  Last month one member was on a cruise in Europe and another in Ireland.  They usually attend if they are at home.

My Kindle

Our book selection for Nov. was "Hotel at the corner of Bitter and Sweet" -  and a good book it was.  While it was fiction, it was based on real facts.  It portrayed the situation during WWII when the Japanese were interned in camps in the northwest.  I learned so much from reading this book.  One of my favorites this year was a book published several years ago, "The Power of One".  And most recently, "Sarah's Key".

I am usually reading more than one book at the time.  I keep one by my bed and sometimes read if I go to bed early (do this a lot in the winter).  I have a Kindle and love to read when we're on trips.  It has a little night light that really magnifies the print when needed.  I usually order used books from Amazon for about 1/3 the price of regular books, and order paperbacks.  We don't have room to put any more books on our shelves so I read them and pass them on to others to read.  We all do that in our book club.  Plus we give the librarian our book list when we make a new one (about twice a year) and she makes sure at least one copy of our selected books is in the library.

We read "Water for Elephants" last spring and when the movie was released, our book club members car-pooled to a nearby theater (don't have one here in Elba) for a matinée showing of the movie.  It was so much fun watching the characters come to life.  Some were not at all as we had imagined but the movie followed the story, until the ending and they changed that!

A Gift for a Little Princess

The reigning Little Miss Elba, Chanlyn Free,  is a beautiful 11-year-old neighbor girl.  She will be riding on a float in the National Peanut Festival parade in Dothan tomorrow morning, along with other "queens", including my nephew's daughter Bethany Wilson,  who is Miss Elba this year.

Little "Miss Elba" and her baby sister Lindley

 Chanlyn's mother asked me to help her come up with something for Chanlyn to cover her legs while riding on the float, to help her keep warm.  I made her a beautiful (and elegant) lap robe out of off white fleece material which I lined with white, stiped satin. I found the fabric at a fabric discount store and the entire project cost less than $13!

It was worth all the time and effort when Chanlyn sat in my den with the laprobe over her knees, and those beautiful blue eyes flashing with excitement.  She couldn't believe I made it.

 She is shown here with the big afghan covering her legs.  It's supposed to be very, very cold in the  morning when the parade follows  a path in downtown Dothan.  Her mother was taking her shopping for some white mittens and ear muffs.  She will be wearing her great-grandmother's white fur cape over her bright aqua heirloom dress (under which she will be wearing insulated underwear).

We will be watching the parade on TV in the  morning and can't wait to see her as the City of Elba float passes down the street.

Digging a well for water

Today we went to my brother Perry's place on Beaver Dam Creek  near the Elba By-Pass bridge to watch him as he operated a primitive well-digging rig which he called a "sludge bucket".

It will be interesting to see if this really works and if he does strike water and can install a pump.  More later.

If you look real close (click to enlarge photo) you will see the by-pass bridge at the top right of the photo.

Pumpkin Fest at Elba United Methodist Church tonight

 I made 2 doz. chocolate cupcakes and decorated them with white icing and put 1 candy corn on top to take to the pumpkin fest at church at 4 p.m.

A lot of families came to the pumpkin fest and kids loved the inflatables and riding the farm wagon.

Then they went inside the Fellowship hall where lots of events were taking place, as well as a long table of food.  Some of the men of the church grilled hamburgers outside.




Nell's cousins and neighbors

My latest food preservation project: drying fruit

I have been busy drying apples and persimmons.  A couple of years ago I bought a dehydrator at a thrift shop for $5.  It has 5 trays and a small electric motor underneath.  Fruit dries in about 24 hours. I really like the persimmons best when dried; they are so sweet.

I have made 3 "kitchen swags", using raffia to attach the fruit and
cinnamon sticks.  I gave one to my sister-in-law Carol on her birthday
yesterday.  Made another for her daughter Ginger and one for my
kitchen.  I put a couple of drops of apple/cinnamon essential oil at
the top knot and it smells like "Thanksgiving".  The last time I made one a few years ago, it was still nice when I took it down in the spring.

I used to help my mother and grandmother dry peaches, apples and figs when I was a little girl.  They would use pieces of tin to place the fruit on and then place the tin on top of the hedge in the hot sun.  What I remember most about what they did with the dried fruit was fried apple and peach pies and homemade fig newtons. Next year I want to dry drying some figs.  I wonder if I can dry tomatoes?

I might locate a large sheet of tin and use that next summer.  It will hold much more than my 5 small trays.

My Legacy

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The President's Own - Marine Band

Today we were privileged to hear this great band at the new Enterprise (AL) High School Performing Arts Center (auditorium).  It was our first visit to this new building and it's beautiful - and so big.

What a great performance.  The program had a great variety of music, including 3 of my favorite marches.
The first one, "King Cotton", I played in the Elba High School Band in the early 1950s.  Then there was John Phillip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever".  At end of the program they played the Armed Forces Medley and asked veterans to stand for their service song.  Enterprise being a military retiree town had many people standing for their branch of service. For an encore, the moderator stepped to the microphone and asked everybody to join in and sing "God Bless America ".  We sang it through twice.

The moderator, a mezzo soprano, sang two selections from the opera Carmen.  She was great!  She also had a great personality as she announced each of the selections before the band played them.

James loved band music, especially John Phillip Sousa marches.  I kept thinking about him throughout the concert, and how he would have been trying to direct the band from his seat.