Famous Authors Read My Blog

Today e-mails were going around with last minute details for our Page Turner meeting next week.  Our September book is, Conversations and Cosmopolitans by Robert and Jane Rave.  The Dream Maker picked the book.  We are eating at the Cafe Italiana's new location.  Those two facts alone should make it a fantastic meeting.  I finished the book at the beginning of the month.  As soon as The Dream Maker announced her pick, I was ready to read it.  Could not put it down.  I am going to need to scan it again next week so I remember all the details.
It is not a secret to anyone that reads the blog that I will shamelessly talk about a book if there is a possibility the author could, maybe see my blog.  Old Lady hates the fact that Lisa Scottoline commented on my blog and on Facebook.  I will talk up every Lisa Scottoline book I read just in case she ever checks my blog.  I will not lie about my rating.  Luckily, I always love her books.
I got off subject talking about one of my favorite authors, Lisa Scottoline.  Today, The Dream Maker mentioned that she gave my blog address to this month's author, ROBERT RAVE.  The Dream Maker went to high school with ROBERT RAVE, awesome writer.  She e-mails him.  Get this, she sent him an e-mail asking for suggestions for discussion questions for our meeting.  That is amazing.  It feels like The Page Turners are going Big time.
I hope everyone is enjoying the book.  I think I will download Robert Rave's other books and read them.  I like his writing style.  Conversations and Cosmopolitans was a nice change.  I enjoy books that have a comic edge.  Light reads. Interesting subject.  Enjoyed reading descriptions of life in Bloomington. 
Robert - if you do check out my blog.  Welcome!  Enjoyed the book.  I will shamelessly plug it more after our meeting next week.

Side note to Tru Stories & The Mrs. - Hope you have a wonderful time at the Madonna concert.  TS I am exhausted from your children.  Perfect little Tink was wound up tonight.  I put her on yellow in my head two times.  Coco put her on yellow one time.  The girls were both sleeping by 8:30.  The Kid is having a later bedtime.  He had power points to print.  I think I will be sleeping by 10:00.  The Kid is happy Mrs. can check Madonna off her Bucket List.  Sigh!  He needs to stop listening to us talk.  He should not know terms like Bucket List.  I hope the two of you can stay awake for the entire concert!  Good Luck.

I Am Very Concerned

Dear Munchkin:
I am growing very concerned about you.  Your blog sits on the same boring post day after day, after day.  No adorable pictures of Prada have appeared on Facebook lately.  I worry that now that you have a cute man in your life, you have lost your ability to blog.  Maybe a happy Munchkin is not funny.  The bitterness, the sarcastic edge, could be gone. 
Don't get me wrong, your fans are thrilled you have found Match.com Guy.  (Love that adorable nickname.)  You cannot tell me that stupid people are not still a part of your daily life.  Asking you if you gift wrap.  Questioning if you are a "real" Doctor.  Wondering when the Pharmacist will be available to help them.  
Is the Crazy Munchkin gone?  Will you come to the next Relay Dance and shyly sit at a table.  No wild outfit.  No wacky dancing.  Will you and Match.com Guy come in wearing couple t-shirts.  I'm with Her, I'm with Him!!  Adorable.
All we are saying is throw us a bone once in a while.  Would it hurt you to complain about something?  Go to Walmart.  That should help you find something to talk about.
Sincerely,
President of The Munchkin Fan Club

Blast From The Past - Harry's Meat Market

This is my sweet little village in about 1962.  All the store fronts were full.  We had at least two grocery stores downtown.  There were two furniture stores in town.  One downtown.  This picture was taken before main street became one way.  You can see why they had to make it one way.  The traffic is crazy!!
The reason I love this picture is, my Dad had a grocery store/meat market downtown.  We do not have a picture of it.  This is the only picture I have seen that has it.  My Dad's store had two awnings.  A larger awning and a small awning. To the left of his store was a barbershop and Art's Bird Store, now known as Turtle's Tap. 
I have many great memories from my Dad's store.  My Dad was a butcher.  Farmers would bring cows in and my Dad would handle the entire process of butchering them.  I was not allowed to watch.  One day I begged.  I said, I am old enough, I can watch.  I was not old enough.  I lasted about two minutes.  I was allowed to watch my Dad cut meat.  I loved it.  He was so fast.  I was fascinated with how he would take a huge side of beef and make the different cuts.  He had a huge butcher block he cut the meat on. At the end of the day he would clean it.  He used several brushes and sawdust. My Dad always had a band-aid on at least one finger.  Part of the job. 
Another part I enjoyed watching was him sharpening the knives.  He had a long thick rod that looked like a sword.  This is what he would sharpen the knives on.  All of it was well executed repetition.  It was like a dance.  Some of the things were played out day after day.
Most of the time there was a pot of coffee brewing in his backroom.  It was a place farmers would go to hang out.  The would be in there laughing and talking.  I am sure it was a great place for them to gossip. 
Every night by 6:05 the phone would ring at home.  My Dad would call to see if my Mom needed him to bring anything home.  The answer was milk, bread, or both.  Some evenings if we wanted a special bedtime snack, we would go up to the store.  I can remember walking up and down the aisles looking for something special.  My Dad's favorite was root beer floats.
I wish I had a close up of this picture.  Not that I need it.  In my mind I can picture everything.  I can smell all the great smells.  I can see my Dad behind the lunch meat counter or in the backroom at the butcher block.  The business was sold when I was in Fourth Grade.  The reason it was sold was because of new laws.  Everything in the store would have had to be updated.  No more butcher blocks.  No more sawdust.  It all had to be stainless steel.  New rules for slaughtering animals.  It was the end of an era in our house.  The night before the auction we made one last trip to the store to find a bed time snack.  Good memories.

August Meeting in September

The August Page Turner meeting was postponed until September by my request.  I did not have the book finished.  I wanted to complete it because I LOVED IT.  I rated this book a 5.  The Old Lady rolled her eyes about my rating.  She gave it a 4.  I may have mentioned this before, the Old Lady cannot give a book a 5 rating unless it ends with a big BANG!! Sometimes stories just end.  All the loose ends are not always tied in pretty bows.  Like real life there are times we go from drama to drama without a pretty ending. 
I had no idea what this story was about.  Did not read a description before I started the book.  Not sure what I expected but this story was not it.  This was a debut novel for the author, Anna Jean Mayhew.  A few of the really good novels we read have been debut novels.  Could be difficult for the authors to top!  This is the story of Southern life in the throes of segregation.  It is from the point of view of thirteen year old, Jubie Watts.  It is compared to The Help.  It is nothing like The Help except that the story is about racial issues. 
It is August, 1954.  Jubie's family is leaving on a trip to Florida from North Carolina.  It is Jubie, her mother, her three siblings and their maid, Mary.  Mary is not just a maid to Jubie.  She is the main caregiver.  She is the one person that Jubie has been able to count on her compassion.  Jubie's parents are not loving.  Her father beats Jubie to the point of leaving bruises on her.  Her mother was a typical woman of that time period.  Submissive to her husband.  She stayed with him while he beat her child, had an affair with her brother's wife, but kept her in a style of living she had grown to expect.
I wish I had not changed the date of our meeting.  It was a great book to discuss.  Would have been good to have everyone there.  We were missing two members.  We had a good discussion about how Jubie's mother should have acted.  What racial relations were like in the 50's.  The treatment of the families maid, Mary. 
This book is a great read.  I do not want to give too much of the story away.  I was glad to read a really good story.  It had been quite a while.
Our September books is, Conversations and Cosmopolitans by Robert and Jane Rave.  They are from Bloomington, IL.  I have already finished it.  It was a good read.  Could not put it down!
I am joining a second book club.  I do not think it has a name.  Tru Stories is starting it through her yoga studio.  The first books is called, Yoga Bitch by Suzanne Morrison.  I am not 100% behind this book club yet.  Do not think I am ready to start back to yoga.  Think I have too much weight on my body to attempt yoga.  I will at least read the book.

Top 10 Best Things About Our Wisconsin Trip





Last year we called our Labor Day trip our "Think Outside The Box Trip."  We wanted to do things we normally do not do.  It was decided that one couple would find something fun to do on the way to Green Lake and the other couple would find something to do on the way home.  This year we decided we would visit a winery on the way to Green Lake and try to get home early on Sunday.  The early did not happen.

Below is a huge wine barrel from the winery we visited.  We went to Cedarburg, WI.  The winery was The Cedar Creek Winery.  It was a great tour.  The wine was wonderful.  The town was adorable.  Finding Cedarburg, WI was one of the best parts of the trip.

 

 

 I am a water person.  I love the smell of the water.  I love the sound of the water.  I can look at the water for hours.  We did that last week-end.  Green Lake is beautiful.

 Staying at our first bed & breakfast.  The Angel Inn was wonderful.  It was beautiful.  It was restful.  The food was amazing.  The location was perfect. 

 We spent time on the lake.  Our friends have a pontoon boat.  Going around the lake is very relaxing.  Scaring the seagulls made us laugh and laugh.

 On Sunday our friends had to move their baby to college.  We had time to ourselves.  We took a drive to Sheboygan.  It was about an hour.  We went because who doesn't want to be able to say they saw Sheboygan.  We like the name.  Below is Lake Michigan.  The weather was great.  Comfortable to walk outside.

 Our location at the Angel Inn was a prime lake spot.  We were able to watch all the boats coming and going.  That was fun.

 I love Adirondack chairs.  I think they always make a wonderful picture.  This picture was posed because of my love of the chairs.

 The trip is about relaxing.  Some drinking.  Lots of eating.  Mainly about spending time with people we love.  We take the trip with Hubby's brother and his wife.  (Carol on the left.)  We visit a childhood friend, Sue.  Her Dad and my Dad grew up together.  They were besties.  We lost touch with each other in 1976.  We found each other a few years ago.  I love spending time with Sue and Eddie.  They are good people!

 We were blessed that our trip coincided with the blue moon.  So sat outside and watched the moon come up over the lake.  Hard to beat that.

 We found this amazing resort in Sheboygan.  We did a tour.  It has a nice indoor water park for kids.  Would love to make a family trip here.

 This couple.  They are family, but most importantly, we love spending time with them.  We enjoy our trips.  The boys like to spend time together.  Good times!

Next year we can go back to Wisconsin.  We just can't do it on Labor Day week-end.  Our traveling buddies have something to do next year.  We might have to pick another time to go.  I really enjoy our Green Lake trips.
Now that we have discovered the Angel Inn, I want to stay again.  Any bed and breakfast that comes after Angel Inn will not measure up!
The hard part of the trip is coming back to a hectic week.  I am ready for life to slow down.  I am ready for a week-end of staying in my jammies.  Old Lady, Easy Rider, and I should have a jammie party!

Challenge

It has been suggested by Easy Rider that maybe we need to shake up the blog world.    People seem to be spending time with their families instead of blogging.  Anyone out in blogging world want to jump back into blogging? 
I am throwing down the gauntlet.  Let's see who can do the most blogs in the month of September.
If you want to join the competition, add a comment. 

Wonderful Wisconsin Week-end

This was our beautiful bed at the Angel Inn in Green Lake, Wisconsin.

It was our first stay at a bed & breakfast.

I think the Angel Inn has set the bar too high for other b&b's.

Yep, I did write that, b&b.

The breakfast was amazing.

 

 This was our view from the second floor balcony.

We did not have a lake view from the third floor.  By the time I got up the steep steps to the third floor, my vision was blurred anyway.  Ready to pass out from the climb.
More to follow about our wonderful trip.  Do not want it to be over!!!