Packed it In

This is a really, really good book. It was passed along to me in Italy last summer by a friend on the trip. A clever story, beautiful prose, amazing character development. Strangers coming together in a cooking class, each with their own story.

This evening I had the pleasure of going to a reading and talk by the author, Erica Bauermeister. Fascinating. What I loved most was how she talked of the characters. How they made herself known to her and told her their stories that she put down on paper. This is how great writing happens. When the fiction becomes real in your head. It's only happened for me a few times but I am inspired by her talk to work more on noticing those characters and stories that grow in my head. I believe there may be a novel or two in there just waiting to be made known.


Peeps sushi was not made in the cooking class in the book. It was however made in my kitchen this weekend. Something I shared with my friends at Easter brunch. Along with some more edible food. Enjoyed fellowship with wonderful women. I also surprised them with an Easter egg hunt. It was fun to see the inner children come out to play! Brunch followed my early rising to attend the 6 AM sunrise service at the downtown park. No rain. Hooray. Ran into a friend there and we went out to coffee before going home and showering and getting ready for brunch.

After recovering from brunch I got to go to the Bunny Bash, a fun fundraiser for Seattle Brain Cancer walk. This event was arranged by Deb's daughter who has moved out here to be nearby as her mother faces this disease. The "Easter Bunnies" were a talented and entertaining group singing original and cover songs. An exciting raffle followed the Bunnies (I scored a four hour housecleaning from the raffle: WOOHOOOOOO!!).

Then Million Dollar Mile came on. Another very talented local band. They bill themselves as an environmentally conscientious Blue Grass band. Though their music included some banjo, mandolin and washboard playing, it was more contemporary than traditional blue grass.

Their own music: clever playing around contemporary issues like health care, cell phones, organic food, etc. A real kick in the pants.

The weekend also included a book signing and visit with Mariel Hemmingway. She's really a sweetheart. Not overly keen on her cookbook: lots of special ingredients to pull off her gluten free, sugar free recipes. But the pictures are good and she writes some interesting things about food, eating, entertaining, etc.

I also squeezed in a dinner out with Jill to catch up. The weekend was good and full. No time for recovery at work this week though. Lots of stuff to do. I'm planning on taking Thursday off to hang with Jill and the kids who are on spring break. Will be helping with a group of seven-year-old girls on an outing to celebrate Natalie's b-day.