Camping Out Along the River

 We enjoyed a lovely cool evening after a rainy day at Judy B's home.  Joe helped Judy make the camp stew foil packs which were baked instead of cooked over the open fire due to the rain.  Judy and Joe also provided bags of GORP - good old raisins and peanuts, or granola, oats, raisins and peanuts - loaded with M & Ms and dried blueberries instead of raisins, so I guess we should call it GOBP.  (1913 Oxford English Dictionary defines the word "gorp" as a verb meaning "to eat greedily")

Judy's selection for us this month was "The River" by Peter Heller.  This story was a canoe adventure on the Maskwa River in Northern Canada by two friends.  As Judy B-S said, the friends "were obviously well prepared and experienced.  What they could not plan was the "story"." The planned leisurely backwoods paddle became a race for their lives, with a mystery and a wildfire; a real thriller.  The author's descriptions of paddling a river and of the wildfire were well researched and very real.  Heller set scenes with his great descriptions so well you could easily imagine yourself actually being there.   Esther reported that this story "contrasts beauty and terror, control and chaos, trust and betrayal."  It was a meditation on friendship, loyalty and love.  

Our next meeting will be October 26th, 5pm, at Esther's home.  We will not be meeting during November and will gather again in December for our annual collection of children's gift books and final chance at contributions for our Christmas Jar.  The December meeting will be at Maureen's home and we will invite members of the walking book club to join us.  This meeting will be finger food instead of a meal.  Stay turned for more details.    

A Murdoch Evening

We all gathered at Chris Mallon's home on a lovely August evening to share our friendship, thoughts and a pot luck with Mallon  beef as the main entre and Ghiradelli (San Francisco) chocolate for dessert.   Of course, everything was delicious!  Judy Bell's son folded an army of orgami jumping frogs to share with all of us and we had them hopping around and across the table.  An evening spent among friends is always a treasure!

Our book this month was "The Japanese Lover" by Isabel Allende.  Allende has written several fiction and non-fiction books, of which one, "The Soul of a Woman" was a favorite of Chris's.  Amazon's book review stated that "The Japanese Lover" is "a moving tribute to the constancy of the human heart in a world of unceasing change" which is true, but it barely scratches the surface of all this story is about.  More than just a love story, it's a multigenerational and multicultural history as well as dealving into multiple views of topics such as privilege, social status and aging.  Allende's book blended several histories and changing life styles within its characters.  It shows that everybody has a story, but one has to speak to them and ask about them to discover their story.  Here are a few quotes from this story:

..."age doesn't make anyone better or wiser but only accentuates what they have always been."

"We are not old because we are 70.  We start to grow old as soon as we are born."

..."shared pain is more bearable....We all have demons in the dark recesses of our soul but if we bring them out into the light, they grow smaller, weaker."

"How exuberant and boisterous the universe is... It turns and turns, and the only constant is everything changes."