It's A Southern Sort of Book Club Meeting

Good morning Tina here.

Last week I went up to Camino for a luncheon meeting with my book club group (a side line of the Placerville Shakespeare Club). We are called the Blue Stocking Sisters. A "blue stocking" is defined as a woman with considerable literary or intellectual ability or interest.  We mostly read the classics, and try to read at least one Shakespeare piece a year.

This day we were discussing our reading of "Gone With The Wind"by Margaret Mitchell.

We met at the home of one of our members, which sits on a wooded piece of property in the heart of what we in El Dorado County call Apple Hill. Her home was absolutely gorgeous. Tall slanted ceilings met high above with skylights in the center. As you walked in the front door a two-sided fireplace met your eye, and beyond was a cozy room with plenty of seating, and two antique stained glass windows drew your gaze immediately. Along every wall and in every nook were Hawaiian and oriental nicknacks. This family spends part of each year in Hawaii at their second home.

Janet and Bernice were the hostesses. Mother and daughter. They recently have begun living together in the house that Bernice (the mom) has lived in for over fifteen years. The stained glass windows were found by Janet's father (who is now deceased) in an antique shop in Southern California, and they were in pieces. He painstakingly restored them, and they grace this wonderful home, one letting in light from the east and one from the west. They are incredible!

We were seated around a table with a beautiful magnolia blossom strategically placed so we could all get a good sniff.

As we settled in and soaked up the southern scent, we were offered our choice of sweet iced tea, an Arnold Palmer (iced tea and lemonade - non-alcoholic, if you add bourbon it is called a Tipsy Palmer), or a mint julep with a touch of Kentucky bourbon from a very old bottle that Janet found way in the back of Bernice's cupboard, forlorn and forgotten. (Guess what I had? It had a bit of mint in it.)

One of our number, Pat, always loved the movie Gone With the Wind since she was a child, and her daughter helped fuel this passion with gifts such as almost every book about the movie ever published, and these two delightful dolls shown below, dressed in two of the most iconic costumes Scarlett flaunted on screen.

I think the little Madame Alexander Scarlett is contemplating a sip of Pat's mint julep, while the taller one feels she might be too young to imbibe. Below Pat shows one of the costumes from her 1939 movie book.

We had a wonderful lunch (I wish I had thought to take photos) of a succulent ham, juicy fruit salad, buttermilk biscuits, potato salad to die for, and a chocolate pecan pie that just about left me speechless, served on vintage china, with the prettiest silverware which sported a single rose wrapped around the stem.

Out of the many tchtochkes (a Slovic word meaning trinkets) my favorites were two frames filled with
mysterious long feather items. They turned out to be hatbands crafted in Hawaii, and collected and worn by the same gentleman who rescued the stained glass windows. I saw at least sixteen different ones framed, and apparently he had more of them. They were very beautiful, although I am concerned about what happened to the birds.

The time came to say farewell, and after that meal and the julep, I thought about a nap when I reached home.

                 

Ishi and Robbi apparently had the same thing in mind and acted on it.

Next week I will once again take you along with me on a trip with the Wagon Train.