Words from an old book friend

Our Oregon-bound member sent this email to KAthe who asked it be passed on to our blog. Enjoy! Lisa

Schmoopie,Can you put this on our blog for Feb?
~Kathe----

-Original Message-From: terry huffman <beachouse@oregonfcu.com>
To: Gonsilla1@aol.com
Sent: Sat, 14 Jan 2006
Subject: Dear Bookish Girlfriends

Congratulations on your 10th anniversary! Yeah! So many books so little time.....but the time spent with good friends is invaluable. I just wanted to catch you up a bit....I continue to be plagued with body problems....now Terry is really having lots of problems..mostly back...although he certainly is not continuing to develop ALS symptoms....he was diagnosed with that last Jan 3...(2 groups of independent neurologist and much painful testing)...We spent a pretty freaky winter and spring...then suddenly, after selling his boat after diagnosis, Terry went and bought another boat.....things have been better emotionally. We recently have taken in my little friend, Anna, who is 16 years old, and had gotten herself messed up on drugs .. He whole life has pretty much been a train wreck and she just didn't want to be at home and was starting to run away. Long story....because of our relationship (making a quilt with her and hanging out when she was a bit younger), she called me when she felt desperate...asked if she could stay a couple of days.....3 months ago.....She is...and has been since before she came....clean and sober....now doing well in school...and is looking forward to the future. We are a team...Mom and Terry and I...just trying to help Anna find her place in a world that can kill our young off so easily. She is absolutely beautiful and a joy to have around..... My bookgroup here has been meeting for nearly 2 years......It is different, but much the same....the books are great, but now we would meet just to eat and spend time together....by the way...have you read THE ELEGANT GATHERING OF WHITE SNOWS? I just loved the title and that's why I read the book...loved the book! Out group picks out books 6 months in advance.....we just read THE TIME OF OUR SINGING, next areTHE ELEGANT...., A MILLION LITTLE PIECES ( uh, oh----I loved it and the sequel, MY FRIEND LEONARD), FUGITIVE PIECES, DREAMS FROM MY FATHER (Barach Obama), CHRIST THE LORD (Ann Rice). We are only 7 --- but fabulous ladies. I manage a bookstore (volunteer) at our Estuary Interpretive center....and serve on the board of the Friends of .... I also sub a few days a month ... and on Fridays, I do hair at one of our local convalescent hospitals (now that is fun!) This is long...but that's how I talk.....right? I miss you all and the fabulous books we read together....and the Kathe especially, who let me be a part of the reading long before she would let me come in person....I never caused much trouble, did I? LOL Love, Jeannine

Words from another Book Group

I stumbled across this interview with another California group of women who have been together as long as we have. I thought their method of leading discussions was interesting. What do you think? They sound like a fun group of gals.

The "Drinking With Adrian" book club of Cupertino, California consists of 12 spirited women "in the prime of their lives." The group's spokesperson, Alayne Stieglitz, shares their many distinctive qualities, such as their unique method of conducting meetings involving a deck of cards, their love of French cheese, and the yearly trips they take together.

Q: Does your group have a name and/or a theme? How long has your group been in existence?A: Our official name is "Drinking With Adrian" but two newspaper articles have been written about us and have used the name "The Cupertino Book Club." We have been meeting since 1996.

Q: How many members do you have? How many men, how many women? What age are most of your members?
A: We have 12 members who are all female in, let's say, the prime of our lives.

Q: How often do you meet? Where do you meet?
A: We meet once a month taking turns hosting at our homes. Once a year we take a Book Club Trip.

Q: Do you eat at your meetings? What do you eat? Who brings the food?
A: There's always Brie and wine involved! The person hosting provides the goodies. Sometimes, like the time we read Reading Lolita in Tehran, our hostess --- who is married to an Iranian man and has lived in Iran --- prepared us wonderful Iranian food.

Q: Who leads the discussion? Do you use reading group guides?
A: We have developed a system that's different from most book clubs. We do not use a guide. Everyone chooses a playing card at random, and the person with the highest card gets to speak first, and so on. The person speaking gives her impression of the book and can make any comments she wishes about the content, writing, characters, plot, personal experiences, or anything else she wants to say concerning the book. Then the next person talks. We are not allowed to comment or interrupt until everyone has spoken. Afterwards, we open up the discussion for comments and questions and responses.Once we have finished all discussion, we rate the book. The highest we can give a book is 4 stars, the lowest is 0 stars, and we can also give half stars. We have a record keeper who jots down main comments on 3x5 cards and also notes our individual ratings and an average score.

Q: What kind of books do you read?
A: We read all genres from fantasy to biography. Over the past nine years we have read everything from Perfume (some gave it 4 stars while others gave it 0 stars) to Kindred (almost everyone gave it 4 stars), from Radiance (only one of us finished it) to Audrey Hepburn's Neck (everyone loved it).

Q: How do you choose your books? Do you choose one new book at each meeting, or do you choose the books for a number of meetings ahead of time?
A: Up until three years ago we read books on somebody's recommendation. Sometimes it was something she had read, sometimes from a print or TV review, sometimes from another book club. Now, at the beginning of the year, we each choose one book and that is our list for the year. There are 12 of us so it works out well.

Q: What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the group read?
A: The best discussions are about the books we don't all agree on. There have been several that have split our opinions, and they include Being Good, Perfume, Wuthering Heights, A Confederacy of Dunces, The Shipping News, and The Notebook. If we all love it or all hate it, the discussions are not as lively and interesting.

Q: How do you keep things fun?
A: Once a year we go on a book club trip. It started with Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil --- after we read it we felt we had to visit Savannah. We organized a trip and stayed in the Hamilton House Bed and Breakfast that was featured and owned by a character in the novel. She met us there the first evening and spoke to us about the book, the other people in it, and also about the filming of the movie. We have since been to Santa Fe, Key West, Oklahoma and San Antonio. Our 2006 trip will be to Nashville.After Savannah, we tried to wait for another book to come along set in a place we would like to visit, but nothing that we read fit the bill. So we decided to choose a city we've always wanted to go to and find an author from that city who wrote about it. This method has been a great success. We have met with three authors so far, and they have been happy to talk with us about their books and towns.

Q: What advice would you give to other reading groups?
A: Don't take it too seriously. Everyone has their own opinions. Respect that and don't interrupt. Always have Brie.

Q: Do you have any horror stories, amusing anecdotes, or other special tales to tell?
A: Most of our horror stories were taken care of by instituting the "everyone gets a turn to speak first" and "no interrupting" rules. Once two new members showed up with forms they wanted us to fill out while we were reading the book. Paleeeese! Homework? Needless to say, the forms and those members didn't last long.Our most amusing anecdotes happen on our trips as I, the designated driver and photographer, can attest to. For example, there were the transvestites in Key West who had a book club too, and we chatted with them about books after their show. When we were in El Reno, a small town in Oklahoma, we were treated like celebrities. We stayed on the ranch of one our members' aunts, and when we went into town for the "Largest Hamburger in the Country" festival, everyone knew who we were and welcomed us with cries of, "You're the book club gals from California! Happy to meet you!" We were even interviewed for the local paper. I'm not sure if it would count as amusing or horrific, but we also had "lamb fries" on that trip.

Q: Is there anything else unique or noteworthy about your group that you would like to share?A: We haven't heard of a traveling book club besides ours.

Female Version of The Kite Runner?

This book is on sale Jan. 10th and I've read about it in 3 different places already.

Book Review:
The Space Between US by Thrity Umrigar
By Kirkus

Set in contemporary Bombay, Umrigar`s second novel (Bombay Time, 2001) is an affecting portrait of a woman and her maid, whose lives, despite class disparity, are equally heartbreaking.

Though Bhima has worked for the Dubash family for decades and is coyly referred to as 'one of the family,' she nonetheless is forbidden from sitting on the furniture and must use her own utensils while eating. For years, Sera blamed these humiliating boundaries on her husband Feroz, but now that he`s dead and she`s lady of the house, the two women still share afternoon tea and sympathy with Sera perched on a chair and Bhima squatting before her. Bhima is grateful for Sera, for the steady employment, for what she deems friendship and, mostly, for the patronage Sera shows Bhima`s granddaughter Maya.

Orphaned as a child when her parents died of AIDS, Bhima raised Maya and Sera saw to her education. Now in college, Maya`s future is like a miracle to the illiterate Bhima - her degree will take them out of the oppressive Bombay slums, guaranteeing Maya a life away from servitude. But in a cruel mirror of Sera`s happiness - her only child Dinaz is expecting her first baby - Bhima finds that Maya is pregnant, has quit school and won`t name the child`s father. As the situation builds to a crisis point, both women reflect on the sorrows of their lives. While Bhima was born into a life of poverty and insurmountable obstacles, Sera`s privileged upbringing didn`t save her from a husband who beat her and a mother-in-law who tormented her. And while Bhima`s marriage begins blissfully, an industrial accident leaves her husband maimed and an alcoholic. He finally deserts her, but not before he bankrupts the family and kidnaps their son. Though Bhima and Sera believe they are mutually devoted, soon decades of confidences are thrown up against the far older rules of the class game.

A subtle, elegant analysis of class and power. Umrigar transcends the specifics of two Bombay women and creates a novel that quietly roars against tyranny.

© Kirkus. All Rights Reserved© Copyright 2003 - 2005 by monstersandcritics.com. This notice cannot be removed without permission.

Member List Update

I updated again because I was unable to open the attachment La Dean sent. If you need to make a change please do so now. Also, I think I probablyleft out someone so add any omissions. Thanks!
Lisa

NAME ADDRESS PHONE EMAIL

Victoria Brunn 1737 Brookdale Wy., Manteca 239-7120 Vbrunn@comcast.net
Sandy Dyer 422 Golden, Manteca 823-8021 sdyer@sjcoe.net
Katy Downs-Stroh 911 Mariposa Wy., Lodi 339-8715 runkygirl@softcom.net
Sarah Fagerlee 2350 Lucile Ave., Stockton 477-1158 sfagerlee@yahoo.com
Kathe Gonsalves 1364 Thrower Ct., Manteca 239-3936 gonsilla1@aol.com
Kim Martinez 1845 Matterhorn, Manteca 825-9109 kim05verizon@verizon.net
Cathy Meyer 746 Evergreen Wy., Manteca 239-6418 meyerbc@aol.com
Marie Millin 1533 Arnell Ct., Manteca 825-4989 mmillin@comcast.net
Mary Ann Pafford 433 S. Regent, Stockton 933-9507 tmpafford@gmail.com
Lisa Schnaidt 1324 Bryant Ct., Manteca 239-4452 lschmoopie@comcast.net
La Dean Talcott 1048 Cherry Ct., Manteca 823-3867 LALiteracy@aol.com

Favorite Reads of 2005

What was your favorite read of 2005?

Share your thoughts with us!

Oprah Goes One-On-One with James Frey

Oprah Goes One-on-One with James Frey


If you've read A Million Little Pieces, James Frey's best-selling memoir, chances are you—just like Oprah—couldn't wait to meet the man who lived to tell this tale.In their first meeting ever, James tells Oprah why he thinks he's alive today. "I think ultimately I'm alive because I wanted to stay alive," he says. "When I went into [rehab] and I was told that I would die soon if I didn't stop what I was doing, it was sort of terrifying." As an addict, James says he thought about death daily, "but for some reason, that time it was the first time my head had been cleared of alcohol and drugs in many years, and it just sank in."James, who experienced multiple drug overdoses during his years as an addict, says he feels both lucky and blessed to have survived his dangerous lifestyle. "I always say addiction's Russian roulette," says James. "An addict wakes up every day and there's a chance they can die—by overdose, by violence, by a car wreck, by anything. For years I woke up every morning sort of like, 'Wow, I'm back.'"

A Million Little Pieces takes readers inside the mind of its drug- and alcohol-addicted author. Sharing his firsthand account of what it's like to be an addict, James Frey says, "It's just a need. It's just insatiability. You need something. You have to have it."James says when the addiction takes over, nothing else matters. "It doesn't matter if you hurt someone, it doesn't matter if you hurt yourself," he explains. "All you have to do is get what you need. It's an obsession." Whether the addiction is to drugs, alcohol, food, or gambling, he says it "becomes an instinct even more so than eating or drinking or finding shelter."Ultimately, James thinks addiction in any form is about erasing emotions. "We feel things that we don't like," he says. "We feel anger or sadness or confusion or some combination of those things, and we find something that, if we take it, it makes those feelings go away for a little while."

In his memoir, James says he invented the Fury to represent a set of otherwise indescribable feelings. "For me the Fury was extreme rage and sadness and confusion and loneliness that sort of mix together." According to James, this mix of uncontrollable emotions made him want to destroy himself and the world around him. "I used to trash my room or I would trash cars," he recalls. "I would sort of attack—idiotically attack—inanimate objects."James believes his inability to understand or cope with the Fury contributed to his becoming an addict. "I didn't know what it was or why I felt it…I didn't know how to deal with it. And I learned pretty young that if I drank something, it made it go away. If I used drugs, it made it go away. And that was always just the goal: to make it go away."

At the tender age of 10, James Frey began drinking alcohol. Growing up, he recalls watching adults drinking at parties and social events—and wanting to imitate them. "I'd always see that when people drank things, their behavior changed and it somehow made them happier, or seemingly happier," James says. " And I always wanted to be happier than I was. So I figured if I take that, it's going to make me happier, too."Behind his parents' backs, James says he would steal drinks at parties or sneak into their liquor cabinet. Then he started drinking at parties thrown by older kids, without his parents' knowledge. By 12, he says, "I was trying to find stronger substances. So I started smoking weed and by 14 or 15 I was trying other things."

Growing up in a small Midwestern town, James says he was labeled a troublemaker early on. "I didn't wear the kind of clothes they wore, or speak the way they spoke, or have the same kind of hair," he explains. "So you get ostracized immediately. And I reacted to that by rebelling against sort of everything and everyone there."Once James got labeled the "bad kid" in town, he says he felt he had to live up to his negative reputation. "I knew I'd never be the football star or the student council president," he says. "Once people started saying I was the bad kid, I was like, 'All right…they think I'm a bad kid? I'll show 'em how bad I can be.'"James explains that being the bad kid became a big part of his identity. "It was what I did, it was who I was," he says. "I wasn't going to ever be the 'favored son,' and frankly, I didn't ever want to be. And I don't mean that with my parents—I mean that in terms of living in [our] town."Although James believes the decision to quit is up to the addict, he says family and friends helped him clean up his act.

James and his brother, Bob, are less than three years apart in age. Although close as brothers, Bob says he never really understood the severity of James's problems. "I was concerned about the way he was conducting himself, I guess," says Bob. "But also I probably was a little bit naïve. … We were younger people then and in some ways, it didn't seem that outrageous. But I knew that he took it 10 steps beyond what everybody else took it."Bob is now a father and high school teacher. Looking back, he says, "I probably should have been much more concerned and horrified than I was."

It's been 13 years since James nearly died of alcohol and drugs. Before his last attempt at rehab, his father, Bob Sr., says there were many times he thought his son wouldn't make it. "We just couldn't understand it and we kept trying to search for the answer," he says. "What was causing this? Did we do something? Was there something we didn't do?"Today, James says he and his parents have never been closer. Although James's dad says he never fully understood his son's struggle, he shares his advice for others: "Keep pressing for an answer. Don't give up. There's love and trust there and it's so easy to say, 'Well, he'll change.' But as a parent, you really need to drill down and get that answer. Understand it. Step in his shoes."

James met his wife, Maya, while working in Hollywood as a screenwriter. They lived next door to each other: "I just called her up and I said, 'I know you love me, I know I love you, and I think you should leave your boyfriend and we should get married.'" Six months later, they were engaged.James and Maya now live in New York City with their daughter, Maren—a miracle for a guy who thought he'd be dead at 25. "I have a pretty amazing life in a lot of ways," James says. "Day to day, life is pretty ordinary. I take the dogs for a walk. Read the paper. Drink my coffee. Hang out with my wife and baby."

MEET THE AUTHOR: LIFE AFTER REHAB

When I was released from the center, I went to jail and Lilly went to a halfway house. Our plan was to meet each other in Chicago, where she lived with her grandmother, when we were both released.I was incarcerated for three months. Two nights before I was to be set free, Lilly's grandmother died. She was distraught, hysterical, inconsolable. I was only allowed to talk to her for 10 minutes a day. In the time we had, I tried to comfort her, calm her down, told her I'd be with her soon. As soon as I walked out of the jail, I called her, she didn't answer. I drove six hours to Chicago, by the time I arrived, she was gone. She committed suicide by hanging. She was 24. Needless to say, I was crushed. I had never loved anyone like I loved her, and in a life filled with pain, I had never felt pain like I felt when she died. My immediate thoughts were to go with her. I bought a jug of cheap wine, spent two days sleeping in my car, crying, trying to decide what to do. I didn't have money or a place to live. I didn't have a job or the type of CV, jail rehab jail jail jail, that would get me a job.I called my friend Leonard. He had always said if I ever needed anything, except drugs and alcohol, he would get it for me. I asked him for $30,000. He had someone deliver it to me three hours later. I buried Lilly and her grandmother, got an apartment, started looking for a job.

There wasn't much for me. After a couple of weeks, I started working as a janitor at a nightclub. When the club would close at 4 a.m., I would clean it. The money was awful. Eventually I got promoted to doorman. I stood outside, checked IDs, broke up fights, threw out drunks. Leonard came to visit me, didn't like what I was doing, thought it was foolish for a recovering alcoholic and drug addict to work at a club, convinced me to come work for him.Leonard was a criminal, so working for him meant I was. Once again, a criminal. Most of what I did involved moving large amounts of cash across the Midwestern states of America. I would get a call, pick up a suitcase in Detroit, take it to someone in St. Louis. I would move cars from Chicago to Minneapolis, carry envelopes from Cleveland to New York. I was paid well, had plenty of time to myself, was able to concentrate on things other than work. I was still struggling to stay off alcohol and drugs, still dealing with Lilly's death, so I spent most of that time figuring out how to move past all of it.I would walk for hours, walk through the streets of Chicago, walk until I was so tired that I was numb. I went to art museums, would stand in front of pictures for hours, would stare until my eyes hurt. I read and read and read, tried to catch up on the reading I missed while I was younger, made a long list of classic books, worked my way through the list. I started writing. I didn't do much, mostly just sat and stared at a blank computer screen. I was, on occasion, able to knock out a few sentences, a paragraph or two, maybe a page. It felt good to me, felt right to me, I started to believe that I could be a writer, believed that if Henry Miller and Ernest Hemingway and Jack Kerouac could do it, I could do it.

Leonard came to visit me about once a month. We'd go to dinner, go to basketball games. He encouraged me to write, to pursue something other than the criminal life. I quit working for him after having a gun pulled on me and put in my face during a delivery. I had had guns pulled on me before, but I had always been either drunk or on drugs or both, and I didn't particularly care. This time was different. I was sober. I was relatively healthy. I saw a future for myself. I was so scared that I urinated in my pants, and when the gun was put away, I threw up on myself. I had saved some money, so I started trying to write seriously, I wasn't able to put together a book, so I wrote a movie script. The first one was awful, as was the second and third. The fourth was pretty good. I decided to move to Los Angeles and see if I could sell it.I moved to L.A. when I was 26. I sold the script, sold a couple more, started making honest money. Because he lived in Las Vegas, I saw Leonard all the time. He would blow into town and we'd go out to dinner. I'd take a group of friends along, Leonard would tell ridiculous stories about his life and we'd laugh the night away. I fell in love again, started directing and producing movies, bought a house. After about a year, Leonard disappeared. I was with him at dinner, he told me he was going away for awhile, I didn't hear from him for almost two years. During those years, I started to hate what I had become. Instead of writing books, I was making movies. Instead of doing something that made me feel good, I was making money. My love life fell apart. My dog died. My priorities got messed up. I became greedy, moody, cared too much about what people thought of me. I got lost somewhere. I couldn't find myself.I was in Seattle shooting a movie when I finally heard from Leonard. He was in San Francisco. I immediately went to see him. When I got there, I found out he was dying. He had gotten into a situation with his business that required him to hide himself, and he had spent the last two years out of the country. He had come home to die.

I was with him for two weeks. During those two weeks, we talked about who I had become and why. I decided to walk away from Hollywood, to go back to trying to write books. I decided to start looking for a woman I could grow old with instead of one I wanted for a night. I decided to change again, to shed myself again, to start over again. I decided to chase my dreams, which were of books and a family, instead of chasing money and some empty form of fame and power. When Leonard passed, I put him to rest, just as I had Lilly. I went back to L.A. and I started dating my next-door-neighbor, who had been my good friend for three years. I had always wanted to be with her, but knew that if I was, I had to be serious about it. She wasn't the type of woman who I could play games with, and at that point I was done playing games. Six months after we started dating, we got engaged. I sat down and spent a year writing a book that was subsequently published. My wife had a baby late last year. A daughter we named Maren. I repaired the relationship with my parents, and believe, because we've had to deal with all of the problems that existed between us, our relationship is stronger and healthier than most parent-child relationships.I've never been happier, felt stronger, been more at ease. My life is good now, I'm lucky, I feel blessed to have what I have. Every time my wife tells me she loves me, or my daughter smiles, or I wake up with them, my heart breaks with some sort of joy that has never been replicated and that I never want to lose. I have faith in a lot of things in the world. I have faith in friendship. I have faith in love. I have faith in family. I have faith in things that I can see and touch and feel. And it's a magnificent thing.I don't know if there's a lesson to be learned from me and my life or not. I do know that I have seen too much bad, felt too much pain, have lost too much. I know that through it all, and beneath it all, I always believed I could have a better life, could make my life whatever I wanted it to be. I hope you have the same belief. I hope, if your life isn't what you want it to be, you're taking steps towards some form of change. If I can do it, you can do it. It is said that journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

Take the step.

Take the second, third, keep going.

Now.

Start.

You can read more about James's relationship with Leonard in his book, My Friend Leonard.

Five Fabulous women.......

.......plus one adorable Karenna all met to share some holiday cheer for our December meeting on Wed. Dec. 28th. Kathe provided the "liquored-up" eggnog. Karenna sat in, taking occasional notes to show me to make sure I got what everyone was saying. And yes, I did grab a few off of her list! lol Katy took the opportunity while we munched to do a bit of speed reading to finish her last few pages of the book.

That was how I started the blog yesterday. OK...a day has passed. I've calmed down from the frustration of losing all the work I put into the blog yesterday. I'll try to recall everything I'd done.

Kim, Katy, Kathe, and Marie all finished reading The Magnificent Ambersons. A couple of characters grabbed a good part of the discussion. Marie felt bad for Isabel because she never got what she wanted in life. She didn't even have the death she'd wished for. Eugene's daughter was the opposite of her: she was independent and made her own decisions.

OK, I'll admit it. I was the one LOSER who didn't finish this book. In fact, I'd barely got started only having read about 65 pgs. So my attempts to scribble down the rapid fire comments didn't always make sense to me since I was functioning on extremely limited story knowledge. However, I will share what I'd written down. Forgive me if any of it is inaccurate and feel free to correct any errors. Also, please post your own thoughts on the book if you want to add something or if you weren't able to be here for the meeting.

*The timeline felt off because the town progressed faster than the people.
*The most arrogant are the most sensitive.
*Nobody intervened-someone should have helped.
*George,Jr. was dedicated to his mother but did not show her any respect.
*They were blind to everyone but themselves and up on a pedestal.
*Gossip is never fatal until it is denied. It's a sickly thing. It will die 99 times out of a hundred.
*Kathe admitted she has a fantasy of traveling back in time and loves it when an author describes a time period so well. A classic Kathe quote," I thought there'd be more Ambersons if they were so magnificent. There were only about 3 of them!"

Book Choices
I had three books to choose from during the vote:
The Reading Group-Elizabeth Noble
Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman-Elizabeth Buchan
A Million Little Pieces-James Frey
The Frey memoir won in a 4 to 1 vote.

Calendar
Jan. 22 at Katy's home. Her super reader brother will be joining us.
911 Mariposa Way, Lodi 339-8715

Feb. 19 at Marie's home for our 10th, yes 10th anniversary meeting!
1533 Arnell Ct., Manteca 825-4989

Please make every effort to attend or contact the hostess if you are unable to be there.

Calling All Product Testers!

One afternoon I was on my computer when I got an email from one of the online book sites I frequent. They asked if I would be interested in trying a new product at my next book meeting. I replied in the affirmative and several days later had delivered to my home a brand new Senseo Coffee System, complete with a bag of coffee pods. We tested it out during book group and I later completed an online survey with our review. The Vanilla Bistro flavor was quite good. A fun little diversion, and the fact that it was free made it all the more enjoyable. If you are interested you can take a look at www.senseo.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

ARGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I spent an hour and a half on a great blog entry re: Dec. mtg. etc. I was about to publish when my computer then froze and I lost it all. I'll redo when I calm down.