Book club - Guernsey

I was very excited to be the one to choose our book club selection this month. Upon recommendation I decided on The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Here are a few pics of Guernsey Island:

I bet if I am ever missing, Strider might have success looking for me there. My goodness, it's as beautiful in the pictures as in the pages of this book.

We had a full and insightful discussion. I am always fascinated by how others can read the same things and see different pieces or teach me something new just by sharing their interpretations. One thing I also enjoy is the 20 year age range we have in our group which makes things so much more interesting than it would be with just thirty-somethings.

Reading about Guernsey was uplifting, even though the experiences written about life during the German Occupation in WWII are somewhat heartbreaking. I consider an author an artist if she (or he) can convey a feeling of hope and joy amidst a story of sorrow and trial. In other words, READ IT! As a bonus, it's only $6 now at Walmart and Amazon.

Now, on to the fun stuff.

Since my favorite season is autumn, which includes my favorite foods and decor, I was ultra excited for the hosting part of it. My ideas started with my friend Pam's book club last month.

I pulled together this hurricane centerpiece from this idea except I only used stuff I had around the house.

Not quite as classy, but free. It was pretty when lit. Oh, that's a battery candle, by the way.

I was up baking by 6am. I knew I had to get at least 2 flavors of pie done before the hubster left.

First was blueberry pie and my first time doing a lattice top crust. My goodness they were so cute! Jedi told me as I put them in the oven that he thought they were fake and looked like a picture. I believe even Strider used the word "darling" (don't tell him I told you).

Here they are, baked and bubbly and yum.

Princess and I baked in little snippets throughout the day. Here she is doing the bananas for me.

Forgive the lousy, 7pm lighting, but here is the food. We had a full size pumpkin pie, individual sized apple crumb and blueberry pies, and little mini banana cream and peanut butter cream cheese pies. Oh mercy. It was so good.

It also gave me a chance to use my harvest goblets that I found for 50 cents each on clearance at Smith's and fell IN LOVE WITH. I think I have smiled every time I have seen them for the last three weeks.

The mini tins we from Orson Gygi in Salt Lake. Beware; they close at 6pm. Ask me how I know. The smallest tins are 3 inches and 9 cents each, the larger are 5 inches and 15 cents each.

I guess it was a hit, eh?