Butler Women of Wisdom Book Club

Hi Everyone, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  This has been a very different Christmas and overall year. As most of you know, we buried my husband’s mother, Marilyn, on December 20. When I look back over the previous months before her passing, it is clear that our lives are not random. Like the authors who write the plots of the novels we read, every decision we make and every event that takes place are puzzle pieces, the building blocks of our personal stories, stories that are meant to be written and performed by each one of us.  2014, from its start to finish, and especially the season of Christmas was determined to teach me much. In fitting together the year’s puzzle pieces, I have learned that the traditions and celebrations we share as family and friends are invaluable. I’m reminded as I look back on each highlight that every memory is so vital to my life’s story. In February, we celebrated Daniadh joining our family, Tim and Rachel’s Scottish shepher...

Hi Everyone, What a glorious autumn season we are having here in Western Pennsylvania! If you are struggling to find the motivation to curl up and read a book in the spare moments when the outdoors seems a much more desirable choice, join the club! With the few hours I have in the evenings after work, I want to walk around my sanctuary and nature refuge, the paths at BC3. On my week ends, I want to ride a bike trail and take in the scent of cidery scented apple trees and fresh cut hay or find a fall festival to fill up on kettle corn and taste-test sweet homemade jams or local honey. I have to be part of this wonderful season with every fiber of my being.   I can’t help it; I’m a wandering gypsy at heart. Also, my dosha is vatta and vattas are the earth sign air and need to be in constant motion. So don’t ever feel bad if you find yourself restless and more inclined to be a part of the change that is happening all around you. Take your nose out of the book and exper...

The Madonna of the Pomegranates Hi Everyone, As the summer flies by into the dog days of August, I find myself running to catch up with it, and as usual, here I am once again playing catch up with writing our book club news. Our June and July reads are the topic of this letter: Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and The Mill River Recluse a first novel by Darcie Chan.  In attendance at June’s outdoor meeting at the Field House in Cabot were Barb K., Becky, Cheryl, Ginnie, Jody, Lori, and myself. The response to our beloved author Sue Monk Kidd’s book Traveling with Pomegranates did not manifest as I had expected. Given that our club fully embraced three of Kidd’s later novels ( The Mermaid Chair , The Secret Life of Bees , and more recently, her brilliant work The Invention of Wings), it should have been safe to say that Traveling with Pomegranates would have been a winner. Wrong. It was one of the least liked books of the year! A memoir, T...