Well, since I extended the original invite, I guess you're all coming over to my place. I'll supply the champagne and coffee and tea- I'm suggesting you bring your most decadant, gooey, fulfilling dessert-recipes please if it is one you make yourself, or a description if it is from your favorite dining emporium. Mucho calories required! Book-Something that touched your heart. Something that lingered after you closed the covers. A title that you remember with either secret-smile fondness or regret for something that ended before you were ready...like your first love. It needn't be a love story-just something that touched your softer emotions in some way. I'll expect you on February 14th! (but you can start shopping for your party togs now!) Cece

Always write as you "find it" Vee. It makes for a much more interesting discussion! :) Yes, even Nao made much of her name being pronounced Now and how it related to the time theme. Read the link I posted on bullying in Japan. Nao was an outsider who barely spoke Japanese after coming to that country from the states when she was a teenager. She had American customs and not Japanese ones, so of course whe would have stood out from the pack as a non-conformist. There is a racist remark that I have heard here where an Asian/American/Cdn who has lost his heritage is referred to as a banana, yellow on the outside and white on the inside, and that term is usually used by other Asians. That link explains why some teachers tolerated the bullying as a way to help the one picked on conform. Bizarre, I agree. The Jungle Crow? He too was blown off course and ended up far from home, just like the freezer bag and its contents. We do get birds like that here, and then the birders and their cameras camp out in some poor persons backyard so they can see the exotic visitor and cross it off their lifelist of birds. But in the novel there was some sort of bafflegab symbolism going on there, I am sure. Like I said earlier, I was in Ruth's area a little while ago and stayed on one of the islands. On a Friday night, they had what is called an 'open mic' and the villagers show up with musical instruments. Some brought tea, coffee, home made desserts and all were put on a table for everyone to share. At least 100 people showed up to listen. You just sign up if you want to display your musical talents or whatever and it goes in that order. Believe me, there were quite a few eccentric people, including a former US draft dodger who sorta twanged an electric guitar and then gave a stand up comedy routine which was, well, interesting. Some guy from Iran gave a speech on the human race, a native girl sang a song she wrote about bullying, a couple of guys had banjos and played some stuff they wrote. Lots of others, some were really good. Finding someone who speaks French is not hard at all, and there are plenty of Chinese and Japanese as well. The Japanese fisherman actually were an integral part of the fisheries during the 1920's to the 1950's. After Pearl Harbour many of them were gathered up and sent to internment camps, at least 145 of them from one cannery near Prince Rupert, causing the cannery to just about shut down. People on the coast are often aware of currents, especially after the tsunami. I think that was Oliver's specialty, wasn't his brain wired for things like that? Where I was staying, a couple of retired people beachcombed as a hobby. The woman found a Japanese fishing boat washed up on shore and using the numbers, she researched it and determined its original owners and confirmed it was from the tsunami. She actually visited Japan and eventually visited the elderly owners who had lost everything (the fishing...

Hello everyone, My name is PAM. I write it in all CAPS as there used to be about five Pam's here and this was an easy way to help differentiate. Not an ego thing, honestly. I hail from central PA. I have been on RP since the mid-1990's and remember the Spike years and being "Disneyed". I visit here regularly but have posted less frequently since I 1) got divorced and 2) started to work full time. But now I am getting back to RP and it feels great to be back "home" amongst friends. George Gissing is my favorite writer and I tend to go on and on about him occasionally. I do enjoy the classics but need to read more of them. As I get older, I find I am spending less time on fluff and more time on the non-fiction and the classics. (Present book club book EXCEPTED... ugh... true crime by Ann Rule.. someone SAVE me, please.) I read almost anything except romance, western and sci-fi. LOVE well-written non-fiction especially micro-histories. I shall definitely be crushed one day by my books. I love to garden but need more time. I enjoy needlework but need more time. And when it comes right down to it... I put away the needlework, let the weeds grow, and pick up a book. I am in three book clubs but often just show up for the wine. (AstroKath... Rosemont Estates is one of my favorites.) My favorite thing about RP is that reading is such a solitary passion (not hobby, PASSION), but here at RP, I can share with like-minded, intelligent, kind, people. Oh, and I am engaged and soon to be married. Life is so good. PAM

I just can't do it. I can't stop at two. It's like the Lays commercial, no one can eat just one *L* Perhaps my tastes are more pedestrian, but I can't help but think about Watership Down, Treasure Island, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Secret Garden, and tho' it was mentioned before, Lord of the Rings. There just are too many good books to shorten down to two.