Okay, so on a whim I decided to accept a few invitations to book clubs.  I attended one last week, which was a little like joining life-long friends, because the discussion was so lively.  Very fun.  I’ve included a picture of the group on my Facebook page for Eve here.

Last night I went to New Prague, MN, for another.  Can I just say there are some fantastically creative people out there?  Julia Braaten hosted, and what a marvelous host she was!  A menu of chicken and beef kabobs with a yogurt dip, cardamom carrots, lentils and onions, cucumbers with mint and yogurt, two kinds of hummus with pitas, various cheeses, and olives.  Oh, and I can’t forget the lemon custard served in actual lemons, with a side of Fig Newtons.  The work!  The effort!  Amazing!

Julia adorned a spiky treelike plant with red beads and wrapped it with a pipe cleaner snake!  Another example of cleverness by Julia.  On her patio door, right next to the dining room table, she had taped light-colored “apples” with various Adam and Eve quotes on them.  My favorite?  Matthew Henry’s: “Eve was not taken out of Adam’s head to top him, neither out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, and near his heart to be loved by him.”

Lots of good questions and discussion.  I was so impressed, and it made me grateful that Eve and her family are finding a second and third life outside my brain.

And it made me wish I had a book club like that.  I’m officially adopting this one.

My sincerest thanks to all of the book club members–first of all, for having me…then for asking me such thoughtful questions.  [Thanks to Julisa Fjeldahl, Lisa Decker, Kate Braun, Michelle Schellin, Jen Sayler, me, Julia Braaten, Angelica Bisek, and Katie Kalina!]

As soon as more photos from this event become available, I’ll post them on my Facebook page for Eve here.

Thank you, thank you–to all you readers out there who have read Eve and have somehow taken her to heart!  I love it!

[Post image: Adam and Eve by Albrecht Dürer]