Book Club Heaven

Did we ever luck out! It's so beautiful we've already forgotten all those cold wet days - here's 2 book clubbers out in kayaks in the sun with great water....there's still snow in the hills on Vancouver Island that you can see behind Saltspring Island in the Gulf Islands B. C. Tomorrow I'm going to go for a group photo of the 7 of us. This wonderful group of women started this bookclub in early 1992. We started with 8 friends and have lost a couple and added a few so we are currently 10. 5 of the original 8 are here today, 7 all together.
We have been having bookclub camp here at the island since 1993 so this is #19. Usually my husband leaves and it's just us girls for 4 days. We talk and laugh and go out in boats and hike and do art projects in the studio and some work.(carrying wood, like today, or pulling Scots broom or maintaining trails....) AND we talk about the books of the month!!!!!! (imagine that!) One of our dear original members, V, an African American, died very young (50) of breast cancer. She loved coming here so, in her honor, we read black authors during this summer camp. We have read many different authors - this year: Souls of Black Folks by W. E. B. DuBois, and All God's children need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou. We also each wrote an essay about anything that we are going to read (We've been reading essays lately and Du Bois' book is a collection of them) We have so much fun - we are so grateful for each other - more of us are on the other side of 70 than not. ( we are missing 3 of us this year) And we always laugh about how we will be hiking up the trails at 80 with our canes! I'm sure we'll be there! :-) OK, dinner's ready - I never have to cook and we eat like queens!!!! ----more tomorrow.......