This week we had bookclub at my house. I’ve written about bookclub before, and about the incredibly delicious dishes that people bring to share with one other. There’s never a plan, never been a plan, so once in a great while we have ended up with a couple bottles of Prosecco, salad, and two desserts. On the other hand, you are often likely to find grilled salmon, white bean salad, guacamole, green salad, grapefruit, and roasted olives with lemon rind. Everybody shares something. You just never know. 

This week Diane arrived with a magnificent bowl of sweet cherries, along with a bottle of sparkling rosé and a massive bouquet of fresh thyme to distribute. Deedra made an appetizer board with big clay bowls of fresh guacamole, lentil dal, flax crackers, and pistachios. Lisa brought a large bowl filled to the brim with fresh berries. Nancy came with chips and salsa, plus melted cheddar — YUM! And the main course (of sorts) consisted of a large bowl of quinoa surrounded by a variety of colorful add-ons like fresh edamame, grated carrots, red cabbage + onions, sun-dried tomatoes marinated in olive oil, fresh asparagus from my garden, pumpkin seeds, and the almond-date-ginger sauce whose ingredients I posted here last week. I also made pickled beets, but I forgot to put those out. Oops.

We sat out on the porch and enjoyed each other’s company as we have done so many times over the years. Catching up, sharing photos, telling stories, complimenting, listening, laughing, enjoying the time together, and marveling over the ever-expanding memories.

Eat the rainbow.  

Then talk about the book. 

For the record, because I know people will ask, we read Jesmym Ward’s Let Us Descend. Heartbreaking. I would not have missed it for the world. Magical realism. No one else has said what she wrote the way she said it. Not even close. I have loved everything she’s written, but this was something beyond. To witness her pain is to be destroyed—like she was—and then put back together—not the same as before—but the best anyone can under the circumstances. 

Not everyone liked it. But this is my two cents.