The Kitchen House

It is always a good time to take a book club "road trip" to the Island of Amelia, the birth place of three of our members and the current home of our hostess, Ardee "Dee"!

Dee set the Valentine's Day mood in Luca's restaurant for our discussion of Kathleen Grissom's novel, The Kitchen House, with rose petals adorning the tables as well as decorative boxes containing chocolate truffles and kisses.

As we arrived JayBee asked each member to strike a mannequin pose in front of one of the many wall silhouettes throughout the restaurant. Although many of the members and guests were hesitant, they complied with giggles and laughter. JayBee explained that she wanted to start 2017 with something a little different from our normal introduction shots; and from the looks of the gallery, it was a great idea!!

Karen began by blessing our meeting and remembering our member, Silbethia "Ann" who transitioned to her heavenly home three (3) years ago on February 3rd.

Dee began our discussion with our opinion of the author's intent with regards to narrating and the story's primary character. The group was divided with regards to the story belonging to one character more so than the other. JayBee interjected the theory of numerization with regards to odd numbered chapters vs even numbered chapters, with odd numbered chapters having the authoratative/superior voice or position. So, if this theory is valid, the story would belong more to Lavina, as all of the odd numbered chapters are in her voice.

Although we had not reached a question about Marshall, it was hard to keep him at "bay" until his turn. Valerie mentioned her thoughts about him "accidentally" pushing his sister, Sally out of the swing...was it truly and accident, or Marshall's feeble attempt at keeping her out of harm's way? hummmmmm, interesting observation.

The symbolism of the bird's nest and birds had everyone buzzing, Celestial, Celeste and Karen all had interesting observations. The talking Crow drew much conversation, and as usual those of us of Geechee lineage had to add out 2 cents about the legends of Dr. Buzzard, the significance of birds to our culture, and how they are suppose to symbolize wisdom and strength. There were several observed symbols supporting the novel; one such symbol was the "Salt Plank" which appeared to symbolize the Slave Hypotheses; was brought up by JayBee. Also, the "Black Drops" were a symbol of escape, as Dee and Pat mentioned, much like today's Xanax.

Celeste, Celestial and Valerie mentioned how Rankin and Mr. Winters' showed Marshall some much needed attention. Although it was misguided and not the proper type of attention, he was nonetheless acknowledged by these men, who became role models and father figures,therefore his "learned" behavior was ultimately patterned after theirs.

At 1:00, author Kathleen Grissom called in for Q&A and she had some revealing insight into her book that surprised us. Ms. Grissom mentioned that she allowed her characters to narrate the book and guide her through the literary process. We learned that she conducted countless hours of research and her characters' names actually came from plantation records. We also learned that Ms. Grissom is a physic medium, and that was an Ah...ha...moment for us. Once everyone had their questions answered, Dee thanked Ms. Grissom for attending, and wished her well on her future endeavors.

JayBee introduced her guest, Dr. Kathrin Garland, who recently authored a book entitled "The Unhappy Wife" Kathrin discussed her book and even brought some along for the ladies who wanted to purchase.

Afterwards, Roz spoke about our upcoming "Tweens and Teens" initiative for Eugene Butler Middle School and gave all of the ladies a box of valentine candy for their support.

JayBee presented Dee with an Amazon Gift Card for writing the very 1st Amazon review for 2017!! We hope that each member will write a review for each book we read this year. Let's see if we can step up to this challenge!!

Thank you Dee for bring the Kitchen House to the attention of 13 appreciative readers and hosting a wonderful meeting on beautiful Amelia Island!!

U.S. G.I.R.L.S. GIVE BACK!

February 17, 2017

For the 2nd year in a row, U.S. G.I.R.L.S., guests and corporate sponsors, collected toiletries for the "Tweens and Teens" of Eugene Butler Middle School. Spearheaded by member, Rosalyn "Roz".

The initiative was a huge success with gift bags containing toiletries, pencils and candy distributed to over 300 girls during three assembly periods.Not only did the girls receive gift bags, they also received motivational words from members, Roz, JayBee and Sharron during the event.

After the event, we delivered the overflow items collected, (shampoo, travel sized items, tote bags and the children's books from Rachel's "Random Act of Kindness") to the Sulzbacher Center. Development Assistant, Brooks Dame was elated to receive and commended U.S. G.I.R.L.S. on our community spirit. Quote: "What an amazing book club!!"