It’s been a busy week of watching it snow, yes, snow in the desert again, a gathering and a coffee date. Mixed in with all that was a happy hour with Dan and Louanne plus a trip to Tucson and a book club meeting, my first!
The book club–last season I asked at the library if there were any book clubs in the area. Only one which didn’t surprise me but our wonderful librarian told me the format for this book club was a little different. Instead of all the members reading the same book and discussing it, members came to the meeting with a list of the books they had read or not read the previous month. The meetings are held in member’s homes and this meeting was at Shauna’s–a woman from Wyoming I had previously met at church. I came home so wired and excited–ask the Cowboy, I couldn’t stop talking about the meeting!
So many books, so little time!! I have always been a fiction reader but do read non-fiction on occasion. One of the members is a big reader of non-fiction and gave some great suggestions. I came home with a mile long list of books I want to read! And hopefully gained some new friends!
As for a list of books a member read or “not read”–most of us were of the mind set that life is way too short to finish a book you don’t like. We may have converted a couple of the members to our way of thinking. I downloaded an audio book Saturday night thinking to listen as I knitted. I wasn’t two chapters into that book when I hit the delete button sending it back to the library. The main character was snarky and nasty and the entire premise of the book was ridiculous, or so I thought, not for me.
On Monday after the book club meeting on Thursday the phone rang, it was Shauna asking if I wanted to head over to Willcox for coffee. We do have a coffee shop in our neighborhood but during covid they went to take out only or sitting outside on their patio and never had dine in again. It’s been way too cold for outside dining so off to Willcox we went with not much success in finding an open coffee shop, ending up at McDonald’s of all things!! The coffee was good and the company even better.
The gathering–Wednesday we hosted a gathering of friends we’ve met through RVing and blogging. Pam and John, plus Susan and Dave had come from Boulder City, NV and Wickenburg respectively in their RVs to spend two weeks together at a RV park in Benson. Gay and Joe live near Tucson, Jodee and Bill live in Tombstone. The ten of us had such a good time telling stories, reminiscing and eating fabulous food. I cooked a brisket and the other folks contributed beans, coleslaw, macaroni salad and dessert. The hours went by quickly and soon it was time for all those jeeps to head home.
From bottom left, Jodee, Gay and Joe. The Cowboy and Dave were on a home tour missing out on the photo session and I was the photographer!
Susan brought me these gorgeous tulips which have made me smile all week!
Have you ever made pimento cheese spread? Dan started this trend in our group and I’ve jumped on the bandwagon–it’s delicious! Leave out the salt in the recipe–my first batch was way too salty!
Pimento Cheese
By Jennifer Segal
Servings: About 3½ cups
INGREDIENTS
- 1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½ cup mayonnaise, best quality such as Hellmann’s or Duke’s
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1 (8-oz) block sharp Cheddar cheese (a good supermarket brand like Tillamook or Cabot is fine)
- 1 (4-oz) jar diced pimentos, drained
INSTRUCTIONS
- Food processor instructions: In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, ¼ teaspoon of salt, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. Process until smooth and evenly combined. Remove the blade, scraping any of the mixture back into the bowl. Switch to the grating blade. Cut the Cheddar cheese into pieces that will fit into the feed tube. With the machine running, add the cheese through the feed tube until it is all grated in. Transfer the contents of the food processor to a large mixing bowl. Add the diced pimentos and stir everything together to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. (I usually add about ¼ teaspoon more salt, but it depends on the saltiness of the cheese.)
- Mixer instructions: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, ¼ teaspoon salt, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. Beat until smooth and evenly combined. Coarsely grate the Cheddar cheese and mix in along with the diced pimentos. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. (It’s a good idea to taste the pimento cheese on the crackers you plan to serve it with, as the saltiness can vary.)
- Transfer the spread to a serving bowl and serve with crackers and/or crudités. If serving later, cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days; bring to room temperature before serving.
Friday the Cowboy breezed through the local/annual garage sale coming home with nothing, nada! And we were off to Tucson where I had a doctor’s appointment. We “enjoyed” a fast food lunch, picked up our groceries at Walmart and stopped at Costco. Emmi was glad to see us as always.
Saturday was exciting–a trip to the landfill transfer station and another trip through the local/annual garage sale where this time the Cowboy found treasures! We don’t pay for garbage pickup. We have three outdoor trash containers and when those are full (about once a month) we head to the landfill transfer station. Trash pickup in this area is right at $30 a month. It costs $7 to take it to the transfer station.
We saw the below photo on our local TV news station and then it appeared on Facebook–I do not know who took the photo but it sure is cute!
Sunday morning involved some weed spraying after breakfast cooked by the Cowboy. After our walk I said to him, “let’s see if Dan and Louanne want to go to Douglas for late lunch.” They were game! The historic Gadsden Hotel is always a pleasure to visit–what a gorgeous building and the restaurant is great! The guys had unbelievably huge burgers, Louanne and I opted for shrimp dishes–every meal was outstanding. The next photos are from the lobby of the hotel–
The stained glass is Tiffany, the staircase marble–a very special spot to dine!
A great, busy week–life is good!
Restoration Cowboy Style 
What a grand, happy and busy week. Thank you again Janna for hosting all of us in your beautiful home. It was a wonderful gathering and you are so right about the time…it did fly by! The format of the book club is way better than just reviewing a single book everyone read. I have to buy a food processor now…I LOVE pimento cheese and had a recipe (that I have lost) from Southern Living for pimento cheese with cream cheese. Thanks for sharing! Gadsden Hotel and lunch there is on the list. I can’t believe all the snow this winter…your photos are so pretty!
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It was a joy to get together with everyone! I think I’m really going to like this book club! I have an inexpensive Hamilton Beach workhorse food processor, I will see if I can find a link for it. You guys will enjoy the Gadsden!
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What a great get together after way too long. The food was definitely yummy. Thanks again for hosting all of us. I do like the book club format. After awhile I’m sure there will be book discussions as some of you choose the same book to read. Nothing better than first hand book recommendations.
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You are absolutely right Pam–nothing better than first hand book recommendations! I received an audiobook from the library over the weekend–well reviewed, etc. I listened to it for about 10 minutes and hit the delete button–not a book I wanted to waste my time with!
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You had a lot of snow! We barely had a dusting! Maybe you should go to Az. For the winter!! Lol
The hotel and stain glass looks awesome! A grand old building!
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Coldest, snowiest winter in the six years we’ve been here!
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All the trees you planted sure have grown well. Snow looks pretty in Az, however we got you beat at 2ft here in Maine….spring ahead next week.
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I bet you do have us beat with the snow, so does Montana! Our trees are doing incredibly well–water and sunshine!
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My goodness, your week was not only busy, but great. Nothing like having good friends from travel days gathering, and even more fun having all of them right there at your lovely Arizona home. Snow snow snow…geez, good thing you have books and knitting. Loved hearing about your book club experience. Yes, dump a book if it is stupid. Although I hate doing that if I have paid 14.99 for the thing for my kindle. Prices for kindle books are so stupid but I am too lazy to figure out another way, like the library. I think my daughter still uses my library card from klamath falls for her books. I seem to want instant gratification and hate waiting for books or not getting what I want when I want it. How childish. Ah well. Hopefully I won’t pick really stupid books. In our book club we all read different books after our Christmas party and talk about them in January. It is nice, but I still do like getting a lot of different perspectives on one book that we all read. Have fun and hopefully the snow will give you a break.
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I think the book club is going to be awesome! I have another “date” with the woman I met at the book club who is from Wyoming–we are going to Sierra Vista tomorrow to have her car serviced and do lunch. You really do need to figure out the library thing, the Libby app has made it so incredibly easy. Yes, I have to wait for books but I’m always reading something so waiting for the next book is not a hardship. I just got Demon Copperhead after waiting about five months and I’m not saying I “enjoyed” that book–it was a hard/sad read. Our weather has warmed–finally! Yesterday at Whitewater Draw we were without coats!
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Ah well, I did love the book. Hard, and Sad, and yet so amazingly written, and it did end well. Maybe remembering moments of abuse in my childhood and others made it more relevant to me in addition to wanting to see how Demon made it through all the hardships. Such grit he had. So glad to hear it is warm since Jeanne is hiking around in Arizona now.
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He did have grit and did land on his feet in the end.
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Wow, that was a busy and fun week! We are not having as much fun as you are, LOL. (We spent the last couple of days trying to figure out how to pack all of our stuff into our new Subaru, haha.)
I loved seeing all of the fellow RVers gathered at your beautiful home. Many of them are are our friends, too, and it makes me wish we were geographically closer to all of you!
I’m an avid reader, too, and am always looking for great books, especially novels. And like you, if I don’t like a book, I don’t feel compelled to finish it. I’ve gotten many excellent suggestions from Lesley at https://lesleysbooknook.blogspot.com. We met through blogging, and I think you would enjoy her blog.
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Your names came up at our gathering Laurel, we are all so envious of Susan and Dave who will see you this summer. I will check out the book finding link you sent. I get many of my book recommendations from the Modern Mrs. Darcy website. I get an email from her every week day with a list and description of books on sale at various sources.
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What a fun group of adventures! We were really hoping to see John and Pam when we were down there but the weather in their direction was not going to cooperate with us.
Even though you are probably tired of the snow pictures, they sure do make for some beautiful landscape pictures!
Now that we are back home our reading time has been replaced with projects. I miss reading, but the projects are therapeutic in their own way.
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Those of us who live up north have to plan our escape routes don’t we!
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It seems like yesterday we were gathering and it’s been nearly a month!! We had a wonderful time, thank you so much for hosting. We lucked out missing that snow the next day :-)))
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