Book Club Discusses 'Infidel'

Our book club met Saturday morning at the 6 North Coffee House to discuss 'Infidel' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a woman of Somali heritage who became a Dutch citizen, but whose criticism of Islam has earned her a death threat. Not a cheerful read in the midst of a week that saw devastation in Haiti, but we all agreed that the reading had helped us understand events in Africa, such as the civil war in Somalia and the rise of Islamic extremism, a little better. Next month we plan to observe Black Heritage month by bringing poems by our favorite African-American poets to read. We are still deciding on our books for March and April.

As one of our members noted in a post on Facebook this afternoon: the coffee and the breakfast croissants are great, and sometimes some of us have even finished the book!

This evening Norm and I went out to dinner with our friends Mike and Sandy and caught up on the news in our respective families. We went to Oscar's Cafe, and had a delicious meal. In an odd set of coincidences, this was the third time this week I've been to Oscar's, which is just down the street from where we live. Tuesday night I went there with my circle I have belonged to for over 30 years. Friday noon I had lunch there with the new faculty adviser to the student newspaper; we get together a couple of times a semester so that she can ask questions and I can pass on tips and warnings...she is doing a GREAT job and I am so relieved to have someone as good as she is to advise the college journalists that I nurtured for many years. Makes retirement more fun! Tomorrow we will have a carry in dinner after church and I have my poppy seed chicken casserole (thank you, Maxine!) assembled and in the fridge waiting to pop into the oven in the morning. We are in the midst of dense fog--really thick this morning; lifted this afternoon; supposed to be back in the morning. But at least it is above freezing. We'll take it.

A note on the picture; it's the first time I've used the camera feature on my new Nokia phone that I got when we switched our plan from Sprint to Consumer Cellular. I'm still learning how to use its features, but the service is so much better and so much less expensive. If you belong to AAA or to AARP, Consumer Cellular has some great plans. You can click the link I embedded in this text for more information. (And NO, full disclosure, I did NOT receive any benefits or compensation from Consumer Cellular for this testimonial. I didn't get any special treatment at Oscar's Cafe, either!)