"THAT'S QUITE THE BOOK!"

"That's quite the book!", said one of the students in my visual journaling class as I pulled my "everything" book out of my purse to jot down some notes. I guess it is. I've carried this book around for years. I love it because it has an elastic band that secures all the loose papers I've stuck inside it. It's become quite worn. The elastic has had to be re-attached (with staples) on the back, and there's almost no binding left on the spine. The glossy plastic covering came off long ago.

I call it my everything book because I put just about everything ephemeral into it. There are street addresses and email addresses, phone numbers and birthdays in it, but it is not an address book. I tape business cards on the pages, because they're easier to find that way instead of being all jammed into a wallet. I have jotted down insurance information while sitting at Kristen's bedside in the hospital. I have copied song lyrics and poems into it. There's info on the next book for book club, and suggestions for books that people have recommended.

And lists! A list of all of Oprah's books when her book club was in full swing (starred with the ones I have read). A list of the Dickens Village pieces I used to collect. A list (depressingly long) of things that need to be fixed around the house. Lists of perennials I've bought and what I spent on them (yikes). A list (way too long) of garden chores still to do. A list of my very favorite songs. A list of dishes I plan to sell on EBay, and the prices I hope to get for them.

What size was that lilacs picture I want to frame? 20x24, my everything book tells me. The type of printer/scanner I own? It's in the book. Fortune cookie fortunes anyone? "You are soon going to change your line of work." "Your flair for the creative has taken an important place in your life." Only the best fortunes make it into my book. Clever saying I see in bookstores and elsewhere: "She had not yet decided whether to use her power for good or evil." "Has anyone seen my hormones?" A hurried sketch of my family tree, from memory, as I waited for Dan to give me a ride. Class notes because I forgot to bring a notebook. Notes from an Internet site because I couldn't find any scratch paper.

I have used White-Out to delete information that is no longer relevant. I later discovered that correction tape works much better, so there's plenty of that in there too. Even though my everything book is shabby, there's still lots of blank pages left. If I'm dining alone, waiting in a doctor's office, or biding time in the car - I'm never at a loss for something to do because I have my everything book.

THE LADIES OF THE CLUB

WE ARE ALL GODDESSES

My birthday card from Judy last year!

The Ladies of CRS Book Club Christmas Party December 2006

All day long last Friday, I suffered from a hangover of sorts. No, I didn't drink alcohol; all I had was sparkling cider. The only coffee I had was decaf. Yet, for hours after I got home, I had a buzz from the sheer stimulative powers of book club and my fondness for these seven ladies.

There must be some powers at work when we gather. Past meetings have featured microbursts, power outages, floods, fierce thunderstorms. We joke that we are so powerful that we unleash the powers of nature. Could we be witchy women?

How fitting that Judy, Thursday's hostess, chose to celebrate The Strong Woman. (Judy often creates themes around the topics of the books she chooses - thank goodness we aren't all required to follow suit.) She left her Christmas tree up and decorated it with apples to celebrate Eve (our first strong woman?) Our dessert was apple crisp and our drink was the aforementioned sparkling apple cider.

The book we discussed was "The Ladies' Man." Yep, a rat, a Don Juan, a gigolo, a user, a narcissist, a predator, may I say? We all agreed that at our age, we would recognize a Ladies' Man in a New York minute. But would we have spotted him so quickly in our 20s? Although none of us said it, I think we are all relieved to have 30 years' worth of experience under our belts, even though we may have a few wrinkles on our faces.

It's amazing how one topic can lead to another in our discussions. Soon we were talking about the subjugation of women, for example, the women in "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan". Why are there so many male dominated societies? Is it because of men's physical strength? Women's willingness to forgive and forget for the sake preserving home and family? We wondered how many matriarchal societies there have been in the history of the world - time for one of us to do some research. Did the author of "The Ladies Man" even think of those subjects while she was writing the book? I love how one idea casts ripples that spread and spread.

We, collectively, love the idea of "The Strong Woman." I see her as the goddess in all of us.