In a few hours Leah and I are hosting book club, which happens to be on St. Patrick’s Day. This is the same book club that had a Shakespeare party a while back, and it’s a great group of people. Originally book club was a few weeks ago, but none of us had finished the book, so we pushed it back. Additionally… I have yet to start our current selection. Naughty, I know! But as you can probably tell from the recent sparse posting, school has been busy, and on top of regular teaching and grading I am now coaching tennis, which is a blast, but again, BUSY.

The book “we’ve” been reading is The Last Ballad, by Wiley Cash. It’s supposedly about textile workers trying to unionize in North Carolina in 1929. So having book club in our mill apartment is fitting. Also, I know from talking to Leah, and from looking at the cover, that the Great Depression affects a lot of events in the novel. So for the last several weeks I’ve been saying that we’d eat 1920’s favorites like boiled shoe and roasted rat. What’s actually on the menu though? My first stab at corned beef and cabbage (see, getting this back to St. Pat’s)! I’m really excited to see how it turns out, and in a few days I’ll let y’all know! Now time to check the crock pot.

–Jeff and Leah