The Stratton Woods Book Club
Back Row L-R: Carey Chadbourne, Amber Badgley, Kelly Stiehl, Karen Kreider, Charlotte Kirkpatrick, Debban Dodrill, Erika Schroder
Front Row L-R: Amy Shaw, Ladan Madresehee & Baby Amira, Mary Rowland, Allison Wagner, Ellen Scheinfeld and Amy Shaw’s mother-in-law visiting from Wyoming, Margaret.
Member arriving late: Sue Huebsch (I don't judge, I just report.)
This notable book club has been meeting for four years. Why are they notable? Because your Queen says so, of course.
OK, OK. Why do We say so?
Many reasons. Here are but four:
1) One of the members is a Romulan. (She grew up in Romulus, in Upstate New York.) Which one? It's in the ears....
She could not understand why I had written in Queen of the Road trip, that when I asked locals about the Neutral Zone, we were met with blank stares. She said in high school, they were always teased about being Romulans by the rival teams. (Who surely must have been playing for the Klingons. And ladies, aren't you lucky not to have any of them in your group? The food alone....)
2) They sang Happy Birthday to your Queen.
3) (Not that I need another reason after #2, but here goes:) They were drinking your Queen's Jubilees.
And finally, as the hostess for the evening, Mary Helen, put it in her email:
4) "Reston, Virginia is part of the major metro area of Washington DC. We’re just down the road from Great Falls, Virginia, where you previously visited via phone with another book club. The Stratton Woods Book Club has been together for four years. We meet once a month at a member’s home for bites, beverages and book discussion. We select our books as a group, and try to keep our gatherings simple with frozen, boxed and bagged treats, along with a few treats in bottles. Last night we did enjoy some peanut butter, banana grilled sandwiches and some tasty jubilees. [They said it was in honor of our Elvis/Graceland visit.]
Our group ranges from professional working mothers, stay at home mothers and empty nesters. All the ladies are pretty active supporting their families and the community through numerous volunteer positions."
Told ya. I'll skip the nice things Mary said about Our "visit" with her club. (We have heard that modesty is "in" these days, although We can't imagine why.) Suffice it to say, We also enjoyed it immensely.
One correction, however: I told the club that we had traveled to Reston on our Queenly trip to see the mini-Graceland. In retrieving pictures of it for this blog post, I saw that, indeed, it was actually Roanoke, VA. Dear Stratton Woods ladies, when you get to be my age, you'll understand.... By this picture, you'll also understand why the mini-Graceland (in an Elvis' fan's front yard) was fairly forgettable. (And before I get angry emails, as I told the ladies, when we were asking for directions, the locals said, "It's really not worth it.")
On a more photogenic note, here are a couple of other pictures from Virginia, these from a campground we stayed at in Staunton:
Thanks for the memories, ladies!