Collingswood day fun

On Monday, December 3rd, after I wished my daughter a Happy Birthday, walked the dog and did my minimal workout at Planet Fitness, I met an old friend for lunch in Collingswood.  She is a vegan and we like SaladWorks which can provide for ALL eating preferences excluding the hamburger crowd.  They do have sandwiches, panini's, and my favorite lunch choice is the 'pick two' which this time included Butternut squash soup (delicious beyond all other soups and places that make soup) and a small side salad of baby spinach, cranberries, feta cheese, black olives, sunflower seeds, and grated carrot.  

After lunch we strolled the Haddon Avenue shops, all decorated most beautifully and festively.  A few blocks down the avenue, we dropped in at the Collingswood Library to browse the dollar book corner.  I bought 4 books:  1.  A Rita Mae Brown, Sneaky Pie mystery - Santa Clawed  2. A John Grisham - The missing Christmas  3.  A Martha Stewart - Handmade Christmas  4. A vintage (circa 1989) Martha Stewart Christmas.  The #4 Martha Stewart I bought for a friend.  She loves Martha and I thought it would be fun to put in her mailbox for a cold wintry morning page turner with a cup of coffee.  If I had a bigger house, I would put out a Christmas book display each year, but sadly my bungalow is tiny and all surfaces are already claimed.

Our lunch over and our shopping done, we headed home.  I had to walk my dog for her 2nd walk of the day.  My dog and I have come to an agreement.  She won't beg and bark and harass me for a walk if i keep to our minimum of two walks a day, one mile each.  It is a fair deal and it is good for me anyhow.

Today, our walks were in, first, a light dusting snow shower, and then, in a flurry with about an inch on the ground and my new snow boots which gave me a blister on the inside ankle.  You just never know with snow boots.  They can look so innocent and comfortable but give them a mile walk try-out and you find all their hidden flaws.  

Now I am having my afternoon cuppa with some Walker's shortbread cookies and the NYT Book Review.

I have decided to put the questions to you that the NYT BKRev. includes in every issue in an interview with a celebrity:

1.  What books are on your nightstand?
(On mine are "Old in Art School" and a biography of Emily Dickinson
2.  What's the last GREAT book you read?  
(I would have to wonder what they mean by 'great' but if they mean literary, then I guess the last novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, which I didn't realize would have so profound an influence on me later as time went by - too much to explain here)
3.What's the last book that made you laugh?
(Cathy Pelletier's "Winter.....?"  I forget the whole title.  I bought her book in a dollar sale and it was so good I bought more!)
4.  The last book that made you cry?
(At some point every book makes me cry)
5.  What moves you most when you read?
(evocation of place really engages me)
6.  What character from literature would you most like to play?
(One of the "Outdoor Girls on a Hike."
7.  What kind of stories are you drawn to?  Steer clear of?
(I am drawn to character driven novels with great evocation of location.  I HATE horror stories and never read them.)
8.  Disappointing, Overrated, Just Not Good, What books did you think you were supposed to like and didn't?
(Bel Canto)
9.  Do you Remember the Last Book you put down without finishing?
(Yes, "Old in Art School"  I liked it but wasn't compelled and other books elbowed in.  I will pick it up again and finish it - it is on my nightstand)
10  You are organizing a literary dinner party which three authors would you invite?
(Germaine Greer, Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan - their works changed my life and they are all living and we would have no end of conversation.)