Eclectic Wine and Cheese Book Club

🌸 You're Invited to a Bloomin' Good Time! 🌸

Join us for a delightful Flower Potluck & Micro Boutique - a unique and creative celebration! (Just in time or Mother's Day too!)

What’s a Flower Potluck, you ask? It’s a fabulous gathering where you bring your favorite flowers (foraged or store-bought, mix and match as you please) and a charming vessel to arrange your blooms in.

Excited to join our Flower Potluck but don’t have flowers or a vase to bring? No worries at all - we’ve got you covered. For $30 (payable at the door), you can snag a gorgeous selection of fresh flowers and a charming vintage glass jar to create your masterpiece. Please register for the event and message the hosts in advance, so they can have everything ready for you to dive into the floral fun!🌸💖

We'll kick off the evening with a glass of bubbly or a refreshing mocktail as soon as you arrive! Indulge in gourmet goodies from local businesses, while soaking up the beauty of fresh seasonal flowers. Then, unleash your creativity as you craft your own unique floral arrangement! And don’t forget, the earlier you arrive, the wider the selection from the collective potluck! Come ready to create, laugh, and enjoy time surrounded by the beauty of flowers! We can’t wait to see you there! 🌷🌸✨

In an effort to support our local lively community and keep it thriving, we’ve invited some of our foodie friends and local artists to join our Flower Potluck and create a Micro Boutique! 🎉 If you're on the lookout for new yummies or something small to pair with your arrangement for Mother’s Day, we hope you'll be in for a treat! 🍽️🎨

Event is being held at the Cameron Station Community Center. There is plenty of parking available in the neighborhood as well as along Somervelle.

** The registration fee helps us cover the cost of the flower potluck event [including the meeting room & clean-up fee] as well as the cost of the Meet-Up platform ($360/yr). It also reduces the likelihood of no-shows, allowing us to better plan our events and accommodate all participants. Thanks in advance for your understanding!**

Join us for an exciting evening of Mahjong, where players of all skill levles are invited to come together for fun, laughter, and friendly competition! Please bring $5 - see updates below.

Whether you're a seasoned pro or a curious beginner, this event is designed to foster a welcoming atmosphere where everyone can learn, play and enjoy the timeless game of Mahjong.

New game plan (updates from January meeting):
Starting in February 2025, each attendee is asked to bring $5.

$1 per game: Each player will contribute a dollar for every game we play. Don't worry; the winner gets to keep their dollar!

$3 per game for a Good Cause: The remaining $3 from each game will go into our collection jar. At the end of the year, we'll donate these funds to an agreed upon local non-profit organization that supports literacy efforts.

Let's make our mahjong nights not only fun, but also impactful!

Per usual book club nights, attendees are also asked to please bring one of the following:

1. A wine or beverage of choice
2. A cheese & cracker or alternate nosh of choice
   Host will provide glasses, wine opener, plates & napkins.

What to Expect:

- Friendly games with players of varying experience
- A brief introduction to the rules for beginners
- Opportunities to meet new people and connect with fellow enthusiasts
- Light snacks and refreshments to keep you energized

Don't miss the chance to dive into the world of Mahjong! Bring your friends or come solo - everyone is welcome!

We'll reconfirm RSVP's again before the event to avoid no-shows and allow those on the waitlist an opportunity to join.

We look forward to a fantastic night filled with strategy, skill and socializing!

** The small registration fee helps us share the cost associated with the Meet-Up platform ($360/yr) and reduces the likelihood of no-shows, allowing us to better plan our events and accommodate all participants. Meetup charges $0.51 and Paypal charges $0.53 on the $2 registration fee. Thanks in advance for your understanding!**

We invite you to an engaging evening of wine, cheese and conversation around one of Barack Obama's Faborite Books in 2024 - Samantha Harvey's novel Orbital. A book of wonder, Orbital is nature writing from space and an unexpected and profound love letter to life on Earth.

A singular new novel from Betty Trask Prize Winner, Orbital is an eloquent meditation on space and life on our planet through the eyes of six astronauts circling the earth in 24 hours.

Winner of the Booker Prize 2024
Winner of the 2024 Hawthornden Prize
Shortlisted for the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction

From Goodreads:

Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft above the earth. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.

Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part - or protective - of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?

As always, please feel free to join even if you have not finished the book - no stress :-)

All attendees are asked to please bring one of the following:

1. A bottle of wine
2. Cheese and Crackers
3. An alternate beverage or nosh of your choice

Host will provide glasses, wine opener, plates & napkins.

To enhance the opportunity for great conversation, we would like to keep the group small. Please feel free to sign-up to meet us along with up to 2 friends.

In the future, we will vary books by genres, settings, eras, awards, themes, etc. The group will make the selections for dates and books at each meeting.

Please feel to share book titles for consideration for the next few months - perhaps we can share some ideas for Summer 2025 reads at the meeting.

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE COMMITTED TO ATTEND WHEN YOU RSVP FOR THIS EVENT. We ask that ALL folks honor their RSVP. If you are unable to attend after sending in a YES, please update your status so that others may join us. In the event you do not communicate and are a no-show, your ability to RSVP for future events will be restricted. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

If you are unable to join us in May, we hope you'll remain interested and join us for an evening in the future. Looking forward to wine & cheese with you soon - happy reading!

Join us for an exciting evening of Mahjong, where players of all skill levles are invited to come together for fun, laughter, and friendly competition! Please bring $5 - see updates below.

Whether you're a seasoned pro or a curious beginner, this event is designed to foster a welcoming atmosphere where everyone can learn, play and enjoy the timeless game of Mahjong.

New game plan (updates from January meeting):
Starting in February 2025, each attendee is asked to bring $5.

$1 per game: Each player will contribute a dollar for every game we play. Don't worry; the winner gets to keep their dollar!

$3 per game for a Good Cause: The remaining $3 from each game will go into our collection jar. At the end of the year, we'll donate these funds to an agreed upon local non-profit organization that supports literacy efforts.

Let's make our mahjong nights not only fun, but also impactful!

Per usual book club nights, attendees are also asked to please bring one of the following:

1. A wine or beverage of choice
2. A cheese & cracker or alternate nosh of choice
   Host will provide glasses, wine opener, plates & napkins.

What to Expect:

- Friendly games with players of varying experience
- A brief introduction to the rules for beginners
- Opportunities to meet new people and connect with fellow enthusiasts
- Light snacks and refreshments to keep you energized

Don't miss the chance to dive into the world of Mahjong! Bring your friends or come solo - everyone is welcome!

We'll reconfirm RSVP's again before the event to avoid no-shows and allow those on the waitlist an opportunity to join.

We look forward to a fantastic night filled with strategy, skill and socializing!

** The small non-refundable registration fee helps us share the cost associated with the Meet-Up platform ($360/yr) and reduces the likelihood of no-shows, allowing us to better plan our events and accommodate all participants. Meetup charges $0.51 and Paypal charges $0.53 on the $2 registration fee. Thanks in advance for your understanding!**