Cooking with Picasso and The Brown Paper Book Club

birds of a feather flock together
Tahilla Farm

Greetings from a still chilly New Hampshire! The calendar may say Spring but I can tell you, we are a good few weeks away from basking in that glorious sunshine. Which suits me just fine as I am still deep into a few projects that I am enjoying immensely. 


The Brown Paper Book Club
A few weeks ago I wrote about a reading list which started a number of conversations about what people are reading. I have had so much fun chatting along that I decided to resurrect The Brown Paper Book Club from it's dusty hiding spot in my blog and create The Brown Paper Book Club Facebook Page, a place for kindred spirits to talk about books and anything else that moves the reading spirit. 

We recently had an enlightening discussion around small town libraries. I posted In Praise of the Small Town Library from the Literary Hub which as Kristin so kindly put it, stirred some lovely memories..

From Kristin:

As a very young girl in the 40's, we lived in a small rural community in Washington state, north of Seattle. Our library was a small, I would guess 1920's house, made into the warmest, most welcoming space. Across the street was an old fashioned pharmacy with a counter where my dad and I would get a root beer float after our Saturday visit twice each month to get books for me. I began playing the piano when I was 4 and as soon as I was reading I would get a book about every composer...the researcher part of me developed at such a young age. When I was 10 I took the Greyhound bus to Seattle, walked two blocks to the library to get my books, and then would walk the three blocks to Horlicks to meet my Grandmother for lunch. Still today I go to my library each week, request titles on-line and pick them up. Also I am part of a poetry group that rose up from a series of classes offered at the library twice a year for 6 weeks. I always get a library card when I move, even before I get a driver's license. Thanks for stirring some lovely memories. 

One library memory after another came forth in our little literary group...we discovered we all share a love for libraries and much more here. 

Camille Aubray

A member, Melissa, highly recommended Cooking for Picasso and once I took a look I thought it would be perfect for my next Audible book and I was right. I play it in the car, in the kitchen, in the garden, in the carriage house, in my office, in the bathroom and in bed before I go to sleep and when I wake. I have to admit it has become quite distracting only in that I can not put it down. The book has allowed me to slip into the South of France and the Côte d’Azur in 1936, dream about delicious French food, dip into the life of Pablo Picasso and with all this..solve a mystery. Life in New Hampshire has never been more intoxicating! ;)

If you are interested in joining The Brown Paper Book Club on Facebook, you can find us here. Once you are on the page, request to join and I will add you in.  If you are not on Facebook, not to worry. You can find The Brown Paper Book Club listed in a tab, under the photo at the top of the blog page. I will update it soon, stay tuned.

While we are on the subject of France....

My Stylish French Box..February 2018

My Stylish French Box...and Marie Antoinette
Ever since Sharon Santoni introduced My Stylish French Box I have been coveting one. I promised myself, that when I returned to Tahilla Farm in 2017 I would order one and I did. I wrote about it here. Lucky for me, Mr. H picked up on the "hint, hint" at the end of my post and gifted me a year  of My Stylish French Box...the best Christmas present ever! 

I can't tell you how happy I was when the postman arrived at our doorstep one snowy afternoon with my February box. Ooh la la! I love love love it all, right down to the Godet hand-crafted soap now tucked between my cashmere sweaters, the Duvelleroy fan waiting for it's visit to the summer porch, the fantastic quality of the Bachca makeup brushes, the antique spoon and fork which have become a regular feature for my morning breakfast, the hand-made tassel which hangs from my reading lamp, the Celine Chollet watercolor print and book labels tucked on my dressing table and desktop, the Charvet Editions linen pillow sitting on my travelling chaise, the delicate aroma of the Sabe Masson perfume stick and the delicious La Sablesienne gourmet biscuits that lasted a day or maybe less...they were just so good! 

If you feel like a wonderful French treat...you can enjoy here. 

In the spirit of sharing...

I mentioned 'The Sharing Corner' 

in an earlier post 

and and also mentioned 

that I have tendencies 

towards being a self-help junkie, 

finding inspiration wherever I can.

Imagine my delight, 

when a fellow reader, Jane, 

wrote to say, me too!!  

Jane sent me her favorites list 

and I sent her mine. 

It was fun to see a treasured favorite, 

Simple Abundance,

at the top of both our lists. 

I love when kindred spirits connect...

Jane's Reading List

Simple Abundance -Sarah Ban Breathnach 

Unstuffed - Ruth Soukup

The Slight Edge- Jeff Olson

No Excuses- Brian Tracy

The No Complaining Rule- Jon Gordon

The Success Principles- Jack Canfield

365 Thank Yous - John Kralik

How Full is Your Bucket - Tom Rath

Attitude is Everything - Keith Harrell

Focus on the Good Stuff- Mike Robbins

20,000 Days and Counting - Robert Smith

Jeanne's Reading List

Simple Abundance -Sarah Ban Breathnach 

Minding the Muse -Priscilla Long 

The Happiness Project -Gretchen Rubin 

Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert 

The Art of Possibility - Rosamund Stone Zander

The Celestine Prophecy -James Redfield 

The Novice -Thich Nhat Hanh 

Thinking for a Change -John C Maxwell  

The One Thing -Gary Keller

You can also find The Sharing Corner 

on the sidebar of my blog.

And there you have it...

a book club to ponder, 

a stylish french box to consider,

 a French mystery to solve

and enough self-help reading 

to keep you engaged and inspired 

for years to come! 

In the meantime, 

if you have a few books

 your friends would enjoy,

share the love!

There is nothing quite like

 a book or two wrapped 

in brown paper,

waiting in your postbox. 

;)

My Brown Paper Book Kit

Happy Reading!

Jeanne xx

PS..

You can also write to me

jeannecollageoflife@gmail.com