INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Tomorrow, March 8, is International Women’s Day. The theme for 2021 is Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a Covid-19 World. IWD was started in 1910 at the suggestion of a woman named Clara Zetkin at a conference of working women in Copenhagen. In 1914, Germany marked the day on March 8 because it was a Sunday. Ever since, IWD has been observed on March 8, Sunday or not. It focuses on women’s rights.
It’s also worth noting that in the United States and several other English-speaking countries, March is Women’s History Month. This month is a time to celebrate and appreciate women’s contributions to events in history both recent and past.
OUTING
Yesterday, just to get off our little island, the Chief Penguin and I went to downtown Sarasota to shop at two of our favorite stores. It wasn’t a wine and cheese expedition, but rather one for books and cheese….and fancy butter and crackers. Although Sarasota did not extend their mask mandate, both shops required masks, sanitizing, and social distancing. (Not so the restaurants we passed which were packed with patrons cheek by jowl.)
Bookstore 1 this year is celebrating its 10th anniversary. They have a wide selection of current fiction and nonfiction plus cookbooks, mysteries, and children’s books. I think they are stronger on picture books than middle grade readers, but I found several volumes for a granddaughter. I have missed buying note cards in museum shops and so was pleased to find both blank cards and greeting cards to add to my collection at home. And I succumbed to a new biography for myself—not that I need any more books right now, but how can I resist?
Artisan Cheese Company, helmed by Louise and her band of knowledgeable young women, has survived the pandemic and continues to stock a wide range of distinctive and unusual hard and soft cheeses. The C.P. goes for the soft stinky ones (Oma, for example). I’m always on the lookout to try a new cheddar with bite or another variation on gouda, gruyere, or manchego. And the store stocks imported butters, crackers, jams and spreads both sweet and savory, as well as a variety of homemade soups, pot pies, and sinfully rich mac and cheese. Plus wine! Needless to say, we never leave empty-handed!
WHAT I’M READING
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
This is a highly touted first novel published in 2019, but it’s also a challenging read. It’s the March selection for my book group and long. It brings together three intertwined families and the history of Zambia from the early 20th century to present day. I found the first section about one of the grandmothers slow going, but I am now getting a bit more into it and have read about twenty percent. We’ll see how it goes and I’ll report back after the book group discussion.
