Mark Your Calendar

The Mason Holiday Craft Show and Home Tour is coming soon. Thursday-Saturday, November 12-14, 9-9 Thurs and Fri. and 9-4 Sat.

I'll be back at the Iron Pig Antiques on Columbia Road with gorgeous new jewelry designs.

Keep following this blog for more information and a peek at my new designs.

Give well! Spend Less!

World Premeire

SISTERS a staged reading of a play about the conflict between love, family, faith, and fame will premiere at Riverwalk Theatre, Sunday, November 8, at 7 p.m. One night only. Free

Louisiana, 1944; a young opera singer must make the ultimate sacrifice. Gabrielle is on the verge of a career breakthrough in the lead role of Lucia di Lammermoor with the Metropolitan Opera when she must make an excruciating choice.

Featuring a stellar cast of local performers: Addiann Hinds, Kat Cooper, Evan Pinsonnault, Mara Schaberg, Bill Shipley, Bill Henson, Mark Zussman, Colleen Bethea, Lindsay Palinsky, Theresa Spisak, Sierra Olsen

Hot! Potato

This is my Ah Ha moment about the baked potato. Why did my baked potatoes never taste as good as the restaurant ones? I've wondered that for years. Was it the foil? Was it the oven? Was it the potato?

Last night after having a wonderful dinner with the GNO group, I carried home delicious left overs for lunch today.

As I was enjoying said leftovers, I was still asking myself, why was this potato so good?

I took action.
Went online and googled restaurant style potatoes and found the answer!

Ah Ha! It's the oil and the salt. So tonight, a little experiment.
I oiled my potatoes with olive oil, salted them with sea salt and baked them the proper way, in the oven for more than an hour.
Voila! Restaurant potatoes; crispy, chewy skins with a rich deep flavor!

Bath Massacre by Arnie Bernstein

Arnie Bernstein has written a wonderful book about the Bath Massacre. Check it out. He will be at the Grand Rapids Library this Saturday (10-4) along with Dave Cullen (Columbine) and Mardi Link (Isadore's Secret) for a book reading.

Below is my review for Amazon of his book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Bath Massacre, October 14, 2009
By Jane B. Falion (Okemos, Mi USA)


Bath Massacre is the compelling account of the tragic events of May 18, 1927 in the tiny town of Bath, Michigan where Andrew Kehoe dynamites the local consolidated school killing 45; 38 of them children.

Bernstein takes the reader back to the bustling and growing town of Bath and lays the foundation of the town and its people leading up to that fateful day when a disgruntled farmer and school board member sets out on a path of destruction: mudering his wife, setting his farm on fire, blowing up the school, and eventually killing himself and others in a final devastating explosion. He delves into the mind of this madman trying to make sense of a senseless act.

Thorough, detailed, and gripping.Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing