Book Club- February 29!

This month's book club will be February 29th. The book is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. The cover is very pretty and you still have plenty of time to dig up a copy and read it. Here is the description from Amazon:

In his wickedly brilliant first novel, Debut Dagger Award winner Alan Bradley introduces one of the most singular and engaging heroines in recent fiction: eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. It is the summer of 1950—and a series of inexplicable events has struck Buckshaw, the decaying English mansion that Flavia’s family calls home. A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath. For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”

To Flavia the investigation is the stuff of science: full of possibilities, contradictions, and connections. Soon her father, a man raising his three daughters alone, is seized, accused of murder. And in a police cell, during a violent thunderstorm, Colonel de Luce tells his daughter an astounding story—of a schoolboy friendship turned ugly, of a priceless object that vanished in a bizarre and brazen act of thievery, of a Latin teacher who flung himself to his death from the school’s tower thirty years before. Now Flavia is armed with more than enough knowledge to tie two distant deaths together, to examine new suspects, and begin a search that will lead her all the way to the King of England himself. Of this much the girl is sure: her father is innocent of murder—but protecting her and her sisters from something even worse….

An enthralling mystery, a piercing depiction of class and society, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is a masterfully told tale of deceptions—and a rich literary delight.

Looks like a good one. See you there!

Snack Packs!

This Tuesday evening is our Relief Society activity designated to filling "Snack Paks" for students at Clearview Elementary. This has been an ongoing service opportunity for us so you likely already know all about it, but just in case, here is a recap:

In Fairfax County many students are going hungry and without food over the weekend. These students come from low-income families and are eligible to participate in free lunch & breakfast programs at the schools. Teachers & staff started noticing these children saving items from their Friday lunches to eat over the weekend. This is when the “Snack Pak” program began.

The Snack Pak program supplies non-perishable food items for these students to eat over the weekend. Friday morning they are given a Ziploc bag that they put in their backpack. This bag contains items such as: soup, mac & cheese, granola bars, fruit cups, applesauce cups, small cereal boxes, top ramen, peanut butter crackers, oatmeal, pop-tarts, tuna, juice boxes, etc. The goal is to supply breakfast, lunch and some snacks on Saturday & Sunday for these children.

We are excited to assemble packs this week and do what we can to help. It's not to late to donate either, just bring your food Tuesday night. See you there!