Sip City Wines

This hip new wine bar in an unlikely location next to the QFC in Enumclaw is worth a visit soon. Jill, the owner and her colleague Susan, create a fun atmosphere and act like they have more to learn about wines than you do. They day I stopped by, a customer was filling them in on the new wines coming from Prague. They promised to investigate. Sip City Wines features fine wines from around the world. On Friday and Saturday nights, they host a wine tasting from 4:00 pm - 9:00 pm. $5 buys you a flight of wine samples from the region they are showcasing that weekend. They will be offering some food and selling wine by the glass in the near future. Their website offers Wine of the Month clubs and home delivery of special orders. Sip City Wines 1040 Stevenson Ave., Suite A 360-825-1695 http://www.sipcitywines.com

New Life for Book Clubs

Has your Book Club turned into a Supper Club? This must be a developmental phase that almost all reading groups go through. You meet a great group of friends. Someone proposes a Book Club. Everyone cheers, commits, suggests books. Someone offers to host. The next six months are filled with good reads, good conversations, and good meals. Then, one by one, people have trouble finding the books, someone has a new baby, someone objects to the book so they don't read it. Pretty soon you find yourself having dinner with this great group and then having to find other people to talk to about your books. I think a good Book Club One Day Vacation might be just the thing to reenergize your group.

My Book Club has loved having the Pierce College lecture series here in our back yard. We saw Arthur Golden speak soon after we read Memoirs of a Geisha. I got a note in the mail from Mickey in Sumner. She suggests that Book Clubs visit Baker Street Books in Black Diamond (http://www.bakerstreetbooks.com).

Another group I read with had a local author attend one of our meetings after we read her book, "Eating Heaven" by Jennie Shortridge. She has kept in touch and kept us thinking about the relationship between writers and readers.

If your Book Club has taken a One Day Vacation in order to revive itself, please tell us where you went and what you suggest. I will compile a list of One Day Vacations for Book Clubs and post it here. I look forward to hearing your ideas! - Sally

Enumclaw - Center for the Arts

If you are looking for immersion in the arts, head for the hills. The new Arts Alive! Center for the Arts on the plateau in Enumclaw has something for everyone. It's part collaborative gallery, part studio and classroom, and part community gathering space. Arts Alive! offers watercolor, oil, acrylic, bookbinding and carving classes. Open studio times are available on Tuesday afternoons. Each Friday you can participate in open studios, poetry jams, artists' salons, and play readings. My son loved the huge "bonging" instruments (pictured) throughout the gallery and was invited by the volunteer working on Saturday to hit each one, creating quite a commotion throughout their great new space.

Arts Alive! Center for the Arts
1429 Cole St. Enumclaw
360-802-6787
http://www.plateauartsalive.org

Ben & Jerry's - Now in our neighborhood

Well, I'll go almost anywhere for good ice cream so even if this shop were in Walla Walla, I would probably try to say it was "in our neighborhood". Fortunately, you only have to go to Lake Tapps Parkway to get some Ben & Jerry's flavored fun. We got a 2 for 1 coupon from the Hometown Values magazine that came in the mail. The coupon is only good for cones with two or three scoops on them. Luckily, we adhere to May West's thought that "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful".
1410 Lake Tapps Parkway, Ste. H104 253-333-8555
http://www.benandjerrys.com/laketapps

Summer Sittin' - the new summer hobby

The year that we added a deck to our house, my son coined a new phrase: "Summer Sittin'" He declared that it was his favorite summer pasttime. Since then we've spent a lot of time perfecting the art of Summer Sittin' and we've determined that the premier place to get in some great Summer Sittin' is at a Tacoma Rainiers game. Last Tuesday, I took a vacation day and caught the 11:30 am game with a girlfriend. The clouds cleared up just in time. We splurged $14 for box seats and spent some of the game worried that we might get called into the game because it seemed like our seats were actually IN the Rainiers dugout. I don't golf or fish or any of those other activities that call people away from the office on a sunny day. But I do need a day here and there to get caught up on my Summer Sittin'.

Secret Garden - Without the yard work

Have you been to The Secret Garden Tea Room in Sumner? What a great find! My aunt dragged us there on Saturday afternoon. We tried to talk her into meeting us at Kent Station so we could sneak in some shopping at Ann Taylor but she insisted that we head to Sumner. I'm so glad. This historic home is the site of the much beloved Secret Garden Tea Room which was at Factoria Square for 15 years. While you need to make reservations to get an official High Tea served complete with cucumber sandwiches, we had an excellent lunch and still got in on the scones and tea for dessert. Don't miss the Orzo Pea salad and the chilled gazpacho I had was excellent on the hot day we were there. Come early so you have time to hang around in the lovely, shaded gardens. Secret Garden Gift Shop and Tea Room 1711 Elm St. E. Sumner (253) 826-4479