Not to be Missed - Josie Iselin and "Dr. Beachcomb" Book Event in Poulsbo!

I wish I was going to be home next week on the Kitsap Peninsula to have the opportunity to see my friend, author and photographer Josie Iselin, speak at Liberty Bay Books in downtown Poulsbo.  Josie will read and present images from her recently published Sea Glass Hearts,  and from her newest project: An Ocean Garden: The Hidden Romance of Seaweed.

"On rare occasions, sea glass takes the shape of a heart, the universal symbol of love. In Sea Glass Hearts, Iselin assembles an inspiring collection of these precious objects that are free for the taking—if you are lucky enough to find them!"

(As you probably can guess, I am a huge fan and do have my autographed copy!)

And lucky beach treasure hunters - Josie will be bringing Dr. Beachcomb, Deacon Ritterbush, with her! She will present her latest book, Connecting to Nature Through Beachcombing. She will discuss the relationship of beachcombing to “willing stewardship” and how it can serve as a portal into shoreline conservation, science and history.  (image courtesy of Dr. Beachcomb's Facebook page)

When: Monday, March 4, 2013

Where: Liberty Bay Books

18881 D Front St.

Poulsbo, WA   98370

Time: 6:30 PM

Contact the bookstore if you need directions or any other information.  

Phone: 360-779-5909

E-Mail: libertybaybooks@embarqmail.com

This should be a really fun event! Don't forget to bring your favorite beach treasures (sea glass, flotsam and jetsam) with you to share your adventures with Josie and Deacon Ritterbush.

(image courtesy of Josie Iselin)

Signed, autographed copies of Josie Iselin's and Dr. Beachcomb's books will be available for purchase at the event.  If you are not able to attend the book event,  Liberty Bay Books should still have some available copies available for purchase.  Just let them know!

Attention - Kristin Hannah Fans

Happy Independence Week!

This is your opportunity to help Kristin Hannah with one of her favorite organizations;  The Wounded Warrior Project.   If you've had the chance to read Kristin's latest New York Times Bestseller, Home Front, it is abundantly clear what an impact our service men and women have made upon her.

From Home Front - 
"This book is dedicated to the brave men and women of the American armed services and their families, who sacrifice so much to protect and preserve our way of life"
 (if you haven't read it, I would suggest buying a box of Kleenex and getting your copy this holiday week)



A little about The Wounded Warrior Project:
 Their Mission - To honor and empower wounded warriors.
Their Vision - To foster the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded service members in our nation's history.


The Wounded Warrior Project Organization achieves these goals through a wide variety of unique FREE programs.  They provide assistance with health, wellness and even employment service to help our wounded veterans and their families adjust to a new successful life after their much-appreciated service and sacrifice to our country.  


Just take a look at their site, www.woundedwarriorproject.org , I find their work to be a testament to what our country is all about, and absolutely amazing to see what this group has accomplished! 

Here's how YOU can help:  Ms. Hannah has generously offered five of her most popular early bestselling novels for a silent auction to support this incredibly meaningful group. All proceeds will go directly to The Wounded Warrior Project.

Not only are these five books from her own personal library; they are also rare first editions, in pristine condition, currently out of print (with these gorgeous covers!), and all have Kristin Hannah's original signature.  Note - these are being auctioned as a set of five.

When Lighting Strikes - October 1994

Once in Every Life - December 1992

The Enchantment - June 1992 (one of my personal favorites!)

If You Believe - December 1993

Waiting for the Moon - September 1995

Let the bidding begin!   Please e-mail libertybaybooks@embarqmail.com with the 
following information:

Bid:

Full Name:

E-Mail:

Phone Number:

The auction will be open through July 15th, and the winner will be announced July 16th on the Everything Coastal Blog and on the Liberty Bay Books Blog.   Good luck!

Treasured Beach Memories

My friend Karen Gerstenberger is an absolute joy and treasure!  I asked her if she'd like write a guest blog post about her beach memories on the Kitsap Peninsula.  I think you all will enjoy her beach treasured memories too! 


 Karen and her family have had quite the journey over the past several years, and I just want to congratulate her on the publishing of her new book - "Because of Katie".   It is more than a stellar accomplishment,  I think that her story can help many other families that have faced, or are facing childhood cancer.

Thank you, Caron for inviting me to write a guest posting – I’m delighted to have the opportunity to share this photo of you and Tom and a group of friends at our house from a couple of summers ago. It’s not often that we get to see you here up in Poulsbo, and it was a treat to have you join us.

 Our little town misses Caron’s brick-and-mortar store, but we’re glad she is here online so that everyone can have the pleasure of shopping with her!

One of the passions which Caron & I have in common is beach walking and beach combing (not to mention seafood). To understand the importance of time spent at the beach in my family’s culture, consider this: my parents built a rustic place on the beach before they could even afford to purchase a home. When newly-married, they rented a tiny apartment in Seattle, and took the ferry to an island on the weekends to build their cabin. The fact that neither of them knew how to build anything was not even a deterrent! We three children grew up spending weekends and summers at the cabin. It was my favorite place in the world.

I have loved the beach as long as I can remember, and this love has never left me – in fact, it is what motivated me to live where I do.  I wanted to share this love with my own children, and fortunately, my husband agreed.  This is a photo of me as a child, walking the beach on Bainbridge Island.

 Here is my family with my parents on our beach - they now live on the original cabin’s site, in a less-rustic home.

This is us, vacationing in Canada.This pastime of walking on the beach and looking for treasures led to the making of a special feature in the guest bath in our home.

When the house was being built, I asked the stone masons to help me make a countertop out of the collection of beach glass and pottery which the children and I had found together. They were kind enough to teach me what to do, and shared their tools and materials with me.

While they laid tile and stone in other parts of the house, I made this countertop. The stonemasons were uneasy about the fact that it is not level; it’s bumpy, but that is part of its charm. It has cup-handles, cut glass, marbles, insulators and much more in it. They set the seashell sink into it for us (I had wanted a glass sink, but our budget wouldn’t allow it – instead, I found this on close-out at a hardware store).

The beach-glass countertop is one of the favorite features in our house among our guests – they love to run their hands over the surface, looking carefully at each piece of glass and pottery. I never get tired of it, and I always enjoy seeing people’s reaction to it.  It contains memories of many hours of joy, walking the beach with my husband and children. That makes it extra-meaningful to me, especially now that our son is away at college most of the year, and our daughter, Katie, passed away several years ago.

This brings me to another reason for my posting:  I wanted to share some good news with you. I’ve just published a book about Katie and our journey with her through childhood cancer. It’s our family’s true story, and it includes helpful information and resources for anyone who encounters a medical crisis, or who knows someone going through such a crisis. It is for friends, family members, medical professionals and anyone who has been touched by concern for someone facing a life-changing event.

“Because of Katie” is available on amazon, at createspace and through Liberty Bay Books or your local bookstore. For those of you who are local, (Washington State, Kitsap Peninsula) there will be a book-signing party hosted by Liberty Bay Books at The Loft at Latitude 47.7 on Friday, March 2^nd at 6:30 P.M.

If you’re not sure whether this book is for you, please go to the amazon page and read the reviews of the book, written by people who have read it. I hope that it will bless you or someone you know!


For more about Karen  and her continuring work with Seattle Children's Hospital - stop by her blog GBerger - karengberger.blogspot.com

Home Front - Kristin Hannah's Newest Bestseller

Look at what came in the mail this week from my friend Suzanne at Liberty Bay Books, with a lovely note from Kristin Hannah herself!  Before moving to San Francisco, I never missed an author event with Kristin (I am a huge fan!) and Suzanne knew that I was really missing out to not be at the Home Front book event with Kristin last week at the Loft in downtown Poulsbo.


Imagine my surprise when I opened up the book cover this morning and found this note from Kristin-
"Caron, Missed you tonight!  xo Kristin"

I purposely have waited until today to indulge myself... I knew that once I picked up Kristin's new book, Home Front, I would be consumed within the pages.  Her writing and her characters, always grab me from the first paragraph when I start reading.   Before I know it, I am immersed in a story that I can easily recognize as real people and real situatio

Home Front begins beside Liberty Bay in Washington State, and  is definitely one of those stories, and one that I think needs to be told, about everyday women and mothers being sent to war.  There's a whole lot more to this engrossing story, but I am only on page 87 and am already dipping into the Kleenex box.

Now I am homesick for Poulsbo, Liberty Bay and downtown Poulsbo.

Congratulations to Kristin Hannah for making Home Front the #1 book on the New York Times Bestseller List!  Suzanne can even get you an autographed copy or  a special autographed note from Kristin if you order the e-book. Visit the Liberty Bay Books site, or give them a call at the store in Poulsbo, 360-779-5909.

More on Home Front in future posts - but I wanted to dash off something quick before the thought got away from me.  I promise, you will be lost in this latest story of Kristin Hannah's too.  Buy a big box of tissues...

Island Cookie Break!

Quick break today from beach reading, for cookies made from white chocolate chips, coconut and walnuts. It's been a really rough week, I found myself craving chocolate comfort cookies. Originally white chocolate and milk chocolate chips cookies sounded pretty good, but then I spotted this recipe on the white chip package. (I will probably still give you a list of some of my favorites from the past year!)

Island Cookies

• 1 2/3 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder (forgot this last night and had to send Tom back to the store!)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine.  (I like to use margarine in cookies - seems to make them a little softer and gooey)
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups (12 oz) white chips
• 1 cup coconut flakes - toasted if you would like
• 3/4 cup macadamia  nuts or walnuts

Heat oven to 375.

Mix butter/margarine and sugars, until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together dry ingredients and add them to sugar mixture. Then blend in coconut, chips, and nuts.   Bake 8-10 minutes.

Enjoy every bite!  

Now... what to read with your cookies and milk?

For times when I need a quick stress relief, cannot recommend Gift From The Sea highly enough.  This classic is timeless and holds true even after 55+ years.  Insightful, calming....

"In this inimitable, beloved classic—graceful, lucid and lyrical—Anne Morrow Lindbergh shares her meditations on youth and age; love and marriage; peace, solitude and contentment as she set them down during a brief vacation by the sea. Drawing inspiration from the shells on the shore, Lindbergh’s musings on the shape of a woman’s life bring new understanding to both men and women at any stage of life" 

Still one of the best books that I have read in the past few years - Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen.  Tragic and beautiful all mixed together in this tale of a struggling circus train - "The Great 

Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth",

 during the early years of the Great Depression. The myriad cast of characters will stay with you long after you put the book down. MUST have on your book shelf.

One of my very best friends, Suzanne Droppert,  owns a small independent bookstore in Poulsbo, WA , Liberty Bay Books, I have been incredibly fortunate to have been able in the last few years to help her with several author events. It's one thing to read, but quite another to actually hear an author speak and bring a whole new perspective to their story.  In November of 2008, we had event with the Kitsap Regional Library and with the areas'  regional bookstores for Lisa See.  We managed to fill an auditorium at the local community college! There were so many people, and she was a fascinating story teller -  stories about growing up Chinese, but not Chinese... I finally had a chance when I moved to CA to read Peony in Love.  Rich characters and places that bring alive imagination  - 

Steeped in traditions and ritual, this story brings to life another time and place–even the intricate realm of the afterworld, with its protocols, pathways, and stages of existence, a vividly imagined place where one’s soul is divided into three, ancestors offer guidance, misdeeds are punished, and hungry ghosts wander the earth. Immersed in the richness and magic of the Chinese vision of the afterlife, transcending even death

The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver. This was another great author that I had the opportunity to hear speak last winter on Bainbridge Island. The Poisonwood Bible is a rich layered story of a missionary family that traveled to the Congo in 1959, a time of great upheaval in Africa, the Unites and the World . WOW- Difficult to describe this incredible journey.. another MUST have for your bookshelf. 

"They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it -- from garden seeds to Scripture -- is calamitously transformed on African soil" 

Winter Garden, by Kristin Hannah This is the latest book of Kristin's that I have read, (mine is autographed!)  just one story in a long line of many.  I have a special place for Kristin, as she is a local Puget Sound girl, and has written many "chic-lit", books that are simply feel good.  For me, they are especially fun to read because I can imagine many of the places she is describing.  Kristin is a wonderful writer, and totally down to earth.  You will love her! 

Winter Garden is a tale of that takes the characters from the orchards of Eastern Washington to the war-torn streets of Russia.  Great tale, and again, I learned so much that I didn't know about the people and their struggle in Russia in the mid-part of this century.  WWII was particularly heartbreaking...

Enjoy the cookies!