Good morning. Steve just called to ask if the house was still standing. I had no idea what he was talking about. Apparently a pretty strong earthquake hit this a.m. I felt the "rumble" but thought it was a big truck going by. Steve said he felt it for quite some time in the Federal Building downtown in Charlotte Amalie. In the 15 years I lived in Alaska we only had one really strong earthquake that knocked things off the kitchen cabinets etc. I was trying to hold the microwave on the shelf while the kitchen rocked and rolled. This was nothing like that.

After all the depressing reading I have been doing lately I went for a fun read. Girls Dinner Club by Jessie Elliot is just what I needed. Three Brooklyn best friends cook dinner together once a week at each other's homes while they deal with adolescent angst. Celia is the tall and elegant Black girl who can't see Mr. Right, right in front of her nose, but whose 15-years-single Dad seems to have found his Ms. Right in a ditzy British woman. Danielle is the Italian bombshell who won't give up on Mr. Wrong. And Junie is the level headed one who realizes, a little too late, that she isn't ready for a sexual relationship with her boyfriend. What a fun and delightful weekend read. It is a HarperCollins title and will be out the end of this month.