Okay, full confession today’s topic is almost totally First World. But hey, it’s where I am right now.Monday night I had my Matthew 25 Action Team from church come to the house to view a recording from Hulu of The 1619 Project, narrated and created by Nicole Hannah-Jones. (Well that wasn’t the First World stuff. That video is about the history of the first enslaved Africans when they arrived in America, and how their lives are so inexorably tied up with our history and trying to make America live up to its promise. It’s history most of us haven’t heard. It’s surprising, difficult, and inspiring. I hope you can watch it or read the book. We watched episode 1 Democracy and episode 6 Justice.) https://www.hulu.com/series/the-1619-project-7ba3407a-299c-4a10-8310-bbcdd6ab4653Now back to the First World stuff. We haven’t entertained in forever. Bob has had several bouts of Flu B running spring through much of the summer, which left him not feeling like doing much of anything but working. Besides the Monday night gathering, we’re hosting the neighborhood coffee this Saturday. So we get more cleaning for the buck this way. You know how things are rocking along pretty well until you start looking at your place with someone else’s eyes? Then every little pile that wasn’t any big deal becomes a really big deal. Bob and I are both stackers rather than filers. I understand that’s a personality thing kind of like you’re either an introvert or an extrovert. Now just like you can be an introvert and learn to handle an extroverted situation you can be a stacker and make yourself file when it’s a real necessity. LOL Like when people are coming to the house.    I’m super proud of what Bob has done. He really doesn’t have time, and it’s not something he likes to do, but he did it for me and means a lot. Neither desk was visible under the stacks prior to his hard work. My desk needs a bit more work, too, but I always have wood showing. Now, I love how my dining table looks, but it dawned on me, I’ll have to move some of those pumpkins someplace else because all the foods will fill up the entire table and the counter (which I’ve worked really hard to keep cleaned off—mail can collect there and actually multiply. Do you have a spot like that?) The good thing about hosting the neighborhood coffee is the host doesn’t have to provide all the food. Everyone brings something which makes for a lot of food. I think I’m going to have to move the wedding pictures off this table. It opens out to become a serving table, and I can put the coffee, cups, etc. there. That will help move folks out of our rather small kitchen. We only host this group once a year. Sometimes I don’t have my fall decorations up yet, but this year I do. I wanted to find plates and napkins with fall leaves on them. While Halloween stuff is already out and some fall stuff is out, the napkins and plates are nowhere to be found, so I decided to go with surprise, surprise—turquoise. I did already have a bunch of turquoise iced tea cups so that made financial sense. However, I wouldn’t have used them if I’d found the leafy napkins. Maybe we’ll sign up to do this in October next year. But maybe not. Next year we’re going on a Fall trip to someplace in New England. The research has already begun and will be the subject of another post sometime. If you are local, you’ll be especially interested in this last piece. You can see me Sunday, September 24 at Leaves Book and Tea Shop. 120 St. Louis St just south of downtown Fort Worth. It’s a place I’ve been before for book signings and for author events. This is An Afternoon with Authors. Besides me you’ll find Josh Hickman who did this great graphic, Marissa Barthel and Stephanie Harrington. So come see us. We’ll be talking about the writing process. What do you do to get ready to entertain? What’s the hardest part about entertaining for you? Do you go to live book events? What’s your favorite part?Love to hear from you.Blurbs for each of my books with links can be found on my website https://authormarsharwest.wordpress.com/ Where you can also sign up for my blog and my  NEWSLETTER   MRW Press LLC (list-manage.com)Contact me at marsha@marsharwest.com , and follow me on…(20+) Marsha Riegert West | Facebook      https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmnhttps://www.twitter.com/Marsharwest  @Marsharwesthttps://wordbyword.net/category/blog/https://www.pinterest.com/marsharwest/  https://www.instagram.com/marsharwestAmazon.com: Marsha R. West: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, KindleMarsha R. West (Author of Vermont Escape) | GoodreadsMarsha R. West Books – BookBub