Sunday Salon ~ carpets and camels

FLYING CARPET

Sheila threw a big party for her blog readers, asking us to bring something and tell her how we arrived.  I got a new flying carpet just for her event, as she celebrated her four-year blogiversary.  Go take a look at the kangaroos from Australia, a dogsledge from Greenland, moose from Canada, private jets, another magic carpet, and a couple of dragons in her yard.  My carpet was rolled up in the corner until I needed it to fly home.  By the way, it was awesome that Rita came by camel — an early Book Buddies group discovered our books weren't getting to us on time because they were being delivered by slow camels.  Readers have great imaginations!

I'M A WINNER (twice, no thrice)

The next morning I woke late and dashed madly into my day, taking a friend to her physical therapy session barely on time.  When I finally got online in the afternoon, I was surprised to find my name at the top of the winners' list on Sheila's blog.  Here's what I wrote in the comments:

"I stayed so long at your party that I almost overslept this morning and have been running ever since. And now I get online and see my name at the top of the winners list. Thanks, Sheila! And it’s even the package that looks most interesting to me. A fun time was had by all, and I safely flew my magical flying carpet home late in the evening, smiling all the way."

And Sheila's reply:

"It was funny Bonnie — when I was working on the winners last night your number came up first… I am so glad you made it home safely — I was worried after the sangria drinking contest (which you also won by the way ) but I was revealed to see" [I'm pretty sure Sheila meant she was relieved to see] "the carpet had auto pilot."

Now you know:  Sheila claims it's possible to drink sangria at a cyber-party.  It's a first, brought to you by the drinking contest winner herself.

The next day (Tuesday), I got an email from Armchair BEA saying I was a winner among those who completed the survey.  So I won another book.

The Death of Fidel Perez by Elizabeth Huergo, 2013, fiction (Cuba)

On July 26, 2003, the 50th anniversary of the Moncada Army Barracks raid that sparked the Cuban revolution, something unexpected happens.  When Fidel Pérez and his brother accidentally tumble to their deaths from their Havana balcony, the neighbors' outcry, "Fidel has fallen!" is misinterpreted by those who hear it.  That wishful mistake quickly ripples outward on the running cries of the people, and it gloriously reawakens a suppressed city.  Three Habaneros in particular are affected by the news:  an elderly street visionary named Saturnina, the remorseful Professor Pedro Valle, and his impressionable firebrand of a student, Camilo.  All three are haunted by the past and now, once again, are made to confront a new future, perhaps another revolution.  Their stories — so real, distressing and insuppressible — are beautifully braided into new hope as they converge in the frantic crowd that gathers in La Plaza de la Revolución.

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