a man in a red shirt, a woman in a white blouse, a woman in a camouflage jacket, a man in a black jacket, and a black lab dog stand in front of white quilts covered with pairs of red X's

L to R: The Engineer (Andy), Jeanne, Shirley, Wes, and Nealy

I met Shirley and Wes at the International Quilt Festival in November 2017, and we’ve been friends ever since. Seein’ as how today is Veterans Day and seein’ as how Wes is a US veteran and seein’ as how the ink is barely dry on their new book about Wes’ life during World War II (and beyond), I thought their new book – Wesselhoeft: Traded to the Enemy – would be a fine way to start our 70273 SHELF-ish Pursuit Book Club back up.

photo of a young boy wearing a sailor suit

man in uniform stands before a US flag holding the leash of a black dog

Wes’s story is a compelling one, so go get yourself a copy and get to reading. I’ve got my copy, and I’m planning to read it next week. We’ll reconvene at a yet-to-be-announced day in December to discuss the book when Shirley and hopefully Wes and who knows – maybe even Nealy (Wes’ seeing eye dog), too –  have agreed to be part of our discussion, so be sure to make notes and jot down questions as you read. Details about the discussion to follow in a blog post and in The 70273 Project Campfire on Facebook, where we gather around a digital campfire, sitting on digital logs, devouring digital s’mores.

a black lab licks a woman in white's face

Nealy. I love him. And I don’t know about you, but it kinda’ looks to me like he might like me a little bit, too.

A great big Thank you to Stephanie Brown Bowen for starting and naming The 70273 Project SHELFish Pursuit Book Club and for getting us going.  I hope she’ll be able to join us every now ‘n then.