The Holidaze Season is upon us, and how better to prepare than throw a party! And what better excuse than to honor David Quammen and his monumental accomplishment of having his Non-fiction epic, Spillover, not only published but also inching up the NY Times and Amazon Best Seller List.
My Dearest and I love bringing people together and utilizing our home as a gathering spot for connecting people, far-flung conversations, terrific food, and our now infamous Peartinis. This past Friday night, approximately 110 guests braved the first snow storm of the season to toast David Quammen and hear him read exerts from his page-turning, sometimes hilarious, heart-stopping masterpiece, Spillover.
Reasons abound as to why living in Bozeman, Montana is special. David Quammen and his equally noteworthy wife Betsy, are part of what makes life here special. They live in the center of historic Bozeman, contribute much to the community, and bring a worldliness to Bozeman. While Betsy completes her PhD and builds her non-profit organization The Tributary Fund into a global force, David continues to write and lecture his way into the top pantheon of living authors. Spillover, a weighty and fascinating book centered on various animal diseases that have “spilled-over” to humans, takes the reader along with David to far distant places in third world countries, including bat caves, jungles in the Congo where AIDS was born, and even horse training facilities in Australia.
Being the hostess, along with Janis and Steve Barrett (who are legendary for their crab cakes, gardening skills, pizzas, and much more), we prepared a feast of foods. I spent days trying to decide how to decorate the buffet table, when it suddenly came to me—my son Lex’s gorilla named Hu-Hu, ensconced in his bathroom. Lex had received Hu-Hu from his grandfather Pat, who had Hu-Hu seated on the left side (driver’s seat) of his British Rolls Royce (which had the steering wheel on the right).
So it appeared to Kansas Citians that Hu-Hu drove the car. You can see how Hu-Hu looked to guests including renown National Geographic photographer Gordon Wiltsie and wife Meredith (a nurse practioner at Internal Medicine), Conrad Anker and Jenny Lowe-Anker, architects Paul Bertelli and Van Bryan, investment / financial whizz Andrew Martzloff and gorgeous wife Lissa, Thomas McGuane, real estate guru Robyn Erlenbush, Whitney Tilt and Whitney McDowell, the wonderfully attired Sarah Davies, the Grand Lady Glenna deRham, and many, many others—including Lynn Donaldson and Indulgence owner Deirdre Quinn accompanied by movie producer Patrick Markey. Oh, what a night.
There are so many stars in Bozeman, and not all of them are in the sky.
