Busy Weekend!

me, Tom Cooper, Deborah Ladd &
Emma DeLooze-Klein

This past weekend went by in a blur. Friday night the Webster Groves Public Library had an author signing of the new book, "Images of America: Webster Groves." I have been eagerly awaiting the release of the book for two reasons. First, because I love learning the history of the place I have called home for over 30 years. And second, because our house appears on page 60 of the book. How exciting is that? They had a nice little reception as well, but I needed to dash out and make my way down the street to Grafica Fine Art Gallery for the closing of our Women in Focus photography show. There was a small turnout, unlike our opening reception, which was packed. That gave us an opportunity to really study the photographs, and to get to know each other a little better as a group since we are relatively new.

Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. I was at Forest Park for the March of Dimes "March for Babies." This is the second year that I have volunteered to be one of the photographers at the event. I had so much fun last year that I jumped at the chance to help out again. I was quite concerned about the weather as storms were predicted, but outside of a slight mist first thing in the morning the weather held. My assignments were to cover the VIP tent, photograph the ceremony before the walk began, and then just take crowd shots. It is no hardship to take photos of the darling babies and children around the area. I like using my telephoto zoom lens because much of the time the people don't know that I am taking their picture. I heard on the news that $500,000 was raised in St. Louis. Wow!

Sunday morning I should have been cleaning the house to get ready for some company that will arrive late this week, but the morning was so beautiful that the Missouri Botanical Garden was calling my name. I arrived early, not realizing that the Tulip Trot had taken place that morning. I wondered why so many cars were already there at 9:00. Once I got inside the garden, though, it was not crowded at all. I enjoy these solitary walks where I can take pictures to my heart's content and  appreciate all the beauty displayed before me.

Then it was back to reality at home, where toilet brushes awaited me. But I had pretty pictures in my mind to make the job more palatable.

...to Grandmother's House We Go

We are heading up to see the in-laws for a few days. This is an off year, so we won't see them for the holidays. Since they haven't been here since Katie's graduation, we are overdue for a visit. I have my homemade pickles and peach butter packed to take along, which puts me in position of being the favorite daughter-in-law. Wait...I'm the only daughter-in-law...but no matter, they truly appreciate my canning efforts so I enjoy sharing with them.

Kirby just had a bath this morning, with the bonus that he gave me a shower. He'll smell nice and fresh in the car now. He is a bit of an anxious car rider, so I think I'll give him a small dose of Benydryl to help calm him. He's not bad, he sits on the passenger's lap, but he's squirmy and pants heavily which gets annoying after the first hour. He always acts like we are going to drop him off somewhere.

I have sold a couple more books this week, and my printer has pretty much fired me after I dared to complain about 44 of the newly printed books having streaks of black across the pages. Now I'll have to scurry to find a new printer so that I have an adequate supply of books for my December book signings. It's always something...

It's Friday, Do You Know Where Your Books Are?

My books were supposed to be ready by Wednesday or Thursday. I waited impatiently until Thursday afternoon to email the printer as to their whereabouts. "They are printed and in the queue to be bound and trimmed. I hope to have these ready by tomorrow." Again I am reminded of the similarities between birthin' a book and birthin' a baby. "Oh, you'll have this baby by Thursday, for sure," comforts the well-intentioned OB/GYN. Easy for him to say, he wasn't carrying the elephant around on his bladder. And the baby had no intentions of coming on Thursday. Why don't these people just say it will be another week, and then when you get the delivery early you can be happy about it?

In fact, I don't need the books by today. But that's beside the point. I want them today. I wanted them yesterday. The sooner I can get a book into the hands of my local bookstore, the sooner I can convince her that my book is worthy of her limited shelf space. Because I have my first book signing on November 8th during the Old Webster Christmas Open House, and I'd love to be able to tell those who don't purchase the book that day to shop at her bookstore for it.

On another note, my birthing coach, AKA Bobbi Linkemer, suggested (strongly, I might add) that I should be blogging about my writing and publishing experience. The topics just don't fit that well with this blog, which is mostly for fun, or with my house history blog, which is mostly to help other people discover the history of their homes. And they certainly won't fit on my MOG Blog, dedicated first to being the mother of the groom and now to being a mother-in-law. So, it is with some trepidation that I announce my new blog, Write Formation (writeformation.blogspot.com). We'll see how many of these I can keep up with.