Good-by Owl

Three last venues stimulated and amused us. The Leach Botanical Garden was a beautiful setting. We offered books from our festive table in the Manor House and absorbed huge quantities of good energy emanating from all the volunteers who maintain this facility and sponsor the Holiday Sale. My grandgirls visited and fell in love with the place and enjoyed the roles of "models" as the media representative snapped fun photos of them. We left happy and still basking in the goodwill that fills all the nooks and crannies both inside and out of this lovely place.
The next place was fascinating. We were invited to participate with 40 or so other Oregon authors at the Holiday Cheer Book Sale at the Oregon Historical Society. This was by far my favorite experience in book peddling. We sat by and near big name writers like Robert Michael Pyle, Brian Doyle, Sarah Lee Lawrence, and the great Ursula K. LeGuin along with the always around Gerry Frank, the noted mystery writer Philip Mongolin and many interesting others. I was truly thrilled. These people are my life long heroes. I've seen LeGuin many times around town and have always wanted to speak to her so I took my chance toward the end of the day and approached her as she was gathering up to leave. I shook her hand and just said, "Thank you. I've taught your stories for years and years." She understood exactly what I was saying and returned a firm shake along with a winkly,"You're welcome." We sold lots of books and went home exhilarated by this academic setting of a book sale that was attended by many well-turned out Portlanders.
Our last venue was at the Holiday Market in Eugene. A special big room was set aside for books and authors with the usual Saturday Market to one side and the holiday artists and crafters to the other side. And we got to look at Eugene all day. All the old hippies were out joined by new age punkers threading their way through the throngs of university students and holiday shoppers of all shapes and sizes. Even the Fairy Lady strolled about sprinkling fairy blessings on vendors and shoppers alike. Again we sat in between two well known Oregon writers and sold plenty of books ourselves. During the day, we ate fabulous organic pasties, sampled lush chocolates and had a couple good opportunities to eyeball all the wares of the Market as we made our way through the wafts of incense and homemade soap.
What a day and what a way to experience our last official sale of the good little book called Owl Grove. Good-by to that magical place and we are already in the early stages of our new adventure. I hope to make an announcement soon.