Are we having fun yet?

Bao is exhausted, and I'm not far behind him. We drove to Prescott to
be on AM Arizona and did a book signing at a Barnes & Noble and then
drove back (nearly four hours each way) in time to do three radio
interviews.
I keep telling Bao it's harder on me than it is on him -- I'm the one
doing all the talking and driving. But Bao feels he has to stay awake
and pay attention, and as far as he's concerned, staying awake all day
is hard work!
I guess this is about as close as I'll ever get to being a celebrity,
and that's just as well. I like my quiet time. I can't imagine what it
would be like to live like this all the time, but I don't think either
of us would like it very much. We're both finding that a little bit of
limelight goes a long, long way.

In the Green Room

Our first live, TV interview to promote Sea Changes, on "Sonoran
Living" a morning show that broadcasts from Phoenix.
We were on last, after a cooking segment that featured grilled steak.
Bao was very good and lay quietly at my feet, not at all distracted by
the wonderful aroma of cooked meat emanating from across the studio.
Actually, he stole the show. The camera loved him. The camera always
does.
If you want to watch a clip of the interview, go to www.abc15.com and
click on the Living Section and then on the segment called, Surviving
Widowhood.
They call it the green room because the room in the old London Drury
Lane Theatre where actors waited to go on stage happened to be painted
green. Thought you'd like that factoid!

Friends are fun

We met Joan a couple of years ago, when we did our marathon trip to
northern Michigan, Canada and the northeast United States. Joan lives
in Williamstown. Now, there's a place I never thought I'd be passing
through again -- which just goes to show you.
We had a lovely, al fresco dinner. For once, it wasn't raining. And we
stayed at a totally charming little place, The Berkshires Motel. Quite
a change from the last time, when we stayed at a motel out of the AAA
guide and we both got fleas!

Sea Changes is a Best Seller

Yes! We made it! Sea Changes is officially a best-seller!
Now I can go out and buy hundreds those little round, gold stickers
that say "Best Seller" and affix them to the cover of Sea Changes.
What's that? You just had a look at the NY Times Bestseller list and
you didn't see Sea Changes?
I didn't actually say Sea Changes was a NY Times best seller, did I? I
just said it was a best seller, and it is. It was one of the five best-
selling paperbacks in New Canaan, last week. So there you go.
Bao --as you can see -- is unimpressed. Dogs only care about whether
or not it smells good.

Favorite Things

Bao and I each have our "favorite things" when we travel.
Bao's favorite things are cool, marble floor tiles in hotel lobbies
(he likes to roll on them) scrambled eggs and crispy bacon for
breakfast and the kingside beds at Sheraton hotels.
My favorite things are fresh brewed hot coffee, a free copy of USA
Today delivered to my room and the soap and body lotion at Sheraton
hotels.
So -- since we're enjoying a free Starwood night at the East Hartford
Sheraton -- I lashed out and ordered breakfast in bed and we've both
scored a trifecta!

Bao at the Book Cove, Pawling NY

A soft chair in a quiet corner gets Bao's vote every time.
The Book Cove was a dear little shop in another one of those little
American villages that I thought had vanished decades ago.
There's always a main street and it's always called Main Street. The
shops are local, owned by locals. The lampposts are festooned with
hanging baskets of flowers.
Bao and I are enjoying this -- the pace is slow and the people we're
meeting are warm and friendly. And they read books!
We've been weaving back and forth across the border between New York
and Connecticut. Today we head north, to Farmington.

But, Mum! It's raining

Which, of course, is why everything is so lush and green. Duh! It's so
lush and green that there's moss growing on the tree trunks, and it's
been raining for three days and you know what? We're both getting a
bit tired of it.
Yesterday was a free day and we went to the AT&T store in nearby Mt
Kisko so I could buy a new iphone charger to replace the one I left at
the last hotel. (I always manage to lose something. But Bao is very
sweet about it, and never says a word)
Mt Kisko was olde time cutesy. Main Street was one lane each way, and
tree-lined. They even had a barber shop with one of those revolving,
red and white poles that I haven't seen since I was a kid. And --
according to Bao -- an excellent selection of doggy bulletin boards,
all of which he peed on.
Today, a signing at Borders in Stamford.

New London Library

Bao loved Tara, the librarian at New London Library who organized our
visit.
The library is housed in a wonderful, old building. But all the
buildings in this part of the country seem old -- even the new ones!
Yesterday we did a signing at Borders in Danbury. The weather had
turned gray and as we pulled into the parking lot it began to rain.
Matt, the Events Organizer, was apologetic. We might not get much
traffic on a wet Wednesday, he told me.
But just about everyone stopped to chat, and lots of people bought
books. Matt was surprised. I was surprised. Bao was exhausted, and
demanded steak for dinner. Which he got, of course.

Connecticut is so green!

Deciduous trees. Acres of lush, green grass. Water in the rivers.
Dandelions. We're definitely not in Tucson!
Olde Mistic Village is just across the street from our hotel. It's a
shopping plaza built to resemble a colonial sea-port town, and
extremely well done. Here we are at the watermill and duck pond. Bao
isn't sure about the ducks.
In the afternoon we got to see the real thing. Maureen (one of my
readers) took us to Stonington Borough, built before the American
Revolution and pretty much unchanged. Little, wooden salt-box houses
set along streets built for horse-carts, not cars. It's like
Disneyland without the cartoon characters. People actually live there.
Maureen lives there. Just like Olde Mistic, except it's real.

Signing at Bank Square Books

This is such fun! I love sitting in book stores and chatting with
people who love books -- and dogs -- as much as I do.
Bao was definitely part of the magic. People saw him, stopped and
cooed. Eventually, they noticed me. But it was Bao who broke the ice.
Our first stop was Elm Street Bookstore in New Canaan, CT. I'd never
done a book signing in the United States and I didn't know what to
expect. Suppose nobody talked to me?Suppose nobody bought a book?
But it was great. People bought books. Lots of books.
And yesterday at Bank Square Books in Mystic was even better. More
people bought more books.
Okay, so I'm not Stephen King. But it's nice to think that as I peck
this out letter by letter on my Iphone, somebody -- somewhere is
reading Sea Changes.
We have a free day, today. The sun is shining, the grass is green and
Bao and I are going for a walk.