Half of tomorrow and the remainder of the weekend, I’ll be involved in the Fifth Annual Tucson Festival of Books which benefits literacy efforts in Arizona.  I have the honor of knowing a woman in her fifties who, in the past three years, has availed herself of the services of on of the beneficiary literacy organizations and who now is able to read my books and understand what she’s read.  After a lifetime of dyslexia caused illiteracy she is now a voracious reader.  So let’s just say I have a vested interest in the success of the TFOB as it is referred to by those who know and love it.

For those of you who believe Tucson has to be somewhere out there in the back of the cultural beyond, I have news for you.  TFOB is now the fourth largest book festival in the country.  It is held on the campus of my alma mater, the University of Arizona where the event drew a whopping 120,000 visitors last year.

So this week, as preparations have been gearing up for the event, local weather people have been trying to rain on our parade.  It’s sunny outside right now on Thursday afternoon as I write this, but a breeze seems to be springing up, and the rain that hit central California yesterday is purported to be on its way here with lows predicted to be in the 40s.  In other words, there are a lot of weather-wimp crepe-hangers out there who are wringing their hands and predicting disaster.

Excuse me.  Get over it.  For people from Fargo or Bemidgi or Chicago, temperatures in the forties are considered downright balmy.  And in Seattle where from November on the daytime highs are 47 and the nighttime lows are 45, being told to expect 40 degree weather isn’t exactly the end of the world.

I’m not going to tell you who all or what all will be happening at the festival.  For a complete listing, go to their website, www.tucsonfestivalofbooks.org.

Regardless of the weather, there will be good times, good panels, good demonstrations, good food and the parking is free!!!

Hope to see you there.

Oh, yes.  There will be a basketball game on Saturday evening, so Bear Down, Arizona!