The Catalinas

I’m writing this combination newsletter and blog from our patio in Tucson.  It’s a bright, sunny Sunday morning.  I’m barefoot–my sandals are still inside.  There are wintered over geraniums and snapdragons and even a single stray petunia blooming in the pots that line the patio.  They’re the tough ones that made it through the last freeze.  They’re being visited by a few equally tough-guy butterflies and even a single buzzing hummingbird.   We’ve trimmed back a tree that was blocking our view of the Catalinas, so we have a direct sight line from where I’m sitting to the mountains.  For breakfast this morning we had grapefruit from our side yard.  As for what’s going on back home in Seattle?  Guess.  Three and a half inches of snow at our house!  For those of you who have lived in the two thirds of the country stuck in this winter’s deep freeze, I’m sure three inches sounds laughable, but this year we really ARE snowbirds.  Maybe you should consider being snowbirds, too.

GO SEAHAWKS!

And about those Seahawks!  Here in Tucson, news about the Seahawks was thin on the ground.  We watched the game and cheered.  (Bella was startled the first time or two, but by the end of the game she barely gave a “So what?” twitch.)  With the celebratory parade coming, Bill managed to connect his iPad to his Apple TV and live stream the coverage from KCPQ Fox Channel 13 in Seattle.  Watching the whole parade day celebration made us proud of all those people, including our daughter and grandson, who braved the cold for hours on end to cheer those hometown guys made good.  That wasn’t covered here in Tucson, either.  Why not?  No riots.  No broken windows.  No shoot outs, just happy adoring fans.  And when the parade was over, no fist fights broke out in the resulting traffic jams and very little garbage was left on the streets.  With all that good news?  No wonder nobody covered it.

So here’s my salute to the team, all of them, including those several hundred thousand Twelfth Man folks.  I was glad when we won the game.  I was even more proud of the way Seattle celebrated their Super Bowl victory.  I may be dating myself but, as we used to say, back in the day, “Right on!”

MOVING TARGET…

Moving Target, Ali #9

Okay, now for the other stuff.  I was shocked this morning when I looked at the calendar and saw February 9.  That means the tour for Moving Target, Ali # 9, starts in ten days!  So here are all the usual components and caveats of this announcement.  The tour schedule is posted on the website, and I’ve already had complaints from Texas, Michigan, California, and Oregon that I’m not going there.  Please, folks.  There is only one of me.  I do my best, but I can’t go everywhere every time.

And that’s the whole point of my bookmarks.  Those CAN go everywhere–even Wales and Australia.  (Hello, David, and G’day to Bill and Vicki!)  If you would like an autographed and personalized book mark, please send your SASE  (Business-sized envelopes, please.  The bookmarks don’t fit in left over Christmas card envelopes.  Don’t ask me how I know!) to my Seattle area address, P.O. Box 766, Bellevue, Wa 98009.  Mail from there is forwarded to me.  Given timing issues, I may not get the bookmarks sent back in a timely fashion, so please be patient.  Last year I wasn’t able to send them out until AFTER the tour, although there was one request–one from Spokane–that never reached me at all.  When that reader contacted me by e-mail months later, we got it sorted eventually.

If you come to a book signing, please remember that bookstores sell BOOKS.  If you come to an event, you should come prepared to buy a book. Bookstores are a bit chary about people who showing up at events with pre-purchased books and then buying nothing from the hosting store.  (If you don’t buy one of my books at the signing, buy someone else’s.)  However, my corporate policy continues to be–leave no book unsigned.  So for those of you who show up with literally BAGS of books to be signed–and this does happen–please stay seated and wait until the end of the line.  If the schedule between that event and the next one isn’t too close and time permits, I will sign all of them.

And here’s one more hint about the tour.  I am a woman of a certain age.  Traveling the country is hard work.  However concerned you may be about my wellbeing, please do NOT come up to me at a signing and tell me how tired I look.  I promise you, I WILL be tired, and I will have earned the right to look it.

Keep smiling.

JAJ