Neither of us wanted to leave Portland. What a beautiful place! The morning of our departure, I was on the local morning television show (a link to this as soon as I'm no longer posting from my cellphone) talking about the book before we sped off to the airport to catch a flight to San Francisco.
But that flight was delayed by cloud cover, which made the rest of the day a game of catch-up as we hustled from appointment to appointment. I arrived at the reading at Book Passage in the Ferry Building a few minutes late and totally frazzled, only to see, in the group awaiting the reading, so many familiar faces from all the different parts of my life that I almost burst into tears. (You will be glad to know that I kept it together. Wouldn't that have been awkward otherwise? Ha!)
The next day, I drove out to beautiful Danville, San Francisco a faraway glittering jewel, to a lunch and get-together at the totally inspiring Rakestraw Books. I'm telling you, this book tour is making me want to open a bookstore or something. After a ride back to the city and a quick cone at Bi-Rite (malted vanilla, ho!), we drove down to Santa Cruz where I found myself contemplating getting a job at Bookshop Santa Cruz if only so I could be friends with the charming booksellers there. (Do you think it could work?) They had prepared meatballs, Pflaumenkuchen and Christmas cookies from the book for the crowd, who were amazing, full of great questions and tips on Quark-making machines (I know! More on this when I'm back at a computer).
When we had to leave the West Coast the next day, I was beset with melancholy. I'd loved every minute of the tour thus far. Los Angeles already felt so long ago. I didn't want the tour to end (still don't) and flying east meant one thing: only a few days were left.
***A note to my New York readers! The event tonight starts at 7:00 pm at Powerhouse Arena in Brooklyn Heights. I can't wait to see you there. Oh, and wine and cheese will be served!***
