Good Crowd at Annie’s

Molly Bloom came in early to check out the people who came to my book signing at Annie Bloom’s Books in Portland’s Multnomah Village Thursday evening. As folks took their seats for the reading that began the event, Molly worked the crowd, slinking from one person to another. Molly is the silky black cat that lives at Annie’s, and she seemed pleased with the proceedings. Before we got her picture, though, she melted into the shadows. I had to borrow this picture.

The crowd delighted me. Many friends came, but also many people I didn’t know. They filled the chairs set out in rows for the reading, and we had to get more chairs. Some ended up standing.

Jeff from the Annie’s staff introduced me. Pleased with the numbers who came, he commented on the popularity of stories of Oregon’s history. I read a new excerpt of A Place of Her Own to the receptive crowd. Then after a little Q&A we socialized over wine with cheese and crackers, while I signed books.

I stayed in town with my good friend Tilly, who used to be my next-door neighbor near Multnomah Village. A friend of Tilly’s offered roses from her garden for the event. There are so many beautiful roses in Portland, the City of Roses. We made a bouquet from the pink ones, which reminded me of the cutting of a pink rose Martha tucked into the covered wagon to carry across the Oregon Trail from Missouri to Oregon. A bush from that cutting still lives on the farm.