I’m putting together a new series called “Backtracking the Oregon Trail.” I went east from Oregon to Missouri, in August with my daughter and granddaughter, when they moved to the Kansas City area for my daughter’s new job. So we retraced Martha’s footsteps along that historic trail as close as roads and time allowed.
I hope to get the first entry posted in a week or so. Look for this picture of the wagon for updates.
The 6th Annual Northwest Book Festival brought many authors out to Pioneer Courthouse Square in the heart of Portland on a warm, sunny Saturday, and many readers anxious to check out the books. I attended with my new book, A Place of Her Own, here with a display of photos from the book, and a new poster of the cover art. The photo display seemed to catch the eyes of many shoppers.
Right across the aisle from me (pictured below) was my good friend from Montana, Shirley Rorvik, and her husband, Charles, who does illustrations. They were there with Shirley’s book, Jack’s Carousel, a heartwarming story of love overcoming prejudice, and their delightful children’s picture book, Pickles’ Predicament, which my granddaughter simply had to have.
Shirley and I were in an amazing critique group in Kalispell, Montana, during my time there. (See “Ink and Magic,” a guest post by another member of the group, Leslie Budewitz, for more about this remarkable collection of authors.)
It was great seeing Shirley again after many years. Also good to see friends Billy Cook and Diane Goeres-Gardner there. And I enjoyed meeting new people, including Gary Beaudoin, who I had the privilege of sharing space with. He displayed a lovely Navajo rug to illustrate his beautiful book, Unbroken Web, about a family of Navajo women who have maintained this art form. You can see the exquisite rug in the background in the photo to the right.
Photography became a challenge on this bright day between the sunny aisles and the shadowed interiors beneath the canopies.
Thanks to my daughter Christiane for taking the photo of me.
