Blog – Page 142 – Laurie Halse Anderson

May 5, 2008

Happy Cinco de Birthday!

The Forest is decorated with streamers and margaritas today. Yes, it is Cinco de Mayo (and take it from me: San Jose is where you want to be on Cinco de Mayo weekend). But it is also the birthday of Stephanie, my oldest daughter. You can leave birthday greetings on Bookavore, her blog, if you want. AND it is the 50th birthday of my most very Beloved Husband, Scot. All he wants for his birthday are a few more donations to his charity run.

So, yeah. This is Party Central today.

It’s also Catching Up from the Weekend Day. Friday morning I ran along the Guadalupe River Park Trail – it reminded me a lot of the trail that runs through the middle of Austin. After a long shower and lunch, my intrepid hosts, Dr. Mary Warner and Dr. Jonathan Lovell, drove me to Yerba Buena High School. Thanks you very, very much to Ms. Goltzer and her students for making the afternoon so much fun! After we left the school, we went to Hicklebee’s, an amazing independent bookstore run by Valerie Lewis, who ought to be called She Who Knows Everything. I would love to take her out to dinner with Teri Lesesne. The two of them in the same room at the same time might be enough to fix everything that is wrong with our world.

This should be a Destination Bookstore; the kind you plan an entire vacation around.

Not only do they have tons of books, artifacts from writers (like The Pants from Ann Brasheres and an early drawing of Clifford the Big Red Dog), and a terrific staff, but they have wall after wall crowded with signatures and drawings from authors and illustrators who have dropped by.

What San Jose, Stevie Wonder, and the Shippensburg Women’s Rugby team have in common

May 2, 2008

Dawn Patrol

Yesterday was a lucky day for me. My tomato plants survived the frost, snug in their little handmade hoodies. My flights were on time, my flights were (relatively) comfortable, and my luggage did not wander off on its own. AND I won a contest. I have never won a contest before in my whole life. And get this – I won ICE CREAM.

Coconut & Lime is my favorite food blog. (You really should check it out and try some of her recipes.) When I was inbetween flights at O’Hare Airport yesterday, I saw the announcement of a contest to win some of the new flavors of Haagen-Dazs ice cream. So I entered. I always enter contests; it’s a case of blind optimisim overcoming decades of painful experience. But yesterday, I won! I don’t know when the ice cream is coming, or what flavors will be in the box, but I’ll let you know.

One of the nice things about jet lag is that it’s really easy, as an East-coaster, to wake up wicked early for a sunrise stroll. San Jose is a very walkable and runnable city. I am staying on the campus of San Jose State University and went for a run last night through the surrounding neighborhoods. This morning I wandered through downtown, enjoying all the public art. While looking for an open coffee shop, I came across a cool memorial to Ernesto Galarza, called Man of Fire.

He was a brilliant author, activist, and organizer who fought for decent working conditions for farm laborers and educational opportunities for all.

The piece looks like a long dining room table, with objects that reflect Galarza’s passions and accomplishments scattered on it.

See this memorial to his life and work, especially since we just celebrated International Labor Day yesterday and Cinco de Mayo on Monday, was a meaningful way to start the day.

I leave in a while to speak at Yerba Buena High School, then to Hicklebee’s for a 4pm event and signing. You’re coming, right? Please? Paleeeeezzzz?

May 1, 2008

Winding my way to San Jose

I really dislike 3:30 am wake-up calls.

But sometimes, they’re necessary. I’m at the Syracuse airport, waiting for the flight that will take me to the flight that will take me to San Jose, CA. I’ll be speaking in the area thanks to the San Jose Writing Project.

If you live around San Jose, please gather up everyone you know and join me at 4 pm, Friday, May 2nd (i.e. tomorrow) at Hicklebee’s bookstore.

A question came up in the Comments this week about what music I listen to when I’m running. They’re about to call my plane, so I can’t give you my playlist right now – I will as soon as I get a chance.

But I’d love to know about you. What are your favorite songs to listen to when you run or exercise?

April 29, 2008

Baby Got Book

So you don’t know this about me yet, but I love, love, love the song “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-A-Lot. It is an excellent running song that gets my feet moving much faster than normal. Picture me dashing down a country road singing the lyrics at the top of my lungs, disturbing wildlife with every mile, and shaking my thang. OK, don’t picture that. It’s a disturbing image.

Well, this great song just got better. Editor Cheryl Klein has written new lyrics for it, in a literary vein. The new title is “Baby Got Book” and it is hysterical and awesome. (scroll down to the April 26th entry.) Click on the link and read it now, but remember boys and girls: she wrote it, she owns it. Don’t go spreading it around without her permission.

I fretted muchly over my tomatoes last night. Here they are, naked in front of the approaching cold front.

And here they are all bundled up for the night. Cozy, no?

Maybe I should be packing them in my suitcase. I leave Thursday for sunny and warm San Jose, CA as the visiting author to the San Jose Area Writing Project. Those events are all sold out, but if you live in the area, please come out and hang out with me at Hicklebee’s bookstore, Friday May 2nd, at 4pm.

Two grace notes in my life yesterday; simple things that made me smile. I spent an hour holding my 4-month-old grand nephew Kegan. There is something about the smell of a baby that makes everything right in the world. And for dinner, BH cooked up some locally-caught baked bullhead (it’s a fish) and served it with the peach chutney I canned last summer. Yum!

April 28, 2008

Counting raindrops and boxes on the calendar

Happy is the gardener who gets her plants in the ground and her tools put away before the rain starts.

I couldn’t help myself. I jumped the gun this weekend. The broccoli I planted will be fine when the temperatures drop below freezing later this week. It won’t bother the pansies either, though the hollyhocks are already trembling. The lettuce and peas I sowed are hardy enough to push through snow.

But I fear for the tomatoes. I put them out several weeks too early in a fit of blind optimism and while hallucinating about fresh tomato, basil, and mozzarella sandwiches. Maybe I could build them little bonfires or quick knit them all a blanket. Stay tuned….

Besides gardening (in a cloud of punkies so thick I had to work with a shawl wrapped around my head), the other fun thing this weekend was our nine-mile run around Cazenovia Lake with our Team in Training teammates. I’ve reached my fund raising goal and my Beloved Husband is 80% of the way there — he only needs another $485. Our bribery offer of free books and other goodies still stands if you donate (scroll down the linked post for the details.)

Several important dates are sprinting towards us:
48 days until the Lake Placid Half-Marathon
60 days until ALA
146 days until the Philadelphia Distance Run
176 days until the release of CHAINS and my book tour (I got a preview of the tour plans last week, but I can’t talk about it until the details are finalized.)

Looking backwards now:
2008 Resolution Tracker
Week 16 – Miles Run: 14.5, YTD: 329.25 (gone through another pair of sneakers!)
Week 16 – Days Written: 7, YTD: 118

This is Day 119 of 2008. We’re just about one-third of the way through the year. Does that seems possible?