Amherst Book Review Club appearance

Yesterday and last night, yet another lake effect snow storm dumped two feet of heavy, wet snow in South Buffalo--on the day that my co-author and I had scheduled one of our biggest author appearances of the year. And wouldn't you know it? The NY State Thruway actually closed down--trapped motorists ran out of fuel and were stranded in their cars with rescuers coming to them by snowmobile...you just gotta love western New Yorkers and their can-do attitudes.

But, unfortunately, heavy snowfall meant that the attendance for the meeting was down by almost half and we didn't sell nearly the number of books we had hoped to, but the audience was very receptive, the salmon at lunch was good, and we had fun. (Even if I was too keyed up to eat my dessert--it looked fabulous.) I had brought some Krupnik (Polish honey liqueur) that my mom's Polish friend sent for Andy, so I passed that along to him. It was yellowish liquid in a small glass jar--looking very much like a urine sample--I'm sure any witnesses to the hand-off wondered, "What the heck?" (Why, selling my urine so Andy can pass a drug test, of course!)

92 people had signed up for the luncheon and paid in advance. We had 51 actually show up. But it was really heartwarming to see stooped-over elderly ladies hobbling across the parking lot using their canes in the snow just to come and hear us speak. (I stood there and opened the doors for them while I waited for Andy to arrive. He was almost late--traffic from his part of the state was at a standstill.) All I can say is western New Yorkers are made of tough stuff. Our local TV station prints out T-shirts that read, "Hey, it's Buffalo. It snows. Deal with it."

But all in all it was a wonderful appearance with gracious, attentive hosts and a fine time was had by all--despite the snow. :)