At SIBA and Stella's in Norfolk

With Luisa Igloria at Stella's

I've been out and about with Glimmerglass--spent three days in Norfolk, Virginia to attend the Southern Independent Booksellers trade show and was no doubt the most memorable person heard there because I had raging laryngitis almost the entire time. At Sunday afternoon's The Moveable Feast (where a writer plunges from table to table of booksellers), I sounded like a cross between Frog (as in Frog and Toad are Friends) and a squeaky toy. When not at the trade show, I was staying at the lovely Page House Inn bed-and-breakfast in the Ghent neighborhood--and there's an imaginative French restaurant there, well worth visiting. It's Nouvelle, run by chefs Rina and Luke and apprentice, Russ.

During a long break from SIBA the day before, I met and read with longtime penpal Luisa Igloria at Stella's Café... and expect that's where I left my voice, so if you happen in to Stella's and see my wandering dulcet tones, please send them after me! It was the first event for both Glimmerglass and for Luisa's Ode to the Heart Smaller than a Pencil Eraser. Luisa and I exchanged presents, and the event was quite festive. Afterward, she took me out to a Bolivian restaurant for dinner.

Now I'm in Greenville, North Carolina, visiting Gail McIntosh and Michael Poteat--Gail and I met when she was 14 and I was 13 and just starting high school in Cullowhee. So fun! But I still sound strange, rather like a Bacallian tree frog. I am hoping that my voice returns before the next event on the schedule.

I note a new Glimmerglass review...

Luisa and I take each other's picture
at Bolivian restaurant Luna Maya--
mine will have to wait for a downloader...
These pictures are all by way of Luisa on Facebook.

Stella's Marly-and-Luisa book cake!