BOOK SIGNINGS for A FINE ROMANCE

Posted on February 26, 2013 by sbranch

Hello Girlfriends!  How’s everyone this morning?  We are good here, it’s not snowing and we have MUSICA!  I’ve been thinking about booksignings . . .

. . . and where we might go in the fall when A Fine Romance gets here!   With the way time is flying, it will be September before we know it — so I’m trying to get ready.  I thought I’d show you few of my past book signings. I’m the one behind the camera in this first photo, just before giving a talk to the wonderful people at the Flying Geese Quilt Guild; there’s my mom in the front row sitting next to Joe.  This was so fun, I got to meet and talk to everyone here. I wonder if any of you are in this audience?!

This is a signing at the Yankee Book Store in Plymouth, MA — all my Vineyard girlfriends came with me, we piled in the car, got on the ferry and made a day out of it — when I got to the bookstore I found the room, as usual, was full of kindred spirits!

There’s two of them now!  While I’m signing, I can always hear the laughing and talking between the people waiting their turn to get their books signed … I can’t help but think what I’m missing!  I enjoy one-on-one time with each person who comes up, but I do think the real fun is in the line!

This is the Remnants of the Past Show in San Luis Obispo, California, a couple of years ago.  How can you not love an event in a beautiful location that’s all about antiques!   BTW, the woman wearing brown on the left is one of our girlfriends who I was just about to meet in person for the first time, Joann, who came to the event all the way from Colorado (she’s at @myheartsathome on Twitter — go say hi if you can!).

And here is one of the most delightful things I love about signings and what makes them such a privilege, people bring their families, husbands, sisters, best friends, moms, and their darling little girls and I get to meet them.  It’s always a family affair.

So I’ve been thinking and trying to figure out where we should go on our book tour — we will probably be on the road in the western states from the middle of September through November 9-10 (when I will be at the Remnants of the Past show again).  Then we’ll be going home, where we can do more events in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

I happened on that magical photograph of our ship, fresh from the wild Atlantic ocean, sliding back into America at dawn (on the Queen Mary 2) last July, I can still hear the whoosh of the water and the boat horn  — it gave me what I thought was a . . .

. . . perfectly brilliant idea (if I do say so myself).  The original Queen Mary, that wonderful old ship, Cunard White Star’s RMS Queen Mary (that’s her above), launched in 1936, is now a permanently-docked hotel in Long Beach, California.  I was thinking this would be the perfect place to “launch” A Fine Romance!  I could plan it now, far in advance so maybe lots of people could arrange to go . . . it wouldn’t be the only place I’d go, just the first.   I was envisioning an English Tea Party on board in the Queen’s Ballroom, with cups and cakes; Fred Astaire could be singing (he sailed on this very ship), and we’d have a Book Talk and Signing! You could bring your books, your mom, your sister, your daughter, and your best friend; we could wear Downton Abbey hats . . . on a September day in California on a beautiful old ship with the Pacific Ocean out our portholes?  Could it get any better?   A girl can dream and I’m good at that.  Because when I called to talk to the nice people at the Queen Mary about my brilliant idea, I found out that although they do have an afternoon tea on board (which I’ll take my mom to when I get out there),  they don’t have enough equipment, cake stands, teapots, etc. to do a tea party for more than a hundred.  “No tea” was a setback, but the price was the problem.  For the ballroom alone (beautiful, old, restored to original), not counting any food or drink or waitstaff, just the room (which can hold 200 to 300 people) and chairs lined up in “theater style,” is $7000 to start, for a Sunday from noon to 4pm.  And no, they wouldn’t let me just “set up” on the deck … 🙂  So. This is what I call the proverbial arm and a leg. Unless one of you knows the owner of the ship … your dad maybe? I realized, I need to get more creative.

So I thought I’d start with you.  We’re planning in advance because it takes time to organize and the months go by so quickly, it will be here before we know it. We’ll be contacting lots of bookstores — I’ll be sure to put a schedule here so you can see what we’ve arranged.  But I thought I’d also ask, in case any of you are planning a large event out west durning September or October of this year, (or November and December in the East) — events such as a quilt guild gathering, perhaps something at the Quilt Festival in Houston, or a vintage antique show like Remnants, maybe a charity or church event, a women’s club that needs a speaker, or perhaps you know a teashop that would want to host a booksigning and have lots of people descend on them all at once!  Somewhere I could go and meet lots of you at the same time.  Those kinds of occassions are always the most fun, but they do require a little space.  I could give a talk but it could also just be a signing like at Remnants; the best part is, because of the nice people I meet, these get-togethers always feel like a tea party whether there’s tea or not. ♥

Don’t worry one little bit if you can’t think of anything, and there’s no real hurry, I just thought I’d try.

My darling Dad turns an extremely YOUNG 90-years-old this August!  So we’re going to his house in Arizona — and from there, out to California — we’ll start our tour after the book arrives in September.  Our main problem is we can’t take Jack or Girl Kitty with us! We will have to get our kitty sitter to come back!

Now, just in case you think I do nothing but worry about the book  . . .

Hello.  Peek-a-boo.

Yes, I’m still in my chair working away, as spring meanders in on the back roads in the most unnoticeable way possible — here is the view from my desk at my frozen little garden.  Our book isn’t quite done, although it’s all written and laid out, I still have handwriting and watercolors to paint, but I am ecstatic every day, doing it.  I wake up excited.  It’s a pleasure to put the final touches on it.  I wrote a book!  OMG!

  I have three windows in my studio, here’s another view from my chair.

 This window is behind me.  Yesterday, just at dawn, it was blue outside, the snow was blue, the shadows were blue.  The white was ice blue, the coldest looking blue you ever saw.  But by yesterday afternoon . .

. . . . we could hear the ice sliding off the roof and watch clumps of it fall past the windows and out of the trees, almost like it was snowing again, so much coming down,  We had a major thaw!

That got me out of my chair…

. . . and outside with the camera.  This is the kind of thing that makes the newspapers on Martha’s Vineyard, the first sightings of snowdrops!  For me it’s knowing that in plenty of time for the daffodils, I’ll be finished with the book, and can start playing house again, making Coconut Cake for Easter, reading a new book, eating lunch in a restaurant with my new British Country Living, all the things I love to do.

When the snow was coming off the roof, it was loud, cracking, breaking up and sliding. Jack kept looking up wanting to know if I needed him to go upstairs and check on what was going on.

This boy gets smarter every day.  For instance.  The pony tail bands be loves me to shoot for him?  We have them in all colors and what’s good about them is they don’t roll.  So we have to do a lot less crawling around trying to find them like we had to do with the balls.  But, for some reason we could not figure out, the rubber bands began to disappear.  Joe couldn’t find any, and I couldn’t either.  We asked Jack.  This was the expression on his face.  Hmmm.

We have a scale like a doctor’s scale, only half size.  There’s maybe an eighth of an inch between the bottom of the scale and the floor.  One day I noticed that Jack was zeroed in on this scale, staring at it, his eyes big and round and focused with his nose right to the edge of it.  Was he trying to tell me something?  I picked it up, it’s heavy, and moved it.  There were five rubber bands under it.  He had to work to put them there, one at a time, and he remembers where they are!  Just another day in paradise . . .

OK, Girlfriends, must go work on book!  Talk to you soon, have a wonderful day.  Love your comments, as you know, you are brilliant and we are the normal ones! ♥

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CHATSWORTH HOUSE & DOWNTON ABBEY . . .

Posted on February 20, 2013 by sbranch

(Ad-On to this Post, I think you might be interested in this fascinating article about Downton Abbey!) 

Get in the car Girlfriends, we’re going back to England today!  You will need your comfy shoes!  This is a long one!

When Joe and I were in England we never had a chance to go to Highclere Castle, the location for Downton Abbey, because they were filming and the house was closed to the public.  But with the season finale behind us, I thought you might be feeling a vacuum and would like to come with me to visit another of the largest and most popular Country Houses in England called Chatsworth House, in North Derbyshire.

We were staying in the Peak District, and with country views like this the whole way to Chatsworth House, we actually didn’t care if we ever got there~~~ the getting there was just as good as the being there!

XOXOXXOXO

But you will be needing MUSICA now and I know just the thing!  Also, on my computer, there’s a little button that has a sun-like icon on the upper left corner of my keyboard, if you have one of those, click on it and brighten up your screen for our visit . . .

It is a very long narrow drive to the house through meadows where lambs are allowed to cross without supervision, no Bo Peep to keep things organized.  As you go along you suddenly come upon the first view of the house.  This is the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, they still live in part of the house, and the rest of it is open to public.  There is so much history here, it’s a fascinating look back in time.  You can get an idea of how big it is when you see the tiny people in the photo.

The house seems almost overwhelming!  But look at that lucky couple down there, sitting on the lawn next to the river, doesn’t that look wonderful?

Here we are, we’ve parked and are heading for the arched entrance.  Stay together girls.

We walked through that arch, I turned around to look back, you guys all got behind me really fast!   The countryside around the house is as beautiful as a park and goes on forever.

This is my favorite outside picture.  I just love that gnarly weeping tree coming out of the little grassy daisy hill in the middle of the circular drive,  it has so much character.  I can easily imagine Mr. Darcy strolling out that door!  Chatsworth is the house where the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice was filmed. Would you like to go inside, because we can, and guess what, we can bring the camera!!!  Shocking! (say it with an English accent.)

Everything that you can imagine one of these houses having, this has.  Here is the family car.  Can you imagine?  Look how high off the ground it is, there must have been a little step so you could get in.

You’d need help because you’d very likely be wearing this …

Even though you’d just worn it other day to have your portrait done by, oh what that fellow’s name?  Was it John?  Yes, that was it!  Such a lovely man . . .

. . . he certainly knew his way around a paint brush!

But let’s go see what’s going on upstairs … we really aren’t downstairs people anyway, are we girlfriends?  At least not today!

We can walk four abreast on this staircase!  Prepare yourself, no expense was spared in this amazing house.

 Every hallway is lined in wonderful art and furniture….

 but my favorites are the details.  This gold chair rail ran the length of the hall.  And look at the gold frame on the chair, and the fabric!

Almost like jewelry!   But I’m sure you girls would rather be picking whose going to get which bedroom, right?

This is a nice one …

With a nice fireplace, just as cozy as can be . . .

And there are your perfect little hand towels, I could be happy in here.

Oops, I hear footsteps  ~~~ Time out for breakfast here at Spring Street Abbey . . .

I did not dress for breakfast!  But Oh My!  But my butler pretends not to notice and does a magnificient job!  Yum yum ~~ OK, tummy is warmed up now . . . let’s go see another bedroom~ I feel a nap coming on!

Lovely little beds, draped in beautiful fabrics, and look there’s a nightgown all set out.

To Die For.  Original hand-painted Wallpaper.  Please.  I don’t even want to tell you how many pictures I took of this!

In case you need to write a letter . . .

Or would like to take a bath (a modern convenience, the water closet) . . .

You’ll have help … the Ladies Maid will get you dressed, pop you into that bustle, because,

That painter guy is back and you need to be beautiful for your sitting!

I had a nice long chat with the Lady’s Maid there — I asked if there was jealousy among the servants; did she, as “Ladies Maid to the Duchess” (the part she was playing), feel ostracized by the others?  She answered that she did!  She was in a difficult position; the downstairs people, who should have been her friends, wanted to know all the gossip and secrets of the house and everything they could about the Duchess, but if the maid breathed a word, she would be fired.

What I wonder is what they told their families about this place when they went home to “real life” and what did they really think about houses like this?

Most of the ceilings are hand painted with cherubs and angels.

Look at the size of this mirror!  And the beautiful hand-carving around the door.  I am the only thing that looks a bit out of place in all this grandeur.

I walked through three more doorways and then took the same picture of the mirror.  This house is huge, this is maybe a tenth of what there is to see.  Besides the paintings, the hallways are filled with displays of silver urns, huge engraved platters, covered dishes, ice buckets, it truly goes on and on.

Look at this carving … the whole wall is like this, but it was the birds and the tiny flowers around the fireplace that I loved.

  This is where thirteen-year-old Princess Victoria had her first grown-up dinner.  The table is sent for twenty, but you could easily have gotten forty people around it.  (Sixty might have been just the right amount of cozy for grilled-cheese night.)  I have had backyards smaller than the tablecloth.  Can you imagine ironing that?  No wonder they needed so much help.  Which is why today, if these large houses are to keep going, they have to think of creative ways to keep themselves afloat, such as opening the rooms to the public and charging admission, or becoming a Hotel, or, like Highclere and many other Country Houses, rent them for movie and television locations.

I took close-up photographs of the huge fringed tiebacks in every room, and later, when I looked at Joe’s pictures, he did too!  Quite amazing little bits of art.

There were two gold-trimmed fireplaces in the dining room.  It was easy to imagine them both ablaze, firelight glinting off silver and glass on the table. The view out the windows went far up the hillside, we could picture it blanketed with snow, horses and carriages coming up the drive . . .

As we leave the dining room, on our way to the gift shop we go through this amazing marble room full of statuary.

The gift shop is in what used to be the “Orangery,” a greenhouse, where orange trees and other exotic plants wintered over harsh winters.  They had full size faux lambs in the store, it was all I could do not to try and bring one home!

Everything was beautifully cared for, there were acres of garden walks too, and a huge maze.   But I bet you’ve had enough and you’re probably ready to sit down.  When we were here, I waited for Joe to come out of the gift shop, in one of these purple chairs writing in my diary and playing Words with Friends with my girlfriend Lowely on Martha’s Vineyard.

It’s like a food court area just inside that large arch we came through when we arrived.  And in case you’d like to keep in touch with Chatsworth House, you can follow them on Twitter …  @ChatsworthHouse  Also, here are some interesting overhead views of Chatsworth House, so you can see how big it really is.

I ordered sandwiches for everyone, so rest your feet a bit because I do believe it’s time I go get Vanna . . .

Oh my, Girlfriends . . . Almost 2,200 entries for our drawing, and every one of them a pearl.  It’s amazing!  You are so wonderful, so many nice comments have brought tears to my eyes more than once!!!  Thank you, thank you!  And thank you for being so excited about the book. I’m just thrilled, you bought a kazillion of them!  Did you know that would happen?  Because I didn’t!   It’s been such a surprise, honestly, I never realized such a nice thing could happen!  Writing a book “with blog” is about a thousand times more fun than without.  Now I can’t wait until it comes out so Joe and I can start wandering the countryside to meet as many of you as possible.  I have a lot to do before then, so we’ll be keeping in touch! 🙂

OK, here goes,  I’m lookin’ at YOU Vanna, dig in there you sweet thing, and make someone’s day. ♥

Alright, here we are.  Oh my, it’s a girlfriend from California who loves red and white.  Does that sound like you?  Is your name Gail???  Because if so, then YOU are our lucky winner.  You should find an email in your box from me —  Let me know where to send the first copy of A Fine Romance.  CONGRATULATIONS!  SO HAPPY FOR YOU!

And don’t worry if you’re not Gail!  There are going to be plenty of other surprises in the future, you know there will be, and really now, after our long trip . . . isn’t it time for a comfy cup of tea?  That’s where I’m going!

 XOXO Love you Girlfriends.♥

 

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