Guest Patrol

It’s been said that the number one leisure activity for the baby boom generation is travel, and, being a boomer, I can attest to the allure that travel holds.  Journeying is invigorating, fun, relaxing, and romantic and it can bring history alive in a way nothing else does.

Yeeeeehaw!

Austin, Texas-    What can you say about a town that has a Nightclub sign stating: “3 Floors, 2 Patios, Fireplace, COME DRINK”, and another on a deserted parking lot wall proclaiming, “Music saved my Black-Hearted Soul”? The latter was adorned with a graphic of Joan Jett – she of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts fame (the maiden faire who starred in oh-so-many of my adolescent, late-night fantasies).

At any rate, the official Launch of “Blackberry Pie Murder” was at Powell’s Cedar Creek Crossing in Beaverton, Oregon. This is a really cool bookstore and… can you say a really big bookstore? It is almost 3,500 square feet of pure delight: filled with half-a-MILLION books and Book accessories, and if that weren’t enough, many other strange and wonderful things that you never KNEW that you needed, but for which you have been desperately searching for YEARS.

First, just a brief aside regarding genetics and our family: There are times I think my family puts the “Fun” in Dysfunctional and perhaps in the final analysis, there might be times that I think my Mother (New York Times Best-Selling Author Joanne Fluke) just might be “A few peas short of a casserole”.

My Grandpa Cliff used to tease my Grandma with one particular phrase and this one a real gem from Minnesota farm country, that he enjoyed sharing with folks when he was mildly amused by something my Grandma had done or said and he was trying to tease her. He would say, “I suppose, she’s just a Few Clowns short of a Circus”.

“One” should, (and by “One”, I mean John Fluke - as in John Fluke should… Strike that… I mean John Fluke REALLY should) have learned by now to be careful what “One” wishes for; especially, when said Authors’ latest book in her Cozy Mystery series (from the beloved Hannah Swensen Mysteries series,) entitled “BlackBerry Pie Murder”, has just hit #7 on the New York Times Best-Seller list - with a bullet- and she gets it in her head to go on a 21 city North American tour, dragging “One” with her!

There’s nothing like a near-death experience to make you reconsider your life. That’s what happened to us in July 2012.

Blog #2 : The Pre Launch Party

(Yes, I know… I know, this should have been the first blog I wrote for BoomerTravelPatrol.com; but hey… nobody said I was the writer in the family)

Anyway, here we go!

Held at the beautiful “Grand Ballroom” at the Canoga Park Elks Lodge # 2190 in Canoga Park Ca, this preview party was just way too much fun. A very homey and friendly small-town feel meet and great, the party was the perfect kick-off for the “Blackberry Pie Murder”- the #17 in the Hannah Swensen Mystery Series- for Hannah Swensen, (Joanne Fluke’s cookie-baking, coffee-shop-owning, murder-solving title character) and all of her “Hannah-Maniacs” and “Fans O’ Hannah” from all over the country.

Being on the 19^th (Penthouse) floor; the water seems hotter, the maid service faster and even the soap seems frothier than the norm. After traveling to the hotel in style via Media Escort, we were treated to express check- in and rapidly whisked up to our rooms, where the management had laid out a welcoming spread of cheese, crackers and Willamette Valley Pinot Gris for our favorite author-who also happens to be my mom- Joanne Fluke.

I was recently listening to an interview with the musician, Bobby McFerrin where he describes improvisation as movement, as catching song. What does it mean to catch a song? It implies that the song, our creation, is already here– and so part of our work as artists is to listen, to observe, and improvise from our experience. At La Romita, we will develop these skills through drawing, writing and watercolor techniques–  and taking daily sketching trips into the small Umbrian hill towns. In the afternoons we return to La Romita for time in the workshop.