Well, thanks for putting up with me gushing like a fool over the new puppy.  He is quite adorable, don't you think?  As I write this I am in Vermont and Spike - and Chris - are in Seattle.  He made his first plane flight without any trouble other than having to work his way through the adoring crowds of TSA workers who insisted on holding him and cuddling him and suggesting that he should stay with them instead of continuing on with Chris. 

She's figuring him out, teaching him about a crate and the Puget Sound and seagulls and salt air.  They'll spend the summer out there and then they'll come back.  By then Spike will be a big boy, but don't worry, I'll be going out there a couple of times and will be sure to keep you filled in with pictures.

I'm in Vermont to do some book readings and signings.  Last night I was in Brandon and tonight, a few hours from now, I'll be reading in Rochester.  It's a trip, a blast, a fun thing, to be here where so many of these stories take place, reading to people who, in some cases, are IN the stories.  I spend so much time there thinking about here that I keep forgetting I am actually HERE after all.

Tomorrow is a big parade in Brandon, one of the state's top ten entertainments, I'm told.  The town is spiffing up, getting ready.  Yesterday was Rochester's day and the local farm folks cleaned off their tractors and draped banners on their lawn mowers and had a fine time.  There was one band, a modified bluegrass band, and one "float" with music - five people singing and one person playing a saxophone, riding on a flatbed hay bale carrier.  Nice.  Everyone threw candy to the kids, except for one group who threw wrapped Colby Cheddar Cheese (they ARE dairy farmers whose milk goes to Colby...).  Very cute, it all was.

My sisters are both here with me, sharing this time.  Heather doesn't live here anymore, but moved away recently enough that everyone knows her still. On the Fourth she helped organize the parade and then helped with the chicken barbecue.  Before we knew it, my other sister and I had aprons on and were serving salads right along with all the other women.  The men were the cooks for the day, hauling grilled chicken in boxes across the street from the grills tucked under the overhang of a town building. The police ate right along with everyone else.  And then, three hours after it all began, it was all done.

I love Vermont and it is good to be here this time.  I'm just roaming around thinking and watching and thinking some more.  I'll be back there on Sunday.  North Carolina is a nice place too and I'm lucky to be able to come here, especially with my sisters, and especially at this time of year. 

See you soon.