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We held our Grande Prairie launch yesterday at a really cool bookstore downtown called "The Rabbit Hole." It's a used bookstore, but they also stock a large number of records, comics and collectibles, and carry an excellent selection of cult books.

At about 5 minutes to 3:00, no one had arrived yet and we were beginning to get a bit anxious. Fortunately, people straggled in and so we ended up reading to a crowd of about 40 people, which was fantastic. Our publishers came up for the event, which was really nice.

After the reading, I went out for supper at Dymph's mom's house. Dymph's mom Bibi and her husband Derek are potters and own a farm out near Hythe. They live in this very amazing Japanese style house that Derek built, full of books and pottery and such. (Yes, as you can guess, I liked it.) They have 2 donkeys, 3 dogs and a cat. Derek is an amazing cook and we ate a fantastic Indian/Malaysian style meal. Guests could also attempt to cook naan bread in the tandoori oven, which was fun to watch. Rose and David (publishers) came, along with many artist friends, the Rabbit Hole dudes, and two of Dymph's kids. Dymph gave us a tour of the kilns, including a Japanese style aragama (sp?) kiln that is one of 12 in North America. All in all, it was a fun evening and I took a lot of pictures, which I will post soon.

Rose told me that some woman from Saskatoon wants to book me for a reading. I have no clue who this woman is, but it does mean that I could tour to Saskatoon at some point in the fall.

Only as old as you feel...

I forgot to mention that on Friday I interviewed an 89-year-old man who taught himself how to make violins. He picked up this skill about 25 years ago, just for something to do. When he was in his late 60s, he also built 2 airplanes and flew them.

I visited with the dude and his friend for a few hours and we talked about the olden days and life, and people who don't want to do and learn.