One Saturday in May

It's a well-known fact that I spend most of my days off at home--usually writing, sometimes working in the garden (more about that in my next post) . But yesterday, the first Saturday in May, was an exception.

My lovely friend Rob owns a store called Imagicka in Binghamton (a little over an hour away from me) and I'd promised him that once the snow melted I'd come do a book signing. (I did one there last year after The Witch's Broom came out, and it went really well; Imagicka is a fabulous Pagan/New Age shop, so the folks who go there are my peeps.) Since the signing fell right after my birthday and Beltane, we kind of went with that theme, and I baked some Beltane cupcakes and brought flowers to give out to everyone who came. One fan even brought me a present (as if driving an hour and a half to see me wasn't gift enough) and another friend of mine drove all the way from New Jersey to see me, although she swore that it was at least in part because she needed an excuse to get out of the house!

Here are a few pictures from the signing:

Me and the lovely Rob. You can see a little bit of how cool the shop is.

Niala, who brought not only a gift for me, but one for my friend Jo who is recovering from a heart attack and is stuck in rehab. Niala said she'd been there and knew what it felt like. How sweet! I have the best readers!

The fabulous April S., who I met last year at RoberCon, with Jennifer and Leigh

My pal Karen who is a Betty (some of you know what that means) and came a long way to see me! As you can see here, I sold a bunch of the novels, too, not just the Llewellyn books.

My best bud Ellen, who kindly does the driving so I don't have to and is generally a good sport. We always have a great time together.

Beltane cupcakes

Beltane flowers, being checked out by Luna

 One of the reasons I like doing signings at Imagicka is that my friends Robin and George and their kids Sophie and Nate live about fifteen minutes from there, on the way home. So Ellen and I got to go hang out with them after the signing and have a fun belated birthday/May Day BBQ. Because of Life Stuff on both sides and the horribleness of the Winter from Hell, we hadn't seen each other since Yule Dinner Party--WAY too long! Getting to spend time with my favorite kids in the world (and their fabulous parents) made the day perfect.

This was us, so there were three different kinds of dessert :-)

The only one not squinting was Nate, who was smart enough to put on his sunglasses.

Sophie showing off one of their new ducklings, brought home that very morning.

One of our patented Aunt Debbie and the kids silly face photos

Sophie showing off their cool fire pit. No, we didn't light it with her on there. Or at all, alas.

Nate wanted me to watch him mow the lawn (with dad George's help)

My beautiful birthday flowers, picked out by Sophie because she thought they looked like fire. Very fitting, since the Baba Yaga book I'm working on right now revolves around fire!

Home again, around 8 PM--the moon looked amazing in the pre-dusk sky. We could see it our entire drive back, even though it was still light out.

All in all, a wonderful Saturday. What did you do this on your Saturday?