Meeting Vicki Myron, Dewey's Mom

The book signing was to be at a "HY-VEE" store. I've never heard of them but they seem to be some sort of rival to Wal-Mart which is at the other end of town. It's only a grocery store and eating mall with out all the other departments Wal-Mart has. The library staff recommended me to eat at this Hy-Vee. I'm so glad I did. They had a Chinese place that was excellent. When it was time for the signing Vicki was 15 minutes early and she started signing right away. The line was long so I decided to wait until it died down a bit. I had to wait over an hour! It was wonderful to see so many people holding Dewey's book. When it was my turn I got to tell her how much I liked the book and I also told her about Phebe, my almost 21 year old cat. I walked away and with horror as I realized I didn't ask for a picture. So I got in line again, took a picture, and someone suggested that they take a picture of me with Vicki. The woman who was using my camera couldn't push hard enough to make it work. She kept pushing and nothing happened. What I didn't realize was every time she pushed the button it actually took a picture. When I got to the motel I nearly laughed myself sick because in the series of seven pictures, while Vicki's face remained the same, my face went from smiling to concerned, to upset, to horrified when I realized how much of Vicki's time I was taking! It really was funny and no, I'm not going to post the pictures. :)

This time I skedaddled out of that store to only have the wonderful Iowa wind hit me in the face and taunt me "You forgot your jacket..." Shoot! Hey, I'm from California I'm not used to carrying a jacket around! So I turned around and headed for the door and there was this man grinning lopsided at me who obviously had watched me run out of the store and stop dead in my tracks. As I came closer he said, "Forget something?" YES! I heard myself say. He then smiled from ear to ear, held his arms open and said, "Welcome to my world!" That had us both laughing. Don't you just love nice people?

After that I drove around Spencer to look at the lovely homes. I found this county building with trees turning colors around it. It was just a beautiful fall day in the charming town of Spencer, Iowa.