Monday, May 12, 2008

The Winnipeg reading

...with Judith Krause at McNally Robinson was a great time! Thanks to everyone who came out. And Ariel provided the biggest and best chocolate layer cake ever!

We got in to Winnipeg late last night. Ariel told us to meet her and M at the gates of the Assiniboine Forest at 9 am sharp. I checked the forecast and told her Winnipeg was in for 15-25 mm of rain. She said we'd hike anyway. She'd provide me with a hat.

Here's Ariel and me after 1 1/2 hours of hiking in the rain. I was soaked to the skin. My shoes were squishing. I had to wring out my socks.


After the hike Ariel awarded me a wonderful yogurt/lemon zest muffin for being so quiet and well mannered.

Ariel set up a wonderful dim sum gathering for noon. The food was excellent, but nothing compared to the company. What a fun table of writers! At the end of the meal Ariel slid a napkin covered object over to me. It turned out to be a beautiful horseshoe!


It feels lucky. Anita, a writer with two books currently shortlisted for a major award and a horse owner with connections in the horse world, came up with the horseshoe at Ariel's request. It's off a horse named Willie.

After dim sum Ariel gave us a tour of Aqua Books. Wow. We will definitely be stopping there every time we visit Winnipeg.

Here's a few pics H took at the reading.

Here's me trying a flowery tea.



Here's me reading.



Here's Judith and me signing.



And here's the cake! A Cantos cake!




Thanks to Ariel for the cake and everything else. What a great day.

11 comments:

Anita Daher said...

Hi Brenda!

It was so awesome seeing you and Judith yesterday. Your books are beautiful, and the poetry inside totally rocks! Congratulations :-)

If you would like to see the beast the shoe came from, here is a photo of the handsome boy: http://www.cityviewstable.com/sale.html

Anonymous said...

Love the pic of you two in the rain!

Anonymous said...

Cake and rain and such. Wonderful!

Brenda Schmidt said...

Thanks, Anita! It was great seeing you!

Willie is handsome! I plan to keep his shoe nearby, though I haven't decided exactly where I'll hang it. But it will be in sight of my computer. I need all the luck I can get! :)

Thanks, Tracy! I love that pic, too. H really caught the essence of our relationship in that shot.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Thanks, Dani!

Paula Jane said...

Isn't it nice to be so well-loved that cake follows wherever you go?

Mike Deal said...

Yeah, that's a great shot of the two of you... to me it made me think of the old tv show The Odd Fellows... imagine the two of you without partners and living together in your sixties...

Brenda Schmidt said...

It is nice, Paula Jane. Though one cake provider said the goal is to keep my cake hole plugged, at least temporarily, to give their poor ears a break. Imagine! :)

Ha! We are like The Odd Couple. And I'm not Felix...

Mike Deal said...

Oops! I meant to say The Odd Couple... thanks for getting the joke anyway.

Donna Kane said...

Great pictures! When I read about your hike with Ariel, I thought it said you'd hiked for 11 divided by 2 hours, which seemed even more rigorous.. :)

Brenda Schmidt said...

Thanks, Donna!

Ha! Few could tolerate hiking in the rain with me for that long. I'm not overly fond of getting soaked and I'm not known to be overly quiet about it. :)