Usually, the first Sunday in September,the date of the literary festival in Eden Mills, is blessed with golden sunshine.
The horses and lambs amble out on the drive up, the wasps buzz around as you eat your lunch and listen to authors.
This year it drizzled so much I wanted to cancel but my daughter Jen wanted to come with 18 month old grandson William.
I now pictured trying to hush a toddler in a room where a soft spoken author whispered her reading. One of William's strong points,however, is he's like my Jackapoo Mortie, you stuff food in his mouth and he's happy, busy and stops yapping. We sat in the children's area awhile and heard Christine Tripp, an illustrator who I knew from the CANSCAIP listserve. Awfully nice to meet her in person and I liked the work she showed and the way she presented.
The rain continued to pour down and I felt cold and damp for a while.
We heard a bit of music, chatted with other authors, Jo Ellen Bogart, Janet Wilson, Linda Hendrie--then we meandered over to hear Robert Sawyer read. Wow, he read from a small hand held electronic gadget which almost made it seem as though he had his book memorized. He puts a lot of drama in his reading which we quite appreciated.
Then the sun smiled down again on the festival. I grabbed a cup of coffee and warmed up.
Back at the children's tent, we got to hear Richard Scrimger, Art Slade and Ken Oppel--great presenters and all so different in what they read as well as how they read it.
I wanted to buy all their books but know I have to cut back. What did I end up with? Susan Jube's new horse book. I think I'll go read it now.
