A. Montgomery, J. Sheratt, G. Carline and Yours Truly

Have you heard the simile, “busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs”? That’s one of my favorites, and a good descriptor of my last week. Started off last weekend with my attendance—or should I be saying “appearance”—at the Duarte Festival of Authors. What a fun day! Not only did I make some new friends, I got to catch up with writer pals Jeff Sherratt, Gayle Carline and Alyssa Montgomery, all Echelon Press pubbed authors. Also ran into Patty Kokinos, author of ANGEL PARK. Patty is just a delightful person, a smart, savvy cookie who’s also warm-hearted and compassionate. She’s now touting the second release of her fictionalized account of what’s wrong with our schools. Take a moment to check out her website.

As luck would have it, Gayle, Jeff and I were all on the same mystery panel. An enjoyable, educational experience. A highlight of the day was meeting the most affable Ray Bradbury. Alyssa had him autograph a new, hardbound copy of THE ILLUSTRATED MAN, and both Jeff and Gayle gave him copies of their books.

Sunday found me at WeHo- West Hollywood Book Fair. Weather was sparkle-bright, people were nice, as always. In the Sisters in Crime/L.A. booth I rubbed elbows with buddies Diana and Darrell James and several other top-notch mystery authors. Got to meet Eric Stone, author and my editor on “Just Like Jay”, slated for publication next summer in the SinC/LA anthology, “Murder in La La Land.” Eric was gracious and complimentary, and he made a fan of me.

On Monday I attended the local “State of the City” meeting and got to listen to our city council members tell all about everything they’ve done/are doing for our fair berg. Salmon lunch was tasty, conversation was good. Touched base with several people I haven’t seen in awhile. Tuesday I got my flu shot, yee-haa, and Friday I attended the press conference for friend David Gauny, (do you like his website?) who’s throwing in his hat on the city council race for 2010. Loads of fun. Capped off the week with Taste of Expo Friday night, sampling the wares of twenty local restaurants. Well, I only sampled three of the twenty.

Took it easy all weekend, naturally! My daughter-in-law returned home from Singapore today, I’m so happy to report. (My son came back 3 weeks ago.) We are all present and accounted for. Our weather has been cool the past few days, a huge relief to many. I know I will miss the warm weather, I always do. I can’t wait for late April and our lively California sun. It’s just me, I know.

A girlfriend stopped by today and gave me a miniature Heceta Head lighthouse! She went there on vacation with her family and, having read POINT SURRENDER, she thought to bring me back a gift as this is the lighthouse on the cover. It’s so cool.

Getting lengthy so I’d best shut up now. This week should be calmer, but I know I will be back into the weird book I’m writing so it will likely fill in any free time I’d otherwise have. Oh well. It’s what I do.

Coquille River Lighthouse as it looked to us in 1990.

Some friends of mine are traveling to Oregon tomorrow, and our discussion about their trip led me to recommend visits to the state’s many beautiful lighthouses. As it turns out, their travels will take them along a good portion of the Oregon coastline, leading them past several of these marvelous beacons. Heceta Head, of course, is a favorite of mine, being the inspiration for (and gracing the cover of) my latest romantic mystery, POINT SURRENDER.

Yaquina Head, Yaquina Bay, Umpqua River, Cape Arago and others are all on the route. However, I gave my friends specific instructions to visit Coquille (Koh-kel) River Lighthouse in Bandon. With Google’s help, a quick search of this distinctive, octagonal beacon reveals that it has been refurbished since my visit in the early 1990’s. LighthouseFriends.com seems to have the most updated info, and they mention some discord concerning the paint colors on this 113 year old station. Seems some folks feel it should be all white. Personally, I’m just thrilled it’s been restored.

When my family visited Bullards State Beach Park in 1990, my young sons delighted in playing amount the rocks on the jetty. The younger, just 4, managed to plop himself down into the cold waters of the Coquille River! He thought it was a riot until I had to strip him down in the parking lot, behind our open car door, and redress him in dry clothes.