FARGO

Monday, April 23, at 4 pm, Ellen Kuhfeld, Joan Marie Verba, and I (as Mary Monica Pulver) will be at the University of Minnesota – Minneapolis bookstore for a reading and discussion.

On Tuesday at 2 pm, I (as Monica Ferris) will come to a book club at the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in St. Louis Park to talk about the Betsy Devonshire series. The members have decided to open the meeting to the public.

On Saturday, April 28, from 1 to 5 pm, St. Peter, Minnesota, will hold a Book Festival at their Community Center. Put on by Gustavus Adolphus College, the event will feature readings, panels, and appearances by more than a dozen area authors – including me. (http://www.vita.mn/event_detail.php?event_id=130526) St. Peter is a pretty little town on the Minnesota River, once proposed as the capitol of Minnesota. I used it as the scene of a murder in Thai Die.

This past Friday and Saturday I was in Fargo, North Dakota, attending the tenth annual stitching event put on by Nordic Needle. About eighty people came, their capacity – it is so popular that they announce it and all the slots are taken literally within an hour or two. They offer lots of classes, many in very advanced kinds of stitchery. Nordic Needle was featured in my current mystery Threadbare, and I spent a couple of hours Saturday evening signing LOTS of copies sold to attendees by the store. Stitchers are among the nicest people on earth and it was an extremely pleasant experience for several reasons. One was that I met a woman who shares my interest in English history. She and I sat down later and had a wonderful gossip about the Kings and Queens past, present and future. Another was a bookmark display. Nordic Needle asks stitchers to make bookmarks for a contest, and distributes all entries to an organization that encourages children to read. There were a lot of beautiful, simple, clever, inspiring, funny, cute, amazing entries put on display at the event. It would be wonderful to think that a child who gets one of the bookmarks is inspired to take up needlework. A woman from Bermuda – did I mention that people come from all over the world to this event? – came and did a demonstration of bobbin lace. There’s a good look at bobbin lace being made in this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiTqdr38tTU. I donated two copies of Threadbare to be given as door prizes at the Saturday morning breakfast, and one winner was from Norway. She was a very sweet senior woman who, with her husband, has gone all over the world doing work for the Salvation Army. Her daughter is a physician in London. It was an honor to meet her!

My cat Snaps is having digestive problems. Normally when he throws up, the result is a pile of partly-digested food. Lately it’s been a cream-colored liquid, and it’s happening almost every day. I’ve put in a call to the vet, but meanwhile, do any of you have any idea what the problem might be? He remains lively and interested in everything.