Yesterday we held Allan’s book launch party at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in the midst of the oddest weather ever where it went from balmy and warm to freezing blizzard of wee snow balls in a matter of minutes.  This was for his new book, Stories We Need To Know and with dire weather predictions we got a few emails from folks who said they didn’t think they could come with such bad driving conditions.  But we set up the food and drink table as if there’d be a crowd and, happily, there was!  There were at least sixty people and we ran out of chairs so some had to stand while Allan gave his talk.

When we arrived we had difficulty getting the fancy projector that hooks up to the computer to work so there were a few anxious moments of a technical nature.  By great good luck a lovely woman I know stepped in from the theater down the hall and she had the number of Martin, the young man who actually knows how to work the projector, so we were able to give him a call.  Then it looked like we’d forgotten the plastic glasses so I dashed to our local store to buy more only to realize I’d left my wallet at home.  It was one of those moments when the deep yogic three-part breath was put to good use.  No point in rushing, just breath deeply, proceed to house, pick up wallet, breathe deeply, return to store where plastic glasses were exactly where I’d stashed them by the cash, breathe even more deeply  while cashier, an elderly Russian with Sergei on his name tag, took all day to count out the change because he was clearly breathing very deeply or not at all.  Then, after finally getting the said bag of plastic glasses, stepping out from the store into a blast of arctic air and slicing wind that actually took the breath away.

So, I arrived with the glasses to discover that the technical difficulties had been solved by the heroic appearance of Martin and that the glasses we’d thought were lost were actually at the front of the room beside the projector rather than at the back by the drinks table.  But never mind, deep breathing is a very salutary practice and the difficulties we faced—a projector that wouldn’t work, missing cups, Sergei counting pennies as if they were gold, and blizzard conditions—none got in the way of a great time!  So nice to see friends, to meet new people and even to raise some money for the Arts Center.  And to launch Allan’s wonderful book.

This is a long way of saying, that with so much going on, I forgot to take pictures.  Next time.

One final note—I go again today to my tech man at Apple to work on switching this blog to my main website.  It’s possible the whole thing will disappear for a few days this week or next but it will be back.  Same address.  It’s more than possible, indeed a fact, that all the old posts here will disappear.  But we move on—as we must.  A good opportunity, among many, to practice letting go.  C’est la vie.