Busy, Fun Day

 We had a busy day on the first day of book sales for our West Danville History book. Patty and I signed books almost without stop in the morning. Lots of the people who came in wanted to have several books to give as Christmas gifts, and that made us very happy. We had a pretty steady stream of folks all morning, but it was never crowded, and it was fun to greet people we would normally not see now that social events are being reconsidered again due to the Covid upsurge, iust when it seemed things were beginning to improve . . . but everyone was very respectful in wearing masks and in the spacious  church vestry we were able to all stay well distanced. The afternoon wasn't as busy, but we had a few people stop by, and we felt it was a good day, over all. Gretchen Farnsworth came in for a book and took the picture above of Patty and me. I assured her we had NOT collaborated to wear red and green sweaters - but here we are, as Gretchen said, looking "festive" in our Christmas colors.

The video that Patty and I did on Tuesday at KATV in St. Johnsbury is now running in various outlets, so word is getting out. Here is a link to our video, which we hastily put together when we learned that the books were getting to us about two weeks earlier than we'd expected. We were worried on Wednesday that the books had not arrived, but then Leahy Press found out the carrier had fouled up somehow and our books were sitting in a warehouse in Springfield, Massachusetts! They got them back on a truck and they arrived Thursday morning. Patty and her husband, Doug, went to Montpelier and picked up as many boxes as they could safely load into their pickup truck. The books are heavy. Very heavy! There are thirteen books packed in every box, and that totals something like 40 lbs. I carried a box of six out to my car tonight to take to Diane Cochran's store in Walden and I thought I wasn't going to make it! When I delivered them to Diane, I carried in three at a time, and that was very manageable. I'd rather make extra trips and not throw my back out or collapse in a heap under a pile of books!

Once the books were at the Historical Society, we opened a box and a group of us saw the finished product for the very first time. It was exciting, and we felt such a sense of relief and pride that we'd actually finished such a long and complicated project. This picture is of Patty and me exploring our new book at the Choate Sias House after she and Doug had arrived back from Montpelier. We  toasted our accomplishment with sparkling cider. It was a fun, private event with just some of the historical society board members and workers there with us. Now, all we hope is that people buy it and find something interesting in it!

If you can't visit us tomorrow (Saturday) at the Congregational Church vestry, our outlets now have copies. We were able to get a stock of books to Hastings Store and The West Danville Craft Shop this morning, and I delivered some to the Corner Stop Inn Shop in Walden on my way home tonight. For anyone who needs to have a book mailed to them, instructions are on yesterday's blog (December 9th). Merry Christmas!