First off, hats off to the warm and wonderful Barb Engvall and a cast of many
who made this week's fabulous Washington State school librarian's conference
in Yakima an absolute blast. Barb talks about vacuuming her car for us
visiting speakers, which was so nice of her, but so unnecessary, since as a school
librarian for a million years, I perfectly understand the concept of Car as
Satellite Office. (My otherwise sweet-tempered husband does not, however, so I
have been forced to relocate all of my books and detritus in the house, which
hasn't made him any happier--"This place looks like a WAREHOUSE!" Well, yeah. So
true.) I'm sure glad she wiped it down, though, so I didn't get my little
dainty white gloves dirty!
Now, not only was Barb's car pristine, it also contained another real
treasure by the name of Dave, AKA Dave Delivers. Barb's other half, the
aforementioned Dave, gave up his week to be chauffeur and uncomplaining go-fer,
shuttling
us all to and from airports and dinners, providing amiable commentary on
everything possible. Do female librarians have nicer husbands than other
professions? There's a thought. Maybe it's time for an LM_NET spouse's survey.
Hooray for Barb & Dave and Rosemary Knapp and a zillion other Washington
librarians who sure know how to have a good time. Getting to hang out with Gordon
Korman (we took the same flights home to scenic NJ) all day was pretty
wonderful, too.
I can't imagine anyone objecting to riding in a pickup truck. About Nancy
Dickinson's brother-in-law's pickup truck, well, yeah, actually, I did love
getting to ride in that truck. And he was another terrific guy. Here was the
funniest part, though. Some time after I spoke at the TASL conference, I went back
to Nashville, a city I love, to speak for BER. I was speaking at the convention
center, and at lunch, I walked to a place some local folks had suggested--a
hole-in-the-wall barbecue place (right next to a store where I stocked up on
Elvis pocketbooks with real rhinestones--you just can't GET stuff like that in
New Jersey!) and stuffed myself senseless with Meat. Then I rushed back to the
conference.
When I got home, there was an e-mail from Nancy Dickinson waiting for
me--"Judy, that wasn't you my sister brother-in-law spied in a barbecue place in
Nashville, was it? I told him it couldn't be you. Were you in Nashville?" Wow. I
knew exactly 3 people in Nashville, and 2 of them showed up in the same joint.
What are the chances of that happening?
Judy Freeman
Children's Literature Consultant
Author of the forthcoming Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3
(Libraries Unlimited, 2005;<A
HREF="http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagstar.html"> www.lu.com/winners</A>)
65 North Sixth Avenue
Highland Park, NJ 08904
732-572-5634 / BKWSSF@aol.com
<A HREF="http://www.judyreadsbooks.com/">www.JudyReadsBooks.com</A>
In a message dated 10/16/05 3:06:10 AM, Nancy Dickinson
<dickinsonn@K12COFFEE.NET> writes:
<< Well, gosh I guess I should be embarrassed! When Judy came to Tennessee in
2003, she had to ride from the airport in my brother-in-law's pickup
truck! It never occurred to me to worry about the vehicle in which she was
being transported. I just wanted to make sure she got to the conference!
Fortunately it didn't bother her... She said it was the first time she'd
ever gotten to ride in a pickup! She thought it was pretty cool....
In a message dated 10/16/05 3:06:10 AM, Barb Engvall
<macbarb@charter.net> writes:
Funny you should mention something like that! We just finished our
> state library conference (have only been home an hour!) and while I
> have a nice car, I spent 2 hours vacuuming it out and when I got it
> washed on Tuesday I had the car wash guys wipe down the door jams...
> my husband was playing chauffeur to the likes of Judy Freeman (WOW!
> What a terrific gal! Kept us spellbound with all of her ideas! (Hi,
> Judy! Hope your basement wasn't flooded)), Gordon Korman and Alex
> Sanchez! They probably didn't notice that it was clean, but they sure
> would have noticed if it was dirty!
>
> BTW, we also had Patricia Reilly Giff (aka as "Pat Giff")...and she
> was also terrific! (but she didn't get to ride in my clean car...she
> rented one and drove over from Seattle)
>
> Consider this a recommendation for any of these authors!
>
> Barb Engvall
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