"BIGMOUTH 1"

You know, this book tour thing is okay. Bookstore people are salt of the salt of the salt of the earth (no typo there), and the righteous women at Broad Vocabulary in Milwaukee are absolutely no exception. I am happy to report that tonight was a wonderful reading. A smallish crowd, but a positive one, a supportive one, and engaged one. And, Broad Vocabulary is a really, really great store. I stayed after and shopped a little. I wanted to buy one of everything!

My friend Diane came along to keep me company on the drive and I am so glad she did, especially on the drive back, where an otherwise dull drive was hilarious good fun. (More on that later.) Beforehand, I came in, dropped off my poster/easel thing, admired the store, then we set out for a bite and at the suggestion of Jessica, the very friendly lady behind the counter, we ventured a few doors down to Lulu, which I promptly feel in love with. Our waitress had a crypt-keeper hand silver belt buckle, we had a vegetarian feast and I had a delicious lemongrass hot tea. How could I not love the place?

When we returned, a new friendly face was behind the counter, Kelly. We talked a while then the reading was happening. It was casual and seamless and fun and it almost felt like sitting around with a bunch of friends. Good times and exactly what I needed on the heels on the most surreal reading I had on Sunday. I let the group sort of pick which sections they wanted to hear, so I was reading new things I don't usually read, which made it all the better to fly by the seat of my pants that way.

Albert, of course, made some new friends in the audience, too. Albert meet Alex and Alexxx (right to left). Alex and Alexxx, meet Albert.



Albert meet Dora. Dora meet Albert.



After the reading, we hung out and chatted a while with our new friend Kelly, shopped a while (I could have spent hours there! I got a few things for myself and saw a magnet that read, "Jesus would slap the shit out of you.") Remember the funny comment "Wings" left on here a day or two ago about various types of feminism? Every sort of feminist on the list would have found a section devoted to her at this place. It. Is. Righteous. And, I learned that if you have an itch for a particular feminist text, you can email or call them and order it to keep the good independent bookstore mojo flowing. Not bad at all.

En route home, Diane and I had to stop when we saw a funny sign (at least our inner-12-year-old boys thought it was funny, we joked.) and after a few attempts to photograph it that only really resulted in my falling in a ditch, we finally got a fine photo of Richard Bong Recreation Area signage.







And, in what is probably the most menacing-looking photo of my book tour mascot thus far, we had to introduce Albert to a Wisconsin border staple: The Mars Cheese Castle. It is exactly what it sounds like. A Castle. Off the highway. That sells piles and piles of cheese. I think they might hvae a few other things that go along with cheese, but, yeah, it's, um, pretty much just room after room of cheese. Yep.



And, I almost forgot! Just as we were leaving the bookstore, my beloved Bigmouth Strikes Again came on in the store. Yeah, I would say here at the end-of-day mental inventory, things are pretty rosy.