Betty Birney’s Blog

I visited with a large group of enthusiastic Wise FOHs (Friends of Humphrey) on Wednesday at the Stephen S. Wise School here in Los Angeles. My friend, Roberta Lloyd, is librarian there. (We just figured out that we’ve been friends for 19 years – gulp!) Cathy Ryne, the new librarian at Stephen S. Wise, is president of The Children’s Literature Council of Southern California whose gala I attended on the 18th.

Here's a picture I grabbed off the school website - they LOVE-LOVE-LOVE Humphrey there. I took a few pictures but they turned out lousy and I don't think Roberta would be my friend any more if I used them! They didn't do either of us justice.

What an ebullient bunch of kids and teachers. Afterwards I signed books as part of their week-long book fair and got to meet parents as well as students. I had an unsqueakably good time!

In place of the photos I should have, here are a few more of picturesque Petaluma, CA, where I was a week ago.

A Petaluma Wonder - Volpi's restaurant, a Speak Easy during Prohibition

A dueling Wonder - The Ladies who erected this WCTU (Women's Christian Temperance Union) water fountain would not have been pleased about the Speak Easy!

Thanks again to Sonoma Mountain Elementary and Linda Beth Freese.

I was up at the Sonoma Mountain School in Petaluma, CA on Thursday for their annual Community Book Read, featuring The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs. The entire school had read the book AND participated in a scavenger hunt to find The Seven Wonders of Petaluma. It’s the city’s 150th anniversary and it was readily apparent that narrowing the wonders down to seven would be just about impossible. They did get it down to 10.

As librarian Linda Beth Freese and I took a walking tour Wednesday evening, I was absolutely amazed at the charming turn-of-the-century architecture, well maintained and still in use. Shops, houses, old warehouses all in beautiful condition. We ate overlooking the pretty Petaluma River.

On Thursday, in addition to speaking to two groups of wonder-full students (K-3 and 4-6), I visited many individual classrooms to look at their projects and answer questions. In the evening, there was a great turnout for a short talk, good ol’ country food including Aunt Pretty’s prize-winning peaches,  and fun and games such as a Seven Wonders of Petaluma Miniature Golf Course and a carving booth. I missed out on the mini-golf because I was signing lots and lots of books! My thanks to Principal Suzanne Martin, Librarian Linda Beth Freese and the PTA for a whirlwind and unforgettable visit!

Wonder #2 - Old Petaluma Library, now a museum

Wonder #3 - Champion the horse in front of Heebe Jeebe - a shop full of wonders. I'd have ridden him but I didn't have a quarter!

Tour guides Julia and Liam made sure I didn't get lost!

Librarian Linda Beth Freese went beyond the call of duty.

And here’s a list of the 10 Wonders of Petaluma.

1. The Petaluma Adobe – Adobe Road – where it all began in 1836. I’m sorry I missed this. We thought we might pop by there on Thursday but ran out of time.

2, Old Petaluma Library – one of the first of the Carnegie Free Libraries

3. Heebe Jeebe/Champion – good old-fashioned fun

4. Temperance Fountain – warning of the dangers of alcohol, erected by the WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Union)

5. Volpi’s Restaurant – a former speakeasy – you can still ring the speakeasy bell. (Note: The WCTU would not have approved)

6. Penry Park – a beautiful view in honor of Sgt Richard Penry, recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor

7. Wrist Wrestling Statue – the other wonder I missed, commemorating an annual event

8. The Petaluma River – once used to transport goods, especially Petaluma’s famed eggs – to San Francisco, it’s now used for recreation (and there’s a drawbridge)!

9. Boulevard Cinema – the newest wonder, but a wonder indeed. A girl scout troop decided the town needed a movie theater a few years back and it only took four years for them to make it to happen! The names of the girls are forever encased in the sidewalk in front

10. Hunt and Behrens Feed Store – still in operation

I’ll try and post some more pictures next time of this picturesque town next time.

On Friday night, I returned from the glorious Golden Sower Award ceremony in Lincoln, Nebraska.  As Humphrey would say, it was unsqueakably delightful! Every state has a state award that children vote on (called Children’s Choice awards) and the Golden Sower is Nebraska’s.

I arrived in Lincoln on Thursday afternoon, and when I looked out the window of my room at the Cornhusker Hotel, I was astounded that the state capitol had actually put the figure of the Golden Sower (that’s my award) on top of their building. What a welcome!

Can you see him up there?

(Of course, maybe it was the other way around … he might have come before the award.)

Then there was dinner with the Golden Sower committee and the primary winners, sisters Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel, who won for their book The Great Fuzz Frenzy. Their picture books are glorious. Janet and Susan and I spent time waiting to leave for dinner by sitting at the conference reception desk, giving people definitive information about the conference. (Little did they know we just sat there to rest our feet.) The YA winner, Rick Riordan (The Lightning Thief) couldn’t be there but he and I share the same agent!

We all walked to DISH, a great restaurant in downtown Lincoln. Beautiful weather, not a cloud in the sky. I think it’s that way all year long in Nebraska – right?

The ceremony was the next morning at 8. So who would come to an award ceremony at 8? Well, we had a full house and they were amply rewarded by a stunning show biz introduction from the 3rd graders at Beattie Elementary in Lincoln. Not only did they perform an astoundingly alliterative free-verse intro, each letter of Humphrey’s name was punctuated with a chorus of Betty Birney-Betty Birney-Betty Birney-rocks! Life is good, indeed.

I wish I had a "Humphrey's Our Hero" t-shirt.

I had to give a speech but could not have asked for a more receptive audience and a more patient line of librarians waiting to get books signed. Nebraska is a VERY-VERY-VERY friendly state.

With Kathy Shultz - she chairs the committee and made the the event seem effortless and entertaining!

After the signings, I attended the Mad Hatter luncheon – lots of un – and then heard the Keynote Speaker, Kent Haruf. I know his Plainsong but now must also read his other books. Every word he said resonated with me and I’m so glad that Kathy and I had time to attend.

Then off to the Lincoln airport, plane change in Denver, returning to the Burbank airport to be greeted by Frank and Desi…. those of you following her health problems: she’s had two radiation treatments and is looking and acting like a puppy. Okay, her leg and front of chest are shaved and covered with magic marker lines like a tattoo but it gives her a warrior look  – I like it. She’s doing so well. (For those who don’t know, my dearest dog has a benign tumor around the spinal cord – two weeks ago she could not stand without falling over but thanks to wonderful care and steroids, she walks pretty well now and has two more weeks of radiation ahead of her.)

I got back home around 8:30 pm (10:30 Nebraska time) and at 7:30 the next morning was waiting in my driveway for my pal, Roberta Lloyd. She’s the librarian at the Stephen S. Wise School in L.A. where I’ll be on October 29. We carpooled to Santa Ana for the Southern California Literacy Council Gala – a great event if you can call anything at 8:30 in the morning a gala! I’d tell you all about it, but thanks to fellow LAYA (you figure that out) Lisa Yee, I don’t have to … just check out her blog (and her very funny books). http://lisayee.livejournal.com/89469.html

By the way, Lisa, I wasn’t standing on the table, I was dancing on the table. You remember Riverdance, don’t you?

Dad at 20

One year ago today, October 16, I lost my father. He was 89 but still had so much life in him, it was unexpected. He was so strong – a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge in Patton’s army, a businessman, artist, great husband, father and friend, an excellent writer and collector of stories and information.

I can’t count how many times over the past year I’ve almost picked up the phone to tell him some good news (he loved great book news and bragged too much). I’ve been in bookstores and seen a book and thought, “Oh, Dad will love that,” and pulled back my hand from the shelf. I’m heading off to Nebraska to receive their state award, the Golden Sower. A year ago, the nurses in the hospital were quite taken aback when he’d reel off the list of my awards – and he was accurate, too.

My mother, also gone, was once extremely ill and quite out of her head with pneumonia. She was having some pretty interesting hallucinations – scary at the time but good material for a writer. The first thing she said when she came back to normal was, “Where’s Dad? I want to see him.” My father, sister and I were rather shocked because her father had died 25 years earlier. Dad kindly said, “Well, he’s been gone a long time. Don’t you remember?” (At this point, due to the hallucinations, we still weren’t sure she was mentally okay but believe me, she was.)

I’ll never forget the huge look of disappointment on her face. “Oh, yes,” she said. Then she went on to explain, “I was just lying here thinking he never asks for anything for himself and I wanted to put my arms around him and tell him I love him.’

This was Grandma's favorite photo of Grandpa - she kept it on her dresser.

Grandpa was one of the greatest, most generous guys ever and though he was a great storyteller, he could be a quiet person, too.  But he knew how much Mother loved him.  She just wanted to tell him again.

My sister and I were lucky enough to have ample opportunity to tell my father how much we loved him. And as the daily grief lessens, instead of the pain, I remember how hard we laughed in his hospital room about a silly joke he made. It still makes me laugh now.

Laughter and stories, those are the great gifts, aren’t they?

Recently, after I recently spoke at Vail Mountain School, a student commented that I was lucky to have such an interesting family.  How true – and I am grateful.

I spent the past week in the good company of three of my favorite “people” pictured here: my son’s girlfriend Ania, our dog Desi and my son Walshe.  Ania and Walshe were visiting us from New York. All of us have had trying times recently: Ania’s father unexpectedly passed away just a few short weeks ago, a terrible loss. My husband, Frank, and I have been dealing with Desi’s dramatic and abrupt problem walking, which we now know is from a tumor on her spinal cord. We are starting a series of radiation treatments for her on Monday.

Somehow, just being together made us all feel better and we had a wonderful week talking, eating and relaxing. It was also Walshe’s 24th birthday yesterday. (Photo at top is pre-haircut; photo below is post.) He has that look on his face because he couldn’t believe that his ma actually stooped to using trick candles again (you blow them out and they relight) but I was impressed because he actually did blow them out eventually.

Ania and Walshe are back in NY, Desi is enjoying her California sunbeams and life goes on – though it will be a much quieter life for us for a while as I’m planning to stick close to home with Desi and won’t leave her alone at night  – so much for that Hollywood nightlife! It’s well  worth it, because who is here through all those quiet and often frustrating hours at the computer, by my side or nearby? Miss Desi, of course.

By the way, 24 years ago today, I was ecstatically happy, getting to know my beautiful new baby boy. It seems like yesterday.