10-25-09 Framed by Fall

Friends:

I flew to Chicago this morning and my good friend and fellow author, Juliet Bond, picked me up from the airport. I am staying with Juliet this week as I perform a week-long arts-in-education residency for grades K-2 at Dawes School. After a delicious breakfast, Juliet gave me a tour through Evanston, where she lives, and the surrounding area. I am in love with the Fall foliage: gorgeous green, glittering gold, shimmering orange, and rusty red-tipped trees line the avenues.

10-25-09 Tree-lined avenue

It was so beautiful today too. The weather was in the 60s and it was breezy, not windy. The view of the lake from an overlook was stunning.

10-25-09 Tree lined avenue

Here, fun Juliet sashays her way through the day. LOL

10-25-09 Juliet sashays

This is a beautiful Ba’hai Temple near Juliet’s house.

10-25-09 Ba'hai Temple juxtaposed against the cloud-crocheted sky

This is Juliet’s house. I sleep in the East Wing.

10-25-09 Juliet's dream house

Just kidding. Juliet, her husband Kevin, and their three children, Jacob (12), Lilly (9), and Casey (5), live in this house adorned with cool Halloween decorations.

10-25-09 Juliet's house

After a nice refreshing nap, I dined with the Bonds. Juliet cooked up a tasty pasta dinner with a Greek salad. Appetizers consisted of a cheese plate with apples and crackers. Yum!

10-25-09 Dinner with the Bonds

While I was napping, they added more Halloween decor to the front yard. Cool and creepy!

10-25-09 Creepy dead baby and tombstones

Love the ghosts! Boo!

10-25-09 Mostly Ghostly

Check out these pumpkin heads…

10-25-09 Pumpkin heads

And finally, a happy couple welcomes you into the Bonds’ home.

10-25-09 The happy couple

I look forward to my week with the Bond family. Thank you, Lilly and Casey, for loaning me your room! It’s just perfect. Thank you, Jacob, for all your help! And thank you to Juliet and Kevin, for opening your home to me. Hugs!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

7-11-09 Dianne signing books at ABC-Clio Libraries Unlimited

Friends:

Today, I signed books at the American Library Association Conference in Chicago. I was very pleased with the traffic in the exhibit hall – a lot of people came through. One library director bought a copy of each of my books and said that my books were “the best thing she had seen all day.” How cool is that?

I had some friends stop by such as Amanda Leblanc from the South Carolina Association of School Librarians (I presented there in March – awesome conference!) and Becky, Alison & Nancy from the Tennessee Association of School Librarians (where I will be presenting in September). I also ran into Tammy Dibartolo from the Rapides Parish Library system in Louisiana. Thank you so much for stopping by!

7-11-09 Dianne de Las Casas with Nancy & Alison, school librarians from Tennessee

Afterward my book signing, I met up with my good friend and fellow author, Juliet Bond. We had lunch and then toured the exhibit hall, checking out the latest and greatest in children’s books. Of course, we ran into some wonderful people – our author friends in the children’s lit world. I finally met Cynthia Liu face to face (after all that Facebook time! LOL). She is so beautiful and funny. I ran into the gorgeous Yuyi Morales. Then we bumped into Christine Urdahl and Christine Butler.

7-11-09 Dianne de Las Casas & Cynthia Liu

After 4 hours of walking, talking, meeting and greeting, Juliet and I needed to decompressed. We came back to my room and chilled for a couple of hours. Christine Butler invited us to dinner with a group of authors who are doing a non-fiction panel on Sunday morning. So Juliet and I met them at McCormick Schmick’s.

7-11-09 Juliet Bond, Kelly Milner Halls & Dianne de Las Casas

We dined with Kelly Milner Halls, Christine Butler, Hester Bass and her husband, April Pulley Sayre, Amy Hansen, Katherine House, and Gwendolyn (I didn’t get Gwendolyn’s last name!! Argh!). Gwendolyn lives in Oklahoma and I will see her at the Encyclomedia conference, where I am a featured speaker in September. It was a fantabulous evening with good food and even better company. The service was excellent.

7-11-09 A table of illustrious authors at McCormick Schmick. That's Kelly Milner Halls showing her lovely dessert.

Tomorrow, I have a book signing from 10am-12pm at the ABC-Clio Libraries Unlimited booth. Afterwards, I am hanging out with Juliet Bond and we are attending the Caldecott Newberry banquet later that evening. It will be a great day.

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne