On Saturday, Alisa and I went to Chapel Hill to see Lauren Winner do a reading at Flyleaf Books. Did we discuss what time to leave to make sure we got good seats? Yes. What we were going to wear? Yes. A side stop at Trader Joe’s? Yes. I think the only thing we didn’t discuss was where we were going to have lunch. But because we were very very lucky, we managed to have lunch at the same place Lauren Winner was having a refreshing adult beverage before the reading.
There is certainly merit to the idea that we could have played it cool and asked her to sit with us, but Alisa and I are not very cool. We were, in the words of my friend Jeff, behaving more like tweens at our first Backstreet Boys concert. And she was on her phone. So we didn’t bother her.
Instead, we went on to Flyleaf where we had several conversations about how Greensboro has no independent bookstores and scored seats on the front row. Lauren Winner read from both Girl Meets God (an old favorite–part of this passage for Lent) and her new book, Still. And we got our books signed and she was very kind and Alisa and I managed not to show too much of our Bieber Fever. (I think. Maybe. Do we look like we are playing it cool here?)
Because I want to support independent bookstores, I planned to buy something when we were there. But I already had Still, so I decided on Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver. (And, yes, I did feel a little bit pretentious about buying poetry at an independent bookstore. Go ahead and roll your eyes. I am busy feeling smug.) I have read a few of the poems already, and here is one I liked.
“Look and See” by Mary Oliver
This morning, at waterside, a sparrow flew
to a water rock and landed, by error, on the back
of an eider duck; lightly it fluttered off, amused.
The duck, too, was not provoked, but, you might say, was
laughing.This afternoon a gull sailing over
our house was casually scratching
its stomach of white feathers with one
pink foot as it flew.Oh Lord, how shining and festive is your gift to us, if we
only look, and see.
Did you do anything fun this weekend? What would you do if your favorite author sat down at the next table? (She was on her phone, people!)
ETA: I meant to add a link to this guide for reading Still during Lent, but somehow I forgot.
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6 Comments
I love that poem! It is perfect for a smile, which I needed this morning. I was at Blissdom in Nashville this weekend, and I went to parties there. I think that was fun. *grin* But with so many people, I think I would have preferred your fun to mine.
I was excited to hear about how this went! If I’d seen her (or someone similar) in the restaurant on their phone, I probably would have waited til the event too. This weekend, I was resting up from being sick (boo) – so I finished reading Bossypants & watched a ton of Downton Abbey (yay).
I enjoy Lauren Winner, too.
This past weekend, we went on a spiritual retreat with some friends. Our little guy is just about a month younger than Atticus, so you can imagine it wasn’t QUITE what you would imagine a spiritual retreat to be. It ended up being lovely anyway.
This phone business is new information to me. I would not have urged you to invite her to dine with you had I known. Okay, I probably would have, but I would have been even more of a jerk than I was.
AHH! Lucky! My brother saw Donald Miller once in a similar kind of situation, and while I encouraged him to go up and say hello, there’s probably no way I would, so I think you did the right thing. What a fun weekend, though!
I’m jealous jealous! I’ve read just about all of Winner’s books, my favorite being “Mudhouse Sabbath.”