Book signing this Sunday

I'll be reading and singing Disappearing Desmond this Sunday at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, CA. If you're in the area, come on by!

Here are the details:

Sunday, October 3rd
11:30 am
Kepler's Books
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025
(650) 324-4321

More western adventures

On Sunday we spent the day hiking around Lincoln Park, China Beach, and Sutro Heights. Here is a view of the bay through one of the very beautiful houses perched on a clifftop on our way down to the water:



And this is China Beach, at the bottom of a long, long hill, where we sat and ate lunch.



Then we hiked back up the hill and through a winding path along the cliffs facing Golden Gate Bridge, leading us towards the Pacific.



And these are our first views of the Pacific since we arrived. It was breathtaking and lovely.





Well worth the huffing and puffing up hills. Well I was huffing and puffing, Bruno was patiently walking at a snail's pace beside me while I waddled along at 31 weeks pregnant. I earned a cream puff for sure.

September in San Francisco

Finally after weeks of using Bruno's laptop I have my mac up and running again, with many pictures to upload of our adventures over the past few weeks. Here are some highlights:

This is the view from our hilltop apartment in Pacific Heights. We'll be moving again shortly, but its been nice to take in the view each day.



George likes to take it in too. Most of the time when we come home we see our cats sitting in the window, looking out over the city.



This is what our street looks like, lots of beautiful big Edwardians.



One day a couple weeks in we hiked up the hilly streets in our neighborhood towards the Marina, this is the view from the top of a hill so steep it had to have stairs. I love that you can glimpse the ocean from so many places in this city.



Bougainvillea is all over the place.



And the architecture around here is just so amazing.



So are the cream puffs. These are from a nearby bakery called Pacific Puffs. Mmmm. I would like one right now please.

Still here!

Apologies for the lack of posts in the past week, I am still waiting on getting my office area set up so that I can upload some photos and update you on my adventures (fingers crossed Target will send me my new desk asap)!

In the mean time, please enjoy this adorable bunny lantern activity by Grace:

Pacific Coast Time

As I mentioned last week we just made a big move to San Francisco! We'll be here for the next 9 months while my fella completes an internship for grad school. The move was quite hectic, there were many loose ends to tie up before we left, but we are at last here in the west settling in and enjoying a break from the East Coast heat wave. I'll have many pictures to post in the coming weeks about our adventures, just waiting on my office boxes to arrive! Can't wait to get back to writing and sketching some new book ideas...

Another lovely Desmond review

"Desmond the cat blends in with his surroundings. In fact, his entire family fades into the background in their portrait. Everything changes when Gloria, a rabbit, arrives at school. Not only does she take every possible chance to get noticed herself, but she also notices Desmond no matter where he hides. To his surprise, he likes interacting with others. He even coaxes someone else from his hiding place to join the playground fun. Young viewers will enjoy spotting Desmond in his ingenious costumes and identifying others trying to stay out of sight in the schoolyard. Alter’s animal characters will be familiar to those who know her previous books, including Abigail Spells (Knopf, 2009), featured in a library poster. This low-key story of how friendship can support and encourage others will be a welcome addition for most libraries."

-School Library Journal

On the move

Today we get on a one way flight to San Francisco! We leave as four (including the felines) and come back to Northampton next spring as five. Stay tuned for pictures and updates about our western adventures!