A Beta Sig appearance

Let me think out loud this morning. At 1:30 this afternoon, I'll be speaking to one of the Beta Sigma Phi groups here in town. The meeting will be at the local library, and the ladies will be coming back from lunch. My first invitation to address this group came late last year for a January meeting. The wind blew and the snow flew on the appointed day, so they postponed until a later date.

That day has come. So, I'll talk about my writing activities in general. Will lead off with a sneak preview of my next River Journal column, which involves dogs and memory---short term, that is. Basically, I thought my newest dog was short term or should I say "gone missing" one day when my short-term memory played games with me.

It almost won, but like that USC-Notre Dame game the other day, I regained my senses at the last second and managed to ward off defeat of my crazy mind. My dog, thankfully, is not short-term and had not "gone missing." So now, you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about---read The River Journal next week.

After the sneak preview, I'll discuss the progress of my current manuscript about my teaching career, called Lessons with Love. I doubt that many of the ladies know I've written a third book, so that'll involve plenty of interesting information to share. It may be fun to read off some of the chapter titles like "Emmel's May Day Memories," "Ponderettes and Pie, Not a Good Mix," or "Stay Outa My House" and give them a few hints of what's to come.

Then, I'll talk about blogs. I've copied off Jim's "Slight Detour" logo (EVERYBODY BE SURE TO SEND JIM A HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREETING TODAY. HE'S ON THE OREGON COAST BUT WILL BE BACK AT HIS COMPUTER TOMORROW. jwtibbsarch@hotmail.com Tell him his sister told you to do it).

Anyway, I'll show the ladies his cool logo and talk about the great opportunities of blogging. I'll also show them a copy of the blog bio booklet we gave all of our classmates during the 40th reunion this past summer. Finally, I'll read a few of my choice postings for the past year. If all goes well, maybe a few of these ladies will give blogging a try. By that time, Mary Verdal, who's conducting the meeting, will raise her hand, cueing me to shut up.

Today's talk is about the 75th I've done since first writing my book Pocket Girdles in 1994. The anticipation of such events never gets any easier. I always tell whoever introduces me that if I'm not in the room at speech time, to talk a little longer and I'll appear because I'll be coming from the bathroom. One would think that all the practice and all the years of teaching would make these appearances easier, but it doesn't.

So, I've already taken care of that part of the planning. Mary knows to play it cool today and keep on talking until she sees me at the door, ready to roll. Once the talk begins, the nerves subside and the rest usually turns out to be a lot of fun.