Feted at my alma mater

We left Sunday night after supper after the terrible game where Brady was pummeled 20 times and sacked 4 times while the O-line supposed to protect him ate sandwiches and picked their noses, as far as I can tell. We drove as far as Chicopee MA, near Springfield. That shortened the drive the next day by 3 hours. Therefore we left the Hampton Inn @ 7 and arrived in Ann Arbor at 7. We checked into the Bell Tower hotel, a nice boutique hotel where the University stashes people. Woody went for a walk and found us Greek take-out and Ben & Jerry’s for a late supper. Next morning we had breakfast there. I took it easy till I had to get dressed up @ 10:30 and Woody went for a walk. He came back with sour cherry preserves, sour cherry chocolate toffee and cherry jam. I love sour cherries that we always had in Michigan, but they’re hard to find in Massachusetts. We have a sour cherry tree, but we’re lucky to get enough to make one pie as the birds love them too. Then the chairman of the English department, the writer Peter Ho Davies, met us and walked us over to the Hopwood Room where I spent a lot of time when I was in college. Andrea Beauchamp runs it and we had a good time talking with her and Laura Kasischke, whose poetry I particularly admire. Then a class came and I talked with them and answered questions. Peter took us to a great lunch along with the poet Linda Gregerson.Peter is unlike any English department chair I’ve ever met , a lot less stiff and a lot more fun. We had about an hour and a half after lunch until it was time for Peter to give away a lot of prize money to students who had won Hopwood awards. Then I gave a poetry reading to a good sized audience. Afterward I signed a lot of books. Everybody was friendly and appreciative. Then Laura picked us up and we had supper at a fine Asian fusian restaurant with her, Andrea and her husband Gorman. I felt as if I was being paid not only to give a poetry reading but paid to eat good meals. Woody bought us bagel sandwiches to eat on the way, so that we would be spared eating unhealthy fast food. We rose at 5:15, got underway very shortly after 6. It was snowing in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor has truly bad weather. Apparently a snow cloud hung right over the city and the snow stopped about 5 miles beyond city limits. We had good weather all through our 14-hour drive. We ate the cream cheese & lox bagels about an hour and a half into the drive and that was fine. However, when around midafternoon, we tried to eat the other everything whole-wheat bagels with chicken salad, they squished, they squirted, they inundated us. We had to send almost everything we were wearing to the drycleaners, Woody’s coat and sweater, my coat, sweater and wool pants. I was picking sesame seeds, poppyvseeds and crisp onions out of my bra for the next two hours. We got home around 8.We returned to four angry cats. Willow was the first to start purring – about five minutes after we walked in. Mingus was fast too. Xena was warier but stuck to me all evening whatever I did. Sugar Ray was the last to forgive our absence, but got into bed that night and purred, finally. It’s good to be home after a very good trip. I am hoping to make some changes so that I can really get back to the writing I usually have no trouble making time and energy for.