It rained most of the day, but the sun broke through in the late afternoon for a few minutes, and I was struck by the way the light played into the room. The book tour is as always a milestone of sorts. My first children’s book, but mostly it has broken down this way. In the day, at schools, I talk to kids. In the evening, at bookstores, adults show up and we talk about all kinds of things. Everyone senses change in the air, for them, for me, for everyone. Everyone is sick of squabbling and hostility from politicians, from hysteria and gloom in the news.

I have been speaking more about spirituality, as more people have been asking me about. Spirituality and fear do not go well together, a challenge for people. I am glad for  breather Sunday. Many people who come to readings tell me that because they read the blog, they feel as if they are my friends. I understand this and know what they mean, yet it isn’t really true either, I know. Friendship is different, I think and asks more of us – time together,  knowledge of one another’s lives, trust and openness. Because of the blog and the photos and social media, there is a strong connection now between me and the people who read my books.

But I think real friendship is something different.

This kind of interaction can’t be friendship in the classic sense, I think, but is something good, something connecting and uplifting. I am happy with the book tour experiment. The Ipad 2 is performing well. So is Facebook in providing another dimension to sharing the book tour. Tomorrow a travel day. Monday, a tough day. Have no sense yet of how “Meet The Dogs Of Bedlam Farm” is doing. The publisher doesn’t say or doesn’t know, and I gave up riding the Amazon numbers recently when my agent said it was pointless and not especially revealing. Forget about it, she said, so I have. The feedback is very positive. We’ll see. People are very eager to get hold of the next book, the grieving for animals book, “Going Home: Finding Peace When Pets Die,” out in September. It was wonderful prowling around Portland with Maria.