Home, and a Martini

Ooooh, you have no idea how good it feels to be home. Not just home, but home with an ice cold martini in my hand. Ah, life is good.
Had a long day today—got up before 7 a.m. (ouch!) for a 9 a.m. radio show in Point Reyes Station. Fortunately, it was an easy drive through beautiful countryside and the radio show itself—an hour, live, in studio—was very laid-back and fun. The name of the show is “The Vicarious Traveler”—because it’s a travel show, I talked about my travels to research the book, and the many journeys that earthworms have made around the world. After the show there was just enough time for a cup of coffee before I gave a talk at Point Reyes Books—there were probably only 10 or 12 people there, but as always, they were an enthusiastic crowd and they all bought books.

Then we headed to the Marin Art & Garden Center. They were holding their spring art & flower festival, which included a plant sale, something I zeroed in on as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. I’ve been away from the garden for almost two weeks, and I was ready to get some plants in the ground. So Scott unloaded the worm bin—I was doing a vermiculture workshop at 1:00—while I rounded up as many plants as I thought would fit in the car.

This workshop turned out to be a great way to end the tour. There were probably around 30 or 40 people there, and Book Passage was on hand to sell books. One couple came up to me and said they had read my first book aloud to one another. Another woman, who had been a science teacher, came with some of her former students who were clearly quite devoted to her. She was a worm enthusiast and apparently a fan of my work…now, I should stop here and say how odd this is…I cannot quite get used to the idea that someone, a complete stranger, has read my book and rearranged their schedule to come meet me…I seem so utterly uninteresting to myself, so I can hardly comprehend something like this. In Davis, a friend of a friend drove 4 hours from Fresno just to meet me. Why, why? I try to think of someone I would drive 4 hours to meet, and no one, except some famous dead people, come to mind.

As soon as I got home (that’s a 5-hour drive, folks, after 3 events today, not that I’m complaining) I released the worms back into their natural habitats. The nightcrawlers did not look good. They’ve been on the road too long, as have I. Five days at home, just enough time to do laundry, get caught up on e-mail, and get ready to do it all over again. I’m headed to Oregon, Washington, and DC in May, then I’m done. Meanwhile, tune in to To the Best of Our Knowledge around April 25 for their Good Earth show, and check out the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle’s Home and Garden section if you’re in the Bay Area.

Sweet dreams…I just hope that, for once, I don’t dream about worms…