I remember loving the movie as a child..."Meet me in St. Louis"...with Judy Garland, June Allyson, and Margaret O'Brien; I'm sure there were others who were well-known names, but those are the ones I remember so fondly.

I am about to leave St. Louis today to return home, but it has been a lovely stay here, despite some very strange weather..including tornado warnings the evening of the Arbuthnot Lecture at the St. Louis County Library.  So many good friends here for the occasion!

The day after the Arbuthnot evening, I spoke to an audience at the main City Library (as opposed to the County)...here they are, attentively listening to the MC tell them that no recording or photos were allowed (and at that moment I took out my cell phone and took this)

..and this other photo is at a TV station, where I was waiting for my interview time,and the weather lady was doing her thing in front of the green screen:

The startling thing about such TV interviews is their brevity...zip, you're on; zip, you're off...and sometimes, as in St. Louis two days ago, you are still sitting there while the interviewer says, "Next, a serial killer is tracked down..."

Now I have some time at home, and then off to Orlando for IRA, where I am to speak on a panel having to do with the Newbery Medal; and also at the Young Adult Literature Luncheon; then rushing home to Boston to be on time to speak at the annual meeting of Massachusetts Child Psychiatrists and Psychoanalysts. But things are winding down. Summer is coming. I say no to most invitations for summer events (meaning that I have missed some wonderful occasions) because that is when I am in Maine, when I am with family and friends, when I write, when I relax.

Now: off the the airport...a little nervously, because when I tried to check in on-line, I was told that "On-line check-in is full" ...so I am headed early to the airport, hoping they have not overbooked the only non-stop flight from St. Louis to Boston.  The worst words one ever hears from an airline agent are "Sorry, but..."