On days when I feel grumpy and out of sorts, the best thing for me to do is go take a walk, preferably somewhere out where there are no people around. Phoenix has an urban wilderness inside the city that only a few people know about. I’m one of them, and from time to time I go down to the Rio Salado to restore my soul, and see what I can find in the way of pretty rocks. Today, Octobber 8, 2015, was one such day, and this is the record of my walk.

Trolls love bridges. This is a meme I’m trying to establish.

Being under the bridge is even better than being on the bridge.

This is what passes for a river in the urban wilderness. As pretty as it looks, you don’t want to get too close to this water. It’s dangerous.

I found fresh coyote tracks, probably made this morning. No human tracks nearby, so it’s not a dog. In my fantasy world, this is a wolf or warg track.

The river is a ribbon of green through a harsh landscape.

…

. . .Walking carefully.

There are flowers in the wilderness. This grows on some kind of bean tree.

The path I must walk looks unfamiliar to me.

I am always on the lookout for striped stones. This is a cleancut beauty, but just a little too large to take home with me.

There is a rest area. Here I stop and watch the birds. A large hawk of some type is flying about, but he is too fast and far away for me to catch with a cellphone camera. Airplanes fly across the city about once every 3 minutes. I drink some water and get ready to take my own picture. This is the turning back marker for the hike.

About halfway thru the hike I take my own picture. These are the moments when I feel most in tune with nature.

Men are never far away in Phoenix. On the other side of the riverbank is a giant open pit gravel mine.

This is the road leading back to civilization.. . .

I find more of the violet flowers on the return trip. I am taking the easy way back on the access road above the river.

My last glimpse of the river–a side stream feeds water into the main channel. It is wild, beautiful, and polluted.

These are the treasures found during my hike. Yes, one of them is a golf ball, miles away from the nearest golf course.

end

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If you can identify those violet flowers or the red conglomerate rock in the last picture, or if you just like to take your own river walks, why not leave a comment?

–Ken

I haven’t done a real river walk in a couple of months now. It has been too hot, and i’ve been all over those  river parks in South Phoenix several times–getting a bit bored with them. So, I went to the river at a spot further west than I have ever gone before and found to my surprise that it had changed its name–no longer Rio Salado, but now Gila River. And it had quite a bit of water in it. That’s always a surprise with an Arizona river. I walked about a half mile, and I took these pix. Come walk down by the Gila River with me!

These yellow flowers were the only flowers I found down by the river, but there were lots of them. They grow right along the water’s edge.

I like to walk by the river and search for interesting rocks. A riverbed usually provides a wide variety. This rockfield is typical of the rocks I saw today. Do you see any with stripes? That’s what I usually search for.

Does this look like Arizona to  you? Not a cactus in sight!

The buildings beyond the trees across the river are part of Phoenix International Raceway–Phoenix’s auto racing establishment. Actually, it’s south of Avondale, and probably outside any city limits. Phoenix racing is usually in winter and spring. The heat would kill people if they tried to race in the summer.

River channel looks like an irrigation ditch.

Looking at the river from the road. No room for trolls under this bridge.

I collected these 7 rocks on my hike, and they followed me home to be part of my rock garden. I usually look for rocks with stripes–often an inclusion of quartz in another mineral. I especially like the 6th one in line from the left.  Finding striped rocks definitely made the trip worthwhile.

The whole hike was only about half a mile. I could have stayed longer and gone farther, and found many more rocks, I’m sure, but I was a little uneasy leaving my car parked unattended on the side of the road, so I cut it short. If you ever go on river walks, why not leave a comment?

–end

This morning about 8 a.m. I went back to Complete Print Shop and picked up a proof copy of Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls. It is standard practice for a printer to show the publisher what he intends to print before the presses really start running. This is the last chance to correct any errors before the book actually gets printed.

In this case, I’m not the guy who would make or order corrections, but I am the guy who lives closest to the printer, so I get to do the legwork.  Around 8:30 I was talking to Dennis Dunn again, and he handed me what looked like a ream of typing paper and a big color wraparound version of the cover.  Of course I took some pictures.

So, I drove 20 miles to Scottsdale and delivered the package to my layout artist/editor/producer Steve Crompton.

This is the crucial document right here. Before they print, we have to check one of these boxes–we’ll go for the second one, as we found at least one problem–and where it says customer signature, Rick Loomis, CEO of Flying Buffalo, Inc. has to sign and authorize the printing.

This is the back cover. If you look in the center right at the bottom, you will see: PRINTED IN THE USA. It may cost a little more to print the books here, but we want the world to know Tunnels and Trolls is an American product.

This picture shows the major error that we found, and I’m the one who spotted it first. The spine, as planned, is not wide enough to hold all the pages in the book. It actually needs to be about half an inch wider to accommodate our contents. Steve measured the thickness of all the pages and compared it to the width of the spine. He will have to get back on his computer and redo the spine to make it wide enough for the book.

This should be a treat for fans of Liz Danforth’s art, a forgotten illustration from 1992 rescued and inserted into the rules.

Portrait of an artist at work–not the fun part of the work drawing pictures, but the crucial part before publishing, making sure that the job is being done right–checking every detail. (Note: this doesn’t mean the book will be perfect from cover to cover–it’s amazing how many errors creep through, no matter how often you proofread something, but nothing major will be allowed to mar this work.)

I want to set the record straight here. Tunnels and Trolls is my game (and your game, too, players). None of this happens without me getting things started, stirring things up, running Trollhalla.com for over a decade, and gathering an amazing team of friends to help me with all this. I’m the one who first got Liz Danforth to do some illos for Tunnels and Trolls. I’m the one who brought Steve in on some T & T projects back in 2012 that resulted in us deciding to do a deluxe edition. I’m the one who thought up the saving roll system, the character attributes and layout, the use of talents, the numbers for the weapons and armor, the monster rating system. I did all that.

But this man, Steven S. Crompton, is the one who made the project happen. He’s the one with the master plan for the work. He’s the one who kept us on target over the course of more than two years. He’s the one who fixed the details, set the type, chose and approved the illustrations, dealt with printers and artists, created title pages, quietly fixed the small errors that popped up. Steve is the indispensable man for Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls. If I got it started, Steve made damn sure  it got finished. He is still working on that–making things come out right for fans and players, authors and publishers.

I don’t mean to downplay the prodigious efforts of editor/author/artist Liz Danforth. She worked harder and suffered more than any human being should ever to have to work on a book projects. Publisher Rick Loomis provided the business acumen that makes the project possible. My friend, James “Bear” Peters added color and interest and help with the weapons. It truly was a Fellowship for us. Without the five of us working together, Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls simply would not happen.

But, Steven S. Crompton, is the key figure in this project. If any of the others in the fellowship had dropped dead, they could have been replaced. Nobody could replace Steve’s contributions and dedication. (Side note: Steve has frequently been the magic that made Flying Buffalo publishing projects happen–he’s the one that finally finished Ace of Aces for FBI last  year, and he’s the main artistic force behind the 50th Anniversary Nuclear War project currently in the works.)  Steve is a gifted storyteller and artist in his own right, but I’m not going to talk about his stuff here. I just want the world to know that he is the go-to man for Deluxe, and a great friend/ally/asset to have when push comes to crunch and you have to get something finished.

This shows how thick Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls is really going to be.

Deluxe will combine the best features of the classic 5th edition and my 21st century update of the 7th edition.

And here you have at the end of the book one of the oldest existing jokes in fantasy role-playing gaming, the original illustration by Rob Carver, the first T & T artist, who did the “missed all my vital spots” cartoon showing a troll with an arrow through his head. This joke dates back to 1975 when T & T was first produced. I was running an adventure for Rob and Bear and some other friends one night, when a giant cave lion attacked the party. As it leaped into them Rob’s character shot it with a heavy arbalest and did 40 points of damage to it. But the cave lion had a monster rating of 100. It did not die. It attacked and mauled the party severely before they finished it off. Rob was upset. “I shoulda killed it before it ever touched us,” he argued. “You missed all its vital spots,” I answered. The next day Rob presented me with this cartoon.

So, I’m fairly satisfied with the day. I think it was a morning well spent, and you can see, dear reader, what actually goes on in the production of those game books you like so much.

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If you’ve ever helped with the production of a book, why not leave a comment?

–end

About noon on July 13, 2015, my layout artist, Steve Crompton (creator of Demi the Demoness) arrived to pick me up and take me with him when we visited the printer and the binder for Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls. Exact details needed to be worked out. As author of the book, I went along just to observe. I took pictures, and served as navigator, because it’s my side of town, and I knew where these places are.

The tour started when we met with Dennis Dunn, who seems to be the boss at Complete Print Shop, located at 3433 W. Earll Drive in Phoenix, Arizona. This is a large print shop and does most of the production work for my publisher, Flying Buffalo, Inc. Dennis not only helped Steve work out the details of getting the job done, but also gave us a tour of the printing plant.

Mr. Dunn explains how things work to us.

Steve Crompton is the man in the blue flowered shirt, and he’s explaining things like book size, and paper weight, and the number to be printed. I just stood back and observed. The guy at the computer is apparently the master printer for the plant, but I didn’t catch his name.

This is a big printing job. They will make master copies of 16 pages at a time on giant signature sheets that look like this. My book will be 368 pages long plus covers and end pages.

This is the biggest press machine in the plant, and probably the one they will print my book on. It was hard ar work when I took this shot.

A workman always watches the press to make certain that nothing goes wrong while it is working. The press is moving at high speed, and printing and stacking huge sheets of paper faster than the eye can follow.

This will give some idea of the scale of the room where the real work of printing gets done.

When we see our books and newspapers, we really have no idea of how they are made. In this place mechanical magic is worked every day.

Steve and Dennis did all the talking and planning here.

When we finished at the print shop, we drove over to Roswell Bindery, about a mile away. Paperback books are all done at the print shop, but when you want to produce a hardback, and we want 900 hardbacks of Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls, you have to make separate arrangements to have those books bound.

We’re now at the front door of Roswell Bookbinding. The entrance is hidden just off to the left in this picture. A lot of Arizona businesses do like to beautify the front of the shop with trees and flowers.

Roswell has a big front office. I’m not sure why it needs to be so large. Maybe it’s just to provide them with wall space to hang all their awards. We had an appointment with a manager named Nancy. I did not get her last name, and she’s not this secretary/receptionist at the desk. This woman took us back to a big conference room lliterally crammed with hundreds of examples of work the bindery has done in the past.

I thought at first that this was a massive tome, a book on a heroic scale, but no, this is the box that the massive tome lives inside. My book also has a book box. It looks like this:

Heh! My box is a bit rougher than the beauty that Roswell has.

This is the book that was actually inside their box. Fancy!

Antique bookbinding machinery stored in the conference room . . . Somebody must know what this stuff was used for, but I have no clue.

Here’s my mad genius production manager Steve Crompton. The yellow book in front of him is an underground comix price guide that he put together for another publisher. He told me it took nearly four years to do that one. We also wanted to talk about slipcases for the hardback editions of Deluxe, so he brought an example. All together we talked about binding materials, gold stamping, a ribbon book mark, end pages, and coloring the edges of the book pages so they’re not just white.  We may not do all of that, but we examined all the options.  Took about an hour. I chose the color and style of the hardback skins and stamping. It will be a rich gold on a scaly black leatherette surface. Sweet! In another month or so, I will have a finished product to show.

After about two hours of technical book planning, Steve and I went to lunch. I had this delicious salad. He had a burger. Yum.

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If you’ve ever arranged to have a book printed or bound, why not leave a comment?

–end

Here follows an exercise in narcissism, or at least proof that when I say I go out and walk in the desert I really do go out and walk in the desert. I arrived at my favorite hiking place about 1:30 this afternoon. The weather was clear, warm, and perfect for hiking. It’s kind of late in the day, so I don’t expect to see any animals. My goal was to hike at least 3 miles.

Start of the journey in the parking lot. I am wearing the Trollgod’s hat, my oldest, most battered fedora. It will protect my head from low hanging mesquite branches and cactus.

 

A better shot of me at the beginning. centering my face for these selfies is going to be a problem.

 

Behind me is the road ahead.

Behind me is the road behind

.26 miles into the hike

Troll country

Mountain side. Missed. I was trying to do a profile shot of myself.

Half a mile into the hike.

8 tenths of a mile into hike. All distances measured by pedometer.

Turn around point. Quartz cairn. 1.5 miles into the hike.

2 miles into the hike on the way back.

The friendly Arizona desert has places for you to sit down and rest.

2.5 miles into the hike. The end is in sight.

Back in the parking lot. Reflection of a desert hiker.

I am happy to be back at myu car to drive out of here. Total distance 3 miles. Time about 2 hours. Lots of climbing, and I am now officially tired.

I like Denny’s. The food is usually good if not great. The restaurants are clean. The staff is (usually) friendly, fast, and helpful. You can have an adequate meal at Denny’s for less than the same food would cost you at McDonald’s. Lately, I have been noticing a lot of Denny’s have been refurbished, and redecorated with photographs and posters celebrating their past.

Consider this blog a kind of museum. I have taken a lot of pix in and around Denny’s over the last few years, and I’m just going to throw them into this blog. This is an online museum of Denny’s.  If you have anything to contribute, send it to me in email (kenstandre@yahoo.com), and if it is worthy, it will also go into this museum.

 

THE KEN WING OF DENNY’S (mostly in Phoenix, Arizona)

 

Parking lot @ 35th Ave. & Bethany Home in Phoenix–this the typical Denny’s look.

Slamtastic breakfast–my favorite.

Pancakes are what Denny’s does best.

The photo that inspired this blog–taken at breakfast on Sunday morning, Oct. 26, 2014. God only knows when the original photo was taken–sometime before the age of color photography.

Ad posters for Denny’s

The Face of Breakfast at Denny’s.

Denny’s connection to Marilyn Monroe (real name Norma Jeane Mortenson)

The next 2 shots come from a Denny’s that I found by accident in Santa Ana, California on a trip to Los Angeles for my birthday in April 2014.  This is the only Denny’s I’ve ever found that didn’t have the typical roadside coffee shop look.

 

Front door rock garden.

 

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This blog is a work in progress. I’m going to publish it now, but reserve the right to expand it whenever I get good material  to add.

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If you have any good pix or stories about Denny’s, why not send them to me? Maybe they will wind up here in the Denny’s online museum. Heh!

not the end . . .

On Sunday, October 19, 2014 I took a short day trip with my brother Brian in the direction of Gila Bend, Arizona. Gila Bend is a small town that exists chiefly to support local farmers and some of the energy companies that have solar farms and gas-driven power plants in the area. The town was founded in 1872 and got its name from the fact that the Gila River makes an almost 90 degree turn nearby. In fact, Brian and I went first to the Gila River near the Gillespie Dam–it’s a jungle out there. Beware of mosquitoes.

But the true destination of our quest was the Space Age Cafe. The decor is interesting. The food is about like Denny’s (not quite as good imho), but you’re not going there for fine dining. You’re going for the kitsch experience. Like many small towns on highways to nowhere, Gila Bend is full of kitschy things if you keep your eyes open. I should return some day and really celebrate some of the other features, but right now, here is the Space Age Cafe.

The cafe is on the main drag through town, and parking is perilous.

Space doors. Note the shaded entrance. In summer metal doors like this would be too hot to touch in this part of Arizona.

I have been to the future, and it’s a lot like now.

The Enterprize has picked up some alien hitchhikers.

Astronauts.

Blast off!

Brian is glad to get away from the riverbottom mosquitoes.

What’s for breakfast?

The coffee was weak, but the mugs were pretty cool.

And that concludes another adventure to the Outer Limits (of Arizona).

If you’ve ever been to Gila Bend, or have eaten breakfast inside a flying saucer, why not leave a comment?

–end

It was his party. Darren Johnson, the man in charge.

 

On Saturday morning around 11 a.m. I packed up a bunch of Tunnels & Trolls stuff and some Shadowrun stuff and went to Imperial Outpost game store on 49th Avenue and Thunderbird. A big game swap meet was planned for that location and time. Actually, it started at 10, but I didn’t get going that fast, and I should have. Earlier might have been better.

There were a lot of people at the Imperial Outpost–probably the greatest gamers in the western part of the city. I only know a couple of them by name.  I got a table. I set up my merchandise. I took some pictures. Here they are.

The stuff I wanted to sell.

 

Jason Youngdale, just about the only friend I had in the place.

 

However, there was minimal interest in my merchandise, and I didn’t sell a thing in about 2 hours.  It would have been much more fun just to go as a customer. Sometimes the magic works; sometimes it doesn’t.

I took this selfie just to prove I was really there.

 

A lot of people had a good time at this sale. Darren says he’ll do it again next January. I think he’s missing a bet, and should do it once a month. He’s charging a small fee for table space, and getting a lot of people into his game store–win/win.

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If you like to go to swap meets, or ever picked up games on the cheap, why not leave a comment?

–end

I spent June 10 to June 16 in Columbus, Ohio for this year’s Origins convention. It was a good convention for the gamers and merchants–nothing memorable for me. There really wasn’t much in the way of hall costumes. So, this year I’m devoting the blog record to the merchants and the signs that marked their booths.

 

I’m just gonna show some of the best booth banners and maybe a few other things that justified a photo.

 

Looking at the main concourse lobby on Wednesday morning before the crowds arrived.

 

A distinctive feature of the convention center is this gigantic staircase that is seven aisles wide–three escalators in the center and two wide stairways on either side. When I felt strong, I climbed the stairs, averaging about 5 flights of stairs per day.

The Exhibitor’s Hall before anyone gets set up.

 

HackMaster was just across the aisle from Flying Buffalo. Dave Kenzer is standing by the HackMaster Banner. I just wish Tunnels & Trolls had a banner like this.

 

Jolly Blackburn, creator/artist/writer of the Knights of the Dinner Table comic book poses heroically.

 

My friend, Jolly, personifies all that is best about gamers at Origins. This is the single nicest guy in gaming, even nicer than me, and I’m as easygoing and friendly as you could ever wish. Jolly is better.

Here begins the great banners of Origins.

 

I’m not going to comment on most of the banners.

 

I told these guys I expected some tribute because I’m the Trollgod, but it didn’t happen. They even stole my acronym, T&T.

 

Heh, I’m using this cartoon as my background on Facebook right now.

 

Fantasy cartography is getting pretty great, but not for Mac owners.

 

 

Ya think something might be epic around here?

 

 

 

James Ernest is still the mastermind behind Cheapass Games. I had a good talk with him at a later time.

 

I demoed this game. It was kind of fun, like a g-rated version of Las Vegas.

 

This is a beautiful educational game that looks like a lot of fun to play. The designer and his family will be thousands of dollars in the red, and unlikely to appear again at next year’s Origins. Sad, but true. That is still the fate of most self-published books and games.

This guy is a talented artist. A lot of artists come to Origins. I don’t know why. Gamers are mostly not interested in buying or commissioning art.

 

 

There was some great steampunk costumery stuff. You had to be rich to afford it.  $80 vests. $500 coats.

 

 

Technically, this is more of a toy company than a game company, but you could certainly use these toys in games.

Henry Lopez (seated, white hair) is a man who produces quality games. His Witch Hunter 2nd edition rpg is one of the few things I brought back with me from Origins.

Cute!

 

I’ve played King of Tokyo. It plays fast and is good fun. Brilliant game!

There were a lot of zombies at the show. Zombie games remain popular.

 

Steve Jackson games was there, of course, doing their highly irritating “Exact Change” song and dance whenever anyone paid with cash in the exact amount asked for.

 

 

Will Neibling Sr. is a Hall of Fame game designer with a deep interest in World War II and military simulation. He still runs his own game company.

 

 

 

 

It was a big panel and took 2 photos to show it.

 

Arrrrgh!

 

 

3D open dungeon on display at the Kenzer booth. The pieces are modular, and can be built into any pattern you wish. Great for miniatures, and so pretty.

 

 

Where do they get those marvelous toys? I’m not in the Exhibitor’s Hall now. I’m off in open gaming where the mini-gamers have set up.

 

If I had a lady, I would buy her one of these gamer jewels.

 

 

I do so love fantasy art featuring warrior women. Not sure I wanna be married to one tho in the modern world.

 

A good thing about the dealer halls these days are the many demos going on. Tired? Sit down and learn a new game.

 

Speaking of warrior women, there weren’t very many hall costumes, but this woman had the best one of all. Awesome to look at, and a killer smile when I talked to her. I wanted her so much.

 

This is what the main concourse looked like after Origins had ended on Sunday afternoon.

 

Finally, a selfie picture of me just to prove I was there. Crom! I look more like a gnome or a goblin than a troll these days. Maybe it will look better if I grow my beard back. I started working on it for the whole week of Origins travel and show.

 

And that was my look at Origins 2014.  If you were there, and have a comment, please leave one. What did you like best and least about this year’s Origins?

–end

Friday night, May 30, at 5 p.m. the Changing Hands bookstore, a store that has served the Phoenix metropolitan area for 40 years, although it has always been in Tempe, opened a new store at 3rd Avenue and Camelback Road, in the central Phoenix corridor on the light rail line. This was the site of a famous old  ritzy restaurant called Beefeaters, but that restaurant closed up a few years ago, leaving just some expensive real estate and the shell of a building behind. Changing hands is one of two great independent bookstores in the Phoenix area–the other one is the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale.  I’m an ex-librarian and an author (and a book accumulator). I love bookstores. I decided not to miss this gala event.

I got there about 4:45 p.m. The parking lot was already full, and Channel 10 television sent a news van to cover the story.

 

A pretty good crowd was already waiting for the doors to open. Many more would arrive in the next hour.

 

Looking at the front door of Changing Hands.

Cameraman from Channel 10 waits to get inside just like the rest of us.

 

The owner tells us the doors will open soon at about 5:06 p.m. A red ribbon has been strung across the entrance and Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton is ready to cut it and let people in.

 

5:07 p.m., the stampede begins. I am not the only person taking pictures of this historic event. 🙂

 

Mayor Stanton is in the center of this shot, facing camera, open face, fair complexion. I’m gonna give him props for caring about books!

Good stuff, nothing radical, in the Children’s section.

I also checked out the science fiction section.

One of the things I wanted to see was what they had in their Games section–looks like word games are popular.

 

What really makes this bookstore stand out, is that it has its own bar, called First Draft.  That’s a nice pun since a draft is a manuscript that hasn’t been published, and also a glass of beer that hasn’t been quaffed yet.  Draft is one of those words that has a lot of meanings–I wonder how that came about–which makes it ideal for punning.

 

I found a bucket of tentacles. Just what everybody needs, right?

 

Bookstore coffee cups. I kinda like personalized cups like this and have quite a few, though I didn’t buy this one. It’s a coffee cup, but First Draft is the bar–disconnect there.

 

I found a book I decided to buy. This book will reappear in a future blog. I have an idea how to get some mileage out of Weird Arizona.

 

People really flocked to the bar. Every seat was taken.

 

Here’s a rack full of bottles of wine. Why buy one glass when you buy the bottle?

 

This is a terrible shot of Mayor Stanton enjoying a glass of beer. I thought it might make blackmail material, but I cut off his head. Bwa ha ha ha! How do we feel about politicians? Off with their heads!

 

Here are my purchases for the night–a book and a beer glass from First Draft. I think my clerk’s name is Abby. She was very friendly and happy to be there.

 

Abby signed me up for the Changing Hands Reader Club. Every time I buy something I’ll get a stamp on the card. Eventually, it will get me a disount or something free.

 

I took my purchases out and stashed them in my car. I didn’t want to carry them around. I have grown rather fond of taking pix of myself as a reflection in my car. You can see I was there, but you can’t really see me.

 

5:30 p.m. the parking lot is really crowded now. People trying to get in were clearly disappointed when I didn’t leave yet.

 

Bookstore window from the outside. I was headed back for seconds, but . . .

 

I got distracted and went into the restaurant that was also having its opening night. These ladies greeted me at the door and explained things. The blonde told me she was a vampire–she has the teeth, but I don’t think she’s a blood drinker.

 

I wound up sitting at the community table–a place for people without reservations.

 

I drank chicory coffee black

 

and ate chicken gumbo. It’s very spicy, but very good.

 

and I got my picture taken there at the Southern Rail restaurant with my server. What a pretty girl!

 

Many years ago this whole building was a famous Phoenix restaurant called Beefeaters. One of the waiters explained that the chandeliers and the walls were just about all that remained from the Beefeater establishment.

 

I finished off the gumbo. I drank a second cup of very bitter chicory coffee–at least it’s strong, you can taste it, and got the bill. When I tried to use my credit card to pay for it, the manager came by and said they couldn’t take credit yet, and comped me my meal. Nice!

 

After the meal, I went back and made one last pass through the bookstore.

 

I took a selfie . . .

 

and went on my way back home. The whole experience took just under 2 hours.

 

I’m glad I went to the opening of the Changing Hands bookstore. I had a good time. It’s a great independent bookstore, and the kind of place I can show off to visitors from other cities. It has more than books, and would be a good place to do Christmas and birthday shopping.  I’m hoping that Changing Hands will have a long successful run here in Phoenix.

———————————–

If you’ve ever gone to a bookstore opening, or even if you just like to hang out in such places, why not leave a comment?

–Ken