Lyn's Licks & Laughs...with alter egos Bobbie Cole & Sunny

What's goin' on at RT

Monday - arrived Houston, hugs and reuniting with people. Was afraid I'd not know anyone here but Ann Wesley Hardin and Alexis Fleming, then ran into Kathryn Falk herself. Had her speak a couple of times to my Oklahoma authors back when I did programs for the groups there. She invited us to spend the night, but we had other commitments. So when she said 'how about tomorrow evening, a get together at the ranch' we gladly accepted.

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Tuesday - our (Lex and I are 'our') friend and fellow Belfry critique partners started arriving. Ann then Liz Wolfe. More drinks at the bar, catching up, that sort of thing, but no actual RT programs yet. We put our promo stuff out, got the lay of the land, met others whose named we recognized but hadn't a face to go with, then...


Sometime around 5, 4 of us were whisked from hotel to Kathryn's country paradise about 30 miles outside Houston. Met Susan/Annie, a marvelous writer and delightful neuropsychologist who happens to write in a 'few' genres. *g* She was such an interesting lady. Met Cheyenne MacRae (and I probably butchered that spelling of her last name), author of the Magic series (great series if you haven't read it). Kathryn's grounds keeper/caretaker of the ranch (SOS = support our soldiers, one of Kathryn's many projects) picked us up in a Cadillac and gave us some background on the place, kept us entertained.
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The ranch itself is gorgeous. The house is filled with antiques, photos from Kathryn's many travels, the people in her life over the years...can we all say FABIO, BARBARA CARTLAND, a variety of dignitaries. There are two saunas - the Swedish one is near the pool in the back. There are a huge variety of plants, and they've planted palm trees to go with the native plants and trees. Pets - the dogs are wonderful. One of them stayed by her side while we had a glass of wine in a covered porch. The wind in the trees was a musical, mystical experience.
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The caretaker's name, by the way is John Patterson, and it was so nice to meet this man. He was so informative, and the work they're doing at this retreat is fantastic. Kathryn is building a place for soldiers coming home from the war to wind down, chill out, decompress, be with their families if they choose. There are even handicap ramps leading to the cabin that we visited. It's all very peaceful, spiritual, cleansing.
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A few hours later we were treated to a BBQ dinner at Joe's in Alvin, Texas, not far from the ranch. OMG. - lol- I had the baked potato, which was loaded with everything that goes with the veggie. Plus we had ribs.
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Stormy weather was headed our way, so after a couple of hours of eating and reminiscing with Lady Barrow and company, we headed for the hotel. The weather coming from south of us was so bad that the Aussie contingent of booksellers got stranded at the Austin airport, and the airport shut down! The Red Cross had to rescue them and find them lodging.
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That brings us to today, and I'll try to post more later on that. There's been so much happening that I'm leaving out, but maybe that slice of life will whet your appetites for more instead of put you to sleep. Sleep? What's that? Think we went to bed at 3-something the first night, maybe 2 or 3 the second, around 1 last night, and overslept bigtime.

posted by Bobbie (Sunny) Cole @ 11:54 AM 7 comments