Happy Valentines Day!

Last week my cousin Wendy sent me an email asking if I would like to go see Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman blogger and cookbook author, as she would be in San Francisco for a book signing. My sister Nancy wanted to go too, so Wendy and I made arrangements to meet Nancy at the bookstore where the book signing would be held. We assumed with the San Francisco Area being so urban that very few people would know who the Pioneer Woman was and we could sail right into the bookstore and meet Ree. Boy, were we wrong!

The bookstore was absolutely packed. After a question and answer period with Ree, everyone lined up in groups to meet Ree by the letter listed on their ticket. The line was out the door and this was a fairly large bookstore. The people with letters towards the middle and end of the alphabet sat around and waited until their letter got closer.

We had “E tickets” and were at the head of the E group. A young lady behind us told us that this crowd was nothing. While living on the East Coast, she drove 14 hours to see Ree in South Carolina. When she got to the book store in South Carolina there were over 3,000 people waiting for Ree to sign their books and she did not get her book signed until after 1:00 am.

Back in San Francisco, a very pregnant woman made her way up to just to get a look at Ree. She was sporting an “L ticket” and didn’t think that she would be able to hold out until the L’s got up to see Ree, so we had her join us in line. A couple of days after the book signing, we received a nice thank you note from her.

We, fortunately did not have to wait until 1:00 am. It was after 9:00 pm when we finally made it up to Ree, who kindly speaks with each person that has come to see her and is very accommodating for group photos. 

Wendy Howe, Merry Carter, the Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, and Nancy Mueller.

We were starving by the time we got out of the book signing and while we would have loved to have had a nice dinner at one of the great restaurants in the area, it was so late that we had to settle for the McDonald’s across the street. We got in line at McDonald’s with the homeless people.

All three of us bought Ree’s new book, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels–A Love Story and found it to be very easy reading and one of those can’t put it down books. At the end of the book are several of the recipes that Ree mentions in her story. The recipes look great and I can’t wait to try the cinnamon rolls–from the recipe and description they sound fantastic.

Ree Drummond’s new book, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels–A Love Story

~merry~

Without love, the rich and poor live in the same house.  ~Author Unknown