Pioneering in a Womanly Way

From the title, the clever reader may have guessed that I went to THE PIONEER WOMAN'S book signing.

Those in the know, which you are about to become, know that The Pioneer Woman is a blog generated by a funny and charming person named Ree Drummond, who just happens to live on a cattle ranch in the Osage, near Pawhuska, which is just north of here.

Anyway, her blog contains beautiful photography, witty stories, and killer recipes, which you have undoubtedly tasted at my house. She committed some of those stories and many of those recipes to a book--

The doors at the Tulsa Historical Society were to open at 6pm. Beth, my partner in crime in this venture, and I arrived just after 5:30. There were fewer than 20 people ahead of us. And by the time everyone else arrived, there were over 450, probably closer to 500 people attending. I'd say there were people hanging from the rafters, but there were not rafters from which to hang, so I'll just say it was SRO.

We got t-shirts and bought the book, Ree did a little question and answer and introduced the Marlboro Man (her husband--read the blog--ahhhhhh), there were cupcakes, cokes in cute little glass bottles, and Ree signed books--patiently and charmingly signed books-- and posed for photos for HOURS.


I didn't take my camera(s), but I do have some observations to share:

-- The signing line moved at a painstakingly slow pace, but the wait was worth it.
-- Ree is as cute and charming and witty as her blog.
-- Marlboro Man is NOT over billed in the blog.
-- They were both refreshingly nervous and excited.

It was almost all good. But here is another observation, sort of a personal post script to someone who will never see this blog and who wouldn't recognize herself anyway:

-- Young mothers (one in particular--YOU blondie) should be attuned enough to their children (and the crowd) to know that it is time to bail out (that means leave and go home) when their 3 or 4 year old child (perhaps a little girl wearing her sunglasses upside down) is having a snot-blowing crying fit (for at least an hour) and when their little boy, a bit older, says he doesn't feel well. Sometimes mothers have to (AND SHOULD) abandon extraneous desires, like an autograph and a photo with an author, in favor of caring for their uncomfortable kids. And no, the older ones among us who were giving you the evil eye are not just cranky older women, we recognize the right thing to do, and did it ourselves when our children were small and we feel sorry for children of selfish mothers (yours in particular -- blondie).

Sometimes ya just gotta vent.