The near final galleys for “Rose In A Storm” were waiting for me when I got back from New York City.

The book is quite real now. I get one more crack at reading it, and then it will go to press. I feel very proud of this book, it is not like anything else I have ever written. Maria and I and her mother (also named Maria) had a blast. We went to see “La Boheme” at the Metropolitan Opera, a birthday present for Maria Sr. It was gorgeous – long, dramatic, beautiful. It was almost as much fun to watch the swells in the audience as the performers.

We walked all over Central Park and beyond. Great time. Good to back on the quiet farm, as always. Bedlam Farm sure feels like home.

Upcoming:  On March 26, 7 p.m. at the Red Fox Bookstore in Glens Falls, Emma and I will do a father-daughter book celebration. She will read from her new book “90 per cent of the game is half mental,” out next Tuesday, and I will read from “Rose In A Storm” out in October. We will also talk about our writing lives.

It should be a great evening. Come of you can.

Emma and I will also be at Northshire Books together on May 8, doing the same thing.