Yesterday, Peter Heather the author of The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Roman and the Barbarians taught us about the Battle of Hadrianople. Today he has kindly answered a few questions for OUP.
OUP: Have you always been interested in Roman history? What inspired you to write this book about the fall of Rome, rather than tackle an easier Roman period? (more…)
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Even with the wonderful help of Ki-Ki and the Blue Rose Girls, I still was scrambling when the first guests arrived to the party. Punch wasn’t mixed (and never was), paintings were crooked and ice had been forgotten. But the party had begun!
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And it was wonderful. Who would’ve known that
Lissy’s Friends would be such a appropriate book for the party? Because friends from everywhere, from all facets of my life came out on the cold, rainy day.
Author and artist friends like:
Mary Newell Depalma, Steve Engel (the artist that cuts all the snowflakes for Robert's Snow) and Nicole Tadgell.
Alissa Imre Geis
and Barbara O'ConnorTeacher/School Visit Friends like:
Pat Keough
Eisha (with Anna) New Friends like:
Lily (a big Year of the Dog fan!)
and Scott MagoonAnd old friends like:
Mike and Nancy (who came from Texas!)Throughout the party, Ki-Ki and
the blue rose girls were working the book table, selling lots of copies of
Lissy’s Friends:
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I kept getting unnecessary but extraordinarily lovely gifts from people. Thank you!
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And Lolly from the
Horn Book was podcasting:
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See her trying to deviously pretend she’s not recording?
Kids seemed to like the cupcakes:
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and the flowers:
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And no one seemed to notice the lack of punch:
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But I was still a bit scrambled. Time passed in a blur! I forgot to publicly thank the girls for all their help, do a book reading or even acknowledge the
Lissy doll! I do remember that I did urge everyone to eat cupcakes, that I raffled my painting,
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and
The Blue Rose Girls (sans Meghan) had a photo op:
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So, I think Lissy and I had a pretty good birthday! Thanks everyone for celebrating with us!
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I think I just realized that throwing a book party is like getting married; or at least having a wedding. Or maybe it's just the way I do things--what's the book party equivalent to bridezilla? Book partzilla? Parthra (a la Mothra)?
And just like having a wedding, the success of the party is dependent on good friends pitching in. Lucky for me, I have those.
Alvina flew in straight from the International Reading Association conference in Toronto to Boston and pitched right in. Gosh, I needed her. Not only did the gift bags need to be finished (not everyone got chocolate rats; I had to start making chocolate faster so I was using all my molds--turtles, pigs, roses, seashells. Not very themed, but oh well!); I had cupcakes to make!!
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144 to be exact: 48 carrot cupcakes, 48 pink velvet (supposed to be red velvet but I ran out of red food coloring) and 48 lemon. We used 3 boxes of butter! Alvina and I spent the day baking and I finally feel justified in having a fancy mixer.
Then after work, Ki-Ki, Anna, Bruno, Luke and Ranida came over to help frost. This actually didn't take that long...
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Okay, maybe it did.
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Thanks for sharing, and Happy Belated Birthday, Grace! Just got a copy of Lissy's Friends -- a sweet story. Will buy more for presents :)!
They party looked amazing! I'm sorry that I wasn't able to make it =(
Happy Birthday and a big "Yee Haw" to Robert and Texas!
Your party looks like it was SO much fun. Big congratulations to you.