On the road...in Saskatoon with a Bunnyhug!

Three of us are now in Saskatoon for ten days. We flew in yesterday and went off to "do a Dewey" for about forty Saskatchewan librarians and teacher librarians. (Thanks D. for helping to organize this!) This is a super friendly city and thanks to a recommendation from one of those librarians, I need to find a copy of a kid's book by Arthur Slade called Ghost Hotel published by Coteau Books. It takes place partly in the Bessborough Hotel which is across the street from the Sheraton where I'm staying, and according to the description, involves time travel, a mezzanine with a library that has hundreds of copies of the same book, and a spooky ghost story. Sounds like a fun read.
No ghosts at my hotel so far, but it does have an indoor WATER PARK with two huge waterslides. How cool is that? We're here to work the bookfair at the Congress at the U of Saskatchewan and after standing on my feet for 8 hours each day, I can't think of a better way to recharge the batteries, than to whish down a slide. It reminds me of this great installation that was recently at the Tate Modern in London (which alas, I didn't get to experience). It's a lovely twenty minute walk beside the rivdr from the hotel to the campus, which is celebrating it's 100th anniversary and is very beautiful. (Aesthetics are so crucial to learning, I think.) Plus the air is so fresh and crisp here with no humidity -it truly makes one feel alive and happy it's spring. We spent today setting up our booth - many of the Deweys started our careers in the book business as independent booksellers, and what I do love about this conference (even though it's very long), is the chance to handsell again. We have about 250 titles on display and if I do say so myself, our booth looks so colourful and inviting and there are so many terrific books there that I'm truly proud to represent. Of course, we're just one of 85 booths - it's Canada's largest academic bookstore all in one place and so I doubt I'll get out of here without weighing down my suitcase significantly. I've already bought one local speciality - anyone know what a "bunnyhug" is? The term originates in this city. The campus bookstore sells them and I couldn't resist one that actually has the Canadian Oxford definition printed on it. Yes, I'm a geek. (And JJ - I promise not to wear it at any productions of King Lear!)