My tour brings me to Cincinnati Ohio for one very special reason, and no, it’s not that Gillian Welch song, “Oh me oh my-o, would’ya look at Miss Ohio…”

It’s Bertha Burnham. My grandma Mannie, who turned 85 two weeks ago. She’s mentioned at various points throughout the book if you’ve had a chance to read it. She is a hoot!

My grassroots grandma marketing squad is based here in Cincinnati. Shirley heads up the social media and internet department, Victoria works on the prayers department and Grandma Mannie is in charge of everything else, just not the dinner rolls (hence how she got her nickname, Bertha Burnham).

From left: Shirley, Victoria, Mannie

We had a lovely evening at Joseph-Beth. The bookstore was undergoing a bit of new-ownership chaos (but hooray for keeping the doors open and staying indie!!) so the signing happened at the adjoining Bronte Cafe & Bistro, which as it turns out is a hopping place on a Wednesday. I talked louder and we made it work; it was quite a nice time. They even hung up this 6-foot-long poster (and are sending it to my Gram after they’ve sold most of the signed copies!).

One of the bonus features of doing a book signing in their cafe was the as-mentioned-in-the-book wall decor. They’re decorating with eclectic, mismatched dishes!

Overall, there was a cool, dinner-theatre kind of feel to the evening.

Earlier in the day Amy Tobin welcomed me on her radio show. We’ll let you know when to tune in either live on the FM station or how to check out the MP3 file after it airs.

High fives Cincinnati for making my visit such a sweet one.