Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop

Day Three

This event passes so goddam quickly. Hard to believe last night was the final evening of the 2008 conference, but man, was it memorable.

We had exceptional sessions throughout the day, including a speaker over lunchtime that had been a staff writer for Phyllis Diller, and Bob Hope, among her many, many other humor-writing credits. She was a complete hoot and a holler.

The big surprise of “The Weekend We Came To Dayton To Hear Garrison Keillor” was Mike Peters (pictured above – not sure why I happen to appear as if I’m attempting to smuggle out a table setting in my derriere..), political cartoonist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and creator of the long-running Mother Goose & Grimm comic strip. He literally destroyed the ballroom last night with his manic presentation, and endless wealth of hilarious recollections of his life. I told him he was the funniest person we had EVER seen, and we’ve seen some of the biggest and best.

Genuinely nice guy.

What can I say? Now, we sit in our hotel room, waiting for our Room Service breakfast, before we then get ready, pack, and head on home. Hearts heavy with the news that screen legend Charlton Heston has just passed away. Like we weren’t depressed enough already…

Ugh…

Chow for now!!