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I'm typing in the air conditioned comfort of an old, high-ceilinged, civil-war-style house in downtown Atlanta, GA -- have you ever seen Gone With the Wind? It's like that, only instead of Rhett Butler, it's just us inside. The house belongs to our friends Ayesha and Dave, but they're not here either--coincidentally, their already-planned vacation coincided with our visit (at least they told us it was coincidental…) so they're off in parts unknown. Still, they let us use their glorious pad in their absence. Thanks, guys!

Here’s a picture of us in Frisco, NC, before we left. Also, a picture with Leslie Ann Lanier of the wonderful bookstore Books To Be Red in Ocracoke, NC. A must-visit if you're a bibliophile on the Outer Banks.  The 'Red' in the store's name comes from Ann's hair.  Isn't that cool? :-)

), a Mecca for weary travelers of Interstate 95. There we had a fabulously fun 24-story elevator ride up into a giant Mexican sombrero. Que barbaro! :-)




I love Atlanta! Such nice people, such nice weather, good coffee--it's got it all. And Evan, Lucy, and Zoe are fascinated by the GIANT bugs we see everywhere here in the south. I need to take a photo. They really are somethin' to see!

Yesterday we were given the royal treatment by the Barnes and Noble in Alpharetta, GA. Before I spoke to readers, they had a 'dragon' -- a big ol' lizard -- as the opening act.  I never opened up for a reptile before. :-) Here’s a picture with Cindy Rittenhouse, who runs the amazing children’s/young-adult section and Rachel, a high school junior and future star critic.



The Little Shop of Stories, a fantastic independent book store in Decatur, GA, did an absolutely amazing window display about our road trip. See the pictures below -- although they don't actually do justice to it. Still, can you believe this? In the last photo I’m also shown with store co-owner Dave Shallenberger, who did the artwork, and Terra McVoy, store manager. Thanks, guys!




Here are Elle Race and Regan Foster of Storyville, a lovely book shop for younger kids in Duluth, GA. They served lemonade for my visit--a very nice touch.  They're a new bookstore in the northern suburbs of Atlanta -- Good luck to them! :-)

Some fun news: Check out the Publisher’s Weekly Web site – we’re the lead article! :-) Here’s the link:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6457079.html

A Note added by Karen:  A highlight of our stay in Atlanta was that we met up with one of my best friends from high school, Karen Sytsma and her family!  I haven't seen Karen in 20 years, and we hit it off as if we see each other everyday!  Karen and her sons Josiah and Caleb followed us to all the bookstores, and we got a chance to visit her husband Mike at work!  Josiah showed the kids a dragon lizard called Beowolf...a relative of the giant iguana we saw earlier.  All these lizards in Atlanta, is it a requirement to have one?  What a great visit!!
 

Tomorrow we’re off to Jackson, MS, via Birmingham, AL. :-)

Happy travels!
--Mark
www.markpeterhughes.com

Good Morning:

I started my day with a cool and rainy 3 mile walk. Now that's a great way to start a fresh new day, if you ask me!

I've been looking over some of my past posts this morning, and I think I need to make it clear that I AM NOT AN ENTOMOLOGIST!! Wow, I can't believe how many posts I have that focus on insects. Mantis, Ladybugs, Walking Sticks.... and I admit, I have the creepy-crawlies just like so many others. Because my kids have learned outside of school since the beginning, I have always had cool projects going on all the time. It just so happens that there are lots of cool Science projects on the market for the "common folk". When my boys were younger, the insect projects were what they always chose. So, through the years, we just became "friendly" with bugs.

This post will focus on the release of my many hundreds of baby Praying Mantis, and that should be it for bug posts. At least for awhile anyway!

We released my babies late yesterday evening in my garden. They have voracious appetites and eat thousands of aphids and small insects each day. Being that they eat aphids, we released most of them on and around my roses. The egg sacs were still productive, so we hid them under the roses. After we released them, we managed to get some very good pictures of them in their natural environment:

Praying Mantis on Yellow Rose



Praying Mantis Egg Sac



Praying Mantis Close-Up



Now that most of you are probably thoroughly creeped out, I would like to thank you for being so patient and kind enough to continue to read my blog.

Now...here's my two newest collage prints listed in My Etsy Shop.

5" x 7" collage print entitled: "Ghostly Gert's Tucson Patio Party". This collage is what I like to call "story art". Most of my larger than ACEO size collages are story art. Here's Ghostly Gert's story:

This is poor ol' Ghostly Gert, revisiting the most exciting yet tragic day of her "life". Oh the happenings on that lovely desert patio. It goes like this: August 13, 1910, a sweltering hot day in Tucson, Arizona. It was Gert's 11th birthday and she was having a big party. Hundreds of friends and family members were swarming in. The food was delicious and the cake, oh the cake. It was 4 layers high. It was such an extravagent party. Everyone was laughing and dancing. Gert and the other children were playing games. Hopscotch, Tag, Croquet. Then, before anyone could do anything to stop it, tragedy struck...

Now, you get to fill in the blank. The end of the story belongs to you.



The second print that I listed this morning is an ACEO entitled: "Song Series: Inspired by Stairway To Heaven". This one is for all of you Led Zeppelin fans out there!!



Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today.

Until Tomorrow:
Kim
Garden Painter Art
gnarly-dolls