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Hello There:

I thought I would take a moment to post a "Thank You" to Suzanne of Unique Nurses for doing a fabulous feature on my Vintage Photo Shop on Etsy ~ as well as my Art Shop.

She took quite a bit of time to put these pieces together and I am so humbled to have been chosen as her feature.

I hope you can take a moment to stop by Unique Nurses and have a look.

Until Next Time:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

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Hello:

Just a quick blog entry today, as I wanted to share this photo with you that I've just listed in My Vintage Photo Shop. The photo fascinates me and spooks me all at once ~

Ooopsie...no longer for sale


I'm not exactly sure what I believe regarding ghosts, but if there's anything that can convince me that they exist, it's this photo. Have a close look to the right of the headstone, just above the M in the name SCHWAM. I'm telling you, there is an image of a tiny woman wearing a white scoop-neck dress sitting on the middle ledge of the headstone. You can't make out a face, but you can see the dress ~



The headstone was for the Schwam family. The husband, Ferdinand, was still alive at the time of the photo. However, his wife, Margaret and his 2 year old daughter, Annie, were both already buried at the time of the photo.

What do you think?

Kim
Garden Painter Art

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NOTE TO SELF: NO GRAVE SITUATION HERE

The next time you visit Spain, you might want to take a side-trip to the Santa Coloma de Gramnenet cemetary located outside Barcelona, especially the mausoleum section. Although one can visit the dearly departed if one feels so moved, the real attraction is up on the mausoleum roofs where 462 solar panels have been installed to catch the sun's rays.

The energy produced with the solar panels, equivalent to the yearly consumption of 60 homes, flows into the local energy grid. The entire project is the community's contribution toward fighting global warming. The graveyard was the only viable spot to proceed with its solar energy program.

Read the rest of the story and photos of the solar panels here: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=6316047

Actually, this is not such a wild idea. Think about the possibilities of creating projects similar to this in mausoleums throughout the world. The concept might not appeal to all families of the deceased but it something to consider. Perhaps - just a thought - some type of wind power device could be utilized in a similar manner. Anyway, the citizens and the city council of the spanish town are congratulated for doing their part in becoming part of the solution to finding alternative energy sources.

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NOTE TO SELF: BODIES AND LOVE ONE'S WAITING TO BE BURIED

Grave diggers and maintenance staff have been locked out of the Notre Dame des Neiges Cementary located in Montreal, Canada since May 16 and the bodies are piling up. A labor dispute has paralyzed Canada's largest cemetary but there could - key word here could - be a break through if you parden the pun. The feeling of personal loss however, can't be measured in numbers.

The one-hundred and twenty nine unionized workers at the burial ground announced that they are prepared to return to work 4 days per week, starting next Monday. Management for their part are considering the proposal. Workers are members of the Syndicat des travailleurs et des travailleuses du cimetière Notre Dame des Neiges, a local of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux and have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2003.

Contract negociations will continue even while the dead are being buried. The statistics are shocking with 498 bodies stored in refrigeration units since the Fabrique de la Paroisse Notre Dame de Montréal, the corporation managing the cemetery for the owners, Sulpician priests, locked out the workers. More alarming is the closing date for the season being November 1
and some families of the dead fear the sheer logistics of burying or cremating so many bodies before then will be a nightmare.

In addition to the remains in storage, the cemetery receives about 50 to 60 bodies a week.
According to one veteran cemetery employee, those returning to work will be hard-pressed to bury 20 bodies a day. There are only four backhoes on the site, and once they start digging, no two graves are the same.

The cemetery's executive director said that there is a plan of operation, a system and it will be adapted to the needs of the individual families.

If families want a graveside interment service conducted according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, in what is a predominately Roman Catholic cemetery, the situation becomes even more complicated. In many instances, it means reuniting families who may have come some distance for the funeral, and now again have to co-ordinate travel plans if they wish to be present for the burial.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=afa7fe20-309a-47de-94f4-255aad97f8f6&k=85666

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Fab.
Duh.

What? You want more? You're insatiable. I love that about you.

All right, so last night was the night El Hombre Pichon, Mo Willems, came in to the Donnell Library to speak to the masses on everything from new and upcoming books to how to draw everyone's favorite boid. As you may recall I had a teensy tiny fear that no one would show up. Then we'd have Mo Willems, a room of three people, and in my dark despair I'd somehow end up downing the entire bottle of Yellowtail we had on the refreshment table.

Anywho, the room filled up perfectly. Everyone had a seat, everyone was able to see Mo do his Mo-thing, and the temperature hovered around 97 degrees. So we were not too packed, nor were we bereft of patrons. It was fabulous. Next week's presenter Meghan McCarthy was on hand to view the festivities too. Y'all need to come see her as well. She has not yet reached Mo-heights, so we need to show her that she is loved. Chris Barton already said that he might come and he lives in friggin' Austin, Texas. THAT is the kind of dedication I'm talking about, people!

Cool Things Gleaned:

• There is another pigeon book in the works. Mo would not tell us the plot or any real details except to hand us the first four words. Here they are: The Pigeon Wants a. Finish the line correctly, win a sweet. As we have already covered hot dogs and buses and as the Pigeon website is not proffering any clues, I'm going to guess that it's The Pigeon Wants a Girlfriend. Admit it. You would kill to see that book. Especially if the beloved was not a pigeon at all but something more eclectic like... a horse.
• Performing the book Today I Will Fly as Reader's Theater works magnificently. Particularly when you've an adorable four-year-old read off the, "Woof Woof Woof," lines.
  
• I got to see a galley of Knuffle Bunny Too (which contains information within on how to pronounce it). The new book has magnificent views of the Arch in Grand Army Plaza (Brooklyn) taken at 3 a.m. on the top of the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. The story itself repeats tropes from the previous book smartly and then the whole affair becomes rather Noir. In a good way, mind you. The Pigeon also suffers an untold indignity in this title that I will not divulge except to say that it involves curly blond hair.
• This was a fun little detail from Mo's blog that I had seen briefly on his site but was explained better by him in person. If you read the man's regular postings then you know that he posts the art that kids send him, especially when it's particularly good. So this kid sends in the "DVD" of the upcoming film Super Mo Willems as shown here:
  
  But the thing is that the date on this has been erased and moved up in time. Apparently it used to say 2007. Now it's 9/12/08. As Mo mentioned on his blog, "Must have had some production problems, or perhaps the star wouldn't stop frowning or something."
  

I met his agent too. This was the woman who shopped Pigeon around for 2 years before anyone took a chance on buying it. Makes you wonder about the people who turned it down, no? HAHAHAHA!

I should mention that due to the rarity of the ARC, I did not get my own copy of Knuffle Bunny Too. Sad me. But you know what Meghan McCarthy did? She brought me a freak-ass awesome bright n' almost shiny copy of her newest title Strong Man. Shown here:



A magnificent evening all around. I'm now going to attempt to convince my boss that the Donnell Central Children's Room should serve as the repository of the Papers of Mo Willems. I mean, the poor guy lives in Brooklyn and keeps a whole heckuva lot of his stuff. Surely we could serve as his beneficiaries, yes? Yes?

I'll work on it.
Thanks again to Mo Willems for doing this for NYPL.

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