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By: Beth,
on 7/21/2015
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Hi everyone! So I wrote a post on Friday about an upcoming camp I was helping to plan. During the afternoons this week, we are leading a Teen Design Lab camp. Our general objectives for the camp are:
- Help youth learn about the community through exploration
- Engage youth in contributing to community problem-solving
- Learn about digital media and technology
I’ll be leading a week long reflection series about how the camp goes with the teens each day and how what we are doing fits in while YALSA’s programming guide. I’ll try to have the reflection post every evening, although this first post is the morning after (since the first day is full of craziness, debriefing, and figuring out where to get dinner).
Day One
What we did:
- Spent some time on designing a roadmap for the week (see photo). Ann had written this roadmap for the week in terms of the themes of the projects we would be working on and then what skills and outcomes we were hoping for. This roadmap was partially empty and in the picture, you can see we asked questions and got answers from the teens to fill in the roadmap.
- Community tour. We had the teens go out into the Peoria Heights downtown area and observe what they liked about the area (and what teens might like about this area), what they thought was problematic or what they didn’t like about the area, and then what questions they had or what surprised them about something they saw. We also sent them out with iPad Minis to take photographs with. We encouraged them to talk to store owners and ask questions. The facilitators wandered around the downtown area as well, but we really let the teens do their own thing. We will use this feedback for future design projects this week.
- Spoke with the township administrator, Roger, (we had met him previously and he gave us input in how he hoped the camp would run). He talked about his beliefs in doing community engagement and some of the neat projects the Richwoods Township had done recently.
What went well:
- The teens were great. They were engaged and actually interested in the camp and the design projects we are going to be working on. They enjoyed how we didn’t teach at them, but instead involved them in the conversation. They also asked a lot of questions, which allowed us to see where we were doing well in explanation and when we weren’t communicating well.
- While we had less teens than expected, the group wasn’t phased. They rolled well with our flexible and always changing schedule.
What we want to improve on:
- We did a quick evaluation at the end of the day to see what the teens thought went well and what didn’t go so well. This is a great way to remind the teens they do have a voice in this program. [Note: it also is YALSA’s #10 in their programming guide]. We found out on Monday that one teen wished we did more stuff, more project time, and less chatting. We have a schedule that is flexible enough to truly listen to this request and altered our agenda for today (Tuesday) accordingly.
By:
Patrick Girouard,
on 5/22/2015
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By:
Sara Burrier,
on 1/19/2015
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I believe this Martin Luther King Jr. quote is as true for the inside of ourselves as it is for the outside to others. We must drive out the darkness within our minds, and love ourselves. Thank you Dr. King for so many inspiring words and faith.
This past weekend was a whirl wind of a time! We did so much, that by Sunday I was tired enough to sleep through Norah waking up from her nap. Who knows how long she was in her crib playing before she finally started to let me know she wasn't happy there. I find these are the times I learn the most about myself, because they are also when I'm my weakest, most vulnerable, and busiest. Do you ever have weekends like that?
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It's a new week though, with new thoughts, new perspectives, and new schedules! I have discovered that every week is different with my schedule, time to
E • M • B • R • A • C • E it!
I tried something new this morning, I tried some meditative prayer. Like most women, my mind is always moving. Surprisingly it stayed pretty clear, and I think I caught myself drifting to sleep a couple of times (sitting up in the studio). Since then I've been very calm, and I knew I needed to get it down on paper, so I began this drawing. I look forward to working on her throughout the week during these times of peace every morning.
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After that first nap I give Norah all of my attention. We played around and got to ride on the dragon in the studio. It's so special to have her in the studio with me, even if I'm not working. I remember spending many days and nights in my dad's studio, and I wish the same for her.
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I struggled with my daily sketches these last few days. To find the joy and the motivation to draw when so drained is like pulling teeth for me. I feel like Tinkerbell, only able to handle one emotion at a time, except it's more than just emotions, but actions too. I did it, and I'm proud of myself for getting them done. It's okay to not be elaborate, or detailed, or whatever else I think I HAVE to be. Sometimes, just a simple sketch is all there needs to be.
There’s a great article at Boost Blog Traffic. It’s by Jon Morrow and it’s on unleashing your power.
The article was posted on Thanksgiving and what grabbed me about it was the words ‘gluttony’ and ‘selfishness.’
I’ve long been concerned about today’s ‘me’ attitude.
I know people who consider their birthdays a week-long event. Who even take off from work on their birthdays. I know a
·
Over the summer I read a post by a teacher who asked her students in the morning class meeting what he/she was most looking forward to that day. I loved that question and the stage it set for each day in a classroom. I decided we'd use that in our morning meetings this school year. As I continued to plan over the summer, I started to think about how all of our workshops have share times that could connect in some way. I wondered if we could connect learning across content with reflective questions that set the stage for joyful learning as well as reflection. With the help of Gretchen, our new literacy coach, I came up with a list of 10 questions to focus our conversations.
I I wasn't sure how it would go but I created a sign for each question and posted the 10 questions in our meeting area. Before I even mentioned the question, kids were talking around them. They had noticed the questions and started thinking about them. So it has been easy to use these for general conversations and the kids have been amazing in the ways they are thinking about themselves in our classroom. We use them throughout the day when we are gathered together for conversations.
I I have the questions posted and I plan to give them a copy of the questions on a single sheet for their notebooks. These questions were a great way to kick off our school year and to help kids begin to think about what our year will be like.
What are you most looking forward to today as a learner?
· What do you have to celebrate today?
· What did you learn about yourself as a learner today?
· How were you kind today?
· How did you get through something challenging today?
· What do you understand today that you didn’t understand before today?
· What are you excited to share with someone today?
· What did someone do to help you today?
· How were you brave as a learner today?
· How did your thinking change today?
By: frankramer,
on 4/8/2014
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“If you wish to know someone’s heart, look into your own.” Heart Art by Henry Reed, Ph.D.
After doing the Inspired Heart Meditation and the short Memory Divination that followed this is what transpired for me in the Intuitive Heart Soul Reflection Experience which is explained in the previous post at http://wp.me/p45aiq-4J.
My Memory Which Surfaced:
I am in the dental chair in my dentist’s office. My dentist has just finished putting in two new inlays which has been part of a several-years-long effort to gradually replace my 45-year-old worn out gold and silver fillings with new fillings and inlays. It has been a long and drawn out, costly restorative work, but the end result is that all my teeth are now in excellent shape with fillings the exact color of my teeth, making my smile look beautiful and my dental health great. My dentist makes the comment, “Now that you have gotten through all this with good results and no major mishap, it is up to you to keep your teeth in good shape by cleaning them regularly.” I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment for having gone through this long and arduous process. Also, I do get complimented on how great my teeth look—a real blessing at age 66 which few people even today can have or afford! I also realize the importance of what the dentist says about it being up to me to keep my teeth in great shape. The simple but important practices of brushing and flossing are things I need to do every day.
My Reflection on the Memory:
The memory reminded me of my long kundalini clearing process which began about seven years ago and was a real challenge to deal with at all levels, spiritual, psychological and physical, especially during the first several years. The last four years have been challenging at a values level: making choices that reflect the new “real me” despite the fact that I need to take bold risks, especially financial ones, to get where I want to go. Like my dental restoration process, it has been long and arduous but I am now starting to realize some of the kundalini lore benefits such as my good health getting even better while giving me a youthful appearance that belies my age. The major clearing away of the old has been done, as even my dreams have told me, but it is up to me to keep it all clean now: eat healthy food, think positive thoughts, make good choices, brush away any negativity, etc.
Lesson for Me:
Be grateful for the amazing blessing I have undergone. I should be more aware of the simple but important ways of keeping what the Buddhist call the “mirror” clean by brushing away negative thoughts. I need to keep my body healthy by avoiding as much as possible foods and substances that could be harmful or de-energizing. I need to make choices which reflect the integrity of who I am.
Hidden Question: How can I enjoy my life more comfortably, with less effort and more confidence?
My soul’s reflection on this question: By doing the simple daily “polishing of the mirror,” eating right and making what the Hawaiians’ call pono or right choices; I can enjoy life more because it will be easier to stay healthy and happy, without any kind of negativity dragging me down. Removing negativity at the get-go is a lot easier than dealing with it after it has grown from an idea or a bad choice to an embedded feeling or disease in the body. Feeling positive will also promote a greater sense of confidence in what I am doing and where I am going.
By: Hazel Mitchell,
on 1/1/2013
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It's 7.37am Jan 1st, 2013. I'm at the desk, drinking tea and nibbling blueberry pie. Well, it is still a holiday! I'm thinking on how we humans need touchstones and wondering why that is. Reflection and thinking forward seems our peculiar fate.
Enough with the philosophizing. I'm on a book deadline this week and am looking forward to a full day off sometime soon. Possibly. Here's the other thing - it's brilliant to be doing something you can't wait to leap out of bed to get on with.
But, before I pick up my pencil, I wanted to underline the highlights (mostly!) of 2012 for myself. Writing it here, on my blog, is an affirmation and a reminder of where I have been and where I am going (see para.1). I can see if I hit the goals I had in mind - or what came along on it's own two feet. There are things on the list I didn't think I would see. It's a reminder that the future always has some great things in store if we work hard at our dreams.
I could also write a list of things I didn't achieve or that went wrong. But that would be a bunch of negative and you don't want to hear me moaning (not on New Year's Day anyway).
MY BEST OF 2012 LISTPublished - 5 books
Illustrated - 2 more coming 2013
WIP - graphic novel and MG illustrated adventure
Got shingles - :-(( (See below)
Attended ALA - 2 signings
Attended 1 conference
Attended a Highlights Foundation course
Attended R.Michelson Gallery opening and was part of the group photo (awed)
Attended an awards ceremony in NY Times Center for 'How to Talk to an Autistic Kid'
Won a gold medal from Foreword Reviews at ALA for Autistic Kid book, a couple of other awards and mentioned on lists
Mentioned in Publisher's Weekly
Exhibitor at Princeton Book Festival and several others
Did school visits (learned a lot!)
Heard some great authors and illustrators speak (feeding the soul)
Met new friends
Sadly said goodbye to old friends
Met up with wonderful old friends
Sailed on the sea several times
Art in a couple of exhibitions and visited some great ones
Received fan mail (means I gave back to someone)
Read a good amount of books (but not as many as I would like!)
Started a couple of new blogs
Sketched and drew more than I ever have
Stopped worrying about my style and just did it
Writing that list just made me realize what a fantabulous year 2012 was! I did so much more than I remembered. Thinking of those things gives me vitality and optimism for 2013. Except shingles ... and I nearly took that off the list. It wasn't an achievement or a good thing ... but it does remind me that in the list I write for 2013 looking after my health must be high.
So off to write me a list of goals for the coming year - I know already it's going to be a good one. I will do my best not to let myself down. Check back in next year to make sure I didn't.
Happy New Year to you all and I hope your resolutions bring you happiness and peace in 2013.
Toodles!
Hazel
By: Alice,
on 8/31/2012
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How do you choose the right word? Some just don’t fit what you’re trying to convey, either in the labor of love prose for your creative writing class, or the rogue auto-correct function on your phone.
Can you shed lacerations instead of tears? How is the word barren an attack on women? How do writers such as Joshua Ferris, Francine Prose, David Foster Wallace, Zadie Smith, and Simon Winchester weigh and inveigh against words?
We sat down with Katherine Martin and Allison Wright, editors of the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus, to discuss what makes a word distinctive from others and what writers can teach you about language.
Writing Today, the Choice of Words, and the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus
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Reflections in the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus
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The Use and Abuse of a Thesaurus
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Katherine Martin is Head of US Dictionaries at Oxford University Press. Allison Wright is Editor, US Dictionaries at Oxford University Press.
Much more than a word list, the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus is a browsable source of inspiration as well as an authoritative guide to selecting and using vocabulary. This essential guide for writers provides real-life example sentences and a careful selection of the most relevant synonyms, as well as new usage notes, hints for choosing between similar words, a Word Finder section organized by subject, and a comprehensive language guide. The third edition revises and updates this innovative reference, adding hundreds of new words, senses, and phrases to its more than 300,000 synonyms and 10,000 antonyms. New features in this edition include over 200 literary and humorous quotations highlighting notable usages of words, and a revised graphical word toolkit feature showing common word combinations based on evidence in the Oxford Corpus. There is also a new introduction by noted language commentator Ben Zimmer.
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We’re getting closer to our move date, and we’re going through our stuff but also thinking about (clinging to?) the things we’ll miss. I say “we” but maybe it’s just me doing the clinging.
I find it funny that when I left the U.S., I was stockpiling American things I feared I wouldn’t be able to get in Germany: Trader Joe’s salsa, children’s OTC medications, inexpensive winter gear. Now I have the same frantic hoarding tendencies but for German things, as if somehow I can take my memories with me only if I find enough items to hold them in.
We’re really trying to get rid of things, not collect things, but if I could stockpile all I wanted, here’s a list of some favorites:
- Alnatura dark chocolate from DM—best cheap chocolate ever
- Ritter Sport dark chocolate with hazelnuts (yes, they do have it in the U.S. but I hear it’s not the same)
- Weleda bath and beauty products
- Alnatura lemongrass soap
- Whole grain spelt (dinkel) bread
- Ready-to-eat mango lassis from the refrigerator aisle
- Fresh apricots (they just don’t grow these in the southeastern US, and the ones you can get from California are mushy by the time they get to you)
- Fleur de sel—best salt ever—yeah, it’s French, but it’s easy to get here
- Wine—goes without saying
- Cheap vintage linens from the thrift store (okay, I may have collected a few of these, but reports have been widely exaggerated)
- Nutella collectible football glasses
- Wooden toys—any German toys, really
- Absolutely everything from the Waldorf basar
- Kids’ rain pants
- Cheese—so cheap and delicious here—a mozza ball costs as little as, I kid you not, 50 cents!
- Rooibos caramel tea
- Burda Style magazine—the awesomest sewing mag ever
- Homeopathic German medicine—oh yeah! It really works.
- The unbelievably thick walls, high ceilings, and beautiful doors of our apartment
- Chocolate croissants baked just a few steps from our flat
But most of all I’d like to stockpile the things that couldn’t be packed up, even if we had the space:
- Bike rides through the forest
- Coffee and running and lunch dates with friends
- Sunny afternoons in the kindergarten garden
- The smell of freshly baked bread from the downstairs bakery
- Kind neighbors
- My kids’ knowledge of German
For the last two plus years I’ve sought out English reading material wherever I could, and now suddenly I’m desperate to have some German books for the kids. I just got Richard Scarry’s Mein allerschönstes Wörterbuch (it’s similar to his other books but with German and English labels). Also ordered Das grosse Liederbuch (The Big Song Book, illustrated by Tomi Ungerer) on the advice of a friend, hoping we might be able to preserve some of the folk songs our son has learned in German kindergarten.
The probability of him losing his near-native accent is the thought that stings the most.
But I won’t dwell on that now.
By:
admin,
on 5/28/2012
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Hickem, Catherine. (2012). Heaven in Her Arms: Why God Chose Mary to Raise His Son and What It Means for You. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. ISBN 978-1-4002-0036-8.
What do we know of Mary?
What we know of Mary’s family is that she is of the house of David; it is from her lineage Jesus fulfilled the prophecy. Given the archeological ruins of the various places thought to have been living quarters for their family, it is likely the home was a room out from which sleeping quarters (cells) branched. As Mary and her mother Anne would be busy maintaining the household, with young Mary working at her mother’s command, it is likely Anne would be nearby or in the same room during the Annunciation. Thus Mary would not have had a scandalous secret to later share with her parents but, rather, a miraculous supernatural experience, the salvific meaning of which her Holy parents would understand and possibly even witnessed.
Mary and Joseph were betrothed, not engaged. They were already married, likely in the form of a marriage contract, but the marriage had not yet been “consummated”. This is why he was going to divorce her when he learned of the pregnancy. If it were a mere engagement, he would have broken it off without too much scandal.
Married but not yet joined with her husband, her mother would prepare her by teaching her all that she needed to know. This is further reason to assume that Mary would be working diligently under her mother’s eye when the Annunciation took place.
We know that her cousin Elizabeth’s pregnancy was kept in secret for five months, and not made known until the sixth month when the Angel Gabriel proclaimed it to Mary. We know Mary then rushed to be at her elderly cousin’s side for three months (the remaining duration of Elizabeth’s pregnancy), and that this rushing appeared to be in response to Elizabeth’s pregnancy (to congratulate her), not an attempt to hide Mary’s pregnancy. Note how all of this is connected to Elizabeth’s pregnancy rather than Mary’s circumstances. As Mary was married to Joseph, he likely would have been informed of the trip. Had the intent been to hide Mary, she would have remained with Elizabeth until Jesus was born, not returned to her family after the first trimester, which is just about the time that her pregnancy was visible and obvious.
So we these misconceptions clarified, we can put Mary’s example within an even deeper context and more fully relate to her experience. We can imagine living in a faith-filled family who raises their child in strict accordance of God’s word. The extended family members may not understand, and certainly their community will not, so Mary, Anne and Joachim, and Joseph face extreme scandal as well as possible action from Jewish authorities. But they faced this together steep in conversation with God, providing a model for today’s family.
Although sometimes scriptural interpretations are flavored with modern-day eye, overall this book will be more than just a quick read for a young mother (or new bride, or teen aspiring to overcome the challenges of American culture, or single parent losing her mind). It is a heartwarming reflection with many examples that open up conversation with God. As an experienced psychotherapist, the author’s examples are spot on and easy to relate to. We do not need to have had the same experiences to empathize, reflect, and pursue meaning; we see it around us in everyday life. As such, a reflective look upon these examples can help one overcome an impasse in their own relationship with God and also open the reader up to self-knowledge as Hi
By:
Claudette Young,
on 2/28/2011
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Like many people on Sunday, I spent a quiet day yesterday. Part was spent in study, part in worship, and part in socializing. During each of those activities came reflection.
I doubt if writers ever truly stop writing since so much of the outside world gets rolled into potential material use. Yesterday was no exception to that unwritten rule.
For those who haven’t spent time with an official manual for Microsoft Office 2010, take the time to do it. I began my in-depth study of it yesterday and came away astounded at the possibilities for my future work. Does that mean that I haven’t been using Office 2010?
Nope. I’ve used it for nearly a year now—as a simple point and shoot word processor that allowed me to put words on-screen, add and delete, and create unsophisticated raw formatting that could maybe impress the local insect zoo. I had no clue that the whole package could do so much.
Why? You ask. Simple. The software comes without a manual.
Anyone who’s bought software or downloaded any in the past few years knows that the only option for major understanding of it is to go online and read the tutorials, etc. for that particular program or pay to take a class. Only then do you get the overall picture of uses, functions, and potential support needs.
I happened, by chance, to find my small manual in Borders not long after I had purchased Office 2010. I wasn’t happy about having to buy any support books for it. I felt that given the price of the software, it should come with an actual manual.
Extra time is something I didn’t have a lot of at the time and the manual got put aside until later. So when we began this journey of ours, I threw it into my work satchel so that when I found some down time, I could learn the software.
Nice thought, wasn’t it? Actually, yes it was, because when I decided to do more than glance at the manual, I found a world of possibilities I will be exploring for a long while to come.
It was like Christmas.
In fact, all of yesterday had a sprinkling of holiday cheer to it for no specific reason. I went to bed with that satisfied feeling, coupled with anticipation, of having come to a junction in my life. Oh, not because of the software study, although that did give me pause.
The reflection that I’d done had broken loose some unrecognized needs that required fulfillment. That’s when the light bulb when on. That’s also when I knew that my life was taking another turn.
I suppose that sounds a bit out there, but what I rediscovered were neglected layers of me and my own potential. I started asking myself what the manual to my life contained that I’d never paid real attention to. That personal question needed more reflection. As a result, it became a late night.
The odd upshot to this is that my daily life won’t look much different from what it is now—at least for a while. Later that will change, but then all things do given time.
In many ways this trip of ours has rewritten my life in profound elemental ways that others can’t see. The mundane chores and tasks of my life remain as always. What has changed is the underlying processor that’s become supercharged to travel on unexpected highways of life.
I don’t know how all the facets came together yesterday to elicit my personal epiphany. In the end it doesn’t matter. Irony does manage to enter the picture. I began my day trying to understand Word. I finished reading The Word. In between those two activities my life shifted. That’s quite a bit to expect of a Sunday, don’t you think?
Until later, folks, a bientot,
Claudsy
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Today I'm going to reflect on where I came from and how that is shaping where I'm going. Where are your people from? I'm mostly English and Irish with a dash of American Indian thrown in. My mother's family is from Mississippi. My father's adopted family is from Texas. My mom's family was full of wild farmers. They knew gardens, horses, and apples. They knew how to tell stories. Ooh, did they. I get shivers just thinking about it. On my dad's side, his people were pillars of the community. They knew good jokes and how to get things done. They asked lots of important questions and had a social conscience that was as deep as the ocean. Who is you neighbor? Everyone. End of the story.
So where am I going? This unique mix of history has shaped me into the storyteller I am today. From the beginning this has been my talent. I'm no high-brow literary genius (but I'm sure I don't need to kiss the Blarney Stone, in fear that it might try to steal some of my power). I'm not a poetic soul baying at the moon. Boo, no green gold ribbons, no scarlet flame. In me is rip-roaring adventure and complexities that would give any weaver a headache. And, sure enough, I hope to send shivers down every one's back, and I'd like to think I dive as deep when it comes to the important questions and the social conscience piece. I let my roots draw up the life for my fiction. Each story turns out like a new leaf, rich from the roots.
I hope you take time this week and think about where you came from. Give it some deep thought. Try feeling your roots. Consider what they are drawing into the creative part of you.
This week's doodle is "Baby Grass."
All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted.
Saint Teresa of Avila
When I think back twenty years, I recall a chaotic mixture of experiences, which gave me a great sense of excitement, despite knowing that being a teenager was not always easy. I feel that it was the innocence of the era, which made every day so fulfilling.
Maybe it is true to say that everyone goes through a phase in their life where things seems very intense and opportunities to experience new delights seem to lie around every corner, however, I feel that the 80’s represented a time where nothing seemed predictable and young people appeared to be doing their own thing, rather than conforming to any particular ideal?
School life was a constant source of amazing sights and sounds! Every day someone would turn up with a pair of new trainers, or perhaps wearing fluorescent socks, fashion was a constantly changing and often overwhelming influence! After endless days of messing around in the classroom, it was time to head home via the local shop, and stock up on ‘e’ numbers, which were to be found in various soft drinks, sweets, ice lollies, and other unhealthy snacks.
Other stimulation was found through the music of the time, an extraoridinary blend of styles, from break-dance, to pop, to Gothic, soul and even rock music, there were so many experimental artists producing exciting and original pieces of work, it seemed like there was limitless creative talent! Break-dance was a particularly powerful influence, perhaps one of the most co-ordinated and mindblowing art forms of it’s time! Sadly, I was unable to manage more than a basic, poorly exhibited, form of body-popping, which was perhaps, ‘best displayed in private’!
Home life was an interesting combination of events, it was hard for my friends and I to cope with all the options available. Some days we would spend having fun in the local countryside, other times we would take part in various sports, and there were also computer games to play on. During this period of great variety, we were determined to make the most of the freedom which was available to us.
People in general seemed more interesting back in the 80’s. I had different friends every month, and on birthday’s, we would all meet up, a wild mixture of personalities, from varying backgrounds, all with a common cause, “to have fun”! Though we could be a bit unruly at times, the underlying innosence of our youth, always gave us a sense of right and wrong, and we know where to ‘draw the line’!
Though my 80’s experience was largely hightened by new inventions, I feel that it was the common sense of humanity, which made every day a joy. Sometimes, it seems that some of man’s advances, have only served to create a false environment, and I hope that we can all return to more simple values, in our search for a more harmonious and enriched existance?
I’ve had my share of great reviews: In Dallas, in Toronto, in DC, in Denver, in Seattle. And crappy ones too – that means you, mean reviewers in San Francisco and Los Angeles! But somehow I wonder if a bad book review might sting less than this article in the Oregonian today, “Young novelists draw scant crowd.”
Seems that two of the folks named Best Yong American Novelists by Granta did a reading, and hardly anyone came. …”one can perhaps forgive the overly ambitious set-up at Powell's City of Books last Friday night, with 60 or 70 folding chairs empty in anticipation of a reading by two of the 21 writers selected for Granta 97: Best of Young American Novelists 2. … Latecomers turned into no shows. Store staff stalled, and then, with barely a dozen seats occupied, shilled for an upcoming reading by Michael Chabon … for which it was advised to arrive early or be turned away.”
The article did reveal that talent must run in families. Maile Meloy, one of the authors is the older sister of Colin Meloy of the Decemberists. Kind of like Steve Jobs secret sister, Mona Simpson. Clearly some kind of genius running through that family, too. [Full disclosure: My kid’s piano teacher taught one of the Decemberists – as an adult. He also tours with Curtis Salgado. Ah, the compromises we artists make!]
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WOW! While, I know you are already back at your deadline illustrations this morning, still sipping tea, I am so glad you found time for you and us, to list these highlights! I hope all these wonderful achievements and memories give you a sense of signifiant accomplishment and energy to go even further in 2013!
You inspire me. Happy New Year, my friend!
I wish you 2013 to be even more fabulous. Without the shingles, though. I know how terrible it feels. I've been there some years ago.
Hazel,
What a wonderful list! It reminded me to take stock of all the many good things that have happened in 2012 as well. Great illustration, by the way!! To you and yours, my best wishes for a very happy, healthy and creatively inspiring 2013!!
I am glad you came to visit ... and glad you enjoyed the list. Yes .. it is easy to forget where we have been and give the failures too much credence. Each new day is a new page and a new beginning. Particularly for artists and writers!
Efi, yes the shingles is horrid and I never want it again. Hence the reason to get healthier! Best to you in 2013!
Thank you Deborah. I like the idea that is going around of a glass jar to drop the good and beautiful things that happen to you into as the year goes by ... best to you too and thank you for your kind words!
Hazel xo