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Since you asked, yes, we've got some fires here.  The air in Pasadena is smoky and the moon last night was a stemless pumpkin, grinlessly glowing in an amber sky.  Happens here fairly often when the wind is right.

M. M.

Here is a new product available at the Shopanna store.
Visit now to order. New long sleeve designs are coming soon.
Do you have an design idea?
Comment on this post and I'll see what I can do!

Last night I went to my crit group. During the check in I told them about my great weekend away with my bookclub. "You went away for two weekends in a row?" asked my friend Katie. "No, there was a weekend in between," I explained. But I didn't need to defend myself and I don't feel guilty at all. I always look forward to friends, networking, and learning at the NESCBWI conference. This past weekend was all about relaxing. I ate great food, napped when I wanted to, read without feeling guilty, painted, listened to the thunderstorms rumble off the New Hampshire mountains and enjoyed the ideas, musings, and feelings of good friends. Here's hoping that June will be a productive month and that summer weather comes soon.

Top: Ellen, Tracy, Katherine, Rachel  Bottom: Kim, Me, Penny


Here is my Chocura Mountain painting. (acryllic) It was so amazing to watch it evolve, layer by layer. I'd paint. I'd rest. I'd paint. I'd stop and talk. I'd paint. Fun, fun, fun. I don't usually work with color on canvas and found myself loving the size and the process, and the big arm motions involved.

Hello LJ friends:
How old does this child look? Young enough to discover muddy animal prints and ducks in a pond on a rainy day? Any other thoughts re: color palette, things that work, don't work, etc?
Thanks!

And now, a brief break from library issues to present a discovery from the thrift emporium:

What you are looking at here is an emblem produced by a funeral home, featuring a picture of a deceased child.  This device is produced after the manner of a large badge, and is seven and a half inches in diameter--perhaps too large to wear, but just about right for attaching to the wall above the mantlepiece.  As you can tell, this is a rather old item; the practice of creating such memorials is a practice of the first half of the Twentieth Century, and this was likely produced no later than the 'thirties.  You will note that there is no name on the plaque--this might have been a salesman's sample.   If anybody out there is familiar with the use of such things, please write and provide details.

Michael McGrorty

During a break in an ALA Council session, a few of us got together and compared pet stories and pictures.  I promised to provide a photograph of how my two terriers live at our house.  To those who enquired and those who didn't, here is an example of what goes on behind closed doors:

The white one is Rosie, a West Highland Terrier; the brown one Tulip, a Cairn.  As you can see, they sleep where they see fit.  I keep their noses warm this way to save on heating.

M. McGrorty