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This week I'm sharing a poem that the Might Minnows discovered, hiding in plain sight, in the Leo Lionni book
Frederick. We read it in November, when the change of seasons was unmistakable here in the mid-Atlantic and it was important to think about storing up food--and sunrays, colors and words!--in preparation for the long winter. This book also served as our first introduction into what it is to be a poet.
I won't post the well-known "Five Little Pumpkins" rhyme that came before this one--it can be found enough places. But I will point out that our poetry anthology, when completed, deliberately included both simpler poems like "Five Little Pumpkins" and more complex ones like the one below that I titled "Frederick's Sky Mice." Sometimes we all learned the poem by heart, and sometimes it was enough to hear it over and over again and complete each line as the teacher read it. When we reviewed our anthologies at the end of the year, some children were surprised to find that they could read this one independently now!
Frederick’s Sky Mice
by Leo Lionni
Who scatters snowflakes? Who melts the ice?
Who spoils the weather? Who makes it nice?
Who grows the four-leaf clovers in June?
Who dims the daylight? Who lights the moon?
Four little field mice who live in the sky.
Four little field mice … like you and I.
One is the Springmouse who turns on the showers.
Then comes the Summermouse who paints in the flowers.
The Fallmouse is next with walnuts and wheat.
And Wintermouse is last … with little cold feet.
Aren’t we lucky the seasons are four?
Think of a year with one less … or one more!
Teachers, go
here and
here for great resources on Lionni's books, and enjoy the photos of mice visiting the Mighty Minnows!
By:
Claudette Young,
on 7/11/2012
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Trail of the Cedars, Glacier National Park
By now nearly everyone across the country has been to a stage of sweltering in the heat. It doesn’t matter where you live, except maybe in Western Washington, you’ve worked at staying cool.
When I talk about working in the heat, I’m not talking necessarily about laboring outside in it. Those who seldom leave the house, except for errands, are also at risk from heat. It depends on how cool the building is and how much air flow there is.
The heat affects all of us in similar ways. We get cranky when we get too hot. Tempers shorten as temperatures rise.
Attention wanders. Staying focused is possible but much more tiring at 95° than when at 70°. Dehydration begins to make its move and assaults the body, which has specific requirements. Thirst drives a person to intake more fluids, which results in more trips to the bathroom, which also pulls the attention away from your keyboard.
Sleep doesn’t come easily in the heat. There is no such thing as a comfortable position on the bed, couch, floor, hammock, or whatever reclined surface you can find. Sleeping on the porch isn’t an option either. It’s rarely much cooler out there than inside the house and other considerations remain; mosquitos, the odd stray dog, or worse, cat on the prowl.
Solutions? Oh, there are a few, but not many aside from air conditioning.
Let’s face it. We’ve become a society of wimps. Our pioneer ancestors—yes, even those in the 1940’s—didn’t need air conditioning. They worked, cooked, played outside with the kids, went to ballgames, etc. and all of it in the heat.
Here we are, subject to heat, many without blessed air conditioning. Take a crack at what the oldsters did. Put a big bowl of ice in front of the fan and let simple evaporation help cool you off.
Rearrange your work schedule, if you can, to move the most active part of your day to the cooler pre-dawn and early morning hours. Shift your priorities to help yourself. Decide how many cold meals you can prepare at one time. Cold soups, meats, fruits, etc. can help you think you’re cooler, even if you aren’t.
For those who snicker because they have air conditioning, remember this. You still have to go outside in it to get from point A to point B. That’s at least one chance to get your hand burned on a door handle, to burn the backs of your legs when derriere meets car seat or bench, to inhale vaporous flame upon ordering that snow cone from the corner vendor, who’s stood out in that heat to provide you with cold, soon-to-be-liquid refreshment.
But above all, realize that you’re not alone. Heat drains your energy. Even when you’re working at home or at the office, if you don’t have air conditioning, take it easy on yourself. A cool washcloth on the back of the neck does help. Keeping your feet cool drains more heat from the body than you might think, and make sure that keep sw
By:
Claudette Young,
on 7/11/2012
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Trail of the Cedars, Glacier National Park
By now nearly everyone across the country has been to a stage of sweltering in the heat. It doesn’t matter where you live, except maybe in Western Washington, you’ve worked at staying cool.
When I talk about working in the heat, I’m not talking necessarily about laboring outside in it. Those who seldom leave the house, except for errands, are also at risk from heat. It depends on how cool the building is and how much air flow there is.
The heat affects all of us in similar ways. We get cranky when we get too hot. Tempers shorten as temperatures rise.
Attention wanders. Staying focused is possible but much more tiring at 95° than when at 70°. Dehydration begins to make its move and assaults the body, which has specific requirements. Thirst drives a person to intake more fluids, which results in more trips to the bathroom, which also pulls the attention away from your keyboard.
Sleep doesn’t come easily in the heat. There is no such thing as a comfortable position on the bed, couch, floor, hammock, or whatever reclined surface you can find. Sleeping on the porch isn’t an option either. It’s rarely much cooler out there than inside the house and other considerations remain; mosquitos, the odd stray dog, or worse, cat on the prowl.
Solutions? Oh, there are a few, but not many aside from air conditioning.
Let’s face it. We’ve become a society of wimps. Our pioneer ancestors—yes, even those in the 1940’s—didn’t need air conditioning. They worked, cooked, played outside with the kids, went to ballgames, etc. and all of it in the heat.
Here we are, subject to heat, many without blessed air conditioning. Take a crack at what the oldsters did. Put a big bowl of ice in front of the fan and let simple evaporation help cool you off.
Rearrange your work schedule, if you can, to move the most active part of your day to the cooler pre-dawn and early morning hours. Shift your priorities to help yourself. Decide how many cold meals you can prepare at one time. Cold soups, meats, fruits, etc. can help you think you’re cooler, even if you aren’t.
For those who snicker because they have air conditioning, remember this. You still have to go outside in it to get from point A to point B. That’s at least one chance to get your hand burned on a door handle, to burn the backs of your legs when derriere meets car seat or bench, to inhale vaporous flame upon ordering that snow cone from the corner vendor, who’s stood out in that heat to provide you with cold, soon-to-be-liquid refreshment.
But above all, realize that you’re not alone. Heat drains your energy. Even when you’re working at home or at the office, if you don’t have air conditioning, take it easy on yourself. A cool washcloth on the back of the neck does help. Keeping your feet cool drains more heat from the body than you might think, and make sure that keep sw
I live in northern Ohio, which for some reason isn't known for its great weather. In fact, we have great weather for, well, most of the year. For instance, today it's sunny and breezy, 75 degrees, and I'm sitting on the side porch drinking iced tea and I can't think of too many places where the weather is better than this.
We don't get credit for that.
When friends and family move away to what they consider to be a better climate, they tend to monitor the weather back here. Then, during one of our especially nasty winter storms in January, they call up and say, "Hey! How's the weather there? I hear it's really awful." Even though I don't ask, they say, "It's 80 degrees here, gonna play a little tennis later on. So glad I don't have to go out and shovel! HaHa, loser." Well, maybe they don't say "loser," but that's what I hear.
I've found there's no winning this weather game. Even when the weather is bad there, it's better than here.
When it's 115 degrees there, you say, "It's a dry heat."
When it's 25 below, you say, "At least it's sunny."
When a blizzard blows in out of the Rockies, you say, "It never lasts very long around here."
I guess I have some options. In mid summer, I could call up and say, "Hey, I hear your whole state is charred to a crisp! It's really green here, just brought in another armload of flowers. Well, I'll let you go, you better go out and swat some sparks and hose down the outbuildings again." Or during the hurricane, I could call and say, "How's the weather? I heard you were having some trouble. What? I can't hear you, sounds like it's blowing up a storm. Yeah, it's pretty calm here. Still got our siding and everything."
Or I could email a link to this great new tarantula and scorpion repellant I came across.
Thought you could use this. Us? Yeah, here we had a bit of an ant problem in the spring. Nothing like YOUR ants, a course. But I wasn't raised that way.
By:
Karen Cioffi,
on 5/9/2012
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Tradebook Tips for Teachers from Children’s Author Mayra Calvani
The water cycle is included in every science curriculum. Here in Belgium it is taught to fourth grade students. Both elementary and middle school teachers will benefit from my new nonfiction picture book, The Water Cycle. It is the first in a series of four about the weather.
There are many water cycle books out there. My book takes a new angle because in addition to describing the journey of the water droplets from the clouds to the earth and back to the clouds again, it explores the feelings that the different types of weather can evoke in people. The pictures and questions invite children to ponder. For example, rain can make you happy if you’re playing outside in your shiny new boots, but it can make you feel sad and melancholic if you’re indoors and watching from the window. If rain turns into a downpour and eventually a flood, it can evoke in you a whole new set of feelings. The same goes for snow, hail, a blizzard, etc. At the end of the book there are vocabulary activities. At the moment, I’m planning on hiring a teacher to create a complete teacher’s guide. When it’s ready it’ll be available free via my blog and website.
Here are some links to activities about the water cycle that parents and educators can use to complement my book:Diagram, word search crossword, cloze and other worksheets at
http://bogglesworldesl.com/watercycle_worksheets.htmMore water cycle activity pages,
http://www.kidzone.ws/water/Free power point presentations of the water cycle at http://science.pppst.com/watercycle.html
Finally, teachers and parents can show students what they can do to become more ecologically responsible and be ‘hydro-logical’: http://water.epa.gov/learn/kids/drinkingwater/behyrdological.cfm
Thank you, Karen, for this opportunity to talk about my book on your blog!
About the book: The Water Cycle: Water Play Series Book 1, for ages 4-8, follows the water droplets in their journey from the clouds to the earth and back to the clouds again. Written in a lyrical style, the book takes a new angle on the water cycle by showing the feelings it evokes in people. It also has fun learning activities at the end.
What reviewers are saying… “Written in Calvani’s delightful prose, “Huddle inside the CLOUD high up in the sky, the water droplets are excited,” While also complemented by the imaginative artwork of Alexander Morris’ fun illustrations, makes this book both easy to read and informative. The author also includes for her young readers a word search and glossary learning activity—a great addition to every teacher and homeschool parents’ teaching library.” –Carol Fraser Hagen, reading specialist and special education teacher.
You can read the complete review at
http://www.carolfraserhagen.com/2012/04/30/reading-about-science-book-recommendation And, you can check out my review of The Water Cycle at:http://www.karencioffiwritingandmarketing.com/2012/05/review-of-water-cycle-book-1.htmlPurchase The Water Cycle: Water Play Series Book 1 from Guardian Angel Publishing:
14 Comments on Tradebook Tips for Teachers from Children’s Author Mayra Calvani, last added: 5/11/2012
Hello all,
Today is the first day of Children's Book Week and to kick-start it I'd like to announce the release of my children's nonfiction picture book, Water Play, Book I: The Water Cycle.
Don't forget to enter below for a chance to win a totebag full of Guardian Angel Publishing children's books OR a critique from children's author Margot Finke. Good luck!
The Water Cycle is the first in a series of four about the weather, published by Guardian Angel Publishing.
Follow the water droplets in their journey from the clouds to the earth and back to the clouds again. Written in a lyrical style, the book takes a new angle on the water cycle by showing the feelings it evokes in people.
Review by Carol Frazer Hagen, reading specialist and special education teacher:
"Teaching the water cycle, most often referred to as the hydrologic cycle in classroom science lessons, is the topic of Mayra Calvani’s latest book The Water Cycle: Water Play Series 1.
"Teaching students about the Earth’s atmosphere and its role in providing water to our planet is included in every Earth Science curriculum. Fortunately, both teachers and parents now have a wonderful resource to help them teach this aspect of science. Elementary, as well as middle school teachers will welcome this creatively written book, which introduces students to the continuous cycle of rain, water vapor and cloud formation.
"Written in Calvani’s delightful prose, “Huddle inside the CLOUD high up in the sk
By: Alice,
on 3/23/2012
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By Storm Dunlop
World Meteorology Day marks a highly successful collaboration under the World Meteorological Organization, involving every country, large or small, rich or poor. Weather affects every single person (every living being) on the planet, but why do people feel meteorology is not for them? Why do they even find it so difficult to identify different types of cloud? Or at least they claim that it is difficult. The average person, it would seem, looks at the sky and simply thinks ‘clouds’. (Just as they look at the night sky and think nothing more than ‘stars’).
What type of clouds are these?
Is it because they think there are so many — too many to remember? Yet there are just ten major types, and most people can recognize ten different makes of cars, ten different dogs, or ten different flowers. Can’t they? Perhaps not. Some people do have poor visual discrimination: my father for one. Show him a piece of oak and a piece of pine, and he would not know, by sight, which was which. To him, it was ‘wood’. Then some people apparently suffer from a difficulty in transferring what they see in a photograph or illustration to the real world. I can think of an experienced amateur astronomer who cannot match a photograph of the night sky that he has taken to the actual constellations above his head.
There is the old philosophical argument about whether one can even think about an object or concept, without having a name for it in one’s head. Surely, however, one can have a mental image of a physical object, such as (say) a sea-cucumber, without knowing that it is called a sea-cucumber or even a holothurian? As an author, my brain functions with words, not images. I suppose that conversely, perhaps if people are unable to hold a mental image of a cumulonimbus cloud, they cannot assimilate its name.
Or is it the words themselves that put them off? Luke Howard in his seminal work On the Modification of Clouds (1802) introduced Latin terms, following the tradition set by Linnaeus. Scientifically, that was (and remains) perfectly sensible. But is that the root of the problem? It seems to be a modern myth that all Latin is ‘difficult’, and the hoi polloi — sorry, that’s Greek! — (‘the masses’) avoid it in all forms. Perhaps this fear arises because it is no longer taught widely, no longer a requirement for university entrance, and no longer (for Catholics) heard in the Latin mass. But it is at the root of so many languages and so many scientific terms that this phobia is deeply regrettable.
The words for clouds themselves are hardly difficult: terms such as nimbostratus are hardly pronounceable mouthfuls. Do people worry that, like Silas Wegg in Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend, who turned the Greek historian Polybius into the Roman virgin Polly Beeious, they will get even these wrong? I suppose I am fortunate, because I did learn Latin at school, and I speak and read various languages, so words, from whatever source, don’t frighten me. And I like to get any pronunciation right. I also have to admit that if I know a word, I tend to use it. That may be why people look at me a bit oddly w
Tornado!: The Story Behind These Twisting, Turning, Spinning, and Spiraling Storms Judith Bloom Frandin and Dennis Brindell Frandin
Do you know what's more terrifying than a tornado? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
One of the nice things about moving from the Midwest to the DC area is I no longer spend all my time in the basement, freaking out about a Tornado Warning. Or ready to sprint to the basement because of a Tornado Watch.
Tornadoes scare the ever-long !@!@#@#% out of me.
This book full of science, facts, survivor stories, and giant pictures of TORNADOES.
It's pretty cool and, if you're me, a little terrifying. I do really like how much it covers in the different areas while not being overwhelming or too advanced for solidly middle grade readers. I also think the design is wonderful-- large pictures, good graphics, great pull quotes and pull-out boxes make for a wonderful design.
Today's Nonfiction Monday round up is over at
Book Provided by... my local library
Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.
The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit us early Sunday morning, and in my neck of the woods (northern Manhattan), it was pretty much just a strong thunderstorm that I slept right through. I didn’t lose power and it was sunny by 11 am.
However, not as much can be said for other areas of the greater NYC area—New Jersey, Queens, and Brooklyn all had areas with power outages, downed trees, and flooding, and it was even worse in upstate New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and some parts of Massachusetts, where they’re still recovering from flooding and power outages. But the worst part of the storm for New England seems to be in Vermont, at least according to the reports I’ve seen from friends who are currently trapped in their house (thankfully on a hill) because their whole road just washed away; bridges are washed away and in nearby towns the whole downtown is flooded. I hope that despite the millions in damage to farms and businesses, that the people and animals who live there are okay.
Here are a few links and videos from Jo Knowles, a YA author who lives in Vermont, who is the friend I heard about the situation in VT from:
The Bennington, VT Banner reporting on damage in that area
Ottauquechee Over Banks Flooding Rt. 4 West
This one gets down to show how it’s affecting Vermonters on a personal level—their whole road is washed away.
Originally published at Stacy Whitman's Grimoire. Please leave any comments there.
By:
Kathleen Rietz,
on 8/22/2011
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Feel free to click the pic to download my latest Prairie Storms coloring page! In this scene, we see a cougar taking refuge from a chilly, November hail storm.
By: KC Oliver,
on 7/26/2011
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All last week I was on holidays! And it was awesome. Spent the week at a cottage at Grand Beach, MB. Strangely, we had a heat wave at the beginning of the week, and then it cooled right down and it was cold! I really can't complain cuz the charming, warm weather has returned, although not at the heat wave magnitude. Not sure how I feel about that… =)
I don’t know how many people know this about me, but I love to run. And I woke up every day on my holidays at 6:30 a.m. just so I could beat the heat. My running route was along the water on the beach. I love running on the beach. There’s nothing like it.
I’m back at work this week, but working towards yet another week of holidays, next week. Très sah-weeeet!
So I have discovered that I am truly crazy about Twitter and have become a wee bit addicted. Okay, okay, I’m a lot twaddicted. Wow, it’s worse than I thought… Anyway, tweeting is always on my mind now. Everything I do, or see, or hear, or say, is fodder for my next tweet. My friends may wanna keep that in mind. Hee hee. =D
So my new writing exercise is based on my thoughts around the fantasy genre image I chose. It was really difficult to go in only one direction, cuz my mind was buzzing with this image. Check out the exercise and enjoy!
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Please do not think that I have been transferred from Amsco’s science department to the foreign language department. Earth science has a number of Spanish terms in its lexicon: El Niño, La Niña, and now
La Nada. Yes, I checked with Florencia, Amsco’s Spanish editor, and “nada” does mean “nothing.” The next question is: What does “nothing” have to do with Earth science?
In December 2010,
La Niña was in full swing. The image on the left shows cold water (the blue and purple band) flowing across the Pacific Ocean. Under ordinary circumstances, when La Niña begins to fade,
El Niño, which brings warm water, takes its place. However, by April 2011, there was no sign of El Niño, as shown in the image on the right. These images were taken by the Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2 satellite, NASA JPL.
You may be asking: What has La Nada to do with me? Well, remember all those snow storms and cold weather last January and February? They may have been caused by La Nada. According to NASA climatologist Bill Patzert, “La Niña was strong in December, but back in January it pulled a disappearing act and left us with nothing—La Nada—to constrain the jet stream. Like an unruly teenager, the jet stream took advantage of the newfound freedom—and the results were disastrous.” The jet stream meandered wildly around the United States and the weather pattern became dominated by strong outbreaks of frigid polar air, producing blizzards across the West, Upper Midwest, and Northeast in the United States.
In the spring, there were many strong thunderstorms and tornados. Russell Schneider, Director of the NOAA-NWS Storm Prediction Center, explains: “First, very strong winds out of the south carrying warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico met cold jet stream winds racing in from the west. Stacking these two air masses on top of each other created the degree of instability that fuels intense thunderstorms.”
According to Patzert, “The jet stream—on steroids—acted as an atmospheric mix master, causing tornadoes to explode across Dixie and Tornado Alleys, and even into Massachusetts.”
The next time someone asks you: What’s up with the weather? You can say: “It’s nothing,” and smile sweetly.
By:
Kathleen Rietz,
on 7/7/2011
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Watch this exciting book preview video of my new book,
Prairie Storms, written by Darcy Pattison and illustrated by me. The book is just weeks away from its release date. I am so excited. Watch the video
HERE! (Thanks to Darcy for putting together this video.)
The new picture book,
"Carla's Cloud Catastrophe" has been released. Beth Bence Reinke's delightful, "WHAT IF" kind of story comes from a question that children may often ask. "What if, one day, all the clouds fell from the sky?"
Carla's solution to the problem is the perfect ending to a fun filled adventure. The book is available from 4RV PUBLISHING LLC and Amazon.com as well as any and all bookstores. All you need to do is give your bookstore the ISBN number for them to order the book. OR, you can go directly to the 4RV Publishing site and get your copy.
What on earth will the Mayor of Clarksville do with all those clouds? Carla knows!
I always get excited when a book I was chosen to illustrate is released. This book has great appeal for boys and girls alike. It is always a pleasure for an illustrator to receive a manuscript that has so many ideas for illustrations that you have to choose from the dozens of image that pop into your head as you read the manuscript. It also meant that I had to stretch a bit to create some of the images. My research included asking permission of certain people to use them as subjects in the book. It also meant a trip to our recycling center and town DPW to get photos and sketches of heavy road equipment. I was fortunate enough, at the same time, to have an entire road crew working on our road. The machines they were using were perfect sources for some of the illustrations.
By:
Kathleen Rietz,
on 6/24/2011
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Here is a preview illustration from my latest book,
Prairie Storms, set for release in just a couple of weeks. The book was written by Darcy Pattison, and published by Sylvan Dell. We have a follow-up book, called
Desert Baths, which will be coming in 2012. It has been wonderful working with both Darcy and Sylvan Dell. In this illustration, an earless lizard shimmies to find shelter from a dry, crackling lightning storm in the middle of an August night. You can download a free coloring page version of this illustration
here.
This past weekend was amazing! Sunny sunny sunny! Love it! Except, I have no sense and didn't wear sunscreen, so now I pay. Sunburns suck...I'm just sayin'. Got in some moat-time, walks and runs, even a fun afternoon with one of my best friends at Starbucks. Life is good.
One of the best things that happened to me is that I finally got a solid idea for the third book in the 'Pretty' series. I've been making notes, hashing things out in my head and it's starting to come together. It's so exciting when that happens. I can picture it now, and that is my indicator that I should run with it.
With all the 'fun time' over the weekend, I left it until the last minute to pull together a writing exercise. Once again, I had one of those moments where a word or phrase gets stuck in my head and bangs around in there until I write it out. This time it's 'Crack the sky' -- the title of this exercise. It was tough, but I think I found a picture that represents my thoughts exactly. Enjoy!
The night scores the earth with darkness. Tiny tendrils of light scratch at the gloom, desperate to crack the sky. Darkness bleeds into every crevasse, trying to wipe out the light entirely, but the dawn prevails. Silence stretches over the lands, blanketing the battle cries, the screams of pain, the moans of the dying. It is stifling. The eyes behold the horror – a bloodbath. So many lost souls. Lost fathers, brothers, sons. Bones, bathed in blood are scattered to the four corners. A feast for scavengers. A sight no eye should ever see.
Prayers to the Gods have failed us. We have been forsaken. My heart is weighted. My body weary. My mind, numb. I fear I will never feel again – for I am wiped clean. My hands, sticky with blood, seem foreign to me. I wield a sword. I hack. I cleave. I remember not. My ears ring from the clash of steel. My eyes burn with death and dying. I am a man without a soul. It lies at my feet, thrashing about it the blood-soaked mud. I care not to save it. For a man with a soul, is a dead man. He who hesitates, dies. Yet, do I truly live? The answer evades me.
I love writing so much. I love the way I feel as the words flow through me and into the keyboard. Life is good.
By:
Kathleen Rietz,
on 5/16/2011
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To help launch the August release of my new picture book "Prairie Storms", written by
Darcy Pattison and published by
Sylvan Dell Publishing, I will be making available FREE coloring pages drawn by me! Each coloring page features a month with a scene which coordinates with a scene from the book. Just click the image, then either download the coloring page, or drag and drop it to your desk top. Be sure to print the image in a "landscape" format on your printer. The image size is 8.5" X 11". I would love to see your child's finished, colored page when they have finished coloring it.
Now that it's Spring, new growth is popping up all over the place. I'm tempted to linger outside and enjoy the weather. All right, I confess, I did give in for a while. I sat on the patio and read from my kindle, with Rascal nearby basking in the late afternoon sun.
It's so very tempting to play hooky from writing and continue to enjoy the weather, with all the new growth around me.
The problem is by continuing to enjoy the new growth outside, my manuscript won't get finished inside. My new growth will not get accomplished. So, as tempting as the weather is, I'm setting a limit on participating in my appreciation for the greater growth of my manuscript.
9 Comments on For the Greater Growth by Morgan Mandel, last added: 4/15/2011
So, the other day I was feeling chilled. It's not that it is actually that cold here at home, maybe it was doing this writing exercise. Cuz honestly, I was freezing after I finished this one. Needing to warm up fast, I grabbed a blanket, turned up the heat a bit and imagined I was back on the beach in Jamaica....ahhhhhh. Then I opened my eyes, looked out the window and saw the mudsoaked plains that have become my yard, and reality crashed in...ugh...
Anyway, subject change! I do so love the colours in this image! Wow! Good and evil battle overhead of men below - shows the true fragility of man...
Surely my eyes deceive me, for I see the heavens open and angels appear.
Have I died?
But that cannot be...
I can still hear the howling wind ferociously rip at us. Feel the angry waves continously toss and batter our boat. I taste salt on my lips and feel it sting my eyes. I am soaked and chilled to the bone. My muscles burn and ache so bad they are beginning to seize.
No, I have most definitely not died. Yet, death is all around me. I see bodies cast about in snarling water and broken bits of timber slam against our small vessel. I hear the cries of men who've fallen overboard. My friends...my comrades...sickness engulfs me as the waves consume them.
Our boat teeters precariously on huge waves, then plunges steeply down only to be picked up again and again. The ocean, intent on devouring us too.
We are in the midst of a something truely beyond our comprehension. If I were not seeing it myself, I would scoff at the teller of this tale. Though, it is unlikely that any man will repeat these incredulous events, for They do not see us. Or, perhaps it is that we are insignificant, and not worthy of Their attention. This truth is staggering, and gives me the desire to best them...to survive.
For this story should be told...I must get through this...I must tell it. So that man will know that our Gods have failed us...
Fantasy genre is so awesome - you can do anything with it! Love it!
The doe and her fawn heeded the warning of the violent lightning and explosive thunder that a destructive thunderstorm was on its way.
This illustration is from the children's book I just illustrated, called "Prairie Storms", written by Darcy Pattison and published by Sylvan Dell. The book is scheduled for release in August.
Last week I was bundled up in scarves, mittens, long underwear, and fuzzy boots. Yesterday I wore flip-flops. To say that the weather lately has been crazy would be a total understatement.
What I want to know is when did the weather get so out of whack? I mean, I know there have always been storms and harsh winters and Indian summers and such. But isn't this just ... more?
I have come up with some theories on the source of our wild weather.
Climate Change
I dare not call it global warming because, hello, it was like negative two hundred degrees last week. But it does seem like something significant in our Climate is sure Changing. Whether humans are the main/sole/contributing cause is up for debate.
Planetary Cycles
Throughout history, Planet Earth has gone through different climate phases, without help from chlorofluorocarbons, greenhouse gases, and depleted ozone. Case in point: The Little Ice Age, a period of unusually cold and rainy weather that affected Europe and the eastern United States in the early 1800s.
Population Overload
If you've ever been at a party that started off freezing but, after a few hours of dancing and chatting and crowds of people, turned into a sweatfest you know that the human body is a high caliber furnace. Maybe all the extra billions of people swarming the planet are messing with the Earth's temperature regulation.
Mother Nature's Wrath
We humans haven't always treated her with utmost respect. Maybe she's getting a little revenge.
2012
The Mayan doomsday day is looming closer and humanity might have less than two years left until the end of the world (or the calendar restarts or whatever). Maybe this is a sign of bigger troubles to come.
Okay, those are my theories. What do you think? Have a theory of your own to share? And, more importantly, are there any solutions in sight?
Hugs,
TLC
teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds
By:
Kathleen Rietz,
on 1/17/2011
Blog:
Kathleen Rietz
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Two different illustrations for the topic "Chicken".
The first illustration is for the current children's book I am illustrating for Sylvan Dell, titled "Prairie Storms" (2011). It is a prairie chicken, also known as a prairie grouse.
The second is a coloring page I created, called"Chicken Dance".
rIt’s amazing how different weather can be on the same day in our great nation. Though the snow is beautiful, I know why I live here. It’s always a walk in the park!
Photos #1 & 2 – Forest City, IA white out. Thank you to Rene Arrowsmith for these photos!
Photos 3 & 4 – Marquette, MI white out and snow plow. Thank you to Tyler Tichelaar, PhD for these photos!
Photos 5, 6 & 7 – TY Park, Hollywood FL. Taken by me this afternoon.
Tonight the desktop goes into its box, ready for storage. The monitor will sleep with its sister in a large storage tub cushioned with coats and sweaters. Keyboard will reside for the duration with its two brothers in a special box that’s just right in size. Right and Left Speaker plan to snuggle
Claudsy
up with Monitor in its tub.
They will go to garage storage tomorrow morning, along with desks and printer tables. A couple of loads in the car will get everything where it needs to be. We’ll be left with our camping gear and folding chairs that will go to the garage last thing.
Yep, one more day before we move out. We’re so excited! Last minute items to take care of tomorrow will take little time.
From now on, I’m going to shoot for at least a weekly update; more often if I can manage it. The updates will consist of all sorts of things; weather along with traffic reports, sights taken in during the drive, speculations about traveling now versus during the warmer months of the year, and sundry other items.
I certainly hope to tie it all to writing. That’s one of the goals I have. In the meantime, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season.
I know most are preparing for those last days of the month. We’re planning on spending Christmas along the River Walk in San Antonio, then move on to Fort Worth before heading to Houston. At least once we’ll be tiptoeing in the warm Gulf waters along a strand of white sandy beach.
Please no tears. Some of you will be warmer than we are. Remember we’ll be using a tent when we aren’t visiting friends, and even then sometimes.
So have a great weekend and enjoy the coming festivities. Take care and God bless.
Until later, a bientot,
Claudsy
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What a treat! I sure love those seasonal/mouse names. Thanks for sharing. (And cute mouse in the pix, too.) *squeak*