Into Each Life.....

How's your Fairy Godmother doing, these days.  Does yours every have the kind of day the one below is having?

M 

Summer in August!

The quote by Sydney Harris reminds me of parallel sentiment, "....but, beats the alternative!" 

After some loud and rain-filled storms, we are now in the midst of some beautiful summer weather.  The temp hovers around 82 degrees F, humidity is in the low 50's, light breezes, scattered, puffy clouds and lots of sunshine.  Many of our neighbors are beginning their family vacations this week trying to fit everything in before the children head back to sports practices, finalizing school shopping, and heading to school the day after labor day. 

Today and the next two days are predicted to be those picture-perfect "daze of summer" that everyone recalls from their childhood.  Of course when we were young, there were many, many more beautiful summer days, the summers were longer, and family vacations were wonderful.  I just hope the kids of today remember these summer days with that "rose colored" memory! 

Where Are You Going?

These psuedo journal entries were great fun to re-discover!  Of course I regret not doing very many of them, but I sure had a great idea when I started.  Look at this one!

 Since Yogi Berra was not a visual artist, to my knowledge, this image is kind of a stretch, but that was the idea - to take somewhat inspiring quotes and make them apply to something more meaningful. 

Oldie but Goodie!

Once again we have returned to the clean, sort and throw mode.  This time I dug into the sketchbook shelves and found a couple of fun sketches that I thought I would share. 

At some point in time, I jotted down some quotes that were inspiring, the did some quick sketches to go with them.  There are many, many references to the work environment in this picture, but I thought it was great fun.  I now find this sketching style very enjoyable when sitting in a lengthy, boring, or lengthy AND boring meeting.  The images can apply to the immediate environment OR can be of anything you happen to sketch.  Give it a try at your next meeting!  The key, of course, is taking along a sketch pad AND a pencil or two or black, fineline marker.  I have one friend who actually takes 5" X 7" unlined cards in a ziplock bag and a Pentel pocket pen filled with black, India ink.....she gets some fabulous sketches!!!! 

Whatever you try, I hope you fine meeting sketching very energizing!!!

Soapbox Time

I decided to sit down for a couple of minutes with a cup of coffee yesterday and check in on the TV program "Home and Family" on the Hallmark channel.  I used to catch it from time to time during our time in Florida, so thought it might be fun to catch up.

"Soapbox" - Quick sketch using Faber Castille .5 black ink pen, and Inktense pencils activated with water.

nce again age discrimination has reared it's ugly head and is alive, well and thriving on, of all places, the HALLMARK channel on a show called "HOME AND FAMILY."  I was surprised to see that Christine Ferarra was not hosting and initially thought she might be on vacation.  From the way people were talking however, I decided to google the show to see if I had missed something.  Sure enough, Christine was removed and Debbie moved into her hosting position.......no goodbye, go thank you, no......anything.  Post after post on google expressed outrage and the "firing" of Christine with no explanation or farewell.  Those that posted anger and disgust did not seem to have an issue with Debbie, but were extremely upset that a station that touts family values would throw a 62 young woman off the bus in such an offensive way.

As I continued to watch, it seems people who cast hosts for this show did not take into account the role Christine played within the H & F group.  She is the one who made guest feel welcome and at ease.  She was also the one who tamed down Mark, the co-host, when his ego or apparent competitive characteristics seemed to over-power a guest or colleague.  She was the one who worked to include everyone in the conversation, DIY craft or activity.

Debbie is cute, stylish and perky and clearly has mastered the art of interviewing.  The tone she sets, however, is closer to Savannah Guthrie than Martha Stuart.

I will be emailing the Hallmark channel to express my disgust in the apparent age-discrimination practices.  I will not be tuning in again to see this show - on principle alone! 

Spherical

It's simply spherical!  Watch for more of these in the days ahead - they are great warm-ups!

Back to School Ad Month

Can you believe it is August 1st already.  School administrators are returning to work, students and their families are fitting in the last family-oriented activities of the summer, school buses are going through their "before school starts" maintenance check, and stores continue to advertise their "back to school" specials on supplies, clothes, shoes, and electronics.

You may remember the crayon series I posted at the start of the 2015-2016 school year.  The bus above is from that series and a subtle way to remind all of us that "it's that time of year!" 

As I shared then, the sight of those beautiful, new boxes of crayons takes me right back to getting ready for school as a child.  Of all of the things that have changed about getting ready to return to school, I am so glad that crayon continue to be listed on most school supply lists (most stores now have these printed and hanging in a folder somewhere around the school supply aisle,) AND the boxes have not significantly changed in appearance for more than 50 years. 

Even if you do not have school age children, grand children or great grand children, it is worth the time to make a quick loop through the school supply department the next time you are in a big box store - you can learn a LOT there about what has stayed unchanged in the educational world and get a glimpse into a world that feels like a foreign land in the span of a three-aisle loop. 

If you are a crafter, sketcher, journaler, post-it user, etc., this is also a great time to stock up on the basics that go with these activities.  Glue sticks, for example, that are $1.89 in January can be found as low as 12 for $3.00 on sale week.  Gridded compositions books, not even findable in January, can be found for fifty cents each or even 6 for $2.50 on coupon week.  Scissors for your purse or car glove box (for you coupon clippers,) pencils with a SOFT white eraser (not the brittle, rock-hard red blobs that leave that lovely pinkish smudge where you once wanted a clean eraser mark) at the non-graphite end, pocket calculators with 12+ functions,  and many more schooly items can be found between now and the start of school in your community - or until they run out (since they will not be re-stocking these items until next July or August.) 

Quick, check your junk drawer, craft shoebox, and catch-all stash to see what you need while it still can be found at the best prices of the year!!!!