Great Stories

I don't know about you, but I love having an outlandish, completely absurd, but absolutely true story to tell.
So when awful things you'd never want to endure happen, I always think, "What a great story!"
Which is why I loved this wall paper by Ross Moody the second I saw it.

by Ross Moody at 55 HI

I have it on my computer at work, to make me smile on rough days.

What's your favorite absurd, yet hilarious, story?

Punk Kids

. To me the idea of eating in the office break-room is the same as saying, "I'd like to have an hour that feels, looks, and sounds like work, but not get paid for it." Instead I drive my car to church parking lot on cloudy days and the park when it's sunny. The park is farther away, but the shade trees are worth it.

I have always assumed that this is a little bit odd to the kids at the park. I know when I was a Jr. Higher I would have been a little weirded out that people just came and sat in their cars facing the park. Are they kidnappers? Are they selling drugs? Why do those people just sit there in their cars and then randomly leave?
 We would have whispered and made up stories and freaked ourselves out.

These kids appointed a spokesperson to come knock on my window and ask me. He was very polite and maybe a little disappointed that something as prosaic as shade has us congregating. Adults really are boring.

I was mostly amused, though I put on my best "I am adult whose time you're wasting for no good reason" face, but I was also a bit shocked. I would have never confronted a strange adult. Not even if I had my friends five feet away.  Not even if the adult looked harmless (I probably look harmless).

What do you think? What would you have done as a kid?

Star Light, Star Bright

I finally have something new in my shop! And more to come!

I love the stars. When I was in high school and my family would drive back from Wednesday night church, it was in the country and while the stars weren't as crazy amazing as in other instances, I still loved to stare at them the whole ride home.

This illustration was inspired while I was reading P.L. Traver's Mary Poppins. There's one story in the book where the kids look out their window at night and catch Mary Poppins and the gingerbread ladies ( who make it, not are made of it) pasting the starry gingerbread wrappers into the sky. I've always especially loved that bit of the book. 


I think Traver's must have loved the night sky too, because another story is about one of the stars coming down to earth to do her Christmas shopping and in Mary Poppins Returns the children go to a circus and Michael wins the moon.

I still love Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Returns even though I'm well past the intended audience age.
What books do you still love from childhood?

Tell Me A Story

I have a story addiction. I love tv, movies, gossip, but most of all, books. I don't get all dolled up, but I do go for walks around my neighborhood and read at the same time. My brother wants to know how I pay attention to reading while I walk, when it's really the other way around. I might forget to walk, but reading is automatic.

I especially love fantasy stories - I'm on a Robin McKinley kick right now, reading Chalice.
What are you reading right now?

Spring Joy

Well, my internet is working properly, so all's right with the world.

And I'm so excited to have my computer up and running that I finished several art projects the past couple days. A couple were commissions, but others were my personal illustrations, which will be finding their way into my etsy shop within the next couple of weeks.

I am loving the warm weather lately, so when I haven't been glue to my computer I've been wandering around my neighborhood. I've lived here a year, but until now I haven't done much exploring. I was so excited to find a park near by and a lovely neighborhood for strolling in!

Though I am a little disappointed with the vending machines around here. One simply wouldn't work and another gave me warm soda. Gross.

What's your favorite thing about your neighborhood?
Least favorite?

The Internet

A few months back I got cheap internet through Comcast. For such a slow speed I'm pretty impressed with how fast it actually is. I don't watch videos on it or anything, but for email and uploading pictures, it makes pretty good time.

The problem is that the connection is hideous. I had someone out last week to fix it and he was much pleasanter than I've found Comcast employees to be in the past. But my connection still comes and goes as it pleases.

So I'm having another Comcast person come out tomorrow. It seems like it should be a simple thing. They hook up the internet and it generally stays hooked up.

But this is not how my life works.

Summer Tastes Delicious

When I was a kid we couldn't wait for "Mr. Frosty's" to open. It was a tiny soft serve stand with those candy eyes for the kid's cones. I'm sure there was nothing special about it, but it was ice-cream.

When I was a teenager UDF (United Dairy Farmer's) was our ice-cream shop of choice. Lucky for impatient teenagers, that delightfulness was open year round.

Now I live not far from some of the most delicious ice-cream ever made. "The Chief" has crazy long lines, but it's well worth it.  And I kind of think it's fun that everyone comes out and hangs around together waiting for their ice-cream cones.

Do you have a favorite ice-cream shop?

What's your favorite flavor? Last year mine was peanut-butter, but this year I'm loving mint-chocolate-chip.