Endings & Beginnings

Last day of 2009: yesterday Sophie & I enjoyed our final Sophie/Grammy Day of 2009, happily Linda was free to join us. Today I'm back to doing picture research but just took a break to shovel snow, bake bread with these yummy ingredients--honey, butter, rough cut oatmeal, bananas, whole wheat flour, buttermilk and believe it or not a tablespoon of baking soda and baking powder, eggs, vanilla, pecans and raisins. Our evening New Year's tradition is to listen to the Classical Music Countdown on the radio--lots of Beethoven (Sophie & I are still going back & forth about the phenomenon of Beethoven the composer & Beethoven the dog)-- and make a puzzle; It's simple but heartfelt as we move from one year to the next.

Update

Chilly, chilly day in my basement office where I'm immersed in selecting images for Sitrring Up The World: Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony, A Biography of a Powerful Friendship. Yes, I do all the picture research, including some photography for my books, an enormously time-consuming, intense activity. (There's more info about my process in the author's note in my books Adventurous Women: Eight True Stories About Women Who Made a Difference and Thanksgiving: The True Story.) Sophie just called: "Can we have a Grammie Day tomorrow?"
Of course, I said--Yes! So shiver, shiver--back to work because my editor wants all the images and captions on 1/4!!!

Books, Wildflower Seeds, Happy Holidays

So, the gifts are wrapped--books galore, including one I'm really excited about--The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder; in fact, I bought two copies--one for Sophie & one for Sue, my friend & science educator at NYU. I also tracked down a copy of the December 1934 (yup, 1934) "The National Geographic Magazine" that featured the article, "Half-Mile Down," by William Beebe, about his first descent in the Bathysphere, which he co-invented with Otis Barton. Recently Sophie & I had read a picture book biography about William Beebe that listed his article in the bibliography--yes, we check out all the front and back matter when we read together! Sophie expressed interest in it so I set off on a quest to buy it--hurrah for the Internet. I'll be interested to see if it engages her?!?!
My other cool gift, at least I think so, was to parcel out pieces from a puzzle (I'm a avid jigsaw puzzle maker) that are embedded with wildflower seeds!! Each person on my list is getting a baggie with puzzle pieces & a baggie of soil & instructions to soak the seeds overnight in water and plant in the soil in a pot (no, I didn't include a pot, hum) or wait until Spring then soak and plant outside.
Ooops, Linda just called down, "Should I be watching the pot that's on the stove?" Better get back to my cooking for tonight & tomorrow. . . . Happy Holidays to all!!!!!!

Author Visit at P.S. 174

Last week I visited with two classes of sixth grade students & their teacher Marie Russell at P.S. 174. The students had read my book, Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War II, so I brought in samples of the production process from revised manuscript pages to page proofs to the advanced readers copy that gets sent to reviewers. The students were lively, smart, fun & asked great questions!

Sophie's Birthday

Tomorrow is Sophie's 6th birthday. But, since it's a school day she had a sleep-over on Saturday. On Sunday, we gathered for a bowling-birthday party. Katrin just emailed these pictures: l-r: Katrin, me, Linda, Sophie, Sarah, David, Crystal(cupcake & cookie maker), Steve; bottom picture: l-r Sophie, Crystal, David, Jonathan, Steve, me, Linda, Sarah, Katrin). Tomorrow I'll join Sophie & her parents for dinner; as I have since she was born I'll continuing the tradition of making the cake in the shape Sophie requests--this year it's a star, vanilla on vanilla.

A modern postcard

"Greetings from the Seine," is the caption on this photo that Steve just sent via his iPhone to my email. He titled it "A modern postcard."
Note: Steve & Sarah celebrated Thanksgiving and Sarah's birthday in Paris."

Guest Blogger

Today I'm a guest blogger "Moonlight, Lace, Mayhew." The host Carrie Hinkel-Gill posted a Q & A that I had fun answering. Please, if you're so inclined, check it out and post your comments &/or
questions at: http://moonlightlacemayhem.blogspot.com/2009/11/starlight-saturday_28.html

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!! This year we gathered in New York City at Jonathan's, Katrin's, & Sophie's apartment. Katrin cooked a fabulous meal, e.g., check out the roasted vegetables on the plate in the foreground--beets, parsnips, turnips, fingerling potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes that Sophie selected when Linda & I took her grocery shopping at Fairway. (That's not to say she ate all of them, but we did!) Desserts were Katrin's spectacular chocolate mousse and apple crisp and Linda's delicious pumpkin pie. We played a new game. Here we are trying to figure out the rules, no easy task!


Then Linda & I took Sophie outside to run races up & down the sidewalk, or, I should say, Linda strolled, I raced twice, then appointed myself the timer for Sophie who loves to run! Once when she was getting too far ahead, I yelled, "STOP!" She did, as so did everyone else between her and me! (l to r: Sophie, Linda, me, Jonathan; click on image to enlarge)

Radio Interview Thanksgiving: The True Story

You can listen to a lively radio interview I did with Dov Hirsch, creator and host of Crop to Cuisine
at http://www.croptocuisine.org/Thanksgiving.htm There are three parts: "Thanksgiving the True Story by Penny Colman;" "Penny Colman on Sarah Josepha Hale," and "Penny Colman on Wamsutta and the National Day of Mourning."
Dov was great fun to talk with & here's an excerpt from his web site about Crop to Cuisine:
Produced in Boulder, Colorado, Crop To Cuisine reminds people that improving our communities and our world should be a pleasurable, affordable, and delicious experience. While the program is designed to educate the public about the problems of safety, sustainability, and the economics surrounding the food we eat, it's emphasis is to provide our listeners with easy and accessible solutions that can be seamlessly integrated into daily life.

At the Jersey Shore

On Friday, Sophie came for an overnight. After breakfast--(pancakes in whatever shape she wants; this time it was dolphins)--we took a day-trip to our Jersey Shore bungalow, located on a barrier island between the ocean & bay. Gorgeous day, as you can see. The first pic needs no explanation. However, here's the scoop re the second pic: occasionally at high tide, especially in the Fall, the water from the bay comes up through the storm sewer at the end of our driveway. Seeing it, Sophie spontaneously went into the house, returned with the bowl in which she placed alyssum blossoms & petals from the geranium that were still in bloom in the pot on the bulkhead and put them in the bowl, which she carried to the end of our driveway. Then she walked along the wall around the neighbor's flower garden, and sprinkled the flowers on the water. Linda told her it was a good idea 'cause the water was looking "kind of scuzzy."

Congratulations Sarah!

Sarah Jones, my daughter-in-law, completed the New York City Marathon in under 4 hours, 20 minutes faster than she ran last year!!! She ran for Shoe4Africa, a nonprofit organization that is raising money to build the first public children's hospital in Kenya. Linda and I met up with Sarah & Steve at the corner of 67th & Central Park West--hip, hip, hurrah for Sarah!!!!!
(click on image for larger view)

Sophie's New News

Sophie had "new news" on Thursday--"I read my first chapter book!"
"Fabulous! That's sooooo exciting!!! What was it about?"
With that question, I was introduced to Bella The Bunny Fairy, one of a long list of titles
in the Rainbow Magic Book Series, written, (according to Wikipedia, I should note since I knew absolutely nothing about this phenomenon until I check it).

In celebration, we went to two independent bookstores & bought several more titles, including Penny the Pony Fairy (my, oh, my!).
As we chatted, I learned that Friday was Character Dress-up Day, which, Sophie, explained meant she was suppose to go to school dressed like a character from her favorite book.
As a nonfiction writer & lover, I was delighted when she said she was going as Knut, the real polar bear in Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World. Today she told me she wore white clothes and pink socks. She was thrilled to report that she got to read part of book to her classmates.

Sarah Jones

Check out this great video, "A Roving Run with Sarah Jones." Sarah is a Tony Award winning actor and playwright known for her compelling characters & she is my daughter-in-law.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/10/25/sports/1247465337588/a-roving-run-with-sarah-jones.html?ref=sports

Gorgeous day

Sunday was a gorgeous day & we took a long walk along the Hudson River. Our starting point was Ross Dock Park, located just north of the George Washington Bridge and at the foot of the Palisades Cliffs, which were saved in 1900 from destruction by the quarrying industry by tenacious members of the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs. The plaque, "Preserving the Palisades," in the first photo tells the story of the women's victory. The second photo explains why, I always stop to say, "Thank you, clubwomen!!!!!!!" (click on picture for a larger image)

Sophie's Surprise

On Wed. Sophie's mother had emailed me that "Sophie is REALLY looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. She has a surprise and keeps asking to make sure you'll be there to pick her up. Very excited."

So, yesterday (Thursday), as always, I was there ( her school).

"Hi, Sophie, I hear you have a surprise!"
"Mmmmm," she replied through her clenched lips.
"What is it? I'm so excited!"
She held out--with one hand over her mouth. . . through which leaked giggles. . . .until she settled into her car seat--then off came her hand & she opened her mouth to show me--what you who are reading this have already guessed--she lost her first tooth!
"Grammy, last night, I was so excited to tell you that I woke up in the middle of the night!"
"Sophie, last night, I was so excited to find out that I woke up in the middle of the night, too!"

p.s. Yes, she reported, that the tooth fairy came & left her a note with fairy dust sprinkled on it, although Sophie thought that it was weird to sleep on a tooth.

Check it out

Check out "Swallowed by the Sun Colman" at www.colmanmusic.com
Listen to "Hollywood, Florida" and join the mailing list. The Colman is my son Jon!

Sophie & Woody

Recently, Sophie, who says she's going to be a vet, and her parents adopted Woody, a cuddly, rambunctious kitten. Monday I had a sleep-over at Sophie's, so her parents could stay as late as they wanted at the opening night party. Apparently intrigued, Woody entertained me throughout the night--batting at the venetian blind cords, etc.--and I didn't mind 'cause he's soooo cute!

Hip Hip Hurrah

This is the morning after the opening of "The County of Kings," for which my son Steve is on the "formidable team of producers" to quote from Ben Brantley's fabulous review in today's The New York Times!!!! http://theater2.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/theater/reviews/13county.html?ref=theater
Congratulations to all!!!

Sophie and a "pourquoi" story

Thursdays I drive into NYC to pick up Sophie after school for our Sophie/Grammie Day in NJ. Today we read How the Ostrich Got Its Long Neck retold by Verna Aardema & illustrated by Marcia Brown. It's a delightful, fun read & Sophie loved it. I also read her the author's note that introduced the concept of pourquoi (the French word for "why") stories, or stories that explain how a particular characteristic of a person or animal or a natural phenomenon came to be. Later, while "hanging out" in the kitchen, waiting for the pasta to cook, I said, "Hey, Sophie, you could make up a pourquoi story--like: "Why did Grammy get gray hair?"

"Grammy," she thoughtfully replied, "got gray hair because she got old."

Sophie's garden

Since August, Sophie has had a vision of expanding her garden all the way to the edge of the sidewalk. I've been stalling, in part because her vision exceeds her time & passion for digging & turning the soil. Plus we'd loose a nice batch of grass. However, last week, as part of our Sophie/Grammy Day, we stopped at a garden store & ended up with a bunch of bulbs, in particular--tulips with fringed edges, which, of course, need a special spot, which, of course, jump started me to get out our shovels and start digging our way to the sidewalk.

My son Steve. . . .

Check out "When Life Names You Lemon . . .," a terrific article in Sunday's The New York Times about "County of Kings," a one-man show by Lemon Andersen that opens at the Public Theater in New York, tomorrow, September 29th. Lemon and my son Steve Colman were two of the stars who shared a Tony Award for "Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway." Now, Steve is one of the producers of Lemon's memoir, "County of Kings." (The title refers to Brooklyn where he grew up.) Here's a picture of the cast of "Def Poetry Jam on Broadway that Sara Krulwich of the Times took in 2002. Steve is first on the left, Lemon is third. Here's a link to Sunday's article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/theater/27sont.html?scp=1&sq=Lemon&st=cse

Previews are this week; the opening is 10/12. We've got our tickets!

Chusok, or Korean Thanksgiving Festival

I love being a writer for many reasons, including having learning adventures! For example, in writing Thanksgiving: The True Story I attended Chusok, the Korean Harvest, also called Korean Thanksgiving Festival, in a park near my house in northern New Jersey. Here videos from this year's event: The first are students at Rutgers University who belong to the Rutgers Korean Culture Group. The second group performed on the main stage:

The "R' Word

We are not bumper-sticker people; that is we weren't until Friday, the day Linda led a "Train-the-Trainer Workshop" on the research-based curriculum that she and her colleague Ishita Khemka developed and evaluated--ESCAPE-DD: An Effective Strategy-Based Curriculum for Abuse Prevention and Empowerment for Men and Women with Developmental Disabilities. The workshop was sponsored by the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities (NJCDD) in cooperation with the New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women and New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault. That's where Linda got a NJCDD bumper stickers protesting the use of the "R" word. Since Linda had objected to the use of that word for years, I wasn't surprised to see it on her car bumper. "Retard" is also a trigger word for bullying. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

On the go

Since my last post, Sophie & I spent a day at the New York Aquarium, Linda & I went peach & apple picking & my semester started at Queens College.
The school bus ride & new school seem to suit Sophie; I'm picking her up tomorrow for the weekend & am looking forward to hearing her stories.
Saturday night I'm speaking to a group of women, who are on a book getaway retreat at the Jersey Shore led by my dear friend Mollie Hoben, co-founder of the Minnesota Women's Press, which among other wonderful activities publishes my favorite literary little journal, BookWomen. You can subscribe to BookWomen, order The Great Book: because women say so (includes a list of 400 titles, selected by book groups from 1986 through 2007, plus lists of books they've used around themes at their "Reading Retreats" and for "Book Groups on the Road") at www.womenspress.com

Happy Day

65th

On a "bright sunny day"--November 12, 1880, Elizabeth Cady Stanton started to keep a diary. She began with: "Today, I am sixty-five years old." In my forthcoming book, Stirring Up The World: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, a Biography of a Powerful Friendship, I described how she spent the day in her house, in Tenafly, New Jersey, which is about three miles from where I live (Susan is Susan B. Anthony, Harriot through Kit are her seven children, Henry is her husband): Susan was away for several days, and her family was scattered--Harriot in France; Theodore in Germany; Maggie, Gat and Neil in Iowa; Bob away at college in New York; Kit and Henry were in New York City. Alone, she spent the day "writing letters and walking up and down the piazza."
"Dear Children," she wrote, "This is my birthday. . . . Looking back through life, I feel that our troubles are fully compensate by our joys."
Today, also a "bright sunny day," I am sixty-five years old!!!

Sophie Road Trip

First stop on our recent road trip with Sophie was a return trip to Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut. When she was a toddler, one of the books I kept in the car for her to look at was about Arctic animals; the beluga whale was particularly eye-catching. Sophie was 3 1/2 the first time we went to see the belugas at the Mystic Aquarium. Now, two years later, here are Sophie & a beluga eye-to-eye. The next day we stopped at Watch Hill, Rhode Island, where Sophie rode the carousel, which was built in the late 1880s, had lunch in Port Judith, and then went on to Newport.

Since it was August 26th, Women's Equality Day, the day in 1920 women finally won the right to vote, we toured Marble House, Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont's mansion where she held lavish fundraisers for suffrage. In the gift shop, Sophie picked out a "Vote for Women" button to pin to her backpack.

School starts and "booktalks"

We're abuzz with school starting preparation. So when does school start for us? Tomorrow for Linda at Teachers College, Wednesday for me at Queens, next week for David at Ramapo and Sue at New York University and Sophie, in first grade at a NYC public school, The Anderson School. Dot, my long-time friend and a captivating presence on my blog and in my book Rosie the Riveter, started last week. She's a middle school librarian and here's her report:
Hi Penny,
We started last week. It was one BUSY week! Everything seemed to go well. The 6th graders seemed confused, but no one was crying.
On the second day of classes, the reading teachers brought their students to the library for 20 minutes to select books. They never want to give up much time for this, so I can’t really do indepth booktalks. I had two carts selected; one for 7/8 grades and one for 6th grade. I gave 30 second book talks for about ten books to each group and really whipped through them fast. Almost every book I “talked” went out! I’m hoping teachers get the value of doing that, rather than letting the kids just float around the library.
I enthusiastically second Dot's comments re the power of "booktalks," a terrific technique for anyone--parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, teachers, librarians and strangers--who want to share their passion for reading. Yes, strangers; several years ago a stranger--a woman whose appearance initially made me think she might be homeless--who was standing next to me in the mystery section of an independent bookstore turned to me and said,
"Do you want to read a wonderful book?"
"Sure."
With that she headed off to another section with me in tow, plucked a nonfiction book, Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time, off the shelf, and handed it to me. Intrigued I bought it, read it, and loved it.
p.s. you can also do "articletalks."

Road trip

We--Sophie, Linda & I--are off on a short road trip to the Mystic, Ct. & Newport, RI! Last fling before classes start for me & Linda next week. Sophie's start the following week. We'll see the beluga whales in Mystic, tour Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont's mansion in Newport where she held lavish fundraisers for suffrage, etc . On Wednesday, August 26th, we'll celebrate Women's Equality Day--the anniversary of women finally winning the right to vote (the resistance to woman suffrage is a mind-boggling story). You can download a brochure about Women's Equality Day at http://www.nwhp.org/.

Sophie

Sophie's home! We've had two fun-filled days catching up, including checking out familiar places, e.g., the pond at Flat Rock Brook Nature Center, which, as you can see is covered with duckweed! Sophie spied a frog & pulled out a pocket magnifying glass; her Daddy gave it to her, she said. (The one beaded braid is what remains from the many beaded braids she and her cousins got during their time at Mallorca.)

Sarah Jones

Here's a link to my daughter-in-law Sarah Jones' fabulous performance, "Sarah Jones As a One Woman Global Village," at the 2009 TED conference. Those of you who saw Sarah in "Bridge and Tunnel, her Tony-award-winning one-woman Broadway show, will be delighted to see some of her characters again. Those of you who go to Queens College--listen for her character who "teaches" at Queens College. All of you, I'm sure, will love Sarah and her characters.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sarah_jones_as_a_one_woman_global_village.html

Wonderful Writing and Stone Creek Woman

It's been tooo0 hot to do much more than dust and in the process refamiliarize myself with my books which are stacked everywhere. (Even now at 9 pm sweat is dripping down my face as I write in my un-air conditioned basement!) Anyhow, today I uncovered a beautifully done book--Women in the Wilderness: Writings and Photographs, selected and edited by Susan & Ann Zwinger. On p. 92, there's a gorgeous photo of a slot canyon followed by an excerpt from Unspoken Hunger by Terry Tempest Williams, a wonderfully descriptive & evocative nonfiction writer. The piece begins with: "Few know her, but she is always there--Stone Creek Woman--watching over the Colorado River. Over the years, I have made pilgrimages to her, descending into the Grand Canyon. . . .It is always a pleasant journey downriver to Mile 132--Stone Creek, a small tributary that flows into the Colorado."
With the thrill of recognition & connection, I exclaimed, "I know that place. I've been there!" Jumping up, I retrieved a copy of my account, Grand Canyon Magic, of my long ago paddle-raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. On p. 28, I read this:
Day Nine, I woke up feeling more rested this morning, maybe it's because I dreamt that I was being towed down the river in my tent.
We spent the morning hiking Stone Creek Canyon. The trail wandered back and forth across the creek, over red rock and multi-colored boulders, through lush vegetation to about a thirty-foot waterfall, surrounded by a profusion of greenery.

Williams describes Stone Creek Woman as emerging "from behind a veil of water. . . with her redrock face, her maidenhair ferns, and waterfall of expression." All those many years ago, did I see Stone Creek Woman? Not according to my written record, but I do now through the connection via William's vivid writing.

Scrabble

Last night--we play Scrabble every night--I "wrote" BLOVIATE--for 101 points (we don't keep score but I couldn't resist adding up the points because the "b" was on the triple word square!)
"Do you know that word from speaking or reading?" Linda asked.
"Reading," I replied.

Dot's summer reading

Readers of my book, Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II, "know" Dot Chastney; they've seen her grade school picture and read about her experiences growing up during World War II. Shortly after I interviewed her for Rosie, Dot moved to Florida where she is a middle school librarian, a continuation of her long career as an awesome & inspiring librarian. We have great e-mail conversations about books, reading, schools, kids, etc. (you'll find Dot in other posts & comments). Recently she sent me the list of books she read this summer. When I asked her if I could post it she replied:
Sure! You can also add that by far and away my favorite of the past six months is HUNGER GAMES, Book One by Suzanne Collins. It is also futuristic, and I prefer historical fiction or non-fiction. However, this kept me flipping the pages until I finished it. Book two is coming out in September and I can’t wait to get it. Our lower school 5th graders are reading it and I would say it would appeal to any age, right through high school.
Here are the books Dot read & her comments:
Hi, Penny,
Here’s a list of the books I read this summer:
SHIFT by Jennifer Bradbury, my favorite. Two boys bicycle across the country after high school graduation. One disappears near the end of the ride.
THINGS THAT ARE by Andrew Clements. This kept me reading, although I thought it was somewhat implausible. A blind girl has a boyfriend who has the ability to fade. She learns that a man who also has the ability to fade is stalking her boyfriend. The FBI contacts her because they are hunting for this man. It seems they fear someone with this ability could use it to threaten the safety of the country.
THE SKY INSIDE by Clare B. Dunkle. I had to force myself to keep going with this one--a futuristic, perfectly ordered society where children are genetically engineered. When the young children are taken away, a boy who loses his little sister begins to question why they were taken and sets out to search for them.
THE GIRL WHO COULD FLY by Victoria Forester. Also had to force myself, although the character development here was somewhat interesting. As the story moved along, some of the characters turned out to be different than they first appeared. It’s another story of a child with a unique ability who is taken away and placed in an underground school where she will be brainwashed and forget about her ability to fly. As she realizes what is happening to her and the other kids, they begin to plot an escape.
WHISPERS FROM THE BAY by John Tkac. (He is a local author; lives in Delray Beach.) A young boy living in Florida has a unique connection to dolphins. He actually talks to them and they carry on whole conversations with him. It’s the first book in a planned trilogy. When a friend and neighbor is kidnapped, he enlists the help of the dolphins to find and free the girl. Honestly, there is no way I can picture a kid having a conversation with dolphins who say, “Hey, Mike, you should fish around here. There are big sailfish in these waters.”
That old saying, “Truth is stranger and a thousand times more thrilling than fiction” seems more TRUE than ever. My next read definitely will be non-fiction. (I added the boldface!)
Dot Emer,
Middle School Librarian
Schmitt Library
Saint Andrew's School
Boca Raton, FL 33434

The summer months when Sophie visits her mother's family in Europe, I write and send her & her cousins short nonfiction stories about various events; most recently I sent one, illustrated with photos, about the powwow (see previous posts with video). Moments ago I finished one (writing short pieces is time consuming; every word counts!) titled "Uncle David and Aunt Crystal and the Dresser." The gist is: David and Crystal moved a tall, heavy dresser (it's behind them in the car) from the third floor of our house to their apartment, only to discover that it made their bedroom toooo crowded. My stories always end with a "What do you think. . ." In this case: " What do you think is going to happen to the dresser now?" I illustrated the story with photos, including this one of David and Crystal saying "Hi, Sophie!"
(When they're not moving dressers, David is a history professor, Crystal is finishing her dissertation.) click on pic for lager image.

August

This August instead of relocating to our bungalow on the barrier island off the coast of NJ, we're going back and forth in order to keep up with our work projects, i.e.,Linda's starting new research projects, etc.; I'm starting a new book & finishing the picture research for my forthcoming book Stirring Up the World: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, a Biography of a Powerful Friendship, etc. Happily we're both mostly engaged, even love, much of what we do work-wise because it's tempting to stay at the Shore when, for example, yesterday the ocean water temperature 74 degrees!! the waves rollicking. Kayaking on Barnegat Bay we saw many Great Egrets, a Little Blue Heron and Osprey (see picture).

The Indian Hoop Dancer

More from the powwow--this is the Hoop Dancer. My previous post has more details about the powwow and another video.

Powwow

Last night we went to a powwow at the Queens County Farm in Floral Park, NY. It was fabulous. Here's a clip of Keith (whose last name I didn't catch, but I'll try to track down), a Plain Cree from Alberta, Canada, doing the Chicken Dance-Indian. The announcer explained that it's a male "showing off" dance. It is also done during a "long and strenuous healing ceremony that lasts four days and nights." The singers and drummer are the Silver Clouds. I labeled this post "Teaching with Nonfiction" because typically the life and times of American Indians are taught as long ago history. This experience and video (I'll post more) are resources for me to use with students.

Ah, technology

Just had a Skype call with Sophie and her two cousins--Alexa (a few months older than Sophie) and Georgia, who is a few years younger. It was a first & really fun. They're in Mallorca until Saturday, then back to Zurich. Before Sophie left, she wanted to plant her own garden so together we extended the flower/herb garden that is by the back door.
"How is my garden?" she asked.
"Fine," I replied. "I'll send you a picture."

The caterpillar mystery

Arriving home this afternoon after two days at the Jersey Shore (no Glossy Ibis sighting, but a magnificent Great Egret), I spied an Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly in my garden. Wanting to photograph it for Sophie, I grabbed my camera and quietly walked toward the butterfly, took some pictures, and returned to help Linda unload the car. On my second trip into the house, she said, "Look--what's that on the kitchen floor?" Not quite believing my first impression, I knelt down to confirm that it was a Monarch butterfly caterpillar(Danaus plexippus)--right there on our kitchen floor! How it got there, I don't know, except that perhaps it "hitched" a ride on me when I was in the garden??
Perhaps our friend, "Sue the Science Educator" knows--I just left a message on her phone--"Hey Sue, how did a Monarch buttefly caterpillar get on our kitchen floor?" (click on image to enlarge)

Glossy Ibis

Monday morning--a thrilling sight!!--After ten years of kayaking on Barnegat Bay, we spotted a Glossy Ibis (it was a juvenile) on the west side of one of the islands in the Bay! Linda & I got a good long close look, but I was so transfixed I forgot I had my camera, until the ibis took flight and then I snapped this picture. Look closely (click to enlarge), you'll see its long downward curved bill. David & Crystal arrived in the early afternoon & we headed for the ocean side of our barrier island. The water was clear, clean, 66 degrees with waves breaking every which way. Linda & Crystal stretched out on the sand. David & I swam/played/in the waves. He skillfully rode in on them; me, I got tumbled upside down a couple of times.
As we were packing up to head back to cook dinner--lobster bisque, scallops, Jersey corn, Jersey tomatoes & zucchini, Jersey blueberries, etc.-- I spontaneously asked David to riding in on one more wave so I could take a video to post for Sophie--he did, which meant we were still there when four pelicans flew by just off shore! (No video, 'cause I forgot to press the button.)

Sophie's Adventures

Last week we had a wonderful 5-days with Sophie; wide range of activities from taking her with me to my Nonfiction Literature for Children class at Queens College to kayaking on Barnegat Bay where she spotted baby swans. A few days ago she & her mother left for Switzerland where her mother's family lives; actually right now she & Katrin, plus an aunt, uncle, & two close-in-age cousins are in Mallorca for two weeks. Jonathan--Sophie's Daddy met them there. She returns mid-August with lots of exciting adventures to share!

Bear Cub

My son David just sent me these photos of a bear cub's "visit" to their apartment building located in a town in New York just across the NJ border. He reported that she was a 100 pound cub who first tried to run into their lobby and then onto a neighbor's balcony. Foiled, she climbed a tree and ate berries for three hours (first picture).
Finally she was tranquilized (pictures 2 & 3). Turned out she was a tagged cub & a "repeat offender" (picture 4) from NJ, which is where (last picture) she was relocated and set free.

Road Trip

Back from our road trip north to Quebec, east to Tadoussac, ferry boat across the wide St. Lawrence River, south through New Brunswick & Maine, west across Massachusetts, south through Connecticut, New York, home--quick summary: discovered 3 terrific used book stores; went whale watching & saw porpoises, harbor seals, minke whales and many beluga whales; long walks through beautiful forests (but, oh, so many black flies that inflicted serious damage!!)--the muffins I made (previous post) saved us several times, including the night we ended up eating muffins, a banana, cheese & crackers for dinner.
Returned late last night, up early to begin teaching a nonfiction literature class at Queens College. The pics are the front & back of a beluga whale t-shirt I bought for Sophie at the The Center d'interpretation des manniferes marins (Center for Interpretation of Marine Mammals)in Tadoussac. Quebec, of course, is French speaking so the five behaviors pictured on the back are in French, which Marilou, the super attentive guide translated as: (top to bottom, l to r) porpoising, birthing, tail flapping, eye-spying, nursing, feeding. The artist is Frederick Bach. Check out the center at http://www.gremm.org
Note: the URL will take you to a page where you'll need to click on that URL again.)

Adventures

We're off tomorrow on a road trip to Canada, one stop is Tadoussac, where the beluga whales breed in the summer. I'm psyched! I made banana-oatmeal-honey- pecan muffins to sustain us.
This is Sophie's last week of school; (the following week she leaves with her mother to spend six weeks with her Swiss relatives in Zurich, with side trips to Mallorca, Monstein, & Milan--very cool!) Instead of our usual Thursday, I picked her up today at school.
As we walked out, holding hands, I said, "Hey Sophie, this is the last time I'll pick you up at kindergarten."
"But you'll pick me up at first grade," she said with a slight question mark in her voice.
"Absolutely," I replied.
She wanted to see her garden so we headed to Englewood. After surveying it, she suggested we expand it, i.e. dig up more yard. Since I love to dig, I ordinarily would agree, but the ground is toooooo soggy! So we played inside board games (by the game rules, not Sophie rules). Then we played "ticket," which basically involves Sophie using my stack of post-its etc. to write ticket to admit me to various events.
"Who are you bringing with you?" she asked.
"Three girls and a cat," I replied.
"No cats," she said. "How old are you?" "Do you have a Blackberry?" etc.

I Wrote A Book Today

"I wrote a book today," Sophie announced from her car seat.
"Tell me about it," I replied.
"The title is My Mommy, she said. "The story is--'I love you, but who is my Mommy? This is my Mommy.'"
"I like that," I said. "Did you draw a picture of your Mommy?"
"No, Grammie," she exclaimed. "It's about a baby tiger!"
Oooops, I thought--of course, Sophie-the-animal-lover! Curious, I asked how she went about writing the story.
"I took a piece of paper and folded it in the middle. The title is on the outside. The story is on the inside. I wrote one long sentence--'I love you, but who is my Mommy?' Then a short sentence--'This is my Mommy.' I made the baby tiger say in a bubble, 'Who is my Mommy?'"
"You mean a speech bubble?" I asked.
"Yes, a speech bubble."

Nonfiction Summer Reading List from P.S. 174

Students in Marie Russell's 6th grade class at P.S. 174 in Queens put together this summer reading list of nonfiction books in response to my post about the absence of nonfiction books on lists (see May 30, 2009).
Marie e-mailed it to me with this message: "As promised, here is a list that my students put together of titles they recommend. We also read as a class the following and even though they weren't that eager to read them, in the end they rated them very highly. Of Beetles and Angels by Mawi Asgedom, Dave Berger, eds. and Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of the Shakleton Expedition by Jennifer Armstrong. All of these books were part of a grant that our school library received and we were the first class to look at the books." Click on the list for a larger image.
Thank you to Marie Russell and her terrific students!

My Great Story! from NDSS

Check out My Great Story, a new public awareness campaign launched by the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS). Fascinating & truly inspiring great stories of the 400,000 Americans living with Down syndrome are showcased in a beautiful online storybook at www.ndss.org/stories. I'm thrilled to share news of this exciting & worthwhile venture on my blog (and not just because my son, Jonathan, is president of NDSS)--these are electrifying stories!

Two great stories will soon appear as national public service announcements (PSAs): Sujeet Desai, The Traveler and Sara Wolff, The Public Speaker (see pics). Anyone who loves stories--and we all do!!--will loved these!! Check them out at www.ndss.org/stories & watch for them in national media outlets.

Also teachers --the My Great Story website is a terrific online resource for teaching community, diversity, character education, writing, social issues, etc. etc. Check it out: www.ndss.org/stories

If you have Down syndrome, NDSS wants to hear your great story; or, if you have a great story about someone you know who has Down syndrome, NDSS wants to hear from you. You can contact them through: www.ndss.org/stories.

Quite the road trip!

One hundred years ago today--June 9, 1909, twenty-two- year- old Alice Ramsey, with her two sisters-in-law and a friend, set off from New York CIty to drive across America in a Maxwell DA. Fifty-nine days later (41 actual driving days), after many hair-raising adventures, they arrived in San Francisco, where cheering crowds welcomed them. Thus, as the only driver, Alice earned the title of the first woman to complete the transcontinental trip. Today Emily Anderson with Christi Catania to help navigate, and a rotating list of two additional passengers set off to re-create Alice's historic trip in a Maxwell DA that Emily and her father have rebuilt from scratch. Linda and I cheered them on from the side of the road in Wappinger Falls, NY, then followed them to Poughkeepsie for a reception at Vassar College, Alice's alma mater. Fabulous experience!! You can learn more and follow their adventure (via map, blog, Twitter) at www.aliceramsey.org. The top picture is Emily holding her four-month old daughter, who along with her grandmother, is on the trip, too. (They ride in a car that follows the Maxwell DA.) The smiling woman at the right is Catharine Bond Hill, the president of Vassar. The bottom picture is me talking with Charlie MacDonald, an antique car buff, who waited for hours to see Emily drive by. We're standing by his 1936 Buick; the antique car community, I discovered, is quite interested in this trip and the Anderson's rebuilt Maxwell DA. The video is of their departure from Vassar.
For more information, to follow their progress, blog, Twitter go to: www.aliceramsey.org

Read Aloud

Linda's 9-month old granddaughter is staying with us for a few days next week while her mother and father tend to work obligations. Since our children's book collection has aged up with Sophie, I just bought Mem Fox's new book, "Hello Baby." In the process, I discovered her web site & highly recommend it, in particular, check out her pages on "How To Read Aloud" and "See and Hear Mem." I'm going to be using both in the two classes that I'm teaching this summer. Here's the link:
www.memfox.net

Pasta with red sauce

Sophie & her parents moved yesterday; six streets north and about 1/4 mile east to a larger place. She spent the night at our house, which meant getting up very early to get her to school in the city by 8 a.m. She's not a breakfast eater, except when I make her pancakes. But when the radio announcer said that traffic was backing up on the George Washington Bridge due to an accident, I decided there's wasn't time for pancakes; instead I followed her mother's recommendation to take a bag of Cherrios for her to eat in the car.
I handed her the Cherrios, but no luck. In my typical information-conveying style, I started telling her true stories, hoping to motivate her to eat. First, about how when I was on the NJ Commission on Hunger we did research to find out whether or not breakfast was important for school children & discovered that it is!
Sophie was interested but unmoved so I told her two more totally true stories, hoping to what?--I'm not sure. Anyhow, I confessed that a long time ago when I was a kid, I didn't like breakfast until one morning my grandmother offered me a cold hamburger, which I ate with gusto (a fun-to-say-word, Sophie said). Then there was the case of who-is-going-to-eat-the-trout: during my early teenage years, I spent two weeks in the summer with my grandparents, who lived in New Hampshire. Gramp & I we liked to go fly fishing for trout, until Grammie said we couldn't go anymore unless someone starting eating the trout that were piling up in the freezer. (Knowing that Sophie is a passionate animal lover, I interrupted my narrative to tell her that nowadays many fishers catch and release fish.)
Gramp refused; I agreed & ate trout every morning for the two weeks of my stay!
I ended my storytelling with a tidbit about how when Linda's son Jeremy was in kindergarten he said he'd only eat soup for breakfast.
Then I said (naming Sophie's favorite food), "I wonder--would you have eaten pasta with red sauce for breakfast this morning?"
"Yes," she enthusiastically answered.
"Ok, next time," I replied.
"But, I also like pancakes."

Summer Reading Lists

Because we subscribe to The New York Times we get part of the Sunday paper on Saturday, including The Book Review. That's why this morning, while drinking coffee and eating Silver Palate's thick and rough oatmeal with pump juicy raisins, I know that the issue dated 5/31/09 is devoted to "Summer Readings." I counted the titles and found 15 fiction books, including 2 for children and 62--yup, sixty-two--nonfiction books, including 10 about cooking, 12 about gardening, 6 about travel and 4 about music, plus there was a nonfiction essay.
That ratio of fiction to nonfiction books, however, will be flipped, on the 2009 summer reading lists that teachers and librarians compile for children & young adults; in fact, in my experience, many--if not most--of those summer reading lists will have no, or only a few nonfiction books, or list books as nonfiction that aren't like the Magic School Bus.
Let's challenge the hegemony of fiction on summer reading lists for children and young adults & compile a list of nonfiction books; please send me your recommendations! Thank you!
p.s. (For more about the importance of nonfiction, check my podcast, "The Potential of Nonfiction," on my website.)

Author visit

I am about to do a Q & A with eight middle school girls at Saint Andrew's School in Boca Raton, FL via Skype. My long time friend Dot Emer (Dot Chastney in Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II) is the middle school librarian at Saint Andrew's. This is a first for the girls & the school. But we're all prepared--the technology is OK, the girls read some of my books, reviewed my web site, including examples of Q & A & I "talked" with two of the girls yesterday in a trail run. Ooops, better sign off & turn on my Skype or I won't be "show up" on time!
Update:

This picture was posted on the Saint Andrew's web site shortly after our fun Skype conversation. Here is an excerpt from the accompanying article: "On May 19, 6th and 7th grade students gathered in the Schmitt Library in the Middle School to skype online with acclaimed author Penny Colman, who was in Englewood, New Jersey. Each student was able to get behind the Web cam to ask Penny for advice on the writing process and about her professional career as an author. . . . Using Skype as an Internet connectivity in the classroom provides opportunities for interactive exchange and collaboration between students and the outside world. These synchronous, real-time discussions using VOIP software like Skype can tangibly expand the walls of the traditional classroom and engage students to write, share, and communicate with an authentic audience inaccessible just a few years ago." (Picture/article posted at: www.saintandrews.net & click on "Middle School Skypes with Author Penny Colman"/click on this pic for larger image.)

Saturday & Sunday--We finally managed two days & overnights at our bungalow at the Jersey Shore; unlike many people we typically go year round--I kayak into December--but this year our work pressures have been toooo intense to spend time there. Plus Stirring Up the World: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, a Biography of a Powerful Friendship was too big a writing project to do there, i.e., not enough room for all my research material, no wireless internet connection, etc.
The days were sunless, but peaceful with few other intrepid people & Linda finally had the time to finish reading my manuscript. Getting to "know" Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony through my writing, she said, was a "deeply emotional experience." That was what I discovered too; so what a wonderful response to receive from her, my relentlessly perfectionist critic.

This evening my son Jonathan, a singer-songwriter, also president of the National Down Syndrome Society, is performing at a club in New York City. Another son David, a professor of African American history, is talking about his book Race Against Liberalism: Black Workers and the UAW in Detroit at the Englewood Library. We've gone to two of Jonathan's fabulous performances, plus he said tonight is for a "young" crowd, so we don't have to flip a coin to decide where to be--we'll go to hear David!

Eventful Day

This morning I spoke on "Celebrating Women," at the 18th Annual Women Veterans Health Conference at the VA Hospital in Brooklyn. Here a picture of one of the veterans showing me her portfolio of amazing art work--wood carvings, paintings, sculptures. I have a video of our conversation that I'll post later. Thank you to Catherine Nadal, Women's Veterans Program Manager, who invited me to speak. (click on pic for larger image)
Afterwards I drove to a section of Brooklyn that's been on my list of "women's history site to visit" for a long time--Gravesend, a permanent colonial settlement founded by a woman--Lady Deborah Moody in 1645(the date the Dutch granted her the town patent). A religious dissenter, Lady Moody had been dubbed a "dangerous woeman" by the Puritan leaders in Massachusetts, who had expelled her. In the town she founded, people were granted religious freedom and women could vote. From there I drove home, change clothes and returned to NYC to picked up Sophie. I'm driving, she's telling me about school, when suddenly she says: "Grammy, I remember when your hair was brown."

Rosy Red Nose

Sophie was waiting for me to put on my shoes so that we could go out for pizza. She had a page of stickers & we were joking about something--I don't remember what--when she spontaneously stuck one on end of my nose.
What's that?
A red star.
What will people think at the pizza store?
They'll think you're a writer.
Really?
Yes, writers look like that.
They do?
Let's pretend you're a poet and you want to imagine yourself:
Look at my
rosy red
nose with a
bright
star on it.

Award

Last night I was thrilled to be honored as a 2009 Woman of Achievement by the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs of General Federation of Women's Clubs and Douglass College of Rutgers, the State University. It was a glorious event and experience!!! Thank you to Anne H. Redlus, President of NJSFWC and all the members!!!!! The pictures L-R (click on pic for larger image): me giving my thank-you speech; Joint Legislative Resolution of commendation and congratulations from the Senate and General Assembly of New Jersey; Certificate of Recognition from NJSFWC

What a Concert

Yesterday morning, Linda came home from the bagel store with the news of a 5:00 p.m. concert at Madison Square Garden in honor of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday; a once-in-a-lifetime concert, she said, sad that we would miss it. But we didn't, I got tickets & there we were--4 1/2 hours of music performed by, among many others--Joan Baez, Billy Bragg, Ani DiFranco, Arlo Guthrie, Emmylou Harris, Richie Havens, Dave Matthews, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Toshi Reagon, and Bruce Springsteen. The crowd greeted Bruce with a chant we couldn't deciper & that prompted the woman sitting next to Linda to worry that he was being booed. "What are they saying?" I asked the young woman next to me. In a flash, the boy and his father, from Austin, Texas, who were sitting in front of me, spun around to say in their twang, "Bruuuuuuuuce, they're saying Bruuuuuuuuuce."

We all did lots of singing & the concert ended with Peggy Seeger, Pete's half-sister and a renown folk singer, getting the entire ensemble (everyone packed on stage) plus the audience to sing "Irene Goodnight." Very coooool evening!
p.s. At point, I politely asked a group of Madison Square Garden bouncer-like ushers who were loudly chattering to "please, keep it down." "Lady, you're at a concert, not the opera," a tough looking guy snarled back. FYI: No, I was not dressed for the opera! Yes, they quieted down.

Libraries and Bookstores

Where: My car
When: Just picked up Sophie
What: Deciding what to do during our time together

Note: it was "poem in a pocket day"
Me: I have a poem in my pocket for you.
Sophie: I have a poem in my backpack.
We read our poems and then talked about what to do together:
Me: We could go to the zoo, a museum, a park, playground, library, bookstore. . . .
Sophie: A library and bookstore are different!
Me: "That's interesting--tell me more."
Sophie: "In a library you have to be quiet. Someone shows you a book and you decide if you want to take it home but you can't keep it. In a bookstore you get to pick out what you like and take it with you and keep it."
Me: You mean you can keep it after you pay for it at the bookstore.
Sophie: Yes, but you can return it if you want to, like sometimes we have to return clothes."

p.s. we went to a woodland park with climbing equipment. Sophie is happy to share my enthusiasm as I point out all the things my mother pointed out to me, oh, so many years ago--skunk cabbage, violets and dog-tooth violets, may apples, etc.

Mother's Day

I cut and pasted this from the National Women's History Project. For more information, check out: www.nwhp.org
History of Mother's Day
Given the following possibilities, how many of us could pick the right answer?
Mother's Day began:
* In 1858, when Anna Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker, organized "Mother's Work Days" to improve the sanitation and avert deaths from disease-bearing insects and seepage of polluted water.
* In 1872, when Boston poet, pacifist and women's suffragist Julia Ward Howe established a special day for mothers --and for peace-- not long after the bloody Franco-Prussian War.
* In 1905, when Anna Jarvis died, her daughter, also named Anna, decided to memorialize her mother's lifelong activism, and began a campaign that culminated in 1914 when Congress passed a Mother's Day resolution.
The correct answer: All of the above. Each woman and all of these events have contributed to the present occasion now celebrated on the second Sunday in May.
The cause of world peace was the impetus for Julia Ward Howe's establishment, over a century ago, of a special day for mothers. Following unsuccessful efforts to pull together an international pacifist conference after the Franco-Prussian War, Howe began to think of a global appeal to women.
"While the war was still in progress," she wrote, she keenly felt the "cruel and unnecessary character of the contest." She believed, as any woman might, that it could have been settled without bloodshed. And, she wondered, "Why do not the mothers of mankind interfere in these matters to prevent the waste of that human life of which they alone bear and know the cost?"
Howe's version of Mother's Day, which served as an occasion for advocating peace, was held successfully in Boston and elsewhere for several years, but eventually lost popularity and disappeared from public notice in the years preceding World War I.
For Anna Jarvis, also known as "Mother Jarvis," community improvement by mothers was only a beginning. Throughout the Civil War she organized women's brigades, asking her workers to do all they could without regard for which side their men had chosen. And, in 1868, she took the initiative to heal the bitter rifts between her Confederate and Union neighbors.
The younger Anna Jarvis was only twelve years old in 1878 when she listened to her mother teach a Sunday school lesson on mothers in the Bible. "I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother's day," the senior Jarvis said. "There are many days for men, but none for mothers."
Following her mother's death, Anna Jarvis embarked on a remarkable campaign. She poured out a constant stream of letters to men of prominence -- President William Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt among them -- and enlisted considerable help from Philadelphia merchant John Wannamaker. By May of 1907, a Mother's Day service had been arranged on the second Sunday in May at the Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where Mother Jarvis had taught. That same day a special service was held at the Wannamaker Auditorium in Philadelphia, which could seat no more than a third of the 15,000 people who showed up.
The custom spread to churches in 45 states and in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Mexico and Canada. The Governor of West Virginia proclaimed Mother's Day in 1912; Pennsylvania's governor in 1913 did the same. The following year saw the Congressional Resolution, which was promptly signed by President Woodrow Wilson.
Mother's Day has endured. It serves now, as it originally did, to recognize the contributions of women. Mother's Day, like the job of "mothering," is varied and diverse. Perhaps that's only appropriate for a day honoring the multiple ways women find to nurture their families, and the ways in which so many have nurtured their communities, their countries, and the larger world.

Sophie & Yankee Doodle

Where & When: my car, last week
What: singing all the verses of "Yankee Doodle"
Why: the kindergarten kids are singing it as part of a show

I'm navigating traffic & half listening to the lyrics, which I don't really remember 'cept for the part about riding on a pony and sticking "a feather in his hat" and calling " it macaroni." I hear Sophie sing something about girls being "handy." Then she stops and says, "Grammy, girls certainly are handy."
"What? What do you mean?" I reply.
"When the boys carry the tables, sometimes they need the girls to put their hands under the table and help them."
"The boys carry the tables? Why?"
"Because they are strong."
"But, so are you, Sophie. You are really strong. Think about how you just climbed the climbing wall and ran very fast."

This morning I was repeating this dialogue to Linda, who just returned from speaking at a conference in Mallorca, & commenting about gender socialization when she interrupted me to say, "The lyrics are 'and with the girls be handy.''"
Oh! Oh, well, on the one hand, neither Sophie or I understood that; but on the other hand, now that I "got it" she undoubtedly will too before too long.

Sophie, Birds' Nests and Books

I picked up Sophie today. Before driving, I gave her a snack. While she ate, we sat together in the backseat & I showed her the pictures I took to document what her birds' nests look like on day 2, and day 3. First I showed her the photo I took the day she made the nests (see previous post), then the day 2 photo. Quickly pointing to the empty dish, she said, "They ate the food!"
When I showed her day 3. She was silent, then said: "The birds came." "What do you think they did?' I asked. "Danced," she replied. "Made a cape," she said gesturing to her shoulders. "And a skirt," she added, dropping her hands to her hips.
I told her we had brought the towels in the house because it was going to rain. "Do you think that was a good idea?" "No, because the birds came," she replied. "Should I put them back?" "Yes, but you don't need to put the dishes back."
I took the third picture at Acorn, a wonderful independent book story. Sophie asked for a book on how to draw animals. "We have several," the bookseller said. "Come I'll show you."
As you can see--she did!!! Very cool experience!!!!!
During our time together, we were stopped at a red light, when I heard her say in a reflective voice, "The white goes well with the blue." I figured the white was a blossoming spring tree. But what was the "blue." I glanced back & saw the white tree, just as Sophie added, "the blue sky."
day 2

day 3