Author Visit

Today, I had fun doing an Author Visit with Sophie's first grade class at PS 334, The Anderson School in New York City. I showed a PowerPoint about how I write both fiction and nonfiction stories. The kids were delighted with the words I had animated to zoom & swish & asked great questions! Together we read a shape poem I wrote titled, "Who Writes?"
Tomorrow I drive to Maine where, on Friday, I'm speaking at the 3rd Annual Nonfiction Institute at the University of Maine, which means that I'd better sign off and pack!

Sophie, butterfies, and tickets

Several friends recently reminded me that they check my blog to see what I am up to, in particular with Sophie. Last weekend she came for a two-night sleepover, which meant we could spend all day at the Bronx zoo. Today we spent a rainy day in a park at the foot of the Palisades, played inside games, reviewed new books, etc. About mid-afternoon her mother called to report that the Painted Lady Butterflies had emerged!!!! Of course, when I took Sophie home, she wanted me to come in and see them, but typical New York City--no parking!!! We drove around and around and around. Finally I saw a SUV parked but partially blocking a fire hydrant. There was enough room for me to park behind it, although I, too, would partially block the hydrant. Since the space was close to Sophie's apartment, I figured I could be in and out in ten minutes.
"Sophie, I'll park here, but I'll have to come right back because the car is too close to the fire hydrant and I might get a ticket."
"That's OK, Grammy, because a ticket is a good thing."
"It is?"
"Yes, because tickets teach you something."
"What?"
"Not, to do that again."
Sophie dispensed her wisdom in such a calm voice that I resisted pontificating about not needing a ticket to learn a lesson, etc. And when she added, "Besides I liked tickets," I smiled because she's been making tickets for this and for that since she was very little. I just hustled up to her room, marveled at the butterflies, returned to my ticketless car and went out to dinner with Linda.

Sophie and me with a bird in the tree

Sophie and I celebrated Spring Break with a road trip to Baltimore to explore the National Aquarium, tour historic ships, ride the water taxi, "hang out" in the Inner Harbor, etc. Note in the pictures--one in the aquarium's rain forest (note the Ibis)the other onboard the Lightship 116 'Chesapeake,'which had an exhibit of historic dog mascots, Sophie is wearing the beluga whale t-shirt I got her in Tadoussac, Quebec (see earlier post) last year.

YouTube

My web manager set up a new PennyColman YouTube Channel & is adding my eclectic mix of videos. You can check them out and/or subscribe at
http://www.youtube.com/user/PennyColman

Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Women's History Month

What a day!! I'm just back from Washington, DC, where I had the amazing opportunity to attend a Women's History luncheon at the Capitol hosted by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in honor of
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The other woman in the first
picture is Representative Lynn Woolsey.
Here's a link to Ann Gerhart's article in Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032504598.html

What a storm

What a wind & rain storm! Huge trees uprooted all over our town & surrounding area. We were without power for 36 hours, at least. On Friday, the night before it hit, we had Sophie and Linda's 18-month old granddaughter Francesca for a fun-filled sleepover! The next day, in a blustery downpour, we returned Sophie & Francesca to their respective parents; then we set out in an increasingly serious storm to met our friends Sue (the science educator in earlier posts, e.g., why cranberries float) and Moshe at the Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden. Moshe took this picture of us--dripping wet, but happy--beside a Jade Vine. The theme was Cuba. (Click on picture for larger image.)

National Women's History Month

Happy March 1 & the beginning of National Women's History Month.
Check out the National Women's History Project at: www.nwhp.org
Also check out: Herstory Scrapbook at www.herstoryscrapbook.com

Snowing

Tonight I called Sophie to compare notes on the snowstorm & she asked if I had "done the thing with the cardboard," i.e., try to see a snow crystal (there's an earlier post about that). I had tried earlier but the snow was too wet; so, I tried again. By the light of the porch light, I think I saw one!

Happy Birthday

Today is it, the actual day David and Stephen were born, eight minutes apart, forty years ago--and what a fabulous adventures we have all had together along the way!!!! Here's a picture from our celebration on Sunday at Sophie's, Jonathan's & Katrin's home in New York. Crystal, David's wife, and Sophie are presenting the cakes. Jonathan & Linda are in the pics also.

catching up

At last!!! A few days ago, I sent to my editor everything that is needed to publish my forthcoming book about the friendship between Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony that changed history--revised manuscript, front matter and back matter, captions, jpgs, etc. etc.! What a job--interrupted by shoveling snow, teaching three classes, baking chocolate cookies to keep our energy up, etc.--but it's done! Special thank you to Denise Gilrane and Debbie Ganeles who read the manuscript and gave me feedback. Then there is Christine Schachter who undertook a last-minute close read and emailed me pages of indispensable comments, which ranged from typos to her responses to ECS & SBA--thank you, thank you!!!!!

I surfaced on Friday, the day before the "drop-dead" deadline for my essay in response to a chapter, "Nonfiction Literature for Children: Old Assumptions and New Directions," by Barbara Kiefer and Melissa Wilson for the Handbook of Research on Children's and Young Adult Literature, co-edited by Shelby Wolf, Patricia Enciso, Karen Coats, and Christine Jenkins, to be published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis in October 2010. Made it!!! Today we're gathering to celebrate my twins' 40th birthday!!!! Hip, hip, hurrah!!!!!!

Sophie

Without realizing what we were saying, "Yes," to, Sophie and I had a terrific experience on Saturday.
We regularly go to the American Museum of Natural History, although not usually on a Saturday. This Saturday, however, there we were making our way through a crowd of adults and kids who were waiting to get into the Discovery Room. Everyone had tickets; we didn't, but as we got to the ticket-taker, I said, "We're members."
"Are you going to 'Meet the Scientist?'
Sophie looked at me, I at her, neither one of us knowing what that was, but, since it seemed like a "ticket" in, plus who wouldn't want to meet a scientist, I said "Yes."
We were directed up a flight of stair, through a narrow room with books and microscopes to a back room with a young woman standing in front of a screen with the word "Scorpiology."
That is how we happened to hear a scorpiologist tell us all about scorpions, including how to catch specimens (go out at night with an ultraviolet flashlight and long tweezers)!

Picture Research

As many of you know, I do my own picture research and photography for my books (my photographs range from many to a few in my various books). What with revisions, i.e., putting four chapters into two, plus the scope & complexity of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship that Changed History (how do you like version #3 of the title?), yesterday I decided to revert back to scissors-and-paper-cut-&-paste. The pink strips are chapter headings under which I've placed the images I've selected. Now I'm keying the images (each has a number) in the margin of the relevant page in my manuscript (in the blue notebook, lower right corner) to ensure balance, e.g. images spread, not clumped, which means I am also revising my selections. The process is intense, but engaging, even fun.

Sophie & Stirring

Quick catch-up: I've been in the throes of revising and revising my manuscript, Stirring Up The World: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, A Biography of a Powerful Friendship (although today a new subtitle popped into my head, i.e. "A Biography of a Friendship that Changed History"). Worrying about getting my revisions mixed up, I decided to print each one on different color paper. The original is white, #2 is yellow, #3 revisions within #2 are beige. Late last night I started the final revision but couldn't print any pages because I didn't have a different color of paper! In the middle of a restless night, I decided to use blue (Elizabeth's favorite color.) First thing this morning, I got a package of blue paper. Later in the day, I picked up Sophie for our Sophie/Grammy time. During our chatting about our day, I told her about doing revisions and using different color paper.
"So, Sophie," I asked, "What color do you think I'm using for the final revision?"
"Blue," she replied.
"How did you guess that?"
"It's Elizabeth's favorite color."
"How did you know that?"
"I don't know. I just did."

Colman's New Album

Today is the release date of my singer/songwriter son's album, "Swallowed by the Sun COLMAN." Powerful and evocative, "Swallowed by the Sun COLMAN," will grab your heart and mind! Listen for yourself at: www.colmanmusic.com

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."