Fall is finally coming! Time for Pumpkins and Sewing!

The wretched heat of September is finally gone. (I hope.) And Halloween is right around the corner. My mom was my adventure buddy today. We stopped by Tanaka Farms to pick up some veg. They have a giant corn maze and pumpkin patch. I love these fall colors...

 My mom is 81 and pretty much game for going anywhere. She is the most amiable travel companion you could possibly imagine. She art directed the photos.

 It was crazy packed with kids all running around feeding goats and jumping off hay bales.

Afterwards, we went and ate lunch at Ruby's over looking the lake in Woodbridge. Then we dropped in on my sister's place and gabbed for a bit.

We finished up with a trip to the fabric store. Joann's Fabric is having a 99 cent Simplicity pattern sale.  I went completely bonkers and bought five patterns.

I haven't sewn myself a piece of clothing in thirty five years and never very into it. I was more of a woodworker, quilter and embroiderer. But last week decided it was time to take up sewing clothes again. Right now I'm in the middle of sewing myself a black crepe jacket. Who knows how it will turn out?

I'm perfectly Hobbit shaped and finding clothes that I actually like is pretty much impossible. Most bigger sizes have huge ghastly prints, colors not found in nature, no shape other than boxy and unflattering necklines. Plus, women's sizes cost more than regular clothes. I shake my fist at you shopping mall! If you won't sell me a decent outfit for under a hundred bucks then I'll make it myself!

So, wish me luck with my new mania.

Here's what the black jacket is supposed to look like.... I've got a lot of Haunted Histories booksignings and presentations coming up and I'm hoping it will turn out nice enough to wear.

 

Next, I'd like to make something like this.... 

Or this... (fake fur would do just fine)

If you could make anything... what would you make?

Marilyn.

"Take your pleasure seriously." ~ Charles Eames

Walking the labyrinth

I wrote this about five years ago and thought I might share it again. Marilyn.

So, I’ve been in kind of a funk of sorts lately. Summer is ending. I had a great time at the children’s book conference but the phone hasn’t been ringing off the hook with a publisher wanting me to illustrate the next Caldecott medal award winner or to say, gee Marilyn, we want to you fly out to New York to meet with you about a series of books that we want you to do. Nope, fame and fortune in the book world didn’t have me on speed dial this week.
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As I’m looking at this website… http://www.earthsymbols.com and I notice a bit of poking around a labyrinth locator.
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http://wwll.veriditas.labyrinthsociety.org
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I get very excited! There is a labyrinth not ten miles from my house! Spiritual centering and enlightenment await me in big Celtic embossed cups!

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Now you have to know that Orange County is not Stonehenge. It’s not even Sedona or Marin. It’s definitely not like that show on TV. It’s a place where it never rains, there’re billboards for discount boob jobs and places named Bobo Loco. As I turn onto Galway Street, nothing looks very much “Galway” at all. Dried out palm trees, graffiti and a notice that the soup kitchen is closed on Wednesdays. The labyrinth spreads over a leaf strewn inner courtyard, the purple paint cracking and faded in the late summer sun.
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There are a couple of old guys hanging out in the cool of the corridor behind a metal bar fence. They argue loudly about the war in Iraq. Dang! I had hoped for quiet but hunker down and start walking. Step, step, step. After the first few paces toward the middle the path becomes twisty and turny making me feel like a marching toy soldier as I switch back and forth. The rings smooth out after a while as I wind my way, eyes down over trash, dead leaves, and a long yellow smear of dried hurl. Step, step, one foot then the other, step, step, turn. The labyrinth softens into smoother turns, step, step, step, step, turn.
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“Blow them all up,” step, step, step, “our boys over there,” One voice that I’ve dubbed the Loud Guy overpowers all the other murmuring…step, step, turn. Bird crap. Dried leaves. More murmuring and Loud Guy says, “It a maze, I don’t remember what it’s called.”
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Shit! I’ve been noticed. I keep my head down and keep walking.
“It goes back to medieval times. It’s for Spiritual Enlightenment.” he explains with knowing conviction. There is silence for a while as we all ponder this comment.
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“Spiritual Enlightenment” Is that why I’m here? What the heck am I doing? Step, step, step. My paces lengthen as I reach the outer rings, having to duck under overhanging branches to keep on the path. A few more steps and then suddenly I am winding closer and closer to the middle.
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Before I know it I make a last few turns and am standing in the center. The webpage says, “Upon reaching the center, remain there as long as you like. Some like to sit in the center to reflect.” It doesn’t mention that there is a drain grate in the middle. I have a childhood aversion to grates and suddenly I’m five years old up in the mountains and my parents trying to get me to walk over a large snow grate into the lodge. I stand with my red cowgirl boots, dripping slush and phobias as they urge me to cross over. It’s about a mile deep it seems to me and I’m sure there are alligators or grizzly bears down at the bottom. I think my dad finally carried me across.
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I look down at the labyrinth grate into the stagnant water below. I don’t think I want to stay very long at all. I like moving better than sitting. After a few deep breaths I begin the winding journey back. Step, step, step. The trip back is freer and my steps are longer. My Labyrinth Guide 101 says, “There are many ways to walk the Labyrinth.” One of which is with a prayer or mantra in mind. Today I don’t particularly have a mantra. I don’t have anything I particularly want other than the really important stuff that I pray for most days, happy home, happy family, to be of some use in a noisy, dusty world. To have my Toymakers book on the New York Times best seller list slips in there from time to time but today I am not asking for anything. Step, step, turn. I hum a few bars to “Be Thou My Vision” which feels about right. The soup kitchen guys are back to talking about politics. Step, step, step, a swoosh and a turn and then with a flash I’m done.
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As I’m back in my car driving I smile at the discount boob job billboard girl as she spills out of her strapless satin gown. She smiles back with perfect white bonded teeth and shiny black hair flowing down her arched back. The traffic rumbles along under the freeway past Wal-Mart and Pho soup places, burnt yellow crab grass and carnicerias. I realize that this is my labyrinth, my life, dusty and noisy, filled with too many people and too many cars. I don’t live in some green idyllic place with Celtic harp playing softly in the background. Ah well. I pull a few dried leaves from my hair as I drive. That’s okay with me.
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As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth,
so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.
To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.
To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over
the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
~ Henry David Thoreau

The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Are you ready for a magical adventure? One that is full of fun and PRIZES? Then come join us for the Ultimate Guide to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory's Golden Ticket Giveaway!

The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will provide hours of fun for kids and parents alike. Based on the beloved story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the boy who wins the golden ticket and enters the magical world of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, this beautifully-illustrated and well-written book entices kids to enter that same magical world and join along in the adventure.

The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an interactive, adventure-filled delight through the Chocolate Factory, with stops along the way to create, laugh and learn. It reawakens the passion and idea of “jumping” inside the pages of this book with the knowledge that each chapter is a gateway into a magical world. Now available on iTunes, it’s your opportunity to truly experience where art, literature and technology meet allowing you to feel the story like never before.

With over 20 crafts and activities for the entire family, the book brings children and parents together to re-live the wonder and amazement that Charlie experienced during his trip through Willy Wonka’s world of magic and chocolate. While meandering through the factory on the Chocolate River, readers stop to learn where chocolate comes from or how gum is made. They work their way through mazes, puzzles and games, and so more much. The best part is that the adventures can be done at the reader’s own pace, providing family fun throughout the summer and beyond.

As an author, parent, and founder of multiple blogs, Audrey Press CEO Valarie Budayr has always been committed to helping families discover the balance between being “connected” and intentionally “unplugged” to create family time and reading opportunities. As an advocate of family reading, Valarie has created the enchanting enhanced digital eBook known as the Ultimate Guide to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory as a way to encourage families to re-discover the joys and benefits of reading and playing together as a family.

Valarie has hand-picked 5 delightful blogs that she feels carries the message of families learning, reading and growing together through play. These very special blogs will be the "keepers" of the much-desired 5 Golden Tickets. Starting today (September 13^th), readers are invited to visit the following 5 blogs and locate the Golden Ticket.

INSTRUCTIONS:

·       Visit each one of our 5 hand-picked blogs.(See list below)

·       The Golden Ticket will be in a blog post that was written and created within the last 10 days.

·       One Golden Ticket will be found per blog, so readers will need to visit all 5 blogs to get all 5 Golden Tickets.

·       Locate each Golden Ticket, and make note of the URL of the blog page it was found on.

·       After locating the 5 Golden Tickets on the 5 participating blogs, enter the links within our Rafflecopter Giveaway on our Ultimate Guide to Charlie blog.

·       Once readers enter those 5 links correctly, they are “in to win!” 

·       A Grand Prize Winner and several secondary winners will be chosen September 24th, 2012.

Summary:

 MANDATORY:

·      Must enter five golden ticket URLs in the five slots in Rafflecopter

BONUS: Tweet the giveaway for an optional Bonus 

                  “Like” The Ultimate Guide to Charlie Facebook Fan Page

WHO are the 5 keepers of the Golden Tickets??

The Toymaker

Mom 2 Two Posh Lil Divas

Rhythm of the Home

Imagination Soup

WordPlayHouse

What are the prizes, you say?

 Oohhh, fasten your seat belts..these are GOOD:

First Prize:

A brand new iPad! And not just an iPad, but one also loaded with the Ultimate Guide to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (a $7.99 value) and other Kite Reader books (a $40.00 value)

Second Prize:

Your choice of a $50 gift card to one of the following places: Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, or an independent bookstore listed at indiebound.org

Third Prize:

$50 gift card to iTunes.

Disclaimers for the Giveaway:

·       *Must be 18 years or older to enter

·       *One entry per household.

·       *Staff and family members of Audrey Press are not eligible.

·       *Grand Prize winner has 48 hours to claim prize

·       *If Grand Prize winner is outside of the US and Canada, they will be given an Apple Gift card to use for their iPad purchase.

 “Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are hidden in the most unlikely places.” – Roald Dahl

The Toymaker's Voyage

Adventure awaits...




















I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.

~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Where would you go if you had a magical flying fish car?

Marilyn.

I made a hat.

Maybe it's because the weather has been so hot and I want it to hurry up and be autumn... 

or perhaps because I've been studying Edward Gorey inkwork...

 

and paging through old copies of The Illustrated Milliner...

but I found myself wanting a hat. 

Never mind that it's an impractical thought, who has money for such a thing even if one could find one? So I doodled up a pattern. Then I went by Dorell Fabric. They have this marvelous bin of free remnants and I found two fabrics that matched and made this last night. I think it came out pretty spiffy.

Hat craving... sated... for now. 

I'm futzing with the pattern and trying to figure out a way to simplify it a bit. I also want to try to make a brimmed one. Bring on the cold weather. I'm ready.

So what would you make given the time and space?

Marilyn.

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“Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway.” ~ Mary Kay Ash

California Summer

Summer is almost over. School starts soon. It's been a good one, filled with many lovely things.

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer

 At the koi store. We looked but didn't buy any.

 

Cats on the bed...

 

 

 The Back Bay with the Hub.

 Homemade cheese...

 Our first potatoes. 

Boy and friend...

 

Needs haircut.

 

  

 

 Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
You'll wish that summer could always be here

Alice's Wonderland

Today was a good day. I picked up my friend Andy Mitchell and we headed down to South County to visit our friend, Alice Provensen.

We had a delicious lunch. Alice's daughter and son-in-law made us THREE different kinds of salad.  I brought the cookies. We shared the artwork that we've been working on, Andy's  watercolors for magazine covers and sketchbook, Alice's new book, Murry in the City, and my doodlings from the iPad and Haunted Histories.

 

Alice and Martin Provensen illustrated many of the Little Golden Books, like Color Kittens. They won the Caldecott medal for children's book illustration for their book "The Glorious Flight" After Martin passed away Alice continued to illustrate books.

 

 

 After lunch, Alice showed us her new flat file. It was filled with all kinds of incredible artwork that she had done. Lovely, lovely stuff.

 Wonderful shapes and colors, don't you think? Her art is so alive.

It was a treasure garden of delights.

 

 

Here's a pict of Alice and Yours Truly from when we judged an art contest a couple of years ago.

 

 

When I am ninety-four-years-old I hope that I am still painting and making toys. 

Did I say good day? I meant most excellent day.

Marilyn.

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“I believe in the hands that work, in the brains that think, and in the hearts that love…I believe in sunshine, fresh air, friendship, calm sleep, beautiful thoughts.”

~  Elbert Hubbard