Archive for December, 2012
One day last week, Rilla came to me with a matter of great urgency: she needed help wrapping the presents she had made for her brothers and sisters. She led me to her closet, where we keep a large storage bin full of her art supplies. “I buried them,” she said, “so the surprise wouldn’t be spoiled.”
Beneath the bucket of crayons, the sheaf of construction paper, the tin of Prismacolors: a set of toilet paper tubes, somewhat squished, each painstakingly colored in bright Crayola. Toilet paper tubes. Colored by hand. Beaming, she gave a little hop of joy.
“Do you think they’ll like them?”
“Oh sweetie, I think they’re going to love them.”
They did. Huck’s squeal was of genuine glee. Wonderboy too. The big sisters grinned, giggled, melted.
Somehow I think I got the best present of all.
DEAr SANTA COLS
i* WOD LiKE A GiNGERBREAD HOUSE KiT AND [my brother] WOD LiKE A CAPTN HOGE FACE** DOLL AND A BOHR DOLL AND A CJK DOLL AND A MiSaoSHN DOLL and A LADE RDODNDNT WOMN DOLL AND A MiR BiG DOLL AND A EiLEEN DOLL AND A GRAEMAY DOLL AND A WAMR DOLL AND A BiG LEFT HAND GUY DOLL AND A SEEMOR LANDO SOHT DOLL AND A AOMASN ROP GUY DOLL
[My brother] WOTS A LOT
CAN YOU GET JUST GET HiM A WORD GRLL DOLL SET***
LOVERILLA
*all i’s dotted with hearts, of course
**I had to turn to the Word Girl Wiki to translate all the dolls. In order: Captain Huggy Face, Butcher, Chuck, Ms. Question, Lady Redundant Woman,Mr. Big, Eileen, Granny May, Whammer, Big Left Hand Guy, Seymour Orlando Smooth, Amazing Rope Guy
***looks like even Santa’s elves don’t make Word Girl villain dolls. Merchandising fail, fellas.
I’ve just realized Inch and Roly #2 is available for pre-order at Amazon. It pubs on January 1st! I’m so in love with Ag Jatkowska’s wonderful art for this series. These books are very close to my heart, since they were inspired by Rilla’s deep and enduring affection for roly polies.
Spotlight on Inch and Roly at the Simon & Schuster Ready-to-Read site.
Inch and Roly Make a Wish
December 17, 2012 @ 7:01 pm | Filed under:
Thicklebit Scott and Chris cooked up a Thicklebirthday present for me. 🙂
My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
—from “Messenger” by Mary Oliver
December 16, 2012 @ 11:11 am | Filed under:
Thicklebit 
Just in time for Christmas (if you’re quick)!
Into the Thicklebit meets the coffee mug.
Details here.
December 11, 2012 @ 7:58 pm | Filed under:
Huck,
Photos 
December 11, 2012 @ 7:08 am | Filed under:
Books,
Kindle Bernard Beckett’s Genesis is 1.99 on Kindle today. It was one of my favorite reads of the year a few years back:
After plague and war decimate the human race, a small group of survivors build a protected, isolated island community called The Republic, modeled on Plato’s vision of the perfect society, but rigidly totalitarian. We learn about the history of The Republic via the oral examination given by the somber members of the esteemed Academy to Anax, an earnest young scholar who has prepared long years for this event in hopes of admission. Anax’s subject of specialty is the revolutionary, Adam Forde, whose subversive actions brought down The Republic many years before. A serious and captivating aspect of Adam’s history is his relationship with a robot possessing highly advanced simulated-consciousness technology, and their discussions about the nature of consciousness are incredibly gripping and thought-provoking.
Loaded my own pictures; they weren’t as blurry as I expected. Think we’ve got a positive ID on that white-tailed kite. A new one for my lifetime birding list!
Reposting Rose’s photo (the best of the lot by far) so we’ll have them all together:
White-Tailed Kite info
