First Peak: PROOFS!!!!!!

..............................DRUMROLL....................... p..l..e..a..s..e........................................... Here it is!! This is the first peak at the final color proofs of my up & coming picture book. Proof of life!!! Whoooooo hoooooo!! Allen was back from golfing this morning and then went dashing out the front door with a huge smile on his face. I wasn't even the slightest bit suspicious. In retrospect he did look like he'd swallowed all the goldfish. He came skipping back with an enormous box 'quasi-hidden' behind his back. It took me about three heart-beats to realize what was going on. I launched off of my perennial seat in front of the quilt above and literally went leaping across our little living room. Squealing with gleeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

He made some effort to pretend he wouldn't let me open it until I finished the digital-proposal I was working on for KY. Ya don't mess with a mama-lion. He quickly relented and handed it over. What you are seeing is the first full size, full color, full-of-life "signature" -- which is the initial 8 pages of the book, starting from the title page onward. That is the over-sized sheet. The cover proof is a full size presentation in it's exact placement...... back cover on the left, front cover on the right. The 'pin-wheel' sheet is the full color/full size presentation of the "end papers" -- those pages that are glued down inside to the cover. I've been saying all year long, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." Today, I'm thinkin' it really, truly is gonna come to pass. Today is Sept. 9th and exactly one month from today is my presentation for CAEYC. The question remains, "will they possibly be printed and shipped to Columbus in that length of time?"

Inquisitive minds want to know. Stay tuned for the answer!!

Picturesque Postcards

Snippets and snaps. Blooms and bounty. Memories and moments. We're seriously into the sands-thru-the-hourglass mentality. A very few days left in the season. So soon to return to the real world. Savor. Savor. Savor.

A Hug is Worth............

............... a thousand words. This morning I open my Facebook account to find this amazing picture posted on my wall. This comes to me via the east-coast. My ZB buddy, Stuart is a man with a HUGE heart and together he & his wife offer their home as a foster-site for children needing love. They offer a port-in-the-storm, yet they offer more than that.

This brown-eyed beauty was in their home over her birthday. Stuart 'knew' that she needed the words of my book in her life and had a copy to 'gift' her. He reports that she listened to my song about 20 times. Won't you sleep better tonight knowing that there are people like Stuart & his wife who offer sanctuary to children in need? Sleep even more soundly realizing that they have literally given her the words, "I think you're wonderful." It's obvious to me from her smile, that she believed them. She believed their affirmation.

It's days like this that I ponder what these simple, yet powerful words can mean in the hands of caring people. Caring teachers. Caring parents. Caring grand-parents. Caring foster-parents. It takes a village.

Her eyes just sparkle straight into my heart as she hugs my book. Thank you Stuart for being the conduit. You have literally given her a firm foundation, when she needed it most. You have given me some additional fuel for my journey as I bask in the after-glow of her glittering eyes and those amazing long eyelashes. KUDOS, my friend.

Poignant. People. Perseverance. Powerful.

Quiet, Calm, Serene, Peaceful

We're down to our final week in Shangra-la-la-land. Every sundown is memorable, because they are in such a finite supply now. This was the middle of last week -- on the shores at Peninsula Players, just before the curtain went up, the sun went down. Applause for each: sundown & comedy. I'm not sure if you would 'believe' these colors if it were in a painting of a sundown. That's why I posed some leaves there in the foreground, so you'd believe, so that you trust that I didn't make this up with some computer generated art software. The real experience of sunset here is sometimes nearly mystical....... the power of such saturated color haunts me with happiness.

Almost-a-Book Launch Party

There is such amazing power in women, and in a gathering of women that power is multiplied even further, exponentially. There's power in listening. There's power that comes from supporting each other. There's power in encouragement. There's power in mentoring. There's power in enthusiasm.

Tuesday there were several of us gathered after yoga at Base Camp Coffee for nourishment & yakking. I hardly had any voice -- due to my all-day training/singing/talking of the day before in Waukegon. So they asked what that was all about...... which led me to attempt to explain what it is that I "do." (Which is not particularly easy to summarize. LOL.) Eventually I told them about my books, from my earlier songs. Which led the conversation onward to my new & up & coming release. Blink your eyes three times and everyone wants to see the art files, blink a couple more times and Cindy has insisted that we get together to celebrate in their home.

Next came a flurry of emails being sent, yoga peeps, book club peeps, and before you know it we're heading out Garrett Bay road -- out further than I even knew the peninsula extended. Her doorbell's ringing and suddenly the room is bubbling with energy. We visited. We introduced ourselves to one another. We laughed. We shared. Then it was officially my "Show and Tell" time. I had my laptop hooked up to my LCD projector and we projected my newest efforts onto a sheet held in place with duct tape. We then sang & signed together.

Just as we finished singing the lyrics for "Red, White and Blue"...... Norma exclaimed that an eagle had just 'flashed' us with a fly-by and she declared the sighting a blessing and good omen. We squealed in unison!!!! Then we all hovered close to my laptop, to see the art in full color on it's screen. [All of the finished quilts are in Ohio, so they had to use their imagination as I answered questions about their size and specific quilting techniques that I used. ***Note to self, have quilts along for next gathering.]

Before you know it, my Sharpie-marker was getting a work out, as I personalized my first two books going to beloved children from hither to yon.

So awesome, to have the support and encouragement of such a circle of woman. We then had a few moments to do some further brainstorming about what comes next. Door County here I come!! Watch out next summer. Watch out Tupperware. It may be time to start going door-to-door and giving "grandma-parties" where ever I can locate a group of such willing hearts. A special thank you to Cindy for launching the entire event and to her husband Dan who joined in the chatter & fun. It all started in your eagle's nest of an open heart.

The Piggie Patrol

Look at these pretty little 'piggies' of mine. I had willing volunteers for a dance line. The crowd went wild. These gals had serious skills.... I could send tape on to 'So You Think You Can Dance' for their audition. My "Piggie Rap" always translates into a performance opportunity. The beat gets everyone tapping their toes. "The first little piggie, that's piggie number one, she liked to shop, that's how she had her fun. She shopped till she dropped, that's how she had her fun. She went down to the market, she went on to the mall. She shopped, till she dropped, and she really had a ball." GO PIGGY.

It turns out that I owe a great deal of gratitude to Veronica, in the final picture. She had seen me at Whitewater, WI's conference a couple years back and once apparently somewhere in Chicago. In any case, she'd given my name to the administration as a suggestion......... and low & behold, voila, there I am, in the flesh. What a great reminder: PLEASE put my name in as a suggestion for your future trainings. I go where I get invited and that's how the dots get connected: someone makes the suggestion to get the ball rolling in the first place. THANKS Veronica!!

Jumpin' & Freezin' &

It always works. It works with teachers and it SERIOUSLY works with the kiddos: Jumpin' Jamboree!! There's thirty seconds of flat out jumping unrestrained, followed by thirty seconds of 'freezing frozen.' Guess what comes after that? Thirty additional seconds of enthusiastic jumping again. So what follows the jumping? More freezing frozen shenanigans. It's simple. It's predictable. It's got a pattern. It's full of oxygen-intake. It's over-the-top fun. It's opposites. It's alliteration. It's a guaranteed smile. In fact, I think it's appropriate to offer a money back guarantee on that one. (It's from my fifth recording.)

If you really want to double your fun, on the freezing frozen fantasticly verse, have the children stand on one foot, balancing while making their funny faces. All sorts of integration of those two hemispheres of the brain.