Blue Skies

Well, I’m not dead. Not that you would know one way or another due to my reoccurring absences from this blog. Dec. 29th, 2011 I tempted fate. We decided it would be fun to go to Disney World. Lucky for us 2 million other people thought the same and joined us that day. The only other time I have ever seen that many people was when I was at a Giant Fountain Show during the Lantern Festival in Nanchang, China. Every where I turned there were people. It was like being on a mobile crowded elevator for 8 hours. My Father hates crowds so it was rather amusing to watch him during the course of the day. Imagine someone holding an unpleasant smelling fish under my Dad’s nose. That was his expression while walking through the massive sprawl of humanity that surrounded him. Like he was smelling a big stinky fish.

Disney was just one of many days of excitement since my last post. Earlier this week I went grocery shopping. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as Disney was. I saw a guy put about 30 cans of tuna into his reusable grocery bag then take them all back out like he suddenly changed his mind. That’s not something I got to see at Disney.

I’ve had some time to read and watch lots of television. Can you see why I haven’t posted? Who wants to read that I read a book and watched TV? That’s what Facebook is for.

Sometimes when I write a little autobiographical blurb I add the line “I like words” as my last sentence. It’s true. I love them. If I could eat them I would. It seems to me that saying certain words are so delightful that it is like eating them. Now you think I’m a bit weird and I’m alright with that. If you like words then you should check out this website which is all about homophones (the words not princess telephones from the 70′s.)

No Shame – Fabric of the Week Contest

Spoonflower runs a weekly fabric design contest with a different theme each week. This weeks theme is Cameo. Typically, cameos are depicted as a figure seen in profile usually from the shoulders up framed in a decorative oval with a high contrast background. Me, being well, me, didn’t want to do the obvious. I flipped through my sketch book and found some drawings of cone of shame dogs I had done without really knowing what I’d do with them.

from my sketchbook

Knowing that cameos are typically bust profiles depicting beauty, I thought cone dogs would be the perfect antithesis to it. I also really like the idea of using a typical point of shame and elevating it to be a badge of admiration. We all have our own foibles and defects, no? Most people are masters of disguising them. But a cone? That, you can’t hide.

So, here’s to you cone wearer, Mr. Public Display of No Self Control. You tried not to mess with it but failed miserably and an intervention occurred. There’s no shame. Everyone has their weak moments. Yours just happen to be currently visible for the world to take note. So wear that cone with pride my friend. Wear it with pride!

Please take a minute to go to Spoonflower’s contest, find my design (click on it to highlight it in green) and vote. You’ll have to go through all 11 pages to the end to cast your vote at the bottom of the page. Vote here. If I get enough votes to win I can get this printed up. I think it would make fantastic veterinary scrubs.

Pillow Souvenir Anyone? Mo?

I love my little town that I grew up in and thought I would pay tribute to the quaintness of the historical district by making a design using a map of the Uptown area. We have had a little bit of National attention lately with Ken Burns & Lynn Novick’s latest documentary Prohibition. They, along with Mo Rocca visited the library which houses the Anti-Saloon League Museum. You can see photos of their visit here. The library provided primary source materials such as pictures, pamphlets and cartoons for the series. If you haven’t watched the series and enjoy learning about history then you should check it out.

So, the pillows…I decided to make them up because I couldn’t find anything decor-wise that had something about Uptown on it. Yeah, there are some prints out there and a throw blanket but nothing designey and modern in style. Gosh, I hope other people think the same way and buy them or I’m going to be stuck. Hey, if they don’t sell then I know what everyone in my family is getting for Christmas! I wish I had these made up a month ago. I would have given one to Mo.