Shocked and Saddened

Celebrate Your Sweeties

Hug'm, feed'm, luv'm, need'm,

Look into their eyes and greet'm,

Walk'm, pet'm, play 'Go-Get-'Em,'

Never let yourself forget'm.

None to luv? Adopt a stray --

'Cause it's National Pet Day!

~delayne.

...

The folks who provide my blog widget (yay, Punchbowl!; check it out, over there in the right margin) tell us that today is National Pet Day.

Here at Tumbledown, this is a BIG AFFAIR. There are many little friends here to hug on!

Do you have a pet? Are you like me and surround yourself with critters? Want to talk about them here? :)
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Haiku. Do You?

 

 

Five broken pencils

 

Discovered on my walk.

 

Wands

 

In search of their witch.

 

 

~delayne.

... 

April is Poetry Month

Happy robin trills

Outside my bedroom window

A song to the sun.

~delayne.

(...Your turn. GO!....)

Play-Along Update

This doesn't begin to describe it!

Remember my recent post regarding the PAL (aka 'Play Along') challenge?

Well, holy cow! -- I shared a link to it on the Once Upon page on Facebook before retiring for the night, completely unaware that as I slept all sorts of sparkly magick was about to take place.

BOOM went my 'likes' count, thanks to Janet Kisch and the very kind Once Upon Community! And by the time I logged in again in the morning my Mayfaire page had increased its audience by nearly a hundred new members.

It's been over a week and my astonishment levels are still in the red zone!

When I wrote that post I was in the middle of my PAL creation -- sketching, inking, and coloring tiny squares of Bristol, one for each day of the 12-day challenge. Each square featured an illustration and one-word description of the particular day on which it was drawn, and because 'The Day of All the New Likes' was so extraordinary -- and because it was all Once Upon's 'fault' (haha!) -- I created a square with a very happy owl on it, because Janet and a lot of what I like to think of as the 'Once Upons' are fond of owls.

Much of the remainder of my PAL challenge was spent up north at my parents' house in the country, enjoying long happy moments fishing, eating, visiting, relaxing, and (of course) drawing. And I finished it on my final morning there. Before I left for home I laid all the little squares out on my mom's oak dining room table, took a picture of the collection with my smartphone, emailed the pic to my home computer, and -- voila!

I promised to share it with you and so here it is. A bit blurry (sorry....) but I think you can make it all out. And if you're at all interested in a brief explanation of each square, a little write-up follows the photo.

Squares are ordered 1 through 12, beginning in the upper lefthand corner and ending in the lower right:
#1 -- Nostalgic. On this day I was looking at old photographs and enjoying the memories.
#2 -- Away. All my neighbors were home, doing noisy yardwork. I longed to move out to the Very Quiet Sticks....
#3 -- Playful. Time spent being entertained by my Grandbugs.
#4 -- Exhausted. Time spent recovering from being entertained by my Grandbugs.
#5 -- Cocooned. Windows are closed, A/C's on, my house is dark and silent and WONDERFUL.
#6 -- Patriotic. Drawn for the 4th of July. While fireworks go off outside, I write my blog post and link it to Once Upon.
#7 -- Astonished. I wake to a crazy amount of new 'likes'.
#8 -- Picnic-y. The Grandbugs and their parents visit for a barbecue and kiddie-pool party. (And yes, in the delayne dictionary 'picnic-y' is a word.)
#9 -- Hurt. I hate Facebook. 'Nuff sed.
#10 -- Withdrawn. More time spent in off-line rehab. Still hatin' Facebook.
#11 -- I visit my parents for an extended sleepover.
#12 -- My dad and nephew take me fishing. Best day EVER.
...

Wide-Awake Tired

Insomnia has a way of putting a knot in my tail.

In bed by 10:00 and up by 2:00; I hate nights like that.

Last night was the latest in a string of them. And as much as I like to claim that stay-at-home artists can sleep in if they want to, they really can't. (Correction: They can provided they've stayed up 'til dawn working.)

As I watched the sun rise this morning, Boo sat curled on my lap like the kitten in the picture. I was tempted to join her but by then it was already too late -- my normal work day had begun. If I'd been using my head, those wee hours would've seen me pushing a pencil....

But it's hard to think straight when you're wide-awake tired, so I read a book instead, thinking that it would put me to sleep.

Nope.

And now my coffee break's over and it's back to the drawing board for me. Perhaps when breaktime rolls around again I'll pencil in a nap in the hammock....

...Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........

Anticipation!
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Bunnies and 'Bugs

I was all set to work on The Daily Blogsketch today but have been in the deepest of brain fogs. Not even a pot of Company Coffee (aka Real Coffee Percolated in a Pyrex Pot On The Stove instead of my usual lazy-ass Spoon-of-Instant) has been enough to clear it....

So as I sat at the table with my cuppa and my sketchbook, nothing came to me except thoughts of my faraway grandbug. And then it occurred to me to write her a letter. And that changed to a card. And before I knew it, I'd pulled a sheet of scored linen and began a drawing on it.

And here's what I came up with -- a sketch of this year's Bad Bunny as it nibbles the dandelions in my lawn.

I hope she likes it. :)
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Happy Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day!

The party plannin' Punchbowl folks who provide my cool blog widget tell us that in addition to today being Administrative Professionals Day, it's also Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day (who knew?).

The Punchbowlians have this to say about it:

Today is National Pigs-In-A-Blanket Day! This delicious finger food is popular with kids and cocktail party guests all across the world. In fact, there are many different cultures that have their own unique twist on this comfort food classic.

In the United Kingdom, pigs-in-a-blanket are small sausages wrapped in bacon. People traditionally serve them as Christmas dinner appetizers. In Israel, kids enjoy Moshe Ba'Teiva (Moses in the Ark), which are miniature hot dogs rolled in a ketchup-covered puff pastry and baked in the oven. In the United States, pigs-in-a-blanket are hot dogs or Vienna sausages wrapped in biscuit or croissant dough and baked until golden brown. Yum!

No matter where you are or how you decide to cook your pigs-in-a-blanket, make this tasty finger food for dinner tonight and serve it with a side of ketchup. Happy National Pigs-In-A-Blanket Day!

Well, cool.

And because I think piggies are much more fun to draw than Administrative Professionals, here is my blogsketch for today's celebratory shenanigans.

Enjoy! And may your day be fun-filled.

:)

...delayne.

Happy Earth Day!

Today, take a moment to happydance the Earth well.

Serenade her with song and laughter and joyful noise.

Make her smile with your shenanigans.

Read to her a story about flowers. (Or -- even better! -- write her one.)

Touch her beautiful young/old face with your bare hands. (Minnesotans, take those mittens off!)

Give her a gift of honey and wine and wellwishes and water. And words.

Write her a love song. (Sing it at sunset!) Or a love letter. (Tie it to a tree!)

Share your bread with the birds so they tickle her ribs with nibbles. Share your kitchen scraps with the worms so they calm her with caresses.

Bow your head and kiss her on the cheek.

And then thank her. For everything.
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Thinking Green Thoughts

This sketch in progress began as simply a way for me to play with new school supplies purchases, but it's gone on to entertain me now for hours.

I keep returning to it -- er -- him. The Green Boy. That's a penciled-in acorn that he's holding in his fingers, in case you can't tell.

Could this be the young Green Man? Is it Peter Pan, perhaps, offering up a kiss? I have no idea....

If I'd been thinking about it all ahead of time, I would have (hopefully) come up with a better-planned-out design. But had I done so, I can almost guarantee it would not have surprised me like this one has.

And now I sense a long, wordy, and introspective post gearing up about how my planned-out stuff sometimes comes out looking all forced and tortured, blahddy blah, and so I'll just shut up. It's the weekend, after all, and Life awaits! And here in my neck of the 'burbs the sun is shining and so I must step away from the keyboard and go worship it a little.

So I'm signing off until whenever. And I'm also sending you every-shade-of-green thoughts of Spring.

Now go have fun!

~delayne.
...

Fairypost

And the Winner is....

Oh those Punchbowl folks. They just keep giving us fun reasons to celebrate (and DRAW, don't forget!). And today we're looking at Cordon Bleu Day.

A Punchbowl snippet sez this about it:

"Did you know that “cordon bleu” means “blue ribbon” in French? In the 1500s, the Order of the Knights of the Holy Spirit became known as “Les Cordon Bleus.” The knights used a blue ribbon to hang their talisman, and eventually the term became associated with distinction and honor. Today, we still award blue ribbons for excellence!"

So I'm awarding today's blogsketch to YOU. You win the Most Excellent Reader blue ribbon, my dear.

Congratulations!

:)

~delayne.
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Let's Celebrate Together!

I had no idea that today is World Party Day. And Punchbowl -- the folks who host my blog widget -- have this to say about it:

"Today is World Party Day! World Party Day (or P-Day) is a synchronized global celebration that seeks to make the world a better place. The motto for this holiday is “Party is the opposite of War.” The idea behind it is that we can only create a better reality by taking positive action and celebrating life (instead of passively promoting peace).

"The first World Party Day (known as World Party I) took place on April 3, 1996. The novel Flight by Vanna Bonta inspired the event. The story ends with a countdown to a mass celebration where all of humanity is united. Readers took the idea and organized a real worldwide party!"

Cool. Who knew that World Party Day was a real thing? Not me....

And since I'm unfamiliar with Vanna Bonta's novel I think I'll have to give it some attention too. (Have you read it? And what did you think?)

Have fun today!

...delayne.
...

Happy Pencil Day

Expecto Patronum!

In my sunny Minnesota neighborhood today all things were clothed in spring. Cars cruised by with their windows open and sub-woofers thumping. Motorcycles brapped their tailpipes in the distance, accelerating up on-ramps like frisky colts stretching their legs. Joggers jogged and bicyclists biked. And I walked and walked, inhaling the season and discovering treasure: I live within spitting distance of a handful of schools, and where there are schools there are pencils.

Last night's thunderstorm and today's warmish temps caused the remaining winter snow to recede remarkably, and my eye spied a whole handful of pencils on my walk. Some were broken, some were just stubs... but I knew that inside them all were things just begging to come out. Things that I was curious to discover.

So home with me they went.

When I took off my jacket and quickly checked emails, I learned that today is Pencil Day. Who knew?? And Punchbowl, the folks who provide my Blog Widget, had this to say about it:

On this day in 1858, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted the first-ever patent for a modern pencil with an eraser attached to it. Hymen Lipman created the wooden pencil and received high praise for how easy it was to use for writing and drawing.

Did you know that a single wooden pencil can write 45,000 words or draw a line that is 35 miles long? A pencil can also write under water, upside down, or in zero gravity. Manufacturers painted the first pencils yellow because the color was associated with royalty and honor. People quickly began assuming that yellow pencils were the best type!

To celebrate Pencil Day, set aside your laptop and use a pencil and paper to write today!

OK!

But I didn't write with my pencil. I drew instead.

And as I drew I thought of the character of Harry Potter. I thought of Harry's personal 'Patronus' -- his protective spirit guardian -- and how it manifested as a glowing, ghostly stag from the tip of his wand when he pointed it and said the magick words. And I wondered what sort of wizard would have a pencil as a magick wand and what manner of Patronus would come from it.

And then I thought to myself, "Anyone with a pencil for a magick wand would have a Patronus limited only by the boundaries of their imagination."

And then I thought, "...Cool."
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Thoughts of the Season

 

The older I get, the simpler things are. The simpler I am.

My stiff roots and branches are softening and pulling within like the juicy fronds of a reef creature, returning me again to the size of a seed. I can feel them retracting. Everything I am is no longer so dramatic or driven or complicated....

I'm liking this time in my life.

And as the season builds, I tuck in tighter. I brace myself. My religious friends push their agendas now; my non-religious friends defend theirs. Mother Earth quietly goes about Her business with or without me. I observe it all. It's so epic that I just let it wash over me. It's all I can do.... That, and hope that my foundation -- the one I've cobbled together for myself over the years from stuff I learned that either sang to me or killed me a little -- holds fast. It will. New thoughts and beliefs blown in on the tidal wave cling to it like barnacles, as always. That's ok; I love the seed shell I've created, all tumbled smoothe by time and tide into the simplest of forms made unbelievably fancy and strong by the sum of its parts.

Now is the time I seem to think deeply on things until my head hurts, then tuck them away in the little pickle jar of my heart to ferment. There's all sorts of stuff in that jar! It's created its own light, its own heat, there's so much going on in there. So much that the seed I'm shrinking into sometimes feels like a hot little pinhole, a cell-sized star nearing the bang of its birth; so much that I expect that what looks like simplification is about to become wildly complicated again.

Waves. Patterns. Circles. Spirals. Simple made complicated made simple again. Birth, life, death, rebirth. Wash, rinse, repeat. Wow.

(*Insert sound of head exploding a little.*)

Huh. Where did that come from, I wonder? Certainly not from Simple Girl here.... I must walk away from all this and go pick up a pencil!

And to YOU I say may the spirit of the season get inside your heart and crack it wide open. And may what emerges blind you with its holy radiance.

Have a blessed Easter, my friend.
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Widget Sez

My blog widget -- that cool Let's Party! thingy courtesy of the folks at Punchbowl (scroll down, it's in the right-hand margin) -- tells us that today is "Make Up Your Own Holiday Day." It says:

If you’ve been following our daily Reasons to Celebrate, then you know how many interesting and unique holidays there are in the world. Today is your chance to make one up!

Establishing an official national holiday is not an easy process. For example, in the 1800s Sarah Josepha Hale decided that our nation should observe a national day of thanks. She wrote countless letters to politicians, governors, and even the president. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln agreed to Hale’s proposal, but Thanksgiving did not become an official national holiday until 1941!

To celebrate Make Up Your Own Holiday Day, come up with a creative, meaningful, or quirky idea for a holiday. Invite friends and family over tonight for its first annual celebration!

So in honor of today's blogsketch, I've decided to dub March 26th "Take a Snail to the Theatre Day." And this guy is all set to go. What should we see? Any suggestions? ("The Saltshaker Cometh?")

I think I'll buy him a beer afterward, too. I just won't let him drown in it. :)
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Fairypost

Yep.

I couldn't say it better if I tried.

Thank you, Vincent. Your 'Starry Night' gets me every time....

love,
...delayne.






(And to YOU I ask: how would you fill in this quote? "I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as _____.")

Priorities First

This is the best I can do for this Monday.

A message to my own self to calm down already.

A message to remind me that if I can't accomplish Ten Impossible Things Before Breakfast -- heck, if I can't accomplish just One Simple Thing Before Supper! -- it's OK.

No one will care. The world won't end....

But one thing is a priority. It should always be at the top of the list.

And when I find myself walking around in circles, wringing my hands and wondering where to begin, this message should come to my rescue:

Everything's fine. Make a cup of tea. Take a deeeeep cleansing breath. Shake those worries out! Now... stay calm and create.
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Drawing Time

Not long after I first began this blog back in 2011, one of my Big Ideas was that I was going to follow the example of my local hero Nancy Carlson and share a daily doodle. It was easier said than done, that's for sure. And my 'daily' blogsketches rapidly became semi-annually.

The Magic of Mail

The folks at Punchbowl (who supply the info for my Let's Party! blog widget) tell us that today is 'Thank a Mailman Day,' and you can read all about it by opening this link or scrolling down the righthand side of this blogpage.

Learning about 'Thank a Mailman Day' today made my heart do a little wiggle. Because I seriously love mail. Love it! Even the typewritten word gives me palpitations; it suggests handwritten secrets and sparkles and surprises. :)

Ever since I was little, mail has mesmerized me. I realized its awesome potential even before I could write my own name....