Some Heat Wave Happiness

Who doesn't love being read to? :)

Minnesota has gone tropical!

Just yesterday the temps were 90+-degrees Fahrenheit (with humidity making it feel like 100+, so sayeth the News guy).

Yikes.

But I just now realized that I like this kind of weather.

It's because hot days like this are the equivalent (to me) of frigid winter days -- the sun may be shining but it's dang foolish to go outside.

So what do we do? We stay IN.

And we don't feel guilty about it either! (And by 'we' I mean 'me,' of course.)

These are the only summer days that I don't mind being indoors while the sun is shining, bowed over a sketchbook with a cup of coffee at my side and a magick pencil in my hand. Can't mow the grass, I'll fall over; so there. Might as well draw!

Ooooh -- and listen to an audio book. Yeahhhhh..... :)

When James is in his studio, he likes to put on a mindless movie DVD to provide background noise and something to focus on when he needs to look away from his torch flame. But I've yet to do something similar. Unless I'm pulling an image out of my head (which requires either silence or music), I'd much prefer to listen to somebody read to me.

And I find that the person doing the reading is just as (if not more) important than the work that's being read. Stephen King narrating his own work makes my ears seize, but Jim Dale is welcome to read the fine print on my bank statements to me any day, just sayin'. 

And some books I can listen to annually for the rest of my life. (I will forever appreciate the Christmas gift of Frank Delaney's Ireland on CD. If you've read the book, you know what I'm talking about. And if you've heard it, too, you'll agree the audio version's a treasure.)

That being said, what are your favorite books on CD? And why? 

I'm all ears! :)

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A Toast

Here's to you, my friend!

Are your ears buzzing? Can you tell I'm thinking about you?

In my head we're clinking cold bottles of Cheerwine together in a toast to summer, out front on the warm concrete step where the fragrant milkweed is blooming all around us and new butterflies are cavorting in circles over our heads.

"How was your weekend?" "Great! How was yours?" "Awesome!"

And for a bit Time will stop. The sun will warm us and make us smile. :) (<-- see?) And we'll consider the new week that begins now for us both and ponder its amazing possibilities....

After this little visit I'll get back to work again in my studio, but I will keep you fondly in my thoughts.

And whatever it is that you get back to, take joy in it! (Please? For me?)

And the next time we meet, bring a little something for Show-and-Tell. :)
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Take a Look; It's On an iPad!

As I write this it's not even noon (so sayeth my computer; I know enough not to make eye contact with any other clockfaces around here) and already my day has been defined.

By rainbows.

My walk this morning fulfilled my inner spectrum requirements: spray of violets blooming curbside; electric-blue darning needle flitting across my path; green EVERYwhere honoring this first day of summer; white cabbage moth alight on some blooming butter-and-eggs; orange goldfinch trilling overhead; stands of wild raspberries....

The trip was a pleasure for my senses, but it was nice to return home and out of the heat and humidity. Once here again, I poured myself a glass of water and fired up the desktop computer and -- surprise! -- more rainbows.

They're everywhere today, apparently! And perhaps they're inspired by THIS. Dear, dear Levar Burton has apparently taken his beloved Reading Rainbow into the digital age and created an app for the new generation! -- kids like my grandbugs who can intuitively work an iPhone before they even learn to talk.

I was a young mom back when the series premiered on PBS in the early 80s. My Girlz and I considered it an instant hit! We soaked up every episode, making note of our favorite books and checking them out from our local library later so that we could hold them in our hands and page through them at our leisure. Titles like Gregory the Terrible Eater and A Chair For My Mother and Imogene's Antlers. Pete Seeger sharing his storysong 'Abiyoyo'. James Earl Jones bringing the rain to Kapiti Plain. Our love for all things 'Arthur' and the art of Marc Brown began there. And we discovered authors and illustrators and stories and titles that became old friends.

Even after my Girlz grew up and moved away, some mornings could still find me setting the alarm for an early broadcast rerun, or dropping everything to catch a later series' episode. There's just something about Levar and books and just being read to that's pure magick. And over the years I've collected our old faves from the series so that the grandbugs can enjoy them someday, too.

And now just writing about this has put the song in my head: "Butterfly in the skyyyyyyy, I can go twice as highhhhh..........!" I might just have to put the pencils down today and read a book. :)

Did you watch Reading Rainbow like we did? What are your favorite episodes? Was it the one where Levar visits a printing plant to see how books are made? Or the one where he tours Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts? How about the Star Trek episode? Or the one with the goats (you know which one I'm talking about!)?

Please share!

And (insert wave and best Levar impression) I'll see you next time. :)
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Today's Treasures

Time moves mysteriously here....

So grateful right now for cool breezes billowing the lace curtains, and shades of green that only a cloudy summer's day can create.

And an old favorite Fire King mug with a cup of blistering coffee in it, each sip boiling my blood and turning my sternum to molten bone.

And so many loud ideas talking at once in my head that I have to sing them into focus!

And sticks of buttery graphite, and kneaded erasers squeezed into warm and pliable lumps, and hair long enough to be twisted into pigtails so I don't have to think about it, and a tee and jeans so soft and worn and over-sized that they're like wearing pajamaclothes.

And clocks all telling the wrong time of day so reading them is like a magic trick!

And a breathtaking book waiting in the wings, one that's still a looooong way from ending....

Already some Big Little Things have turned my day golden and (I'm guessing) it's not even noon yet.

And how about you? What has gilded your day today? :)
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Fairypost

Don't know about you, but I needed to hear this today....

I know that feeling. You're overwhelmed, aren't you? A little panicked.

That thing you're working on, that project you're knee-deep in, that idea that you're trying to flesh out -- it's like you're just spinning your wheels, right?....

Y'know why? Because you feel rushed. You're watching Time put one foot in front of the other, and there you are: standing still. Unable to move. Or perhaps running around in circles. Or maybe even darting down one path, changing your mind, retracing your steps, and taking off down another.

And all that panicking is making you doubt yourself.  (Not to mention it's giving me hives....)

Well hang on a second.

You can DO this; you know you can! You've done it before in spades. And pink hearts and green clovers and yellow moons and blue stars. You're a creative rock star, don't forget!

But I can hear you now: "If I just had a Magick Wand That Really Works I'd make Time stop long enough for me to do what I dream...."

Well, just an FYI: you do have a Magick Wand That Really Works. But until you start believing that, I'll jump in here and use mine for the moment, 'k?

*swish -- poof!*

There. You're now operating in MY time. There's always enough here. Things might look the same where you are with their 24 hours, but trust me. Time's kicking back right now and taking a big old break.

So have fun. And relax already! It'll get done and be absolutely golden.

Trust me.
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The Little Email That Made a Big Difference

(Yes, YOU!)

Exactly a week ago I received an email. In the message line it simply said 'Your Blog.'

 

At first when I saw it I got an apprehensive feeling, assuming that I'd somehow managed to offend someone somewhere. And then I thought, "Someone somewhere? I have only a handful of readers and I know who they are." But this was from someone else. Someone under my radar....

 

Huh!

 

The Not-So-Daily-Maily was started by me as hopefully another way of sharing me and my work to potential Mayfaire fans. But I know absolutely nothing about the format. When it says I have x-number of subscribers, I figure those are my only readers -- friends and family who've signed up in support so it doesn't look as though I'm just lamely writing for the heck of it....

 

Occasionally I've posted prompts on my Mayfaire facebook page, hoping that others will be drawn to the site, but it bugs me to do so because it seems needy somehow as well as more than a little full of myself, as if I really do think I've got something important to say. When anyone really goes there as a result I'm always surprised. Because when you post to a blog and the posts go by without comment, you just assume (at least I do) that messages are going out to the Webiverse and just dissipating. And that's OK. No one's missing anything; the Maily isn't going to change the world.

 

Anyway, when I opened this email I was reduced to tears. It was from a reader who writes:

 

"What has really blown me away as I read your blogs is how many times what you write has struck such deep chords in me.  Each time you blog I find that there is a kindred spirit that says, "Yes, that is it!  I get that, too".... Your blog has helped me to find the wonder of life again.  To approach life with a childlike wonder again.... Thank you! Thank you for having the courage to share yourself with me and others!"

 

Holy crap.

 

Not only did those words make my dang day but they got inside my head and whispered, "You see!? Every one of us could be making a difference without even realizing it!"

 

And I want to make sure that what I'm making is a GOOD difference.

 

Yeah, I know -- it's not like I'm curing cancer or saving lives or healing the planet. But I would like to think that inspiring another human bean to look at life with childlike wonder has to be sort of important too, right? That's what I'm choosing to tell myself, anyway.

 

And just an FYI: At any given moment someone might be watching you, hearing you, reading you, observing you, learning from you, being inspired by you. You have the opportunity to make a difference! Turn it into something magickal, 'k? Because the world needs more magick. And it REALLY needs more You.

:)

...

 

P.S. If you're reading these words, I thank the Universe for you. Love 'n hugs 'n fresh-from-the-oven, triple-chocolate-chunk brownies to you, my friend. You're not just a rock star, you're a whole dang mountain range, and I am so lucky to have you for my reader.

Lifesavers

This morning's happy Tumbledown moments:

1. The sounds of a gentle morning thunderstorm.

2. Coffee perking and bubbling in its glass Pyrex pot.

3. An almond croissant and a cup of the hottest, strongest, blackest brew imaginable.

4. Boo curled on my lap as I sit at the keyboard.

5. Sweatshirt weather.

:)
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