Henry’s Book

I made a book.

I made a book about Henry and his tea party adventure.
It was a wild notion that came to me when I realized that anyone can create their own book.

It was both easier than I thought and more difficult than I had expected. All you really need is a desire to do it. That’s the easy part. I just up and decided that I wanted to give it a shot. In this case, making the decision was a no-brainer, as in I have no brain?


Then I got sort of excited by the prospect of seeing my photos and story printed and bound in a somewhat sophisticated way so I plunged ahead. That was fairly easy too. You don’t think too much about it or you will never get past the idea. I didn’t slow down even a smidge.


The hard part was designing it. Not because of the limitations, but because there were no limitations. If you have an idea, a plan, or a design, as long as you can sort it out yourself, you can see it in print.



The world is your oyster. I had to keep in mind in that if I got too elaborate and spent loads of time on minute details, I might never come unglued from my computer chair. That would be a problem not only for me but for the dog who likes to be let out occasionally and the husband who would probably appreciate being able to check his email more than once every six weeks.

After sorting through all my ideas and putting them together in a file, I sent it in. Just. Like. That. The delivery guy just recently left the printed book on my porch. Do you think we could wait to open the box and see what it looked like? I say we because well, I did need some good computer geek help every once in a while during the effort.

We were pleasantly surprised when we flipped through the pages. The paper feels nice –a good quality – and the printing - superb. It’s all done digitally and costs a small fortune. Therefore, I won’t be giving up the oodles and oodles of income from the bears just yet. ;-P

 
I have a few copies of the paperback version available and might take them along with me to my first bear show of the year in March. There is a hardback version too. The cover is the only difference between the two. I’ve added a badge to my sidebar that links to the page where my book, Henry’s Invitation, is available. There you can also see a preview of a few of the pages.

I want to return to the pattern I have for Henry and see if I can make him some friends. I’ll just add that to my list of things I want to do. With that in mind, I had better get back to my sewing. Thanks for stopping by!

I’m home now. Goodbye to the sea.

I hope you like funny photos. Well, maybe not so funny to begin with - just funny after some commentary. Bear with me. It’s kind of late, and maybe that is why these struck me as comical. Keep reading and you’ll see what I mean.

To begin with the sun shined? Shone? Shined? How about it was sunny? And even though it was cold, it was a really beautiful day. I’m not sure where everyone was – maybe it was too cold, maybe they were inside getting ready to watch the game, maybe they knew only crazy people would be out today.

So it was just us and the birds. Now this is where it gets amusing – okay, I found it amusing.

1.  It could be simply a seagull by the sea or . . .

“Come back, Amanda, my love. You don’t know what’s out there!”

2.  The same bird as above looking out to sea. Perhaps he is thinking -

“Bring it on. I can take alla youse guys. I ain’t intimidated
by waves – big or small.”

3.  Sandpipers having a conference or . . . 

   playing a game of “Last one on their last leg wins.”

    Now for my last two photos. Very similar – yet different. I couldn’t make up my mind which one I liked best so I thought I’d ask you. Which one do you prefer of the two?  Photo A or Photo B?

This is Photo A – a little mystery or too little information?

This is Photo B – a bit more information or too little mystery?

Almost Sunday Already?

The other day I was thinking “Is it really Friday already?  Where did the week go?”  Now I’m thinking “Sunday already?”

I left my desk looking like this -

(I have no idea what the little brass candlestick is doing there.)

with a few bears in progress, put a few things in a bag and headed towards the coast in the middle of a huge rainstorm.  I never claimed sanity.  (Maybe it’s time to go back for a visit with Dr. B.)

From our room we could see the rain pouring down, the waves crashing and the wind whipping the Palmetto trees.  By the way,I did not know that brave crazy person walking along the beach during the storm.


Then we awoke Saturday morning to improving weather.  We actually got to see the sun in patches here and there.


I have a lot of catching up to do.  In the coming week, I hope to compose a few posts doing just that.  Unless of course, I wake up one day and think to myself “Is is Friday already?”  This doesn’t happen to you, does it?

Photo from Yesterday’s Desk

 
Happy Groundhog Day!

 

Leaving so soon?

                                       Snow Sentinel

A friend of mine grew up in a place that had lots and lots of snow. We were talking about that one day and what makes snow seem so magical.

                        One of our neighbor’s children did this.

And even having seen more snow than a lot of people around here, he said “snow is transforming”.

                                   A view from a window.

I think he is right. For a few pristine hours, before the footprints and tire tracks, before the slush, before people and animals carve paths and trails, a blanket of snow alters the landscape and makes it new.

             Snow even crept up on the porch – no sitting out there today.

I realize there are places where they are saying “snow, snow, go away and don’t come back another day”, but it is unusual for us. And because it is, we do a little dance of joy at the sight of it and know that within a very short time, the magical transforming snow will disappear and life will return to normal. In the meantime, we made a few memories and I share some of our snapshots here.

    
My husband took this photo of me getting ready to take a ride.

     These little fellow are wondering “Uh, what’s with the white stuff?”

Two more photos of our deck – it’s so pretty with snow!

I didn’t sew ALL day . . .

but I did sew a lot of the day.  The snow arrived overnight and made everything white. It wasn’t good packing snow so we didn’t get to build any snowbears, but we were able to do this:

Lean in a little.

Sh-h-h-h. Lean in a little. I want to whisper something in your ear. I can’t say it too loud or I might jinx it. We might get some snow tonight. The weather people are predicting a winter storm. We hope to see some pretty white stuff, just enough for some fun. I might be up late waiting for its arrival. I love to look out the window in the middle of the night and see the snow falling – so peaceful and quiet. Sh-h-h-h.

Now I have to get back to my bears. I am going to start working on my next giveaway. It’s a good day to stay inside and sew. Snow and sew. I like that.