A Few More Memories

I suppose you might get an idea or two from these last few posts that we kinda, sorta, really love this bit of beach. While we seldom have it all to ourselves, there are times when you can feel as if you almost do.

When the tide is out, the beach is wide and welcoming.

And the water, while a little cool in the Spring, is wonderful once you get used to it. I would stay in all day if I could avoid looking like a prune.

Come on in. The water is fine.

Sebastian wanted me to make certain that you knew it was him in that first photo. Here he is in the last photo, too. I think he’s been converted. Now he’s a certified beach bum bear. I don’t expect we’ll be able to return to the beach without him again.

Now it’s back to teddy bears for me. I have a clean desk and the week ahead.  Guess I better get started!

For This Monday

On Saturday my husband and I were at a shopping area filled with tourists. We were sitting on a bench people watching. We like to people watch. It’s endlessly fascinating. Sometimes we try to guess their stories. Sometimes we even make up imaginary conversations that aren’t remotely close to what they must be chatting about. But that evening we were just sitting and watching.

Soon I noticed a gentleman standing at the corner of a nearby store. It was an intersection of pedestrian traffic. Since most people were moving from one location to another, he stood out by just milling about in one place.

Shortly, some sailors in their dress whites came walking by and he said something to them. We weren’t in earshot so I could not hear what he said. Then some more sailors in their dress whites came by and the scenario replayed itself. Finally, a single sailor in dress whites walked by and he said something to him as well. The sailor nodded an acknowledgement and went on his way. After that, the man departed and we realized what he was doing.

He was thanking them for their service.

And today is the day we remember those who not only served this country, but also paid the ultimate price so people like me can sit here at the beach, unfiltered, unscreened, and free to writing this blog however I wish. There are others who have served and those who continue to serve in similar capacities all over the world. I hope you take a moment today to remember all of our service men and women.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day.

From my husband, Sebastian and me.

P.S. Do come back tomorrow. I think I’ve got a couple more photos on my camera before my reality sets back in.

Bear at the Beach

Sebastian has become quite good at being a stowaway. I’ve even thought of renaming him – Sebastian the Stowaway. Then again, I have to give him some credit for not only managing to come along undetected on our anniversary trip, but also for remembering to bring a beach chair and a sun hat.

I won’t tell him that it’s a sun bonnet if you won’t.

When we had ourselves fully situated on the beach, lo and behold, Sebastian came traipsing over the sand dune dragging his metal chair behind him. We really couldn’t send him back at that point now, could we? So he made himself quite at home.

As soon as he realized that he was going to be able to hang out with us, he did what any beach bum bear would do. He stretched himself on the arm of my chair to get a little sun.

Seeing him laying there like that, you know what was on my mind, don’t you? How in the world did he get his chair in the car, out of the car and down to the beach? Looks like he’s not telling.

Today’s Views

It takes maybe

oh, let’s see . . .

   about five minutes to get used to this.

A spoonful of sugar?

It seems that there have been some issues with blogger and things that used to work fine once upon a time are sort of finicky of late. I made a change to the comment method so I hope that will help a bit. And with this sort of ordinary, run-of-the-mill, technical mumbo jumbo, I hope a pretty picture will help.

This sweet thang is blooming just beside our porch. I look over from my seat on the glider and see the blooms in variations of color.

We planted this hydrangea a couple of years ago and it was small by comparison. This is proof, once again, that if I ignore a plant it will survive. And in many cases, thrive. Soon this plant with all its blossoms will be sitting next to me on the glider asking for an iced tea, a cookie and suggesting that I scoot over a bit so it can have a little more room.

What in the world?!

Before I begin this next blog post, I want to thank you all for your warm embrace of little May-bee. He’s very excited about all the possibilities life ahead. I had to rein him in a tad since it will be several more days (and several more after that) before we will know exactly where he’ll be headed. In the meantime, we had an experience I thought you might like to share in – virtually – of course.

What in the world is this thing?

We were downtown over the weekend and right in the center of the city, was this monstrosity. It was definitely intriguing.

Perhaps you have seen one of these types of mazes before, but it was all new to us. We were curious. Curious enough to go inside and see if we could learn what it was all about.

It

was

amazing!

The sun was shining brightly outside and that made exploring the interior all that much more exciting.

It is a luminarium called Amococo. And it truly is an experience in light and color.

I have to add it was also an experience in heat because even though it was air conditioned, it was still very warm inside.

It was very much like a maze. It had tunnels and domes. In fact, it had 10,000 square feet of tunnels and domes.

It was unlike anything else I have ever done. Not thrilling like a roller coaster ride, but thrilling nonetheless.

If you haven’t explored one of these before and you have an opportunity to do so, my advice is to go for it!  You won’t be disappointed.

Time for Fun

As I said in my last post, my next post would be the big 500. This post is that post : “the next post”. And now, as I also said, it is time for some fun.

My mama and daddy taught my sisters and me as we grew that we should be thankful. Thankful for both large and small things. Kindnesses shown to us or gifts we enjoyed. I have discovered through the years that it can be lots of fun to be grateful.

So, here’s to you – my readers, followers, and friends! I salute you with my heart and say a huge thank you for all of your support, enthusiasm, encouragement and laughter. (That’s got to be my favorite of all.)

I’m having another Giveaway. A May giveaway. It will start in May and stretch into June because I like the fun to last as long as it will. Maybe you’ll be lucky. Maybe you’ll win. Because in this giveaway, like all my others, anyone can enter.

I invite you to meet May-bee.

May-bee is a diminutive one-of-a-kind, fully jointed bee bear measuring a mere 6.25” tall.

He is made from black and golden tan mohair with black Ultrasuede paws. Stuffed with both polyfill and glass beads, he is just the right amount of squishy.

He has an inset face, black glass eyes and a bee striped nose.

His wings are hand made by me . . .

with a bit of shiny fluff added along the edge because he likes to stand out and be stylish.

The brass beehive he wears is his lucky charm.

Here’s how to enter:

- In the comment form at the bottom of this post, please leave your name as instructed below (very important) and I will enter you in my May-bee Giveaway. All comments will be private and unpublished. You don’t have to have a blog to enter.

- IMPORTANT! Please leave your first and last name and email address as part of your comment so I can contact you if your name is drawn. This info is for the purpose of this giveaway only and will not be shared, sold, traded, given away or added to any list. No email = no entry. Sorry but them’s the rules. The bears insist on my contacting the winner personally!

- If you have a blog and post a link to this one about my giveaway, I will enter your name in the drawing an additional 5 times. Please let me know once you have posted it on your blog.

- I will take comments until 6pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Time – New York City time) on June 21st, the first day of Summer in this part of the world. On June 22nd, a name will be drawn randomly from all those who entered. (We will be using a random number generator to insure fairness. I can’t trust bears with sticky fingers to draw a name properly.) I will post the winner’s initials only and state/country in a new post on that day.

- May-bee will be mailed via USPS to his new home. As I’ve said many times, my bears love, love, love to travel! Maybe, just maybe, you will win May-bee.

The best of luck to all of you!

Different from my normal.

One of the options that I participated in for the Philadelphia show was to create something that could be placed on the <$100 table near the entrance to the show. I decided that I would create a pin – some might call it a brooch. It’s not that this idea hasn’t be done before. It has, of course.

Since it is Spring here in the USA and starting to get warmer, more pleasant and people are going out and about more, I thought it might be nice to incorporate a floral aspect. That’s a fancy way of sayin’ flower.

This is the end result:

Now I am turning my attention to something else. My next blog post is the big 500. I’ve never made much of these round numbers before but this time I am going to use it as an excuse to have some fun. I hope you will come back and join me. It might take me a few days to sort it out but well, we’ll all be surprised then, won’t we?

New Title for Sebastian

Master of the Cheesy Photo

Although he did have some competition. You wouldn’t know it but waiting in line behind us to take a snapshot was a busload of Italian tourists. They all wanted to have their photos made with Rocky and almost all of them stood next to him, hands shaped into fists raised over their heads. I guess some people roll their eyes at such silliness, but me, I thought it was very entertaining. They were having a great time. And Sebastian – he was right there with them.

The First Philly Show: A Report

My little bear friend reporter is nowhere to be found. That means it’s going to be up to me to give you our Philly show synopsis. I am going to keep it brief because I think you might rather see photos than hear me blather on about it all. And while it has been a great time, it has also been a very long day. Comments will follow each photo.

A snapshot of the large room.  It was truly a beautiful looking show.  So much incredible work in the show and in this room.

Above and below – the exceptional work of Alison McKee.

   The following is a photo of my very dear neighbor’s table. The lovely and talented Karen O’Brien.  Loved loved loved seeing her again after so many moons without it.

This is the table of my other neighbor – Susan McKay whose creations have some of the sweetest faces.  Don’t know whose idea it was to place us next to each other because our husbands can get into way too much trouble together.

And another neighbor very close by – Janet Wilson displaying her intricate and beautifully made miniatures.  This photo doesn’t do them justice so you should just plan on seeing them in person sometime.

Joanne Livingston’s table.  What a thrill to meet her in person finally and see her bears in the fur.  Did I not say it was a beautiful show?

Bev White’s eye-catching Fab Four set.

The dolls were quite incredible.  Here’s an example.

Above and below the ever whimsical work of my friend Jody Battaglia.  Jody was at Hugglets too.  I’ve been lucky to see her twice this year!

  The work of Wanda Carson – what a face!

Above and below – Donna Griffin’s table full of the sweetest little bear (and bunny) faces.  A small handful of happiness.

 

The fun and capricious work of Art Rogers.  Instantly recognizable.

This was the first time I had seen the work of Reina Mia Brill.  It was very colorful and enthusiastically received.  I could not walk by this table full of characters without stopping and grinning at their silly expressions.

One last fanciful photo from my camera – sorry, I don’t remember who created this piece.

It was a fun show to attend.  The demos were really helpful and of course, it wouldn’t be anything without the artists and collectors.  I enjoyed seeing many I had not seen in ages and ages.  Adoptions from my table were on the slow side which I heard echoed throughout the day from others there.

Sebastian has just whispered in my ear that he thinks he knows why.  He thinks it was because there were too many pretty things to choose from and it was hard to decide.  I don’t know about his theory, but it’s as good as any as far as I’m concerned.

I hope you enjoyed this peek at the show.  This is only a small sample of what was on display.  There are other photos being posted here, there and yonder on the Internet from other artists I am sure.  Now, I’m off to turn a page in my book before my head hits the pillow.