Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Stuff with a story

I love stuff.

My house is full of stuff.

And most of our stuff has a story. (My favorite kind of stuff.)

I spend a depressingly large amount of time at the kitchen sink, so that's a good place to have stuff with a story.

Everything you see here has a story or a memory behind it.


Inside that little cupboard is a bunny jar my mother-in-law gave me, a sugar bowl I bought at the yard sale of a friend, and salt and pepper shakers from my friend, Maria.


And vintage spice jars (please note that they are in alphabetical order):


In the middle of the spice jars is a nurse given to me by my husband.

This nurse is his representation of ME as a nurse. It is his theory that I am a terrible nurse. (It is my theory that men exaggerate their illnesses and should get their own dang ginger ale.)


This is a ceramic turtle clock made by my son when he was about 6:


A frog we bought at a restaurant when we first moved to Boston 20 years ago (and to the left of it you can catch a glimpse of a sterling silver rattle that was my husband's as a baby):


A little dog we got on in Nogales, Mexico when we were on a roadtrip in the Southwest:


A plate from a trip to Italy:


But this one is my favorite. It is a brass "K."


When my son was about 7 or 8, we went to London. We went to the theater to see Oliver. While waiting to be seated, my son looked down at the floor and said, "Look, Mom, a K!"

He then tried to pick it up.

That K, of course, was the letter of the row we were at and was, of course, attached to the floor.

We've laughed about that story many times over the years.

Several years ago, my husband found this K in a junk shop somewhere and put it in my son's stocking at Christmas.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Hippity hop

I love traditions.

Holidays (especially Easter) are steeped in traditions.

Like the Easter egg tree, loaded with eggs we've decorated over the years:

But my favorite is the panoramic sugar egg the Easter Bunny brought my son every year.

Naturally, I've saved them all. Some of them haven't survived (darn those pesky, sugar-eating mice up there in the attic!).

I love looking at them each year.

There's this one with bluebirds on the top:



And this one with a caterpillar:


And a chicken:



This one is hard to see inside of, but it's a hummingbird:


This is blurry, but you can see the little ladybug inside there with the hummingbird:



And this one has a bunny painting eggs:

Monday, April 6, 2009

Heading south...

....but only as far as Connecticut (every time I type that, I can never remember if it has two T's on the end...duh!).

Tonight I'm meeting my writer friend, Stacy DeKeyser for sushi dinner. Woohoo! I'm looking forward to that since I won't be attending the New England SCBWI conference this year, which is the only chance I ever get to chat with Stacy in the real world (as opposed to online).

Tomorrow I'll be doing author presentations at The Masters School in West Simsbury, CT.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Can you dig it?

I have an ongoing project of updating photo albums. I came across these pics of my dear dog, Phoebe.

I think they are hysterical.

(My husband, however, does not.)



Thursday, April 2, 2009

These boots are made for walking

These are the geekiest boots on the planet.

They are so geeky, I bet even Geek Girl wouldn't wear them.

But I do!

Because they are also the BEST boots on the planet.

I got them from L.L. Bean a million, trillion years ago.

They are the MOST comfortable boots ever.

They are the warmest boots ever.

L.L. Bean doesn't carry them anymore. If they did, I would buy two more pairs, just in case....

They have been sitting by my back door for waaaaay too many months, thanks to the ever-loving snow and mud.

Today, I retired them to the basement until next winter.

As much as I love those geeky boots, I am so happy to see them go.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Look out, Steven Spielberg

A student at a school in Rhode Island wrote part of a screenplay for Greetings from Nowhere!

Check it out!

Camera (close up on Aggie's hands, going through the mail and all the bad bills).

Aggie: Plumbing bill, electric bill, got to get that wasp's nest out from underneath the porch. I have to fill that pool with water. Oh, and that heating bill I forgot to pay. How can I get all that money? Should I sell the motel? No, I could never sell it. Harold would be so mad.

Screen goes black.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The Perfect Author Visit Part 2

Some of the classes at Hampden Meadows School in Rhode Island made a matrix of some of my books. It was great to see how the students had given so much thought to the various elements of the books and noted the similarities and differences. (And I loved the pictures they drew!)




And after my visit, I was presented with beautiful daffodils! What a lovely springtime reminder of The Perfect School Visit!


And tucked inside those flowers was......WILLY (from How to Steal a Dog)!

Monday, March 30, 2009

The Perfect Author Visit

I had the PERFECT author visit to Hampden Meadows School in Barrington, Rhode Island.

Librarian Jane Austin did everything right. She could write the book on HOW TO HOST THE PERFECT AUTHOR VISIT.

Many thanks to the fourth grade teachers who worked so hard to prepare the students...

...and to the awesome fourth graders at HMS who read my books, asked great questions, drew great pictures and made me feel so welcome!


Ms. Colangelo's class


Ms. Gaynor's class


Ms. Carroll's class


Ms. Waring's class


Mr. Farley's class


Ms. Couto's class


Ms. Clegg's class


Ms. Gluck's class


Ms. Burrow's class


Ms. Bailey's class


Ms. Williams's class


Sunday, March 29, 2009

Eeny meeny miny moe

Okay, still browsing for a dog to rescue.

I want this one.


No, wait....I want this one.


Or this one?


This one?


I think I need 14 more acres and one less husband.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Thursday, March 26, 2009

I'll have a Danish with my coffee....

The Danish editions:

Moonpie and Ivy (Danish title = Postcards from Pearl)


Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia (Danish title = Bird and Harlem)

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

FSG April Newsletter

Farrar, Straus & Giroux April newsletter.

It's so foreign to me

I thought it might be fun to post some pics of the foreign editions of my books.

Here are some French editions. Kids often ask me why the French publishers use photographs on the covers.

My answer?

I don't know. (Heh....at least I'm honest.)

If anybody knows, please, enlighten me.

Me and Rupert Goody


Moonpie and Ivy


Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia (French title = The Spelling Bee)
Beethoven in Paradise