Here’s the view from our tent flap last weekend. Notice the little girl and puppy footprints from a weekend filled with digging in the sand, playing in the water, and enjoying a campfire. One last weekend sleeping under the stars before the weather cools.
Horton hears a … new collection of stories from our beloved Dr. Seuss? Fans of the children’s author and illustrator can celebrate more fantastical tales bursting with the writer’s hallmark rhyme and invented language in the new collection, Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories.
Compiled from monthly columns that Dr. Seuss (also known as Theodore Geisel) wrote for Redbook during the 1950s, the book features four new stories that add to the characters and themes seen in some of his later works. We visit with favorites like Horton, the Grinch, and little Marco from his very first book, And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street, as well as get to know a not-very-nice bullying insect called a Kwuggerbug, who manipulates Horton into finding beezlenuts for him. Dr. Seuss wrote and illustrated 43 children’s books during his career. His learn-to-read simple stories, embedded with morals and told in silly, rhyming cadence, are our favorites, hands-down. I think we’ll find a copy of this under our tree this year for sure!
Think back to the days of childhood and how much fun it was to role-play the chore of shopping for groceries. My girls can spend hours playing the game of “grocery shop.”
For artist Lucy Sparrow, it’s not just child’s play. Her latest project, the Cornershop, is a temporary installation featuring a traditional neighborhood grocery store whose inventory is made completely of wool and felt. Lucy was inspired by an old, abandoned launderette in London and got to work.
It certainly does seem as though the former Princess Dry Cleaning shop should be turned into a fabulous piece of art.
Lucy spent seven months stitching close to 4,000 replicas of everyday grocery items and then stocking them on the shelves of her Cornershop.
Oh, it would be too fun to peruse the aisles of Lucy’s Cornershop! If only London was in my future travel plans. If you happen to be in London this month or in Brighton in October, do tell us all about it! 🙂
Last Saturday, when we went to our local Farmers’ Market, Mom and I got a friendly reminder to dance like no one’s watching …
Where do you think these two got their moves? 😉
It was a beautiful day yesterday on the Palouse. Maybe it was the weather, low 80s with a lovely breeze. Maybe it was the long bike ride we took getting to the Farmers’ Market. Maybe it was the live band that was playing all my grandmother’s favorite big band tunes. Or maybe it was the happiness these two daughters of mine exude over the simplest of things.
Or maybe it was the brunch date at our favorite outdoor breakfast nook with Nanny Jane.
Probably it was all of it that made it so fabulous! (We love our little town.)
With the kids back in school, I’m wondering if you heard my big sigh of relief? It was awesome to have enjoyed a wonderful summer focused entirely on them, but I look forward to getting back into the school routine. Even so, as a mom, I think it’s impossible not to miss them and wonder if they’re eating their lunches and hope they aren’t skinning their knees on the playground, etc.
Looking for a good distraction, my best girlfriend and I saddled up her SUV and went for a drive.
Destination = Glorious Small-town Antique Shops!
Doesn’t this just make you smile? Especially when you find the sweetest owner inside and she just happens to be canning peaches in a kitchen attached to her antique shop. Of course she was! Even better, she had a faded Wave If You’re A Farmgirl bumper sticker on her door. And, of course, I found the perfect cast-iron Christmas tree stand (in August).
Feeling all sunshine-y and wonderful, we hit the road again and happened upon a sunflower field. We don’t really have sunflower fields around here, so this required us to stop and jump the creek for a selfie. Is it still called a selfie if your BFF is in it, too?
Do you have a Lego-lover in your life?
Or, perhaps an aspiring pirate?
Photo by Ronny Siegel via Wikimedia Commons
Either way, you may not want to mention what I’m about to tell you—unless, of course, you’re ready to hoist anchor and set sail.
photo by Walt Faulds via Wikimedia Commons
Let’s just say that even the most deluxe carton of Legos will no longer quell your budding explorer’s desires.
There’s a little-known destination on the coast of Cornwall, England, that’s sure to inspire desperate dreams of departure and, curiously, Lego lust.
Puzzled? Read on …
It isn’t a matter of scenery, no matter how grand …
Photo by Tom Corser via Wikimedia Commons
The temptation is treasure, booty, loot … Lego loot, to be specific.
Legend has it (well, actually, BBC News reports) that in 1997, nearly five million Lego pieces were lost at sea when a mighty wave hit the Tokio Express freighter, bound for New York, dislodging 62 giant containers.
“Shortly after that, some of those Lego pieces began washing up on both the north and south coasts of Cornwall. They’re still coming in today,” reports BBC’s Mario Cacciottolo. “A quirk of fate meant many of the Lego items were nautical-themed, so locals and tourists alike started finding miniature cutlasses, flippers, spear guns, sea grass, and scuba gear as well as dragons.”
Beachcombing Cornwall resident Tracey Williams began a Facebook page in 2013 to document the local Lego fever.
“These days, the holy grail is an octopus or a dragon. I only know of three octopuses being found, and one was by me, in a cave in Challaborough, Devon,” Williams told BBC. “It’s quite competitive. If you heard that your neighbor had found a green dragon, you’d want to go out and find one yourself.”
Photo by Ronja Wiedenbeck via Legos Lost at Sea
Williams’ Lego Lost At Sea page has over 35,000 fans and offers daily posts, so even if you can’t cast off to Cornwall, you can delight in the finds of other treasure hunters.
Photo by Tracey Williams via Legos Lost at Sea
Granted, there’s the not-so-fun possibility of plastic pollution here, but at least these pieces are being picked up with fervent enthusiasm as they wash ashore. My kids are game, but …
setting sail isn’t really a possibly for us but this is. Did you know it’s easy to make a small dent in Lego plastic production by patronizing Pley, a Lego rental service that encourages a play and pass-it-on philosophy. Imagine how fun to find a new “treasure” in your mailbox every time you trade in a tired set?
Genius!
What my couch really looks like in the midst of pool dates, camping trips, craft projects, and bike rides this summer.
Maybe when I finally take some time to sit down, I’ll get it all folded and put away. Where do you sort and fold your laundry?
Is it just me or do you get excited when you finally buy that new purse you’ve been wanting? You know the feeling, right? You can’t wait to get home and organize all of your belongings in all the fun new pockets and throw out the smashed granola bars and the business cards of people you’ve since forgotten and post-its that are total gibberish. Whose phone number is this anyway?
I’ve never owned one of those super-big calendars that have room for ALL of life’s details. In fact, I have a little one for work, one for personal, one for jogging, and a pile of random post-its of things worth remembering. Maybe most people use the uploadable sort these days, or their smart phone.
But I must say, I finally upgraded to a calendar that holds it all, and it feels just like a new purse. Or a whole new year! Look at all this clean space and open air for getting my life organized and just so. I mentioned it to a friend and she replied, “Wait until you have a new ‘dedicated calendar’ pencil!” Maybe someday I’ll get with it and keep a digital calendar. But for right now, mid-August, I’m enjoying this simple upgrade. (My oversized calendar pages are blank, so I still have 12 months to go.)
We loaded our campers and headed out—two weekends in a row. We always look forward to good eats around the campfire.
Add a pile of meat or maybe some salmon, a mound of veggies, plenty of butter, salt, and pepper, and wrap it all up in double foil.
Ahhh, the sound of sizzling goodness.
We don’t have pictures of us enjoying our Hobo Dinners because it was too dark for photos, but perfect for a night around the campfire.
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
