Happy Halloween

It's Hallowwen, when all good children dress up as ghoulies, ghosts and princesses. I thought this illustration by Martin and Alice Provensen was perfect for the day. It's from "The Provensen Book of Fairy Tales" and the story is "The Last Half Hour" by Henry Beston.

Halloween Eve

It's Halloween eve.
I got this little paper mache spook
from Off The Beam on etsy.
He's all ready for his big day tomorrow....are you?

2012 Calendar

My calendar is finally finished! It's now available in my shop here

The Owl and the Pussycat

I've always like "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear. Here is a vintage illustration by my favorite children's book illustrators, Alice and Martin Provensen. It is from the 1965 Childcraft Series Volume 1-Poems and Rhymes. I purchased it as as single page from The Print Makers.


I did this linoleum block version for my 2012 Calendar (Available October 24 in my Etsy shop!) This is just a proof- the final version is in Pea Green, of course.


And here is the poem, in case you have forgotten the words...

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

Flea Market Find

I got these nifty vintage travel guides at the Long Beach Flea Market. They date from the early 1960's and I just love the graphics on the cover. (The insides are really just travel guides with only one or two images.)

On the Road

We just got back from a road trip. Picture it...2 adults, 3 dogs, 3400 miles in a Mini Cooper. I only took a few photos (no room in the car for my camera bag so I only had my cell phone).

We drove from California to Arkansas and back on interstate 40 which follows the old Route 66 most of the way (Route 66 goes north after Oklahoma City but we continued east to Arkansas).

(Image from http://route66.backroadsplanet.com)

Northern Arizona/New Mexico gets the award for best scenery.

We spent our time in the car counting Fed Ex trucks (288 in 4 days including Fed Ex Freight, Ground and Custom Critical and one flipped on it's side with packages strewn about) and listening to one-hit-wonders on satelite radio.

We drove through the following Native American lands-Navaho, Zuni, Hopi, Apache, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Muskogee (Creek), Seminole, Sac and Fox, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi. Many of these tribes were relocated from their native lands to Oklahoma in the 1830's and their journey became known as the Trail of Tears.

We passed near these interesting-sounding places but didn't stop to explore:
Hog Trough, AR
Possum Grape AR (not to be confused with Possum Trot, AR)
Roman Nose State Park, OK (named after a Cheyenne chief)
Deaf Smith, TX (yes, there actually was a Deaf Smith)
Zuzax, NM
Searchlight, NV

The dogs loved sleeping on the bed in the hotels (found thanks to petswelcome.com) and not allowed at home.

and no one got car sick. The dogs enjoyed snoozing in the back window and enjoying the view.


These cute critters advertised Pig Out Palace in Henryetta, OK. We didn't eat there but I was really tempted to buy a t-shirt.


All in all, not a bad trip.