IF-"Skinny"

SKINNY-NOUN: Slang --Inside information; the real facts: "learned the skinny..".

I love this job- freelance illustrating because I have gotten to "learn the skinny" the facts on so many things- and captured them in an image....
- what Surfing is like in Maui, with the crescent beaches made from the lava rock as it flowed down to the sea.

Or getting the "skinny" on the Ancient Puebloeons who once lived in Mesa Verde, researching their artifacts and then trying to illustrate what their lives might of looked like.

Or getting the "skinny" on an activity I would never  do in a million years, but it is sure interesting  to see how those people live.

Guess that is why I love being an illustrator and a writer for that matter!

I just traveled through 4 states in an afternoon...and was back in time to get the kids!

Today, I literally was in four states- it helped that is was a big circle around the Four Corners of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizonia and Utah. I am starting a new project with an educational publisher- will be doing a really simple little book set in the Navajo Reservation- so took a drive to take pics of all the places I had been a dozen times but never really paid attention to the detail-

so drove from Colorado into New Mexico- it was snowy and a low fog made the red rocks and sky look amazing!

Once through Shiprock and meandering down along the river bottom where the cottonwoods were all an amazing yellow, I headed towards Teec Nos Pos,

a trading post that is in Arizonia and has the most amazing wall of yarn, manufactured yarns to be used in rugs and hand carved Navajo folk art made of cottonwood and in the funniest characters like chickens and horses and other animals. From there I went towards the Four Corners and past there back into Colorado for just a bit before actually getting into Utah- where the San Juan river bottom was also full of brightly yelowing cottonwoods -

Back into Colorado and up Mc Elmo Canyon- -past the Ismay Trading Post where you can still get a pop...

And up the gorgeous McElmo Canyon......

And back to Cortez ans back up to Dolores- whole trip left at 11:00 a

and was at the school at 3:30 to pick up the girls. Not bad for four states!

IF-"Fast"

 

"She danced faster and faster, the red shoes not letting her stop." I love Hans Christian Andersen, though the stories are very dark. My family on my mother's side comes from Denmark and researching the churches and graveyards was really interesting.

Haven't done another fairytale illustration- I should- they are very fun.

Though Christmas feels like it is "fast" approaching- have a bunch of deadlines all in November- then can enjoy the holidays.

IF- "Frozen"

I don't even want to think about "Frozen". Right now the leaves are golden, the air is warm and the sun is glorious- but there is a huge pile of firewood in the backyard and the snow is coming!! Hopefully not to the extent where the Polar Bears wander.

From " Keeping Hearth and Home, in Old Colorado" a little book I found in Durango yesterday- featuring little tips for the "proper" lady of the 1800's-

""... the sleeping room should be so cold that ice forms in the pitcher during the night, the morning bath will be taken without a shudder and the healthy glow that follows will be more than a reward for the resolution, time and effort it cost" brrrrrrrrr!!!

IF- "Fly"

My girls always begged their father to make them "fly". Of course it was their great grandma's job, my grandma Bernice to give a lecture to all her grandson-in-laws that if they swirled their kids up in the air they were probably going to dislocate a shoulder. As the mom, I made sure my husband never let go of the kiddos, was never into the throwing our kids up in the air and catching them. But they were twirlled a lot.
Another "Maternal" theory was not to let a baby too early stand up in your lap, holding onto their hands and let them bounce- they will go "bowlegged"
Another one of grandma and my great aunts theories was if you tickled a baby too much, where they just giggled and giggled you would make them stutter. Taking their advice, many time we tickled our babies, leaning over them as they giggled and kicked, cooing over them and saying " you're gonna stutter, your gonna stutter!" ( both my kiddos have fine speech)

And of course the ever popular, "It's fun until someone gets hurt!" proclamation generated with my Grandma B. - haven't used that on my girls- both have been in karate and the oldest is a brown belt- so they would probably look at me really weird- but I do think of my Grandma B when my girls are goofing around- and miss that she isn't sitting in a nearby chair, " waving her hand their way and proclaiming the "its fun til someone get hurt" speech- she'd be sipping her afternoon coffee and nibbling on her tiny piece of snicker bar, she could make a whole bar last for a whole week, ( that is all Danish blood if you are wondering- practicality, coffee, sweets). Boy do I miss her- Danish is having a lot of mothers, grandmother and aunts "helping" you as a young mother- funny I feel privileged to have had that, learned a lot from them and at the same time don't wish that on my daughters when they are mothers- maybe by the time I'm a grandma- I'll of forgotten the annoying part of it and chime in with the aunts telling the young mothers to not let their husbands throw their kids up in the air cause they'll dislocate a shoulder.

This is Where I Was Last Weekend

We Spent the weekend in Breckenridge,Colorado-Jon had a "lawyer conference" half the time so the girls and I meandered around the town ( where we haven't been back since our honeymoon trip - ahhhhh 18 years ago. When he was done we head up to Boreas Pass and hiked and enjoyed the colors.