beetlegrass

Booty Call

Santa saw fit to pay me another visit this year, even though some would say that I have been Nothing But Naughty.
Fortunately for me, my Santa is fairly lenient with me as regards behavior.
Without further ado, here's the bounty of treasures that was bestowed upon me:

Above: A sock giraffe! Asked my sister what I should name him, and, after a moment's consideration, the answer came back, "Nehi." Heeheehee... I said, "Nehi needs a necktie!", so of course, there needs to be a kids' book entitled, Nehi's Neckties, wouldn't you agree?

Awesome pail, more pix below...
Too-cute Ladybug racers, more pix below...

Wooden zwieback, so funny. Toast seems to be becoming a theme in my work right now. Guess I'll have to ride that wave for awhile.

A Box O Fun! Nehi's maracas are just ONE of the treats (out of 25!) that were inside. I will save the others (each individually wrapped) for dinner parties, etc.

Above: Ladybug races often bring out the worst in their participants.

Above: Zapp welcomes the Robot Pail into the fold. The inside of the pail is cool, too, with stars and a moon and the earth at the bottom.

Above: Robot puzzles (contains 3!) and miniature toys which I can't wait to use in future photos!

Above: Close-up of the miniatures.

Above: Stuff for the home and for the home office... Chopstick holders, Hello Kitty chipboard pieces (for scrap-booking or what-have-you), Lego coasters (perfect colors for my dining room), notebook paper reinforcements in funky colors/patterns, Santa Post-it notes, stickers, and Tiki pencil toppers!

Above: Fun crafty things: stickers & elastic & sequins & ribbon & postage stamps & a funny head pen.
(The Inanimate stickers are to put on items around your home to turn them into 'friends'. I'll follow up with photos on how I use these, don't worry.)

Above: A close-up of the Polish postage stamp featuring finger puppets! So cute. Love the blue hand on the left.

Above: Ways I can entertain myself... a movie, a homemade CD of Christmas music, and a reprint of a 1940s book, called How to Get Along with Boys. It may be too late for this book to have any good effect. Here's an excerpt:

"Dates" rarely happen. You must first meet a man and manage to impress him sufficiently to be asked. Then, if you like, you may affect surprise.

Do not neglect your girl friends; some of them have brothers; or their boyfriends have friends. In the normal social activities of a group, you may meet someone you like.

If you live in a small town where the eligible males are numbered and it is impossible to meet other men, you might prevail upon your family to move to a larger city. It is not advisable to consider moving to improve your marital opportunities unless you have family there or at least obtain your parents' consent and approval.

Also: A lip balm and some ham & egg bandages will see to my health care needs for the next year.

Above: More books to read! Hooray! All comedic memoirs, too, even better...

Above: Chocolates & Gum!
(Notice how I've cropped the cookie box and the blue bag of Kisses... Yeah, they've been opened and are being eaten...)

Above: Close-up of the gum with quite possibly the best. name. ever.
I'm almost afraid to chew it, I mean: look at those sad eyes! How do I dare?!?

Above: 3 tags that were on the gifts -- Santa is a right artsy old elf...

Singing in my Elvis voice: Merry Christmas, Santa, sure did treat me nice...

Click on images to see them larger.

These images are © Megan E. Jeffery, 2007.
The concept/design/image of the robot finger puppet is the property of Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Thankspugging

Just making it under the wire with this month's calendar page... Whew! That was a close one!
I am thankful for Life's Trifecta: Shelter, Food, Work.
Am also grateful to Simon & Garfunkel for their lyric from The 59th Street Bridge Song that seems to sum up today perfectly:

Got no deeds to do,
No promises to keep.
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me.
Life, I love you,
All is groovy.

This image is © Megan E. Jeffery. All rights reserved.

Li'l Things Mean A Lot

Today at the Seekonk (MA) Flea Market, a few small purchases were made; a small amount of money was spent.

Above: A bracelet charm, $1. I'm not trying to advertise (or AM I???), but thought that this would look cute with a Cupid finger puppet, or for puppets to give to each other come Valentine's Day.



Lyrics: Bernie Taupin.
This little music box dancer and the stuff in the photo below, all for $1.
I have no idea what I'm going to use her for, but she doesn't take up too much space while I ruminate.



The star fish above I thought would look good with Mermaid finger puppets, maybe the other star will be used for a military puppet???
I liked the rhinestone thing. It looks like a little frame.



Above: Cast iron hitching post, $1. This is 4.5 " tall.
Lyrics: Apologies to Gregg Allman.



Above: The reason I bought the hitching post.
Was feeling sad cuz I don't currently have a horse puppet in residence that I could tie to this thing.
Then thought: "I've got a Cowboy, I don't NEED to have a horse in order for there to be a story!"

Today's Total: $3.
The people who run the flea market say that they're going to try keep it going 'til Thanksgiving, weather permitting, of course.
Hope it stays nice!

These images are © Megan E. Jeffery, 2007.
The puppet, its design, and its image are the property of Megan E. Jeffery.
Images are not to be used without obtaining express written consent FIRST.

Creativity Quote, 4

It's a wonderment to me that we all start off on a 'level playing field', but look at the variety of results we get!

You've heard it said,

 What has been is what will be,
         and what has been done is what will be done;
         there is nothing new under the sun.
  Is there a thing of which it is said,
         "See, this is new"?
  It has already been,
         in the ages before us. (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10)

So what's left to create? What IS new?
You're new.
I'm new.
Working individually and working collaboratively can inspire a work of art that has NEVER been done before, and has NEVER been seen before.
Chalk it up to our being carefully made & specially created.
(It's like my dad has told me, "You're unique in all the world".)

I was thinking about the 'digits' part of this quote. Couldn't decide if Ruth Ross meant 'fingers' or 'numbers'.
Then decided: both fit, why choose?

(Thrown into a border design I did for some other project.)

Creativity Quote, 3

Don't quite know what this says about MEN and Creativity...
Guess you're plumb outta luck guys. 

Creativity Quote, 2

This week's quote on creativity, thrown into a border design I've done sometime over the past 18 years.
This quote was recorded when I was a Senior at RISD, and I still get that "Yup" feeling upon reading it now.
Have always admired Sendak's illustrations, but am equally impressed with how he captures feelings/concepts with words and is illustrative in that translation, too.
Another bit of wisdom in this Sendak creativity quote.

Creativity Quote

It's not National Creativity Month or anything, but now seemed just as good a time as any to share some of the quotes I've collected on the subject over the years. I'll be slamming the quotes into border designs I've illustrated. Sometimes the borders'll make sense. No guarantees though.

Pickled Notions

Today. Flea Market. Purchases.

   

 

OK, so I buy the above group of buttons -- ALL of them for 5 bucks! Wow, right? With tons of cool-looking ones that I've showcased above, along with the nifty thimble and the much-needed buckles.

So I'm opening up all of the jars, one by one, to see what little beauties are hidden within.
Get to the little jar, open it up, and -- OOOOOOO-Weeeeeee T-Shane!!! --  the overwhelming stench of BRINE just about knocks me on my keister!
(I am familiar with the smell of brine, having worked in a pickle-packing plant one summer, and believe-a you-a me-a, that is NOT a smell that you EVER forget.)
Must be the original owner of the buttons was so jar-hungry that they plopped those babies in there WITHOUT EVEN RINSING IT OUT FIRST!

So I'm blocking out any smells by holding my breath and contorting my face, poking around in the pickle jar's contents to see what is in there, cuz I won't be able to save it, but need to know what I'm missing out on.

Come across these strange little formations (above, right) and at first I'm confused.
"Did someone save part of their mineral collection in with their buttons?!?"
And then it dawns on me.
This is what happens to buttons in pickle brine!
Very interesting.
And very stinky.

So now, in addition to smelling any books that I may want to purchase at the flea market, I now have to open up jars and take a big whiff.

Also got this great metal box, $8.
Might keep emergency toiletries in it.

Today's total: $13.

Clicking on images will result in a more expansive view.

Friendship Quote, 5

Another quote for August's NATIONAL FRIENDSHIP MONTH, stuck into a border design I've done:

I like this quote because she's not laying the blame on the other person. It could just as easily be her inability to "cross the street".
I also like it because it's so true. We make the time to do the things we want to do, and we find the time to spend with friends, in whatever "format".
Life's emergencies only account for a small percentage of cancelled get-togethers.
After that, they're just excuses.
But that's MY opinion... what's yours?

Friendship Quote, 4

A poem this time to commemorate August's National Friendship Month, thrown into a border design I did for some other project.
Although this poem doesn't mention 'friendship' or 'friends' per se, I think it's implied.

I am a fan of Shel Silverstein's, and I love this poem for its pearl of truth hidden in the midst of silly rhymes and names.

I was first introduced to Silverstein's poetry back when I received a copy of his Where the Sidewalk Ends (link in the right side column "Fave Books from Childhood") back in 1974 -- I was 9.
Inscription reads: "To Megan Jeffery/ Merry Christmas 1974/ From Mother and Dad".

Prior to receiving this book, the only poems I'd memorized were Robert Frost's Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, and The Mitten Song ("Thumbs in the thumb place/ Fingers all together/ This is the song we sing in mitten weather") for a First Grade class recital.

Silverstein's poems were the first ones that I memorized just because I needed to retell them to All & Sundry.

I performed one of his poems for a 4th Grade variety show. I drew the big monster from the poem, The Worst, on a giant piece of butcher paper, colored in with pastels (remnants of which are still on that page in my book). At the end of the recitation (which begins: "When singing songs of scariness..."), I looked over my shoulder to "suddenly" spy the drawn monster, and then ran off the stage. A graceful way to exit, que no?
My first (and last) fully-conceived performance art piece.

Most of the poems are accented with Silverstein's perfect black line illustrations, another "draw" for me, and no doubt: a huge artistic influence.

I still recite my favorites from this book (ask my sister Jane for verification):

• "Teddy said it was a hat/ So I put it on..."
• "... But if you're a worm, sleep late."
• "My beard grows to my toes/ I never wears no clothes..."
• "What a day/ Oh what a day/ My baby brother ran away/ And now my tuba will not play..."
• "God gave us fingers-- Ma says, "Use your hanky..."
• "Chester come to school and said/ "Durn, I growed another head..."

There are just so many delightful poems in this book, and they're a great way to introduce kids to the world of poetry (hearing the cadence of words, how they fit together) and perhaps: start a lifelong love of verse. Worked for me!

Where the Sidewalk Ends will celebrate 33 years of being in print this November, and it remains freshly silly, fun, and pertinent.