I have been carrying around my catalog from Lion Brand Yarn all summer but now that the weather is changing I am feeling an urge to start working on my project, a sweater for my niece Shakina. I love to see little children in hand knitted and crocheted outfits. It always seems so special and unique.
Lion Brand has so many wonderful patterns and colorful yarn that I can get carried away with projects. So I have decided to work on one thing at a time. Check out their website for inspiration http://cache.lionbrand.com/.
I heard Debby Ware talk at a book signing for her book, Scrumptious Toppers at Lion Brand. The best way to describe her style is fun and whimsical. I overheard someone say they use her book to create hats for charity which they auction off. I thought that was a nice idea. Visit her site to see her wild and wonderful collection http://www.debbyware.com.
Last year some of our favorite kid excursions have been to the local movie theater. With four kids that is not really a cheap date but fortunately our local theater gives us a few options. If you come to the first show, early afternoon show or on Tuesdays you can get discounted admission. They also offer some child friendly animation for a few dollars on Saturday. So on rainy days and sometimes when we just needed to get out and do something that becomes our option.
In fact my favorite treat last year was catching the movie Up just before it left the theaters. I did not really know what to expect with this film but it turned out to be a nice surprise. Up was a movie for all ages. The kids loved it. I laughed and cried; and came back a second time with my mother who also enjoyed it. To top it off after the show we headed across the street to Eddies Sweet Shop, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor for milk shakes. This is what a movie theater experience should be about. I am glad this movie won the Academy award if you have not seen it you can now catch it on video or TV.
This spring, however, I was upset to hear that the movie theaters have decided to raise their prices. This seems like bad timing when we are also facing higher transportation and utility expenses. This is an industry that has been making record-breaking numbers in a time of recession. The popularity of 3D flicks like Avatar had sent a message that some people are willing to pay for a novel experience. So does that mean they should squeeze every little bit out of that phenomenon.
I hope they rethink their strategy now that the numbers for the summer have come in below par. The 3-D Explosion and family flicks are the only thing that kept the numbers from really sinking.
For many people who are just trying to survive these stressful times raising prices is just pushing them over the edge. I know for my family raising prices will make us more discriminating in what we go to see. Of course, there are some movies like Up that we will want to see but for now I told the kids we can have our own theater right in the house and just catch up with some of our favorite DVDs. The wonderful thing about young children is that they are very resourceful and can watch the same thing over and over. Now they are looking forward to making popcorn and milkshakes, and choosing their favorite videos.
On a high note I want to applaud the movie houses that offered children free afternoon flicks of some of their old favorites this summer.
Fortunately, I had a very nice summer so I have much to share. In June, I started by attending the Cultural Circle Conference for writers.The topic chosen for their annual conference was finding ways to nurture both our families and our creative impulse.Finding balance is the quest for most parents so it was refreshing to see that the panel did not have one solution but addressed their own needs and struggles while talking about their ways of finding that “me” time. Entrepreneur and author, Kiki Somerville said she needs structure and quiet time to work and develop her relationship with her son.On the other hand filmmaker,Camille Holder-Brown found that with a large family, she had to wing it most of the time and grasp opportunities as they came.Children’s book author, Jwajiku Korantema and artist, Aleathia Brown both felt adversity had helped them set their priorities.
I think nurturing our creativity should be an important part of our lives whether we are creating art, writing a book or raising our children.This workshop helped me re-examine my priorities and remind me that our family relationships are forever changing.
How do you manage your family and still nurture your talents? How many of us are conflicted?
Haiku
One part of the conference included a poetry workshop. Everyone had to pick a word out of a jar and use this for inspiration in creating a haiku poem. Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of three lines with a ratio of 5, 7, 5 syllables. I picked the word “patience” something I used to have plenty of. After years of waiting to follow my dream “patience” was not the word I wanted to pick. After much angst, I came up with this poem…
Patience’s shadow covers
The playground of life until
The sun’s ray appears
Even though this was a little painful, the workshop has whetted my curiosity and I am ready to try again.So I have been doing a little research on Haiku poetry. The first and last lines of a Haiku have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7 syllables. The lines rarely rhyme. I think this could be a great end of summer project for the older kids…writing summer poems.I think we won’t worry about the rules but will just have some fun.
This past Christmas we brought my niece Shakina’s dress from Global Mamas. Global Mamas enhances the international marketplace with unique, high quality, handmade apparel, and at the same time provides sustainable livelihoods for women and girls in Africa. Their vision is for women in Africa to be economically independent. By purchasing Global Mamas’ products, you are offering Sustainable livelihoods to women in Africa. Beside all that the dress was well made and Shakina loves her dress. She wants to wear it every day.
Shakina at 2 years old is already a fashionista. She likes to mix and match outfits that she has pulled out of the hamper. She is particularly attracted to hats. And does she know how to wear them! My mother has nicknamed her “Mademoiselle Chapeau.” Everything and anything can be worn as a hat including her brother’s underwear. With her vivid imagination she manages to look quite stylish in her attire.
The other day my mother bought her a pink potty. She was very happy with it and promptly put it on her head. Now we can’t convince her to use her potty to make her poop. OOH! NO! she exclaims in disgust whenever the issue is broached. In her mind the pink potty belongs in her hat collections.
Global Mamas have a variety of outfits for young people check out their site at http://www.tradeforchange.com/
Believe it or not I remember getting milk delivered to the house back in the early sixties. We lived in East New York on the border of Brooklyn and Queens where there was plenty of open space. Since I spent my first seven years growing up in Harlem when I arrived there I thought for sure we were in the country. The vast land provided a space of horse stables where riders could enjoy. Italian immigrant families had also doted the area with small houses where they grew olive and fruit trees, and the occasional chicken and goat. There was still a working farm nearby that delivered milk to our apartment in glass bottles. The cream would settle to the top so you would always have to shake it before drinking.
So I got a little nostalgic when I heard that the Manhattan Milk Company delivers milk to their customers in Manhattan and plan on expanding their business to Brooklyn and Queens. It’s amazing to watch as old ideas become new again. Maybe I should also tell you back then that a local bakery delivered bread and cakes and if you were very sick the doctor came to your house.
This Wednesday I attended one of my favorite events the Ezra Jack Keats Awards held at the main branch of the Public Library at Fifth Ave. These awards are given annually to an outstanding new writer and illustrator of picture books for children (age 9 and under) and are presented jointly by the New York Public Library and the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. Ezra Jack Keats was a visionary who created multicultural characters ahead of his time like his classic book, A Snowy Day. He created The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation before he died in 1983. Now his long time friend Martin Pope and his wife, Lillie Pope and daughter Deborah Pope conti nue to support his vision with special literary projects. Visit http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org/
Since I have not been to The Library at Fifth Ave and 42nd, St. in quite a few years I forgot how elegant it is. You know the one with the landmark lions guarding the entrance. The building is being renovated and the Smith Court Auditorium is beautiful. The Children Center is open to visitors. So if you get a chance do visit one of New York’s treasuries - http://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman.
The stories of the new authors are always special and inspiring. The New Writer Award was given to Tonya Cherie Hegamin for her book Most Loved in All the World. Tonya has this to say about her writing, “… for me, writing has been like falling in love - you're in it, you're out of it, and after a while, when you finally commit to it, you settle into a comfortable pattern that is solid and true.” Despite the tinge of sadness in her story, Most Loved in All the World she feels that the seed of hope pervades her story, “I wanted to write about the lengths mothers will go to for the sake of giving their children a better life. The mother in this long poem is a field slave on a big plantation by day, but at night she is a secret agent for the Underground Railroad. Mama makes a very special gift for her daughter so that even if they can't be together, her child will always remember how much she is loved.” Visit her website http://www.tonyacheriehegamin.com/.
The New Illustrator Award went to Taeeun Yoo for her work on Only a Witch Can Fly. Taeeun was born in Korea and received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts Illustration. The Foundation describes her work as exquisite. Check out her work at http://www.taeeunyoo.com/.
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