HAPPY DRAGON’S DAY!!!

Ok... it is actually St. George’s Day, but my family decided that it should be Dragon’s Day instead! Why does the dragon always have to be the one to get picked on? We also felt like we had a lot to celebrate, even if Nick was battling a bad cold.

Last week, Bethany did a marvelous job as the tall Egret in “Once Upon A Lily Pad” for the District 2 Drama Festival.




Monday night, Erin won the District 2 Oratory Competition and I finally got a picture of her with the medal downloaded.




Bethany also visited the local SPCA to take in all of the animal food, kitty litter, toys and cash that she received instead of birthday presents at her party. They made up a nice certificate to present to her to thank her for her generosity and is already thinking about what charity to help out next year!



So... back to Dragon’s Day. Bethany and I decorated the dining room with some of our stuffed dragons.



My mom got REALLY inventive for this meal and moulded the meat loaf into tiny dragon shapes before she cooked them! Of course this meant that when we put them on our plates, we just had to add some ketchup and mustard flames.... right?



My stepfather, John, got even more creative... his dragon is also pooping out HP sauce!
(Glad that wasn’t on MY plate! Eeeeeewwww!)



The only hard moment was after grace when Bethany picked up her knife and fork only to realize that she had to cut the cute little dragon meat loaf to eat her dinner!



Oh well... maybe a few dragons did fall to the sword on St. George’s Day... but they were delicious!

What Makes You COOL....

It was a beautiful day here in Moncton with temperatures finally getting up to 19 degrees (that’s into the 60s!) which felt WONDERFUL after this long winter.

I was standing at the bus stop this morning to get my kids on the bus and discovered that I have gone WAY up in the estimation of two of the kindergarten boys that get on at the same bus stop as Erin & Bethany. Apparently, the dinosaurs that I drew at Queen Elizabeth yesterday REALLY impressed them. Draw a few fangs and sharp claws and suddenly, I am right up there with Batman. Ok... maybe not quite that high, but it was fun to discover the priorities of a 5 year old male.

Another mother came over to tell me that her daughter had been very impressed with the Illustrator that came to the school yesterday, but the mother hadn’t put two and two together until she overheard my conversation with the two boys. “I thought you did that stitchy thingy?” she said sounding a bit puzzled. I hid my grin.

Nick called a few minutes ago to let me know that the photo of me is on the District 2 web site. Pretty cool... even if I can shoot webs from my hands!

When Worlds Collide...

I am finally surfacing to take a breath! This was supposed to be three separate blog entries, but even getting my computer turned on in the past 5 days has been a rarity, so with three different titles and subsections, here’s a glimpse into the chaos of my life:

The Joy of Learning Something New...

Thanks to a wonderful friend named Barb, I am totally addicted to a new pastime. I am trying to learn how to knit a sock. Sock experts will laugh, but I am still in the feverish thrill of learning a new skill.

First, Barb sends me a box of lovely yarn and needles to tempt me. She figured that after the “excitement” of the past month, I deserve a little pampering and torture all rolled into one exquisite experience. Bless you, Barb, I haven’t had this much fun since I learned to cross stitch!



Of course the first time I cast on my stitches and started to knit, I started going backwards somehow and inside out, but my mother quickly set me straight. She couldn’t help with the knitting part since she and I have TOTALLY different tensions. I am a VERY tight stitcher. I always have to go up at least a size or two in needles to keep from creating things in miniature.



Learning how to hold this little porcupine handful of 5 needles was also a bit of a challenge. Nick found it so hilarious that he took my picture. I hate being photographed in my jammies, so I’ve cropped the heck out of the picture, but .... honest... I AM having fun.



My knitting, when learning something new (ie. anything other than fluffy scarves) is just a tiny bit faster than my stitching. Think of a turtle racing towards you blindfolded through molasses.... I am a little bit faster than that.



But I am having a BLAST! I finally finished the little bit of ribbing and moved on to the stockinette stitch. Here’s my sock so far. Laugh and the dragon will bite you!

The Launch of A Book...

When the author and I first decided to hold the book launch at the Magnetic Hill Zoo, we picked the second week of April because the Zoo was opened on weekends and we thought we might pick up a lot of people passing by as well as the people we bribed (ok... more like begged, pleaded and blackmailed) to show up for the book launch.

By the middle of last week, the temperatures were soaring into double digits and Maritimers were almost giddy as the snow melted around us. I saw neighbours out walking that I haven’t spoken to in almost 5 months. It was a LONG winter with drifts higher than Nick and I in many places. Wonderful, we thought. All the animals will be out and people will want to spend a warm spring day up at the zoo.

It snowed Saturday. Not just a few fluffy white flakes. Almost an INCH of the icky white stuff fluffed its way out of the sky and onto the city. The zoo animals were smart. They hid inside. We were inside too, but as the snow grew heavier around noon, Paul and I began to worry about the really important things.... Who was going to eat all the cake?



Luckily, we have a lot of terrific friends and a supportive community. People braved the slippery roads to come up to the book launch.



They brought me flowers, chatted, designed their own dinosaurs and got us to sign books.



Sue even made little blue dinosaurs for each of us. What talent!




I even ended up on the evening news for a quick 30 second promo spot!! Since absolutely NO ONE came to the zoo itself, they were VERY glad that we gave them a dollar from every book sold for the Year of the Frog. The leftover cake went to church with me the next day...




What Else Needs To Be Done...

Now amid all the excitement of the book launch, radio & newspaper interviews, my daughters decided that a little extra pressure might make my life more interesting. Erin had a group project to work on that required friends being over at our house painting a model, writing a speech in French and I also had to listen to her practice her Persuasive Speech on a given topic for a contest at school.

Bethany has been practicing for her role as the lead Egret in “Once Upon A Lily Pad”, a sweet musical that the grade 3-4s were putting on this week at the Drama Festival. Like an idiot, I had filled out the form months ago saying that I would help with costumes. Guess when they needed to be made? Yup, I spent most of Friday and Sunday nights on the living room floor with white garbage bags for egret wings, making turtle shells out of green garbage bags, wire, newspaper and green fabric or painting shadows onto flower petals for costumes. Am I just totally insane or stuck with that super mom complex? (I am somewhat reluctant to admit that I was totally pleased with the results... if somewhat stiff from crouching on hardwood.)

Monday was spent delivering costumes to school, books to local bookstores and shops then frantically stitching on the ornament for Just Cross Stitch magazine. I’d written down the wrong date for the deadline and that has really messed everything up. Remember what a slow stitcher I am? At least I am totally pigheaded about honouring commitments and doing without sleep if necessary.

Tuesday is my double meeting day for Weight Watchers and it was a great topic this week to do as a leader, but that meant stitching into the night a bit more than my hands were happy with.

This morning I went to Queen Elizabeth School as the visiting illustrator. When I’d blocked off the date 2 months ago on the calendar, it had been wide open!! Today was also the Drama Festival, so I raced over after I spoke to the 3 grade levels and managed to watch Bethany as the lead Egret. What a wonder to watch your children find a passion and run with it! If the photos I took this afternoon turn out, I'll post them.

Now I am frantically blogging before I head back upstairs to stitch. My fingers itch to knit a bit, but I am using that as a reward for getting the ornament finished. Bait is good. Sleep is optional. I am a crafter!!!

Finally... A Regular Saturday!

Sometimes you don’t know how badly you need things to be normal again until they happen.

For the first time in over a month, we had a regular Saturday morning. There were no swim lessons, no volleyball tournaments, no one was injured, away or undergoing surgery...

The girls and I are all on antibiotics for awful sinus and throat infections, but they have started to kick in and we don’t feel nearly as miserable as we did 48 hours ago.

We did a few errands after a pancake breakfast at one of the local churches with Mom & John. She’s up and about now, though still getting used to the new medication that goes along with the pacemaker. When she gets frustrated about her slow progress, I point out that it has only been a week since the surgery and how glad we are that everything turned out all right.

Nick and I even had a nap this afternoon while the girls enjoyed a massive Barbie game in the basement.

I’m blogging quickly tonight because our city and our family plan to observe EARTH HOUR tonight and spend an hour with NO electricity on at all. Having watched The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising movie last night, I plan to introduce my girls to the book by Susan Cooper which is MUCH more detailed than the movie. That should be the perfect tale to read by candlelight!

Saying Goodbye to Nanny Kay...

It’s sad when an author dies before all of their stories get told.

When Madeleine L’Engle, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Andre Norton each passed away, I felt a keening sense of regret that there would never be a “new” story to look forward to. Having reread most of my Andre Norton collection early this year , I know that I can still treasure the works that they shared with the world over and over and over... but it’s still not quite the same.

I found out in January that Nanny Kay had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. After my own health fears all fall, I could imagine the disbelief she was feeling. Sadly, the cancer won the battle on Monday night.

Yesterday, I went to the funeral home to say goodbye to the woman who helped set my feet on their current path and to tell her family how much she meant to me. It was very hard.
On the kneeler before the coffin were the two books that she had written, the second of which I had the privilege of illustrating.

I met Nanny Kay at “STORYFEST 2006”, an enrichment event put on by our local school district. I’d been called in at the last minute to help chaperone the group of students from Queen Elizabeth (including Erin) because I had a “flexible” work schedule. I almost refused to go. I dreaded being around authors and illustrators who had actually gone out to do what I had only dreamed of doing since I was 11 years old. I was using my art, I’d built an international reputation as a cross stitch designer over 13 years, I worked from home to be there for my kids, but I’d never gotten around to that which I wanted most... to illustrate children’s books.

During the course of the day, one of the presenters mentioned that author Kay Doucette, known as Nanny Kay, was having trouble finding someone to illustrate her second children’s book. I met up with her, introduced myself and gave her my business card. Within a few days of looking through my portfolio and some rough pencil sketches that I drew up, she’d hired me to draw the illustrations for Just Nanny and Me & Fun Things To Paint. For 10 weeks through a hot summer of trying not to sweat on my artwork, I drew at our dining room table and we put the book together for its release in September of 2006. The following spring at “STORYFEST 2007”, I was there as guest presenter doing an illustration workshop.

Had it not been for Nanny Kay hiring me and encouraging me, I might never have actually chased the dream of illustrating children’s books. It would have been so easy to avoid trying what I wanted most ... in order to not fail at something that would hurt deeply if I didn’t succeed. I might never have learned all the technical things that made putting together Owen & The Dinosaur so much easier.

Sometimes, there are special people who come into our lives for a reason. We may not understand it fully, or appreciate it as much as we should, but we certainly feel the loss when they leave. Goodbye Nanny Kay.

From Darkness To JOY!

I have my husband home...

HALLELUJAH!

My mom has a pacemaker and is out of ICU...

HALLELUJAH!

Erin and her team won the gold medal in their volleyball tournament yesterday...

YAY! YIPPEE! YAHOO!

The Easter Bunny brought some chocolate...

YUM!!!

I get to go to bed with my husband instead of the stuffed animals...

THANK GOODNESS! THANK GOD!

Light and Warmth In the Darkness...

It is the darkest day of the year for my faith, this Good Friday. A day when light and warmth can seem very far away if you let them.

Yesterday was ice rain, rain and slick roads for most of the day. This morning is sideways snow and spring seems hopelessly far away.

Yesterday morning, my mother had to go to the hospital with an irregular heartbeat and it has turned out to be a bit more serious than we hoped. She will be in ICU for the Easter weekend.


It would be so easy to give in to despair...

It would be easy to get into the Easter candy early...

Life is seldom easy!

I can remember looking at grown ups as a child. I thought they were so lucky to be able to stay up as late as they wanted, earn their own money to buy things and pick what gets cooked for dinner.

As an adult, I know that many of us don’t get enough sleep, have bills to pay and grab something to eat on the go which may not be the best for our health.

Life is not about how easy your path is, but how you travel it.

Do you look around you at the scenery and appreciate the beauty that you find around you or are you always looking for a shortcut or envying other roads?

Do you take time to speak to people along the way, stop and give directions, point out neat spots to others, share part of your sandwich with someone who is hungry, play 20 questions and listen to the radio at full blast when a great song comes on... or are you racing to your destination with a speed and intensity that lets nothing distract you?

The dark times remind us to treasure all that is precious... to rely on the hugs of friends... to say “I love you” more often... to count the many blessings that we do have... and to remember that after the darkness comes the brilliance of the dawn.

Things I Am Learning with Nick Away...

Being a single parent in the midst of report card season, pre-Easter activities and upcoming school holidays has taught me a lot this week. I need to make myself smile tonight, so here’s what I’ve learned while Nick is up in the Yukon helping organize his father’s funeral.

1) My kids will eat almost anything for supper if I convince them it is something new and unusual that Dad might not let them do if he were here.

2) I can let off steam to unsuspecting telemarketers who call during supper hour.

3) All 6 of my stuffed animals on Nick’s side of the bed along with the pillow bolster do NOT compensate for his body weight. I am waking up in the middle of the bed doing a dead man’s float and snoring... how attractive!

4) It feels strange not to have anything of his in the laundry pile.

5) I’ve gone back to wishing I could stuff myself through a phone line so that I can hug him in person... just like I did when we were dating long-distance.

6) I’m starting to talk to the hamster again for adult conversation.

7) I am more ruthless with the paper clutter on the counters. Shredding things into pieces or scrumpling them into wads is good therapy and keeps me from biting my fingernails or getting into the chocolate.

8) If I must get into some chocolate, baking chocolate chip cookies with my girls can be justified as a math lesson, a chance to learn a necessary life skill, a bonding experience and much more. Making sure that at least half of the cookies go out the door to an event also keeps me from eating the rest when they are at school!

9) There really is nothing good on TV late at night!

10) If I read until very late at night, and get really, really tired, I don’t jump at ever creak and groan the house makes in the middle of the night. The only problem is that the next morning, all the creaks and groans come from me!

Goodbyes Are NEVER Easy...

How quickly life can change in a heartbeat...

A few hours after I blogged last night, Nick got word that his father had taken a turn for the worse and was slipping away, so instead of going to bed, we headed downstairs to the computer, booked a flight for him, packed, made some calls and got him out on the 6 am flight this morning for a 17 hour trip from Moncton, New Brunswick to Whitehorse, Yukon.

If there were a longer route to get from point A to point B in our country, I’d be surprised. Nick went Moncton to Toronto, Toronto to Vancouver on the other coast of our country and then Vancouver up north to Whitehorse. Find them on a map and you’ll see just how far he had to race to get to his Dad’s side.

Sadly, he didn’t make it in time.

As I write this, Nick is somewhere in the air between Vancouver and Whitehorse. He woke with a start from a power snooze on the second leg of the flight somehow knowing that it was too late. He called me from Vancouver once he landed to touch base and I had to let him know that he was right.

Luckily, Nick was able to speak to his father late last night before he left and tell him that he loved him and that he was on his way. There are many who don’t get that chance to say goodbye in time.

My girls have cried themselves out as you do with that first huge loss of someone you love in your life. I have spent the day trying to be strong for them, holding down the fort and just aching for Nick and the loss he is facing... but he is where he needs to be right now. He will be able to help his stepmother through the next few difficult days once he arrives tonight.



Luckily, both my girls were able to have fond memories of Ken and Colleen’s visit here for Thanksgiving in 2006 when his health was already starting to fail. Did it hurt more because they got to know him despite the distance or will the memories comfort them? Despite the pain that they are feeling now, I know that they will carry the good forward with them. How can it be a bad thing to know that you were loved?



I worry that Nick’s shoulders, who are always so strong for others, are still recovering. I hope that somehow he can find moments to rest amid this new round of chaos and that from this sadness, some healing will come as he pays his final respects to his Dad.

I called mine tonight to remind him of how much I love him.

Luckily, Ken is no longer in pain.

Never forget to say those “I love yous” as often as possible. We don’t always get to plan when we have to say goodbye.

Goodbye Ken.

Back From March Break!

We’ve been home a week from a fabulous (if somewhat slower paced) trip to London, England for Spring Break. Now that the snowstorms, jet lag, time change and laundry are done, I can finally get caught up on e-mail, blogging and other fun news!



The proofs for Owen & The Dinosaur looked great. The author and I poured over them and signed off on everything (with a few corrections or spots to watch out for) and so now I just have to sit back and let them print the copies! We’ve set the date of the book launch here in Moncton for April 12th at the Magnetic Hill Zoo from 1 to 3 pm. Like many zoos around the world, they are celebrating 2008 as the year of the frog to bring attention to water quality and other threats to habitats. Since dinosaurs did end up extinct and frogs are about as close as we could come since none of our museums in the city have much in the way of fossils, we decided this was the closest fit. One dollar from every book sold during the launch will be donated to this cause at the zoo!

I managed to get the website updated today as well to include the calorie-free Easter treat that I’d been promising. I had such fun doodling little dragonlets with bunny ears that I even have next year’s planned already. Actually, next year’s may involve a contest as well and I will post the chart earlier. If you wander over to our web site’s newsletter right now, you’ll be able to get your claws on the 2008 Easter Dragonlet and stitch it up before next weekend. I know you... you stitchers are FAST... MUCH faster than this dragon!

Tomorrow is the last session of swimming lessons for the girls which is good because Erin’s volleyball is switching into high gear. I think we have tournaments almost every other weekend until the Nationals/Easterns are held here in May. I foresee a lot of stitching and knitting on the sidelines!

It’s DONE!!!

If I had more energy, I would skip around the house in a mad dragon dance of glee... but I have discovered that I just can’t do without sleep as often as I used to in my 20s!

Instead, I am sitting with a warm mug of tea in my claws and purring happily to myself. Ok, maybe dragons rumble with contentment instead of purring... but you get the idea.

All the files for Owen & the Dinosaur have made it safely to the printer’s. They will take care of getting the colour proofs ready while I take some time off and enjoy Spring Break with my family. Yesterday’s snowstorm made it feel anything BUT spring like, however the day off school meant that Nick could get a bit more rest. His balance is still going wonky at the darndest times. He’s been back at school this week but trying to take it a bit easy (as much as a Principal can when they are in the building ) but he’s VERY tired when he gets home at night!

I’ve been working on the website updates for March and they should be posted before lunch time tomorrow, including the announcement of the winners from our name the dragons contest and information about the Easter present for stitchers this month... a tiny dragonlet with bunny ears and a basket. It will go up on the site on March 16th so that all you speedy stitchers can get some done in time for the next weekend. Another great treat with no calories!

If I am quiet here for a week or so, know that I am fine. I am resting, recharging and spending some MUCH needed time with my family! Yawn..... This dragon is WAY to tired to stay up and watch Survivor tonight!

Beating My Head Against The Screen ...

This is the most frustrating part of the whole book process!

The drawings are all done... they looked fine when scanned in at 600 dpi... but then when I need to convert them to CMYK for the printing process, each page turns into MONSTER FILES that are 265 MB and up!

My poor older Mac running Photoshop 2.0 just doesn’t have enough memory to handle playing around with files that size unless I want to watch it think for 10 to 15 minutes between each command.

So...

Somewhere along the line, I have to compromise.

I hate compromising when it comes to the inner perfectionist’s sense of quality control.

I feel like I have been compromising and compromised all week!

I’ve done all the driving while Nick recovers his sense of balance, purchased birthday presents for parties, driven a rocking chair to school for a Rock-A-Thon, packed the sleeping bag, air mattress and other sundries for an Explorer sleep over, driven to volleyball practices & meetings, driven to doctor’s appointments.... until I am ready to scream!

When the going gets tough... the tough hide in the basement, stay up late and work in the peace and quiet once everyone else has gone to bed.

I am sure that when I hold the book in my hands, this will all be worth it....

but right now, there isn’t enough chocolate in the WORLD to ease this frustration!

Tests, Trials & Tribulations...

All of the drawings are done!



As with the last book, one coloured pencil barely held out until the very end. I may have to start a collection of teeny, tiny pencil bits in a jar as trophies!

I am amazed that I actually got them done considering all that has gone on in the last few weeks.

I had my test. Preparing for it was horrible... then I couldn’t eat for 48 hours. Did I ever mention that dragons get very grumpy when they aren’t fed?

The day of the capsule endoscopy test, they told me to dress in loose clothing. The only problem is that I don’t own any loose pants any more. I gave all my larger sizes away when I lost my weight 6 years ago... so I had to borrow a pair of Nick’s. I headed off to the hospital and they hooked me up. Here’s how attractive I felt....



Here’s a peek at the cool belt that held the data recorder for 8 hours during the test. It recorded everything that the camera sent during its trip through the dragon. I kept waiting to hear Miss Frizzle announce another field trip on the Magic School bus every now and then...



Here’s how many wires and pads were hooked up to the dragon underneath the loose shirt. Pulling them off at the end of the test made the dragon roar a bit. They were so sticky that I am still scrapping off little patches of grey adhesive almost 2 weeks later in a few spots.



The dragon was VERY happy to get this test over with. No children or husband were eaten in the process... but it was close. Even dust bunnies under the couch were looking tasty!



Last week, we had more snow storms roll through. Monday the 11th probably should have been a snow day because the wind was wicked and the snow was blowing sideways. A few buses came close to going off the roads and one or two school buses did run into trouble but no one was hurt. Wednesday the 12th, there was a storm that brought snow then freezing rain and then rain all in one day. The roads were horrid and school was canceled, so my whole family did the happy dance while I tried to work with everyone underfoot. Wednesday night the temperature plunged and everything turned into a giant skating rink. The stores started running low on salt and sand as everyone tried to cope. Thursday morning school was canceled because there was very little traction whatsoever. Again with the happy dance... though the girls got a bit grumpy when I actually made them work on the projects they had due and had put off the day before due to snow day glee and a massive Barbie game. I am such a mean mommy dragon!

Friday morning everyone was back at school for belated Valentine’s Day events and projects that were due. I drove Nick up to work, took both girls and their projects as well as Teacher Appreciation Week baking to the school. Bethany’s class had to make robots (not working ones) and she made an adorable bunny that scooted around on coaster. Can you believe in all the chaos that I forgot to take a picture before it went to school? I hope it comes back in one piece! Bethany was also heartbroken to learn that her teacher had fallen on the ice and broken her wrist the day before, requiring surgery to fix it! Poor Madame! (Bethany is in French Immersion)

I headed off to one of the local schools with my portfolio to fill in for a rescheduled author and illustrators day. One of the presenters had been unable to make it on the Friday and I was a fill-in. I had a great time right up until lunch when I got the call to come to the office.

Nick had been trying to get a bunch of kids to come in off some dangerous ice on the playground at his school when his feet went out from under him. The Vice-Principal was calling to let me know that Nick had split the skin on the back of his head and that they were taking him to the Emergency Room. Needless to say, the last hour of presentations was a bit of a blur. I raced to the hospital as soon as I was done (after calling my Mom in a panic to meet the girls at the bus stop). The ER was full of broken limbs, cracked ribs and other “slip & fall” injuries including one other man with a wound almost identical to Nick’s! 6 hours, 9 stitches and a “mild concussion” later, I brought my poor hubby home. I decided not to post the totally gross picture of his stitches that I took with my digital camera so that he could see what the back of his head looked like. It made him quite woozy... and I don’t want to do the same to any blog readers!

The weekend was a blur of taking care of Nick and working on drawings, getting ready for Sunday School, youth group a concert and the last part of volleyball tryouts for Erin. There is a new provincial-level team for girls 14 & under that she’d tried out for on Thursday night. She was good enough to be asked to go with 7 of the other girls to play in a tournament on Saturday that needed one more team to round things out. The girls met for the 1st time that morning, practiced a bit together and... went on to win the gold medal and the whole tournament! Erin was VERY proud and is thrilled to have officially made the team as of last night.



This morning was more snow, freezing rain and then POURING rain for about 6 hours. The streets are skating rinks once again with an inch or two of water on top of all the ice. We’ll have to watch the weather for the next few days and hope the temperatures stay ABOVE freezing until more of this horrid stuff melts.

I am SO glad to have all the drawings done. Now I just have to take them to be scanned tomorrow and build the final versions of the pages in the computer. The end is in sight...

The Looming Deadline Dragon...

Have you ever felt a deadline breathing down your neck? With less than 10 drawings left to complete for the book, it seems like I just can’t make my hands draw fast enough. When the going gets tough, I have to be extra careful not to push the hands to the point where they shake and ruin a drawing... because with paper and pen, you can’t just push the “UNDO” command on a keyboard!

I managed to get the website updated for February at last, so I think January just slipped into the same black hole that eats socks out of the dryer. I also got all of my class proposals organized for the fall show in Toronto. As soon as I hear which ones get accepted, I will post details and titles on our website to tempt you!

Dad is now out of the hospital and seems to be on the mend. It is SO hard to be far away when stuff like this happens. I can’t just drive across town or head up the street the way I can with our other parents. Both my father and Nick’s live very far away from us, even though they are close in our hearts. It is hard not to be able to see them when they are hurting!

Grant underwent surgery yesterday because a liver was found (just as things were getting very dicey) so all those prayers must have helped! We are waiting to hear details today, but the surgery went well, he got to keep his spleen and now we hope he will be on the road to recovery. Please keep him in your thoughts as his body recovers from this huge operation.

I go through another test on Monday (hopefully the last for a while) called a Capsule Endoscopy where I get to swallow a tiny camera in a pill and wear a special vest to record the data it transmits as it passes through my system. This will hopefully give them the details they need to rule out one more health mystery. Given what Dad has been through with his colon cancer, I don’t mind them being thorough in my case to make sure nothing is brewing inside. I only wish that I didn’t have to drink two more rounds of that lemon-flavoured battery acid they get you to take before hand. I will be a very grumpy, feeling sorry for myself dragon Sunday night and Monday morning.

Now I just need to draw as much as possible over the weekend!

Finding My Balance...

Slowly, but surely, I am finding my balance... even when life seems to want to make me tip over.

I am learning to say no, to lift less things if any, to listen to my body, to eat right and to hug those I love more often. This week has been a perfect reminder of why that is so important.

My Dad is back in the hospital. His last chemo treatment was so rough on his body that he can’t eat and was dropping weight so fast that they needed to get him on an IV and feed him that way. It was hard to talk to him on the phone and hear how weak he sounds. The treatments are so hard on his body. I’m not ready to say goodbye to my Dad yet!

I’m not ready to say goodbye to a friend either! I found out this week that Nanny Kay has pancreatic cancer. I will forever be grateful to this wonderful lady for her encouragement and the chance to illustrate a first children’s book. How can this be happening when she still has so many stories to tell? I spent most of the fall in terror that my own health crisis was going to reveal something horrible. While I have certainly had to make quite a few changes to my life in the past 2 months... degenerative disc disease won’t kill me!

Bethany was home sick yesterday after running a high fever the night before. I’ve been feeling somewhat panicky about focussing so much attention, time and billable hours on the book lately as we race to get it ready to publish. Doing less freelance work for paying clients means less income coming in. Yesterday, however, when Bethany was feeling so sick, I was able to work on drawings at the dining room table and get up to check on her every time I needed a stretch or she needed something. If I’d been working full-time OUTSIDE the home, we’d have run into the same chaos & tough decisions that so many working parents face.

I have been so busy working on OWEN & THE DINOSAUR and learning to draw in shorter bursts that I’ve hardly had the computer on at all. What a strange thing in this digital age!



I’ve only got 9 drawings left to complete before we do the computer layout and get the book off to the printer’s. I’d originally hoped to get it to them by the end of January, but given all the turmoil of the fall, I’m not as far behind as I feared.



Because the drawings will be scanned in on a scanner that can handle 11 x 14” sheets of paper, I’ve been batching smaller drawings onto the same page to save money. It does confuse some people when I show off the pictures...



but it certainly lets me keep the style and colours more consistent.



I love putting lots of detail into the pictures...



One of the biggest challenges was redrawing the watercolour that I’d originally sent to Nimbus Publishing (to show two different styles) along with the coloured pencil character sketches. The dinosaur had changed a bit to be more appealing and a bit less scary.



First I retraced the pencil sketch onto drawing paper and began to put the coloured pencil layers in. The composition changed a bit as we focussed more on Owen and the dinosaur.



After all the coloured pencil layers were done, it was time to add the brush markers on top to help blend things together and add more vibrancy to the colours. Here, the sky and water have already been done, but nothing else.



Once all the marker layers have been done, it is type to ink in the detail. This is the opposite of comic books or animation where the inking is done first. If I ever learn to do this in the computer, I’d probably to the line art first, but my hands still do what I want better this old fashioned way than in my computer. It is just such a slow process!!



This close-up shows how much the black pen details make Owen stand out compared to the rest of the drawing...



Ever so slowly, more and more details and outlines get added in. If I feel my hands or back getting tired during this stage, I make sure to take a break because one slip of the pen could be a total disaster!!



Finally, all the inking is done and the piece is complete. It looks very different from the bold hues in the watercolour, but it certainly matches the rest of the book much better now. I also like this version of the dinosaur much better than my original. This dino I would bring home!



I finished off the other large beach drawing shortly after to keep my colour palette the same and avoid having one pencil or marker wear out.

I also had great fun doing this cartoonish picture of Owen. It comes at a place in the book where he’s explaining to the dinosaur that he used to be afraid of the dark, so the cartoony style is to show how he’s remembering the event.



There's most of what I’ve been up to. I also put in two class proposals for the TNNA show in Columbus to see if I will be teaching during that trade show, I wrote an adorable poem for a design called “Dragon’s Lullaby” which I will teach first at the CreativFestival next fall and plotted with Teresa for what joint class we’d teach in Toronto next October. Now I just have to submit all my CSNF class proposals before the end of January.

Did I say that I’ve been finding my balance? I think I need a nap!

One small gift...

This magical heart appeared on our kitchen window during the last snowstorm. Over the holidays, we had 4 storms in 7 days! I took a picture of it before the back window snow thawed out, not knowing how appropriate it would be for this blog.

I got in to see my doctor late last week and finally have some news to share. The pathology reports aren’t back on some of the other internal issues, but the spinal CT scan was fairly conclusive. I have very little disk left between my L5 and S1 vertebrae and thinning disks at the L4 and L3 levels as well. My doctor suspects that one of the clusters of nerves that leads down to the right leg (one that goes around the front area which is less common) is being pinched and is causing the pain. Degenerative disk disease is something that I can learn to live with. Keeping my weight reasonable and doing exercises for my core region to strengthen back and abs will probably help. I will probably start sitting on my ball rather than my office chair at the computer. I also know that shoveling is NOT a part of my winter activities anymore. I tried to do a bit last week between storms and the agony the next 3 days was not worth the calories burned as exercise!

What really brings me here tonight are not by own health concerns, but those of a close friend’s son. Grant has been waiting for a liver transplant for most of his 16 years, but things are getting critical. He is at the Sick Kids hospital in Toronto with his parents who are struggling to be brave as time seems to be slipping away from them. Prospects for livers are so slim right now that they are putting out a call for a partial liver donation instead and spreading the word through friends and family. This procedure only involves giving up a portion of a liver from a living donor, since the liver is the only organ that can regenerate and grow.

If you haven’t ever talked with your family about organ donation or signed an organ donor card, PLEASE don’t wait another day! There is such a huge shortage out there and such a great need. That new life can come from tragedy or loss is one of the greatest gifts out there.

Your prayers for Grant would be appreciated. Regardless of which faith you celebrate, please take a few moments to hold this young boy and his family in your heart.

Wishes for Peace & Hope...

I had such great plans for 2007, especially how I wanted to celebrate the season on the new website and make it an exciting place for stitchers to visit. I also wanted to launch two exciting new ideas on New Year’s Eve so that when people visited our site on January 1st, they’d discover that the world of Dragon Dreams had expanded even more...

But all that is going to be put on hold for now.

All these tests I’ve been going through have picked up a few concerns that need to be addressed with a few rounds of more detailed exams that are going to take place fairly quickly in the New Year. I am just going to need to focus on a few less things for a tiny while, my health being the biggest one. The website newsletter will NOT be updated until after I get through the next round of tests in mid-January.

This has been going on for such a very long time and it is starting to wear the dragon down just a little, both physically and magically. 5 months of pain has been a long quest to endure, especially since they still aren’t exactly sure what is causing this or how to fix it! There are days when I wish I’d broken my drawing hand instead... because at least I’d have been out of the cast by now!

Your thoughts and prayers have been appreciated as well as the kind words or cards that keep popping up on days when I seem to need them the most. As a thank you, I wanted to send some wishes, prayers and goodies back to all of you, especially since I missed doing the fun stuff on the site all month long.

THE DRAGONS HAVE A NAME!

For all those of you who entered the contest to name the illustration and needlework dragons on our website, I have some winners.

The needlework dragon’s name is now HOOPER (hoop-er) because it sounded so cute and WAY too many of you suggested Flossy. It was a natural choice, but it was also the name of the cow in too many fairy tales that I read as a child to win. Beth P. Skott was the clever person who came up with that name.

The illustration dragon’s name is PIGMENT. Several of you (including Beth) submitted that entry, so I had to do a random draw and Elaine Long was the winner for that suggestion.

Thanks to everyone who submitted their great name ideas!



A GIFT OF PEACE...

I have learned over the past few months to treasure those moments of peace whenever they land in your lap. A sunrise, a quiet moment with someone you love, staring in wonder at the falling snow or the beauty of the decorated tree. I’ve also had moments when a sense of peace was shattered suddenly by a stab of pain. I know that there are many of you out there going through things that are FAR worse and corners of our world that are in far more turmoil than my life. My wish is that PEACE could spread a little farther this year, anger dissipate a little quicker and healing happen where it is least expected.


A TASTE OF SOMETHING SWEET...

I’ve tried to keep some things normal in our family this holiday season and the chance to bake has been one of them. I’ve actually adapted one of my favourite recipes and given it a new holiday twist which I share with all of you here to enjoy. These squares are VERY rich so they can be cut quite small. Feel free to pick other toppings that your family will enjoy.

THE DRAGON’S HOARD BARS

INGREDIENTS: • 2 cups of margarine, melted
• 1 cup of sugar
• 4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 14-ounce cans of sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips
(whole 12 oz. pkg.)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

TOPPINGS: • 5 crushed Candy Canes
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup Skor toffee bits
• 1 cup Chippit caramels
• chopped nuts, coconut or anything else fun that
you are hoarding!


1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Melt the margarine in the microwave and pour into mixing bowl. Add sugar and flour and mix with fork until crumbly and well combined. Press most of the mixture into an ungreased 13 x 9 x 2 inch glass baking dish or baking pan (slightly different results. I use the pyrex/glass one) to form the bottom crust. Save just under a cup to crumble on the top.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine the sweetened condensed milk and the chocolate chips. Stir over low heat until the chocolate melts completely and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla. Spread evenly over the crust and then crumble the remaining crust mixture on top of the chocolate filling. Sprinkle all of your hoarded toppings on there as well until very little chocolate filling shows.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until topping is golden. Cool in pan on wire rack. DO NOT CUT into squares until completely cool. If you need to speed up the cooling process, you can put the pan into the fridge once it has cooled for about 20 minutes at room temperature. Makes 40 - 50 squares when cut small.



A GIFT OF HOPE...

We all need to keep hope alive and burning brightly in our hearts, no matter what. I am writing this on the darkest night of the year with candles lit to celebrate that light, like hope, can shine in the darkness and not be overcome.

Whatever this season holds, whatever you are facing, do not give up hope. That is one of the things that sets us apart from all other creatures... our ability to dream and imagine and pray and hope.

I hope that the New Year waiting just around the corner is filled with more adventures, more wonder, more creativity and more love than you can imagine. That the answers you seek will be found, that the dreams that inspire you will be shared to make this world a better place and that no matter what may lurk around the corner or under the bed, you will keep hope with you on your journey, like a magical, friendly dragon to scorch all your troubles to ashes and curl about you on cold, bitter nights to keep you warm.