Category: Trips

The 2008 Highlights Highlights

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Finally, a chance to revisit my neglected blog!
I recently got to go to the 2008 Highlights Illustrator’s Party in Pennsylvania. Highlights (the makers of the well-read magazines, and also owners of Boyd’s Mills Press) is a very unusual company that actually puts aside time each year to party with it’s illustrators. Yeeha!

We got lucky with 3 days of great weather:

The stretch of NY/Pennsylvania that we traveled through is beautiful. Unlike last year, there were no 4-hour traffic jams to bog down the trip, and we arrived without incident.
The Highlights folks have the party-throwing thing down to a science, so when we arrived, there was the first of many lovely buffets. We were able to stay in a cottage near everthing, and the next morning began with (yes!) more great food!

The illustrators spent the first half of the day doing illustrator stuff. We got to hear Leonard Marcus speak- he’s a children’s book historian, and author of a fabulous book I have (maybe you do, too) called “Golden Legacy”, all about the cultural and artistic impact of Golden Books. I’m anxious to find some of his other books now.
Then we got to check out each other’s portfolios.

I though the folks coming to this event would have all been east coasters, but I was wrong. Illustrators came from all over the country. Getting to connect the art with the names and faces was a real bonus. Luckily, this was made easier by our big, clear nametags!

While we were doing this, our families were off having a blast at a farm. Check out this beautiful place! Eric and the kids had a great time. The kids were glad to meet other kids who like art (I guess this doesn’t really happen as much as they’d like here at home).

They got to paint and decorate pumpkins:

Beat each other with noodles:

Listen to fiddlin’ kids:

And roast marshmallows:

Later that afternoon, the big event…we all met at the main Highlights building in Honesdale for a costume party! This year’s theme was “The Enchanted Forest”. Needless to say, illustrators are pretty good at coming up with costumes…and so are the Highlights staff.

The entire building is decorated, inside and out. It must take weeks of planning to do this; it’s refreshing to think that it is allowed and encouraged within the company.

I love these mossy tree people.

Inside, the kids got to go on a Timbertoes scavenger hunt with stickers hidden all around the building.

More food…awesomely themed.

Leprechauns! Cloaked Art Directors! Fungi! Dragonlike Photographers!

Fairies! Keebler Elves! Unicorns!

Unbearably Cute Ewoks! Teeny Tinys!

The one and only Joan of Art, hailing from the Columbus, OH office.

Look- it’s a portrait of pure evil!

Wait a minute… it’s Judy Moffatt (who’s not evil at all, really).

Eric and I were apple trees…I guess you can say we didn’t think too hard about this, since we pretty much live in an apple orchard. It was a logical choice.

What’s that? It’s the BloomMobile! This is the Highlights company car (I presume) decorated in the manner of Suzanne Bloom’s adorable Splendid Friend books.

Good times. It’s very fun to see such universal participation in something like this.
Later that day it was time for a lamb roast, (with intro by Christine Clark…)

Can you see the ultra cool, gigantic mural behind her, too? Awesome.
Here’s a closer view:

Then, of course, there was a post-dinner hoedown!
Silly me, I thought the hoedown was part of last year’s “ranch” theme.
It’s not, it’s just hoedowning for hoedowning’s sake!

The next morning was another farewell buffet.
We met so many great people over the weekend…here are two of them:

It’s Phyllis and Brad Harris, all the way from Missouri!
There were cheesy potatoes available this morning in the buffet that were TO DIE FOR.
I need this recipe (let’s put it in High Five- ha!)

Then after a swing:

and a horse-drawn hay ride:

We headed back home.
It was another great driving day.
This road cracked us up…it follows (EXACTLY) the contour of the ledge butting up against the Delaware river. It was like a rollercoaster. Best not to take your eyes off the road here!

Along the river we saw these:

We refer to them as “those things in the water.”
Does anyone know what these things are??

Thanks to everyone at Highlights for such a fun weekend. It’s a real treat to hang out with people who love children’s illustration and writing. Hello to all the new and old friends we met there- and for those of you who couldn’t get there this year, hope to see you next fall!

Remember the Maine

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Well, as I alluded to in my last “post”…I spent a good part of last week in coastal Maine, the part they call MidCoast. We had a nice rental cottage in New Harbor, very close to Pemaquid Point. Here’s the view from Colonial Pemaquid’s fort:

Apparently, this area had been colonized in the early 1600s (displacing the native American tribes, naturally). I had no idea. I bet Maine kids know this, but down in RI all you hear about is Plimoth Plantations! Seriously, follow that link, it’s way interesting.
Since the place has been clocked down a hundred times and rebuilt, it’s amazing that the original cemetery is still there:

Across the street from our cottage each morning was a home made donut stand. Sweeeet.

Behind the donut stand were 3 horses and a donkey. Donkeys make weird noises, especially at 5 am.
Not a cute “hee-haw”, no. More like a nails-on-a-chalkboard squeal.
What an ass! He was cute, though.

We were very lucky with the weather. Very, considering everyone up there told us the summer had been a bit of a washout (not unlike RI, too). Here’s Boothbay Harbor:

Boothbay has a great Botanical Garden– we had fun checking out all the nooks and crannies:

That last one shows an area designated for making “fairy houses”, which we did.

I absolutely LOVE this art in an ice cream shop in Boothbay:

Somehow, I NEVER thought of how a littleneck would eat ice cream…now I know!

The Pemaquid lighthouse and point are gorgeous:

This is the lighthouse that appears on the back of the Maine quarter- and I can see why. It’s pretty much a quintessential storybook lighthouse! The rocky zones all around it are excellent to poke around on…you find fun stuff like this:

I made a new friend in Pemaquid!

We had lobsters one night, right off the pier. This came with mixed emotions, because we here at Maison Dubois happen to love lobsters (the living kind). The kids want to keep one as a pet. And yet…MY GOD they’re good eatin’!

After staying out in these parts, we meandered home slowly along the coast, checking out lots of lovely coves and more lighthouses:

We went to the York Zoo, and were happy to see so many animals that our local zoo doesn’t have!
Capybaras! And a capybaby! I was a Bill Peet fanatic as a kid, so getting to see capybaras is a treat.

OK, goats aren’t very exotic, but anytime you get to hand feed piles of baby goats, that’s a good day!

How cute are prairie dogs? They’re even cuter when drinking out of a bowl!

This is the most amazing bird ever to me:

It’s got tiger stripes! Spots! Every color! Just crazy, man. I love it.
What is it? Um, it’s a..a…Lady something-or-other. I’ll find out.

They also had a butterfly garden going:

And what’s a vacation without tchotchkes?
I wouldn’t know, I’ve never taken one!
Here are my my classy souvenirs:

A lobster tile, a handcarved owl on driftwood, and the cutest cat mini-vase/toothpick holder.

And a few tackier items:

Another balsam pillow, this one with the Pemaquid lighthouse on it. (You know I love me some balsam!). A few patches to sew onto my patch bench. And a lobster cookie cutter.
Oh, yeah! Guess what everyone’s getting at this year’s cookie exchange!

We were lucky to stop by Newburyport, Mass. on the way home. The Child At Heart Gallery is closing it’s brick-and-mortar shop there, and we were able to get some awesome art at a discount- these pieces are by Chris Demarest and David McPhail. Whee!

Now it’s all about back to work and back to school. Booo!

There’s Just Something About Balsam…

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Do you know what I mean?
These little balsam-filled pillows that you get in souvenir shops throughout New England.
The smell reminds me of childhood, as do the seemingly unchanged graphics and notable heft of the balsam needles.
Happy, happy summers!
These 4 particular pillows are sitting on a box I made for my cat Georgia. It’s sort of her “couch”. It was my attempt offering her a better place to sleep than my scanner or my keyboard.
I am happy to report that it works about one third of the time.
The other two thirds of the time she spends on my scanner or my keyboard.
Personally, I’d rather nap with the balsam pillows!

Good Times at the Five and Dime

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I have an bit of an obsession with 5 & 10-cent stores. As a kid there were still the last vestiges of them around for me to pick thru.I clearly remember the Ben Franklin that my aunt worked at, and the Woolworth’s in Garden City and Providence (both complete with lunch counters). Too bad they’re all gone!
Or ARE they?
No, there are a few left.
One of my favorites is in North Conway, New Hampshire.

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It’s just a cute little hometown version that still has an authentic candy counter:

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That’s pure joy, right there.You can get yourself a little basket and fill it with various candies, then they put them into the traditional little paper bags.
So-weet! They also have all kinds of things that I haven’t seen in years- Dennison seals, those little gummed stars, dollhouse furniture, etc. And, it being New Hampshire, they have all those wonderfully tacky cedar chests and balsam pillows and the like. I really wonder where they get some of this stuff. The staff assured me that the makers still make the stuff. I guess there’s just not much call for it anymore. Thanks, WalMart!

With this image in my mind, I made a new Scrap Shack that’s based on the N. Conway 5 & 10. I love the exterior color!

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In my version, there’s a bear entering the shop, and the store seems to be filled with toys.
My kind of place! I made a few of them- one for me, one for my mom, and a couple for you at the Etsy shop!

NOW, here’s one place I NEED to go:

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The National Christmas Center in Pennsylvania!

Amongst the many Christmas exhibits, they have recreated a vintage Woolworth’s at Christmastime.
If you follow that link, they have a “virtual” tour of it.
Have mercy!! I am so there!
Has anyone been to this?? Do tell!

2008 Surtex, The Stationery Show, ICFF, and All the Wonders of New York in One Post

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June 2.
Ah, it seems like only yesterday it was June 1. Which is still a couple of weeks late for me to be blogging about NYC, but here goes anyhow!

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My illustratin’ gal pals and me jumped off the train and hit the Surtex and Stationery shows right on the first day.

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The overview here, as modeled by Laura, gives you a tiny idea of the sheer quantity of printed matter contained within the Stationery Show.It boggles the mind.

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See? See down there? Thousands of greeting cards, paper goods, collectibles, gift bags, etc., and all the fine people who’d like to sell ’em. It’s a great way (as an artist) to see who’s doing what, and where your art might fit in…but it’s not set up for that purpose, per se. Surtex, on the other hand, has a different vibe. It’s mainly artists and art reps who are showing images to license. Almost everyone we met here was happy to talk about their experiences with having a booth and/or the ups and downs of selling art (or art usage). Very interesting.

We hit the city for dinner and a little shopping. Here’s the colossal M+M’s Store:

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Do you need pink, purple, and green M+M’s? I did, and by gosh, I got ’em!
Do you need chartreuse, aqua, and dusty rose M+M’s? They probably have ’em.

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Here’s Janet and me dazzled by the array of choices. And stuff. And noise!
I also managed to go thru the ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair), which is very different from Stationery or Surtex, mainly because it has couches instead of paper goods. And all kinds of other highly designed, one-of-a-kind furnitury stuff. And all kinds of housewary stuff, too. My work at FRED dictates that at least part of me* be “in touch” with the world of cutting- edge design. I am sure you can tell this when you look at my bunny illustrations.

* the small but extremely hip part

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After 2 solid days of show walking, Monica and I went shopping in Soho. We tried to hunt down gluten-free goodies for her, but alas, we were NOT very successful! So instead we bought yarn and fabric.
Here’s Monica at Purl Soho:

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WAY TOO MANY colors to choose from! I bought some adorable fabric at the sister store, Purl Patchwork…I’ll show it sometime.

How cute is this random store window??

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On the last day in the city, I was on my own. Country girl in the big city? Yeah, it freaks me out a bit.I got to meet up with my editor at Simon and Schuster, which happens to be right next door to Radio City Music Hall!

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Oh, yeah! And right across the street from The Giant Metal Guy of Rockefeller Center!

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Actually it’s Prometheus, ancient God of insanely fast-paced cities.
And what do you know…I was watching the Today Show with MB in the hotel room, and right outside the door practically was the ACTUAL Today Show! They were doing some kind of wedding game:

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Trust me, it was exciting.
I had a bagel at the Dean and DeLuca that you can always see in the background of the Today Show.
I found this to be very surreal.

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Cool, NBC of course.
Whenever I am in NYC, I MUST go to the big Toy’s R US:

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It’s got a toy-themed Ferris wheel in it. WooHoo!

And a life-size T-rex, too:

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And something equally as terrifying…an entire wall of My Little Pony!
My MLP lover would be in Seventh Heaven!

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I went to American Girl store, too…a real destination if you are a girl, a doll, or a person with an unusual fascination for merchandising.
My 2 favorite dolls are: Molly, because she’s got a whole 1940’s world:

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And Julie, because she’s got a whole 70’s world:

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And here’s a typical weird thing you’d see in the city- a model in a photo shoot in the middle of traffic!

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Times Square:

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And of course, another thing I always look for when in NYC, the statue of George M. Cohan!

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George looks pretty weird surrounded by the competing visual noise.
But even in his day, Times Square was something like this, I guess.
He liked it that way!
After the George sighting, I caught the train back home and talked to a fascinating lady from New Delhi all the way home.
I think I know everything about her now, except her name!
People can be fun.
Back to work for me! 

New Stuff Sightings in Mystic

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Mystic, Connecticut is a great town that’s close enough to us that we can visit it often. And we do.I found some of my stuff on a recent outing there:

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 Bank Square Books is a sweeet little independent bookstore- I love them, because they HAVE MY BOOK! They put it with the pop-ups alongside the Sabuda/Reinhart ones. Hmmm, interesting choice. I usually find it in the baby/toddler section (if I find it at all)!

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Here’s a cute little shop in Olde Mystic Village called Hammen Home. Love the yellow paint and blue trim! It’s an extremely cool, bright shop, and I’m NOT just saying that because they have a bunch of my products there:

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Next to the Smart Cookies you can see some intriguing little Japanese collectibles that I couldn’t resist- ReMent (?) puts them out- the series I bought contained the world’s cutest, bitsiest, retro-ist tea sets ever!

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MAN, that’s cute! I put this set on my perpetually Irish shelf. It matched the leprechauns.

Spotted at Mystic Aquarium: a healthy dose of Snack Attacks!

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Thanks again for the exposure, Mystic- we’ll be back! 

Citrus-O-Rama! or, a Trip to Logee’s

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There is a wonderful old greenhouse in Connecticut called Logee’s that has been open since 1892. It is one of the few places here in New England where you can walk through the door…

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…and instantly feel like you have entered a tropical rainforest. It makes for a great day trip when you are totally sick of cold weather (which always seems to hold on juuuust a little too long around here).

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It doesn’t matter what time of year you go, there are always things in full bloom.
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I was on a citrus mission this day.

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For unexplained reasons, I have always wanted to have my own orange trees, or lemon trees, or lime trees. This is going back to the time I was 10 or so. Maybe it IS explained, actually. I won a trip to Florida/Disney World when I was this age, and the sheer tropicality of Florida made a big impression on me, I guess.

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The 100-year old Wonder Lemon tree at Logee’s is amazing-it’s comfortably growing right into the ground of the greenhouse, and seems to always be producing gigantic lemons (like up to 5 pounds!).

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That’s Eric, The Jungle Boy.

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Here’s my little box of citrus (plus one orchid), ready to come home with me.

And here are my new studio inhabitants!
The biggest one I had gotten a while back- it’s a Kaffir Lime. Now it is joined by a baby Grapefruit, a Key Lime, a Buddha’s Hand, a Meyer Lemon, a Sunquat, and an Australian Finger Lime. Plus one Salu Spot orchid. So far, they’re all doing well and have new growth. I knew from the Kaffir Lime that the studio was a good place to grow stuff. They add a nice living touch to the studio too. And hopefully some oxygen. We spend a lot of time in here!

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