In The Wild

This week Emily and I attended our monthly meeting of Cook Book Club. The theme was breakfast, one of my favorite themes, and it was delicious. Emily prepared a tasty Blueberry Breakfast Cake.

I planned on taking a breakfast pizza, but I forgot to turn the timer on and the crescent roll crust became a tad over cooked. Thankfully, I am a quick thinker and whipped up a batch of biscuits to go with the sausage gravy that was supposed to go on the pizza.

I also made cheesy hash browns. I just adore cheesy hash browns!

I also made a trip to the library to drop off my entry form for the upcoming Chocolate Lovers Bake Off. Since I was there, I thought I'd run back to the children's department and grab a few books as my pile at home was down to one slim volume. And much to my surprise and joy I found two books by friends of mine.

When an author or illustrator finds books in public, be it at the library or a book store, it's called finding it in the wild. Once you find a book in the wild, pictures of said book inevitably must be taken and shared. The books I found this time around were Duncan The Story Dragon  by Amanda Driscoll and Rock Away Granny by Dandi Daley Mackall. Not having read either of these books yet, I became terribly excited. My excitement doubled in size like yeast laden dough when I further realized that Dandi's book was illustrated by none other than Mike DeSantis The Regional Advisor for SCBWI Ohio North branch.

I met Amanda a few years ago at the Southern Kentucky Book Festival which we will both be attending again this April, and Duncan The Story Dragon was her debut picture book about a dragon who wanted to finish a book, any book, ever so badly. Unfortunately for Duncan, he accidentally burned each book before he could reach the end. The way Duncan managed to solve his dilemma was a fun end to this fun tale, so grab a copy of your own and find out just what he did.

I met Dandi about six years ago at the Kentucky Book Festival and she regaled me with the back story behind her beautiful book There's A Baby in There. I also learned that she was a fellow Ohioan and actually doesn't live all that far away from Shelby. Having loved There's A Baby in There, I pretty much knew I'd love Rock Away Granny, and I was right.

The Granny in Dandi's book is a bee boppin, sock hoppin, wonderful dancing granny who shows he granddaughter how to rock the night away. Mike's illustrations give the book that extra oomph. I especially love the pet cat portrayed through out. When you grab a copy for yourself, be sure to check out the last illustration to see what the cat is dreaming about. And be sure to stop by Mike's site to see his other great works.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter  @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Ordinary Moments Make Extraordinary Days

I've always been convinced that extraordinary days are days made up of ordinary moments we choose to cherish. And if that's really the case, then this week was extra extraordinary! The week started off last Monday with the workman showing up to start work in the basement on our epoxy floor. Ten years ago our basement took on water, quite a bit of water, and we had to have the basement people come and put in an Ever Dry System. This of course meant that we had to tear out the finished portions of our basement. Due to vehicle break downs, major appliances dying, and other such things, it took us this long to be able to put our basement back together, so the flooring being completed puts us oh so close to being finished which is definitely worth cherishing.

Next, I decided to use up the orange marmalade our neighbors bring us back from Florida each spring. I don't have the heart to tell them we don't like orange marmalade, so I've had a few jars sitting in the cupboard for a while. When I searched for recipes on Pinterest, I found one for orange crockpot chicken. This seemed a perfect way to use up the marmalade and to cook a few recipes my mom handed down to me. As the holidays draw near, I more keenly feel her loss; so making fried rice and chicken won tons to go with the orange chicken brought me comfort.

The following day, Emily was invited to a bowling birthday party. She put particular time and effort into making a card for her friend, and as usual, I was blown away by her creation. She looked for art samples online and found one she liked. Her modified version was so beautiful, Bobby even suggested she should keep the card and make another for the b-day girl. She just laughed.

I also received a wonderful package in the mail from Mrs. Jene Daub and the North Tama second grade class. The kids sent me letters telling me how much they enjoyed my Quack and Daisy stories. One of my favorites ended with the following, "Warm regards from your friend illustrator Tyler." My hope is that all of Tyler's illustration aspirations come true.

And I ended this extraordinary week by reading one of my friend's, Josh Funk, picture books titled Dear Dragon. It is the story of how two very different teachers conspired to get their two very different classes to practice the art of letter writing and poetry by assigning each of them a pen pal. George and Blaise write each other diligently and can't wait to meet in person at the end of year picnic. You can imagine their surprise when they discover just how different they are, but they don't let that stop them from becoming the best of friends. This adorable book is a definite must read!

Ammi-Joan Paquette, Josh, Funk, and Me

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter  @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

2016 A Year In Review

Well, it's now official, I now have to remember to write 2017 instead of 2016. My family wrapped up the year nicely by spending time with Bobby's mom.

 By playing board games.

 By practicing Padawan skills.

And by celebrating with family and friends at the Berean Baptist New Years Eve Party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now, as is tradition, I will recap my favorite reads of 2016 in no particular order.

1. The Map Trap by Andrew Clement

2. Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry

3. The Night Gardner by the Fan Brothers

4. It Came In The Mail by Ben Clanton

5. Mary Smith by A. Uren

 

6. A Piece of Home by Jeri Watts

7.  Memoirs of A Parrot by Devin Scillian

8. Surf's Up by Kwame Alexander

9. Gator Dad by Brian Lies

and...

10. What To Do With A Box by Jane Yolan

 

And as a bonus, my first read of the New Year__

They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel which is a story about perception. Many animals see Cat. Cat even sees Cat. But how each one perceives Cat is quite different. The text and illustrations work perfectly together to make an interesting read.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

Field Trips, Wild Chickens, and Dragons at the Library.

Now that Farmers' Market is over, we have had Saturdays free which means Field Trips! The weekend before last, we went to our first ever corn maze which was quite exciting. They had choices of different clue papers so we chose the Bible clues. There was also a petting zoo with a really laid back bunny (really laid back), corn hole, and more.

This past weekend, we traveled a bit farther and visited the Warther property in Dover, Ohio which includes the Warther home, The Button House, the grounds, and The Warther Carving Museum. If you live in Ohio and have never been here, I suggest you visit. It is a spectacular place and the man was probably the world's best master carver ever. All trains and factory models are working models and have thousands of hand carved parts. And when you're done, head on back to Berlin for some great broasted chicken at the Berlin Farmstead Restaurant where, like Emily, you can ride the wild chicken.

 

All this fun and gallivanting around did leave less time for reading, but this week I managed to read a fun book that encourages visits to the local library and ownership of a library card. With both rhyme and repetition, this story, Do Not Bring Your Dragon To The Library, is good selection for both the dragon lover and the library lover in your life. And while it is totally not appropriate to bring your dragon to the library, don't despair, the librarian in the story has a solution.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by and join the Literacy Musing Monday Link Up where you will find other great blogs, or my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

Autumn Has Arrived

This past week was the first week in quite a while that I wasn't outrageously busy. The only real event was Bobby and I celebrating our Anniversary this past Saturday. It was a lovely and relaxing day, and I didn't even feel guilty about doing the bare minimum of house chores. I cooked and did dishes, and that was the extent of my domestic efforts.

Autumn also arrived at our house and was made evident by the massive littering of brightly colored leaves covering our front yard. The site of all those leaves was both beautiful and tiring as I thought about raking. I decided to rake later this week which left me time to read a beautiful book titled Count Down to Fall. It's an older book from 2009, but it is still available and is well worth checking out.

Count Down to Fall is told in rhyme, and while I didn't think every page flowed as well as it could, the story line was pleasant. The illustrations, however, are what really sets this book apart. They are very detailed and quite beautiful. The leaves and forest creatures invite you to spend an extra few minutes admiring every page. And as an added bonus, at the end of the story, there are activities and facts that would make this book a wonderful addition to a teacher or homeschooler's curriculum.

Emily also read a book to me that I enjoyed very much. It was called Elmer and The Dragon. Although written in the seventies, it is a fabulous book that has stood the test of time and is still available today. Elmer is a  young boy who runs away from home to save a baby dragon in distress. After saving the dragon, it is grateful and offers to take Elmer home. On the journey, they encounter a wild storm and a strange island. The adventures are highly entertaining and certainly kept my interest as well as Emily's.

 

 

 

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my sequel, Return To Fern Valley! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.