Illustrating My Childhood

Over Thanksgiving my sister and I traded children's books.  She hadn't seen Contrary Jenkins by Rebecca Caudill and GI Ayars in a while and I was interested in seeing her Mercer Mayer illustrated books.  We grew up reading some great books with some excellent illustrations.  Our imaginations were groomed on these gems.

Check out Me And My Flying Machine by Marianna and Mercer Mayer.  Fanciful, detailed images that send your imagination flying.  While The Horses Galloped to London is just amazing.  The detail is stunning.  You could take any page, frame it and hang it on the wall.  There's An Alligator Under My Bed is another.  Although his illustrations are not as detailed as his older work. 

Another great artist to look out for is Hilary Knight of Eloise fame.  I didn't really discover Eloise until later in life.  The book that I grew up loving is The Animal Garden.  I still have it. It is tattered and falling apart but still has all the pages and has that great "old book" smell.  Written by Ogden Nash and includes a great character that has haunted me since childhood, Abidan, who resembles a dandylion.

I couldn't leave this without mentioning Richard Scarry.  At my sister's house I sat there and just starred at a couple of his books.  I love the full-page illustrations of a street scene with oodles of things happening all at once.  Just want to jump in there and join them.  Cats in suits, Lowly Worm!  Love it!

New York, New York, it's a heck of a town!

Friday, November 7

Our plane to New York was set to depart at ten-ten AM.  Airtran personnel got on the horn and announced that our flight was cancelled.  Not postponed, not late, cancelled.  They put us all on a new flight set to leave at twelve-thirty.  Apparently New York was having some weather problems so several flights were postponed. 

So, we waited. 

I like the airport.  There is no place like it for a people-watcher like me.  I'm a natural observer.  Ogler, some might say.  It's a great way to picking up mannerisms, ticks and other physical oddities that may come in useful in a performance.  I have stolen from many a stranger in airports, shopping malls, MARTA.

Today I was particularly interested in a short, slim, grey-haired man in a black suit with wide pin stripes.  He was tan, expensive haircut, good shoes and in his left ear he sported at least five diamond studs, glittering in the glow of the phosphorescent lighting.  He was alternately talking loudly on his cell phone and plugging it in to recharge.  His New York accent was thick as pea soup.  I listened as a young African-American girl struck up a conversation with him about the city.  Her first trip to Manhattan.  She soaked up his advice about how to avoid the gypsy cabs at the airport, what restaurants in which to dine and the like.

Then, there was Airtran back on the loudspeaker.  We were being pushed back again.  Two-fifteen was to be our new departure time.  Ugh.  We were instructed to form a single file line to get our tickets updated.  After ten minutes or so we arrived at the front of the line only to be told by Mr. Agent that he was shutting down his computer and we were all to follow him to a different kiosk!  Much grumbling ensued from the restless patrons around us.  Mr. Agent told us to remain in the same order as the queue but some eager flyers tried to use the confusion to cut ahead.  Barbara wasn't having it.

"Stay in the original order!" she projected in her best teaching voice.  The eager beavers sheepishly fell in line behind us, thank you very much.

I couldn't stop grinning.  She asked me later if she sounded bitchy.  I responded that she sounded like my wife.  So, with our Airtran piper in the lead, we scuttled our way down the hall some fifty feet to another kiosk.  After a brief interchange our new tickets were in hand.

Waiting again.  People watching can only get you so far.  I tried to nap.  Wasn't happening.  Too excited about getting there, so I read Our Inner Ape by Frans de Waal.

Finally we were in the sky.  We made up some time in the air and arrived at LaGuardia around four-thirty.

The weather in the city was just lovely.  Overcast but not raining, temperature was in the mid-sixties.  We just couldn't wait to get out and about in the big city.

...to be continued.

You Learn Something New Everyday

At least I try to.  Sometimes it just happens.  

I had a flat tire recently.  I had just seen Steve Yockey's play, Bellwether read at Actor's Express and returned to my car to find the rear right tire sagging.  Not completely flat, but definitely not right.  In pulling into the parking space earlier I noticed that I had run over a plate, and there were broken pieces strewn behind my car.  I cleaned up the glass as best I could with my bare hands, not wanting anyone else to suffer the same fate.  I replaced the flat tire with the spare with the help of the board president of Actor's Express.  Nice coincidence and even nicer guy.  Careful inspection of the tire lead me to find that the glass plate wasn't the cause of my tire problem.  A tiny nail was firmly planted in a small spot in the treads.  I thanked Bruce and went on my way.

I took my Honda to the dealer and they patched the tire for a very modest fee.

I have always fancied myself a tinkerer.  Not a mechanic, for that would entail more time, but I have been known to change my own oil.  One thing I always have done is check my tire pressure regularly.  Reduces the chance of flats and improper wear, as well as improved gas mileage.  Since the flat I have been meaning to check all four tires to make sure that they are all at the correct pressure.  QT is the best, because they offer free air.  I have stopped many times over the last several weeks, at many different times throughout the day, and have been surprised at the lines at the 'free air' station.  One or two cars at least.  Once I even had some jerk pull in front of me to cut in line!  What was going on?  All of a sudden, people are taking an interest in the well being of their cars.  Over the years I have rarely had to wait to fill my tires.  

Then it dawned on me.  Barack Obama.  He has spoken about how we can improve gas mileage by properly inflating our tires.  Talk radio has spent much time on the topic.  Now, I try very hard to keep my political views to myself.  They are often quite unpopular among my friends and family.  Theatre friends specifically.  How do you keep your fiercely political friends when a simple disagreement sets off a diatribe of misplaced hate?  It is really hard to appear to agree with everyone all of the time.  And I fear that even the mention of his name will bring a maelstrom of unwanted political comments into my blogosphere personal space.  No politics, please!  But, I push on.  I must.  My thought for the day is this;  If Barack Obama can inspire the people of the United States to check and fill their tires on a regular basis, then who's to say he can't inspire the nation to so much more?

I now fear being ostracized from my own family based on that comment alone.  Oh, well.  Such is the danger of lifting the veil on one's own personal politics.  As I said, I don't like to talk about it.  However, if you want an idea of what I think of the current state of politics you can check out Penn Jillette's podcast on iTunes.  Crackle: Penn Says.