Tag: buttons

Button Sunday

Some way overdue thank-yous here. First, to my buddy Rob E in St. Louis, who sent me a scarf with a bold print for possible doll fashion along with bottle caps for my paintings. The scarf is already packed away with my fabric, but it sat on the desk next to me for a couple of days before I really scrutinized it, and then I started laughing because I was reminded of Diane Wiest’s character in the movie The Birdcage as she puzzled over a provocative design on some dinnerware. The scarf depicted people doing all kinds of naughty things, so the fabric must surely be used for some future fashion event. Thanks, Rob.

Another friend, writer Jeffrey Ricker, has temporarily relocated to Canada to pursue his MFA. But he sent me a couple of St. Louis mementos to add to my collection:


Pressed pennies from the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Thank you very much, Jeff! And the dog card makes me happy, too.

It’s funny how old and dear friends come back into our lives when we need them most, and such is the case with a good friend from my high school and college years, Jim S. I won’t embarrass him by describing how much our ongoing conversations mean to me. Recently, he sent the most wonderful package of goodies to Tom and me: these clever steeping tea mugs, along with some tea blends, and honey from BACK HOME to sweeten our tea.

The honey is from a beekeeper in a rural area where I lived many years ago, though I don’t think Jim knew that. Check out the tea products and blends from The Tea Spot. If there’s not a retail supplier near you, you can also order from them online. Saturday morning provided the perfect chilly weather for Tom and me to enjoy the Bolder Breakfast blend of Black Tea, Pu’erh, and Chocolate. It was divine and went well with our brunch of eggs, grits, bacon, biscuits (with more honey!), and grapes.

By the way, from The Tea Spot: Our full leaf teas include organic and Fair-Trade Certified™ estate teas and signature blends. Committed to giving as we grow, 10% of each sale is donated in-kind to cancer wellness and community programs. A gift with heart from one of the best hearts I know; thank you, Jim!

Our friend, writer and blogger Josh Helmin, was in Houston last week and came by The Compound to have dinner with us. He and Tim graciously agreed to pose for a Reading Is Hot photo holding two new novels by other author friends of ours.


Josh is holding Greg Herren’s Timothy. Greg sent me a copy before anyone else could buy it, and I was honored to read that he dedicated the novel to me because of our shared love–as teenagers and beyond–of romantic suspense writers like Victoria Holt, Phyllis Whitney, the incomparable Mary Stewart, and Daphne du Maurier. Tim’s holding Famous Author Rob Byrnes’s third in his hilarious caper series featuring Grant Lambert and Chase LaMarca and their entire gang of misfits, Strange Bedfellows.

To bring this full circle, I received a photo from Rob E who reminded me that reading is also sensible WHEN it’s hot, as this was what he was enjoying in the middle of the Midwest’s recent drought.

Y’all know how I love writers, and I want to share Indiegogo projects from a couple of my writer friends.

Author, webmaster, and columnist Linda Gentile founded Markeroni in 2003. Markeroni is the oldest website that helps people find and record historical markers and landmarks. Markeroni is a history resource with more than 150,000 landmarks in their database and 31,000 with a Catalog entry. Markeroni is in need of an upgrade, so Linda’s raising funds at this Indiegogo site. If a few people contribute even a modest amount, this resource can be updated and made more accessible to the public. If you can’t contribute, you might become a Markeroni member, or share the link on your Facebook and Twitter sites. Linda and all the Markeroni volunteers are a fun and passionate group, so thanks for any support you can give them between now and October 31.

Another Indiegogo project with funding that will close on October 31 is Michael Thomas Ford’s prospective novel Lily. Here’s how Lily begins:

On the morning of her thirteenth birthday, Lily kissed her father and knew that he would be dead by nightfall. The image of his death dropped into her mind suddenly and without warning. As her lips touched his she saw behind the thin skin of her closed eyes his face, pale and wet, rising up from the waves surrounded by caressing fingers of sea grass, and she screamed.

Mike is an award-winning novelist who’s written more than fifty books for both young readers and adults, in genres ranging from humor to horror, literary fiction to nonfiction. He’s one of my favorite writers, so I really want to see Lily happen. It’s a bold new endeavor that won’t happen without funding; you can read more about what you’ll receive at the different levels of giving at the Indiegogo site. Again, if you can’t give, please share the link on your social networking sites.

Thanks on behalf of Linda and Mike.

Button Sunday

Tom and I surprised some friends by showing up at the Renaissance Festival for a few hours on Saturday. We had a wonderful time catching up, but though I kept a wary eye out for dragons, I didn’t see any. Or…did I?

When Tom and I found a quiet bench to talk about something, we heard a cracking sound, and then this fell out of the tree onto the ground next to us.

Dry summer, or dragon trying to creep down to eavesdrop and picking the wrong branch?

Legacy Writing 365:274 and Button Sunday

I’m betting this button came to me via my sister.

I may as well get this out of the way, because I know it’ll be shocking to some of you. I wasn’t a Scooby-Doo fan. I watched it if I’d spent the night with Lynne, because she watched it, but it was not a must-see for me. I hope this doesn’t disappoint anyone; I liked plenty of other Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including the Flintstones and Yogi Bear, also featured on the button. But in the great realm of television cartoons, I was more of a Looney Tunes fan (Daffy Duck being my favorite of all TV cartoon characters).

Still, I definitely tuned in to The Jetsons and The Flintstones. Although even as a little tot, one thing always drove me crazy on The Flintstones. In the closing credits, when Fred put Baby Puss, the saber-toothed cat, out at night, Baby Puss jumped back in through the window, put Fred out, and locked the door. Fred then banged on the door and hollered for Wilma. Why didn’t Fred go through the window, too? I guess I was a hard-sell on that gag.

I’ll never forget how excited I was when my mother drove us to the Sinclair station so I could get my inflatable Dino for our little backyard swimming pool. Somehow my brain thought Sinclair’s mascot Dino and the Flintstones’ dogasaurus were the same creature. I blame black and white television: Who knew Dino was a purplish color?

When Dino got punctured, I was heartbroken, and Mother actually bought me a replacement Dino, which was rare. Usually, if you broke something, that was it. Dino 2 definitely lasted through the end of summer, and by the next year, we’d moved, the pool was no more, and Dino was forgotten. That’s the kind of memory that makes Toy Story 3 heart-wrenching for adults, isn’t it?

ARRRR

Yes, it’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day again. Here are some bonus buttons to celebrate, along with a scurvy tale of my own.

For dog lovers.
For T Rex fans.
For artists.
For princesses.
For crafters.
For math geeks.
For fellow descendants of Celts.
Pirates: the real thing.

Today I shared an experience with many others across the country who’ve blogged about it over the past few years. I ran into adherents of a particular political philosophy who were demonstrating outside the post office. I won’t name their affiliation because I wish not to bring Googlers here. But as I walked in and out of the post office, they managed to insult me, a gentleman who was also leaving as I was, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, and Holocaust survivors. Though their behavior makes me want to condemn them to walk the plank, I know it’s good that we have the freedom to speak out in the U.S., even if the way we use that freedom is counterproductive to winning friends and influencing people. They make no apologies for their incivility; I make none for reacting with courteous indifference.

Button Sunday and Legacy Writing 365:253

This is another of Lynne’s buttons, and I don’t know if it was for a particular retailer (maybe the old Blockbuster/Sound Warehouse chain?) or if it’s somehow affiliated with the decades-old Give the Gift of Music campaign.

I’ve talked on here before about some of these music-as-gift moments of my life: when Riley gave me George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” and also all the times he sang and played for me; the mix tapes Tim used to send me from NYC and all the music he introduced me to that I’d somehow missed, especially from the 1980s; the time my brother found out I gave Riley the John Lennon photo from my White album and surprised me by opening his White album and giving me his picture; the first albums my mother ever bought me with my new record player when I was a young teen; some of the best concerts I’ve been to through the years with Debby, David, Lynne, Tom, Amy, and friends from high school and college; listening to my nephew Josh play drums in a blues band; the countless hours I’ve spent listening to music with friends and talking about it, singing along, and just being quiet and digging it, as Riley might say.

I have a zillion music-related memories. It would please me very much to turn this over to you in comments and hear a way or time music has been a gift in or to your life. GO!


Riley, December 1980

Button Sunday

One time when I was looking at buttons, Tom was looking over my shoulder, and when I saw this one, he said, “You have to use that for a Button Sunday.”

“But I don’t love roaches,” I said. “And it will creep Lindsey out if she sees it.”

Then a few weeks later, when Lindsey was over, I showed it to her, and she said she didn’t care, “use the button, you’ve done so much roach-damage to my brain already, what’s one more thing?” Or words to that effect.

So here it is: a lying button. I don’t heart roaches.

Maybe later today, I’ll have some heartwarming Legacy Writing Tale to share, with a bit part for a roach in it. You can’t wait, right?