Wednesday, June 27, 2012

doodles & letters

I've been experimenting with turning my sketches into an alphabet. It's been fun letting my imagination roam and creating ladies and gentlemen with alpha hats and outfits...  They printed my exemplar in the newest edition of Somerset Studios Magazine July/August 2012. 



Didi you know I have a sketch blog called Sketching the Itch?

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

my birthday boy...

Today is my son Jesse's birthday...

Victoria Falls
He's just returned from a trip to Africa, lucky boy...
 I cherish the days when he was my little boy...but we have had some wonderful times together as he's grown up. So today I'm celebrating... because I'm so very proud of the man he's become.
So Happy Birthday Jesse...here's to another year on this wild and crazy planet...

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

diamonds are a Queen's best friend...



It’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee… and 60 years ago on June 2 1953 when Queen Elizabeth rode down the streets of London in her carriage…I was there… really I was… in my baby buggy...at the Queens Coronation… my sister sitting atop my Father’s shoulders (she swears she remembers the procession) … my Mom waving the Union Jack…

And here it is 60 years later… Of course I’m celebrating… I sent the Queen a birthday card... and she sent me this Thank You note back.  And even though it was a PDF file... I remembered how good a thank you note can make you feel. You can send a message to Her Majesty too... go here... it feels pretty darn swell when she writes you back... After all... she is the Queen... and she does rule over 15 Commonwealth Realms in addition to the UK... and she takes her job very seriously... and she's polite... and I hear she's a good listener... and I don't think she's mean spirited... how I wish a little of that would rub off on our citizens and politicians here in the USA... 

I have felt very British this week… My consumption of tea has increased… I had to fight the urge to grab my tiara before heading to my dentist appointment… I found myself waving to the postman like I was screwing in a light bulb… and as I closed my eyes at night flashes of Union Jacks danced in my head to the strains of God Save the Queen …
Here a few things you might not know about the Queen… pretty interesting stuff…

1. She doesn’t have a passport.
Despite being history’s most widely traveled head of state—she has reportedly visited 116 countries during her 60-year reign—Elizabeth does not hold a passport. Since all British passports are issued in the queen’s name, she herself doesn’t need one. She also doesn't require a driver’s license, though she has been known to take joyrides around her various estates in her Range Rover.

I never really thought about this…but I guess it would be dumb to issue a passport to yourself in your own name…

2. She has two different birthdays.
The reigning British monarch was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of York on April 21, 1926. However, each Commonwealth country traditionally celebrates her birthday on a designated day in May or June. In the United Kingdom, for instance, it falls on the first, second or third Saturday in June. Britain has officially marked its sovereign’s birthday since 1748, when the event was merged with the annual “Trooping the Colour” ceremony and parade. Elizabeth spends her real birthday enjoying private festivities with her family.

This is just plain weird.  Why so many birthdays? Does she get confused on how old she really is? I am not sure I would want two birthdays… too many birthday celebrations for me, plus I think I would feel twice as old. Sometimes I celebrate an un-birthday but I'm pretty sure that's not what they are doing here...

3. She drove a truck during World War II. 
After months of begging her father to let his heir pitch in, Elizabeth—then an 18-year-old princess—joined the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II. Known as Second Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor, she donned a pair of coveralls and trained in London as a mechanic and military truck driver. The queen remains the only female member of the royal family to have entered the armed forces and is the only living head of state who served in World War II.
I think this is pretty darn cool… the British pitch in spirit...

4. She paid for her wedding dress with ration coupons.
Princess Elizabeth married her third cousin Philip Mountbatten, formerly prince of Greece and Denmark, on November 20, 1947. Held during the postwar recovery years, their wedding was a relatively understated affair, at least compared to the lavish union of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in July 1981. With austerity measures still in effect, Elizabeth had to save up ration coupons to purchase the material for her wedding dress, an ivory satin gown designed by Norman Hartnell and encrusted with 10,000 white pearls.
I am sure this made her appreciate her wedding that much more…

5. She didn’t take her husband’s name.
Elizabeth’s father, George VI, was born into the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, but during World War I the family name was changed to Windsor amid anti-German sentiment. Similarly, her husband Prince Philip dropped his father’s Germanic surname, Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and adopted that of his maternal grandparents, Mountbatten, during their engagement. But when Elizabeth ascended the throne, her mother and Prime Minister Winston Churchill did everything in their power to prevent the queen and her line from becoming the House of Mountbatten. They succeeded, but several years later Elizabeth proclaimed that some of her descendants would carry the name Mountbatten-Windsor—probably in an attempt to placate her fuming husband.
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet… but I feel bad for Phil...

6. She sent an email in 1976.
On March 26, 1976, Queen Elizabeth sent her first email while taking part in a network technology demonstration at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, a research facility in Malvern, England. The message was transmitted over ARPANET, the forerunner of the modern Internet. She is considered the first head of state to have used electronic mail.
FYI...The Queen also has a twitter, facebook and youTube accounts… which says the monarchy is trying to update their image and live in the moment... jolly good indeed. 


Lean back onto your Union Jack pillow and Listen to The Queens message