Art Mama: BITE Exhibit / Unwelcome Mat

He said, "I love your art, Mama", and to me that was everything.

The Language of Things

"Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.” - Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist)

Afternoon drive to our friends' beautiful cottage by the bay. Forgot my camera to capture the ethereal beauty of this place. Warm friends and cold noodles. Our children laughing and building memories. Ice cream sandwiches and screened in porches. Bare feet and a tiny bare booty.

Gratitude and a pocketful of treasures...

*The winners of the Gypsy Wrap giveaway are...
Julie and Allison!

Untidy Exuberance & Bark Beetles

A lifetime isn't long enough for the beauty of this world
and the responsibilities of your life...
Be good-natured and untidy in your exuberance...
Live with the beetle, and the wind. - Mary Oliver

*Photo taken by Andrew Stoddard

The Art of Roughhousing

"Let the wild rumpus start!" - Maurice Sendak

I must admit that when this review copy turned up in my mailbox I did a little happy dance. The Art of Roughhousing by Anthony T. DeBenedet, M.D. and Lawrence J. Cohen, PhD, is a manual for joy. There's just no better way to describe it. Chapters are organized by the type of roughhousing, i.e. flight, contact etc. Each delightfully rambunctious maneuver is further categorized by age, difficulty and essential skills.

The authors state this very poignant truth, "What was once a motto of Safety First has evolved into a fretful new motto of Safety Only. Many parents are more frightened by skinned knees and bruised feelings than life's real dangers: stifled creativity and listless apathy. Some schools in the United States are even being built without playgrounds."

This book brought back so many memories of my own fearless childhood...like being dragged around the yard on a bed sheet and holding my dad's arms while climbing to his shoulders then flipping over to land on my feet. Does anyone remember that one?

If there is any doubt that the joy of roughhousing far outweighs the risks - a picture is worth a thousand words...here we are one morning practicing our acrobatic skills in our pajamas...

"Roughhousing activates many different parts of the body and the brain, from the amygdalae, which process emotions, and the cerebellum, which handles complex motor skills, to the prefrontal cortex, which makes high-level judgments. The result is that every roughhousing playtime is beneficial for body, brain as well as the loftiest levels of the human spirit: honor, integrity, morality, kindness and cooperation." ( excerpt from The Art of Roughhousing: Good Old-Fashioned Horseplay and Why Every Kid Needs It)

Mo' Pie, Mo' Betta!

More pie fight photos from innocent bystander, Fred....