Creepy Honeymoon Drive and How to Draw a Big-Eyed Frog

My parents celebrated their 55th anniversary this week. When asked about their most fond memories, the first thing they talked about was their drive from New Jersey to Florida. 

They were going to stay at a friend's hotel for their honeymoon, and they decided to drive the whole way. 

First of all, the bridge going through Savannah was covered in ice, and they were one of the last vehicles allowed through. The policeman directing traffic saw their Jersey plates and assumed they could handle it. 

As it got darker, they entered the Okefenokee swamp. They told me they were surrounded by moss covered trees, swamp grass, and the roads were covered with over a foot of water in some places. By the time it was completely dark they were so into the swamp that there were no street lights. 

They kept going anyway. 

After driving for what seemed to be forever, and listening to unusual night noises including what sounded like a very large frog, they saw a light in the distance. 

When they got close enough they could see it was one light bulb hanging from a wire, illuminating a toll booth.

They paid their dime, found out they were indeed going in the right direction, and found the next creepy little roadside inn. They spend the night, woke to see a giant swamp behind the motel, and continued on their journey.

Happily, when they finally got to their honeymoon destination the lodging was lovely and they had a wonderful time.

So in honor of their great adventure I decided this week to draw the Okefenokee frog.

Hope you have fun drawing him.

Don't forget to enter the JETPENS brush pen giveaway! It ends this Sunday. You can sign up HERE to win. Frogs were drawn with the TOMBOW brush pen from the set.

xo

This week learn to draw a Big Eyed Frog. Have fun!

Here is another image from The Open Pillow.

Welcome November, Fall, NaNoWriMo and PiBoIdMo!

I realize that the first day of fall in North America is in September, yet for me the summer does not officially end until today, November 1. 

It is the same every year. Until then there is a feeling in the air; summer is hanging on for dear life and does not want to let go. The sun wants to keep warming us, the leaves hang onto their small places on the trees. 

Until today.

Something chilly takes over. The sun rests.

I know this isn't actually true, yet there is something in me that believes our ancestors thought this too. 

Maybe they lived by instinct a bit more than we do, or maybe it just had something to do with the end of harvest season, but now it feels like winter is around the corner, and we should take a bit more care to be home, snuggled up with our loved ones under a big puffy blanket drinking something warm.

So welcome November--welcome fall.

xo

(November also kicks of NaNoWriMo and PiBoIdMo for fellow picture book writers--check out Tara Lazar's explanation and sign up HERE. Yes! We kids book writers can have fun with this too!)

See you there! 

You Never Know

A wise person once told me just do it, you never know what will come of it.

I heard those words as a young person, and they stuck.

Yes, we should make the most out of every situation and try and look to the bright side, but I'm talking about looking at more than just one side of the thing you are doing.

For instance, yesterday I went to a conference/meeting of illustrators in Pennsylvania. Needless to say, I did not want to go. I was tired, a bit under the weather, behind in every chore, and just a little crabby. But I paid for it, and I went.

The conference was actually great, but there was another side to it that was also great.

The event was located in the middle of a farm that was surrounded by cornfields. Reminded me a bit of New Hampshire. It was overcast, and a storm was brewing in the distance. Some of the dilapidated buildings on the premises looked ominous. It was the perfect setting for a horror story, and the perfect setting for taking pictures.

Although bucolic and lovely in spots, the other areas could have been straight out of Night of the Living Dead, so I snapped away.

I did not have a camera, so I used my iPhone.

Look for the funny within the serious, the hidden within the obvious, the emotional withing the stoic, or the love within the hate.

To me there are many sides to every moment.

Look for them--they are many times better than the obvious.

xo

Welcome September! A Ghostly Book and a Bit of Ghost Hunting

Click here for link to Amazon

Fall is a fun time to have kids and it's a fun time for kids.

But it's also a fun time for moms.

I love to read dark and shivery books during this time of year. I also like spooky crafts, and the occasional horror movie.

The book I am just starting with my Poison Pen Book Club is called Shutter. Although it is a YA, it is about Micheline Helsing, one of last descendants of the great vampire hunter Van Helsing. She is a tetrachromat, a girl who sees auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum, and came with a glowing review. So we can possibly kill two birds with one stone here--find something we like and then maybe pass it on the our teens. 

Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film.

The book club just started reading last night. After a brief set up in the first chapter, the not so subtle ghostly actions starts. These ghosts are NOT of the Casper variety. Missing teeth, and other body parts, kick right in as soon as we know who the main characters are.

This is another book recommended by an agent, so I have high hopes.

Reading Shutter will also be fun because after we finish, the Poison Pen members will be meeting at the Hotel Somerset, a supposedly haunted hotel in Somerville, New Jersey. Although we are not experienced ghosts hunters, we will be bringing cameras in honor of the Shutter theme, and hopefully catch some orbs or other ghostly manifestations on film, like Micheline does.

Several years ago there was a horror film called Shutter, not to be confused with

Shutter Island that starred Leonardo DiCaprio. The main character had her own personal issues with cameras and evil spirits, but the story is not the same.

Although I have not finished the book yet, I just wanted to write this blog because the trilogy of the book Shutter, the movie Shutter, and the amateur camera ghost hunting might set off an idea for your own spooky autumn book/movie/ghost hunting fest.

Have fun!! And tell me what you end up doing.

xo

P.S. I'll review Shutter when I'm done.