FROM THE Amusements File

“Don’t think about making art,” Andy Warhol said. “Just get it done. Let everyone else decide whether it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they’re deciding, make even more art. ”

Hello to all, and a special hello to new subscribers! Loving to have you on the list! Just dropping in to share some interesting things that have lightened my days. Or….enlightened them. Days are pretty fine here in the Pacific NW. In the 70s or low 80s, mostly, no mosquitoes, no humidity, long days of light, what else could I girl ask for? Love summer. Always have, always will.

I do hope to get another post or two in before I leave for Ireland and London in two weeks. And also hope I can relay some things from over the pond as I am there. Things come up and I can’t always make it happen, but I will try! Also, am not confident I can get a September desktop/phone wallpaper to you this year. Maybe I’ll pull out an old one and update with the current calendar. Yes?

I’ve been busy this month making Go Plant games, designing some calendar pages for this year’s TREES 2025 calendar, and trying to stay even with the garden, which has become quite overgrown and is begging for some clippers. The carrots are carroting, the lettuce has more-than-fulfilled its promise, and the basil is sturdy (but we can’t eat it fast enough). The cucumbers are taking their sweet time, as is the zucchini, but I know those folks. Overnight there will be zucchini all over the place. Tomatoes always test our patience, but it’s still early, and the daisies have come and gone (well, not completely gone. The biggest problem with daisies is the cutting back of them, don’t you know?)

And, lastly, the Cat Report. Toby is finally using the litter box, after several attempts at alternate litter boxes; evidently he is quite a poop snob. He is very playful and curious. Loves sprinting down the long hallways, playing with the toys and bugging Ava.

Toby loves this toy. He’s VERY good at this! ( Oh, go ahead. Indulge me.)

1

You may or may not know that I have a love affair with uniquely illustrated picture books. I have a collection of them and aim to share some with you sometime soon. Because they need to be shared, and, as a (hardly-miserable) childless cat lady who no longer has a classroom full of eager listeners and viewers, I am chomping at the bit to share them with you, another audience. But my chomps are going to take more time than I have right now. Be patient, dear readers, but do check back.

Meanwhile, there is this! A museum for picture books!

2

While best known for Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter’s work in nature inspired the likes of George Orwell and Maurice Sendak. She studied and drew, among other things, mushrooms in detail. “No aspect of Potter’s kaleidoscopic genius is more fascinating than her vastly underappreciated contribution to science and natural history, which comes to life in Linda Lear’s altogether magnificent Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature (public library) — by far the best book on Potter and one of the finest biographies ever written, Lear’s prose itself a supreme work of art.” (full article at The Marginalia, here.)

“No aspect of Potter’s kaleidoscopic genius is more fascinating than her vastly underappreciated contribution to science and natural history, which comes to life in Linda Lear’s altogether magnificent Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature (public library) — by far the best book on Potter and one of the finest biographies ever written, Lear’s prose itself a supreme work of art.” (Full article at The Marginalia, here.)

A PS: I just noticed that I already and recently posted this. Oh, well, pick a pair o’ Potters…..

3

In a NY Times article about vanessa german (she styles her name in all lowercase), this appeared. Say what you will, it reeks of creativity. Different styles for different folks, no matter!

“Wherever german lived in the Homewood neighborhood in Pittsburgh, children would show up every day to make art in a safe space. ArtHouse, an informal community center, became a vital part of her practice.”