Buckeye Book Fair

Just a quick post to let you know I was invited to participate in the Buckeye Book Fair in Wooster this Saturday, November 1. It's the biggest book fair in Ohio, and it's going to be a fun event with around 100 writers and illustrators participating.



I made button pins from Haiku Baby artwork. One is with the cover art, and the others represent each of the four seasons. The buttons will be give-aways for people that come to my table and buy a book. I am also signing copies of my other book, Peanut Butter and Jellyfishes: A Very Silly Alphabet Book.

So, if you're looking for something to do on Saturday when you're coming down from your post-Halloween sugar-high, come visit me and all of the other authors and illustrators too! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

tickled!

Hello all. I know I still owe you some photos of the Oregon part of my trip, but for now, I thought I'd share a preview of my new book called Have You Ever Tickled a Tiger? And last Friday, I was "tickled" myself when I came home to a surprise advance copy of the book on my doorstep. What fun it is to finally see a new book in print! Doesn't feel so new to me since I have already moved on to the next book projects, but this reminds me that the book is still new to everyone else out there. It is full of quirky animals with 6 touchy-feely textures, including the tiger belly fur on the cover. It will be available in May 2009...I can't wait to share more of the book with you then!

west coast show-and-tell: cali

I'm back from a lovely 10 day trip to the west coast. It's taking me quite a while to sort through my photos, and I'm getting antsy to share, so I've decide to break this up into a few posts. So, first are some highlights from our trip to Sonoma/Napa and San Francisco:


We LOVE the cottage where we stay every year...feels like a home away from home. This year, the peach tree was full of fruit and the owners said we could pick anything from the garden that we wanted.


This trellice full of grapes was just outside the door.


And check out this giant garden dahlia!


This is a sunrise view from our cottage deck.


And this is one of the resident horses at the cottage, who came over to say hello.


We took a great tour at the Benziger Family Winery, where they practice biodynamic farming.


Here, they are extracting all the "good stuff" from grape skins that have already been removed.


This is their wine cave, which stays at just the right temperature and eliminates the need for refrigeration.


And this is the view from Rombauer Vineyards, one of my very favorite wineries.


This was a neat little spot where we stopped to have lunch at an Indian restaurant. I have a thing for red doors, and this was a good one.


I also have a thing for colored glass panes.


I also loved these colorful prayer flags.


On our way to San Francisco, we took a trip to Muir Woods. Our trusty GPS decided to play a trick on us and tried to take us the back way into the park. It didn't work in the end, and we had to turn around and find the "real entrance" but I didn't mind getting lost in the redwoods. I felt like we had happened upon a whole secret village of houses co-existing with the redwoods–it was really amazing to see people living in such a magical forest.


At last, we did find Muir Woods, and here are just a few of our very tall tree-friends.


I love all of the shadows and highlights that the dappled sun creates in forests like this.


I noticed that each of these numbered signs on the path were carved with a different pattern.


Driving over (and under) the Golden Gate Bridge in a convertible is the best!


Mmmmm...here's what was left of our "Happy Anniversary" dessert at our favorite San Francisco restaurant, the Slanted Door.

And then we were off to Portland the next day. So, check back in a few days for Oregon highlights.