Date Day. Recharge My Battery Day. Play Day.
Call it what you want,
but when The Engineer and I strike out for a day of it,
I never come home disappointed.
Today was no exception.
There was this:
and this:
and this:
I seldom go in search of anything but mirth.
Today, however, I declared myself in search of an orange dress,
and I came home with not one but two.
I can’t wait to show you what I have in mind for these beauties.
Tucked in a dusty ole’ cluttered corner,
I spied this self-illustrated self-portrait
of and by one Tina Schart Hyman.
Having spent my entire life as a (volunteer) family
and (professional) personal historian,
I couldn’t leave this $2 treasure on the shelf.
Good thing I cleared out the bookcases a couple of weeks ago.
Turns out that Tina Schart Hyman
(1939-2004)
was a talented, well-recognized
illustrator of children’s books.
A Caldecott Medal runner-up three times,
Ms. Hyman took home the prize in 1983
for illustrating
Saint George and the Dragon,
a story retold by Margaret Hodges.
Ms. Hyman is one of the first white American illustrators
to incorporate black characters in her illustrations,
largely as a matter of principle,
because her daughter married a man from Cameroon.
Her grandchildren appear in several of her books.
I’m so glad I didn’t talk myself out of this treasure.
And now, we pause for a public service announcement:
Have you written your life stories yet?
Y’all know that I loudly, enthusiastically, ceaselessly
encourage everybody to pen their stories,
write a book about their life,
capture their stories for all posterity.
And yes, I mean you
and you
and you.
Such a gift to all of us, that.
I love staying home and getting things done,
but it always does me a world of good
to get out of the house
and see what’s happening in
the rest of the world.
Or at least in the neck of my woods.
It’s like a tonic
that doesn’t smell or taste bad.
And you know what?
There’s more!
But it’ll wait till tomorrow.
What delightful finds!
And there’s more! One thing made me immediately think of you!
And that would be…?