What The Engineer and I Did Today (Rated G)

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.