Here Comes The Sun! 20% off Thumball order!

The sun is shining in New Jersey today and our thoughts are growing warmer! Share in the celebration with a twenty percent saving on your ENTIRE Thumball order until 2-15-11. Enter the word SUN in the discount code box at www.thumball-store.com

Thumball creates positive social interaction while developing key learning skills. Improve listening, speaking and reading skills while learning more about each other and the world.

Enjoy the classic lyrics of an all time favorite Beatles song here:

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right

the art of walking

My Muse: Matisse!! Moroccan Woman (Zorah Standing). Central panel of a triptych. 1912. Oil on canvas.

the art of walking
by Mary Miller Pembleton

...I tried to live your way, land locked and mountain high
But I keep cooking fish tacos when all you like is venison stew

My tattered pirate scarves, sandals in snow
You head to toe in camouflage, suspicious of open spaces

Knew on the honeymoon cruise trouble was afoot with you
in the state room green-gilled as I swayed in midnight moon glow

hoped the mermaid painting souvenir would be enough, you
made me a lamp of shells and sands, painted the walls "azure dreams"

for hours on end we perched in your home made tree stand waiting
for deer to come, in silent restraint, I longed only for the blue sea

satisfied by seaweed salad and salt on my sun torched lips
madly riding waves past sunset, tending the crackling bonfire till dawn

time to leave you to the beef jerky, turkey shoots and perfecting the art
of walking on dry leaves without making any sound at all

Still Life: A Poem with Mary and Henri

I love the arts; theater, live music, dance, art history, poetry and learning about the lives of artists. Devoting time to this passion of mine has been spotty at best. My iPad is making it easier to fit some art and inspiration into my days which are filled with running our family business. Masterpieces app gives me 200 images as a springboard and a short google search later and I am learning about Manet, Van Gogh, O"Keeffe and many others.

Henri Matisse makes me very happy, his use of color, composition and texture pleases my eye and soothes my heart. His Large Red Interior,1848, an oil on canvas caught my attention and a story formed in my head about how that very red room came to be. The phrase popped into my mind, "he once drank cups of me..." and this poem was born. It is not biographical either from Henri's life or my own but it effectively creates a mood by employing the imagery of temperature, color and thirst. The title Still Life is appropriate because of the many ways those two words can be interpreted.

Still Life

one simmering flame warms the hand blown teapot
he once drank cups of me
his young white leaf, his lemon honey
freshly filled fruit bowls spilling over everywhere

a gray afternoon found him down on the ground
Wailing about color and hue
Insistent it all turn crimson; moldings, floor, our furniture
Arms high, wild shouting,
     "Saturate the walls! Add a ruby ceiling!"

funny how the new love hut has no paint at all.
hot under his blankets of red
a ceramic saucer lies empty
one thirsty heart cries-out for primer