Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Bridget at wee words for wee ones for Roundup.
Last weekend we had our community fall festival. It was so great to see friends and neighbors enjoying pumpkin painting, scarecrows, food & craft vendors, hayrides, and so much more... I was in charge of the silent auction, which brought in over $800 to turn back around into community programming. DH Paul was in charge of grilling 200 hot dogs. :) (This is an oddly appropriate thing to include in this post! Read on!)
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Irene & Dahlia
(in front of Floyd Cooper art) |
A few days before that, I was at Highlights, where I met for the first time in person my friend Dahlia Hamza Constantine. Joy! Dahlia and I have written a picture book together that celebrates the joyful relationship between a girl and her grandfather "Giddo"— and traditional Egyptian arts like the
Tentmakers of Cairo. It will be released by Nancy Paulsen Books in 2025. :)
Dahlia brought me issues of a new-to-me magazine from the UK called Daphne's Diary. It is full of whimsy and just thumbing the pages is an Artist's Date. This week I played with butterflies from inside the pages...and I'm still playing!
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Irene & Charles hanging out on the
porch of cabin #10, where Poetry Friday
friends Laura Shovan, Linda Mitchell,
and Rose Capelli stayed before me! |
More about Highlights: It was my first time to visit, thanks to Charles Waters, who has a long history at Highlights. His enthusiasm was absolutely my favorite thing about the experience—especially as everything he's ever said about the people and place is 100% true. Beautiful, beautiful! And our group was so kind and brilliant! We really bonded over words and risk-taking and dreams...also, the fabulous
Carol Hinz was there. I took so many notes during her talk and had a breakthrough on a wip. :) I'm so, so grateful and look forward to the beauty this group will be bringing into the world and especially into the lives of children.
And this just in from that amazing publishing duo Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell. I loved writing about friends both far away...and furry!
Today's Artspeak: Animals poem reminds me of the one Dachshund we ever owned, a black-n-tan cutie named Chester. Perhaps you have or have had a Dachshund in your life?? Do tell!
Meanwhile, the end is in sight for this Picasso mini-series...I'm thinking I'll write 2-3 more and then move onto something else. Thanks so much for reading!
whole long body
a smile perched on stubby legs
this dog
- Irene Latham
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