Ready or not ...

There is something priceless about finding an old drawing from elementary school.

This crayon rendering accompanied an "essay" on sportsmanship that I wrote in Miss Shalit's second grade class at Glenwood Elementary School in Short Hills, N.J.  What I particularly like about the drawing is the hairband and the scalloped hem of my purple dress. My hair is carefully coiffed into a flip with brown crayon and my cankles seem to melt into purple shoes that have just a hint of heel.

Why is there a cloud coming out of my head? Did I mean to write another comment? Does the house on the right have an awning? Or is that a car blue parked in the driveway? Is a green kayak resting up against the house? Is the light violet stream on the bottom left a fallen fork? Or a path into the house?

And where are my glasses? No matter! It is a sunny day in the life of Bonni Dee Kogen. (See the yellow sun.)

Does this drawing have anything to do with sports?  I don't think so ... and if it did, I think I was more interested in creating a trendy team uniform.

Here is what I had to say on the subject of sportsmanship when I was 8-years old:

(I like the self-confidence of ending at "9" rather than "10.")

Discovering this drawing comes at a particularly poignant time as I am about to start a new chapter.
Ready or not, here I come.

Fan-cy, Fan-cy

It's 80-degrees in my studio and rather than turn on the AC, I brought down the oscillating fan from the attic. Within minutes, I was taken adrift by the whir.

"Why do I feel so relaxed?" I thought. And "Why do I suddenly feel so sleepy?"

I share the calm herewith. (Click here.)

After you wake up, let me know how the retro-white noise made you feel.

Cool? (as in "not hot") Chilled out?

Throw-Back Monday: Catch a Coco Puff

What can I say? (I'm a giver.)

Here I am feeding Coco Puffs to my Tiny Tears whom I (creatively) named "Tina." 

Tina Tiny Tears. (That's an easy towel monogram, isn't it?)

I soon abandoned Tina for Chatty Cathy, followed by Barbie and her sister Midge, followed by an entire legion of trolls. My favorite was a white long-hair troll from which I created Albert Schweitzer as the main stand-in for a diorama book-review. I remember filling the top of a peanut butter lid with water, and placing it on grass and leaves I had gathered to simulate the African jungle. Orange peels (which stunk up the classroom after a few days) served as Albert Schweitzer's row boats should he want to take a spin around on Peanut Butter Lid Lake.