Happy Birthday Pen and Palette!

Pen and Palette is ONE YEAR OLD TODAY! My very first post was August 6, 2007. I've been planning a blog party, and decided to mainly post photos from throughout the year. Kind of a virtual party--if I was having a party for my blog, these would be my guests. They are the "stars" from my first year of blogging.

First of all, let me say THANK YOU to the almost 17,000 folks who have read my blog this past year! I've been watching the hit-counter, and the pace is quickening, which is very exciting. And a quick note to those who have signed up to receive blog posts by email: I just recently (Friday) changed the setting so that only the first paragraph or so of the blog now arrives in your email box, which I hope will encourage you to CLICK ON THE LINK to my blog and read it here, rather than in your email box. (That way it gets counted on the hit counter, and also you can see the rest of the blog and not just one post.)

So... let the games begin! My first guest of honor is Joshilyn Jackson. Joshilyn is the one who encouraged me to start this blog, one year ago, at the first ever Mississippi Writers Guild Conference in Clinton, Mississippi. I wasn't even sure what a blog was then. In a workshop she gave on marketing your writing, she said writers should create a blog as pre-marketing, and have a web site in place by the time their first book goes to press. She's got a great blog, "Faster Than Kudzu," that you might want to check out. (and you can link to her web site from there) This is Joshilyn and me at Pentimento Books in Clinton, Mississippi, during the conference.
Next guest of honor is my best friend, Daphne Davenport, who has encouraged me at every stage of my development as an artist, writer, wife, mother, friend..... all those things that matter so much in life. Here's Daphne and me (left) at her mother's lake house outside Little Rock on the 4th of July weekend ...

...and Daphne with me and Katherine, my next guest of honor. KatherineThames is one of my Goddaughters, fellow writer and writing workshop attendee, and fellow member of our Memphis women's writers' critique group. The three of us went to the Creative Nonfiction Workshop in Oxford together this past February-March.

Other ladies: in the Memphis writers group are Sue Brownlow, (that's sue, left, with Katherine)

Sarah Parker, right,

and Tery Bernadini, left.

Speaking of critique groups, the Yoknapatawpha Writers Group started one year ago in Oxford, springing out of the 2007 Yoknapatawpha Summer Writers Workshop. These guests of honor are all members of this group that is trying to make me a better writer: here we are at our very first meeting in September, 2007: Herman King, Patti Trippeer, Tom Hamilton, me and Doug McLain. I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Mentors who are also honored guests (in addition to Joshilyn) include Cassandra King, whose book, The Sunday Wife inspired me to start writing, and Beth Ann Fennelly, who's taught at both Yoknapatawpha workshops I've attended, and shared her time before and after various readings she's given in Oxford and Memphis.

And to Beth Ann's husband, Tom Franklin, who is also amazingly generous with his time and encouragement to fledgling (and thirsty) writers! (This is at the Neshoba County Fair....)

Neil While... who helped me with my book proposal for my memoir-in-progress and continues to be as source of inspiration and encouragement. Here's Neil, at the Creative Nonfiction Conference in Oxford this past February/March...

Scott Morris...one of the instructors at the 2008 Yoknapatawpha Writers Workshop in Oxford this past June, who has also been a source of encouragement and help as I move forward with the process of querying agents for my book. Scott's also leaving Oxford... for California! Okay, now I must say something to Scott: having spent a few hours looking over my blog posts from the past year, I agree with what you said up on the balcony at City Grocery in July--I do have a great life. Thank you for pointing that out, but also for acknowleding that one can have both a terrible and wonderful life at the same time because, well, because that's how real life is.

John Floyd... (who has a new book out, Midnight, available here!) who was an instructor at the Missisisppi Writers Guild Conference in August, 2007 and taught one of the workshops I attended there. John critiqued one of my short stories for the workshop, and has continued to give of his time, expertise and encouragement.

Neal Walsh... who was an instructor at both the 2007 and 2008 YWCs in Oxford, and has also been a source of inspiration. Neil was in the MFA program at Ole Miss when he led the critique sessions at the 2007 workshop, and then returned from teaching in the MFA program at LSU to teach at the workshop in 2008. This is Neal, reading from one of his published stories at Boure's during Open Mic one night after a day of critique sessions at the conference.

Also, author-cousins Delaune Michel and Andre Dubus III, who were both a delight to meet at their readings in Oxford and Jackson. This is Delaune and me at Lemuria Books in Jackson, Mississippi...

And Andre with me and writing buddy, Patti, at Andre's reading at Off Square Books during Camp Square Books.

Oh, and the party wouldn't be complete with Lee Gutkind and Dinty Moore (left, with Neal White at Off Square Books) instructors at the Creative Nonfiction Workshop I attended this past year... This is Lee (right) introducing speakers at the conference in February.

And Kathy Rhodes and Sarah Einstein, fellow writing buddies at those workshops. This is me with Sarah (left) and Kathy (center) at a cocktail party during the Creative Nonfiction Conference in Oxford in March.

Okay, a girl doesn't live by writing alone... there's also painting. For me, mostly icons. My most recent workshop was in March, with these folks completing an icon of The Angel of the Lord. So, my helper, Kerry Sneed, is surely a guest of honor at my P & P Party, as I can't imagine teaching workshops without her help! (That's Kerry and me, below, left, near the end of teaching a workshop at St. John)

And the children at St. John Orthodox Church's Vacation Church School this summer embraced iconography as they learned about "Windows to Heaven" during a weeklong program. I was invited to lead an activity with them one morning, and they were eager learners.

The Mixed Bag Ladies, hosted by another Goddaughter, Julie Stanek, had a short run (6 months?) but a great time painting together at Julie's a few times last year. Left to right: Jenna, Sue, me, Julie.

Oh, and of course I'd invite another special friend, Sally Elliott to the party. Sally is a tremendous editor and soul friend this past year. Here she is up in Alaska, where she used to live.

Other party-goers that need to be invited to my blog party are my fellow St. John Dinner Club members from this past year... especially Ethan and Claire Van Drimmelen(congratulations to Ethan and Claire on the birth of their daughter, Zoe Anne, on Monday!!!) hosts par excellent.. who came up with the clever 50s dinner party we had earlier in the year...

which inspired these crazy 50s costumes...
and martinis... that's Ethan in red

and mashed potatoes... ready cooks Caitlyn and Claire...

Our friends Father Paul and Sissy Yerger from Clinton, Mississippi would certainly be invited to the party... they were our traveling mates for our trip to Greece last October.

And of course my FAMILY have been guests on my blog all year... my sweet husband has showed up quite a few times... in all of the "hats" he wears: husband and father (Bill, Dad), priest (Father Basil), and physician (Doctor William Cushman). This is us celebrating our 38th wedding anniversary on June 13 at Roustica Restaurant, just around the corner from our house in midtown Memphis.

And my children....
My son, Jon, with his friends Elizabeth and Will Crabb ... before his last tour of Iraq, from which he returned safely just a couple of weeks ago! Here they are at the River City Arts Fest, in downtown Memphis.

And my son Jason and his new wife, See, who live in Colorado. You can read about the visit Beth and made out to meet See in May here.

And my daughter, Beth, who has been on several beach trips with us and also spent the summer at home doing an architecture internship... she returns to UT Knoxville in a couple of weeks to continue grad school in architecture.

And my mother, "Granny" Effie, and her best friend, Elizabeth who live at Ridgeland Pointe Assisted Living in Ridgeland, Mississippi. You can read my recent post about Effie and Elizabeth here, which has links to previous posts about their adventures in assisted living!

So much to celebrate! Like Caitlyn and Erin and Keetha, who faithfully leave comments (and have great blogs themselves!)

Sunday I said goodbye to my Goddaughter, Hannah and her husband Matthew Snowden, who left for Pennsylvania Monday. Lots of tears on Sunday ... but now hopes for a great future for them. Here we are a couple of years ago at their wedding reception, which seems like yesterday.

Sunday was also my Godson, Damon Boile's birthday, and we celebrated with dinner at the Hunt Phelon Inn and Restaurant, and later at Damon and Madeleine's house with a sorbet and hat party, featured in my last post.

So... thanks for celebrating and sharing the journey with me! WHO KNEW blogging would be such a joy! I can't wait to begin another year of posting. And I'd love for you to leave a comment (click on "comments" below and follow the directions) or send an email to my new email address: sjcushman at g mail dot com .... you know how to configure it, but maybe the spam widgets don't!

Birthday wishes? As I blow out Pen and Palette's virtual candles, my birthday wish is that everyone's wishes come true.... books get written and published, paintings get painted and sold, buildings get designed and built, families grow closer, soldiers come home safely from war, marriages are blessed, babies are born healthy, and mystery is recovered in every aspect of our lives. Big breath. Wwwwwhhhhhhooooooooooosssssshhhhhh! That was easy (only one candle this year!)

Nashville Star and Mad Hatter Birthday Party

Way to go, Melissa!

We were clapping and cheering last night as we watched the finale of “Nashville Star,” because our favorite, Melissa Lawson, won! We even voted for her last week—first time we’ve ever voted on any of these shows. She’s got an amazing voice and stage presence, and I love that she’s a mother of five boys and has put everything into her dream. We've been watching her since the first show, so now we feel like we can say, "we knew her when!" Us and a few million other close friends.

You can see Melissa singing her original song, “Ready to Stand,” a few weeks ago in the video below—just click on the arrow.



On Sunday night we celebrated our friend, Damon’s birthday with Damon and his wife, Madeleine (more of our Godchildren!)…. First with homemade from scratch (they even used fresh-squeezed limes and oranges) margaritas at Damon and Madeleine’s beautifully refurbished Victorian home a few blocks from us here in Midtown. Then we headed down to the Inn at Hunt Phelon for an elegant dinner of scallops and shrimp (for hubby and me) and lamb and duck (for Damon and Madeleine.) Yum! The Inn's on the east end of Beale Street (east of I-55) kind of up on a hill. Standing on the back porch you get a great view of the skyline of downtown Memphis with the sun setting behind it. Didn't have my camera.

Afterwards we gathered back at their home for these awesome little Island Way Sorbets in natural “shells”… like mango-orange in half an orange peel, pineapple in half a pineapple peel, coconut in half a coconut shell, etc. Leave it to Madeleine to find something so special. (Want some? They’re at Cosco’s.)

Then Madeleine brought out her new camera on a tripod and set it up in the living room and started taking pictures. Then she got creative with us.



















“Oh—you know what “little Damon” (who is 31 and a lawyer) and his friends used to do when they were bored?”

Madeleine’s eyes glisten with excitement when she gets an idea. Something I’d love to see in her job as school teacher in the gifted program in West Memphis, Arkansas!

“They’d dress up in hats and old clothes and take pictures.”

Next thing I knew we were digging in a closet for hats and coats and, yes, guns and posing for Madeleine’s camera.

And those who know my husband well will crack up at the pix with the guns, as he is such an anti-gun person. My dad and brother did lots of duck, quail and dove-hunting when I was growing up in Mississippi, but I never went with them, so this is as close as I guess I'll get to the hunting experience.

Never a dull moment with these two dear friends we’ve known now for almost twenty years!

I thought about Garden & Gun , the magazine I enjoy sometimes, with its classy mix of Southern art, literature, destinations and cuisine.

There’s an article in the July/August issue by Clyde Edgerton called “The Family Guns,” that reminds me of Damon and Madeleine’s extensive antique collection and family treasures

that fill their beautiful home. I had fun posing in Damon’s fur coat from 1906.

So, I’m posting some of the hat pictures in my permanent hat gallery on the left side of my blog.

Thanks for a great time, and Happy Birthday, Damon!

Okay… tomorrow is the day… when we’ll celebrate Pen and Palette’s first birthday! I’m already working on the post and hope to have it up by tomorrow

afternoon. Thanks for reading!

The Good Granddaughter and Gmail

First of all, if you were expecting the "Happy Birthday Pen and Palette" post I said would be up today, well, I had the date wrong. August 6 will be the one year birthday of my blog, so watch for that post on Wednesday!

Meanwhile, I’ve got two news items before getting to “The Good Granddaughter”:

MY NEW EMAIL ADDRESS is sjcushman at gmail dot com.
(configured this way to keep spam widgets somewhat at bay, a tip from Erin! thanks!)

So… over the weekend I made the change. And then I sent out emails from my old Yahoo account to over 500 contacts from my Yahoo address book, asking everyone to PLEASE REPLY TO MY NEW GMAIL ADDRESS so I could simply “click” and put you into my new gmail address book. First let me say THANK YOU to the dozen or so folks who actually followed the directions. Now, for the hundred or more (so far) who replied TO MY OLD YAHOO ADDRESS INSTEAD…. I still love you. (Replying to my old email address didn’t help me add you to my gmail address book, so I am adding you manually.) sigh. Oh, and some folks have asked why I changed to gmail—it's simply because my Yahoo account was being slammed with spam. Hope this will be better.

Next news is that I’ve changed the setting on my feed burner so that only a paragraph or two of my blog posts will arrive in your email boxes, if you’ve signed up to receive posts by email. That way your email boxes won’t get filled up with photos, etc., AND you’ll have to click on the link to the blog when it arrives in your in box to read it here, rather than in your email box. The benefit for me is that when you click on the link to my blog, you are counted on my hit counter, which gives a more accurate counting of folks reading the blog. If you haven’t already signed up for emails each time I post, just put your email address in the feed burner box and you’re done.

Now, if you’ve been keeping up with “The Good Daughter” and “ The Good Daughter II” and “The Glasses,” well, here’s another installment in the series:

The Good Granddaughter

My daughter Beth and I drove down to Jackson to visit my mom this weekend. Beth hadn’t seen her in a while ‘cause she’s been busy with grad school (architecture at UT Knoxville) so I tried to prepare her for the decline in my mother’s mental condition. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know my mom has Alzheimer’s and lives in an assisted living home in Ridgeland, Mississippi. Her memory loss seems to be hastening a good bit in the past few months, but thankfully her temperament has improved. Most of the time she’s pretty happy, and she tells me over and over how much she likes her assisted living home now. She’s been there two and a half years. I think it took her about a year and a half to really make the shift from grieving the loss of her house and independence to contentment in her new situation. Which is pretty admirable, actually.

Anyway, the last time I was there I noticed that all the photographs I send her were beginning to pile up around her apartment… covering the window ledges and other areas that needed to be dusted but couldn’t be seen. So I bought her a bulletin board and packed it, and a few tools, for our trip down. We picked up some salads from the Beagle Bagel and took them to Mom’s apartment just before lunch so we could eat with her while we worked on the bulletin board, instead of eating in the dining room like I did last time. (You can read about that experience here.)

While we’re eating lunch, Mom asks Beth, “What are you doing these days, Beth?”

“I’m in graduate school, studying architecture. And working.”

“Oh, that’s exciting. I guess that keeps you busy.”

“Yes ma’am.”

And then she asks me about the boys and I tell her that Jon is home from Iraq safely and then I remind her that Jason got married in May and show her the picture of him and See again and she says they’re a cute couple and then she asks Beth, “So what have you been doing this summer?”

“I’m in school and working.”

“In school? What are you studying?”

“Architecture.”

“Oh, that sounds exciting.”

After four or five more rounds of this conversation, we were finished with lunch and started working on the bulletin board.

Here’s Beth reading the instructions on how to attach the hangers to the back of the bulletin board. (Granny Effie is watching.)

And here’s Beth hammering the hardware onto the back of the board. Granny Effie is sometimes watching, and sometimes asking, “What are you doing?”

“She’s fixing your bulletin board so we can hang it on the wall.”

“What for?”

“So we can put all your pictures up there so you window seal and end table won’t be so messy.”

“They don’t bother me.”

“I know, Mom, but you’ll enjoy them more this way, and when I send you more pictures you’ll have room for them.”

“My bird feeder is empty.”

“Yeah, I forgot to bring more bird food this trip.”

“I love to sit here and look out this window. It’s so pretty. But the bird feeder is empty.”

“We’ll get some more soon, Mom. Would you like to go out with me and Beth and get some today, when we’re finished with the bulletin board?”

“What are you going to do with the bulletin board?’

“We’re going to arrange your pictures on it, like this—“

"Oh, that's nice. But I really need a manicure."

"Yeah... a few weeks ago when I took you to the nail place you changed your mind and asked me to bring you home, so you didn't get one that day."

"Can you do my nails for me?"

"No, I don't have all the right stuff, Mom, but they can do your nails in the beauty parlor upstairs here. Do you want me to make you an appointment?"

"No, I'm not in the mood."

Beth has finished with the hardware and is ready to arrange the pictures, so I gather up a few stacks and start selecting a few for her to group together.

“Here—put some captions with each group to remind Mom who folks are and what was going on in each picture.”

Granny Effie gets up to watch Beth arranging the pictures and looks out the window, where a big yellow machine is parked next to the building, with a crane reaching up to the roof.

“They’re working on our building,” she says.

I look and see roofing materials.

“Oh, that must be roof repairs from the tornadoes that came through here a couple of months ago. I’m glad they’re fixing the roof. Although I feel sorry for the men working on the roof today—it’s over 100 degrees!”

About then Beth has finished arranging the photographs and we hang the bulletin board on the wall.

“Oh, I love it. Can I go see if Elizabeth wants to come see it?”

“Sure, Mom.” Elizabeth is Mom’s best friend, who lives across the hall and has two cats and also feeds wild cats that live behind their assisted living home. She’s also the friend I wrote about in “The Good Daughter II” ....

Elizabeth comes over and loves the bulletin board. Then she sits down to visit with us, and begins telling us about her cats.

“My big tom cat is named Rosie. I named him after Rosevelt Greer, the football player, because he’s huge.”

“That name sounds familiar,” I look at Beth, who always knows sports trivia. “Who did he play for?”

“Some team in California,” Elizabeth begins, “He was the only good one in the whole bunch of them. And he was huge.”

Beth gets out her new phone and Googles Roosevelt Greer and sure ‘nuff he played for the Los Angeles Rams in 1972 and his nickname was “Rosie.”

“Yes, he was a good man. He quit playing football and became a preacher.”

Beth verified this info from her phone and added, “and he did needlepoint and he knitted.”

About then one of the aids came in the door looking for Elizabeth. “Mrs. McKay, I’ve got your antibiotic… I thought you’d be over here with Miss Effie when I couldn’t find you in your room.”

“Oh, where is it?”

The aid hands the pill and a cup of water to Elizabeth, who takes the pill and then looks out the window and says, “There’s that big girl who works here, Emily? Just sitting out on the patio. What’s she doing out there? She’s so big and she’s just sitting out there.”

I look out the window. “That’s one of the construction workers taking a break from working up on the roof, Elizabeth.”

“No, that’s that fat girl that works here. She is so big.”

About then the aid giving Elizabeth her pill says, “Now, I bet you talk about me like that when I’m not here.” This aid has lots of braids, dyed red, and pulled up on top of her head so that they stick out in all directions. “I’ll bet you say, ‘there goes that big girl whose hair looks like it’s on fire’ or something like that.” And the aid starts laughing. Mom and Beth and I are cracking up by now.

Elizabeth says, “I’m sure that’s that big girl out there on the patio.”

I look again. “That’s a Hispanic man sitting there, Elizabeth.”

“Well, I can’t see very good any more.”

The aid leaves and I look at my watch and realize we won’t have time to take Mom out to buy birdseed unless we leave soon, and just as I’m about to suggest we leave, Elizabeth starts back up.

“I’ve got a friend who is Chinese. Her parents are pure Chinese. They came from China. But they know a lot about adoption.”

I'm guessing this conversation is sparked by Beth's presence, but I'm not sure, and Elizabeth never addresses Beth directly about being Asian or adopted. She just keeps talking.

“Anyway, I went to a funeral for a family member of hers and it was a genuine Chinese funeral. At the end, they threw a funeral wreath up on the roof of the house. It was all completely Chinese.”

“That’s an interesting custom, Elizabeth,” I try to join the thread. “Are they Buddhist?”

“No, they’re Chinese. They’re from China.”

Mom seems to want to join the conversation but it’s hard to find a place to jump in so she says, “I can’t tell the difference if someone is from China or Japan. They look the same to me.”

Beth and I share understanding looks throughout the visit, and I’m so thankful she’s there. She's patient and sweet with Granny Effie and somehow it just helps me for her to be part of the circle.

This little cocktail napkin reminds me of our visit with Mom.

About then I say it's time for us to be on the road and so Mom and Elizabeth start walking with me and Beth out of Mom's apartment and towards the front of the building. On the way we see one of Mom's dining room table mates, Jamie, playing Scrabble with another resident. Jamie hugs me and I introduce her to Beth and she hugs Beth and tells her, "We're taking good care of your grandmother." Later I remind Beth that Jamie is the one that Elizabeth thinks has Alzheimers, but Jamie is the one who plays Scrabble.

On the drive back to Memphis, I tell her I’m so glad she came, and thank her for helping me with the bulletin board. Well, actually, she did most of it herself and I just watched. She certainly made my trip to Jackson so much lighter this month. She’s a Good Granddaughter.

No TIme to Write Today, but...

My daughter Beth and I are about to leave town... driving down to Jackson (Mississippi) to visit my mother and some friends of Beth's, so this will be very very quick. Like all I'm going to do is link to two places to read something good since there's not much to read here:

FIRST LINK is to Erin Moulton's blog, "When We Fast," because she's got a great post up about the beginning of the Dormition Fast, which is today. It's especially great for you mothers of young children. Go there. Now! I'm sorry to be missing our parish's first evening of Paraclesis Prayers to the Mother of God, which will be prayed tonight at 7 p.m. at St. John Orthodox Church in midtown Memphis. I hope someone will light a candle for me since I won't be there.

SECOND LINK is to the skirt! Magazine's website, and especially to a great essay in the August issue, which just hit the streets today. The essay is "Let Go of your Legal Pad," by Patti Digh. Patti also has a great blog called 37 days.

Okay, we're outa' here... but watch for my post on August 3, which is the one year birthday of Pen and Palette!

have a great weekend, and thanks for checking in!