While I’m waiting on that particular wishing star to deliver, here are a few pics of beautiful creches collected from around the world.  They can tie me over.

Japan

Kenya

Denmark

Bangladesh

Russia

Budapest Hungary

I know, that’s a lot of them but I couldn’t narrow it down any more!  I just love how unique they are, and without being an expert I imagine that they reflect the distinct characteristics of each country.  I’m grateful I don’t have to pick a favorite.  I’ll just plan to someday collect them all!  Kind of a cheat, I know.   Which do you like best?

I’ll be stopping by to chat in the comments, and would love to hear about any dream travel spots of your own, but I won’t be putting up another blog post until early January.  In the meantime, Happy Holidays!

No, I can’t say it.  Not even as a joke.  Somebody would be sure to believe me and then word would spread and pretty soon everyone would hate me for having been nonsensical about that which is clearly not a joking matter.  So, no agent.  But, I did get some requests over the break and I’ve also decided to excercise greater patience about the fulls still out.  This despite the fact that it’s nearly Christmas and what I’d really like Santa to bring me is an agent!  :P

In the meantime and as a most excellent distraction, we visited friends in northern Virginia over Thanksgiving, and even managed to fight our way through the crowds to see the Smithsonian museums on Thanksgiving day.  Back when we used to live in the DC ‘burbs, I’d take the kids to the museums whenever I could and we discovered years ago that Thanksgiving day was a fantastic time to hit the museums.  Everything was peaceful, parking was plentiful, and the museums were ours for the taking.

Well, somebody must have let that particular secret out of the bag in the intervening years.  It wasn’t quite so bad as the summer time rush but it was still pretty busy.  On the up side, the train and fairyland exhibit opened just in time for us to see it while we were in town.  All the buildings that went up with the train exhibit (including mini-monuments, fairy houses, and presidential homes) are made from natural material and collected bits of plants. Further proof that the Botanical Gardens rock!

Take a look at these pics, and tell me they don’t make you wish you were half an inch tall!  Here we have a fairy mansion, with just a glimpse of the magically inspired decor inside.

A close up of a different room comes complete with a tiny organ.  Can you hear the music?  I can!

And finally we have a porcupine house and a giraffe house.

Can you tell which is which?

Aren’t they just the most lovely things you’ve ever seen?  You know, in the same way that all lovely and creative things get a ‘most’ categorization?  They remind me of my pine cone people, who inhabit a special garden of wild magic in 13 Demon Days.  So much fun!

Which makes me wonder what it is with tiny people we find so fascinating.  I’ve never understood that.  I mean, sure, I feel it too.  But, why, I wonder?  Any thoughts?

I picked Friday partly ’cause I will be home all day–the first time in two weeks! 

Eight states, seven YA books (including Summer of the Traveling Pants, which just seemed appropriate!), three swimming pools, one lovely old abbey, and countless desserts later, I feel ready to wave the kids off to school and dive into my new project.  Seven apocalyptic seals, a group of girls marked by fate and a cursed island.  I can’t wait!

Me, I think I’d write a blog.  Why?  Because obviously anything that was meant to be ‘current’ or newsworthy wouldn’t be by the time it was received.  What’s that, you say?  You’re stuck on an island and feel certain the turtles are in cahoots with the sharks and negotiating your demise?  Well, the message in the bottle isn’t going to help you–you’ll have moved on from that crisis, led a revolution in Atlantis and settled down to raise mer children by the time help shows up.  But a blog, now, that’s intended to be a timeless shout out from one human being to the rest the two-legged population, and it’s okay if the message gets picked up by a beachcomber in Texas instead of your Aunt Lucy in Maine.

So, here’s my message in a bottle:

The beach is great, the water’s even warm!  And we’re making friends.  Meet Alexias, an Entwife.  She’s enjoying the sun and sand, but would like to send word to Treebeard that she’s here.  Maybe he’d like to visit sometime.

We’ve also made friends with birds, crabs, and even dolphins, but we’ve spent the most time with the sun.  We’re actually becoming quite chummy.  We have a deal.  I wear my sunblock (even on my feet) and the sun promises to make an appearance every day so we can play.  He even posed for his picture the other morning, which I found very considerate.

Of course, he made me get up at the uncivilized hour of 6:00am for this shot, but I love the pic so much I’m not holding a grudge.

Lastly, a few words of advice from one islander to another.  Don’t let anyone pee on your jellyfish sting–even if they line up to help.  Never believe your children when they tell you they’re heading to the beach in their street clothes but ‘won’t get in the waves.’  And if you see an alligator, climb a tree.  Preferably higher and faster than the guy behind you.

Have a great week, and send me a reply by bottle when you finish off your coke!

No ocean waves allowed in the living room!

Okay, glad we got that straight.  Ocracoke island was fabulous, as predicted.  The lovely ponies were kind enough to share breakfast with us–but we begged off and told them we just ate.

The ghost crabs also posed for a picture, which was especially generous of them given that they also had an ocean wave showing up in their living room.

When we hiked out to Teach’s point, we found the remains of a greek city that Blackbeard had stolen and tossed overboard in the fighting.  Unfortunately, no buried treasure.  Here’s a pic of the ‘ruins.’

I brought home books about the island, but have been splitting my time between the nonfiction books and Sarra Cannon‘s fantastic demon series.  Congrats to Sarra on the release of number four, Shadow Demons, this weekend!  And in further links, if you’re heading out to the beach for the Fourth and hunting for books, Becca Fitzpatrick’s got a few she’s recommending on the Cabinet.  Happy reading, and happy travels.  Have a safe Fourth!

If only I hadn’t been two days tardy, we’d share the same day–but I guess my special-wattage will have to make do with what I got.  Dr. Seuss’s books are like chocolate–always welcome, and always a pick-me-up.

Today we’re off for a whirlwind stay out on Oracoke Island.  I can’t wait!  Lots of pics to be posted when we get home, and hopefully some new writing in the works.  Summer is a great time to restore the creative well, and I intend to embrace it!

which was spotted by the fantastic and fun Orange Charter School table.  Next on our list of must haves was of course food, but before we dug into the meaty stuff we had to check out this old-fashioned ice cream churner,

and since everyone knows you can’t watch ice cream be made without having some, I can now vouch for both their vanilla and strawberry flavors!  Of course, the food of honor was barbequed pork in at least five varieties.  There was hardly any need to buy a sandwich once you turned in your sample tickets and at one of these times five.

I think we voted for 1, 5, 4, 3, 2, but I mostly just remember how good it was!

Unfortunately, I didn’t see any hogs.  Maybe they thought it insensitive to invite the piggies, or maybe they figured there’d be plenty of hogs–

of this variety!  As you can see, I was happy to do my civic duty.

As you can see, he was very majestic.  He also had a mouth full of impressively persuasive teeth.  Green globulars had invaded Disney World, and the lion used his royal prerogative to request my help.  I protested my need to blog, but his royal highness dangled rich rewards backed by threats and I felt obliged to accept.

My first strategem was to gather news and spies by recruiting those aerial watchers, the birds.  For this I was forced to buy lots of delicious french pastries.  Because, you know, birds are very particular eaters and only accept the highest fare in crumbs.

Several birds came to my call.  These two were particularly helpful:

They sighted green globulars on the ruins, and noted that my getaway vessel had been taken hostage by the greenies.

However, it wasn’t until I talked to the fish that I tracked down the invaders spoken of by the lion king.

With the invaders taken care of, his royal shagginess the king offered me the opportunity to dine at his favorite restaurant.  Here’s a sample of the menu:

I opted to forage instead.

So you see, there really was no chance to blog.  If you don’t believe me, ask the lion.  Just remember that creatures with teeth like that may have a different perspective on what constitutes a conversation!

Perhaps I can make it up to them when I blog about the conference.  Until then, I beg their forbearance.

You see, I never wanted to visit New York.  Nope, not at all.  I’ve never openly admitted this.  I’ve even gone so far as to pretend enthusiasm.  But in reality, I was much too prejudiced against the place to ever give it a chance.  Whenever my husband came back from a visit and bemoaned the plain-jane faire of DC’s street vendors, or friends thrilled at the chance of a weekend in the city without sleep, I smiled banally and mentally turned my nose to the sky.  I planned trips to every other spot on and off the planet, but until the SCBWI winter conference this last weekend, none to New York.

It’s not my fault.  I was misguided as a child!

The desperate cry of every hardened criminal and cornered politician, and now my plea for sympathy.  But, it’s also quite true!  Whenever someone waxed eloquent on the titilating virtues of New York, a little ditty ran through my head.  I picked it up as a child in some dark hole of a sunny neighborhood, and it went something like this:

New York, New York

is a dirty rotten place

where bums and idiots go.

As you can see, it was a musical masterpiece even Mozart would be proud of.  When sung in an annoying little voice with a superior tone, it was almost enough to make one believe that Nowhere, USA was so inherently superior to NYC that those who chose the latter were to be pitied.  Never envied.  No, no, of course not.

Imagine, then, my surprise at finding that I love New York!  I even heart it.  And not just the obvious things–the lovely memorial being built at ground zero, the one-of-a-kind shopping, the to-die-for food.  No.  I love the traffic.  I have never felt so self-actualized as the moment I realized I could use my car’s horn to say all those things a car says most eloquently when someone stops mid-street.  I could zoom through the little gap left between a bus and a truck without danger of offending my fellow drivers.  I could nudge into the constant flow of pedestrians without earning myself any nasty looks.  I could even ‘overlook’ the lines on the street and use the entire road, as it should be used.  In fact, I could drive exactly as I’ve always wanted!

Driving in DC taught me to long for the streets of New York–and now I’ve finally experienced the fulfillment of that nebulous desire.  After a round or two with the taxis in the financial district on a Friday afternoon, I felt a glow of joy that no amount of putt-putting in rural North Carolina will ever extinguish.  I have found my driving soulmates, and fought a good fight.  I have purged prejudice from my soul.

All is well.

They’re going to be really cold and icy this weekend!

But I’m a writer.  I write.  Sometimes I daydream.  In an efficient and inspired moment, I designed myself some really cool new business cards.  Planning for trips and preparing practical points like what to pack isn’t high on my priority list–which is why it was this morning before I realized that the only shoes I had planned to take to New York in January with three days of snow on the schedule were these:

What can I say?  They get me by in North Carolina winters!

Guess I’m going to pull out some of my old tennies and see if they still fit.  If not, you can still look for me in NYC this weekend.  I’ll be the one with pink and blue icicle toes.