KAT's Nature... Is To Be Creative: children's

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Special Children

"Snowman" by Tara

I met Tara at our Fall art festival last month

I put my name in for a drawing to win a free book.

I thought, why not, right ?

so I picked out the "How to Make a Snowman" book .

Tara McClintick is the author and owner

over at www. Books By Tara.com.

She is from my area of the Cincinnati suburbia.

Her story is real and touching.

Tara has a son, now 13 years old

with a severe form of autism.

I feel a special link to autism,

not because my family

has been touched by it

but ...

it's a funny little story about the house I grew up in...

you can read on to hear my story'

or you can just go check out

Tara's books and her website

here

So here is an old photo of my childhood home in Wisconsin

Beloit Wisconsin... in the far south of the state

that's Gram Shaughnessy
she came to visit us often.

My dad had this house built for our growing family

when we moved from Michigan to Wisconsin

I was in second grade

and this house was like a dream home to me.

Back then in the 1960s

it was my three sisters and one brother

so we had plenty of room

soon there was two more and then two more.

not twins...I'm just trying to speed this story along.

My parents had

seven girls and three boys

all living in this house by 1972...

and space was getting tight.

luckily the first of my older sister were off to college

then and the space eased up a bit.

...and we would let my little brother sleep out in his tree house

we had a couple of kid built tree houses...

Always room for more at our big table
at the holidays

my sister would find a quiet spot to read

My Dad built onto the home...

a family room, finished basement ,

a third bathroom, and additional 2 bedrooms

lots of football and sports
played around the house

Midnight Mass
then...
Christmas mornings were a
toy wonderland

Many first communions
this one for my brother Paul was in our home

There is our garden

more eating
and our milk dispenser...
we drank a whole lot of milk

Mum did a whole lot of grocery shopping !

winters were fun
we had a dog, Brandy
who just ran loose all the time

My parents moved from this home in the 1980s

but it will forever be

my childhood home

Today the house is called
The Dutter House

The Dutter House was established in memory of

Ryan and Kyle Dutter

It is a respite care center for children with special needs.
Kyle would have called it "Grandma's house",
children with special needs receive loving attention and care here

Parents get much needed relief
from caring for a child with various disabilities,
the parent knows that their child is safe
comfortable, and happy here.
a link to
The Dutter House

I like to think
my Mothers kind Spirit
lives on in this home
and watches over the kids
that need this place now.
If you can...
buy a book or two from Tara

...another wonderful mother
caring for and living with all the
joys and hardships of
having a child
with a special need.

Hugs
to all the kids that need one

- KAT -
other books include:

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Illustrating Childrens Books

Another "Kat's Nature" Adventure ?

Working at illustrating a children's book or two.

I choose to do them with watercolor paint

and pen and ink lines to define the pictures.

pencil sketch of creeper

you know how kittens love to crawl into bags?

pencil sketch of Creeper singing

water color painting of Creeper singing

This has been fun and exciting and

stressful and anxious times for me

because...

I never have done anything like this before!

so please be kind!

I am lucky enough to have a friend who is a wonderful writer.

and a very nice person.

I actually met up with Danny Langone through Facebook.

A friend of an old high school friend.

Danny Langone - author

Danny's wife, Barb was a school mate of my older sister.

We all grew up in "small town" Wisconsin...

...where everybody knows everybody.

So we chatter back and forth,

usually just trying to make the other laugh

We have a similar sense of humor,

although he has perfected his.

I eventually read a few of his published works,

"Keys to the Condo" - humorous poetry

"Flybait's Lament" - fiction novel

"Wilt's Hollow" - in the publishing process now

book jacket by Danny's daughter Kim

I absolutely loved reading them all.

Danny really has some enormous talent for telling stories, ticking the funny bone, and touching the heart.
(if you would like to read any of Danny's books let me know
I can get you a signed copy for 20 dollars from him.)

One day Danny simply asked if I would like to illustrate

for a couple of his children's books.

He has been wanting to just go ahead and self publish

for a long time now.

After I overcame my,

"I can't do something that important," feeling...

... I told him I would love to illustrate his books.

The first book is titled simply,

"Creeper"

and the second book is titled

"Percy"

Creeper is an adventurous cat.

Percy is a hungry little field mouse.

Both books are lovely, witty, poetic songs.

Danny happily reads his poems to

school children, in his hometown

and they always enjoy that.

So he had the idea to just go ahead

and publish some children's books.

we are doing the self- publish "thing" .

After graphic artist,

Kimberly Langone

gets it all organized for us,

we shall have a book or two to peddle.

according to Google images
this is what a book peddler looks like! Yikes

Another adventure for me!

I look forward to that very much, actually.

of course my grand-daughter. Jillian

will get the very first copy!

Jillian ...she calls me "Gam-gam"
Yep she stole my old Gammy heart the moment i laid eyes on her!

hugs to you
KAT
Please click on my home button and read my latest posts
I post about my art , my family, and decor and whatever
I love nature and art and creatures and making friends
link to these wonderful and creative
host blogs and link parties