Safety and Freedom. Can we give our children both?

Rowan (my youngest) and I have decided to see some old Disney classics this week. All of ours are on VHS, and it's been a while since anyone in this house has watched anything on VHS. Our pics, Snow White, The Fox and The Hound, Bambi, and Aladdin. We watched Bambi, then The Fox and the Hound back to back, and Rowan turned to me and said "Both the mothers die" Well, this is a theme you hear discussed a lot as a mother of small children living in progressive SE Portland. Disney's misogynistic bent. Always offing the mother. I knew this formula, and started to tell Rowan what I knew, first off that every movie we had rented had no mother from the start, or she got killed early on. For the record, I never believed this was misogyny . I just thought it was a convenient formula. Anyway, I start to tell Rowan how leaving the character without a mother puts them into all kinds of danger which allows for a conflict to be resolved through the plot of the story. He said "Oh, I just thought that without the mother, there was no one to stop them from having adventures and experiences that would make a good story." I just shut up. Now, I know all of the psychological Run Away Bunny mumbo jumbo about how it makes the child feel powerless because the mama bunny is always able to bring them home again. Again, never bought into it. I think The Run Away Bunny is Great. I think that Guess How Much I Love You is great. Some psychologists think the daddy bunny in Guess How Much I Love You is always one upping the baby bunny and making him feel powerless. Whatever. My point is that Rowan has never heard these psychologists. He was just giving me his take on offing the mother. Mom gone, adventure ensues. I have an eighteen year old who is really putting me through the paces here lately, and I have been forced to take a real good look at my parenting. Do I do too much for my children? Do I allow them too many freedoms?
Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away... "If you run away" Said his mother, " I will run after you, for you are my little bunny." I guess, if you use the right intonation and inflection it could be construed as a little controlling. But we are supposed to have control. We are supposed to keep them safe. It's our number one biological objective. Have babies, keep them alive. Safety and freedom. Perfect balance, please. Does anyone have the formula?

Playmobil!

Our holiday Playmobil arrived last week. That includes Advent Calendars and Santa Claus figures that will be stubbornly placed in the basement until I feel I can't hold out any longer. I always aim for the week of Thanksgiving, but give in a bit sooner to the pressures from a retailing perspective. Never do I place stuff mid-October like the big guys, I just can't rush my life like that. So, the advent calendars are sitting on a shelf marked seasonal with all of the Christmas ornaments, bow bedecked Christmas bears, Elf on the Shelf's and I still can't believe I ordered this... Christmas Pickles. The rest of the Playmobil is up on the shelves though, and it brings me great joy to look at it. We got the Egypt stuff in, which is very, very cool, but my favorite in this shipment has got to be the jewel thieves. Nothing like a little toy cat burglar to make me giddy with delight. I never got to have Playmobil when I was a child. We did have the little fisher price stuff though, and I feel like they allow the same kind of play. Playmobil does it with far greater detail, ingenuity, and way more cool little everything. My sisters and I spent hours with our fisher price toys, and when I send a set of Playmobil home with a child, I know the same kind of imaginative play will ensue. Worlds will be created for mini lives to be lived. A yearning to make those worlds come to life will be deeply seated at the core of the play, and that somehow on some level, that is exactly what will take place.

Gratitude and the divine.

I run. It keeps me somewhat sane. I was going to say sane, but I realize there are many who would debate that, so somewhat sane it is. Every day when I run I pause down by the Yamhill river, take my ear buds out, breathe deep, and give thanks for everything. Here's the catch. I'm not religious..I don't know who or what I'm thanking, I just know that it has to be done. Whether or not there is some higher order I feel I have an obligation as someone who is blessed with abundance to recognize that not everyone is. It has nothing to do with God, though I do feel the divine in my surroundings.
I'm perfectly happy in my lack of faith. I work hard to make the lives of people I touch better, and having been through intensely religious phases in my life can say that I live my life basically the same as I would if I feared judgment from on high. Raising children without religion has proved trickier than I imagined. What I would not give for simple "he's in heaven with Jesus" answers from time to time! I wanted to raise them to be able to make their own decisions regarding the divine order of things. To seek their own truths, and sometimes I fear that I have left giant blank slates for someone else to come along and fill.
I believe in sitting down at meal times and eating with friends and family, and as I have stated, in giving thanks, so at every meal our family says "thankfuls". We go around the table and acknowledge two things that we are sincerely thankful for. That, education about the religious beliefs of other people,and reading bible stories is the extent of our religious indoctrination. Some people worry that not having God and fear of judgment would leave children without a moral compass, but that hasn't been my experience. My children love (and can't stand) their fellow man just as much as any God fearing Christian. They also know that when you are a jerk, people treat you like one which makes your life miserable (Karma).
At hopscotch I have had a hard time deciding which religious materials to have in my product mix. I have some in books (Beautiful Noah's Ark book just came in), some in infant for baptisms and births, some in puzzles,some in educational, and some first communion type lockets and crosses in my jewelry. I want to offer something for everyone, and I truly believe that the tradition and cultures of all faiths are beautiful, diverse, and worthy of preservation. (Now I am hearing all of the childhood sermons about the hottest fires of hell being reserved for those who straddle the fence. Man that stuff stays with you!)) That said, I simply cannot stomach little white bears with angel wings that have sound chips that play electronic greeting card versions of Jesus Loves Me. The hottest fires of my own personal hell have shelves and shelves lined with them playing ceaselessly. Yup. I just tackled religion in a public forum that is directly tied to my business. Not recommended. Don't really care. Politics tomorrow?

Boys and Trains.

What is it with boys and trains? In an era when most boys have not even seen freight being unloaded from a train let alone ridden in one, many are still obsessed with them. It amazes me! It's not just Thomas either. As a matter of fact, our Thomas sales have taken a dive as our other train sales have climbed. Our electric trains do great particularly at Christmas time. Is it grandfathers passing along their passion? It really seems more organic than that. Eight times out of ten when a little boy comes through the front door of the store he heads right over to our Plan City train table. For some of these guys we are known as the train store though trains make up less than 1% of our inventory. We used to be exclusively Brio and Thomas, but then Brio went and got all strange and new-age with their trains and began manufacturing in China so I stopped ordering them and introduced Melissa and Doug for a generic non-character train. Yes, M&D is manufactured in China also, but they are priced like they are manufactured in china. I brought in Plan as an environmentally friendly option. Manufactured in Thailand from reclaimed rubber-tree wood. I love Plan toys! Boys and cars, I get that. Boys and construction stuff, I get that too. Boys and weapons, I even get that. But trains! I don't understand the drive in this day and age. Still, I must admit that though it is considered trespassing, I can't resist the urge to balance on the rails between 3rd and 5th street on my walk home (where this picture was taken incidentally). I enjoy the sound of the rumble and whistle when the 11:00 blows through town. I am transported by old songs of riding the rails and the freedom that it presented. I look forward to a time when we abandon much of the transportation we currently use and ride the rails once again.

Keeping it Fresh

We received our new Schleich display today and it is BEAUTIFUL!!Craig is our Schleich rep and he came out to help me put it together. One of my favorite low tech toys has always been a little plastic animal, and Schleich makes them the best. When I was a girl the only ones that were available to me were dinosaurs that had belonged to my dad. I wasn't into dinosaurs, but I spent hours with them forming family groups and enacting drama's large and small. Whether drought, starvation, or predators of unknown origins, survival was top on my list of things to play out. This kind of role playing is important to children learning how to relate to others, and how to interact with others. I can still conjure up the nurturing feelings I felt for my little dino family. One of the best things about these animals as opposed to dolls for this kind of modeling is that they are non-gender specific. Boys and girls alike enjoy playing with them. This makes them an ideal item for a family of mixed genders to collect. And, barring fire or a labrador retriever encounter, they will last for generations.

Community...and parks....

It's no secret. I love this community. As a mother, one of the things that I appreciate most is the park system. We spend a good portion of the year at various games and practices in Joe Dancer park. My dog and I are down there running the trails nearly every morning. The picture I posted was taken at the City Park, or the dragon park as all of the kids in my family call it. My dad was part of a community crew that built that play structure for the children of this community nearly twenty years ago. There were literally hundreds of people that donated money, time and tools to build it. I love that their grandchildren are playing on it now. With it's water feature, rock wall, skate park, etc. Discovery Meadows is the shiny new playground on the McMinnville park scene, but the city park is by far my favorite. It embodies so much of what makes McMinnville a great community to raise children in. First of all because it has been a gathering place for as long as McMinnville has been here. Secondly because it has that wonderful low tech wooden play structure that was built through community contributions and our volunteer spirit (not every community has that, it's special). Thirdly because it is at the center of our downtown and part of a walkable community with the library and pool right there. For my next blog I'll go on and on about some wonderful toy we have here at hopscotch (there are so many! we are receiving our Christmas inventory and every year I get so excited by it!) For today however, with summer drawn to a close and each sunny day feeling like a theft from the looming rainy season, I wanted to wax poetic one last time about summer days in the park.

Her Hearts Desire

This is a picture of Gracie Peak's birthday bin. A birthday bin is something we do here at hopscotch that is like a registry, but way cooler because the kids actually get to place their hearts desire into the bin. (the bin size also forces them to choose what they REALLY want, not everything in the store) I have come to look at them as little snapshots of the inner workings of a child at a certain point in time. Gracie is a very well rounded girl, she has her knight dress up stuff, her cupcake box, lots of charms for her charm bracelet, a sword, a huge sucker, the Klutz Guide to Immaturity, and a few other things. My kind of girl. What a child wants is a great insight into what is of value to them and who they are at any given time. I don't keep my children's report cards. I keep their Santa letters.
Wish lists and wants give insight into adult priorities also. I am a project girl, and with every project there are things that I intensely desire. When I look back through my notebooks, whether my want list included a spiral staircase, a Kubota tractor, a composting toilet, a milk cow, a herd of goats, a gambrel truss system, or a new point of sale system, offers great insight into who I was and what I was trying to accomplish at that point in my life. Many of these things I acquired, some of them (goats for instance) I am thankful I did not. That is another thing that is important to remember in these times of immediate and complete gratification. Sometimes the best thing you can give your child is to leave them yearning for that thing that is not appropriate for them or you can't afford. I have keen recollections of all the toys I wanted and never got. The memories of those longings are every bit as sweet as the memories of playing with the toys I did get. Open ended desire, longing, is vilified as lack of fulfillment, but sometimes the fantasy of what your life could be like with that shiny new thing is far more precious than the thing itself.

Beating the Heat!

Yeah, we all know about the pool, the water gun, the slip and slide and the river, but when temperatures get up above 100 degrees it doesn't prudent to spend any time in it at all. That is why this afternoon, my living room was full of teenagers making hemp bracelets and playing musical instruments. Curtains drawn, well insulated house, and big shade trees made it the perfect place to hole up. My kids learned to weave hemp using the Klutz Hemp Bracelet Book.We broke it out today to teach the other kids. Though the hemp and beads that came with it have long been used, we now have a tin full of various beads, spools of colored hemp, sinew, and beading thread. I have loved Klutz since my son was five and picked up the "How to Draw Marvel Comic Figures" book. Lived with it, drew and drew and moved on to draw more. I think that is what impresses me most about Klutz. We have lots of arts and crafts stuff in the store, but Klutz does more than provide an afternoon project. It gives children new skills. Whether it is embroidery, clay, beading, bracelets, drawing, potholders, quilting, or one of their other titles. They make project books that are based in teaching skills and give you all the components that you need to get started. I was a little worried when Klutz was purchased by Scholastic that some of the ingenuity would go out of the line, but I have been pleased to see more great titles hit the floor every year. Summer takes over and you kind of forget all of those quiet things you used to do when the rain was coming down. I am here to tell you, 100+ degrees is the perfect time to break them out again.

Summer Bounty

I am fortunate enough to have found a local farmer who will trade produce for toys. As I have found the time I have available to garden much less than it used to be this works out perfectly. They just dropped this bag of gorgeous produce at my door. As much as I think it's important to feed a child's mind and sense of adventure, I think it's doubly important to feed their bodies. Without a well fed brain and body a child can't use even the most vast resources well. One of the things I love about owning a specialty toy store is that most of the families who come through are really invested in their children. They feed them well, mind and body. One of the things I don't love is that it gives me an insulated view of the world and it is too easy to forget that this is not the way many children live their lives. There is so much garbage out there, and too often, children get a steady stream of McDonalds and television for sustenance. I guess I just want to put a shout out to all of you parents who are making conscientious decisions to feed your children body and mind. And also a shout out to Andre', Sheila, their three wonderful children and the bounty they drop at my door every week.

Change

When my kids were younger we had splattered so much paint and glue on our dining table, and gouged it with leather craft tools, that I suggested that we should divide it into five and each member of the family paint a section. That is the result in the picture there. We used it like that for years and it now hangs on the outside of the shop facing the deck. The family that created it has long since disappeared evolving into a new family with other priorities than those outlined on the table, and I do miss them, but not as much as I value who they have become. The elements are cracking the paint and the images get a little lighter every year but I am able to look at it regularly. One of these days it will be just a gouged up table top again and I will discard it and make way for new experiences and memories. We all keep our photos, our bits of paper, our writings, but most of the experiences of this life can only be archived for a very short time. Even our memory changes so what we think we have stored away is merely fantasy layered over our faulty perception of so called reality. Not much to cling to. As it should be, I say. We should no more hold to and hoard memories than we should old table tops. We can and should use them only as a catalyst for new experiences. We should break them out to freshen bonds that threaten to fray, to laugh and create new experiences, new memories while doing so. I don't know what this has to do with the toy store. It's just what was on my mind this morning as I sat on the deck, drinking coffee, looking at the table top, and that old rocker that Genna and I painted when I chose to bring my son home from the hospital rather than give him up for adoption (now there is a story worthy of a blog, but again having nothing to do with running a toy store.) Change can happen so fast these days. Especially with a house full of teenagers. For me it is somehow comforting to watch my world changing one flake of paint at a time.

Piece Work A Plenty

Ping, ping, ping. For kids growing up in Carlton in the 1970's and 80's, no sound could make you feel more despondent than the sound of those first few berries hitting an empty picking can. In my memory I see legions of us rubbing bleary eyes riding our bikes down the streets in the first light of dawn, grass still covered with dew. In reality, it was just all the kids I hung out with. We'd hit the fields hard and early because by the time the sun was high in the sky we wanted to have enough money to get into the Carlton pool and buy something at main street market. At night we'd lay out in our yards, or up in our beds with rows and rows of berries haunting our vision. The fields don't hire children anymore and though I can certainly see why (we threw and ate more berries than we weighed by far) it still makes me sad for the generations of American youth who are growing up without the availability of consistent piece work. When kids come into hopscotch with their own money I always ask them what they did to earn it. The answers are varied, birthday money, tooth fairy money, went potty in the toilet, good grades, cavity free dental visit, but the kids who just beam are the kids who have worked hard for those dollars. It means more to them because they did good work and received a wage for it. Our house is here in town, not a farm, but we have lots of fruiting trees and shrubs. First the strawberries come on, then the cherries, then the raspberries, marionberries, blueberries, blackberries, plums, apricots, pears, and finally apples. We pick and process as much of it as we can, and the kids are all required to help. My kids, my sisters kids, they all get paid a dollar for each Nancy's Yogurt container they pick full of blueberries. They also get to enjoy blueberry pancakes, muffins, pies and smoothies through the year, but that's just a fringe benefit. The real benefit goes to us as their parents because they have hard earned pocket money to learn to manage. We have blueberries in the freezer, and the corner store has a steady stream of customers with their own money jingling in their pockets.

Choosing your battles

Zoe is my fourteen year old daughter. She does wild things with her hair. It's been black, pink, purple, silver, blue, green, platinum, and everything in between. She's naturally a blonde, I think. At least she was the last time that I saw her hair it's natural color. I think she was ten. Traditional wisdom would tell you that if you let your child do wild things you are asking for trouble, but I don't feel that way. I want my children to know that each decision I make for them is based on what I feel they have shown me I can expect from them, and from real consideration on the long standing effects that these decisions could have on their lives. Hair grows (or can be stripped out and re-colored for a mere $150) Facial piercings and tattoos are another thing.For the most part Zoe gets positive reinforcement on her color choices, but a lot of people ask me if I really think I should let her do that, or how I feel about it. I feel great! It's who she is. She is vivacious and jubilant, and probably hot pink by nature. Besides, I get to have a real live doll working at my store, and you can't go wrong with that.

Pinkies Up

Tea time has always held a certain magic for my children and me. Perhaps it's the decadence associated with a long break mid afternoon. On breezy spring days it means laying out on a blanket in the shade of a tree with a book, a plate of cookies, some light herbal teas and our conversation. During the winter months, tea gives us a cozy break in the form of red tea for the younger children and black tea for me and the older two. Books, knitting, felting, and other hand crafts coupled with long conversations complete our recipe for reprieve. I'm generally a go go mama for whom "just a minute's" and "be there in a sec's" fall all too readily from the lips. But tea gives me something to center my vast energies around and quiet into. I can sit and hold, rub and pat, talk and laugh,and just BE with my children without looking forward at my agenda. Tea is the agenda. My children are the agenda. Something that can bring a flighty girl like myself so deeply into the moment has just got to be magic.

Pet Cemetery

Any parent who has given in to the plea for a beloved furry companion knows that the shoe box in the photo is more than a mere shoe box. Lined with a scrap of satin (or soft toilet paper in a pinch) stuffed full of Fluffy's favorite toys, maybe a picture of the child or children. Inch per inch, these boxes have more treasured archival material than Tutankhamen's tomb. Oh, and a dead pet. Every family has their methods, and their limits. In my household we bury reptiles and mammals. We'd probably bury a pet bird, but we've never had one. We do not bury potato bugs, ladybugs, or any other insect, though I have never had a three year old beg me to hold services and might cave on that if pressed. Fish do not get a burial. When the kids were younger and fish were precious things to be watched and spoken to daily there were several emergency trips to the pet store to buy replacements, the original unceremoniously flushed. We have gone through six pairs of rats over the years. They really are the best small animal pet, but they succumb to cancer eventually. Yes, all of them, except the last one which was killed by our Jack Russel (who's body will rot in a land fill if my daughter has a say in it...she doesn't) but even that rat had a tumor the size of it's torso. Mercy killing if you ask me. Several reptiles, a few cats, myriad chickens and other farm foul, a hamster... you get the idea. I have stood grave side and said kind words more times than I care to admit. The great thing is that everyone feels better once the earth has been placed over the shoe box. Once honor has been given to the deceased we can quickly move on. Most children learn about mortality in this way. It doesn't take a pronouncement of death for a child to see that their pet is just not present in that small mound of flesh. They see it before you say it, though they still need you to name what it is they have seen. Then, the questions begin. How the questions are answered varies as greatly as the ceremony or lack there of that follows, but death, the greatest of all abstracts, is made very real. That's a good thing. A hard thing, but a good thing.

Children Self-Defined

Rowan will tell you that he's got a craftsman's hands. That he'll probably be an artist someday. He's got my dads hands and as that was one of my favorite things about my father, Rowan knows all about it. He didn't get to know my dad, but my brother has those hands too, so he can compare and see the similarities. Beautiful, long fingered, masculine, capable hands. But I didn't tell Rowan that he was going to be an artist. He came up with that all on his own. My father was a very skilled leather craftsman, and there are lots of crafty and artistic people in my family, but Rowan spends very little time doing what you would call "art". We do lots of projects together, and he has a certain aptitude, but he is not at all compelled to spend time practicing autonomously. Not the kid who walks around with a pad and pen trying to capture the world. I have wondered if I somehow saddled him with this expectation by comparing his hands to my fathers so often. He seems to get satisfaction from it though. Like he's got something of value in his bag of tricks that he's going to whip out on us someday. A quiet knowing. I grew up one of five siblings, and we all had our labels. In looking back I can not discern whether those labels were given to us, or whether we took those labels on to set ourselves apart from the brood. I have realized that they limited us somewhat. We all have artistic skills, but one sister was the artist and the rest of us stayed off her turf. We all had vocal capabilities, but I was the singer, and the others didn't do much to unseat my reign either. We were all intelligent, but another sister was given the academic arena. Anyway, there were five of us and I can't help but wish that I had done some art, or taken my education a little more seriously and that the others had jumped in and gotten musical sooner(though they all came around eventually). As a parent of course, I encourage my children to explore all of their many talents and consider what they can give to themselves and the world through honing their skills. They still seem to want to define themselves as one thing or another, but that's just human nature. As long as they are defining themselves by what they enjoy doing rather than what brand of clothing they wear, I guess they'll be alright.

Cracking the Code.

Where children are concerned there is nothing I enjoy more than sitting back and watching those wheels turn. It starts when they are newborn, you can see them thinking, figuring it all out, processing. When they get older and can talk about what it is that they have sorted through the way they look at things can be joyous and enlightening. We adults get bogged down with all of the "truths" that we have learned along the way and the possibilities available to us become fewer and fewer. For children, it is all possible and listening to their theories can open our minds once again to the vast limitless world we once knew. One of the most prevalent confinements we place on our selves, and our children is that of time. Most people will tell you that time is an absolute. My own belief is that it is a contrivance. Another topic altogether. We can all agree that learning about time is very important to a child's ability to function in a world obsessed with the whens of it all. Time to get up, time to eat, time to nap, time to snack, time for dinner, time for bed. In a digital world and with my laid back attitude on most things in general, I realized with horror that my 9 year old did not know how to tell time in an analog format. I considered all of the ways in which you generally teach the pre-school set this skill. Puzzles, placemats, coloring sheets, crocodile clocks, etc. All of these seemed a little babyish for him, so we just strapped a watch on his arm. Human beings are information gathering machines. It is truly a wonder to see it in action. Whether it is on weather.com, NPR, or reading our daily horoscope, we are compelled to try to figure out what is going on, and how it will affect us. He spent so much time trying to crack that code, looking at his watch, looking at a digital clock, looking at his watch, noting that it was time for dinner, looking at his watch, and so forth. Within a week, he had figured out what would have taken me months to instill in him at pre-school age. For my part, I was able to just sit back and enjoy watching those wheels turn.

The Quest for The Perfect Doll

You would think that it would be easy to make a simple sweet baby doll. You would be wrong. I have been on a quest for the perfect baby doll for years, and I have to say that Corolle is the closest I can find. Corolle dolls are a lot more expensive than dolls the next level down, but they are far superior. It seems to me that shaping the molds sweetly at least would be something that any doll manufacturer could accomplish but none of the cheap dolls can come close to Corolle. So many doll faces are pinched, or flat, and none of them has the translucent quality that the Corolle skin has. I also like the fact that each Corolle doll smells like sweet vanilla, not chemical and plastic. Considering the amount of time they spend snuggled under a child's chin, this is a really nice touch. The doll in the picture is a Berenguer doll, and we carry those too. For some the appeal of a doll that looks like a real baby is great. Not so much for me. They kind of creep me out. I carry them. I sell them well. I like that some are anatomically correct. I understand their appeal to young children, but I don't work late at the store so much when they are in stock.

McMinnville Education Foundation Starry Night

Last night was the annual fund raising event for the McMinnville Education Foundation. It's a wonderful dinner, auction, wine, art and music event put on each year at Stoller Vineyards outside of Dundee. The McMinnville Education Foundation is comprised of individuals who are dedicated to encouraging excellence in our public school system. They accomplish this by funding a series of programs designed to compliment the education of students. Grants, Artists in residency programs, and the opportunity to work with the Linfield chamber Orchestra are among the opportunities funded by the MEF. Events like these are always full of the usual suspects. People that are active and volunteer for everything. The thing that is striking to me about this event in particular is the number of people out to support the McMinnville Schools that don't have children of school age, send their children to private school, or could afford to send their children to private school but choose instead to be active in creating a strong public school system. It is very impressive to me. My children have always been home schooled, though Devon is in high school now, but I see a thriving public school system as the best hope for our future as a society. I contribute financially at fund raisers and always vote in favor of measures that give more funding to schools, but even with that I have felt guilt at not giving the school system the thing they need most. My children. Children that are being raised conscientiously. Children that will contribute to the overall health and integrity of a classroom. Also, I have given myself and my talents and energy exclusively to my children and the children that end up in my house and my shop. I have not been in the school system making the difference that I know I could make. I hear all kinds of theories on why our children are failing to thrive in our school systems. Theories that range from lack of funding to apathetic unrewarded teachers to no child left behind and teaching to the test. All contribute in some part I think, but the most important part of any education is parental responsibility. We can not check our children at the door of the schoolhouse and expect the teachers to raise them. They need to be prepared, well fed, respectful of themselves and others. They need to have habits of hygiene that will not distract others. They need to know how to treat others well before they hit the classroom. Too many of our children are being warehoused in their formative years when they need to be nurtured and prepared. Funding helps. Passionate teachers are invaluable. Robust art, music and literature programs are a must. But none of it has the impact that dedicated parents and well prepared students can.

Hazardous Materials in Miniature!!

I don't have very many toys in my private collection. There are just too many great toys out there, and I have never been a collector. I have a few. The one pictured is my favorite. No, it's not valuable. It's treatful. It is a playmobil haz-mat set. Yup, as in hazardous materials. I love playmobil. They are great quality. They last through generations. They engage children (and adults) of both genders, and they literally have little everything. Best of all, the people smile all of the time. It does not matter to them if they are cleaning up nuclear waste. My favorite that is not in my collection is called the "captive prince" This hairy smiling viking has the prince in cuffs and shackles, and the prince is grinning ear to ear.S&M for the very young. That one is still in the store on the shelf with the other playmobil. You'll have to check it out yourself.

The Stars

When I was a young girl my parents would lay out on a blanket with all of us in the back yard and look at the night sky. My dad would point out the easy constellations and my mother would find a few of the more difficult to recognize constellations, planets, and stars. The real excitement of course were the satellites. We would keep count, and comment on brightness, speed, direction, and duration of visibility until we couldn't make our eyes focus anymore. When I lived in Oklahoma I took the kids on a few road trips back home to Oregon because I just couldn't stay away in the summer. I like to get parks passes and camp my way across the country because it is cheap and an adventure. Particularly with three children ranging in age between three and nine. On this one trip we went down through Colorado, went through the Garden of The Gods(bought them all Kazoos at the gift shop. What WAS I thinking?!) Hit many road side attractions, bug museums and the like, camped at Mesa Verde, and got to the Grand Canyon the next day. I'd lived in Oregon and in Oklahoma and nothing in either of those states had prepared me for the clarity of star gazing that lack of humidity could provide. It was a divine experience. In the gift shop I found a book on constellations by H.A. Rey called simply "The Stars" and my children and I lived with it for the rest of our trip and still pull it out today. "This book is meant for people who want to know just enough about the stars to be able to go out at night and find the major constellations, for the mere pleasure of it." Is the opening passage. And that's what it is. That is all that it is. Beautifully simple and engaging.

Taking Responsibility and Ownership.

One of the main reasons I wanted to buy hopscotch was for my children. To give them a sense of placement in our community. To give them real work to do, a sense of accomplishment and accountability. When I was growing up my parents always owned a business and it made me feel that people knew who I was and what I was supposed to be doing. A little claustrophobic perhaps but I think it ultimately made me a more accountable person. Accountability is something that I stress with my children. I don't teach it as a moral obligation, but as a tool that enables them to take control of any situation. Any bit of an encounter that they can own, they have the ability to change. As long as they are placing blame elsewhere, they are the victim, helpless to do anything to fix the problems, or to ensure that they do not keep occurring. Some people get caught in the victim cycle, but it is not what children want to be. If you can lay it out there for them time and time again that taking responsibility means taking control the responsibility becomes an honor instead of an obligation.

Harry Potter Movie Vs. Book

My family went to see the latest Harry Potter movie this evening. The effects were magnificent, the acting was good, the characters had been developed over the previous movies, and the newly introduced characters were fully fleshed out and substantial. On our way home though, along with talk of how good the movie was, there was also a discussion about how it failed to engage us emotionally the way the book did. This left me wondering exactly what is it that makes movies so inferior to books? They have such an advantage in their ability to appeal to our senses, and yet, don't compare to what we can derive from reading a book. In talking to children, both my own and others I've found that what they love about the books varies greatly. That is perhaps the most important difference between books and movies. There is so much MORE to choose from. Subplots, characters to love, subtleties that are so much better illustrated in the drawn out format of a book. We have time to find out what is important to us instead of having what is important to the director spoon fed to us. Relevance. It is a rare thing for me to read a book and not find relevance to my life and my experience, and lessons that will help shape me as an individual. It is much more difficult for movies to have that kind of impact. It happens. It's just not as consistent. Perhaps it's as simple as the fact that you steep in the essence of a book for a week or two, and a film is only with you for a couple of hours. Whatever the reason, I am happy to have both, and will continue to insist that my children read the book before they see the movie. If they don't have the opportunity to imagine the world as they see it described on the page before they see the film, the directors world will forever be the only one they can see.

Proper Tools

Have you ever worked in a kitchen that was outfitted with everything you needed? Or built something in a shop with all of the chisels, saws, sanders, etc. in good working order? Then you know the benefit of having the proper tools at hand. I am very particular about the art supplies and craft items I will carry in the store because I feel very strongly about providing children with the best tools. Especially children. Sometimes we think we can get by with giving our kids mediocre supplies because they are just starting, or wasteful, or whatever, when really at that stage we should be giving them the best tools we can to encourage them, to make it as easy as possible to succeed. In this picture, my children are doing art work on our front porch with chalk pastels. The colors are so vibrant and the pigments so dense that they can draw anything they want in detail. We've done the porch twice now, and then we spray it with a sealant and it stays for a few years. We carry the Faber Castell blue line of art supplies because I like the quality of the supplies. The kids can create real pieces of art without the art supplies getting in the way. Wherever you pick up your art supplies, make sure they are good enough quality to help your children succeed. You wouldn't put your track star in flip flops, don't supply your young artists with Rose Art.

Benefit and Risk Assessment for the Very Young

A very common question asked of me at hopscotch is "Do you think this would be safe for a (baby, 8 year old, 3 year old, whatever)?" To which my very uncommon reply is "Well, I can't tell you if it would be safe for yours, but I probably would have given it to mine. I also have a trampoline in my back yard and my twelve year old has access to most tools in the shop, so my safety standards might not be the same as yours."
We bought our trampoline used out of the thrifties (before Craigs List) when my son Devon was four. He is now 18. Dozens of children have spent countless hours jumping, sleeping, reading, sparring, and giggling on that trampoline. Yes, there have been injuries, stitches, bumps, and near concussions, but the experiences these kids have had outweigh the risks they have undertaken. I meet so many parents these days who are terrified of exposing their children to any risk at all, and I wonder if we are not stunting an entire generation? I allow my children a great deal of freedom to roam the neighborhood, to build things from scrap in the yard, to paint and draw on the walls in their bedrooms, to take risks, ride skateboards, take their bikes off of jumps they built. They walk to the corner store and conduct transactions, they go down town and buy ice cream and visit their favorite shops. This is not because I am negligent, or lazy as I can tell you it takes more effort to talk them through these risks, and to clean up the wounds when things go awry than it does to plop them in front of a nice safe television. River is the name of the boy standing in the top of the arborvitae hedge. He is my nephew. He is standing on a platform that the kids built into the hedge about five years ago without my knowledge. They got the scrap, they got the tools, and they built this perch for spying on the world from the hedge. The list of crazy things they have done without my permission goes on and on. My children take risks every day, and I encourage them to do so. I joke that if they are dumb enough to do XYZ I don't want them in the gene pool anyway, but really I feel that I am giving them important tools for creating a vital active life. Most of us get more fearful with age. Our children need to learn what they can accomplish before the limitations even occur to them.

Every community worth its weight in salt has a home town festival. Here in McMinnville, ours is duhn duhn duhn.... (((((Turkey....Rama))))) That's announcer voice amplification on the sides there. How treats is that? Could it get any better in a bad kind of way? Or worse in a good kind of way? To make a very long story very short, this used to be turkey country, now the only turkeys left are the humans. But, we still have Turkey Rama. We have a biggest Turkey contest, in which I did once compete. I won't tell you what I did for my talent routine because every turkey contest is aired on public access for the whole next year and You Tube is a vicious vicious machine. I did not win the biggest turkey prize, but we raised a ton of money for Hospice. What else do we have? We have a huge turkey barbecue, and of course a street fair with lots and lots of sidewalk sales in which hopscotch does participate. We were on the main drag of the festival until last year when we moved a few blocks away, so this year I had a tent sale in front of the store. Much better. Great way to get rid of stuff I just don't love anymore. We have one more day of that left, and I can't tell you that I'm not looking forward to the weekend being over. It's a lot of work, but it's a great time to see all kinds of people that you only see once or twice a year, hang out on the street and watch the whole community go by, and eat the annual elephant ear from the soroptomists booth. Well, I'm due to volunteer helping kids in and out of the bouncy castle now, so I better get back down there.

Firsts and Lasts.

Adeline is the youngest member of my extended family so she is of course in charge of everything. She has recently learned to walk with the help of her Wheely Bug. Not exactly what it was intended for but she gets such a great deal of pleasure from chasing us around and running it into our ankles that it motivated her to progress. In stark contrast to Adeline's firsts which just keep coming I have also been spending time with a friend of mine who is experiencing some of his lasts. His kidneys have given him trouble, and he's had a couple of falls that have rather hastened the aging process. He used to walk all over town for the joy of it. Now he needs help making it across the room. I visited him the other night and found myself wondering at many things that seem so messed up about this life process. I also found myself appreciating many things about it. What I really got hung up on though was the notion that when he took his last walk around our neighborhood he didn't know that it would be his last. Something he cherished so much, and he did not know to pay attention and take his time and soak it in.
As a mother there are many moments like that. Lasts that we don't know will be the last. The last time that your child looks at you with complete adoration. The last time they let you see them naked. The last time they insist you tuck them in. The last time they crawl into your lap with a book. The last time they throw a tantrum. And though I feel a certain sadness at this fading away of things, I can not imagine the unbearable weight of sorrow that I would have felt in those moments had I known they were the last. There have to be lasts of course just as there will always be firsts. The hardest thing to remember is to soak them all in as if they just might be... To pay attention and be present. To shriek and run from a little ankle biting Wheely Bug and watch those firsts intently because they often leave a last in their wake.

SummertimeFun!

I went camping at the beach with my family over the holiday. The weekend included three of my four siblings, friends, and all of our children, and I have not played so hard in a long time. We flew kites, dug in the sand with shovels and pails, made sand castles, played football, and threw a boomerang around. Every time a new toy came out a new activity ensued. We brought cards and board games to play at night, but by the time the sun went down we were too tired and hung out singing and talking by the camp fire instead. My nephew turned seven so we had his birthday celebration at the beach, and he received his first kite. He was so thrilled and excited to learn to fly it. Of course, the Oregon coast is notoriously good for making a first time success out of any kite flying venture. (Our pink flamingo that flew as well as a penguin being the exception to that rule.) His kite was a basic delta flyer and he got it up really high right away. I guess the thing that struck me as I played with all of these kids and their toys was how rich the toys made the experience. It sounds a little strange coming from a toy store owner, but you kind of forget how important the toys really are once they are in the hands of a child. As you talk to a customer about the virtues of open ended play, you forget the reality of it. This weekend I crawled under a parachute with a bunch of community children at a party, had a water fight, flew balsa wood airplanes, and set off rocket balloons. Then I went to the coast and played with my family. The vitality in these kids as they actively played was so contagious and wonderful. It's a great thing when a child takes you by the hand and shows you that you never outgrow play. It just takes some reminding, flexibility, and a little bit of time.

Functional Flyer!

What do you do with returned merch? Turn it into a piece of functional art of course! This Radio Flyer wagon was one of the first things I sold, and (dubious beginning) it had no guts. Just the wagon pan. I never quite got around to sending it back to the company though, and when hopscotch moved over into a florists shop there were a gazillion sinks. Now, one of them is a Radio Flyer wagon sink. I kept the sink, cut a hole in the wagon bed, bought a pre-fab cabinet, and mounted lawn mower tires for cabinet handles. We use it when we have parties, or just when kids come in all grubby. With the addition of a candy department it's been very nice to have. Yesterday I was able to use it to wash frog rocks!

Frog in a Box at hopscotch!

I know, we aren't a pet store, but all of my toy store friends told me that kids are just crazy for these frogs, and what the kids are crazy for is exactly what I want to have. They are, first of all, complete eco-systems with a layer of "living gravel" on the bottom, a shoot of bamboo, a frog pooh eating snail, and two darling little frogs. We just call them frogs in a box. The frogs are both male so there won't be a bunch of little tadpoles to bring up. There are two frogs in each box because they like company. And they are sooo cute! They are African Dwarf Frogs. They have little black toe nails. They are supposed to live for about five years, and you only have to feed them twice a week, and change their water once every two years. Coming from a house with two rats, two dogs, two cats, and a full on aquarium that needs wayyyy more maintenance than that it seems to me the perfect gift for that child who is not allowed to have pets. They are a lot more personable than Sea Monkeys, the life span is longer, and the maintenance is about the same. I was always so disappointed that the Sea Monkey with the crown and scepter never did appear in my tank. Talk about your false advertising. Sea Monkey Family indeed!

hopscotch rearranged!

I changed everything this week!! Okay, not everything, but a fair amount. I was down at hopscotch until the wee hours of the morning with my trusty drill and less trusty, but oh so effective skill saw building new displays, tearing out old displays and giving the old girl a face lift. Come down and check it out! I swapped the books and plush with the role play sections, expanded my educational section, and moved all of the product in arts and crafts and infant and toddler. I love the way all the Ugly dolls look in that wine barrel! I enjoy watching the way people respond when everything has been freshened. Usually they don't know exactly what has been done, but they are so much more excited about the space. It flows through like a breeze. Tangible.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

I admit, my testosterone levels are significantly lower than they should be for a true appreciation of the finer points of this "film". But I really have not felt so insulted by a movie in a long long time. I enjoyed the first Transformer movie. It does not have to be a monumental work of art for me to appreciate the pure escapist entertainment value of an action flick. Revenge of the Fallen followed such a contrived formula of shoot or blow up everything on the screen, place as many marketable pieces of merch as possible, hot girls doing ridiculous poses on motorcycles, and schmarmy pablum theme music that I think I would have been doubly offended if I was a man. The girls are amazing. Really, but you can get that in a calender. The plot was predictable which is fine for a children's movie, but the way they are selling this movie with violence, sex, and dry humping leads me to think the audience they are going for is older if not more sophisticated than the five year old set who would be awed by the plot and effects. Hasbro also has the GI Joe movie coming up which I was interested to see, but based on Revenge of the Fallen I think I'll pass. And now they are working on a Monopoly movie? Really?

Wanna Duel?....Poke'mon tournaments return!

Wanna duel? Soon these words will be heard all over hopscotch on Thursday afternoons. There will be no swords, no knights, just wild eyed youngsters flashing decks of Pokemon cards and speaking in a language that involves hit points, Pikachu, Squirtle, Energy, and many other terms that leave parents shaking their heads and happily checking them at the door. hopscotch has held Poke'mon tournaments in the past, and are very excited to be starting them up again for summer entertainment. Most parents know Poke'mon as the cartoon show, and the card packs that their children beg them to buy just so they can leave the precious things lying all over the floor. Those are the only negative aspects of this brilliantly sophisticated card game. In an era when young men crave the intense action that seems to be found only in video games, they are completely excited by Poke'mon. A card game that uses basic math and reading skills over and over and over. A game that allows 8 year olds to approach and interact with 12 year olds on an even playing field. A game that allows kids who are not athletically inclined to excel at something competitive. A game! A face to face game that demands interaction, the honing of interpersonal skills, and clever quips (smattered with a plethora of farting jokes).
When my son was younger and playing Poke'mon he made an interesting and rather compelling case that Poke'mon was a more sophisticated game of strategy than chess. As a mother to many (my own notwithstanding) I love Poke'mon tournaments because it gives these guys a place to hang out and get a little guidance from good solid adults besides their parents. They become quite attached to the process of getting mock scolded for the amount of soda they consume, and the need to trim their finger nails. The kids from some of my first Poke'mon matches have graduated from high school now, but they continue to come by the store and check in on me and proudly display their extra super big slurps (or lack thereof) proudly. I'm happy to see them, love them up a bit and send them on their way, but it's time for a new batch. Wanna duel?

the hopscotch and ASTRA story...

I jumped into this toy thing blind. I honestly loved McMinnville too much to let a great toy store close up. I knew NOTHING. But, I had been a conscientious consumer. I shopped specialty. I knew the name that would save me, I just didn't know that it would. That name was ASTRA. The American Specialty Toy Retailers Association. Every year I go to conference to get new ideas for improving my business and being a stronger positive force in my community. I just got back from this years St. Paul MN. Conference last night. I feel more inspired than ever. I was able to talk and listen to folks who have been in the industry for decades and generations. People who make toys, people who distribute toys, people who sell toys, and the wealth of their knowledge is invaluable to me. I have formed friendships that will last a lifetime. Every year I meet some new brilliant people who make me look at things anew. I found and ordered lots of exciting new toys, of course, those innovators just don't stop. I'll be sure to keep you posted as they roll in, but for now, I want to say watch for changes. Upgrades. Investments.... A regular blog ;-)

Webkinz ExravagannnZA!

We hosted a Webkinz Extravaganza event this weekend. Since it was our first one, we were a little nervous. We had heard that these events could be out of control and crazy busy with Webkinz enthusiasts all over the store. This information had come from customers who had attended Webkinz events in past years at other stores as well as other store owners. We decided to spread the event over three days so we did not get mobbed. Let me just say on this side of things that having the Extravaganza event was worth the effort just to hear all of those wee ones say “ExtravagannnnnZA!”
To participate we had to buy a kit from the Webkinz guys that had all of those cool Extravaganza Webkinz, the posters, some of the prize goodies. The kit has the same number of Extravaganza pets for each store whether you live in a town the size of Portland or Carlton, so we still have lots of those left, and we are selling them for a dollar while supplies last with any Webkinz purchase of $15 or more. Ganz doesn’t tell you what kind of events to host though, so we just kind of had to wing it. We decided to try to emulate the online aspect of playing with your Webkinz in life sized events. We did a wishing well, and a jellybean challenge, and a Wheel of Wow. We hosted a coloring contest and a Kinz Style Costume Contest.
For the wishing well the kids had tiles that I put fruit stickers on one side of and stars on the other side. They had to line the tiles up in three rows of three. I had done up fifteen tiles so there were plenty to pull from for variety. I also put a wild card in that was a star on either side to increase their chances of winning. Yeah, I know, it feels like low level gambling to me also, but they did not seem to worry an instant about the slippery slope they were on and they were nearly guaranteed a win, so game on!
For the Jellybean challenge I filled a jar with jellybeans and issued each child a coupon with their registration that had room for their name, phone number, and guess, and they were able to put it in a jar to be considered. Almost a guarantee that if the child was under five, the guess was going to be 100, because there were a lot of jellybeans in that jar, and 100 is a LOT. Don got one little girl who wanted to count them though. Fortunately for Don, she could only count to fifty. Unfortunately for her, that meant there were fifty jellybeans in the jar. She counted them twice. Don tried to get her to go higher, but she was pretty adamant. It was fun really to see the kids stick to their guns when their parents were trying to give them some help with estimation, mathematical averages, etc. Loved the families where the child would come up, make some rash “100!” type of guess and one of the parents would want to do it for the….I mean “help” them, while the other parent was holding them back with admonitions of “let them do it themselves” .
Our grand total, BTW, was 769. We actually had a tie with two guesses at 750.
For the wheel of wow, I borrowed an old roulette type wheel from friends out in Willamina (thanks Matt and Joi!!) and stuck prizes all around the rim. There was one slot of win a Webkinz of your choice, several slots of win an Extravaganza Webkin, bookmarks, trading cards, lipgloss, perfume, etc. pretty self explanatory. You spin the wheel, you get a prize. All of this winning is bound to turn the lot of them into gambling addicts before they get into high school.
Most kids arrived without a really good idea of what they were there for, so we had art supplies on hand so they could enter the drawing contest. Oh my gosh! When I grow up I want to have an art gallery for the twelve and under set. It is such an awesome art form. They were all great. Don is scanning and posting the images onto our website so they can have the real pictures back. And of course, every child was a winner. There were varying degrees of winning based on effort and talent, but I’m sure this was the first time that most of these kids had entered a contest of any kind, so we wanted to encourage them to keep on participating.
Those that did know what was going on brought their Webkinz all dressed up for the Style Kinz Costume Contest. These were some well loved little plushies. We had every kind of Webkin with every kind of costume imaginable, and my descriptions could not do them justice, so check them out in our photo gallery on the hopscotch website. Too cute. One boy made an Indiana Jones costume for his Polar bear out of brown paper bag. He made the hat, the messenger bag, everything. Very cool. Another little girl turned a princess crown into a saddle for her horse. I said I wouldn’t try to describe them didn’t I? These kids were inventive!!
It was a crazy busy weekend. Sales were good at the store, and the energy popped. Having kids that excited about anything is just so much fun. They twinkle from their Saturday morning bed head to their tippy tippy toes. I am pleased to be living my life in such close proximity to that kind of energy.

First Birthdays.

My niece Adeline turned one yesterday. She is the thirteenth child born to my siblings and me. You would think we'd get tired of it, but we just eat them up each and everyone.

Adeline is particularly delectable as she is a red headed fair skinned butterball, and the first child of the youngest of the siblings who happens to be the only boy in the family. We've never been slackers when it comes to taking care of the babies in our family, but this girl has us all wrapped around her little finger. The fact that we are all done having our own children I'm sure contributes to our complete devotion. So what to get for the girl who has everything, and more than she needs coming her way on her first birthday? It was an interesting question I posed to myself walking through hopscotch on Saturday. Whenever a customer needs a first birthday gift I commiserate with the importance of choosing the right item for this very important day. Something that will stay around, make a lasting impact on the childhood it is meant to facilitate. I always gravitate to wood toys, push toys for the soon to be walker, things that will be around for the next generation, first building blocks, cobblers benches, classics, staples. How surprised I was to find that that was not at all what I wanted for my little Adeline. I wanted to give her something that would give her enjoyment NOW, not be a keepsake for later on. I wanted to shape her day to day one year old existence. I was particularly interested in shaping the experience that her parents have. I haven't shopped for a one year old for almost six years. I was so surprised at what I chose. I know it sounds a little silly, but I wanted to choose gifts that would stack into a tidy pyramid. I love the look of a big box stacked up to a small box. Being a toy store owner I could hardly get away with just one gift, and a pyramid allowed many to be presented as one. The day before my children and I had been tooling around downtown McMinnville popping into our favorite shops, one of which is Third Street Books. My daughter found this groovy pop up cat book. It was a board book, very durable, lots of activities, squeakers, sliders, fuzzy patches to pet, etc. Adeline is obsessed with cats. It was perfect. The next day I pulled a Twilight Turtle off the shelf. It is a light up toy that casts the constellations on the ceiling of your room. It is beautifully designed, the turtle is plush, the shell is acrylic, and the colors are muted neutral greens. My brother and his wife Jessica (like all new parents) need anything that will help Adeline sleep on her own, particularly during the first few hours of the night time which they could actually use to catch up with each other. The package was bigger than the book, so it would stack perfectly. Next, I had heard Jessica say that Adeline needed a new pair of Robeez shoes. What better for a new walker than a hip adorable version of the tried and true moccasin? They can feel the floor through the thin leather sole, but their feet are protected and comfortable. I chose a chocolate brown pair with pink flowers. To go with the little shoes, I selected a Boo-boo bunny which is a plastic ice cube that goes in the freezer until the melon takes a hit, then you pull it out and put it in this little stuffed rabbit that can be placed on the ouchie spot without drips, towels, frost bite, etc. That first year, the melon takes a lot of hits. I thought I was done with my selections when a customer brought a darling puppet to the counter. Puppets! They love puppets at that age. But I needed to choose one that was between the size of the Robeez and the Boo-boo bunny so my pyramid would stack nicely. I chose an Elephant hand puppet from Manhattan based on that criteria. The result is the mountain in the first photo.
I went to a St. Patrick's day party after the one year old party. I was talking to a guy who expressed condolences that I had had to attend a one year party. He then ran through the entire itinerary of the party I had just attended. Baby gets dressed up to look cute, baby gets passed around as guests arrive, most guests more interested in beer or wine than in baby, some guests won't leave baby alone for a second, baby gets plopped in high chair with cake, baby fails to understand that baby needs to REALLY get messy with cake, some assistance, some demonstration, baby gets the idea, and gets thoroughly covered in frosting, flashes go off, presents are opened, and everyone clears out at warp speed to try to salvage some of their Saturday. Baby has a complete overstimulated, sugar let down crash and burn.
My brother and his wife were not going to have a party, but the protest from friends was so great that they felt that they probably should. In spite of the contrived aspects, all set up for photo ops, I really feel good about celebrating the first year of a child's life. Three lives are created anew with the first child. Nothing is the same for anyone, and that bears formal acknowledgment, mourning, and celebration. We could probably ditch the messy cake era. I wonder what new ritual could take the place of the messy first birthday cake?

The Carousel at Albany

In Albany Oregon they are building a carousel from scratch. Not reassembling, not refurbishing, and not skimping on any of the extras that are essential to creating a work of art of this magnitude. There will be a menagerie of animals, with 52 animals and 2 chariots, all hand carved and hand painted in the traditional style of Gustav Dentzel. The group was gifted the guts of a carousel by Dentzels descendants. The work is being done primarily by volunteers. The day we went by there were retired engineers, cabinet makers, and artists of all kinds. It is a painstaking process. There are renderings of all of the animals hanging from the walls. These renderings were drawn up by Terryl Whitlatch, who has worked with Star Wars’ George Lucas, and Kurt Christensen (artist and graphic designer. These sketchings are based on the desires of the individuals that have sponsored the carousel animal. for instance, there was this wonderful frog in bloomers crouched down mid-hop with a jar of flies under one arm. Her purple bonnet was blown back in the wind, and on her bottom was the word Sugar. The frogs name was Harriette. Harriette was designed in honor of the sponsors grandmother who lived through the great depression, loved frogs, canning, and purple, and had made clothing from sugar and flour sacks. Each of the animals has that kind of story to tell, and there is a book in which you can read all of them. So in front of these renderings, there are big blocks of wood. Some are just that with words like leg, tail, etc. written on them in sharpy. Some are being chiseled while we watch, some are being sanded, and some are being painted. A few are actually finished, and they sit in the foyer where the children are encouraged to climb up and sit on their backs. It's such a wonderful opportunity to see this work in progress. The smells of the workshop, the feel of the wood as it goes from a rough block to a shiny colorful carousel animal. There are many opportunities in this world to ride a carousel, but I don't imagine many to see one being created. You should check it out. While you're there, just up the street is a little toy store called Frogs and Pollywogs. A friend of mine named Celia owns it. She is the one who told me about the carousel project in the first place. Pop in and tell her I sent you.