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after glancing at my last few entries one might think i was one of those 'mom bloggers'. not that i don't actually find writing talking and watching my kids my number one focus. at least now amber and i actually discuss other things besides the kids at night---tho not much else to tell you the truth- i am not sure some of these blogs belong on the annericketts sculpture site......
so while my kids are fighting in their bedroom right now i will blog a bit about something else.

i actually have been writing a book.

and since my father died i have been rewriting the ending of " blue skies ahead" .yes i know everyone is writing a memoir Memoir i suppose they are being called lately. and tho it may sound a tad morbid to now include my father's death in my book...my agent actually suggested it....also saying he knew it was a tad morbid ....but now that i have actually started rewriting the end, i have to say i think it will be a better book.

it is a mixed genre book, with drawings....some of the drawings i have posted on my blog are actually from my book.

and yes i do have a book agent,the ever fantastic micheal murphy......otherwise to be referred to as The Marvelous Mr. M - btw dust off and send all your book queries to: Michael Murphy
Max & Co.
A Literary Agency and Social Club
and even tho we havent gotten Blue Skies Ahead published yet. according to the Marvelous Mr. M we will.

and speaking of drawings........i told myself -and amber- this last year i had to start doing a creative medium that didnt cost me an arm and a leg to make -ei bronze casting. that is part of why i started drawing so much, and of course the fact that i enjoy it . - That i actually went to college to be a writer not an artist is an other worthless little tidbit about myself that helps make these mixed genre books a real sweet homecoming for me.....

some of you have seen my shitty job drawings...in fact those are what i first sent to Mr.M and at first got rejected,'where is the story?" he said. we all know the state of publishing so Mr.M thought throw in some famous people. Wala....the title now is "All My Shitty Jobs and Some Famous Peoples" ...i draw my jobs and then those of the famous people i came in contact with while i was doing my shitty job. here is one of my new drawings from my yet unwritten job book. i cant decide if knowing rich and famous people having shitty jobs makes me feel better about my own shitty jobs or worse. or if i will even finish this project, maybe i will just go back to blogging about my kids.

new beginnings

it is foggy now, the extra cold summer has spilled seemlessly into fall . no change in leaves here, just the ever so slight shift of the sun, the tilt of the earth. i wonder what winter will be like. if the sun will ever come out.
we are at a new house, a new school, another beginning. i walk to pick my children up from school and stay a little longer talking to the moms. trying to set an example to my kids, 'see making new friends isn't that hard'. i think of all the new schools i went to growing up. too many to count. i don't tell them how much i hated making new friends as a kid.
my little girl starts to run away from another little girl on the playground. they are both laughing.
suddenly my daughter stops, and opens her arms.
they hug.
it seems new beginnings have begun.

back in the saddle

or i should say Amber is back in the saddle. amber/anne.......at least it's a A name right?

i realize my sculpture, like my drawings and writing, are for the 'so inclined'. my own phrase. and maybe that is not a bad thing after all.

i am feeling a tad bit more grounded. happy to be "i yam what i yam".... popeye sculpture anyone?

my dog is laying at my feet, sound asleep. my kids are playing in their new clubhouse ie the closet in their room. amber is happy at her office.

though it is nearing noon, from my desk i see the road that leads to the beach. i still feel the stretch of the blue sky.
and the promise of a new day.

looking up

The cemetery called. They wanted to know what to put on my father's gravestone.
"He didn't leave any instructions?"
"No."
Sheila tells me it could be anything, 'loving father, in loving memory,''with love and respect' and few more I cant remember.
"I have to talk to my brothers."
Before I hang up she adds, "FYI the phrase can only be 22 characters long."


Each of my brothers ask what the others want.

I scroll back on my phone. Already I have forgotten Sheila's extension. A male receptionist answers and yells for Sheila. I hear her walk across the room.


"Yes?"
"Blue Skies Ahead"
I continue, "all separate words, each word starting with a capital please."

14 characters total.

That was yesterday.

Today is Saturday, a week since he died.
I look up into the perfect blue sky
and that is all I can see.