The Death of a Tybee Shark

Animal lovers beware. This post is sad.

My favorite little boy and I were strolling along the beach last week when, in the distance, a crowd was gathering... The crowd grew larger as more on-lookers gathered in a circle. It was approaching "high-school-fist-fight" proportions (remember the days when a school fight was the highlight of the day? No worries about getting shot or stabbed, just a few clean punches before a red-faced teacher broke it up). Logic told me that it was not a fist fight on a public beach, wait a minute, we are talking Tybee here....just kidding. My son said, while pointing at a thrashing object on the ground, "What is that Mama?". We could see something twisting on the sand. Sharp, angry, jerky movements. As we cautiously approached, a man sporting a spectacular mullet (the hair-do, not the fish) reached down and grasped a 5 foot gray shark's tail. It was so surreal, disturbing, but quite beautiful to see a shark on the sand. Not lying on his side either. He or She was on their belly, dorsal fin proudly upright, mouth open and whipping around in a heroic attempt to bite the redneck's beefy hand that so firmly and offensively grasped it's tail. The redneck jumped back from the snapping mouth (to my chagrin...I was sorta hopin' the shark would get a nip in, teach that jerk a lesson). That's when I noticed something glinting in the sun in the man's hand. A knife. "Oh No" I thought. Then a soft-spoken gentlemen with a sadness in his voice said "You better take your little one away, I believe they are going to kill it". I thought about asking them not to (there were actually 2 rednecks involved and EACH of them had a knife) but then the knives, red-faces, mullets, and beer bellies set off internal alarm bells in my head and I thought better of it and while sheilding my sweet boy's eyes, we hurried away. I threw one last glance back to see the knife sticking up from the top of the creature's smooth head, buried up to the hilt, and the shark thrashing like mad in a death throe on the sand. There were many children on the beach that day who saw this disgraceful thing happen. I even saw the lifeguards motor past with indifferent glances at the spectacle. It was disturbing to me as an adult, I would imagine most children would find it so also. I sincerely hope those jerks made good use of their kill (fed a hungry mouth?). I tried to explain to my son but he just kept saying "Why'd they kill it?"...at least he didn't see them stab it to death. It put a bit of a damper on an otherwise pleasant day and as we munched our cream cheese and jelly sandwiches later on in the day, I was sure glad their was no meat in that sandwich.

CPSIA

Boy I'm really upset about this issue. Let me start at the beginning. A few years back I started making handmade children's items. Bows, etc. which gradually progressed to sewn plush toys, aprons, felt play food, and various other cute stuff. I was TIRED of all the plastic pieces of junk that was made in China and had to be recalled because they were dangerous. I am glad that the government is looking out for our kids but this new "Consumer Products Safety Information Act" doesn't appear to be well thought out. They are requiring all handmade children's items be tested by a 3rd party for lead/harmful substances for children 12 years and younger. This testing costs hundreds of dollars (thousands even) and is not a problem for large toy manufacturers. It will however DESTROY the handmade-at-home items that some of us make. We make our goods with fabric, ribbon, etc. made in the U.S.A. that was already tested for lead. As a result of this Act, many people will go out of business thus decreasing or eliminating natural handmade goods. Folks will buy toys and gifts from the large toy manufacturers. Things made of plastic that are not biodegradeable. Things made in China, who's environmental regulations are minimal. Their land and water is polluted from run-off from large factories and their people are poisoned. Nat Geo has a great article in their May 2008 issue. They state that 80% of U.S. toys are made in China.

There is nothing like the fear of "civil penalties" to distinguish the fire of creativity. My desire to create children's items is just not there anymore. But I refuse to buy toys that were created at such a cost to human life and our natural world.

Guilty Pleasures

I'm ashamed to admit that I have a weakness for vampire and/or werewolf books/movies. I'll blame that little addiction on "Scooby Doo" cartoons and "The Haunted Mansion" read-and-hear books from the 70's. I first read Anne Rice's classic "Interview With A Vampire" as a senior in high school and became an instant fan. I relish a good romantic drama, but with enough hard edges to make it believable in an escape-from-reality sort of way. So when the new "Underworld" movie came out, I convinced my non-supernatural loving husband to take me to see it. And joy upon joy, it had Vampires AND Werewolves. I was hoping we would not see anyone we knew in the theater and I kept peering over my shoulder while in line for tickets, not for a vampire mind-you but an acquaintance who might just ask "what movie are ya'll seeing tonight?". The movie was pretty good, great special effects and a non-campy plot. There is nothing like a big, greasy, pissed-off werewolf who is hell-bent on revenging his beloved's death to grab my attention. Better than a comfy couch, a bag of doritos and a large diet soda. This movie won't win any awards, but the character's plight provided a much needed time-out from my own.
Bon Appetite!

Barn Yard

As far as the title, my kids are watching the movie "Barnyard". It's pretty cute but all the cows have disturbingly placed udders made worse by the fact that the cows stand upright like humans. In order to try to forget that weirdness, I started thinking about the barn of my childhood. My dad built it himself and it was painted brick red. We had horses that lived in that big, sweet smelling barn. I still dream about that barn. There was hay stacked up in tall columns. You could crawl into the nooks and crannies and curl up for hours. Of course if it fell on you, you would be crushed to death, but back in the 80's, my mom was was working a full time job, as well as my dad, and they let me and my brother run wild in the surrounding woods and play in the barn. I don't think many parents nowadays would let their children do that, I know I won't. Too many darned predators, and it's not the wild animal variety that I'm worried about. Instead, the kiddos are stuck inside watching weird cows frolic in a computer animated barn. How will this affect them? I don't know but the real thing has got to be better.......

"OC'd" and Bob Marley

Are their any moms out there who have "OC'd" this summer? It's just a little term I invented to describe a puzzling situation I am experiencing. Here's the definition if you are confused.

"OC'd" (abbrev. for "over-camped") .noun. verb. the process by which an anxious stay-at- home mother has over-scheduled a child in too many darned summer camps. The phenomenon usually occurs in anticipation of a summer filled with bored cries and whines, "can I have a snack?" , "he's breathing on me", and the mother's cries of "close the refrigerator for the 14th time in 15 minutes" and "close the back door, you are letting all the air conditioning out" and "pick your toys up". "Over-camping" usually backfires for the mother, as instead of getting a break from carpooling and rushing out the door in the morning in a flurry of teeth brushing and breakfast inhaling during the school year, she is still rushing out the door and shuttling the kids from one camp to another because they only last 3 hours which is not really long enough to even get home and start a project.

Next year the stay-at-home/work-at-home mother will try the method she grew up with. The kids stay at home and play in the woods all day or the neighbor's barn. The kid will explore and imagine and DREAM. The mother will enjoy her kids without having to be here or there at an expected time.

On to the next topic.....let me close the refrigerator door first.

I recently had the opportunity to have a college-roommate reunion of sorts with 2 friends. We had some GOOD TIMES together back in the day. Fourteen years, location, husbands, and 2 kids each came between us. So when one of my friend's parents offered their beach condo to us for the weekend, we jumped at the chance to relax and reconnect. We left our husbands with the kids and peeled out of our respective driveways in a cloud of burned rubber. We vegetated on the beach for 2 days. We laughed and talked and the years magically peeled away. It was as if it used to be. We listened to Jimmy Buffett, Bob Marley, Dave Matthews, and Blues Traveler. Music has a way of transporting you to a different place and our favorite bands back in the day did just that.

So here's to you LLM and ATM. I had a BLAST! I will never forget you guys and look forward to our annual reunion. Let's not ever lose each other again. I'll leave you with a quote from a legend:

"Good friends we have, oh, good friends we've lost
Along the way.
In this great future, you can't forget your past;
So dry your tears, I seh......."

Oh yeah, and beware the "DSDD's"

Summer is Here!

The kid's are out of school and we've began our summer schedule. It will be a blur of summer camps and swimming lessons with some crafting crammed in between!

We had a good turnout at the "Savannah Market Bazaar" last weekend. A best seller: chenille play food. As a result of demand, I've been sewing furiously this week and have produced a collection of cupcakes, strawberry shortcake, watermelon, banana, apple slices, grapes, and strawberries! My kid's are eyeing them and little hands are itchy to play with them, so I hope to have them on my site by next week. I've ordered some adorable cherry baskets to make a pretend fruit basket for easy gift giving! Children just seem to like non-plastic, non-commercial toys better than the junk you find in large chain-retail establishments. Sure, you will pay more for a hand-crafted item, but it will have more meaning and better quality. Be sure to look for us at the next Bazaar, September 13th, and the 2nd Saturday of the month thereafter.

I am also going to start on the aprons soon. I am so excited to begin, but for those who know me, Type A, "things must be perfect", such as design down to the last ruffle, before I can begin. Great vintage reproduction fabrics are sitting in a forlorn stack, staring at me, just waiting for me to pick them up and create!

Have a groovy summer!

A Roll of the Die

I was recently cleaning out my house and in the process, doing some soul searching, when I came across a small, tarnished tin with a starfish on top. I was pleasantly surprised with it's contents....keepsakes from my childhood. I was flooded with memories. These treasures were not your ordinary keepsakes as one would imagine. A coincidence to be sure, to stumble upon this collection during this particular time in my life. I will list these items as some of you from my generation will surely recognize the bits of ephemera and pop culture that made up the 80's:

-pennies, all dark with age, with dates from the late sixties, through the 70's and mid 80's.

-1 Garfield earring (why was his smile so smarmy?)

-a friendship pin (a safety pin with many small beads) that contained the distinct color pattern I remembered looking at in childhood)

-a wrinkled Hubba Bubba gum wrapper. I could almost taste the sugary goodness that I loved as a child.Strawberry was the BEST. Is it still around?

-an old metal jack stone

-1 bobby pin and 1 hairpin (I could see my self standing in our old bathroom, my mother sticking them into my fine hair to keep it in place)

-1 green monopoly house (a valuable lesson learned in childhood, money that is easy come is just as easy go)

-1 pearl headed stick pin (my grandmother used them to stick into corsages or floral arrangements and to this day when I see one, I think of her).

-1 small shell (many summers at the beach, sticky, sandy, cool salty water, riding home with sandy legs stuck to hot vinyl car upholstery, milkshakes from the Sugar Shack)

-4 plastic colored beads (beading was popular then too)

-1 small pair of barbie plastic sunglasses (the kind that fits the doll, not the kid)

-lastly, a die, as in the the little white cube with black dots on it. It held no distinct memory, but it's significance was instantly recognizable. One roll, everything is good, alright, doin' fine. The next roll, it is all over, the end, sayonara, bye bye. What will the next roll hold? Maybe neither, maybe a fine line, silver as one would dare hope.

How could I have managed to save these seemingly meaningless items? Each one held a distinct memory. Such a gift, on a day when it was needed most. We all have our days..... There is a good song by Bob Seger who's words I heard today on the radio, the haunting chords so full, a classic to be certain.

"...I awoke last night to the sound of thunder
How far off, I sat and wondered?
Started humming a song from 1962
Ain't it funny how the night moves?
When you just don't seem to have as much to lose
Strange, how the night moves..."