Right Down the Road

Although we've never seen them in the local grocery store or pharmacy or in one of the area restaurants, we learned this week that former CIA Director David Petraeus and his wife, Holly, own a home in Springfield, New Hampshire, which is a hop, skip and a jump away from Tomie's home.

Mrs. Petraeus inherited the home from her parents.

The wikipedia entry for David Petraeus lists Springfield as his "official domicile."

Hotbed of Creativity

Nancy Paulsen (Nancy Paulsen Books of Penguin Young Readers Group), Tomie's editor, is visiting. She arrived last night to the sight of Tomie holding a platter of meatloaf for her. Nancy loves Tomie's meatloaf, so Tomie makes meatloaf every time Nancy visits.

Tomie and Nancy worked on new projects today. They completed a nearly final draft of a story for 2014. They discussed several other ideas for books for 2014 and beyond.

It's always helpful when Nancy comes to New Hampshire to discuss projects.

You Go, Girl! (At least, in NH.)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-08/women-rule-new-hampshire-from-concord-to-capital-hill.html

New Hampshire makes history! No state has ever had a female governor AND entirely female Federal delegation (U.S. senators and representatives) until now.

Italian Invasion

Elizabeth Masucci (left) and Cynthia Pietrantoni, "early retired" teachers, visited yesterday from the Boston area. We've known "the grammar queens" for many years. They like to be called "early retired" because they retired YEARS before the usual retirement age.

They came with a box from the Gingerbread Construction Co. filled with two gingerbread girls and six SWEET muffins.

We learned for the first time that Elizabeth had become an actress. You may have seen her in scenes in the following movies:
Edge of Darkness, with Mel Gibson
Game Plan, with The Rock
What's Your Number, with Anna Faris
The Makeover, with Julia Stiles
Clear History, with Larry David
Here Comes the Boom, with Kevin James

Crowd scenes, that is.

www.gingerbreadusa.com

Get Out the Shovels!

We Voted!

It is common for the poll worker (often the poll worker is Thelma) to have trouble finding Tomie's last name in the list of registered voters. It must have something to do with the "de," capital D or not, space between "de" and "Paola," or not. His name is eventually found, but it's never quickly found.

This morning as we were walking to the voting area, Thelma told Tomie that she told the poll workers last night to find his name last night so that there wouldn't be a delay this morning when Tomie came to vote. It worked. Tomie's name was quickly found, and he voted.

Ahh, small towns. 

Power-less, but Powerful Artists

Left to Right: Tomie, Olivia, Leeza, Kelly

Olivia, Leeza and Kelly visited yesterday afternoon. Leeza and Kelly are both artists. Tomie first met Leeza years ago at a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference. Olivia spent much of the afternoon drawing while her mother, Leeza, and Kelly talked with Tomie.

Olivia and Leeza live in New Jersey and are without electricity. Kelly lives on Long Island and is without electricity. They are all staying at Kelly's second home in Massachusetts.

www.leezaworks.com 
www.kellylight.com

Background on the Society of Illustrators Medal

Tomie asked Kate Feirtag, Exhibition Director, Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators, if she had any information about the beautiful Society of Illustrators medal.


Richard J. Berenson, Past President of the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators replied:

"The bas-relief of the Bison shown on the face of the medal is adapted from the wall painting in the cave of the Font-de-Gaume at Les Eyzies in Southern France, and was one of man's earlier art efforts. The species of Bison, now almost extinct, differs somewhat from the North American form, with a rather small head, neck and shoulders. Just what prompted Prehistoric man (in this case the Cro-Magnon type, who lived about 10,000 years ago) to draw pictures of this sort is hard to say. They may have been done to propitiate the game to be later used as food, or simply to satisfy an artistic urge and northing more - just as one might paint a picture today.  --Charles R. Knight

"The medal was sculpted by Mario Cooper from designs by Robert Foster." 

A Man and His Princess Cake

Brita, Swedish friend, and now, US resident, made Tomie a massive Swedish Princess Cake.

Scenes Before the Nor'Easter (and Snow?)

A Man with His Medal and Plaque

The medal reads "Society of Illustrators" - more about the medal on Sunday.

The text on the plaque reads:
The Original Art
Lifetime Achievement Award 2012
Presented to
Tomie dePaola
For distinguished achievement in
the field of children's book illustration.

Please Stand and Applaud

On Thursday evening, October 25, 2012, Tomie received an Original Art Lifetime Achievement Award for 2012 from the Society of Illustrators at a ceremony in NYC. Here are Anelle Miller's introductory remarks and Tomie's brief acceptance speech. (Anelle Miller is the Executive Director of the Society of Illustrators.) Lifetime Achievement Awards are given each year in two categories: Contemporary and Posthumous. The awards were first given in 2005. Tomie is the 8th person to receive the Contemporary award. Tomie's peers chose him for the award.

Happy Post-Halloween!

Greetings for Halloween a day late. Much of our town's internet service inexplicably went down on the day after Sandy, Tuesday afternoon, so a Halloween greeting couldn't be posted until now. Service wasn't restored until late on Halloween day, Wednesday.

It was fortunate that I bought candy for hundreds to handle the SEVEN children who came to Tomie's house for trick-or-treating. Those seven kids were cute.

Someone is going to have to eat that candy.