Author Archives: beth

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About beth

Ann Arbor-ite writes about enjoying life with all of its ironies and surprises.
Aug15

superior service.

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while recently at my friend’s lake house

we made this beautiful puzzle

of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

 she purchased during her recent visit to the northern regions

 beautifully made of wood, precision cut, and challenging

but together we managed to complete the puzzle

except

for one piece

that I tried to jam in

 I broke it

our ‘gluer’ didn’t put it back together quite right

so we accepted that it was finished without it

but I felt bad

so I wrote to the company

to see if they could possibly replace the piece

I took photos of it and where it was supposed to be

always worth a shot

the artist who made the puzzle

also the company owner

said she would replace it

(talk  about customer service!)

 I thanked her

 excitedly waited for the piece to arrive

within days it showed up at my house

 what should arrive at my house

all the way from the upper peninsula

but an entire puzzle

at no charge

from the artist herself

as her and her husband

are the small business owners

of their own family owned company

she is a Ukranian artist

who makes the puzzles

among many other things

 he is an American veteran

 I was so amazed by their kindness

that I’d like to publicly thank them here

by sharing a connection to their business

I will certainly buy puzzles from them myself

thank you again for reminding me

that there are wonderful people out there in the world

and for your beautiful work

(all links are below)

Artist, Kateryna Nelson

https://www.facebook.com/artfactorytwinportsWIMNMI

https://www.artfactorytwinports.com/shopall

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtFactoryTwinPorts

artfactorytwinports.com

Gwinn, MI, United States
artfactorysuperior@Gmail.com

—

“customer service is an opportunity to exceed your customer’s expectations.”

-John Jantsch

*John Jantsch is an author, speaker, and marketing consultant who specializes in assisting small businesses. He is the author of Duct Tape Marketing, The Referral Engine, and The Commitment Engine.

Aug14

expression.

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DZ’S (the artist) ART

while at the downtown library

with my young student, EZ

formerly in my class

where we met once a week this summer

as he strengthened his reading and writing skills

by using them to write and illustrate a book

we discovered a tiny work of art

tucked in at the bottom of a crumbly pillar

created by local chalk artist David Zinn, DZ

who likes nothing better

than finding little cracks and imperfections

 filling them in with his whimsical art

leaving them for people to discover

what a lucky day this was

EZ finished writing his very first book

a huge accomplishment

he came so far

we had our last lesson together

he is ready to move ahead

he plans to put on a special outfit

do a world premiere reading

of his book

for his whole family

and we discovered a piece of DZ’s tiny secret art

double happiness.

downtown ann arbor library

EZ’S (the boy) BOOK

—

David Zinn, DZ, (the artist’s)  link  

https://zinnart.com/pages/about-the-artist

—

‘man needs spiritual expression and nourishing…

even in the prehistoric era, people would scrawl pictures of bison on the walls of caves.’

-Fernando Botero

Aug13

science in wonderland.

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yesterday, my post was a note from a former student

with a list of her top 5 things

 that I had taught her

while in my class

way back when she was little.

we had a multi-age pre-k room

so children stayed with us for two years

 we saw a lot of

growth and change in them

over that span of  time.

she was always

very responsible

a rule follower

she learned to open her mind 

to new ideas, to use her imagination 

we made fairy houses together

she  created art and wrote stories.

in contrast

another student

told me

that he had tried for two years

to teach me something

that i never seemed to really learn

he loved facts and non-fiction books

in the spring of both years

when we’d go out into the woods

on adventures in nature

looking under green sprouts and budding trees

i was always looking for the fairies

while he was always trying to teach me 

that fairies weren’t real

because ‘they were not science.’

 he did teach me a lot about science

 but I just never learned

no matter how many times he tried to tell me

about the fairies

 I always said

‘it depends on what you believe,

whatever you want to believe is true to you.’

 he would just shake his head. 

but every so often

I would see him

peeking under the budding stems and leaves

(where they might be hiding)

or blowing the dandelion seeds

(to spread the new fairy babies)

and just maybe….

—

‘only  the curious have something to find.’

-sean watkins

Aug12

top 5.

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loved getting a sweet thank you note

from one of my former students

who is moving up to middle school this fall

on the back of her thank you she wrote

the top 5 things that I taught her

and here’s to number 5!

my personal favorite

it will come in especially handy

you never know when you will need this

it has certainly served me well

over the years

i’m pretty sure

that people who know me

really appreciate it. 

—

‘definitely, i think i’m a life coach for real.

the lessons i give are lessons you can take to the bank.’

-flavor flav

Aug11

lazy day.

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Two cans of sandwich kit on a red background

With 6 grams of fiber, 15 grams of protein, and 100% whole wheat, there’s a lot to love about this PB&J kit. For starters, it has a one-year shelf life, making it easy to store for whenever you need it. Best of all, it currently offers strawberry and grape flavors — everyone’s favorites! Perfect for hikers, campers, athletes, or families on the go, anyone can take advantage of the great flavor. (Very Lazy Food and a real thing)

—

National Lazy Day on August 10th gave us permission to relax and kick back. There’s not much information regarding this annually celebrated holiday and no one felt  like doing any research. Actually, no one felt  like doing anything at all. Consequently, many were in hammocks with a couple of good books and glasses of lemonade and iced tea. Yes, it was Lazy Day. People choose to be lazy rather than tell much more about this day. And, it was yesterday, so once again, I’ve missed a holiday by a day, but was too lazy to look at the calendar in time.

—

‘you can’t teach people to be lazy – they either have it, or they don’t.-

~ Dagwood Bumstead

Aug10

what’s her secret?

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on the rack at the used book store –  kind of scary 

what could it be?

any guesses?

—

‘well it’s not secret that the best thing about secrets is telling someone about your secret,

thereby adding another secret to your secret collection of secrets, secretly…’

-sponge bob squarepants

Aug9

to olive and pete the cat and all the others.

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two somebodies reminded me that I missed 

international cat day yesterday

and now

there will be four somebodies

over here in no time

quick!

get under the couch!

—

 happy international cat day yesterday, to all of you

sssshhhhhhhhh…

 

 

—

gary larson, the far side

 

Aug8

prophet mary proctor.

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The Story of My Grandma Old Buttons

mixed media on door;

house paint, acrylic, buttons, liquid nails, mason jar, hot glue

no date

courtesy of laura lippman

—

Mary Proctor (1960- )

Mary Proctor’s store, Noah’s Ark Antiques, in Tallahassee, Florida is a wood cottage where you can still buy used records and faded photos. Her yard is a labyrinth of clutter, surrounded by a chain-link fence. She lives with her husband and four children in a mobile home behind the store. Mary Proctor began painting on doors in 1995, after her aunt and two other family members were killed, trapped inside their burning house trailer. Firefighters failed in all attempts to pry open the swelled metal doors. Mary says that God then spoke to her, telling her to “paint onto the doors.” Renaming herself, “Prophet Mary Proctor,” Mary’s doors are covered with her spiritual teachings and observances of righteous behavior garnered from everyday life and, especially, from her wise Grandma. Her doors range from cabinet size to large double garage doors on which Mary typically uses paint and a collage of buttons, cloth, and found objects. Mary likes to think of herself as a missionary rather than an artist. “I’m just a messenger and they (the people who collect her work) are the deliverers.”

—

‘in a time of destruction, create something.’

-maxine hong kingston

 

—

American Visionary Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

 

Aug7

merry sunshine.

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this is not me,

but we do have a similar level of excitement upon waking up each day

just to see what is going to happen,

 as we’ve both discovered over time,

not everyone shares this same level of enthusiasm for the new day. 

when my children shared a house with me,

I loved waking them with a ‘merry sunshine!’ in the  morning,

which did not always go over as well as the spirit in which the greeting was intended. 

there is still time for it to grow on them.

here is Ralph’s take on the situation:

—

‘there is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all well-bred,

to all rational mortals, namely, their distempers.

if you have not slept or if you have slept or if you have headache or sciatica

or leprosy or thunder-stroke,

I beseech you, by all angels, to hold your peace and not pollute the morning.

-ralph waldo emerson

 

 

—

image credit: instagram

Aug6

bridging the gap.

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From the Dumfries Agricultural Show in Scotland (source: bluesky) and kind of scary, but it could just be me, as I have a fear of dolls and that sort of thing. This was an entry in the Arts & Crafts competition several years ago. I do love going to these kind of local shows. A Veggie Baby perhaps?

 ‘food art bridges the gap between culinary traditions and innovation.’

-author unknown