Jj/
November 6 , 2006
Dear Radish Reader,
I GOT KNOCKED DOWN BY A WAVE! That's my excuse for not writing. But I always
do come back. Watch for a new book in June 2007 - Going, going, gone! -
a kids travel book. Lots more fun things to do while on the road.
I have been obsessed with watching the Pete's Pond cam on the National Geographic website. It's a live cam on a pond in Botswana. You can watch elephants and wart hogs and beautiful gazelles, and ocassionally cute baby babboons, or a crocodile. Try it!
This summer we made several trellises. (trelli?) Here is one in my garden along the side of the house. I have become a huge believer in tasteful garden structures. I will spare you my pontifications on that subject.
I have several windmills, a real slate walkway and patio, an antique iron fence, and a set of steps for the kids to reach the water spigot.
Did I tell you I got a new camera? Canon Powershot 650. FUN!
I am in love with a tugboat, the Helen Parker. I dote upon her. Here she is tearing down the Hudson River and at work at the old ferry terminal.
Also - here is a true and actual "overheard" conversation between a conservative mother and her untrammeled child:
Please note, I am one who still calls them "Doggy."
Speaking of untrammeled children, here is my dear friend Emily. "The E is silent," she says. When I doubt this, she explains, "M - ily."
Write soon!
Love,
Joy
/////////oyradish blog
March 9
, 2006
Dear Radish Reader,
Get involved with your local museum! It's Fun!
Altho I am a little shy to say so, being a FORMER New Yorker (...there,
I said "former" - but it wasn't easy) , but i have somehow become
a Lifetime Member of the Hoboken
Historical Museum.
I designed a book for them - "100
Hoboken Firsts", and a walking tour map,
"Hoboken a walking tour and street map." (clik on the picture
to get to a street map of Hoboken NJ, and you'll see that it runs right
along the Hudson River, or as I like to call it, the Mighty Hudson.)
AND
NOW i am enmeshed in a TUGBOAT DEAL.
Yes, a real tugboat,
altho this one is old has no engine and cannot float - it has been used
in Cape Cod as an ice cream shoppe.
It needs a new home, imagine!
Also - have you ever seen an issue of Wooden Boat magazine? In the back
section they have FREE BOATS !
It is Spring, time to go out and do crazy things! The snowdrops are blooming
- they are tiny little white droplets, you don't see them unless you look
for them.
As is the case with many things!
Listen for the Spring bird songs, they are wild.
To see the comics from Rob Black, my very talented
reader, click here.
and write soon, dear radish reader.
Love,
Joy
////////////
February 1 , 2006
Dear Radish Reader,
The Ice Is Breaking Up on the River! I mean that figuratively. I started subscribing online to The Maui News. They are very prolific writers over there, so you get 5 articles a day - and they are all about Maui concerns, like protecting the ocean and restoring volcanic streams, etc. I love that.
By the way, it is peak manatee season in Florida. Go to the web cam at the Tampa Electric Company to watch them.
I went to visit the manatees, here's a picture of my little sister scratching a cute baby manatee! They are like giant kitty cats.
In case you could not see it in my last letter, here again is the PRESS MAN's HAT, worn by printers of old. Use a nice traditional newspaper like the New York Times - they are large. Click here to download a pdf.
I have a lot of new
projects in the works - an engagement calendar for 2007... a book of things
to keep you busy in the car or plane on your way to a distant destination...
and more.....
Frost is lovely..
Write soon, dear hearts!
Love,
Joy
Click here to go back to today's letter.
Click heRe foR my letteRs of 2oO3 ...
--------
Click heRe foR my letteRs of 2oO2 ...
..............
November 10, 2005
Dear Radish Reader,
On your Garden Calendar:
Harvest seeds, and sow them. My garden was an ocean of morning glories this year, thanks to my seed-sowing last fall. Indeed, they took over everything! But so pretty - Heavenly Blue.
My neighbor lady said " I think someone is stealing your flowers!"
Why do you think that?
" Every morning when I leave for work tons of them are in full bloom! But when I come back at the end of the day, they're all gone!"
I explained patiently that they are, after all MORNING glories . . . meaning they bloom in the a.m. and are gone by noon.
The dear lady was amazed at hearing this.
Oh. About my previous letter to you: - so sorry - ! -
I can barely stay crabby for a whole day, if I try very hard. Yet others seem to thrive on strife - and seek to create it from scratch! In their company I try to sing a cheery song, either aloud or inside my head. That's a very good baffle. But - ENUF of these reflections....
Because More Importantly - I introduce the PRESS MAN's HAT, worn by printers of old. Use a nice traditional newspaper like the New York Times - they are large.
That reminds me -
the New York Marathon: I lived on its route, and I would come out onto my front steps on East 81st Street in NYC one sunday morning in November, and I'd look to the right - and A RUNNER would whisk by, to cheers! It was the leader, who went on to win. He was so far ahead of the others...
Another marathon morning, I left the house very early to go to the grocery on the corner. NYC Policemen were setting up barricades and ropes on Frist Avenue in anticipation of the runners. Before tying the ropes to the sawhorses, they decided to play jump-rope for a few turns. They were pretty good! They saw me, and quickly went back to work. I'm sure jumping rope is part of their policemen's training course.
Things to do today:
Read or Write while walking. It is a good skill to have. Be careful crossing streets, though.
Write soon, dear hearts!
Love,
Joy
////////////////
October 17, 2005
Dear Radish Reader,
Do you ever say, "Bah, humbug!" ??
This is what the mean old boss used to say to the humble office worker whenever
anything fun came up.
It's a good thing to say when one is crabby.
TIP: A Crabby Mood can be put to good use!
Is there something you have to do, that you don't like to do?
For kids - Do you have to clean your room? or pull up weeds in the yard?
For grownups - Have you been putting off a call to complain about a bill that's
too high? or do you have to cut the grass?
Wait till you are feeling crabby and grumpy,
and use that crabby energy to accomplish things!
I have actually had fun complaining bitterly to my cell phone company - I could
be as crabby as I wanted.
I have also washed a gigantic sink full of dishes, with great splashes and the
self-righteous clanging of pots.
Next time you are crabby, say "Bah
Humbug!" - then, think of all the fun you can have Only When You Are
Crabby!
That's what I do.
Write soon, dear hearts!
Love,
Joy
…………
September 28, 2005
My Dearest Readers,
I suppose I have a lot of explaining to do, like, how come I didn't write
sooner.
But let's just fast forward over all that. There's nothing wrong with glossing
over things!
2006 will be wonderful! A day book is in the works! If you'd like one, write me encouraging e mail - that helps me to work on things.
My day job is at a publishing house in Hoboken New Jersey, I ogle the Hudson
River every day. Also, I'm working on the Fun Box Shop - coming soon, new and
much more improved - with T-shirts!!!.
AND - I designed a map of Hoboken and a book for an antiquated antiquarian. I
am also making a Kid's Map of Hoboken! and ... a wetlands sketchbook (see
racoon lesson).
Watch for all of them on my website.
New favorite link: http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/wildcamafrica/wildcam.html
Every day wild animals in Africa come to drink at this watering hole. So sweet! It's a live cam at Pete's Pond in Botswana.
Please write to me and tell me all about what you have been up to over the
past year, with or without gloss, as you see fit.
Love, and a recipe,
Joy
If you like to be supercharged with sweetness, try:
MOM's BEST PRALINES EVER ! ! ! !!
Line up all your materials and your wax paper sheets ahead of time.
mix:
2 cups light brown sugar
3/4 cup evaporated milk (canned milk)
cook, stirring, until 234 degrees
(234 degrees is the "soft ball stage": drop a tiny amount into icy
cold water. Remove it - it should form a soft ball. (not a hard ball, not a
thread.))
when it reaches this stage, remove from heat
stir in:
2 tablespoons butter (at room temperature)
2 cups pecans (in halves)
let stand 10 minutes, then:
Beat until thick. Don't over-beat or they become lumpy.
Drop in large spoonfulls on to wax paper. Work quickly or they will harden too fast. As soon as they are cool you may begin eating and you will not want to stop until the pralines area gone.
////////////////
September 28, 2004
Dear Reader,
Now is a good time to collect seed pods.
and....Did you know that the cartoon Frances in my books is a real-life person?
She is my wacky mother-in-law. She recently learned the word "octogenerian," now being one. I'm thinking of starting a page called "Frances Says:", because everything she says amazes me. For example -
She called me on Sunday to read the Sunday comix to me over the phone. (
Lacking any scintillating gossip, I suppose.)
Francis reads: "Here's a funny one, a teacher says to a little boy, 'You
have to study at school, ergo, you can't go out and play.' " . . .Before
continuing, Frances stops to explain to me, as an aside,"Ergo - that's the
little boy's name."
.........
Other quotes from Frances, which I jot down as she says them to be sure I have them accurately:
re: her sister in law: "She was right, her brother is a sneaky little bastard."
re: her live-in 50-yr.-old-son's giant wind chimes: 'A big wind came last night. They were chimin' away crazy."
re: planting a fig tree: "I'm gonna dig the hole centerized so the branches can spread out."
re: home repairs: "The elements of the gas burner are wored out."
re: driving in New Jersey (she knows all the roads): "You have to turn
right at the Jewish Mosque." (PS, I have since found that many people in
NJ call a Synagogue a "Jewish Mosque." ????
-----------
September 22nd, 2004.
We joined Frances on her deck out back, on a recent evening, amid her hanging
plants, under the giant canopy of Sicilian squash leaves, and
"birdhouse" gourds inexplicably tied with string, as if they would
otherwise escape, - in her busy NJ neighborhood, which is going downhill from
overcrowding, carelessness, etc. Cats poked about, the dog trotted in and out
of the house restlessly. We were there to hear her new CD of birdsongs.
As a lovely halfmoon drifted across the sky we sipped coffee and listened to
the beautiful bird melodies on the CD, interspersed with a DJ-type voiceover
telling us the names of each "Backyard Visitor": "The
Goldfinch!", p-cheep! p-cheep! p-cheep!, "The Redwing
Blackbird!" okaree ! okaree! okaree! , "The Common Loon!" , a
haunting echoing cry...
The bird identification lesson is followed by a melodious 15-minute
"Backyard Symphony" and "Woodland Symphony". As the night
sky darkened, birds twittered away (with the DJ as a master of ceremonies), and
Frances pointed out to us whenever two jets crossed the eastern horizon, which
was every few minutes, since she is nearby Newark Airport. "There's two
again! There's three!"
We listened to the whole birdsong CD twice. "Thank you Frances! That was
wonderful," we said as we departed, and it really had been sort of
delightful, as if we were way out in the country.
"Yeah," she agreed, "And when my neighbors play their music too
loud at night I turn up the volume and BLAST 'EM!"
/////////////////
FRANCES-RELATED FAN MAIL - A reader from Long Beach California writes:
"Must be the name Frances.
Mine humiliated me to pieces one time by walking through the crowd after a
chicken dinner in the church basement. She was taking all the chicken bones off
their plates. She wanted to dry them to have the bones so her students could
make a human skeleton.
SHE WAS GRABBING THEM AS THEY WERE STILL EATING!!! And trying to stop people
from breaking them apart.
I was about 8th grade. Wanted to hide under the tables. She put them in paper
napkins, sent someone back to the kitchen several times for more napkins and
paper bags to put them in. Not at all subtle.
Have to say it was pretty cool when I saw the finished project."
////////////////
.........................
August 4, 2004
Dear Reader ! ! ! !
Much to report - Lion Jelly fish in the
Hudson River this morning! Oh how thrilling - I looked them up, and . . . They
Sting!
and they get to be 8 feet across, imagine!
What a wonderful world we live in.
My Note cards are available, and they are cute. Now you too can teach others to draw a penguiin. Go to
http://www.mudpuppy.com/store/index.cfm/ObjectGroup_ID/77
and you will see my little cow lesson
Drawing is Easy and Fun
Portfolio Notes
price: $8.00
Chris has been working on making a wonderful site about my things, to her wonderful website - visit
http://www.creativity-portal.com (Note: Chris is down with a virus, I'll link when she's back up.)
Look in the column on the right for my name, and clik on it!
it's fun!
I have been gardening - gathering or perhaps
kidnapping plants from their woodland and roadside habitats, stealing meadow
flowers right under the noses of the bees. My
garden has been compared to Versailles! on a slightly smaller scale of course.
And did Versailles have a deceased starling found by a neighbor child, buried
under a stone
in an iris patch?
Probably, yes.
Write soon!
Love, Joy
..............
APRIL 19, 2004
Dear Reader ! ! ! !
I'm here, don't worry. Are you having a delightful Spring? The Hudson River is beautiful today, with a salty breeze blowing in from the ocean.
"The Stripers are running," I am told!
NEWS: My friend Chris just added me to her wonderful website - visit her Creativity Portal, it's fun!
On Sunday May 2, Come to Hoboken's ARTS AND MUSIC FESTIVAL! I will be there, at the booth of the wonderful Hoboken Historical Museum! FUN FUN FUN!
On April 3, 2004 I taught two classes of 3rd graders at the Passaic County Historical Society in Lambert Castle on Garret Mountain in Paterson, NJ. We drew pictures from Squeaky Chalk, we drew pictures of old silk dresses and flags and old street sign and all sorts of things in the museum's galleries, AND we caught ladybugs in the windows and set them free outside. It was a beautiful day.
Write soon!
Love, Joy
...........
February 14, 2004
Dear Reader ,
HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY, my dear hearts!
If your current 2004 calendar is not making you cheerful, try Joy's DAILY RADISH 2004 DAY BOOK!
NOTE, JUST BECAUSE It's february doesn't mean it's too late for a new calendar - for the creative types, a year can begin just about any time, and without advance notice.
If you'd like to order a Joy's DAILY RADISH 2004 DAY BOOK, send your check for $10. postage included. to
Joy Sikorski
PO Box 1771
Hoboken, NJ 07030
Click here to see a few pages from the 2004 calendar.
In other news - a bowtie shop in Sweden wrote to me, so I am linking to him, isn't that global?
And - Piggies are on the march! Karyn and Mark finished theirs. Clik here to view...
Don't forget to order Mardi Gras beads from Big Wheel Novelties, they are plentiful and cheap. Mardi Gras is Feb.24th.
Write soon, my dears!
-------------------
February 6, 2004
Dear Reader !
I corrected the proofs, and Joy's DAILY RADISH 2004 DAY BOOK should be ready by February 12, I would think! I have an ISBN number, isbn 1-57981-054-3.
NOTE, JUST BECAUSE It's february doesn't mean it's too late for a new calendar - for the creative types, a year can begin just about any time, and without advance notice.
In other news - a bowtie shop in Sweden wrote to me, so I am linking to him, isn't that global?
And - Piggies are on the march! Karyn and Mark finished theirs. Clik here to view...
Don't forget to order Mardi Gras beads from Big Wheel Novelties, they are plentiful and cheap. Mardi Gras is Feb.24th.
Write soon, my dears!
Love,
Joy
..............
January 16, 2004
Dear Reader ! ! ! !
I just sent Joy's DAILY RADISH 2004 DAY BOOK to the printer!
I'm sending out the advance Reader's Edition on January 16th to those who ordered one, and then the finished day book will be mailed in 2 weeks - -If you'd like to order a Joy's DAILY RADISH 2004 DAY BOOK, send your check for $10. postage included. to
Joy Sikorski
PO Box 1771
Hoboken, NJ 07030
Click here to see a few pages from the 2004 calendar. Wheeeeee! ! ! ! !
Write soon, dear reader.
-----------------
January 5, 2004
Dear Reader.
UPDATE - Joy's DAILY RADISH 2004
CALENDAR is comin' down the pike! Almost ready.
I'm printing out the reader's edition tomorrow, and sending the final files to
the printer at the end of the week.
I will send out your Reader's Edition to you at the end of this week, too, I hope, and then the finished calendar in 2 weeks - -
NOTE: I located a 1931 recipe for New Leaf Turnover! (as in, "turning over a new leaf" for the new year). It will be in my calendar for you... but since I can't keep a secret, here it is as a preview:
New leaf Turn-over
Take a new leaf (tea, tea-rose, or tea-cabbage, to taste).
Turn it over meditatively in the minds's eye.
Close the eye,
definitely,
Till ?-----
(From "And Now All This" page 8 in
1066 And All That, And Now All This by Wlater Carruthers Sellar and Robert
Julian Yeatman, copyright 1931 and 1932 by E.P. Dutton & Co. Inc, New
York)
Write soon, dear reader.
Love,
Joy
-------------
click here for my letters of 2007. . .
Click heRe foR my letteRs of 2oO3 ...
--------
Click heRe foR my letteRs of 2oO2 ...
(all material is ©2003 by Joy Sikorski)
Cliquez Ici (that's french for click here) to go back to today's letter.