• John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) was born on September 26, 1774.
• He was a nurseryman who started out planting trees in western New York and Pennsylvania.
• During the life of John Chapman, the “West” was places like Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois.
• John Chapman was a deeply religious person He was known to preach during his travels.
• According to legend, Johny Appleseed led a simple life and wanted little. He rarely accepted money and often donated any money he received.
• It is believed that he died on March 11, 1845, from what was referred to as the “winter plague”. The actual date of his death has been disputed.

Just one of the little people bouncing around in my head lately!

Over the weekend, I spent some time filling a new Zazzle Store! I must admit, it was a lot of fun! It’s full of all kinds of neat ideas to put your artwork on. I even did some Keds Shoes, which haven’t hit the shop yet… must be approved by Keds.

I hope you’ll stop by and check it out, and I’d love to hear about your Zazzle shop!

http://www.zazzle.com/robertabaird

Brutus and Phil were used to being the only monsters in the room. After all, the old ” monster under the bed” routine was their expertise. That is, until they met Hildy!

Hildy who’s toys were always broken…. the doll, who’s head was permanently detached, books torn, the pig, who’s stuffing fell about him in clouds. Why even the dog hid behind the potato bin during dinner!   But this….. this was  different…  a Hildy Monster….. never before had a monster been so cute and so scary at the same time!

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”  - The Mad Hatter

When Mario fell asleep, the mice lassoed his paws and held tight as the others sneaked passed him, carrying their treasure into the night!

Over at Stories For Children Magazine, they’re loading their last issue for awhile. This is my illustration for a cute little poem titled “Luck of the Irish.” I hope you’ll stop by and check out the final issue and leave some kind words for the staff who’ve worked so hard to pull it together each month.

Sooo weee …. pig, pig, pig!   It’s National Pig day……. No really it is!

Started by Ellen Stanley, a Texas art teacher who created National Pig Day in 1972.  Her intent was to to recognize and be thankful for pigs as intelligent domestic animals.  There’s no evidence to suggest that this is truly a “National” day, which requires an act of congress. But you can celebrate it anyway!

A few suggestions…

Then once everyone has a costume you could:

Why should preschoolers have all the fun??  Oink, Oink, Oink….

The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.
‘Who are you?’ said the Caterpillar.

What’s a Doodle Diner look like? Head over to our group blog and take a look! This is my entry!

We are the blue eyed girls!