Josh's Drawings

Josh is no Don Marco or Paul Smith but I thought these drawings he painted at the age of 8 are pretty cool.



Village scene - The square boxes on the right are paddy fields.

Outer Space

Malaysia

Mom's favourite meal

Malaysian Batik

Future Buildings

The Incredibles

The Land Before Time

Chinese New Year


Aliens

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Paul Smith

Can you believe that these pictures were created using a typewriter?


Self Portrait











Paul Smith, the man with the extraordinary talent was born in Philadelphia on September 21, 1921 with a condition which impeded his speech & mobility
"When typing, Paul used his left hand to steady his right one. Since he couldn't press two keys at the same time, he almost always locked the shift key down and made his pictures using the symbols at the top of the number keys. In other words, his pictures were based on these characters ... @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ .
Across seven decades, Paul created hundreds of pictures. He often gave the originals away. Sometimes, but not always, he kept or received a copy for his own records.
As his mastery of the typewriter grew, he developed techniques to create shadings, colors, and textures that made his work resemble pencil or charcoal drawings."
This great man left behind a collection of his amazing artwork that will be an inspiration for many.

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Don Marco

Don Marco..... The Master Crayola Artist


Don Marco was born in Northern Minnesota in the late 1920's.His interest in art was evident even before starting school. As a young adult in the Army Air Corps, he began his life's career in Air Traffic Control, which continued until his retirement from Honolulu International Airport in 1973. Much of his spare time was spent as a professional artist.

Before retirement, Don started developing a technique to create fine art, using Crayola Crayons. Shortly after retiring, he published his first print. Living in Southern California, his work was in demand, including commissions from Burt Reynolds and a one-man show at his Dinner Theater in Florida

Burt Reynolds

Tom Selleck

Seascape

River Elk

Quigley

James Arness

Catch of the day

Chief Red Wing

Christ

Clint Eastwood

John Wayne

Eagle


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russian cakes

These jaw-dropping and eye-popping cakes are from a Russian Bakery called Zhanna in St. Petersburg. Zhanna Zubova is a talented Russian artist.

Enjoy!

The Birds and the bees

My then 9 year old son, Rodney, had just learned about the birds and the bees from a science book I bought him. "Cool! Sex is like plugging an ipod to the USB", he reasoned.
Phew! That went well! No awkward questions to answer!

When Rodney left the room, my DH winked," USB, eh? Wanna plug and play?"

In memory of Hermie

Some of you may have noticed my new avatar. It's the picture of our beloved hermit crab, Hermie, who died last Wednesday. He was 10 months old. We inherited Hermie from my sister when she migrated to Canada. I knew his time had come, when I saw the strange look in his eyes. His limbs were stiff and frozen-like. He fell out of his shell as soon as I picked him up. I'm glad I was there for him when he died. We're saddened by his death and want him remembered in a special way.

I miss Hermie, especially his cute little 'pop-out' beady eyes , the wiggly feelers and playful pinches.

The empty shells - a sad reminder of Hermie I can still feel his presence especially in the quiet of the day when the boys are at school and hubby at work. I can almost hear him scuttling about in his aquarium as he clinked the empty shells around him. It was a trick he employed solely for me that meant 'come play with me' in crab language. It's hard to imagine that a critter so tiny, has its place in life and capable of giving so much joy.

  RIP Hermie

Honest scrap

Thanks, Elisabeth for the award. If you don't already know Elisabeth, visit her blog at http://www.latenoonviews.com. She writes awesome posts.

The rules for this award are as follows...

1. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
2. Show the 7 winners' names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap". Well, there is no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
3. List at least ten honest things about yourself.

Here are some facts you dont' know about me.

 1. I can't drive! I don't even have a driving license. I had an accident when I was twelve.I was knocked down by a bus when I was riding a bicycle and ever since that incident, I have a phobia for crossing busy roads. The other reason why I don't try is my poor sense of direction. I get disorientated easily. My cousin says it's something to do with being 'spatially-challenged'. Looks like I'm challenged in almost everything.

 2. I don't eat anything that's 2-legged. There are many theories by my parents,aunts and older siblings to this strange gastronomic adversion to fowl. This is my mom's theory - When I was four years old, we used to rear a turkey in our backyard. It was a huge one and I loved it to death. I even rode on it and when I found out that it ended on the dinner table, I went loco. I vowed I would never eat another bird in my life. I have vague memories of seeing my grandmother slaughtering a chicken which could also be the cause .

 3. I bribe my boys everyday to pull the grey strands of hair from my head.

 4. I was a computer programmer. Go ahead and laugh your heads off. But it's true. I hold a diploma in computer studies. It was way back in the early 80's and I was single and focused. The internet was unheard of then( not in Malaysia,anyway). Somehow, 16 years of being a SAHM to 2 ever-squabbling boys numbed my brains.

 5. I was a partner-in-crime in a bomb hoax. We were teenagers when my cousin was visiting from the U.S. My sisters and I wanted to skip school to spend the day with her but our parents didn't allow it. Then, we came out with this plan - We went to school as normal and later in the morning, my cousin called up the school to report about a bomb that was planted in the school grounds. There was total chaos. It was like a scene out of CSI. The hoax forced an emergency evacuation . An ambulance and several patrol cars were on the scene and the news hit the headlines of local newspapers the following day. When our youngest sister squealed on us, our parents punished us big time.

 6. I once had my hair permed to look like Farrah Fawcett's famous hairstyle but it was a major fiasco. My straight-as-poker hair was hard, thick and unyielding and I ended up looking like one of the Jackson 5 brothers. Think Chinese Michael Jackson with slant eyes! I cried for days.

 7. I take pleasure in crying over sad movies. My late cousin(the one who planned the bomb hoax) said I'm a mental mesochist. I still cry over the movie, "Dragon Heart" even after watching it for the hundreth time - the part where Drago sacrifices himself.

 8. I'm a dabbler. I used to cross-stitch, knit, paint ceramics, take singing lessons, stencil and dabbled in a list of other things. However, all of my interests were short-lived. Hubby wonders how long my blogging obsession will last. 

 9. I used to be an avid reader. You guessed it. John Steinbeck was one of my favourites, hence my blog title but I had to use ramen instead of men because the domain name was already taken. I don't have a preference for any particular genre but as a teenager, I was really big on Phyllis A. Whitney. She was the 'Queen of the American Gothics'.

 10. I have a knack for slogan-writing and have won 40+ prizes in slogan-writing competitions. My list includes a chevy, RM15,000 cash, hampers, electronic products, cosmetics, cinema passes, free magazine subscriptions ......... etc, etc. The list is kinda long. Do I sound conceited? Well at least, there is something I'm not challenged at.

 Here's my chance to blow my own trumpet! 

Me modelling the car I won

Me, holding the mock key at the prize-presentation ceremony 

  Here are the bloggy buddies I'm giving the award to :- 

 1. Kristi @ http://crazyintx-kristi.blogspot.com

 2. Julie Chats @ http://whimzeesgirlsonline.blogspot.com/

 3. LaTonya Yvette @ http://chedemisboutique.com/blog

 4. TheXMom @ http://thexmom.blogspot.com 

 5. Sarah @ http://justaddcharm.blogspot.com

 6. Nikki @ http://atplanetmotherhood.blogspot.com 

 7. Lady Christi e @ http://ladychristie.blogspot.com