mary e. pearson

The Bronze Fonz.  Which is perfect.

Don't ask.

Just go here and enjoy the magic. The spirit of The Miles Between is at every turn.

It seems like it was "destiny" for the road trip to zip up to lisaalbert's neck of the woods.

Thank you, Lisa, for an amazing journey.

The last several days have been crazy busy (aren't they always?) but I've been meaning to get this picture up ever since my sister sent it to me. As some of you know, I have peacocks in my neighborhood, so pictures and sightings of them always catch my interest.

But none of them in my neighborhood strut around like this guy (yes, it is a guy--the injustice of nature) and I almost didn't think this was a photo when I saw it--it looked like a drawing:


I am not much of a photographer. For me it is point and shoot and hope I don't cut someone's head off, so photos like this blow me away. Just so you can see, here is another shot where you can tell more that it is a photo. She used a "high contrast" (?) filter which is why the color stands out so brilliantly.



Pretty cool, huh?  I think NBC needs to go back to their "living color" logo (does that date me? Yep.)

In other news, my publisher created a page at Facebook  for The Adoration of Jenna Fox (with the new cover!) so come on over and "friend" me and Jenna if you are Facebook inclined.

Oh!  And very soon I will have fun news to share for THE MILES BETWEEN.  Stay tuned.

I mentioned yesterday that we saw some "interesting" art while we were at Versailles.  Let me say first, I have an art background, both fine and commercial, and I do have an appreciation for unusual work. One of my only criteria is that one piece of art shouldn't ruin the enjoyment of another piece of art.

Years ago we had quite a controversial art piece placed right here in Carlsbad.  An artist was commissioned to create some art for placement overlooking our beach.  It was a commission gone awry that took years to undo.  Unfortunately, the artist created a series of tall bars that looked rather like a prison and they extended for quite some distance.  There was nothing wrong with the art itself, and many people did admire it--but the placement of the art was disastrous.  It was the prime sunset watching place in Carlsbad, and now everyone was forced to watch the once beautiful sunsets--art in their own right--through a series of tall bars.  It didn't go over well to put it mildly, and was eventually removed.

So now, fast forward to my vacation.  I have brought my kids half way around the world to see Versailles.  The day before we went I heard that there were French protesters at Versailles who were not happy about an art show at the palace.  I didn't think a lot about it until we arrived:


Yes, that is a giant pink balloon dog in the middle of the Grand Apartments.  I actually could have found it interesting and amusing, but it overwhelmed and dominated the whole room.  And lets face it, most of us can't hop on over to Versailles every day, and THAT is what I went to see.  You could not take a picture of anything in this room without the pink pup taking over.  Oh well, there were other rooms, paintings and sculptures to see at Versailles so we moved on . . . 

Only to find that this "art show" continued on. Yes, it seems we flew thousands of miles to see . . .



Michael Jackson and his chimp, Bubbles.  Yes.  Really.  I didn't photoshop him in. Somewhere behind him is a sculpture of Louis XV, but that piece of artwork we couldn't see.  It was completely obliterated by the golden MJ. Okay, I am trying not to pull my hair out.  Really.  And the parallels of the kings and excess are not lost on me.  But I didn't really need those parallels.  And neither did my kids.  I wanted them to see Versailles!  Again, this scupture completey dominated this historic room and its art.

Onward.  It couldn't get worse could it?



What a stupid question.  Unless you are a big fan of giant plastic lobsters. 

And so it went for the rest of our tour of Versailles.  The sad thing is, I probably would have enjoyed or at least found this art show amusing, if only it hadn't interfered with the art I came to see.

Any opinions?  I know art has many purposes, including stirring up emotions and controversy, but should it ever be at the expense of other art?  I don't know.  Perhaps if my time at Versailles hadn't been so limited and precious I might have had a different opinion, but as it was, I left disappointed.  In truth, I have seen the art and rooms at Versailles before, but I had wanted my kids to see it too.  Instead they saw giant balloon animals and Bubbles.

ya gotta keep laughing.



It being tax time I found it amusing that this sculpture is outside a CPA firm.

More unusual sculptures here

Also, I updated my website, finally. I added some review snips on The Adoration of Jenna Fox page, and also some links to the latest like the book trailer and also a link to the Discussion Guide (which turned out very cool--written by a bio ethics professor)

I also added a page of faves and unfaves (now who likes potato bugs, would you tell me?) and a few favorite pics.

Thanks for all the comments on my cover. I'm really happy with it. Glad to hear you like it too.

A friend noted the tattered wings of the butterfly and that it was missing a chunk of one wing. I hadn't even noticed at first. I guess I was so happy with the final product that I didn't pay attention to the smaller details. But that missing chunk makes it even more perfect.

And gypsyrobin, being the butterfly expert that she is, noted that it was a monarch butterfly and a female one too. She also said that the ones with tattered wings have usually traveled many miles and survived predators, cars, and other unfortunate events. Very interesting.

I finally have the cover of The Adoration of Jenna Fox. I love it. I hope you do too. It will be out April 08.

I was cleaning the bulletin board over my desk this morning. It accumulates an amazing amount of clutter so fast. And I needed to make room for more clutter. But there are a few things that are never taken down. One of those “things” is a card I was given by a man I didn’t really know. I briefly met him on the streets of San Diego–one of the not so nice streets. My daughter was in an art show and since preemerging artists don’t exactly get the prime locations for their art, the show she was participating in was in a less sparkly part of town in an old building. The art inside was amazing, but there was an art show of sorts on the outside too–a homeless man and his friends on the sidewalk, who waved me over to see his art. He reeked of alcohol, but he did indeed have his tools of the trade ready to go: paper, markers, and some water to smear them. We chatted for a few minutes while he made my card, and I praised his artistry. He drew three blue flowers in a vase. And then he asked me about what I did. I told him I was a writer, so he wrote this inside:

Words are just words
The trick is to take them
out of the book (Websters)
and put them in the
Right Order.
Then They Make Sense!
Maybe.

Ha! This man must have been a writer too!

I gave him some money for his artwork, hoping (perhaps naively) that it would go for food, but I think more importantly, the praise of his work nourished him almost as much.

Today is National Day of Prayer, and being the praying type, my prayer is that struggling, obscure artists everywhere, whether they work in the medium of words, paint, clay, music, dance, or the hundreds of other creative endeavors that nourish our souls–that these artists will meet with a kind word, praise, or encouragement today.

I shudder to think of a world without art.

Now to go see if I can put those words in the right order . . .