by Marty Coleman | May 5, 2011 | Albert Einstein |
Have you ever been stuck in a rut? As I get older I feel more susceptible to that feeling I think. Sometimes even going to bed every night seems like a rut. That’s silly of course, we all have to sleep and we have to do it every night (unless you are a college student). I don’t think it has much to do with thinking about the next day in my case. I think it just has to do with it being the same exact process every day, evening after evening.
Honestly, that is why I stayed up to watch the Royal Wedding instead of going to sleep, then waking up. I was home alone (my wife was on a business trip) and it just seemed like a way to break up that monotony of bedtime a little bit.
What about you? How do you keep yourself balanced? Does it take breaking up a routine once in a while or do you find your balance in the comfort of that repetition?
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
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by Marty Coleman | May 3, 2011 | Anonymous |
It didn’t take long after news came that Osama Bin Laden was dead for conspiracy theories to come out. They were pretty much what you would expect. It was faked. The military had the body all along and just waited until Obama wanted some political mileage out of it. He wasn’t really buried at sea but is alive and being held in a secret location. Many are continuations and mutations of the 9/11 conspiracy theories.
More absurd theories I have never heard and I have heard conspiracy theories all my life. I even believed one for a while. The JFK assassination conspiracy was one I felt had some truth to it. That is until I read a number of books, both pro and anti-conspiracy books. I came away after my reading convinced there was no conspiracy.
What I have learned is that when your theory contains more than about 3 people, it’s VERY unlikely it will be kept secret. There are too many reporters, citizens, and alleged participants who will want to expose the plot and make a buck off it or use it politically to think it will be kept quiet. It won’t.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman with help from Elvis and Marilyn (who are alive, married and living in Costa Rica)
Quote by Anonymous
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by Marty Coleman | May 2, 2011 | Quote Authors |
Today I draw a symbol. It’s not a symbol of hate or revenge or politics. For me, it’s a symbol of justice and peace. I am not drawing what was done to those buildings and the people in them. I am drawing what our best response can be to what happened to those buildings and the people in them.
In 2001, Two days after 9/11, I drew the following drawing for my daughters and put it in their lunches.
It’s about freedom. Freedom comes when you have justice and peace. If you aren’t allowed to have those things, either from within your country or from without, you are allowed, indeed it is demanded of you, if you want freedom, that you fight to regain those things.
Seek justice and seek peace. That is where you will find freedom for you, yours and your country, wherever it may be on the earth.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
The first half of the quote, having to do with justice, is by Francis Bacon. I added the part about peace.
The quote on the older napkin is by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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by Marty Coleman | May 1, 2011 | Marty Coleman, Sunday in Sunrise - A short story |
Chapter 2
I rode from the Village Mart to Selma’s Quilt Shop. I was riding a bike, not driving as I usually would. The bike is an old, I mean really old, derailleur type. I found it at a garage sale in the neighborhood I sometimes walk in. The lady selling it told me she couldn’t ride it anymore because a spider living under the seat bit her. She said it was a nasty spider and the bite had left a nasty scar on her derriere. Her husband had found a bunch of spider eggs underneath the seat confirming that that was the spider family abode. She said she was afraid to ride it now but it was a good bike. While I felt sorry for her derriere I was happy to get the bike for cheap.
I go to Selma’s because her store doubles as an art store. I get pencils, markers, watercolors and paper there. Selma is funny and sassy. She wears very thick glasses and very low tops. Imagine a cross between a librarian and a burlesque dancer and you have Selma. She is another who ended up in Sunrise with no idea how she got here. Nobody else has figured out how she got here either.
I needed to check if my little advertisement on her cork board needed replacing. It was one of those simple ones offering art lessons where you take the little tab at the bottom with the person’s name and number on it. I would get a call once in a while but usually not from people in my town but from the larger town a few miles away. The ad in that town I had to replace more often. The ad at Selma’s only had about 3 tabs ripped off, just one more than had been ripped off last time I came by a month ago.
I was also needing some new watercolors and she usually has a set sitting off in a corner waiting just for me to come in every couple months. Today, however, the set wasn’t there. It was instead in the hands of a young girl waiting at the counter. She was perhaps 10 years old, maybe 11. All I could see was her shoulder length red hair, flopping down to pretty much obscure her face. The skin on her shoulders was a mottled mix of brown, red, white and tan, as if she had recently peeled from a sunburn. I got behind her and waited for Selma to return from helping a customer find American flag fabric.
I said to the little girl, “You know, you stole my watercolors”. She turned around with big eyes set in a round freckled face and said “Really? but I really need these today.” I said “Sorry, they are reserved exclusively for me and no one else is allowed to buy them.” The girl looked a bit scared but right then Selma returned and said “Do NOT pay any attention to that man! He thinks he’s the only artist in town but now there is another one and he’ll just have to get used to it!” The girl caught on quick, realized the fun going on and said “That’s right, he will just have to get here before me next time!” I responded “Oh, next time I will be here at sunrise, you can bet on it!” She smiled and paid for the paints. As she skipped towards the door I said “Don’t use too much water with those watercolors”. I wasn’t sure if she heard me as the door closed and she went out of sight.
Selma looked at me sternly and spoke, “You scared the daylights out of her”. “She was ok, I was just about to let her off the hook and tell her I was joking when you came up.” I said. “Yea, well you better be nice to her, Melissa hasn’t had an easy life.” Selma responded. But she didn’t say any more.
I rode my bike back home. As I passed the house of the barking dogs I heard Selma say her name, Melissa. Maybe she is the Melissa of the beautiful sunrise envelope I thought as I speeded up.
© 2011 Marty Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | Apr 29, 2011 | It's A Tornado! - 2011, 2013, Marty Coleman |
In honor of the Royal Wedding of William and Kate, which I stayed up all night to watch (yes I did) I present you with the one hat you should have seen, but didn’t because Posh changed her mind at the last minute, dag nabbit. Another chance of fame and untold wealth down the drain. Oh well.
Drawing, exquisite design and pithy commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Millinery Consortium, LTD.
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by Marty Coleman | Apr 28, 2011 | Anonymous, It's A Tornado! - 2011, 2013 |
Serenity is Not Freedom From the Storm, But Peace Amid the Storm
I helped raised 4 daughters. There was plenty of drama over the years, but what I loved seeing as they grew is their increased ability to hold on with some degree of peace and serenity when their personal or communal storms were raging all around. They weren’t, and aren’t, always successful, any more than I am, but the maturity to have that peace hold longer and stronger is always growing in them, and I am very proud of that.
The ability to find some peace amid a storm is not just beneficial to you, but to everyone around you.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Anonymous
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by Marty Coleman | Apr 27, 2011 | It's A Tornado! - 2011, 2013, Rose Kennedy |
GREAT NEWS! As some of you may know, I do artwork outside of the napkins. I have focused on photo-collage work for many years and I found out yesterday that an exhibition proposal I submitted 6 months ago has been accepted. The show will open in Tulsa in January of 2012. I am very excited about it! I will keep you posted about the details as the time approaches. If you want to know what the theme is, read this napkin and commentary, it tells it all.
We look at ancient ruins and we think they have value. Toppled over, chipped, missing big chunks and yet we see their beauty. Oil paintings covered with years of grime and soot, cracked and drying and yet we see them as beautiful. Old furniture on Antique Road Show, better not have refinished it since the original condition, all scratched up and dirty, is much more valuable.
What about what remains of you after a storm? Are you chipped, scarred, damaged, missing pieces? You are MORE valuable and MORE relatable in that condition than in a pristine one. You have become real after that storms.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Rose Kennedy, 1890-1995, Mother of President John F. Kennedy (among others)
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by Marty Coleman | Apr 23, 2011 | Quote Authors |
I had a lot of fun drawing these ‘Mother’s Day’ cards this week. I also spent a good deal of time customizing the cards so they are funny, thoughtful and speak just the right thing to a Mother.
If you like the Napkins and The Napkin Dad Daily, now would be the perfect time to show it by making a purchase of one or more of these for a mother you know.
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Perfect for a new mother on Mother’s Day (or any day!)
Available as a card and a cup. Here is the front of the card.
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Got a busy mom? Get her this for Mother’s Day.
Available as a card and a cup. Here is the front of the card.
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The perfect sentiment from a daughter to a mom. You know who she is. Available as card and a cup. Here is the front of the card.
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Hey Fathers, you have to get something for your wife on Mother’s Day too you know! Available as a card and cup. Here is the front of the card.
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Definitely made for your favorite Catholic or Episcopal mom! Available as a cup.
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Thanks everyone, I hope you enjoy the new drawings and merchandise. I would love to have suggestions and ideas for more ways to bring the napkins into people’s world in a positive way.
Marty
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