Storm Peace – It’s A Tornado! #4

by | Apr 28, 2011 | Anonymous, It's A Tornado! - 2011, 2013 | 0 comments

Serenity is Not Freedom From the Storm, But Peace Amid the Storm
tornado week

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.

Whatever Remains – It’s A Tornado! #3

by | Apr 27, 2011 | It's A Tornado! - 2011, 2013, Rose Kennedy | 0 comments

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 of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by Rose Kennedy, 1890-1995, Mother of President John F. Kennedy (among others)


One year ago today at the Napkin Dad Daily – Be Yourself, Everyone Else Is Taken

Mother’s Week Recap

by | Apr 23, 2011 | Quote Authors | 0 comments

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.

mother's day

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.

Mother's Day card

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.

Mother's Day #2 card

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.

Mother's Day #4 card

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.

Mother's Day #5 card

Definitely made for your favorite Catholic or Episcopal mom! Available as a cup.

Mother's Day #3 mug

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

The Moment A Child Is Born

by | Apr 18, 2011 | Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Mother's Day - 2011 | 0 comments

It’s going to be a MOTHER of a week!
If you are anticipating Mother’s Day coming up, I would love if you would
 consider buying one of these to give.


I like this quote. Made me think about motherhood in a whole new way.  The whole idea that a mother becomes this new creature, just as her child does when it is born, is a wonderful way to look at it, don’t you think?

Drawing by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily


Quote is by me, a variation on one by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

One year ago today at The Napkin Dad Daily – The Beautifully Coiffed Mother

Sunday in Sunrise – Prologue

by | Apr 17, 2011 | Marty Coleman, Sunday in Sunrise - A short story | 0 comments

SUNDAY IN SUNRISE – A Short Story

Prologue

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapters Ten & Eleven

Epilogue

Prologue

I am not quite sure how I ended up in Sunrise.  I can tell you the steps I took to get to here, but I wouldn’t be able to show you the path.  Sunrise, Oklahoma is a pretty small town, maybe about 2,000 people.  Some were raised here, but most found their way here the same way I did, unexpectedly.

I don’t know all that many people in Sunrise.  There’s the guy I keep running into at the post office.  I don’t know what he does but he’s friendly and wears an orange vest.  He always thinks he knows me from somewhere, but he doesn’t.  I know the person at the counter at the Post Office as well.  I know her because I have to bring mail that was put in my box by mistake back to her. I usually have to do this 3 or 4 times for the same letter before it ceases to appear again.  She seems a bit hassled at times, but I get the sense that it’s because she has this need to do a really good job.

People ask me why the town is named Sunrise.  There are stories that have been told; convoluted stories about colorful bank robbers in the 1910’s, an oil find in the 1920’s and even farther back, a mysterious Indian settlement in the 1890’s.  They all have some explanation for why this spot was named Sunrise.  But as with many great stories, they only point to the obvious, whether they are true or not.  The truth is it’s named Sunrise because of the sunrise.  The most beautiful, exquisite sunrises you have ever, or will ever see, come up each morning in Sunrise, Oklahoma.

Something small happens every day in Sunrise; very small things, very unimportant things.  That is how most people in town view what it is they do each day. Some, the oldest and youngest adults, can, on occasion, feel a bit of regret at not having gone away to do big things, but they don’t obsess about it.  If they were the type to obsess, they didn’t stay in Sunrise much longer than their 18th birthday.  Those that stayed were happy with their lives, the smallness giving them comfort and security.


© 2011 Marty Coleman
Sunrise while a death occurs

When A Man Is Wrapped In Himself

by | Apr 15, 2011 | John Ruskin | 0 comments

EGO AND THE UNIVERSE
 
I blew it today. I forgot the word ‘up’ in the quote.  I was going to start over, but then I read it a few times and thought it is perhaps even more apropos without the ‘up’ since it applies to more people.  I don’t see myself as obsessed with self and I bet you don’t see yourself that way either.  But nonetheless I often find myself unaware or unconcerned about things outside myself.  It makes me small when I am unaware and unconcerned, whether it’s about the neighboring field or the neighboring galaxy.  It also makes me ineffective.
 
As I was finding this quote about our egos and our place in the universe this morning I happened upon a time-lapse photography video that illustrated the same thing.  Thanks to Leesa Parker for posting it on Facebook.
 
 

 

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by John Ruskin, 1819-1900,  English art critic

One year ago today at the Napkin Dad Daily – The Wrong Way Is Endless

Clothes Make The Man (or woman)

by | Apr 13, 2011 | Mark Twain | 0 comments

clothes make the man
Clothes make the man or woman shirt
Clothes make the man T-shirt by The Napkin Dad
(says ‘or WOMAN’ on the back)
CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN (OR WOMAN)

Mark Twain wrote this long before photos of naked people were the main traffic on the internet.  But even now, a bit of clothes influences more than no clothes.  

Men or women, do you think your clothes have influenced the direction or success of your life, or the society around you over the years?

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by Mark Twain, 1835-1910, American author and humorist
One year ago today at the Napkin Dad Daily – Ideas do not mature, only our courage to think them does.

Banquet of Consequences

by | Apr 12, 2011 | Robert Louis Stevenson | 0 comments

Banquet of Consequences shirt
Banquet of Consequences T-shirt by The Napkin Dad (says Karma on the back)

BANQUET OF CONSEQUENCES


You can call it Karma, you can call it the Golden Rule, you can even call it late for dinner, but it will be on your plate eventually.  


We usually think of consequences as something negative that happens. And there is truth in that. As mentioned yesterday, a bad and mean-spirited attitude towards life not only makes the present miserable for yourself and others, but you are also more likely to die earlier, much earlier, than someone with a positive attitude.


But it’s also true that there are good consequences.  Feeling and acting on the virtues of love, kindness, mercy, compassion, fortitude, perseverance, sympathy, discipline, giving, and more return good consequences.


I am not saying life is fair and if you are ‘nice’, only nice things will happen to you. That is not true. But if you are ‘nice’ then no matter WHAT happens to you, you always get to be with a nice person.  You always get to have that love, kindness and caring inside yourself.  That’s a pretty good consequence to your behavior if you ask me.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily


Quote by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850-1894, Scottish author

One year ago today at The Napkin Dad Daily – The World Becomes How You Look At It

Life is the Art of Drawing Without an Eraser

by | Apr 11, 2011 | John W. Gardner | 0 comments
I heard a report about aging today in which they discussed a survey and follow up that was done on people in their 50s.  Here is just a bit of that report by Dr. Mark Lachs, a gerontologist:
My colleague Becca Levy, a professor of epidemiology and psychology at the Yale School of Public Health, has studied the longevity of people in their 50s as a function of their perceptions about aging.

She asked if they agreed with statements like, “Things keep getting worse as I get older,” and, “As you get older you are less useful.” Even after she controlled for their medical conditions, subjects who agreed with ideas like these died on average 7 1/2 years sooner than their glass-half-full counterparts.

The rest of the report had one overarching conclusion. The people who lived the longest AND were the happiest, were those who were able to bounce back from stress. It’s what they called ‘adaptive competence’.

  • Are you able to recover and move on from stress or does it stay with you? 
  • Do you hold onto slights, hurts, betrayals, setbacks, mistakes and never let them go?  
  • Do you fret all the time about ‘what if’?    
  • Are you still pissed off that you don’t have an eraser?
  • Is it serving you well to be that way?



You can listen to or read the entire NPR report on adaptive competence here.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily


Quote by John W. Gardner, 1912 – 2002, Secretary of  the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Founder of Common Cause,  recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

One year ago today at the Napkin Dad Daily – The Upper Class Woman with the Bra Strap Showing ( I draw in church).