Trip to Delmar, NY and Williamstown Massachusetts

Flat Juliette arrived in Delmar, NY just in the nick of time to celebrate Christmas with the Metcalf family.  Juliette has had a relaxing week. Today, 12/29/11, Juliette went on a drive to the Clark Museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts. This particular museum, nestled in the beautiful Berkshires, featured art work from Rembrandt and Degas. What a great day!

Flat Juliette visits Pennsylvania and New York City

Oh the adventures we have had with Miss Flat Juliette… She arrived at our home on Friday December 18, just in time to welcome Becca home from college for the Christmas break. On Saturday she made the trip to Baltimore to pick Kate up at the airport.

Kate was arriving home from college in Colorado. Flat Juliette was a bit confused because she thought she was going to get to take a trip but she was thrilled to meet Kate.

The next few days we kept her busy helping the girls decorate their Christmas Trees and wrapping presents.

She thought this was great fun! Flat Juliette also helped us make our special Molasses Sugar Cookies. She really enjoyed this activity because she learned a few of the secrets that make these cookies so yummy… (Singing Christmas songs, dancing around, silly jokes, lots of laughter and lots of love!)

On Tuesday Flat Juliette got to join the family on a two day adventure to New York City. The day started with a train ride from our home in Pennsylvania into the city. 

When we arrived we checked into our hotel in Times Square and then set out to explore the sites. Some of the highlights… the Christmas windows at Macy’s Department store, shopping with Becca & Kate (she likes doing girly things), seeing the Empire State Building, the Christmas windows at Lord & Taylor, riding the subway, seeing Times Square and all the lights, the Christmas Tree and skating rink at Rockefeller Center, yummy food and best of all The Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.  Whew! Everyone had a wonderful time and enjoyed sharing our Christmas adventure with Flat Juliette.

The next few days we were busy visiting with friends and getting ready for our family Christmas celebration. Flat Juliette enjoyed helping us cook, decorate, and celebrate. We think her favorite was eating all the goodies and yummy stuff but know she also loved helping decorate the table with all the pretty flowers.

Flat Juliette is now ready to continue her adventures… Where will she land next?  

Alaska!

Ms. Juliette arrived up in the Great North in the midst of one of our greatest storms this winter. She stood through the 100+ mile per hour winds for over 12 hours - then her adventures of shoveling her way out to explore the Chugach National Forest started!

She went out on a snowshoe adventure up and down the South Fork of the Eagle River. Traversing the solid ice over the river, back and forth she went for miles until dusk (3:30 pm):

The following day another great windstorm kept Ms. Juliette indoors ... so what did she do? Ms. Juliette helped around the house - baking and decorating gingerbread, chocolate shortbread, and orange-vanilla sugar Christmas cookies:

On Sunday we had a lull in the wind gusts and snow, so she went outside, helped hang Christmas lights on the house and shoveled the driveway so that she could depart the next day! Off on her way to visit the warm islands of Hawai'i.

We enjoyed Ms. Juliette's stay with us up here in Alaska!

Oklahoma!

On Thursday, Dec. 8th , I arrived in Durant, Oklahoma. It was 50-60 degrees, warm compared to Wyoming. On the first day that I arrived, I went to see Southeastern Oklahoma State University - the campus of one thousand magnolias. I had never seen a magnolia tree before! Afterwards, I got to see the world's biggest peanut. It was an exciting and fun-filled day. The next day, I went to help serve dinner for Families Feeding Families. It was nice to help families who needed a warm meal (and I loved the biscuits and gravy). Next, I'm off to Alaska. Don't worry, I packed my warm clothes!

Flat Juliette has Thanksgiving in the mountains of Colorado!

Flat Juliette (or F. J.) seemed really bored when she first arrived at our house.  Our home is a house of boys and there isn't a ton of things for a girl to do here.  I was busy writing a book and visiting schools to tell students stories and work with them on their writing.  She sat on my desk wanting some adventure.  She did like playing with my iPhone and listening to the music coming from my computer, particularly when I listened to Pandora radio tuned into Christmas music (she danced every time a Santa themed song came on).  Several times I found her taking photographs on my phone (see below for her collage of images).

Soon it was time to give work a break and be with family for the Thanksgiving holiday.  A trip out the airport to pick up one of my sons, coming in from Laguna Beach and we were ready to enjoy family time.  The next morning F. J. strapped into her car seat with Tootsie AKA Batman, our Italian Greyhound, and headed over the river and through the woods to our mountain cabin for a hectic Thanksgiving with my extended family which consisted of many, many people bunking on every surface of the place.  She complained a little about Tootsie's breath and chose not to spend much more time with her on her little jaunt to the mountains (she did enjoy riding on the other dogs who came for the holiday). She seemed to enjoy playing the guitar and even tried her hand at the keyboard with my nephew, it was amazing to see how fast she picked up Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. 

There were many meals enjoyed over four days of festivity and fun. She seems particularly drawn to pickles, pastry and oyster stuffing.  As a matter of fact for several days after Thanksgiving she wasn't exactly "flat Juliette", but has now returned to her girlish figure after attending some rigorous trips to the gym with me.  She is pretty good on the Stairmaster, but couldn't bench very much weight.  I hope the next people she visits will work on her muscle strength.

She particularly enjoyed playing Frisbee Golf on our mountain course, consisting of many great views of valleys, peaks and examined the scat of numerous wild animals like a scientist.  She didn't particularly like it when we found the skeleton of a deer that some mountain cats had left, but overall seems to be an outdoor sort.  She liked reading her book in our treehouse and even tried her hand on our shooting course.  My nephews commented that she was kind of a girly-girl and only rolled her eyes at their video games.  

One early morning, while I was pecking away at my keyboard, trying to find the magical ending for my newest picture book, which I am gearing more toward my female audience, she offered some advice.  Also, while thinking about a few character names, she offered up several... hmmm... as I thought over her choices, rolling the names around in my head...  Chocie, Katie, Claire, Morgan, Cora, Becca S., Alyssa, Jocelyn, Emily Ann, Patty... I wondered if any of those names might show up in my new creation...
 
She did enjoy going searching for our annual Christmas trees and helped strap them on top of the old SUV.  
 
F. J. REALLY likes to play hide-n-seek!  When it was time for dinner, we couldn't find her, but soon learned she likes to go where Santa is.  She was hiding in our bathroom on the counter next to the Santa night light and just as we started to "trim the tree" she climbed up the boughs and found her place next to one of the many Santa ornaments in our collection.  

At one point F. J. climbed up the bookshelves in my office and found some of the books I have written.  After some reviews, advice and editorial commentary, she of course told me her favorite was Oliver Kringle, which I wrote about Santa's brother.   She really likes Santa A LOT!

She went to church with us and got to hear about the REAL reasons for the season and it seems she likes Jesus as much or actually even more than Santa.  

I finally had to take my iPhone away from F. J. because she was snapping shots of everything!  Here are a few of her pictures.  She liked my No Shave November look had to snap a picture of me at my desk along with sunrise, sunset and frosty pics.

Well, we are sorry to see F. J. go. I'm posting this blog on my Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Works-of-Justin-Matott/213624096290?ref=ts
to see who would like to take her on her next adventure. 

If there are no takers, I will send her on her way to see some of our very best friends in Texas, where she will be in the house of two teenage girls... Oh Lordy, talk about drama! 

Come join my blog and keep up with the further adventures of an imagination in progress  http://justinmatott-snickers.blogspot.com/

I hope F. J. has many great adventures and look forward to seeing where she will go.  
Thanks for reading, 
Justin Matott 

Cody, Wyomining - Nov. 12th - 15th

I arrived in Cody on Saturday at the home of Lynn.  The weather turned wintery so we hung out at home but on Monday I went to work with Lynn. She works at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in the Buffalo Bill Museum.  I went to a staff meeting with her in the auditorium and learned all about a traveling exhibit that the BBHC had put together that is on display right now at Cheekwood, a museum and botanical gardens in Nashville, Tenn. It will be there until early March, just about the time I'm due to return to Arvada.  The Power Point showed pictures of the grounds - still looking all green - the exhibit areas, the truck that took the cases to Cheekwood, and some of the actual objects.   Lynn took my picture in front of "The Plainsman" a sculpture of Buffalo Bill that stands in front of the BBHC.

That night I went to the Irma Hotel for dinner with Lynn and some of her co-workers.  The Irma was built in 1902 by William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody and named after his youngest daughter. It has great roast beef and steaks - so I'm told!  Lynn took my picture sitting on the cherrywood bar which Buffalo Bill brought back from France. 

I had a great time in Cody!!  Lynn sent me to Wheatland, Wyoming on Wednesday.

Big Wonderful Wyoming, October 31-November 10

I arrived in Wyoming on Halloween and have been visiting different locations here in the Southeastern part of the state.  Unlike Texas, it has been cold and snowy here.  First I visited the University of Wyoming Library with my friend Tami Hert.  She is head of the Emmett D. Chisum Special Collections there.  They have this huge collection of published materials all about Wyoming!  She even showed me an article about the Girl Scout National Center West which used to be in Wyoming.  On Thursday, November 3d, there was an art invitational held in the library and I got to see several paintings by local Laramie artists.  There is one by Travis Ivey hanging in the special collections reading room.  On Saturday, November 5th, I went to Casper, Wyoming with her where I got to attend the Executive Committee meeting of the Wyoming State Historical Society.  They met at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center and my picture was taken with those attending the meeting as well as in front of one of the inscriptions.  This Center teaches us all about the Oregon Trail!  I got to see a handcart like those used by many of the Mormon travelers along the trail and learned about the Pony Express.  I was hoping to go on to Casper with another friend but the weather was questionable so I returned to Laramie with Tami.  We had our own adventure driving the last few miles back to Laramie in what was almost a blizzard.  On Monday I attended a lecture hosted by the Geology Department.  The speaker was from the USGS, United States Geological Survey, and he talked about the different chemicals found in the waters of Yellowstone National Park.  Then Tami took me to the Geology Museum where I got to see dinosaur skeletons!  On Tuesday there were history presentations by 3 history graduate students.  I am learning so much!  Then, last night on the way back to Tami's house there was a grass fire very close to her house.  She got a little panicky because at first it looked like it was her house but it wasn't.  Today she is going to send me off to Cody, Wyoming.  I have seen a lot of the area but Tami tells me there are other sites she would show me if the weather were warmer.

Flat Juliette Arrives in Texas! October 26th-27th

Wow! After a bumpy ride I have arrived in Frisco, Texas at the home of Sheila Herrmann.  Sheila was awaiting my arrival and scooped me up out of the mail box as soon as I arrived and slid me out of my travel pouch so that I might enjoy the beautiful fresh air and wonderful sunshine.  She told me to enjoy it while it lasted because tomorrow's weather would be entirely different.  Once I had time to unpack Miss Sheila had a few errands to run and we left with me perched in the front seat of her big truck.  She pointed out all the wonderful athletic venues both for professionals and amateurs available here in Frisco.  They have some of the best venues for youth athletics in the nation such as gymnastics, soccer, baseball, basketball, and ice hockey plus a 100,000 square foot bike racing track that is part of the United States Olympic Training Center!  Once our errands were done Miss Sheila took me home to introduce me to some of  her "very dear" family members.   Miss Sheila explained we needed to be talk very quiet and not make any fast movements so as not to frighten the family.  You see her "special" family members were cats!   Not just any cats - but rescue cats. Miss Sheila expained that these kitties had been tossed out like garbage and abandoned. Some had even gone to jail (the animal shelter).  The kitties had done nothing wrong - they were just at the mercy of people who were not responsible about taking care of them.   I wasn't sure what this meant at first, as they were all so beautiful and certainly not garbage.  Miss Sheila explained that people need to understand that these kitties and other shelter pets or any other pets are forever.  They need forever homes with people to care and shelter them for the rest of their life.  Unfortunately too many of the shelter pets don't get a forever family but she doesn't know why.  There certainly are enough people out there.  Maybe they have been forgotten.  I told Miss Sheila on my travels I wll do my best to remind people of all the "forever homes"  which are still needed so that every pet can have a good home.
     The next day was as Miss Sheila warned.  The sky was dark and cloudy and rain fell most of the day.  It was quite a bit colder by almost 40 degrees as well.  Miss Sheila is also a letter carrier in Lewisville TX so we had to get up at 5 a.m. to go to work.  We arrived at the post office at 7:15 a.m. and there were so many people who greeted me.  Some spoke English while others said hello in Spanish, Korean, and Vietnamese!  Such an interesting mix of people.  I watched Miss Sheila work in the office as she sorted and arranged her mail for the day and then we went and loaded up our truck.  I got to sit right up front and as we left the Post Office Miss Sheila said, "Hold On Juliette".  What a rockin' and rollin' ride that mail truck was!  We had over 800 homes to deliver today but Miss Sheila not only knew the way but she knew all of her customers as well and introduced me to so many of them. 
     When we got back that night to the post office Miss Sheila said I had done a great job but looked very tired so she was sending me off to my next destination.  I was going to travel to Laramie WY next with possible side trips to Philadelphia, PA and Cody, WY if I arrived in time.   Miss Sheila dressed me in my warmest pj's, gave me a big hug and reminded me to please "don't forget the shelter pets" Juliette!  I promised to spread her special words in my travels and help search for "forever homes".  Then she tucked me safely into my sleeping berth so I could be on my way.  I can't wait to see where I wake up next!

Flat Juliette Goes to School and the Denver Center For the Performing Arts

I arrived at children's author Cheryl Carpinello's house in Littleton Colorado on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. Little did I know what adventures were in store for me.

I had to get up at 6:30 on Thursday. While I dressed in my best outfit, author Cheryl let her daughter's two dogs out in the backyard. They are also staying here. Author Cheryl has a pretty full house! Next we got in the car and drove to Alameda High School where author Cheryl is teaching English. Boy, are those high schoolers ever big! I had to be careful not to get stepped on in the halls.

Author Cheryl's first class came and sat down. They were 11th graders. Some of them were even close to my size. In order to sit at one of the desks, I had to sit on 2 dictionaries! Author Cheryl and the kids are reading the book Forbidden City by William Bell. She is having them write a journal about the book. Wow! That sounds like a lot of work.

When that class finished, author Cheryl and I went out and got in the car again. What a short day at school!

We didn't go back home like I thought we would. Instead we went to downtown Denver and a gigantic place called the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Outside on the lawn were these two huge stick figures as large as the buildings! They were dancing. I found a picture of them after we got home.

We met her Humanities students down there and went to see a play! It was called American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose. The kids laughed a lot during the play, and sometimes I did also. Author Cheryl said that I might be a little young for this play, but that the experience would be good for me. It was different from any other adventure I have had.

We got to go back home once the play was over. Author Cheryl and I played in the backyard with the 2 dogs and her 3-year-old grandson Cameron. Author Cheryl would throw the frisbee and Cameron, the dogs, and I would run after it. Many times we would fall down in the grass and leaves and laugh as the dogs tried to lick our faces! Ugh!

Author Cheryl then took Cameron and me to the football game. Her husband's team was playing her school's team! We had to cheer for both sides. I just followed Cameron and clapped when he clapped. Cameron and I also danced when the band played. We had to go home before the game was over, but not before author Cheryl bought us each a hotdog for supper.

After a good night's sleep, author Cheryl says it's time for me to go and meet her sister Sheila in Texas. I've never been to Texas, but author Cheryl says that it is warmer there than in Colorado during the fall. I can't wait to get there and see what adventures Sheila will take me on.

Did I mention that author Cheryl wrote Guinevere: On the Eve of Legend? She gave my Girl Scout troop a writing workshop and that is how we met her. Thank you, Author Cheryl for letting me visit with you and for taking me to all those wonderful places.

Flat Juliette meets Alton Brown!

Our Flat Juliette project is off to a great start! The packets are ready and have been sent off to many fun places. Tonight Flat Juliette had a great opportunity as Alton Brown was in town at the Tattered Cover and he took time to sign my travel journal and even take a photo! Thank  you AB! By the way, AB is very kind to families at the book singings... thank you!

Welcome! We are very excited to see where our Flat Juliette will travel!