Father's Day is this Sunday, June 20th. The animation above started out as a watercolor painting. I scanned my painting, cut out the fish, and added the animation. I also have it as a printed card.

I like to carry books at Yellow Dot Shop, both for grown-ups and kids. Carrying a book store back and forth is not the first thing one would think of as the thing to do! However, I get a great response from people, especially the kids. I have my favorite books that I read when I was young. Lately I bring just a select number of books to the Market, maybe on a theme like fiction, or poetry. Right now, my books are good for Summertime reading. I have Hemingway and Annie Dillard, Walden Pond and Lake Wobegone. Once my Scottish migration book project is finished and printed, it will be for sale along with the other books.

A big hit at my booth lately has been my new "Cicada Survivor Summer" t-shirt. It is designed by graphic designer Brian Marquis. It comes in a nice pale yellow. Brian hand colored the cicada eyeballs in red - every single eyeball! These are going fast but I still have most sizes.

I got a pin making gizmo, so I could make "Vaccinated" pins. These have been popular, and I even got an order to make candidate pins for our recent election.

Scottish Migration Book Project

Mary's Story

My story about a Scottish migrant who settled in Alexandria, Virginia is coming along. I have added the story of William Gregory's sister, Mary.

In Kilmarnock, Scotland the Gregory family partnered with the Thomsons in the carpet weaving factory, Gregory, Thomson and Co. After William left for America in 1807, his sister Mary married one of the Thomson sons, Robert. In America in the early 1800's there was a need for carpet weaving know-how. America's rugs and quality fabrics had to be imported from Europe. A source for the hand operated looms and people with the skills would come from Gregory, Thomson and Co. in Kilmarnock. A group of 20 men moved from Kilmarnock to Enfield, Connecticut to help set up the new weaving factory. It turned out, the men had to first build the factory, help build the dam that would power it, and build housing for the workers! Those first years in freezing cold Enfield were tough. The second group of migrants to arrive were Mary, her husband Robert Thomson, their young daughters, and more skilled weavers. My book tells the story of what happened when the Thomsons arrived in Enfield.