be AUDacious: Friday Freebie: Handpainted Alphabet Add-On

Happy Friday everyone! Today's the day I get to pick Cami up from her first summer camp; she went to a conservation camp sponsored by the Fish & Wildlife Department about 45 minutes from here. She's spent the week in classes like swimming, archery, canoeing, outdoor survival, firearm and hunter safety, nature, and more! She's been looking forward to it so much, so I really hope she had a great time. I know we've missed her around here, so it will be nice to have her back home.

I finished Summer Morning, Summer Evening by Ray Bradbury last night, and when I was done, I just had to sigh at the beauty of his writing. He's one of my favorite authors, and his passing took a light from this world, I truly believe. This short story collection is actually all the leftover bits and pieces that got cut from Dandelion Wine and Farewell Summer years ago. (I really wish I had known about the signed limited editions that Subterranean Press offered when it first came out). It's the perfect little book to read during the summer months, and I particularly was drawn to this little passage. It's called "The People With Seven Arms," and it's a conversation between Grandfather and Douglas:

"It came late," said Grandfather. "For Tom. It started early for you and it's still going on. Discovering things, looking at things, smelling, sniffing, tasting things. Hearing things. It should never stop. It stops for most people, but they shouldn't let it. Don't let it. Keep it up all your life. I do. I do keep it up every day. Like with the lawn, and the dandelion wine. See, hear, feel, touch, smell, know, and you love. Put out your hands. God gave you seven. Your two regular ones, plus nose, mouth, eyes, ears, skin.

"When you stop knowing you stop loving and when you stop loving you're not living, and when you're not living, Douglas boy, you might as well be dead."

I had to stop and read that two or three times. For me, that passage says so much about how we should experience the world, and how I think Bradbury experienced it right up until he passed out of it.

To finish off this Friday post, I've got a freebie for you. This set of numbers and signs coordinates with my Handpainted Alphabet, which is available in the shop. There's also a set of Handpainted Adjectives, and you can purchase the two of them separately or as a bundle -- if you don't already have them, of course.

(click on the image below to be taken to the download link)