Retro Vision: Old Elementary Text Books

Did you even think that you would revisit old text that you used back in 3^rd and 5^thgrade? I never thought that…But recently I visited 1 of 3 Salvation Army stores in my area and discovered a couple of books from my elementary school days.

Back then it was called language arts. Not even sure why it was called that. It was more like reading comprehension, spelling, and phonics. It was kind of English class before you got to Middle and High school. When I was in school, we used these books. They were filled with stories, poems, and articles about a wide range of topics that went with a corresponding workbook.

 

 

I purchased 2 books from a series called series R: Macmillan Reading circa 1983/86 for 49 cents a piece. It’s a cute little trip down nostalgic lane, which includes a short play that my 3^rd grade reading class performed. I have discovered the FIRST play I was ever in! “The Mixing Stick” adapted by Eleanore Leuser is a story of a poor family that only has onions for their Christmas dinner, but a peddler proves that a ‘magical’ stick can make any food into a delicious meal with a the help of their neighbours.

After flipping through both books  I found a great many wonderful things, so of them I actually reading reading by then. I realized that I was well read in school, with reading material presented in the books. Granted maybe of the topics were written with 8 year olds in mind, but it's no wonder that I love reading, literature, mythology, and learning new stuff. Here are a few examples from the "Secrets and Surprises" book and a one or two from "Full Circle" book.

The Little Green Man - in 2 parts

A child's version of Thor's Hammer

Fun fact and colourful art

An article about Marcel Marceau

The classic story of the ducklings

A colourful story

I also found a few years ago for a 1.00 an Addison Wesley math book circa 1987 that I used when I was in 5^th grade. Man, I wish I could go back and only have to worry what 9 + 4 = _____.  The answer is 13!

Poetry Time: Lady Cardinal

While I was cleaning the kitchen, I found a female cardinal munching on the seed that I had thrown into my yard to feed the feathered folk. There she was amongst the sparrows and chickadee, like a queen. I got inspired. First poem of 2013.

Lady Cardinal

How you rule

With your crown upon your head

Your subjects scatter around you

Chirping loud praise.

Oh, Master Jay!

How your suddenly appearance

Pester the Lady and make her blush.

You make the subjects fuss

And carry on so.

Within the barren cold

You too rule the plebeian sparrows

As you feast

Upon the seed in my yard.

I, who am like a God

To those feathered folk,

Lady Cardinal and Master Jay

Bearing  food in the bleak mid-winter.

With me, my guardians

Who are Cerberus to my Hades

As they watch the Lady and her subjects

On this, the Feast Day.

1/22/2013

1:00 pm

Top 10 Dar Williams songs

This week’s blog is a bit different. Today I will talk a bit about an artist that is not main stream, Dar Williams. Dar is far from a new artist, but I don’t think that many folks know about her body of work. This will not really be a spotlight blog. My spotlight’s are for those folks who are up are coming artists or budding entrepreneurs, the unsigned, the not quite on the map (yet) that I want to highlight and help them get exposure. Dar is a seasoned professional and has quite the fan base already. I just want to show her work off to others who may be interested in added to their collections. It’s more of a reflection a any of the musicians or writers (primarily) that I follow, to listen to, or read.

Dar Williams is a folk singer/songwriter from the Westchester County village of Mt. Kisco, NY. Some of her music was introduced by a friend in college who listened to a number of artists and bands that were just off the major musical radar. One the first tracks of hers that I heard was “The Christians and the Pagans” and the other one was “When I was a Boy.” At the time, about 1998, they were part of a mix tape given to me by the same friend. I listened to that tap a lot in and post college. It was a good tape! I didn’t take the extra time to search out more of Dar’s work and life moved on.

Time passed as it is prone to do, Time’s a busy Lady and there are things to be done and people to see. Sometimes later, 2002 or 2003 while looking through a used CD store in Dallas. At this time I had graduated from college in 2001 and I had moved south in the Spring of 2002. Anyway, I discovered the album “The Honesty Room” in that used CD store. I should note that “The Beauty of the Rain” was due out or had just been released in 2003. So, in the span of 2 ½ years I had acquired 3 albums and a sampler disc (I didn’t pick up the Beauty of the Rain album right away). These were:

1.      The Honesty Room - 1995

2.      The Green World - 2000

3.      Out There Live - 2001

4.      The Beauty of the Rain Sampler (and a free poster which had been signed. I don’t have the poster anymore).

After returning to New York State in October of 2004, I began collecting more of Dar’s music. I call it a return to the innocence (Enigma is for another time). In many ways I wanted to return to the college days when I had much less to worry about. Dar and her music seemed to bring into wanderlust of all thing college. During the years of late 2004 through June of 2006 were a rough time for me. Returning to NY and finding a job was rough and mentally I needed something to help that feeling. I didn’t realize that Dar would fill that niche, yet, so the collect sat. I acquired The Beauty of the Rain and The End of Summer and at that point I started to rediscover Dar.

I took to the Beauty album like it was a drug, and it was there that I realized what it was about Dar’s music that made her appeal to me. Her lyrics spoke of truth and a commonality that so many people can understand and sympathize with. She speaks of things that deep down we all feel and often go through some of the same things, but seldom shared are these feeling, truths, and events with those songs. In her music I was suddenly able to bring to light the feelings and thoughts that maybe I wasn’t alone.

I am going to share my top 10 Dar Williams songs with you and give you a piece of me, which you may understand and/or possibly share in. Dar’s songs range from folk, folk-rock, soft rock, to alternative rock. She is a widely varied artist whom I have come to respect deeply.

1. “What Do You Heard in These Sounds?” from “The End of Summer”

As told from the perspective of both a teenager who is in therapy and the teenager’s therapist. As someone who has been to a therapist both in college and within the last few years, I can say that there is anger and shame that comes with knowing you need to seek help. There is also something akin to relief when you can see the world through fresh eyes because someone listened to you. “…But Oh how I loved everybody else/
When I finally got to talk so much about myself…”

2. “The World’s Not Falling Apart” from “The Beauty of the Rain”

“And the world's not falling apart, the world's not falling apart because of me…” The simplicity of these words speak louder and never have I cried so much to one song because of them. There are mistakes that we make, but the world continues as per normal. Once we see that, the world can only get better.

3. “The Christians and the Pagans” from “Mortal City”

“So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table, /Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able, /And just before the meal was served, hands were held and prayers were said, /Sending hope for peace on earth to all their gods and goddesses” Sometimes when we feel that we can never reach across the huge chasm of personal differences, sometimes all it takes is burning pumpkin pies to connect people. My hope is that this song will inspire others to put aside differences and break their fast with their fellow man/woman kind. I definitely recommend this one. This is a fun little song about a woman and her pagan friend having Christmas dinner with the woman’s Christian aunt, uncle, and cousin.

4. “It’s Alright” from “Promised Land”

“I know change is a bad thing,/Breaks me down into a sorry sad thing…It's a sad and a strange thing./But it's time and I am changing...It’s Alright.” Change is always happening and yes it’s not always good, but you know what, it’s alright, because it’ll get better. It always does… This is a bouncy pop tune that first caught my ear when I got the album, “Promised Land.”

5. “Are You Out There” from “The End of Summer”

“You always play the madmen poets/Vinyl vision grungy bands/You never know who's still awake/You never know who understands and…Calling Olson, Calling Memphis/I am calling, can you hear this?/I was out here listening all the time/And I will write this down/and then I will not be alone again yeah/I was out here listening…” Have you listened to the radio and felt connected to the DJ, just because of his/her voice. All it takes is a few truths to know that you are not alone. In that knowledge, maybe just maybe you can find your way out to the darkness of this world. I love almost all of Dar’s poppy upbeat songs. She seems to have a way that connects you to the music with lively melodies.

6. “When I was a Boy” from “The Honesty Room”

“When I was a boy, I scared the pants off of my mom,/climbed what I could climb upon/And I don't know how I survived, /I guess I knew the tricks that all boys knew. /And you can walk me home, but I was a boy, too.” Gender roles; these are the things that still sometimes keep us from being all that we could be. It would surprise you that sometimes there are allies from the other side that face roles just as painfully and the ones we have to deal with. I swear I definitely cannot make it through this song without crying. She really believes what she is singing about. This is a tender guitar ballad. Simply performed.

7. “Calling the Moon” from “The Green World”

“Calling the moon/'Cause I know what it's worth/To tug at the seas and illumine the earth/Oh, I am calling the moon /Oh, I am calling the moon” As a pagan myself I can understand the pull of the moon, but also, as a person of the modern world, I can understand how we forget about those sacred things, like the moon. Sometimes, though, I am unable to answer, because I have answered a call that is greater. Great Mother Night, oh Moon Goddess, Lady of the Twilight! I hear you calling….

8. “Farewell to the Old Me” from “The Beauty of the Rain”

“So farewell to the old me /Farewell to the old me /My life is working better now /But always changing anyhow /Time and the old me /Farewell to the old me /Farewell…” When you understand that you can change, and change for the better, you will gladly say Farewell!

9. “The Easy Way” form “Promised Land”

“So here's what I took, I kept the wine and laughter,/Until every path just grew up and ever after,/Through the peaks and twisty canyons,/I made many great companions…Yeah, I never took the easy way,/So you can take it a little easy on me now./Cause we know that easy's never easy anyhow.” Think about this, that anything worth having is never easy, right? Well, then that’s what life is about, not taking the easy way. You will still come out better for having done that.

10. “The Babysitter’s Here” from “Honesty Room"

This is a story song, plain and simple. In the realm of Great Big Sea (for another blog) story songs, this is a heart warming and breaking song about a child and her babysitter. There have probably been a great many babysitters of her sort. It’s a simple truth that when the babysitter arrives there are good times are a plenty. But there’s also the knowledge that growing up isn’t always easy, sometimes you have to grow up too. It’s speak well of the child’s perspective and the babysitter’s as well. But even in the sadness you can’t deny the awesome power that is YOUR BABYSITTER (I know some know what this feeling is about)! “Now she's made us some popcorn, we've turned out the lights/And we're watching movies…”

I need to include a track from Dar’s current album, “In the Time of the Gods”, as an honourable mention. I know, I have my ten tracks, but there is something else to say. Upon listening to this album, while writing this blog, I happened on “The Light and The Sea”. I have known many lyricists to create musical poetry. I can certainly count Dar Williams as one of them. Here’s why; this song can read as a poem as well as a song. Also this song can be-upon closer listen and reading-attributed to a character in a series I had been reading. That also doesn’t happen often, at least not one that hit as strong as “The Light and The Sea” did to me. It’s a wistful song, something perfect for relaxing to on a lazy afternoon.

Dar Williams, I can equate to the likes of Carol King or Joan Baez, but she is also a storyteller and a therapist. Her words are healing, and yet also beautifully melodic. I would recommend checking her out: http://www.darwilliams.com/ and http://darwilliams.net/

Dar's Facebook Page

Take a Little Trip with Me: The Sesame Street Library

I tried a stab at vlogging once. It was an interesting experience, not wholly bad and certainly I learned a thing or two. The big lesson I learned was that I love to research and write. On the flip side, I realized that I can’t record a decent blog to save my life. I would much rather organize my thoughts and put them to paper, or in this case, digital text. I give any vlogger/internet reviewer much consideration and praise. They have the patience to make some truly amazing. They know how present content in a video format. 

So a vlogger, I am not, but I am a writer. I love words. I love to present words to others for their entertainment, enlightenment, and enjoyment. I will say that I enjoy reciting poetry, including my own (I recorded a CD of spoken poetry with David’s help back in 2006: Naked Snow). The point is I love to write and collect words. This is why I became a blogger, because I could collect words and write them down for people to enjoy.

Today’s blog takes us down memory lane. Sesame Street was always something of a favourite with me. I couldn't get enough of Grover, Big Bird, or Oscar. Some of you may remember the “Sesame Street Dictionary” it was a dictionary for children 3 to  8ish. It had word and definition like a regualr 'grown-up' dictionary, but it was made for children, to help them learn common words they would run across in everyday life. I did a vlog on it in 2011. Here's the Vlog. This time I will be focusing on another set of Sesame Street books that come out a couple of years prior to the dictionary.

“The Sesame Street Library” I have a rather large set of nostalgic goggles. I’m not sure when these were fitting to my head, but there was a point in my early twenties, possibly just after graduated college that I re-discovered many things from my childhood. These things suddenly became so important to me. I learned of the term “Nostalgia Goggles” possibly from David and the best way I can define the term (outside of a dictionary definition) is that Nostalgia Goggles are when you suddenly see something in the now and realize that something from your past was so much better. Okay, I might need to go to the dictionary for this one. Nostalgia is define as a 'wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time: a nostalgia for his college days' (taken from dictionary.com). Goggles are type of head gear used to protect one’s eyes from dust, debris, water, etc. So, Nostalgia Goggles can be said to be a pair of metaphorical goggles that one puts on to return to a time in ones past when was happier, or at least a time that sparks happy thoughts (it could work for the negative emotions too, but I am not discussing the negative here). Meaning that ones sees more of the longed for happy time and not necessary to present time. Most time it refers to seeing old cartoons, TV shows, or music that will bring people into a type of revelry about what was good and/or bad about said cartoon or TV show.

Off track, ‘The Sesame Street Library” was a 15 book set that was published in 1978 and1979. The first 12 books were published in 1978, while the last three volumes were published in 1979. They all follow the same pattern; each volume features stories that use the Sesame characters, recipes/activities, and pages that feel like Sesame commercials, such as a page featuring Count Von Count counting items.

In many ways each volume felt like an episode of Sesame Street with stories, lessons, and learning (a bit o' alliteration there). I never had these growing up. I don’t even remember why. I had half of the "Big Bird’s Sesame Street Dictionary” which was a re-print of the “Sesame Street Dictionary”. They were sold in our local Tops Markets. It was one of those deals where each week there would be a new volume for 1.99 (I think). So, I am looking at this set of books with the eyes of an adult and some Nostalgia Goggles for the past in regards to all things Sesame Street.

“The Sesame Street Library” is more from David’s perspective. He remembers it was something that he received in the mail, which might explain why I didn’t have them as a kid. I receive a number of this in the mail as a kid, mostly books from Weekly Reader Children’s Book Club or Children’s Choice Book Club. I am 3 years younger than David, so maybe by the time I was old enough the books these weren't sold anymore. Well, anyway, I am going to take you through a volume of the "Sesame Street Library". I may not have read them as a child, but the characters certainly bring back a bit of Nostalgia for me.

The great thing about this series is that while the “Sesame Street Dictionary” featured one artist, Joe Mathieu and text from Linda Hayward. While the “Sesame Street Library” utilizes several writers and illustrators such as Michael K. Frith, Jon Stone, Jerry Juhl, and Carol Spinney to name a few. My adult mind finds this fascinating. I really enjoyed (and still do) the art of Joe Mathieu, but there are some other fun artists who have interesting takes on the Sesame characters.

Volume 1 takes us down the road a bit using the letters A and B and the number 1. This equation is very much in keeping with a Sesame episode that I can’t help but feel at home already. It begins with a story about the letter A and features Big Bird and uses the art of Joe Mathieu. “An A Story” is a cute little tasle about Alligators, Apples, and Arrows; I love the alliteration here and the colourful illustrations that go well with it.  

Right after the story, on the next page is one of the educational adverts (commercials) tucked between two segments, Count Von Count counting with more Joe Mathieu art.

Now we get to the interactive segments, here is a "Cookie Monster's Famous Cookie Dough"; drawn in black and blue (white background of course) by Michael Frith. Frith was a children’s book illustrator and editor first. He worked with the likes of Theodore Geisel, whom he was a close friend of also at Random House before being recruited by Jim Henson in 1975. He actually worked on several Sesame projects (The Sesame Street Storybook and Big Bird's Busy Book to name a few) for Random House prior to joining the Henson team. We went on to help create the show “Fraggle Rock” and after he left Henson Productions he started his own company, “Sirius Thinking Ltd” that developed “Between the Lions.” Anyway, artistically this segment is eye catching and instruction wise it's simple and creative, and it’s signed by Cookie himself. How many kids really believed that Cookie wrote this himself, okay maybe some still do. It’s okay; I would feel the same way.

Up next is a story that features Bert and Ernie and the number 1 “Bert’s Bath” uses the number 1 heavily through. The repetition is a good way to get the concept of what the number 1 is and you have the comedy of Ernie trying ton get everything Bert need for his bath, 1 of that is. The illustrations done by Mel Crawford gives the whole story a real Bert and Ernie feel. You almost feel that what you are reading has happened on TV.

“Ernie Presents: The Letter A”, it’s another educational advert feature Ernie and Cookie. I am not sure who drew this one, but it funny. Classic Cookie moment at the end! Spoilers!

Here is another interactive story, “A Happy-Sad-Happy-Sad-Happy Story”, this time with what looks like Bob reading a story and asking the children listening to the story to hold up Happy and Sad faces (that can be made as a craft) throughout the story using Frith’s art. I can see how this one could be used by teachers or daycare providers. This also uses a black and pink colour scheme.

Another advert using random pictures of Sesame characters dressed up as different professions. Cute, well, yeah, but purpose, not sure. Maybe my grown-up mind doesn’t get it. Featuring random Sesame Muppets, this time one being Herry Monster (a lesser known monster, in the last couple of years), I am not really complaining, I just don’t get it. Harry McNaught is the artist featured here.

Herry Monster advertising Criminal Justice

Moving on to another story, this time “The Princess and the Cookie”, while this is my first time reading these, I can already tell that the stories were the high point of this series. All of the stories used in this series feature one or more of the core Sesame characters in an original story. So far I have seen only original stories used in these story segment (more on this later). It is unclear who wrote the story, Kelly Oechsli illustrated it. Best picture of Cookie ever

Another advert using Big Bird, Little Bird, and Grover with credit going to Charles Rowan, this is another case where I think they wanted to feature the Sesame characters just for the kids and no other purpose other than that.

I should point out that with the recipe segment in this volume is broken into parts. The previous segment was making the cookie dough, now we are making the shaped cookies. Frith comes back to continue Cookies’ baking endevours and the forthcoming adventures of Cookie and his baking in volume 2.

“Bert and the Beanstalk” the story to begin the second half of this volume, also done by Frith, this time the story is basically an adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk with Bert and Ernie, although it’s most Bert’s story. The artist while Frith’s work looks similar to Mathieu’s here. This doesn’t bother me at all. I like both

Advert time: a quick page of shapes and an activity involving drawing pictures with shapes. There is some classic Ernie humour here. It’s a nice touch, feels a bit out of place though, or at least needs a bit more. I realize that space was probably a factor, but in two pages you could show more shapes and have a bigger space to show examples, or space to have an activity. This was drawn by Mel Crawford.

Story: “Oscar’s Worst Day” a quick page vignette about cleaning up featuring Oscar. The first time in this volume Oscar has appeared as has the Human characters. As an Oscar fan, I can really appreciate this entry. The cartoonized versions of David, Maria, Susan, and Mr. Hooper are just fun, drawn by Frith.

Sesame Street humans in Cartoon form.

Now we have a retelling of a classic fairy tale, this time it’s “Princess and the Pea,” shortened to a single page and an illustrated page done by Michael Smollin. This is a nice touch giving kids the classic fairy tales that have been around since forever, as well as the newer stories.

Advert: a two page illustrated joke with Bert and Ernie, which looks to be the work of Frith (after a bit of searching). I always loved jokes as a kids, it’s good to see that someone else does too, even if they are cheesy.

Another craft segment called “Crafts for all Seasons” and illustrated by the multi-talented, Carol Spinney. It is only fitting that Oscar is featured in this segment as he is Oscar and also Big Bird. Carol was not just a puppeteer, but also an illustrator. It’s a great segment, because it ties into each of the season. I would have loved these crafts as a kid; flowers and pin wheels, rock! Who need all that flashy stuff when you have a pinwheel?!?! Drawn with black and yellow on white background, I think the less colours used makes it more striking.

 

And the teaser for the next volume, done with Bert and Ernie, as Big Bird did the teaser for the Sesame Street Dictionary by Frith.

Bert and Ernie Teaser for Volume 2

There was quite a cast list of writers and illustrators in volume 1, and while there was a rotating group that changed each volume, it’s clear that these books were a labour of love for many. You have Michael Frith who worked with and was close friends with Theodor Geisel before joining Henson Associates in 1975 as Art Director. There’s Jon Stone, the head writer and producer of Sesame Street itself, and who wrote “Monster at the End of this Book.” Another one was Jerry Juhl, who was one of the original writers and who wrote the screen adaptation of “Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas.” And Carol Spinney who operated Oscar and Big Bird, he was also an artist/painter, lending his talents to “The Sesame Street Library.” 

 

I think it’s safe to say that, had I had these in my collection back in the day, they would have been well loved, and probably there would have been a million pin wheels in my room.

Spotlight: Cape Cod Cookie

Spotlight: The Cape Cod Cookie!

You’ve seen those shops-the Mom and Pop variety-everything from groceries, crafts, baked goods to auto shops. The little hole in the wall places where everything or virtually everything is homemade. I’m a sucker for homemade baked good. Today there are Wal-Mart's and Target's everywhere, these quaint little establishments are sometimes harder to find. I mean, how often do you to buy cookies at a local business when there’s a Wal-Mart down the street. But they are there, eking out a living in the best way they can.  The internet and Facebook are bringing to light these Mom and Pop shops.

Maybe, because the US is and has been considered the land of opportunity or maybe with the economy not doing so well people are taking a chance and starting their own businesses. The reasons for this shift are many. In some cases many are looking to supplement their household income, or they want to be something they are passionate about, maybe even both. For a number of these business it can go hand in had.

This blog, I am going to spotlight Carrie-Lee Touhey and the Cape Cod Cookie. Carrie-Lee is ½ of the Cape Cod Cookie. It’s an at home baking business specializing in drop style cookies and filled sandwich cookies, with their oatmeal based cookies being their top sellers. What started out as small mail order cookie business has turned into the beginnings of a thriving and delicious endeavor.

How did the Touhey’s come to the cookie conclusion? It started with Carrie-Lee’s family. She grew up with a grandmother that loved to bake and a mother that loved to cook. Home life was centered on food and there were large family meals every night. Her father, of Italian descent, cooked specialty meals, while mom was the nightly dinner chef, and then there was Gram the baker. With a house full of food, family, and love, how could she not find passion in food and baking?

It was in her early 20’s she seriously started creating her own recipes and received her first Kitchen Aid Mixer as a Christmas present. It wasn’t hard to see that baking was in her blood. In the Touhey house, her husband, Matt does the cooking and she usually does the baking. So, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree? Indeed, no!

It was about 5 years ago, (about 2007) the real idea of building and owning their own became a plan. Prior to this, there had always been talk about owning their own business. With the slumping economy, Carrie-Lee and Matt decided that now was a good time as any to start their journey to the Great American (Cookie) dream.

You would think it was easy to start your own business? Not so! After a trip to the board of Health, they discovered they needed to be ‘ServSafe’ certified. ServSafe is company that offers courses in food safety and preparation for those involved ‘owning or supervising food handling staff’. After a lot of studying and taking a big fancy test, Carrie-Lee and Matt were now certified in the ways of food preparation and safety. They have only begun. It was the 1^st step in a long line of steps to getting Cape Cod Cookie off the ground.

But, before they could get the Board of Health to issue a permit, they needed dry storage, proper means to record and keep food at the right temperature, and labeling, and certain types of water sources to name a few. Also, they discovered that after they trekked to the building department, they were told they weren’t commercially zoned. Even though they wouldn’t be selling their products on premise and were primarily a mail order business. Then there was the trip to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) and the presentation they had to give to the panel. The Touhey’s went to get their zoning permit, because the law said that you could not sell good on or from premises.

What followed next resulted in a change to the by laws saying that goods can not be sold on premise, but may be sold from the premises. That meant that cookies baked in the Touhey home could be sold elsewhere, just at their home. They had set precedence. Talk about the power of the people! From there they were inspected by the Board of Health and given their permit. And then the true beginnings of the Cape Cod Cookie begin.

Their first Farmers Market was in winter 2009 at Mahoney’s Garden Center. They sold out in the first day! Oh, the lessons learned! Now they frequent between 5 to 7 summer markets, 3 winter markets and 2 to 3 days festivals throughout the summer. This is a family affair, from Matt, the Chief Baking Officer, to Carrie-Lee the Chief Operating Officer, and their 15 year old son, Cody who helps sell the cookies and does other general cookie duties. During the summer month especially, the days are long Carrie-Lee says. Matt is up most of the night baking, while she is up at 5am to help fill and decorate the day’s orders, Cody is up at 7am to pack cookies and make ready for that day’s market(s) with his Mom. Where they unload, set up, and sell until it’s time to break down and head to the next market. Often this process doesn’t end until 8 o’clock at night. Matt stays home with the 2 younger children while Carrie-Lee and Cody travel market to market to sell their wares. When Friday arrives, there’s set up and two days of cookie selling to be done. Then it starts all over again. It’s a gruel pace during the summer, but one the Carrie-Lee and her family seems to love and is thriving on.

So, why all this work you might ask your self? Carrie-Lee says that she wants the Cape Cod Cookie to be ‘Cape Cod’s only full service specialty cookie bakery located in the Heart of downtown Hyannis,’ after all, that’s where they are located. Here she envisions a place where children can make memories with their parents while on vacation, where folks can relax and enjoy a treat while enjoying some free Wi-Fi at their own store front café, the place to get an amazing after dinner dessert: afresh out of the oven cookie with locally homemade ice-cream.

How do Carrie-Lee and Matt planned to do this? Well, even hear of IndieGoGo? Click here to go to Carrie-Lee and Matt's campaign: Cape Cod Cookie IndieGoGo Campaign. It’s a mean’s of raising money. You create a campaign/project, highlight what you have or want to produce/make, how folks can help by donating, and have perks for those who donate money to your project. As of today, there are 13 days left of the Cape Cod Cookie’s campaign (wow, what a mouthful). Carrie-Lee and Matt are raising funds to open that store front bakery I mentioned earlier. The good news is that IndieGoGo offers options for you to tailor make your own campaign. You can choose Flexible Funding or Fixed. One allows you to keep the money that has been raised, even if your goal hasn’t been met, that is Flexible Funding. While Fixed Funding means that if you don’t meet you goal, the money is refunded back to your patrons. Even with that in mind, Carrie-Lee and Matt have a plan that they will use what funds they do get from IndieGoGo to open a kiosk (a mobile Food Cart) at their local mall. The exposure that would give them during the winter months could possibly turn a rewarding business into a lucrative one, just one more step to that full fledged bakery? You bet!

How do they get the word out? The advertising is mostly done through Facebook and “Constant Contact” which an internet tool that the Cape Cod Cookie uses for email marketing and monthly newsletters that update their fan base.

She also used YouTube a bit as a means of helping to promote the Cape Cod Cookie, after all back in the day Carrie-Lee was an avid vlogger on YouTube. Some of you may have heard of her channel, “AskCarrieLee.” She was quite the youtuber back in the day. Now her days are filled with cookies, cookies, and more cookies. Not that that's a bad thing, to her, it's something she wouldn't trade the world for.

Carrie-Lee and Matt are building something that they can pass onto their kids; a legacy of cookies, love, and the power of what you can do when you put your mind to it. Something to keep in mind when want to do something that it could be possible, if you want it bad enough. And a bit of wisdom from my friend James on what I think is very pertinent to life and living "...Choosing to live is very, very hard. But I'm here to tell you, you are strong enough - if you want to be. You have a greater destiny than this. And it's always there to be chosen." ~ James A. Owen, DRAWING OUT THE DRAGONS. I applaud Carrie-Lee and Matt for taking on the challenge of life, by living. I am doing to same by writing this blog, I want those out there to be inspired, entertained, or informed by my word. I am inspired by the Cape Cod Cookie and what it stands for, great quality products and hard work breeds success.

So, have I tried these cookies? Yes! I suppose you want to know what I think of them. Well. They are truly some of the best, if not the best cookies I have tasted. EVER! They tout that every ingredient that goes into their cookies are fresh and local. From my taste buds, I believe it. The Plymouth Pumpkin Spice cookies are so moist and delectable. My current favourites are Plymouth Pumpkin Spice, Harwich Hot Chocolate, and the Chatham Chocolate Chunk. They make get presents or great excuse to enjoy a wonderfully baked cookie. Check them out at: Cape Cod Cookie or Cape Cod Cookie Facebook.

I hope you check them out, maybe even help their dream along. ~Cue sappy music~ "If just one person believes in you, Deep enough, and strong enough, believes in you...Hard enough, and long enough, It stands to reason, that someone else will think 'If he can do it, I can do it.'" ~from Snoopy: the Musical.