7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #500 (!):
Featuring Carin Bramsen (Again)
September 11th, 2016 by jules
Look at that number up there. FIVE HUNDRED WEEKS of kickin’, you all! Hard to believe, isn’t it?
I think that it’s fitting that we are celebrating kicking on a day that is a sad anniversary for so many people (9/11), because the whole idea of kicking is trying your damnedest to find the light in something, even if it’s been a hard week. There are some weeks it’s even hard for me to find seven whole kicks, but I usually manage it. It’s a good little exercise, huh?
So, thank you all for kickin’ with me for so long — for meeting here every Sunday to take the time to reflect (as I type every week) on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. (Thanks to Eisha, who founded the blog with me, for that wording.) I’m re-posting this image from Carin Bramsen. As I note on this page of my site, where I explain what 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks are, kicks kind of make you feel like the children in that image do, even if you’re not wearing a tutu on your head.
Illustration from The Yellow Tutu. Copyright 2009 by Kirsten Bramsen. Illustration © 2009 by Carin Bramsen. Published by Random House, New York, NY. Illustration here used with permission of illustrator.
1) I went to Boston this week. I love to travel.
2) I visited the Horn Book offices.
3) I got to see some co-workers, whom I only see once a year.
4) An old demo of R.E.M.’s “Radio Song” on this episode of All Songs Considered.
5) I put a copy of Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth on hold, and I think I even get to pick it up this week.
6) Hammers, nails, and art.
7) Birthday cake.
What are YOUR kicks this week?
Happy 10 years of blogging and 500 weeks of kicking!! Even though I haven’t left kicks recently, I still look forward to stopping by here every Sunday as I have for the past 9 years. It is always good to look for the light and express gratitude no matter what.
My kicks for old times sake:
1. 7-Imp! Can’t imagine the kidlitosphere without it!
2. Fab new Fall picture books.
3. Baking my first Victoria Sponge for Roald Dahl’s birthday this week.
4. Interviewing Elisa Kleven for her new picture book, The Horribly Hungry Gingerbread Boy: A San Francisco Story.
5. Seeing Fuzzy the Fox every night for supper (and having him come when we call).
6. Celebrating our 38th wedding anniversary recently.
7. Beatrix Potter love. Recently purchasing a copy of Leslie Linder’s A History of the Writings of Beatrix Potter, a definitive work that includes all her unpublished writings.
Happy Sunday and Have a Good Week, kickers!
Callooh! Callay! Fifty weeks! That’s a milestone to celebrate and the illustration is perfection.
Jules, the quote from Belgium Canto on the explanation page for reminds me I need to read that book. And I need to put Commonwealth on hold.
Jama, so fabulous to see you here..when I see a fox, it reminds me of you. Happy anniversary.
My Kicks:
1. Five hundred weeks of kicks. In a wacky and crazy world, so good to have a place to share the goodness.
2. Organizing and purging my closet.
3. Dinner with daughter and oldest grandgirl.
4. Students.
5. Reading.
6. Remembering.
7. Cool mornings…fall is whisperomg.
Have a great week.
Happy 500 weeks of kicks, Imps!
Thank you to Jules (and Eisha!) for creating and maintaining this wonderful blog full of books, art, interviews and interaction with creative people – and full of positive thoughts. 🙂
Jules: Happy birthday cake. 😉
Jama: Happy anniversary!
Jone: Now I’m singing Whispering from Spring Awakening…
My kicks from the last week:
1) Opportunities
2) Instinct
3) Confirmed
4) Friendship
5) Conversations
6) Creativity
7) Truth
Wowee! 500 weeks of kicking!This is amazing Jules. And I love the artwork of Carin you shared today. It’s perfect.
Jules: I’m so happy you traveled to Boston, visited the Horn Book people and arrived back home safe and sound.
Jama: I am so glad you have a wild companion who visits you every day, Fuzzy the Fox.
Jone: Where would we be without students?
Little Willow: Friendship, true friendship, is a rare and wonderful kick.
My kicks:
1. Seeing stars through high windows at night
2. Cooler temperatures at night and during the day
3. Planting bulbs
4. Setting perennails in the ground to bloom next year; forever hopefully
5. Wonderful new kidlit releases
6. Book shops
7. Dreaming of a new puppy; thinking of names
Have a glorious week people!
Hello, Kickers —
Happy 500th week of kickin’, y’all! I have no kicks of my own to offer this week, except these seven (copied-and-pasted from my FB post just now):
1. Just in terms of blogging alone, that 7-Imp has gone along as strongly as it has, for over 10 years — well, that makes it practically a freak of longevity. It’s HARD to keep going that long, as strongly as 7-Imp has — especially with 2-3 substantial posts a week!
2. 7-Imp has survived all kinds of upheavals in that time, too many even to summarize here — public, personal, technological — but never seems to break stride.
3. 7-Imp’s “7 Questions Before Breakfast” series and other interviews with authors and illustrators (currently 542 of those posts alone!) is an astoundingly generous trove of words and pictures
4. The blog celebrates new and upcoming illustrators on the first Sunday of every month, and many of these subjects have gone on to have LATER 7-Imp features about them, when their careers have bloomed.
5. 7-Imp’s active readership has both endured and shifted: many old-timers there from the start are STILL chiming in, especially on Sundays, and newcomers show up (and linger) constantly. (And yet it’s never grown to an unwieldy size, either — it’s not one of those mega-sites with hundreds of strangers jabbering past one another.)
6. It’s a haven of stability, civility, and good humor.
7. NO ADVERTISING, and NO SUBSCRIPTION FEES. Jules (and early on, the blog’s co-founder Eisha) has done the whole thing, well, just because she wants to.
Thank you so much, Jules and Eisha! (And a big thank-you also to all you Kickers, regulars and drive-bys alike!
P.S. Jules didn’t provide a link to the very first “7 Kicks” Sunday, so here it is. I was thrilled to see how many names I recognized among the commenters from back then (although, sadly, I myself didn’t even know about 7-Imp for another year).
WOO-HOO!!! Hooray for 500 weeks of looking for the good and spreading that light in the world (blogosphere)!
I dug into the archives and the earliest I could find of my kicking it was in April of 2008, although I lurked for at least a year (if not longer) before joining in the fun. Thank you Jules (and Eisha!) for creating such a space of friendship, camaraderie and the celebration of life’s little nuggets of golden goodness.
Jules – yum to cake, travel, little-seen co-workers, and hammers, nails and art.
Jama – congrats on the wedding anniversary and so envious you have a wild neighbor that comes when called. Very very cool.
Jone =these cooler mornings – summer is over. Yay to dinner with daughter and grandgirl and reading and remembering.
LW – hooray for all your kicks this week, but especially: opportunities, truth, friendship and creativity.
Margie – stars through high windows and dreams of puppies – not sure there is much better than that.
My kicks this week:
1) Hooray for 500 weeks of kicks! So grateful to have stumbled onto your site 9ish years ago & sharing in all the moments of joy big & small that have been shared in kicks.
2) When looking through the archives I found 1 of mine that was about my much-loved but long gone (6 years now!) pup Cheyenne’s roast-napping. Made me laugh all over again.
3) Working yesterday, which caused me to be in a perfect spot by the Willamette River to catch a spectacular sunset with Daisy & get some photos too.
4) Being able to bring Daisy with me for some of my work. Having a dog around just makes life more fun.
5) Speaking of dogs, last night watched the Sons of Anarchy episode where Tig rescues a wounded pit bull (& lots of other twists happen). Parts were hard to watch (always for that show) but having read about a lot of the actors & knowing how many are involved in animal rescue I figured that part would end well, at least. (Jules – the twist with Jax & Tig David Pope! Oh my – I was hoping for a double-cross but was worried for a minute.)
6) Finished The Gallery by Laura Marx Fitzgerald. I really liked it, but also wanted more. I hope she keeps spinning tales of other times in history.
7) Being more consistent with yoga practice again – at least 2-3 times a week – & being reminded that it leaks into all other aspects of my life, in a very good way.
7.5) Good friend in town for the weekend so we had a chance to grab lunch, catch up, & hang out with Daisy for a bit.
8ish) On this day of remembrance, seeing all the messages of hope & love in the world. So moving & so uplifting.
Have a wonderful kick-filled week imps!
Long time reader, recent communicator, first time poster. In honor of reaching 500, I’ll throw in my kicks:
1) ending a week-long stressful visit from my parents on a good note
2) my wife taking a sick day following that visit just to hang out and
3) completing a 5k trail run on that day
4) the smell of Copal (tree resin from Mexico)
5)Thursday evening’s #kidlitart Twitter chat that left me invigorated and inspired
6) seeing my son dancing on a dumpster waving at passing cars while his good friend kept score on who waved back
7) taking time to clean my attic studio last night and feeling that anticipation of creating something this week
Congratulations on the milestone, Jules! I kept a ukulele site for five years and an advice line for two—even combined that’s a poor showing against your ten years and 3500 kicks. Hats off to 7-Imp!
Happy Birthday, 7 Kicks, and huge congratulations, Jules!!! I’m so honored to have my picture associated with this beautiful weekly tradition. Some of my kicks from this busy week:
1. Being part of this birthday on the wondrous 7 Imp site – a trove to go back to again and again.
2. Finding just the right Klimt-related birthday gifts for my talented 14-year-old (!) niece.
3. Taking my sweetie out for his birthday (so many September b-days!)
4. Making a homemade Dodgers-themed card for said birthday of rabid fan
5. Night conversation and bubbly in some Brooklyn friends’ backyard
6. Using impasto digital brushes to kick up my illustrations (and frankly change my life)
7. Margie, since reading about your high-window stars gave me a happy shiver, I’ll include that as one of my kicks. 🙂
Mrs. B! Those are some good kicks — good books, good food, a good anniversary. Thanks for the 7-Imp love. You know I feel the same about your blog.
Jone, I’m glad SOMEone is having cool mornings. It’s still so hot here, buuuuut …. I can feel the change in the air.
Little Willow: Kickin’ wouldn’t be the same without you. I mean, no pressure if you ever want to stop, but Mama Jules would miss you.
Margie, your last kick makes me happier than I can say.
Oh, man. Thanks again, John. You know I love your fabulous comments.
Rachel: Happy to have known you for 9ish years. Now we just gotta meet in PERSON one day. … Do you know that, because of our move, we had to give up on THE GALLERY? This really bums me out. I was eager to know what was up with the lady of the house. RIGHT before we finished, things got kind of gangster’y, which was a twist I didn’t expect. We’ll have to check it out again.
Jerrold! Hi! I love your sixth kick somethin’ fierce.
Hi Carin! Thanks again for the use of the art, and I’m glad you came here to see it, since I’m slow in emailing you the link. Margie’s kick IS pretty great, huh? You had a pretty good week too.
Thanks, all!
Oh, and John: How wild to see that first post!
CONGRATULATIONS!
So wonderful that 500 weeks later you still have the energy and heart and caring and joy for art and blogging to do this! Thank you, thank you!
I haven’t stopped by to post some kicks in a while – been a crazy year or 2, but I read often and appreciate everyone’s great lives and contributions to making the world a better place one person, one kind act, one art at a time.
And Jules: Boston! Horn Book Offices! Fabulous!
My kicks:
1. successfully opened our new Middle School’s library, as simple as it is (we are a small charter co-located on an elementary school campus).
2. kids LOVED it!
3. thought of a new way to channel my son’s penchant for “experiments” involving lots of maple syrup, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, soap, salt, baking soda: make him buy his own supplies. He is reconsidering how he wants to spend his money.
4. spent $4100 from a grant for our new Middle School Library (THAT was fun!) on books at our beloved local independent bookstore.
5. got a fabulous donation of 150 + STEM related books (beautiful books) for our elementary school library from the university nearby that supports our school.
6. spent the weekend processing books and covering hard covers’ dust jackets with dj protectors
7. lovely potluck tonight with families in our neighborhood. So kind, and great salmon!!!!
Happy week to all and thanks again to you all.
Ooh, Allison. Congrats on the library! That’s quite an achievement. Also, spending $4100 on books would be thrilling. … Your third kick is cracking me up.
Popping in for a quick, Congratulations.
Thanks for keeping it 500, Jules
Thanks, Moira!