The Magical Journey Continues

THE JOURNEY to Penelope Puddle and her umbrella-wand begins here, here and on Kindle. The updated physical book is now available with hands-on features to facilitate fun and curiosity about Penelope's world and vivid imagination:

Where does Penelope live and under what weather conditions
What seasonal and/or geographical changes are illustrated in the story
What causes Penelope to imagine her umbrella has special qualities
In what ways is the umbrella more like a friend to Penelope
When does the umbrella function as it would in reality
How does the umbrella function purely as fantasy
The umbrella sometimes is a substitute for what objects
What drawings show the umbrella opened … closed … inside out
How would you use your umbrella, IF it were magical

Learn about the author HERE and link to WITH MY UMBRELLA, I CAN: THE MAGICAL JOURNEY OF PENELOPE PUDDLE. Visit UNDER MY UMBRELLA & BEYOND: LOVE THE PLANET PRODUCTIONS for the latest photo-journal. 

Wishes For Bridges Each Step Of Your Way

Love is the bridge between you and everything. Rumi

It was hot that day with a cooling breeze as we walked adjacent to the busy car traffic.

Crossing over the Granville Street Bridge in Vancouver, my daughter and I had a bird's eye view (pictured left) of the Granville Island Public Market and the bright canary yellow restaurant there.

What better name for the restaurant than Bridges?

There are three bridge crossings in close proximity over False Creek, connecting downtown Vancouver to outlying areas. Across the way, we spied the Burrard Street Bridge built in the 1930's. Its Art Deco influence was visible from afar. Cambie Street Bridge (not pictured) also spans this inlet at the heart of the city.

A bridge can be any transitional device ... a thread, a complex web of communication from one to another or a simple log placed fortuitously over a tricky situation as my daughter's painting of Penelope (below) shows. 

There are imaginary, real and unchallenged obstacles as we press forward in life so I'll quote Penelope Puddle who would say without hesitation to all who cross from here to there: "Wishes for bridges each step of your way."

View more West Coast scenes at my latest photographic journal UNDER MY UMBRELLA and visit POSTCARDS FROM PENELOPE PUDDLE.

Postscript: This post was originally published in May of 2018

Penelope's "Wishes For Bridges" painting updated, July, 2025

There's Lots To Chew On About Apples

SWEET or bitter, its forebearer playing a prominent role in a biblical story about creation, the unblemished and apparently carefully selected rosy red apple somehow fell to the ground unbitten.

I was taught “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” and although I’m not sure that's true, there's much to chew on about this famous fruit as I get to its core in an earlier post HERE.

It's no wonder that Apple is the clever name of choice for a multinational corporation specializing in electronics such as the iPhone that could be resting in your hand right now. Nor is it surprising that a well-polished apple was once the gift students gave their teachers to show appreciation.

Because healthy soil is needed to transform seeds into deliciously edible fruit and since the environment is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.

For more West Coast reflections or to leave a comment, see my photographic journal and latest scribbler at UNDER MY UMBRELLA.