My new Svaha dresses have far exceeded my expectations. They fit great, are comfortable, the deep pockets keep my phone secure, and the prints are so much fun. I needed a change in my wardrobe and I'm so glad that I went out on a limb and tried a Svaha. I'm glad I did. I feel comfortable and confident in my dresses.
Monarch Butterflies print by Svaha
Admittedly, I was skeptical of the reviews of these dresses all over social media. Claims about the Svaha dresses being so soft, durable, comfortable, and fun. I'm tired of so many clothing materials becoming more thin over the years.
Information from Svaha. The very summarized version of the Svaha beginning is that in 2015, Jaya's daughter was obsessed with astronauts. There were no space themed clothing available for little girls. Through 2 separate kickstarters, Jaya began creating clothing for children that broke through the gender stereotypes (e.g. Science Technology Engineering Mathematics themes for girls).
Specs:
100% organic cotton (preshrunk)
Care: Machine washable. Machine was cold (turned inside out). Tumble dry low or lay flat.
Styles: Twirls, maxi, sleeveless, Vneck, Aline, long tunic, long midi, skater dress and more
Prints: Constellations, Nebula, Library, Dogs, Cats, Neurotransmitters, Genetics, Birds, Bugs, Flowers, Pollinators, Math equations, Carnivorous plants, Sea bed, Sea Creatures, and so many more.
Solid Colors: If the prints are too busy, but you love the styles, there are solid colors available.
Comfort: soft cotton, tagless, and no fasteners or zippers.
In addition to women's dresses there are Jackets, loungewear, shirts, and accessories available.
For me, the Svaha dresses with STEM-related prints made into dresses for women is such fun. My first thought is that these dresses are amazing for teachers. The dresses are appropriate (length, coverage, etc) for school staff. They are comfortable for all-day wear. The pockets are so helpful in work settings. I frequently wear my dresses for work, errands, puttering around the yard and lounging around the house.
The advertising includes a claim that these dresses have durability; that people reporting they have worn their dresses over years. And this longevity offsets the higher price. I cannot speak to that claim as my dresses are still fairly new. However, my dresses have not yet shown any wear, tear, or misshaping. And yes, the Svaha dresses are priced at higher than bargain basement prices, but completely in the same range as other name-brand dresses. As bigger, bargain box store cotton dresses become more sheer and poorly made, I am happy to pay the price for quality. And how much fun being able to go bird watching in a North American Bird print!
North American Bird print by Svaha
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
Eleven years ago, in June 2015, I found myself navigating a grief that felt impossibly heavy. It had been two years since I lost my father, and the silence he left behind was deafening. Like so many others walking the path of bereavement, I was haunted by a singular, persistent question: "Is he okay?"
That ache became the foundation of "A Father's Day in Heaven."
Back then, I did not just want to write a memorial; I needed to create a bridge. I sat down and wrote from his perspective, desperate to hear, in my own heart, the words: "I'm okay, Barb. I'm okay." Those lines were never meant to be a performance. They were my own personal lifeline, a reminder that while death changes our relationship, it does not sever the tether of love.
From a Memorial to a Musical Story
Throughout the last decade, I have seen that same question: "Is my parent okay"? echoed by so many who share in this loss. It is a universal longing for reassurance.
Because of this, I decided it was time to breathe new life into those original 2015 words. On June 13, 2026, I revisited the piece, expanding it into a full-fledged song and lyric video.
While the soul of the lyrics remains rooted in the comfort I sought years ago, I composed an entirely new second verse to deepen the narrative.
The Message: He Is Still With You
Ultimately, this song is a message of profound peace. Through these lyrics, the father figure speaks to his daughter not from a place of absence but from a place of continued presence.
He reminds her, and anyone listening, that they are never truly alone. His greatest hope, reflected in the lyrics, is that we continue to embrace our lives with joy, even in the shadow of loss.
Whether you are missing your own dad this Father's Day or grieving another cherished soul, my hope is that these lyrics offer you a moment of solace.
May these words remind you that love remains, steady and unbroken.
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Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
Dr. Seuss was one of the best children’s authors of all time, right up there with A.A. Milne (Winnie-The-Pooh) and Beatrix Potter (Peter Rabbit). Seuss wrote over 60 children’s books and is as equally well known for his final one ( Oh, the Places You'll Go! published in 1990, the year before he died) as he was for his first (The Cat in the Hat).
And then….. He wrote one for what he called ‘obsolete children’.
Synopsis of You’re Only Old Once: A Book for Obsolete Children
As Theodor (Ted) Geisal entered his 80s, he began treatment for oral cancer and age-related problems. He soon became tired of a social life that seemingly consisted entirely of doctor’s visits, long waits at the hospital and time spent navigating the entire medical complex! Out of this came the idea for a humorous take on aging and healthcare—something almost everyone of a certain age deals with these days.
During his waiting times at doctor’s offices, Theodor Seuss Geisel began sketching out a silly character to poke fun at this ‘medical madness’. Then he used his sharp wit and delightfully colorful imagination to describe an elderly patient who is poked, prodded and ogled during his stay at the “Golden Years Clinic on Century Square for Spleen Readjustment and Muffler Repair.”
The story is told in the Dr. Seuss style of whimsical, nonsensical poetry with a combination of a "galloping" rhythm (the anapestic tetrameter) and deeper life lessons.
Summary
You’re Only Old Once! was published on Ted Geisal’s 82nd birthday ~ March 2, 1986 ~ and subsequently became a bestseller.
Written during the time he was dealing with his own health issues, Seuss wanted to give a light-hearted look at the necessity of medical checkups and the indignities of aging. Comical and relatable to us Senior Citizens, aging Baby Boomers, and anyone having to deal with medical issues ~ always a stressful subject.
The book is a treat for readers of all ages and makes the perfect gift for retirement, birthdays, graduations, holidays, and anyone needing a little pick-me-up after a doctor’s visit!
The book ends on an upbeat note:
“You are in pretty good shape for the shape you are in,"
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I absolutely hate going to get fast food or pick up from a restaurant
only to arrive home and the food be cold. We recently ordered pizza
delivery and the pizza was "right out of the oven" hot. That is how
all carry out food should arrive!
I considered the bags pizza deliverers use and set out to find an insulated
bag for our pickup orders. I found a 2 pack set of heavy duty
insulated bags with a zipper top. The shape of the bags is perfect for
a large carry out bag of food or 2 medium size bags. Just set the bags or containers in the
insulated bag, zip the top and head home.
The first time we tried them, we brought home burgers and fries. I folder
over the top of the restaurant bag and set it all down in the insulted
bag. When we got home, the food was still warm. What a great
change!
One other unexpected benefit of using the insulated bag is that the food
didn't fall over and spill out when set in the floor of the car.
I haven't tried the bags yet for cold products, but I have confidence they
will be equally as wonderful. I will be very happy to bring home
unmelted frozen food, especially ice cream products, during the
summer months. It will also be nice to get our cold milk and orange
juice home at a cooler state than room temperature.
The next time we go to a pot luck dinner, I will definitely be using the
bags to transport the food we are taking regardless of whether it is hot or
cold. With 2 bags, we can have one hot bag and one cold bag if
needed. To be clear, you can't mix hot food with cold food in the same
bag, but I bet you already knew that!
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In this post I will be reviewing my visit to Sunflower Hill Farm and the beautiful silos painted in sunflowers that are nearby.
Sunflower Hill Farm
My cousin and I were looking for a good place to meet for lunch on a sunny afternoon in May. I mentioned I wanted to photograph the painted sunflower silos in the wine country near us and she suggested a nearby cafe at Sunflower Hill Farms. It was an excellent choice. Our food was great and the whole place was a great relaxing way to spend the afternoon.
We ate on the patio and and I enjoyed a delicious veggie grilled cheese, it consisted of provolone and cheddar cheese along with mushrooms, peppers, spinach and onions, all grilled on sourdough bread. Yummy.
Sunflower Hill Farm is a wonderful event space too. The farm is located on 130 acres. Along with the cafe there is a shop with homemade items on sale. There is also a nursery on the property and a large event space. The farm has become a delightful wedding and event space. As you can see in the photo below, the event area sits up on the hill overlooking the Missouri river valley.
Sunflower Hill Farms is located at 245 Terry Road in Augusta, Missouri. On their website www.sunflowerhillfarm.com they have listed lots of information about their events, calendar, and a menu from the cafe. If you are in the area, I would highly recommend this venue. Here are a few of my photos.
Painted Silos
These beautiful silos were commissioned by the owners of the Sunflower Hill Farm. They are located near the Katy Trail just south of the entrance to the farm. It is at mile marker 661.6 on the Katy Trail. They were painted by artist Anne Molasky and her painting partner Kim Alsop and were finished in the fall of 2023.
These vibrant sunflower paintings are a nice stop for people along the Katy Trail. There is also acess to them off of Hwy 94 halfway between Defiance and Augusta deep in the heart of Missouri Wine Country.
I stopped to visit and take photographs of these beautiful works of art just before I visited Sunflower Hill Farms. They are quite amazing to look at from all different angles. I would have loved to see them as they were being painted. Very talented artists!
Zazzle Products
Here is a link to a greeting card made from my sunflower silos photograph.
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
I love rainbow designs; I like seeing the different colors on various products. They seem to brighten things up.
Years ago, I had made a new design and showed it to my daughter who was in middle school at the time. She told me, Mom, that's what the LGBTQ uses. I wasn't sure what she meant. I was just making a design of the rainbow, like I had done before.
Needless to say, that didn't stop me. I've made a bunch more rainbow designs since then. And I want to say, that rainbows and rainbow colors are for everyone; just in case there was ever any question. Sometimes kids can attach extra meaning to a thing, and adults can too. So again, it's okay to wear rainbow colors and designs, and to enjoy the rainbow colors on whatever they are on. You get to decide if any design has any kind of meaning to you.
I had fun creating the rainbow peace sign hand. I used my own hand as a model, put on a latex glove that was tight fitting, placed my hand into the rainbow paint colors and made a peace sign with it. I filled in the unprinted areas, and voila, my peace sign hand print looked cool!
Here it is printed on stickers. Zazzle, the print on demand company I work in association with, offers seven different sticker shapes. This design can also be purchased on magnets, mugs, canvas tote bags, tshirts, aprons, hats, throw pillows, posters, mousepads, pin on buttons, keychains, coasters, postcards, necklaces, sweatshirts, address labels, and guitar picks. Zazzle has even more products to choose from. Many designs can be easily transferred to a different product, once you are on the product page.
Since different people can come up with different meanings for different things, I decided to use the rainbow colors to represent recycled spirits. It's a take on a recycled symbol, incorporating the rainbow colors. I believe in reincarnation, so it made sense that we are all recycled spirits. This unique design is currently printed on canvas tote bags, hats, and tshirts, as of the date of this writing.
Some of my rainbow designs are more spread out, color wise. Here I used the rainbow colors to fill in guitar shapes I had drawn. Here it is printed on address labels. Additional items include pens, mugs, clocks, and more.
I especially like how the word Peace looks, using cutout font letters on one of my rainbow background paintings. Here it is printed on tshirt ornaments. There are a total of five different ornament shapes to choose from on Zazzle.
I hope you enjoyed this sampling of my various rainbow designs. You can visit this link to check out all the rainbow designs that I currently have in my CherylsArt store on Zazzle, here: https://www.zazzle.com/store/CherylsArt/rainbow. You will also find rainbow polka dots, mosaics, hearts, Easter eggs, love hands (sign language), teddy bears, butterflies, and raindrops.
I have purchased cards, stickers, canvas bags, address labels, business cards, and more from Zazzle. All of the products have been printed on quality materials and the colors look great. Zazzle has a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee, that states: "If you are not satisfied for any reason with any qualified* product you purchase you may return your purchase for a replacement, credit or refund within 30 days of receipt." Restrictions apply to some items, like face masks and stitch files. They go into the details on this on their Return Policy page. You can find the link for that at the bottom of the product pages.
Thank you for visiting. May you have a blessed day.
Cheryl Paton
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
If you like dance then this documentary is for you! Dance Life is an original series which follows 10 aspiring senior students at the famed Brent Street Academy in Australia. Brent Street is a performing arts school where the goal is education with the emphasis on becoming a professional dancer.
Brent Street offers jazz, hip hop, tap, ballet, singing, acting, musical theater, contemporary in their curriculum. You will be delighted to see all in the series though dance is the focus.The audition scenes are reminiscent of the iconic dance auditions in A Chorus Line, Fame and FlashDance.
Watching the students share their experience, their talents, their ambition along with each individual challenge connects the viewer to the student and to the outcome of their journey. Dance fans of any genre will enjoy this series and it will leave you hoping season two will happen.
Brent Street And America's Got Talent
In 2024 Brent Street fielded a contemporary entry which earned the Golden Buzzer by Howie Mandel and they progressed through the final rounds.
View the golden buzzer performance here >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skDe7owal_E
The Movie
The documentary definitely leaves one wanting more. Much more! Unfortunately Dance Life is only five episodes, but the good news is the movie was released in April of this year. The movie can be rented on Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime members can view the documentary as part of their subscription.
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
Inspiration to write lyrics can come from the oddest places for me. Nearly 99% of the time, I write in the moment I decide to write. I might have an idea of what I want to write about, but I rarely know exactly what I want to say until I sit down and start putting words together.
Truth be told, I don't actually put anything on paper (I used to back in the day), I type everything into the Notes app on my phone because inspiration doesn't always wait until I'm sitting at a desk.
The story behind I Am Your Silence spans several days.
I was watching television when a conversation came up about silence and quieting the inner self. Topics about personal growth, character, and understanding ourselves have always been my favorite topics. They capture my attention almost immediately and are the kinds of things I naturally seek out.
At one point, I paused the television because I needed to run downstairs for a quick errand. I was in my bedroom, where I do most of my writing, and as I stood up, four words suddenly popped into my head:
I Am Your Silence
The moment I thought of them, I knew there was something there. I quickly opened the Notes app on my iPhone, typed in the title, and went about my day. That was the last I thought about it.
Over the next several days, the title drifted through my mind now and then, but I still hadn't decided whether I was going to write anything about it.
Then, on June 5, my husband and I went to Costco to run a few errands. It was nice to get out for a while. I spend a lot of my time writing, so a simple outing felt like a welcome change of pace.
While we were sitting in the food court having a light lunch, I opened my Notes app and thought I would see if anything would come to me from that title that had been sitting there waiting. To my surprise, the entire first verse poured out while I was sitting at a Costco table.
My husband laughed and said, "You really can write anywhere."
I laughed too because he was right.
If I'm feeling inspired and connected to an idea, it doesn't really matter where I am. The words either arrive or they don't.
Later that evening, I decided to see if I could finish the song. I never force myself to write if I'm not feeling it, so there was no guarantee it would happen. But I understood the concept I wanted to explore, and little by little, the rest of the lyrics came together.
The video of the song itself explains the idea far better than I ever could in a simple summary.
At its heart, I Am Your Silence speaks to the emotions that run so deep we cannot find words big enough to contain them. Sometimes those emotions come from grief, loss, longing, or heartbreak. Other times, they come from overwhelming joy, love, gratitude, or wonder.
The feeling may be different, but the experience is the same. We reach a point where language simply falls short. Thus, "I Am Your Silence."
I wanted to write about that space.
The place where emotion becomes larger than expression.
The place where silence takes over because words can no longer carry the weight of what we feel.
I also wanted to capture something deeply personal about those emotions. No one can truly see them the way we experience them. They exist within us in a way that is uniquely our own. Others may understand pieces of our story, but the full depth of what we feel belongs only to us.
The production side of the song is subject to intense scrutiny. The sound has to match the intention of my lyrics. The sound production aspect can be exhausting, because I'm very picky and specific about the sound, layers, and emphasis I'm looking for.
As I reflected on the finished song, I realized there was another layer to it that I hadn't consciously intended. Beyond the silence of emotion and the absence of words, there is something almost spiritual woven through the lyrics. A quiet reminder that some of life's most profound experiences are meant to be felt rather than explained.
When I listen back to the song now, I hear that element in it.
And yes, I cried while writing parts of this piece.
Not because it was sad, but because it touched something difficult to describe, something that lives beyond language.
I hope you enjoy I Am Your Silence. It has become one of my favorite songs I have ever written and produced.
I produce all my videos myself as well, so I can paint the picture with the words. Plus, I'm just really fussy and a bit of a control (ish) person, lol.
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Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
.jpeg "Sunflower Silos")
.jpeg "Sunflower Hill Cafe and Store")
.jpeg "Entrance Sign")
.jpeg "Sunflower Decoration")
