Have We Sprung Spring? 🪻
And the tale of how a little dog tied himself to a tree.
It sounds like spring here already. Red-winged blackbirds cheering. Sap suckers or flickers rubbing balloons (I think it’s one of those two that sound like that). And the trees are all sprouting buds (that is not part of the sound). I hope we don’t dive into a snow-covered spring. None of them would be ready for that. Something just startled about a dozen dark-eyed juncos from the ground under the bird feeder.
I just wrapped up teaching a comics class over Zoom. Talked myself hoarse! In my last kids comic class I came up with this character BearCat, whose brother is CatBear. So I used it again and made a strip and a mini comic for class.
For the strip (above), I used a template I made for an autobio series I never did. And the comic below is in pages that are only 1/8 of a standard sheet. So it had to be short!
I’m teaching in person, in Whatcom County, at the Jansen Art Center. I’m actually teaching my first sold-out class, on embroidered watercolor, tomorrow. Ooh! A Steller’s jay just arrived at the feeder to shout at everyone!
March 7 (10:30am to 3:00 pm), Handmade Notebook with Felt Cover
March 14 (10am to noon), Doodle Stamps
I played a Moomin game on the Switch: Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley. It was delightful! If you don’t know the Moomins, they are the namesake trolls in a series of comics by Finnish creator Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish. Very sweet and earthy. The game has a definite ecology bent. You play musical instruments and don’t fight, per se. You beat your drum to annoy the crabs into going away and stop blocking the path, for instance. Mostly, you run around and help the denizens of Moominvalley. I did not complete all the sidequests so there is a very good chance I will play it again. Until then I still need to play the little visual novel game that comes with it.
I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela
Dearest Diary,
The quartermaster has been toiling away, destroying the invasive blackberries trying to cover the land. I am often nearby, watching. I found an intriguing area next to this tree and began to dig. It was near the end of our daily sojourn, and the quartermaster was getting ready to leave. She wanted me to sit and wait for her to wrap up. But lo! I was unable to! Not only was most of the ground beneath me missing now but I couldn’t move. Something held me to the spot. Later the quartermaster claimed I had tangled myself round a tree. But ask the boatswain, I say! She was standing nearby, also trapped, unable to help. I was eventually freed but not before the expected and unwelcome ridicule.
All my love,
Dr. WTGoobs
Just what I was in the mood for this morning! I have been searching for animal fiction and came across your page. Excellent! Thanks