Relatable Opossums
Penultimate Inktober Illustrations
Open Book was very fun. I heard some great tales of opossums. One lady, our driving with her family, found an opossum out during the day and it was barely moving. She called the nearest vet to pick it up. They got it and turnout to be a momma with a bunch of babies. And they all survived! She knows because she kept calling to check on them.
Another lady had a car they didn’t use often that her husband took out for a spin. It was driving terribly, so he went back home and opened the hood. Only to find an opossum in her nest in the engine block! She was alive and fine. They just let her live in the car and a few weeks later she moved out and they got their car back.
One of my favorite goods was the Terrible Poetry Contest game because I would ask people if they knew Hitchhiker’s Guide and the Vogons. A shockingly high number of people didn’t know it, so I had to explain that Vogon poetry was the second worst in the universe and was used as torture. But it also meant I got to talk Hitchhiker’s Guide with people. One guy even had a “Don’t Panic” tattoo on his wrist (so I gave him a free copy to make up for all the people who hadn’t read Hitchhiker’s Guide.
Last round of Inktober illustrations. Next up? Flash fiction! NaNoWriMo seems like a good month to do that. Though it’s a bit short on the word-count front.
I don’t know if you know this, but I am a big Carl Hiaasen fan. I read one based on a recommendation from Kristi, a coworker when I was a page at the library. I loved it so much (was it Razor Girl?) that I decided to read all his books in the order he wrote the. I recommend skipping the first three because he wrote them with a coauthor and they are missing that Hiaasen sparkle of insanity. So start with Tourist Season (1986), I say. Part of what makes them so wild is that he used to be a crime reporter in Florida so a lot of what he writes is pulled from there. It’s terrifying. But he is so passionate about the wonder of the environment.
I just finished Sick Puppy (2000). It is part of the “Skink” series, which might be one of my favorites, but they are all stand alone. And really, whatever “series” I read last might be my favorite! I’m skipping the non-fiction so it looks like next on my list for Hiaasen is Hoot, his first middle grade book. I wasn’t going to read them, but I changed my mind when I saw one had Skink.
I hope your day gets better from here!
-Angela
P.S. Wally doesn’t greet you this week but our neighbor. Whenever he comes home, Wally just stares and stares. Don gave him a really good treat once…
