Yusuf Islam says it's a wild world. I agree. Yesterday, for the first time in a long while, I sat down and drew a handful of comics. What made this extra-special was that, first the first time in my human life, I drew comics while sitting beside my awesome daughter who was drawing her own manta rays, cyclops, and other weirdnesses!
This cat is named "Simple." A native of Iowa City, he's old- cantankerous: He likes to scrap. Digs disemboweling smaller mammals. A skulker par excellence, his spine's liquid.
There's something very sad about watching a pet age- the way they slow down, lose the fire, even start to have aches and pains. It's this animal body wearing out, and it happens to us, too. Watching it happen to a smaller being and with their expedited life span, touches that raw existential nerve: No matter yer wishin & willin, the world'll wear u out eventually, too.
In order to further complicate my life, this week I started taking an online psychology class.
Choice snippets from fellow learners in the electronic classroom:
"Poultry will immediately bond with the animal nearest them when they hatch. That bonding can remain for a lifetime."
"I've seen a duck bonded with a beagle once. They were inseparable. The dog was there right after it hatched."
"I have seen horses play elaborate tricks on each other...not to mention dogs, who show all kinds of emotion."
"I am looking forward to sharing observations of dogs using tools and, in one case, a dog making tools."
While we were down in Georgia, we met up with my buddy Randy and took his canoe out for a spin. Then we met some strangers with snakes. Eleanor...was without fear.
About 75% of our immediate neighbors are college students. (Of them, half seem to be what I would call "typical" or "entitled products of the macro-culture," but I'm probably a grumpy old man / college teacher ready for the semester to be over with.) Anyway, from my back porch, I saw this car & graffiti at a nearby party house this morning. Life is like this sometimes: One morning you wake up, walk out to your S.U.V., and discover that you're a fag.
Another photo from our recent trip to Georgia. In this old fire pit of mine in Manchester, I found the frailest mushroom rising up from charred wood.
