Wordless Wednesday: Quiet

Burke Lake Park - January 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Super Elastic Bubble Plastic

Sometimes It Is The Little Changes

I recently bought a new doormat for my front door. It is made from recycled rubber tires and feels very solid under my feet. For whatever reason, I absolutely love it - maybe it is the colors or the over-large size.

Whatever it is, I smile each time I see it. Even makes me think that I should get around to re-painting the door where the puppies have scratched it up.

It is nothing really that special and not a major change. But I like it.

I also got a new doormat for the door from the garage into the house (which is nothing quite so pretty as the front door, so I will just show you the mat.)

The garage door is the one we use most often and again, it brings a smile to my face when I see it. Which is everyday. 

Sometimes just a little change can make an impact. And a few extra smiles each day are always a good thing.

Grateful

Scott’s Run - Great Falls, Virginia 

On blogs, once time goes by without a post, it gets harder and harder to jump back in. Mostly because it seems strange to just ignore the quiet days, especially when they unintentionally turn into quiet months.

I just wanted to post quickly to say, yes, I am still here. And yes, I do plan at some point to return to regular blogging. Life recently just seemed to catch up with me since we were run out of Ocean City at the end of the summer by Hurricane Irene (luckily no damage to our place there, just a bit of excitement as we had to pack up a bit earlier than expected). 

For those who don’t know me in real life, one of the big things going on is the official ending of my twenty year marriage. We have been separated for over 2 years and have been working with a mediator over the past year to come up with an agreement (highly recommend the mediator route, for what it is worth). That process has finally reached its conclusion.

Needless to say, the process has not be easy, but luckily for us, it also has not been the typical horror story you usually hear with respect to divorce. Neither Jeff nor I like conflict and neither one of us hates the other, so I suppose that worked in our favor. It is more sad than anything else. The good news is that yes, I will be able to continue homeschooling and no, I won’t need to return to work. The boys have been adjusting along with us. I do feel that homeschooling has been a godsend in this situation, allowing each of us to have more time with them than we would have if we were limited to “after school hours” and weekends.

Other than that, I don’t plan on getting into it anymore here on the blog. Way too public of a space for something that private. I did want to at least mention it, however, because it was starting to feel like the elephant in the room to me.

Needless to say, I am actually feeling very grateful…for my terrific boys, for my friends and most of all for this journey I have been on. It’s been quite a ride.

It is probably not the smartest time to break my silence, just as we head into the holidays, as I doubt that I am going to have much “extra” time to write than I have in the previous months. But for whatever reason, the time did feel right to me, so I’ll give it a shot. We’ll see how it goes.

For those who are still here and reading after so much time away, thanks so much for hanging in there.

Support Stripped: The Comics Documentary!

We love comics around here. Webcomics, comic books, graphic novels, you name it. I remember growing up with so many favorites…Garfield, Family Circus, Bloom County, B.C., Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, Dick Tracy and yes, even Nancy. Of course, my all-time favorite comic was Peanuts. I not only read it religiously in the newspaper, but collected the books and absolutely devoured them. I still have many of the books, although they have now yellowed with age. I am just not willing to give them up.

One of our favorite webcomics (we also own all of his books) is Dave Kellet. His webcomic, Sheldon, is my kids Peanuts. I also follow Dave’s blog as he truly loves what he does. His latest project is a feature length film called Stripped: The Comics Documentary:

For the last two years, I’ve been working on an incredible, feature-length documentary on cartooning. And guys… I need your help to finish it.

Working with my good friend, twice-Sundance-nominated film-maker Fred Schroeder, we’ve been flying around the US and Canada in a two-year labor of love, interviewing 60 cartoonists in their studios. We’ve sat down with creators to talk about how cartooning works, why it’s so loved, and how they’re navigating the painful decline of print, and the painful rise of digital. It’s our love-letter to the art form, but also an in-depth discussion of how artists — all artists — are practicing their art in an age where everything is changing.

I just watched the trailer and it was not only a wonderful “blast from the past” but an insiders look into an industry where the people honestly love what they do. Truly a labor of love. I recognized many of the participants as artists that we love (both old and the new): Jim Davis (Garfield), Jeff Keane (Family Circus), Jeff Smith (Bone), Kazu Kibuishi (Amulet), Tom Gammil (The Simpsons), Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum (Unshelved) and so many more.

They are looking for financial support to help complete the film and you can contribute at all levels. You can see the trailer and contribute here. There is also a good interview on the Washington Post’s Comic Riffs Blog.

Just thought that I would pass this on in case there are others out there who, like me, have incredibly fond memories of the “funny pages” and who would like to support this effort to document the history as well as further the discussion of the future of comics. Given how much enjoyment and pleasure comics and graphic novels have brought to my own, as well as my kids, lives, it seems like a great thing to do.