we're home!

though in truth, we never left...

It’s a grand thing to take the odd break.

A person can try new things.

Broaden her horizons.

Wear herself out.¹

Even freak herself out.

All without leaving home.²

I do so love it when the enticing path—

—is right in front of my nose.

Also the odd drama—

—learning experience—

—and mystery.³

What was helpful about deliberately calling these last couple of weeks a break though (at least for me), was that in the name of holiday I could more easily say no to stuff I’d otherwise agree to do, and also ignore tasks I’d normally feel compelled to quickly take on then cross off the list.

And saying no to distractions at home makes all kinds of space for the heart-lifting bliss of perfectly ordinary delights.

Or so says the theory.

And theories do not always survive the proof.

Indeed planning for unexpected enchantment is a bit of a contradiction. But a gal can hope, can’t she? And give things a try?⁴

She can certainly hedge her bets by leaving the house now and again for proper summertime-relishing activities—just in case the elusive unexpected ones don’t show up.⁵

So we took some wonderful walks (when the temperature allowed)—

—relished the weirdness of humans deliberately and collectively immersing themselves in large bodies of water—

—and even went to an outdoor wedding complete with parasols to protect everyone from thundery rain, baking sun—and both at once as actually was the case.

Beryl patiently allowed herself to be foreground interest so I could document some of our more photogenic ventures.

But in truth, my hopes for this little break of mine were mostly fulfilled, for the things that kept us truly engaged were pretty low key.

Show us a squirrel—

—the odd shadow—

—an engaging idea—

— a practical task or two for balance—⁶

—and we were set.

Indeed, it’s been kind of perfect: jam packed—

— restful—⁷

—and engaging.

Still, no matter what we tried—

—or saw—

—or found—

—or experienced—

—it turns out—

—that one of the truly delightful parts is being back here now, sharing it with you.

What’ll we do next?

1. The first week of this break was devoted to a five day online comics workshop with Paul Karasik through The Center for Cartoon Studies. I’d never before studied cartooning in a classroom setting (vs reading books), and it was amazing: intense, exhausting, engaging, funny, draining, overwhelming and fascinating. There was even a bit of comics therapy—for there is nothing like drawing a hard situation from several interesting perspectives to really—erm—get a new perspective...

The week was about structure (not drawing), and we learned/worked with myriad ways to approach longer form comics, both theoretically and practically. We even spent the best part of an afternoon deconstructing a Nancy comic— a full on immersion that I am now continuing with Paul’s book How to Read Nancy. I have no idea what effect the workshop will have on the diary comics I show here, but it was a marvelous thing to do.

2. We actually did spend one night away (there are no wave-producing bodies of water on this part of the Palouse Prairie), but perhaps the exception proves the rule?

3. Also, the list making opportunities. Sheesh. Between the sentence fragments and the run on sentences, I do seem to have a thing for them. Ah well.

4. And yes, lest you think it’s been all milkweed, novels and naps, there has also been no shortage of hard and icky chores I could not ignore, like messing with mousetraps and such. But we all have those, don’t we?

5. A proper summertime vacation activity also seems a weird kind of contradiction —for is not the point to do what you love best? Yet somehow it’s hard not to notice a kind of relief in other people’s faces when they hear you’ve done a thing that fulfills some kind of ableist and culturally approved (or maybe just advertising/instagram approved), seasonal expectation, something (at least in a Northern Hemisphere August), to do with water or hills or nature or travel or hard sweaty work in the back 40, or group festivities with various food groups cooked in particular ways. And I have the odd inner character ready to pass judgement on whatever I choose…

So what feels like a “proper” summer/seasonal activity to you—or the culture around you? What do you love that makes it (the culture and/or your inner cast of characters) a little confused? Spending eight hours a day staring at a computer and drawing? Knitting and reading novels at the same time? Learning to make cold brew coffee? Making salves for aching joints? Sleeping? Researching obscure topics deep in the stacks of an air conditioned (or boiling hot) library? For some people summer is all about labor (climbing mountains or harvesting wheat) and for others it’s all about rest (reading books on the beach or napping in the shade).

Thank goodness it will soon be fall and the tyranny of summer day expectations will have faded away… I’ll mess the veggies though. I do adore zucchini.

6. Of course some of the “simple things” I love so much (like truly engrossing ideas), are as rare as hens teeth and more precious than even a perfect peach.

7. Jam packed in a Calvin and Hobbes kind of way at any rate