I don't want to get old

oh yes you do (happy thanksgiving)

Nov 26, 2024

if you write and rewrite this enough times, with the intention of painting it, but never actually get around to it, you’ve still practiced some lettering, but also absorbed what good life advice it is. Voltaire. (thx Caroline)

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

I’m grateful for you, and that you spend some time with me here.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that while you’re sitting around the table with your loved ones and those-you-endure-ones, remember that it could be otherwise. When our tables our full and there are no empty chairs, we are the blessed ones.

And hey, here’s a fun get-to-know-you-better question game (I loooove question games). This game has a reputation for helping you fall in love (who knew the right questions were magic fairy dust?)

One of my favorite questions: Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die? (yeah, I’m macabre1).

Speaking of Thanksgiving and gratitude, I had a recent realization on getting old, as I attempted to draw below. It was a small moment - an impactful one.

This was a small, chance encounter that completely changed my outlook. And I’m grateful.

Thank you for indulging my “visual gratitude narrative” (see

K. Woodman-Maynard

‘s recent post; she’s so good). I have great inner resistance to drawing stories, even though they are in my head ALL OF THE TIME. For this one, I gave myself ten minutes with no do-overs. I’d like to change a few things, but...moving on. Thanks for being my support animals and guinea pigs.

Did you know you can get an MFA in Visual Narrative at Boston University, led by cartoonists and professors Joel Christian Gill and Paul Karasik? Intrigued.

Happiest of happy thanksgiving days to you…may we all get old and be happy to have arrived there.

Love,

Amy

recent book reads and recommendations:

It’s the week of Thanksgiving, and I’m thankful for books (forever more).

Here’s what I read recently:

We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han: the last book in the trilogy, a truly captivating coming-of-age, who-will-Belly-end-up-with YA series. I’m still thinking about the story, which is saying something as I’m a tad bit older than the intended age group. Did Belly end up with the right brother? The reader is left guessing until the very last pages - which makes this whole series such a page turner. Have I ever finished a book series? Rarely. I had to finish this one. Now a Netflix special.

Ferris by Kate DiCamillo: I like everything DiCamillo writes. Everything. Quirky characters abound.

Ban This Book by Alan Gratz: It’s good, perhaps a little too “on the nose” for me, but what would you do if YOUR favorite book was challenged by a well-meaning parent? The book in question: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler E. L. Konigsburg. This is a book to keep on the shelves!

Tree. Table. Book by Lois Lowry: This is on my Book Lover’s Gift Guide List. Meet eleven-year-old Sophie who is intent on saving her elderly neighbor (who is also her dearest friend) from going to live at a nursing home. I truly adored this story. Confessional: I’m not sure I’ve read a Lois Lowry book before (I know). Will rectify.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman: This year’s vacation places a menopausal Rocky squarely between her half-grown kids and her aging parents, promising the same charm as summers gone by—aside from Rocky’s hormonal swings of rage and melancholy. An unexpected series of events pulls Rocky back into the past, where she revisits the bittersweet joy and heartache from summers long ago. It’s good, lots of rave reviews, and I’m right in the “sandwich” generation myself.

Waiting for on my Libby app: James by Percival Everett, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt (I have in book form), Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva, and The Women by Kristin Hannah.

Books on my bedside table: a pile so high I can’t even list… (oh the pleasure of too many books to read).

What are reading and recommending???

The Last Part:

WINNING: My three books are up for grabs HERE! Just in time for gifting :)

WATCHING: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. I read the book and now it’s on Netflix as a series. Our protagonist, Pip? Wholesome and curious. Love her.

PLANNING: A Thanksgiving feast! I’m always in charge of the mashed potatoes, rolls, and chocolate pie. New recipe: Sweet Potato Pie with a Pecan Streusel.

RUNNING: The weather is holding; see you out there…