Time Traveling

Now, I’m back in my comfort-zone palette.

Trying to find strength in my emotions, in my depth of feeling. Allowing myself to cruise around in my memories. I have a lot of visualisations for memories; I do really like this H.G. Wells-inspired gold time machine. I imagine you pick a card out of the catalog and feed it into the machinery before it takes you zooming off into time and space. Okay, zipping off to my next decade!

Power Clashing

I’m going to be totally honest: this is not one of my favorite pages from my journal comics sketchbook. I was trying to push myself to use colors that I don’t typically use and the result is a mish-mash of clashing hues.

I do like the reds here— I was thinking about the importance of red in the tarot and how it represents passion, energy, and action. I do like the way these drawings turned out.

These are fine. Part of this project of accountability is that not every page will be perfect and I own that. More about the last part later.

Welcome, Spring!

I think this was the most wintery winter we’d had in a while. It was also a very challenging time just personally and emotionally. I felt a little skeptical that spring would ever actually arrive. But it did!

I started meeting with two of my very dear friends for equinox gatherings last year. We do tarot and manifest and do rituals— it is truly a gift! I love tracking our dreams together and having this through-line to mark the changing of the seasons together.

The same weekend, I also got to celebrate with my neighbor, Miss Kay. A true Aries, she is fiery and funny and fierce! She turned 84 this year. Her daughter and son-in-law planned a surprise dinner for her. It was so full of laughter and love! What a joy and privilege to be included!

Not the Mama!

Felix and I have a working relationship.

I’m his concierge! He’s the Baudelaire orphan and I’m the distant relative put in charge of him. I would say it works for us, but I’m not sure he’s satisfied with the quality of my work.

Charlie, on the other hand, is my sweet little baby! Thank goodness for Charlie.

Coming Home

My dad was discharged from the rehab facility he stayed in for about a month and into at-home hospice on March 19. Meanwhile, my peers are working through daycare complications and babies with their first colds! I know that there’s no timeline for life, but I just feel like I leapfrogged past where I thought I would be.

We picked up my dad from St. Joseph’s at 9:00 a.m. and then met with the hospice care team at 10:00 a.m. at my parents’ house.

Every time we visited my dad at rehab, he asked when we were going to take him home. It’s not a restful place; the staff are overworked and, I’m sure, underpaid. The result is a lot of noise, beeping, and very little attention. I stood with him, waiting for my mom to pull the car around and just took in the moment. The small, fleeting moment between the last phase and the next step. A moment of freedom.

I cried a lot the day we brought my dad home and I felt like it was evident the day after. We’d been through a little bit of a marathon for the previous six weeks with him in the hospital and then rehab. Now, at home with hospice in place and caregivers coming daily, I think we could finally all catch our breath. I have no issues crying, and I never have. I have learned not to bother with mascara for right now.

New Leaf

I repotted this monstera a few years ago and its temperament has been mercurial since then.

Maybe I was going through a dormant period this week, too.

I think everything was getting to me… the time change, the full moon, stress in every sphere of life. But it’s all manageable. I can handle it all, especially after a nap.

Lunar Eclipse

Time change and full moon in the same week!

Every morning, I see and hear the crows chattering away in the trees all around the neighborhood. This particular morning, with the crow illuminated against the glowing and golden full moon, the imagery for this comic popped into my head. I really like the way this turned out.

Time Changes

The first day after the time change, it was cold and rainy here. So, we got up early and had no extra daylight in exchange for this hardship. I rage against daylight savings because we don’t need it. The animals, nature, our bodies do not need to shift the clock!! I think that daylight savings is a scam that further alienates us from our humanity and connection with nature.

Well, okay. I hate it until I get a few more precious hours of outside time after being released from the fluorescent light prison of the workplace.

I’ll correct my own record and say that I actually do enjoy cooking. It’s just more enjoyable when you get to do it for friends and family rather than an obligatory chore at the end of a long day. My feelings on meal prep are previously documented here.

Scolded at the Vigil

So, to clarify, I was talking because a guy who’s running for state house was telling me about his campaign. AND I didn’t realize that the vigil had started because the sound system wasn’t working very well.

Despite all that, it was really uplifting to be around like-minded people who are in support of Ukraine in their fight against Russia. Faith leaders from around the community shared poems, prayers, and songs.

What’s that? Another metaphor for feeling lost in life? Just when you think I’ve exhausted these visualizations, I come up with another one. This comic was inspired by the feeling of driving somewhere new, when it feels like it’s taking forever. An old friend had a rule about waiting 15 minutes after you feel like you’re going the wrong way— that’s usually enough time to realize that you are, in fact, on the right track. Sometimes, you just need to be patient.

Round and Round We Go

Existential crisis pt. deux. I was getting caught up in my hamster wheel life and the mundanity of it all.

So, when I got tired of my life, I decided to draw this cheeky little dragon instead. I’m really fond of his evil but cute expression in the first panel.

See, fire can be destructive, but if it’s used in small doses, it’s productive. Think matches for candles, pilot lights, and starting a fire to make s’mores. So while it’s tempting to blaze everything in your path, if you let things out gradually instead, you can keep things under control and not destroy the village and everything in your path. And now you know.

Smaller Then

Spring is coming! Felix and I love walking through our local parks, including the Campbell Field and the Boyd Tract. It’s heartening to see the signs of spring popping up. I saw a cherry tree blooming amidst a stand of bare, gray trees, and it looked like she was a beautiful dancer making her way out of the shadows and into the spotlight.

My brother and I were reminiscing about our grandparents’ old farm in Virginia. We got to spend time in some pretty magical places as kids. Whether we were looking for arrowheads at my grandma’s horse farm after a rainstorm, riding ponies, or taking tractor rides with my grandpa, being outside meant having adventures. Maybe that’s why I find being outside so restorative now.