a story about visiting my parents, with sketches of cats

My parents currently have two cats. A skittish, coltish, black-and-white beauty named Violet, and a grumpy old man cat named Koko. (She's 1. He's 21. They wash each other's ears.)

Of course they go wherever they want, do you even have to ask? Thus in panel 1 you see Violet on the table, exploring the tiny bit of milk left in my bowl of grape-nuts.

Despite how isolated our neighbor's house looks in panel 5, our house is actually totally in town and there are plenty of houses on the street. They're just all behind the trees and scrub that surround the little pond, so from that angle you can't see much.

The geese land in and around the pond (panels 5-6) and then strut off into what would be panel 7 to happily walk around Neighbor Jane's yard. "Neighbor" has risen to the place of an honorific. When the kids were little, I kept introducing her as Neighbor Jane, and it stuck.

Anyway, my parents' house would be around panel 8, and from there we can see all the geese. They come right up to the edge of Neighbor Jane's yard, and there they stop. I don't know what Neighbor Jane's yard has that my parents don't, but whatever IT is, the lawn has IT in spades. SO MANY GEESE. I got to see them all depart at twilight one of the days--they honked and flapped and tumbled into a couple of massive V's and departed. I expect to some other yard that has IT.

Anyway, it was all good, and there were many good walks with my dad and several family games of Scrabble (although I am having the sinking feeling that I inaccurately spelled a word by way of Very Confidently Going Forth with what I thought was right at the time and everyone was too nice to call me on it)

I got through several books on the plane (and my unexpected 7 hour layover at the Sacramento airport) that I will report on another time, but I WILL point you to this delightful short story I read by Stephanie Burgis on The Sunday Morning Transport, called Mail Order Magic. I would read a whole book in this world, and there isn't currently one, BUT there currently is a new book from Steph that I'm very much looking forward to, the romantasy Wooing the Witch Queen.

Signing off now, as I am dashing off to Hood River for the brand-new Gorge Book Festival this weekend! I'm very much looking forward to seeing real-live people, IN PERSON. IRL. ETC.

xo tina