father's day and the adventures of big kitty
A little less heavy family stuff.
Before I went to work this morning I called my father in New York to wish him a happy Father’s Day. It turns out my little brother was visiting from Washington DC for the weekend so Pa-Daddy actually got to have one of this children with him on Father’s Day which was really nice. I spoke to my brother, Jackson, briefly. He had apparently been amusing himself all morning by telling my mother he wouldn’t go to church unless he got taken to lunch at the Otesaga, a posh hotel on Otsego Lake.
Of course because of Father’s Day, the Otesaga was completely booked up so my mother was getting all worked up about how he had to come to church for the sake of his immortal soul and for this father and so people would know she really had children. Jackson doesn’t take mum seriously the way I do. Unlike my sister and I who would see the whole thing as her trying to control us he just likes to wind her up and watch her go.
On Friday I was off work and went to visit my sister and her children (Kitten, age 4 and Minya, age 7). We had been thinking of going to the zoo but there were thunderstorm warnings so we just went to a nearby coffee shop (getting hailed on as we returned) and then stayed around there place.
Minya showed me one of the projects he’s currently working on, a comic book based on the Indiana Jones video game. He’s drawn about 30 pages of it, each made up of one big panel of the story. I was really excited to see this. It’s really cool to know that he isn’t just consuming video games, passively absorbing them but is actively imagining. Also, it means my little nephew is writing fan fiction which sort of confirms by belief that retelling stories and fantasizing about familiar characters is a natural part of creativity and should be played with (am I using a 7 year old to justify my own forays into copyright infringement and amateur pornography?).
I ended up working on my own comic book project. When I was in New York last month my cat, Dracula aka Big Kitty stayed with my sister and her family. My niece was quite taken by Big Kitty and she made up a story about how Big Kitty had a little umbrella and walked downtown to visit her grandmother. I illustrated this story in a few pages-first Big Kitty in the rain saying “I don’t like rain” , then Big Kitty with an umbrella, Big Kitty walking to the Hancock building where my niece’s grandmother lives and finally Big Kitty at grandma’s apartment curled up on her signature 60’s red butterfly chair.
It was a lot of fun. I’ve never been good with kids (or adults for that matter) but I’m really happy I can connect to my niece and nephew through artwork and stories.
Before I went to work this morning I called my father in New York to wish him a happy Father’s Day. It turns out my little brother was visiting from Washington DC for the weekend so Pa-Daddy actually got to have one of this children with him on Father’s Day which was really nice. I spoke to my brother, Jackson, briefly. He had apparently been amusing himself all morning by telling my mother he wouldn’t go to church unless he got taken to lunch at the Otesaga, a posh hotel on Otsego Lake.
Of course because of Father’s Day, the Otesaga was completely booked up so my mother was getting all worked up about how he had to come to church for the sake of his immortal soul and for this father and so people would know she really had children. Jackson doesn’t take mum seriously the way I do. Unlike my sister and I who would see the whole thing as her trying to control us he just likes to wind her up and watch her go.
On Friday I was off work and went to visit my sister and her children (Kitten, age 4 and Minya, age 7). We had been thinking of going to the zoo but there were thunderstorm warnings so we just went to a nearby coffee shop (getting hailed on as we returned) and then stayed around there place.
Minya showed me one of the projects he’s currently working on, a comic book based on the Indiana Jones video game. He’s drawn about 30 pages of it, each made up of one big panel of the story. I was really excited to see this. It’s really cool to know that he isn’t just consuming video games, passively absorbing them but is actively imagining. Also, it means my little nephew is writing fan fiction which sort of confirms by belief that retelling stories and fantasizing about familiar characters is a natural part of creativity and should be played with (am I using a 7 year old to justify my own forays into copyright infringement and amateur pornography?).
I ended up working on my own comic book project. When I was in New York last month my cat, Dracula aka Big Kitty stayed with my sister and her family. My niece was quite taken by Big Kitty and she made up a story about how Big Kitty had a little umbrella and walked downtown to visit her grandmother. I illustrated this story in a few pages-first Big Kitty in the rain saying “I don’t like rain” , then Big Kitty with an umbrella, Big Kitty walking to the Hancock building where my niece’s grandmother lives and finally Big Kitty at grandma’s apartment curled up on her signature 60’s red butterfly chair.
It was a lot of fun. I’ve never been good with kids (or adults for that matter) but I’m really happy I can connect to my niece and nephew through artwork and stories.