How to groove on life

or... Why i LOVE Lynda Barry

or... Let's all stop being all fakey

I went this week to see Lynda Barry speak at the Free Library of Philadelphia, which by the way has an excellent author series and many of the them are absolutely free. Many of their events turn into podcasts. (I'll keep my eyes out for this one; if it comes up as a podcast I will post that later.) 

This was the best photo I could take of her, cute piggies!
She spoke for more than an hour and used no notes! 

My friend Beth and I make our way downtown, arriving early to get good seats. Finally, the talk begins, and there she is, standing a few feet away from us, the illustrious Lynda Barry. And what does Lynda wear? Doggonit, she wears pigtails! Woman after my own heart. Lynda, you had me at your pigtails! 

I could write accolades about her, but I guess what I'd most like to do to share with you my favorite Lynda Barry strips. Below are three excerpts from Ernie Pooks Comeek, a syndicated column that ran for almost 30 years. Lynda has also written novels and published many other books about writing and drawing and how to free yourself up and stop holding yourself back from from the person you might really be. Stop editing yourself. 

Each strip has four boxes.

First up is the voice of Marlys, a happy-go-lucky, quite egotistic girl who is blessed with confidence and has a huge heart. She gives her best advice here, in How to Groove on Life. 

Right on, Marlys! Thank you for that, I will never forget that great advice! When I am a very old lady I'll still be enjoying dancing, being kind to animals and fixing everyone's hair up all gorgy. 

The next strip is in the voice of Marlys' far more complex older cousin Arna. Arna breaks my heart. She wants what we all want: love, friends, popularity, acceptance, a boyfriend who likes her, being able to trust people. Why do I suspect she will never get it?

Maybonne is Marly's big sister. This next strip is in her voice, and it's another quite serious one. Oh, it almost makes me cry to read it. 

PS.  I hope Lynda will forgive me if I am breaking copyright laws. She does not seem the type to sic her lawyers upon me. I'll just hope. 

A day late

Happy birthday to my neice Grace, who was 8 years old yesterday. I love you, Sweetie--and your pigtails!

So mo cation

Emma had this idea of doing a mini getaway with just the moms and the boys.

When Charlie and Tristan (Emma's son) heard that the moms wanted to do a "so-mo-cation" (short for son-mother vacation), where we would do whatever they wanted, they sort of guffawed in disbelief. "That means no outlet malls," they said, "no shopping at all." 

I guess they know us all too well. We promised no shopping.

We decided to take a few days in Ship Bottom, NJ, an old-fashioned sort of shore town with lots of charm. We spent a lot of time "together" doing different things. But we also played cards, walked on the beach and went out for lots of meals (did you know that 13-year-old boys are ALWAYS hungry?).

I'm sure the boys would have preferred not to have to suffer the nagging of mothers about sunscreen, hats, healthy meal choices, etc., but I think they enjoyed themselves. The moms definitely had a great time, as always! 

Here are some photos, I hope not too many!

Long evening shadows. We had showers in the afternoon and towards evening took a walk to the beach.


The so's .....


and the mo's.

Me and Charlie

Emma and Tristan

Tristan carries Charlie




At the bay




Group pic, getting ice cream

We happened upon this vintage auto show.

Pigtails session 1

I love everything about this photo. But especially the pigtails.

And here is me in mine, April 2010.

More piggies to come (thus the title of this post!)