LADYBUGS

Today, I saw a Ladybug or Ladybird for some of you. That is a sure sign that we can safely plant the garden and the flower beds.

The Ladybug I saw didn’t actually look like this drawing. This particular Ladybug was GENETICALLY MODIFIED by my son when he was five years old. I suppose he thought an ants head would enhance the looks of a Ladybug.

It was then and still remains my favorite Ladybug Art of all time!

By the way, does anyone really think Ladybugs look more like birds than bugs?

THE STRANGE RABBIT

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

In parts of the world you will be setting your clock forward one hour, at 2:00 AM on Sunday. It’s Daylight Savings Time. Actually the correct term is Daylight Saving; without the s. But, I don’t know anyone who says it that way. I grew up with the s. I’m keeping the s.

My readers are global and I know this comic strip doesn’t apply to all of you. So, I just conducted about 20 minutes of extensive research concerning Daylight Savings Time. This is what I learned.

Most of the United States and most of Canada will change their clocks on March 9. Most of Arizona, Hawaii and parts of Alaska refuse to participate.

Mexico breaks it up. Part of Mexico will change with the U.S. on March 9; other parts will change on April 6.

The United Kingdom and a lot of Europe will be changing their clocks on March 30.

Parts of the Southern Hemisphere will do everything backwards. For example, Australia and New Zealand will fall back on April 6.

There are a lot of places around the world that don’t participate in Daylight Savings.

Here’s where it gets really weird. At the South Pole they will change their clocks to fall back on April 6. Why would they bother? Isn’t it about to go dark for 24 hours a day at the South Pole? Aren’t the smartest researchers catching the last flights out, about now? Won’t there only be about a dozen people left to worry about changing the clocks? How do they even know what time it is in the first place? The South Pole is in all 24 time zones.

I decided to go ask the Wise Old Owl. Yes, Domino Park has a Wise Old Owl. He’s only in the sketch books so far, but here he is.

I said, “Wise Old Owl, why do they set their clocks for Daylight Savings Time at the South Pole?”

This is what I learned. Apparently the research center at the South Pole is owned by Americans. So, of course they set their clocks to New Zealand time. They change their clocks for Daylight Savings because New Zealand does. Why New Zealand, you ask? New Zealand is where the airplanes will land when the researchers leave the South Pole. It helps the researchers adjust their internal clocks if they’re already on New Zealand time. I guess that’s rational. It just goes to show that sometimes the answers aren’t as funny as the questions.

SPRING IS COMMING

Spring is finally coming to the center of the United States.  Today I saw a fly, a bee, a mosquito, and a Crocus.

GOLD FISH

An Old Valentine

I found this valentine in a cupboard the other day. I made it for my husband nine years ago. With his permission, I am sharing it with you. This was around the same time that I was starting to work on Domino Park Comics, and I thought it was an interesting look back.

There are no beavers in Domino Park, but my husband was working in construction as a general contractor, so the beavers seemed to be a good fit. Who knows, maybe I’ll let the beavers visit the park someday.

I Just Keep Breaking the Law

I Just Keep Breaking the Law
There is a law carved in stone somewhere. It’s probably chiseled into a huge monument at a comic museum. The law reads, “COMICS ARE TO BE WRITTEN IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.” I know the law. I actually think comics look cooler when they’re in all capital letters. I used to print everything I wrote in all capital letters. Between college computer programming classes and my desire to be a cartoonist, I was 100% on board with all capitals all the time.
I’ll be posting a 9-year-old valentine, which I gave my husband, as proof of my former writing habits. It’s written in all capital letters. I drew this shortly before I started writing Domino Park Comics.
So what happened to me? I’ll tell you what happened. I homeschooled my twin boys from the second through the eighth grade. I thought teaching them to read would be really easy; we would just read comic books! Any kid will try twice as hard to read something if it’s in a comic bubble. Then, I found out why teachers don’t use comic books in the class room. It’s the capital letters. Kids need to learn to read using proper sentence structure with upper and lower case letters.

Also, I was struck hard when I realized that one of my sons had a bad case of the dreaded “b and d confusion.” Our reading time had to be spent on books written in upper and lower-case text. Comic books were no longer an option for my class room. Believe me, I took it harder than the kids did!

I was also running into trouble trying to teach them to write. I’m left-handed, and they‘re not. I have a horrible back slant, which I didn’t want them to try to copy. I couldn’t physically show them how to write the letters correctly. So, they had to learn to write from the information provided in the work books.
Eventually, they learned reading and writing. If you haven’t taught these skills to a child, believe me, it takes years. It’s frustrating. They keep forgetting everything. You end up teaching the same things over and over again. Then, eventually, they start reading real books without any pictures just for fun. When that happens, you feel like you’ve scaled Mount Everest.

Six years into homeschooling, I thought I had it all figured out. Then, I watched my right-handed son drawing left-handed check marks. When did that happen? Of course, it was my “b and d confusion” kid. Well, he certainly had seen a lot of backwards check marks all over his papers for six solid years. A check mark is just a quick flick of the wrist. It’s so obvious. Why had I never explained this? The boys have graduated from high school now, but I believe one of them still has to think about it when he writes a check mark.
Now, my comics are written in upper and lower case letters for the kids, their teachers and their parents. I make a huge effort to keep my books, and this blog family-friendly and suitable for a fourth-grade class-room, although my fan base is proving to be much older than the fourth-grade. I believe that teachers can benefit from having comic books written in upper and lower case text available to them. So, I break the law, and I will continue to break it. Even though I would prefer to see my work in all capitals and know it would look cool, I just can’t do it. Please, forgive me.

I’M A LEFTY

Are you a lefty, too?

Think Fast

Please, Share This!

Image