Dog Days part 2 - Cat's Revenge

Yesterday I went a-searchin' for some new postcards and I hit the jackpot - a collection of covers from 1950s romance comics and, even better, a set of cat comic postcards titled "The Cutest Sneeze in the World". There was only one set left and it was a bit dog-eared (no pun intended), but I had to have it. Each card is a tiny cartoon with little narrative that completely captures the randomness of cats. The artist is Jeffrey Brown - from his blog he clearly draws more than just cats, check him out!

It's hard to part with any of these because they're so great, but here are a couple I just dropped in the mail:

My Awesome Sister recently posted about her cats interfering with making the bed, so guess who's getting this one?

Daytime television for cats, my friends...


This one I didn't mail, it just depicts my life with Skosh the wonder kitten so well...

Substitute a foot for the hand and you've got the 6am daily Skosh show - the next panel would be her flying across the room as I kick her off the bed.


Seriously, this is up there with Simon's Cat for best artistic rendering of life with felines.  MEOW.

Dog Days of Summer

As my job has been winding down, I've had more time to write. I'm at home this week and hope to send out more, but I thought I'd get caught up...

Mailed August 14:

More Japanese toast people! Headed to the wilds of Canuckistan to my birthday twin.

Mailed August 19:

A few years ago, the organization where I worked was able to hold a fundraiser in Dale Chihuly's boathouse/studio, and they gave us a bunch of "Dale Chihuly Over Venice" postcard books. I sent one of the books to my mom at the time, because she really likes Pacific Northwest glass art. I do too, although I think Chihuly is overrated. His boathouse was amazing though - gotta admit, the guy has an amazing sense of style.

So, on my last day at work, I got piles of swag, including one of the postcard books. I immediately sent this one as a joke to a friend who is as irritated by the new Chihuly Museum at Seattle Center as I am....I chose it because the "portrait of the artist looking casual with his work" seems so pretentious. There are plenty of other images of his work that are truly stunning, but I had to start off with a laugh, right?

The postcards themselves are large and heavy, high-quality cardstock. And they take first class mail postage instead of postcard stamps. See what I mean? Pretentious.

Mailed August 20:

I walked on this bridge when visiting my friend Jojo last summer - she lives just a few blocks away from this park! I can't imagine having access to such lush woods practically in my back yard. The suspension bridge was very cool but kind of creepy too, as it moved quite a bit.

Sent to a good friend who was in town all last week, and because it was also my last week at work, I barely got to see her. Sadness.

It's hot. And I got a postcard.

This week has been kind of brutal, in more ways than one. Adding insult to life's little injuries, it's been quite warm here in the Pacific Northwest. Oh, nothing compared to the outrageous heat waves suffered by the rest of the country this summer, but keep in mind that air conditioning is a rarity here, and buildings aren't generally built taking air flow into consideration, so when it gets hot (and I'd say mid-90s qualifies as hot), there's not a lot of relief.

The week was so busy (and HOT!), I don't even remember when it arrived, but I received this lovely postcard...

Earlier in the summer, a friend was running an online campaign to send her dance company to the Minneapolis Fringe Festival. Normally I opt out of thank you gifts, but I saw that one option was to receive a postcard from the company after the show, so of course I couldn't resist. And what a cool card! It makes me want to book a flight right now.

...especially looking at the 5-day forecast in Minneapolis, which is predicting breezy, mid-70s weather in the coming week.

Monday Motivation?

My wagon is draggin' this morning, I can't get going somehow. To abet my procrastination, here's one postcard sent and one from the vaults...

Mailed 8/12:

I forgot to write it down, but this is either an Henri Cartier-Bresson or an Édouard Boubat image...what can I say, their work makes for great postcards.

And now for an oldie, postmark Sept 2, 1986:

that white star is a cutout in the card

"8/29/86

YO!

How are ya? Hope that you are having a marvellous time.......how about an okay time. I'm fine. I moved. Now I'm exhausted but at least it's over, finally. I never want to move again (although I say that every year). Life with three fat cats isn't all it's cracked up to be. Hope I don't have a nervous breakdown - or get fleas. Hey, I miss you. Come home soon. I want to come see you on the 4th - O.K.?????

Love,

me :)"

Sent by a family friend while I was on my brief adventure as a chambermaid at a hotel in Cape May, NJ for a couple of weeks before my senior year in high school. I'm kind of surprised my mom let me go, I was one of the youngest people working there, and there wasn't exactly much in the way of supervision. My "room" was at the top of these stairs far away from the other staff (possibly because most of them were 20-something and there was a lot of partying in the staff housing), and it was a throughway to other parts of the hotel. I think it was usually used as a shortcut by staff, not as housing - a couple of times when I first arrived, someone would walk through in the morning and yelp when they saw someone sleeping there. I was reading Crime and Punishment during my stay - probably on the summer reading list for school - and the only other girl my age seemed soooooo cool because she had followed INXS on tour and claimed that Michael Hutchence was in love with her, which I both thought was complete BS and really wanted to believe, because what teenage girl doesn't want to believe their star crush will fall for them if only we could meet them??


The postcard is also notable in that it was typed.

Early morning musings

There are some days that I feel like I will never get a normal night's sleep again. This is one of those days. It should be against the law to naturally wake up at 6:45am on a Saturday. It's bad enough that I've started waking up that early during the week without an alarm. At least this gives me a chance to get somewhat caught up on things.

Here's some belated posting of thank you postcards I sent to a few folks who helped me get a new job (BTW - whee! New! Job! Starting soon!). Which makes me realize I've still got a couple more to write....er....

Mailed July 31:

Saul Steinberg, "Indians, Cyclists, Artists" 1968

I love, love, love this image - it probably doesn't read as well scanned, but it's a simple repeating-motif drawing that makes me smile every time I look at it. Probably one of my favorite postcards I've found this year. I might just have to go back and get another to keep.

Don Eddy, "Private Parking X", 1971

Not sure where I got this, but it's been kicking around for a few years. You can tell it's from the late '60s/early '70s - not only because of the subject, but the photo-realistic style of the painting and the way the colors pop, almost like the early days of Technicolor.

Going in the mail today:

because what better way to get around to lingering tasks than to post what's left to be done on the internet?

Dan May, "Dogs and Bones" 1985

I've had this postcard for decades. You can see it on my wall in many photos from college and when I first moved to Seattle. Hmm, I wonder if it's kind of déclassé to send someone a postcard with obvious tape marks on the back?

Rounding out the day's post, another great panel from Mutts. One of my favorites!