I may have gotten up at 6:00 with Steve yesterday but I sure didn't today. I still don't feel like I woke up all the way and it is 2:30. I think the rain and wind makes me "creakier" than usual. And, moving is doing a number on my joints. I have climbed, squatted, reached, bent, and turned my body in more ways in the last couple of weeks than I have in the last couple of years. And, I haven't lost a pound in the process. I am sure that has nothing to do with our eating out more than we should because either I can't find the right pot, not that I tried that hard, or am too tired to even think about it. Thank goodness I made more than one meal's worth of my yummy spaghetti. No cooking tonight either! :-)

Noticed in Monday's Lexington paper that cartoonist Johnny Hart, the creator of B.C., died last Saturday. I had no idea that cartoon had been around since 1958. I wonder if someone else will pick it up or we have seen the last of the delightful stone age characters. He has always brought a smile to my face, sometimes bemused and sometime a grin, but always made me think. I just went to B&N online to check to see if I could order a compilation and they are all out of print. They were published in the the late 1980s and early 1990s. But, I did find a couple of in print collections of For Better or For Worse strip by Lynn Johnston, which is also one of my "always reads". So You're Going to be a Grandma! is one I should have, but with 5 grandkids latter I am not quite at the point Elly, the grandmother in the strip, is with her first. I love this strip because the family changes and ages just as a real life family does. Teaching: Is a Learning Experience would be a great gift for new teachers as it covers Elizabeth's first year of teaching in a northern village in Canada. This strip has been around since the late 1970s and won tons of awards. When I was getting my MLS at the University of Hawaii my Mom used to write me long letters so I felt less lonesome and she always sent me cow related cartoons from The Far Side by Gary Larson. I still smile and think of Mom when I see those crazy cartoons - granted, they aren't favorites of mine, but those cows have sentimental value! Mic collected the Garfield collections. Comic strips have been a part of my life since I was a little kid as my parents always got the newspaper and we all read the comics.

Graphic novels have become the rage as of late, but in realty we have been reading comic strips in graphic format for years. Sadly, many parents and educators have seen this long term involvement with characters as not reading, but just think about how much character development goes into the ongoing strips. They are no different than the series books we read, or those by a favorite author because we love his/her style of writing. High School librarians may want to take a look at The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006, edited by Dave Eggers and illustrated by Art Spiegelman and An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Comics, and True Stories by Ivan Brunetti. We need to read them first so we have some foundation knowledge as well. :-)

Now to go break down boxes - of yeah, have to unpack them first! The movers are coming to pick up the boxes Friday afternoon.