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Check out the new sruble.com! My brand new website design is finally done! Yippee!!! (There is cause for cheering. I didn’t know if it would ever get done with all the glitches I had. Some duct tape and a few staples fixed it right up.)

The prompt for Illustration Friday this week was proverb. I couldn’t resist updating an old image to fit the proverb, “a rolling stone gathers no moss,” except my version is, “a rolling cat gathers no mice.” Poor kitty.

a rolling cat gathers no mice

The other proverb that came to mind was, “what’s good for the goose, is good for the gander,” which obviously means that when one goose has an umbrella, it’s good for everyone.

spring geese

I did this image a while back and for some reason, everyone thinks it’s a family of ducks. It’s not; they’re geese. You can tell by their pointy bills and the shape of their bodies, which admittedly are similar to ducks, but not the same, at least not the way I draw them. Besides, everyone knows that ducks don’t carry umbrellas. If you still don’t believe me, let me show you what my ducks look like. This is a duck that I drew around the same time as the geese:

duck

See, nice round bill, up to no good = duck.

I can tell you’re still not convinced. Okay, then. I’ll have to bring out another duck.

birthday duck

Ta Da! You can tell it’s a duck, because no self respecting goose would ever wear this hat! Also because of the rounded bill. You secretly want that hat, don’t you? Me either, but I do wish the duck would invite us to the party. You know they’re going to have cake. Yum, cake!

What was the subject of this post again? Oh yeah, proverbs. Remember, a rolling cat gathers no moss, and an umbrella that’s good for the goose is good for the gander. What’s your favorite proverb?

Don’t forget, I also have a shiny new website. Hooray! I think having a finished website calls for a celebration. Who wants to join me for some cake?

In which I discuss running, writing, and goose attacks.

So I am training for this marathon, which is partially to blame for my lack of regular blogging. Friday, I set out for an 11 mile run. I charted myself a course along trails, down near the mighty Huron River. I had my little belt full of water bottles and my half a size too big shoes and yes, I was seriously dorkalicious.

At mile 5, the trail narrowed to about 6 feet wide as it ran between the river and a little pond. As I came around a bend, I heard the flapping and honking of Canada geese. I had scared a gaggle of about 20 of them (with my feather-light footsteps and delicate breathwork). They were heading from the pond to the river, so I jogged in place to let them by. Then they stopped. The babies sat down, right in the middle of the trail. I could not pass.

"Excuse me!" I called pleasantly and started jogging around them. The mama geese hissed and snapped at me. When I got closer, they tried to whap me with their wings.

"Okay, okay!" I called and ran back down the trail. I stood and watched them for a minute, sure they would move on. The babies put their heads down and the adults stood guard, watching me.

"Move!" I yelled. I hid behind the bushes and screamed, "Vroom! Vroom! Big truck coming!" I tossed small rocks and sticks at the trail just in front of the geese.

Nothing. No movement. And every time I got close, the mamas started hissing.

I stood there, like an idiot, waiting for someone smarter or braver to come along. Nobody came. I hunted for a side route around them. I tried to cut through the campus of a factory and got stuck behind a barbed wire fence. I circled back in front of the factory and ended up crossing a loading dock in front of 17 unloading truck drivers (again, remember the little belt with the water bottles and did I mention the pigtails?).

And here is where it relates to writing: I could have taken a different road. A road that could go anywhere in Ann Arbor was 300 yards away, but it would have lead me on a different route. So instead of turning around and taking it, I considered scaling a 20 foot high fence. I was so stuck on the idea of getting back to MY path, and so unable to stop thinking about the geese, that I wore myself out stubbornly trying to get back to the original plan. The original outline. Are you seeing the metaphor?

I admire perseverance and doggedness and effort. But sometimes the reason a scene or a chapter or a whole book is hard is simply because it's never going to work. We have to turn around and let the failure take us on a whole new path.

I finished my 11 miles and it was a lovely run, minus the geese. Sure, I was bummed to leave my pretty path through the woods and run on the pavement in the exhaust. But the real tragedy would have been if I'd never let it go and kept running.

The Little Green Goose by Adele Sansone, illlustrated by Anke Faust

In 1999, North South books published this story with illustrations by Alan Marks.  Now it has been re-released with new art.  This is the story of a goose who desperately wants to be a father.  When he approaches the hens and asks for eggs to hatch, they refuse to give him any.  So he sadly heads to the woods where Daisy the dog points him to an egg she uncovered in her digging.  Mr. Goose takes the egg home and sits on it.  Eventually, it cracks open and out pops a green chick with scales!  Mr. Goose was proud of his son and when he finally showed him to the others in the barnyard, they were shocked.  The little green goose was told by some of the hens that he is not a proper goose because he is green and doesn’t have feathers or a beak!  Distraught, little green goose heads out to find his real father.  But no animal is quite like him.  It isn’t until he is exhausted and hungry that he realizes that he knows just who will love him no matter whether he is a proper goose or not.

This book is about families and how they are about love alone, not about whether members look similar at all.  I particularly appreciated that it is MR. Goose who wants a baby.  That’s a male role that we don’t see much in children’s picture books.  Sansone’s text is light and a pleasure to read aloud.  Her dialogue is interestingly written.  Her setting is well developed.  She has created a wonderful world in which a baby dinosaur can not only exist but thrive. 

Faust’s illustrations are done in digital collage.  She has a knack for finding interesting visual textures that really create a feast for the eye.  The feathers on Mr. Goose are particularly successful as are the grasses, stones, wood and leaves.  She has captured the freshness and patterns of nature and used them with great effect here.

Highly recommended, this story will appeal to many families and children.  Keep it on hand for any goose or farm story times, where it will add another dimension and a bit of diversity.  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from copy received from NorthSouth Publishers.

Spring just may be my favorite season. The following books are a great representation of this sweet and thriving time of year.

The Canadian Geese and ducks, have been making their way back up north. You can’t miss them as they make their presence known with their “Honk-a! Honk-a!” noise as they fly in their V formations overhead. Speaking of their V formation, have you ever wondered how they decide who’s flying where? How does that front [...]