ManicDDaily

Hello!  The edge of hurricane Henri is expected to swipe by us today, dumping rain.  I don’t truly mind rain, and will be glad if that is all that Henri brings us.  But the crazy thing–and one I don’t like–ir has been raining here much of the summer. And, in general, in the last few summers.

 I live in a mountain area of Nw York State, and we have gotten some clear dryish mountain days, but increasingly, lawns and fields are squishy, or pooling, with water and mud from so much summer rain, and increasingly, the downpours are spliced with sullen spells of unusually heavy heat. I say that it’s unusual, but it is increasingly becoming the norm. 

And because the air is hotter, it holds more moisture, except of course, where it doesn’t, such as out West and all those other places burning up with drought.

So, oddly, the planet is burning, and flooding at once. And in the meantime, we manage to fight over so many silly things, when our little boat, this planet, needs bailing and more.

Oh dear. I had intended not to get political in this blog.  But climate change may be something that should transcend politics. 

Stay well.  Stay safe/dry today. 

I thought I would post a little dose of cuteness today: cute little ponies meeting each other in a barely fenced field, seemingly not bothered by cute little cars and trucks zooming by (one with giraffe, one with elephant.) The scale is completely out of whack–some snails and bunnies almost the size of the big rigs–but that doesn’t seem to matter in terms of overall effect, to the extent that the drawing has one.

Still, the drawing set me thinking about cuteness. I have a soft spot for it (as anyone who knows my pics can attest.) Even if I try to do more “serious” art, the eyebrows start to take a certain bemused tilt, the buildings a certain curvature, and cuteness makes its imprint.

However, I recently heard a program on the BBC about young Chinese women newly flocking to plastic surgery–nose jobs, eye widening, and even the slight pointing of their ears; all designed to make their faces look slimmer, but also, apparently, more like the faces of Manga figures.

Which made me think a bit about the different kinds of cuteness–clunky cuteness–the cuteness of an old lady in a lavender hat or a child in a hastily homemade Halloween costume–and slick cuteness, which (in my mind) tends to be commercial, treacly, slick. Commercial cuteness also seems caught in stereotype, while the clunky kind may try to mimic a stereotype, but somehow falls short, due to awkwardness, or some other (to my mind) happy accident.

So, here’s a dose, I hope, of clunky cuteness. Have a good day.

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Dear Bloggingverse!

I have missed you!  It has been a hard five years or so since I last posted regularly.  I hope to start again. For those who have kept in touch, I thank you very much.  And for those who haven’t kept in touch, I hope there’s something interesting I can come up with that will get you back!

I may well start with drawings. There is an old saw that time flies when you are having fun, but I hate to say that time flies whatever you are doing! Twenty years in Afghanistan. Very sad. (My plan, by the way, is not to make this blog political, but it’s hard to take one’s mind away from the news of the last few days, no matter one’s views.)

At any rate, I hope very much you are well, however fast or slow time is flying where you are. Thanks.

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