It’s been a busy, transient few months since graduating from CCS, so let me bring you up to speed.
First, I moved my junk from Vermont to my wife’s apartment in Montreal (she went back to school in the fall, so we’ve been living apart). Then I moved our collective junk into a storage locker because we’ve moving into a new apartment in September. Then I took some of my junk (shirts, underwear, pens) and moved them to Toronto, where my wife is doing an internship for the summer. A few weeks later, I took said junk and went back to Regina. The next day, that junk was bound for the forests of Revelstoke, BC. After a few weeks, that junk was back in Saskatchewan for a bit. And now it’s back in Toronto again.
Tumultuous, right? Extra thanks to my brother, Jonah who helped a lot with the move from Vermont back to Canada.
Anyway, I’ve been a little inconsistent updating my site. But, here’s a new sketchbook spread anyway.
My output was pretty good when I was in Toronto in June. Then I went on a camping/biking/climbing trip with my parents and youngest brother for a good chunk of July and all bets were off. My family has been doing these trips ever since my dad took up rock climbing. I’ve never been much of a climber, and a nine-year hiatus didn’t change things, but I did get to ride my bike a lot, which was wonderful.
Here are some things I saw:
1) An owl.
This owl was in the woods by our campsite one evening. After taking its picture, it later swooped silently right past my head. It also appeared one morning and started hooting at my parents’ cat (did I mention they bring the cat on these trips? Because they do. And a dog. And a rabbit once). The cat wisely asked to be let back inside the trailer.
2) A bunch of mountains.
Mountains are huge. Especially when you are from the prairies. The area around Revelstoke is gorgeous.
3) So many mountain biking trails.
The Mount MacPherson trails near Revelstoke are amazing. They were developed and are maintained entirely by volunteers and donations. There are a ridiculous number of trails with tons of variety. My dad and I were gone for over three hours one day, and realized we had really only biked around 10km. Also, we got lost in a bog.
4) Dino-damage!
Sometimes when you haven’t biked in a while, you fall off. Happily, I fell off much less frequently later in the trip thanks to this colourful reminder.
5) A haunted forest
This short forest path is in Blanket Creek Provincial Park. A few steps in, and you can no longer hear the campground or the highway at the top of the valley. It’s totally silent except for the squirrels and birds, and crawlies under the leaves. I can’t tell you how much this affected me when I was younger, and I was pleased to discover that it still does.
6) 1000 Pts.
The first time I ever saw one of these mushrooms, A squirrel jumped out of a tree, looked at me, and then tore a huge chunk out of the mushroom cap and swallowed it. I wonder what ever happened to that squirrel.
Anyway, now that I’m back in Toronto, I’m back to work. I have a lot of things on tap this month that I need to accomplish, but I’ll post about those and other exciting secrets at a later time.
No more vacation for me, it’s time to make some comics!