Ivy throws me surprise parties once in a while. She’s brilliant at engineering surprises, but it’s almost wasted, because I’m pathetically easy to fool. (Imagine Ricky Jay doing card tricks for a cocker spaniel, seriously.)

Anyway, she pulled off another wonderful party Saturday, two days after my actual birthday, which was all it took to eliminate any suspicions on my part, because, well… see above. I’m dense. We had a fantastic time all the way into the wee hours.

Along with our great local pals, longtime friends Kurt Busiek, Larry Marder, and Barry Deutsch flew/drove/rode in for the occasion, and Larry and local legend Paul Smith even gave me some gorgeous original art! (Check it out!: Paul’s | Larry’s)

And then there was the cake! Yet another piece of great original art; quickly demolished, but no less appreciated.

Friends, Life, Wife: I love you.

Thanks. ^__^

Long ago, reader/cartoonist Greg Stephens created a forum for the Morning Improv. The forum, like the Improv, is dormant at the moment, but one of the cool outcomes was the creation of a goofy thread called “What Else Does Scott Understand?” which included a lot of cool fan art.

I recently found the archive Greg put together and thought you guys might enjoy it.

(Also, I figured it would distract people from the fact that I haven’t even begun to organize my pictures from Spain and with a trip to Boston tonight, my prospects of getting to that in the next couple of days are dwindling).

"Scotty McCloud" by Becky from Tiny Kitten Teeth

Met an old friend of the family (and her own wonderful family) at Vassar last month who called me “Scotty.” I realized that my older sister Ruth was the only one who ever called me that. (Diana, the FOTF, was about my sister’s age).

We did have a “Scotty” (Scottish Terrier) named “Maddy” for years though, sadly no longer with us. Preceded the naming of Neil’s youngest, though no cause-and-effect should be inferred. 

Random thoughts, spurred by yesterday’s inbox, and an adorable bit of art from Becky at Tiny Kitten Teeth.