A doll made to celebrate the year of the pig from Shutterstock

Who could imagine flattery in the mail? I got a letter from a man yesterday who refers to himself : " I am 54 years old, work as cook and I love to visit museums and to view the illustrations in children's books". He goes on to tell the story of inheriting his grandfather's collections of autographs of actors, singers and politicians. He knows he has a good collection and is not going to sell it or get rid of it--but build on it with autographs of painters, illustrators and cartoonists. He sent me a postcard with my name on it, a folded dollar bill, and a self addressed envelope with this letter covered in rubberstamps and stickers depicting pigs. He asks very nicely if, in addition to the autograph, a "very, very small interpretation of anything "piggish""....as his wife Ulricke is a pig fan "since many years". How can I resist. I might also send him a recipe...or a pig seasoning...

Then, if I wasn't big headed enough, we went to the Pourhouse and sat at the bar. R introduced himself to the bartended and then introduced me. The bartender was surprised that I was the "Q" he had seen on the web via the Ulysses blog by the loquatious and insightful, Jonathan Cook. He even went so far as to say he liked my work! Imagine!

Oh, the kindness of strangers!

Todd Edmonds and Mudbone played last night at the Pourhouse. They were great and to see Todd in a different venue other than design was fun. We ran into our real estate agent and had a wonderful talk about her up and coming 50th (and her husband has one too this year). They refer to themselves as "a hundred". Cute. They also told us all about the Donna the Buffalo Cruise that takes the herd throughout the caribbean with DTB rocking out at night. For more info on that>> You know, from the way they describe it...it could be really fun. Kind of grassroots without the camping and concession stands. And did I say with working toilets too?

Peter Pan tonight. It was a big hit last night.
More later>>