The first post of 2007… and my first as a (gasp) 40 year old. This fact really hit home when I was using my 1966 edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and realized that the book was 41 years old. Just one year older than me… I’m currently reading a very enjoyable book by Julia Child that I was given for Christmas, My Life in France. It was written with her husband Paul’s grandnephew and published posthumously. She recounts her move, with Paul, to post-WWII France, and her adventures learning to cook French food in Paris. Perhaps the most appealling aspect is the way she clearly found her true calling – once she got started, she pursued this passion with incredible dedication and gusto (as was obvious in her television appearances). Her account of her sister’s take-no-prisoners approach to the French language and Paris traffic is also hysterical.
For those following the calendar saga, I’ll bring you up to date on my latest idea. Before doing this year’s story, I read some of Scott McCloud’s great writing on “comics”, an increasingly varied and evolving storytelling method. I find it quite fascinating – it seems to sit in a space between video, drawing, storytelling and lots of other things that interest me. I know that “comic books” may not appeal to everyone, and I find the term “graphic novel” too precious for words, but I hope you’ll bear with me while I experiment a bit. Currently, I am trying to retell the JT Agapanthus story in comics format – it may be two or possibly three pages. When it’s done, I plan to upload it as a pdf file so people can download it and see what they think. Watch this space.
Oh – and I’m also trying to set up an art gallery in Second Life. More on that later…
Doug Post said,
January 15, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Penny,
Our oldest daughter turned 40 in September. Believe me, it is NOT the big one!
Lois has read “My Life in France” and loved it. It is on my list.
Best wishes on your comic.
Doug
Peter Love said,
November 28, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Hi Penelope,
for the past seventeen years my wife and I have written a poem to our daughter every night in December from her Christmas elf “Elvin”. She is now 22 and has moved a way from home about three hours drive. I was looking for something like an online advent calendar to send her this year for Dec. 1st which is our traditional first poem and gift to her. We are not religious but like to celebrate the spiritual possiblities of the season. I wanted to find out if it would be possible somehow to send her your advent calendar on-line? I could not tell from looking at the calendar section if there might be a way to do this or not.
Thanks for any information you might be able to give me,
Peace,
Peter Love