Dragons

Drago (Detalle), originally uploaded by Gisela Bohórquez

Natalie is walking a lot now. We got her to toddle back and forth between us for a while and it was fun for everybody, until she went face-first into the coffee table. At least we captured that precious moment on video!

Both my brothers were in town on Sunday. This is a rare occasion since Kevin started college and Jim moved to Montana. We celebrated with a game of Dungeons & Dragons. Jenna asked who won. I told her that when we play Dungeons & Dragons, everyone's a winner (it's true).

After they left, we looked at some houses with our agent. They were all terrible. It's slim pickin's right now in the local real estate market. We're hunkering down for one more winter in St. Paul.

Snow

I've reached the end of the world, originally uploaded by Stuck in Customs

We got some early October snow this week. I walked through the garden the night before and harvested the remaining vegetables. I pulled some monster carrots out of the ground, and a good number of green bell peppers. Some of the carrots were made into soup and my coworkers took the rest.

Natalie still doesn't walk more than a few steps at a time, and then only rarely, but she is very communicative. She signs for "water" and "more" (in addition to "milk" and "all done"). Her new words are "no," "yeah," and "Lola," which enhance her repertoire of "dog, mama, dada." Then there's the never-ending stream of babble with the occasional noise that sounds like a word, but only to her parents.

Secret Identity

My Name Is Not Clark Kent!, originally uploaded by Carlos Noboro

On Saturday I went to FallCon, Minnesota's biggest comics convention, to share my concept for the new show and ask for feedback. Everyone was incredibly gracious, friendly, and helpful.

One of the highlights for me was meeting Lucy Knisley. She is one of my favorite web comic artists and a total sweetheart in person. I spoke with several members of the Comic Conspiracy, a very cool group, plus a bunch of other talented artists.

I also ran into Sarah Morean, who organizes the awesome Twin Cities Zinefest. She has been thinking about starting an Indie comic expo for a while and I hope she will be involved. And a couple of CONvergence directors offered their assistance as well. I'm inspired! The time is now!

Grand

Grand Avenue Foot Bridge, originally uploaded by chefranden

On Saturday I took Natalie to Minneapolis. We visited the Minnesota Center for Book Arts to see all the local artists doing the 24-Hour Comic Day. Next door at Big Brain I quizzed the guy behind the desk about what he'd like to see in a new convention (thanks Rhett!). Then we drove to [REDACTED] to buy Jenna's birthday present.

Our friends Laurie and Ryan drove up from Texas to Eau Claire this weekend, so we met them there on Sunday. Their son Sebastian is only 4 days younger than Natalie. We went to Davies Center on campus, where we used to congregate between classes, and the kids played together for a while.

We had lunch at Mancinos. Their grinders are so delicious. Then we got dessert delivered on rollerblades at the new Sonic. Natalie slept on the way there and back. It was a great weekend.