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First and foremost, a sincere thanks to all of you out there who make this website and reading BEN part of your daily lives. Without faithful readers, I’d be much like the proverbial tree falling in the forest.
I also want to take the opportunity to wish everyone a great an safe Holiday Season! May you find joy and peace in your heart, however that may be.
All the best,
Daniel Shelton
“Ben”‘s 7th book of compilations “Le Meilleur ami d’homme” is out in French now. It includes the story of how Max the golden retriever comes into their lives. It’s also available on amazon (click on the link).
For those in the greater Montreal area interested in learning how to create
comics, Daniel will be giving a class on Thurday evenings, beginning on
September 15th, for ten weeks, at Dawson College. All are welcome.
http://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/creating-comics-and-comic-strips
I used to play a bit of golf earlier on, especially B.C.(before children).
At least enough to improve somewhat and to know that I needed to play a lot
more to get any better. I liked golf because it was really about bettering
your own score as opposed to bettering your opponent. And this is where the
game really became a mental challenge. Staying focused and on top of your
game. All this in spite of how bad your last hole was or whatever else is on
your mind at that moment. Even the best players fall prey to this mental
game. Tiger Woods for instance.
I haven’t played in over six years. Life kind of took over and now there
never seems to be time to devote to a round. It’ll have to remain on my list
of things I can do “later on” when there’s more opportunity to do so. For
now, I take comfort in living vicariously through my characters. With a few
brush strokes, they can play better than I ever did, hit farther than I ever
could or simply take form my own style of playing and occasionally miss the
ball! For Ben, hope springs eternal.
The chance to sleep in and get things done around the house are good reasons
to love three day weekends. Because of the nature of my work, and the same
goes for Rina, not working on that day off is not always an option. We do
take it easier, but most of these long weekends we end up working in one
form or another. But that’s okay, it’s a small price to pay for the chance
to work from home and the independence that comes with this choice.
Another good thing about long weekends is a break from having to make kids’
lunches for school. We’ve been preparing one to four lunches, every weekday
for the last twelve years. There are still many to come, as our youngest is
only five. That’s a lot of sandwiches, juices and granola bars. “Time to
make the lunches” is a phrase that comes up all too often. Reminiscent of
the “Time to make the doughnuts” ads from the eighties. The challenge always
being variety and foods that do not contain traces of nuts for allergic
classmates. Try as we may, we end up reverting back to some of the same
stuff, over and over, because its easy and predictable. And by the time
Friday rolls around, and we are having to prepare lunches number 17 to
twenty, easy and predictable is good.
We also look forward to long weekends to be together as a family. For
instance, this weekend we had the idea to go to one of my favorite places,
the Montreal Botanical Garden. With lots to see and smell, we planned on
getting an early start and spend the day walking around. As always, this
meant having to eat at some point during the day. With four kids and two
adults, this can get quite expensive. Although we do eat out occasionally,
when it’s possible, we try to save and pack our own. So on Saturday night,
there we were uttering those words once again…”Time to make the lunches”.
Monday morning and it’s raining. That’s not so bad. Weekdays are for working anyhow and besides, this time of year, rain is needed for everything to grow. Problem is, this is the third straight day of continuous rain, with at least a couple more in the forecast. Let’s just say these can be pretty challenging days with four kids in the house.
Then again, all this pales in comparison to areas who have been victims of flooding. It’s been a bad spring in a few places this year, some having broken century old records, and all this rain is surely cause for more concern. A few years ago, we had problems with our sump pump and our basement flooded. As I often do, I wrote about it through the characters in the strip. The whole thing lasted less than twenty four hours and although we lost a few things, it gave us an opportunity to do a major clean-up and a chance to get rid of a whole bunch of other unwanted stuff. In other words, it was not a major catastrophe. I cannot begin to imagine what it’s like in areas where water surrounds your house for a few days and you lose so much, where people are displaced for weeks and some even perishing.
Our thoughts are with all of you who are affected today. May all this rain stop, and the flood waters simply go away.
I love sleeping. I need my sleep. Always have, always will. I guess it’s
genetic or something. For a while now, and this is probably enabled by the
fact that we have four children, I am often envious of the kids and their
early bed times and late risings.
You may have noticed over the years how gardening is often featured in the
strip. How Olivia loves gardening. That’s because I also love gardening, and
early spring days are truly some of the most special, as the weather starts
to warm up and things start to grow. Certain mornings, I think nothing of
getting up at 5h30 only to wander outside into our garden and see what is
unfurling.
I also plan and imagine my gardening schedule at night as I wander off to sleep. After looking through a reference book or inspiring photographs, sometimes this has the opposite effect and keeps me awake with excitement. The anticipation, having built up over the last six months of cold weather and the pleasant surprise as to what has survived and is thriving, reminds me of the feeling of being a child and the magic surrounding such an event. Like a kid on Christmas morning, I’m even willing to disregard my own physical comforts to be part of it and not miss anything. Even my sleep.
Lots of changes are coming your way on how you can read the adventures of BEN online. The strip, from its beginnings, will continue to be brought to you here on this page, 5 days a week, but now the current material will soon be on GoComics.com. We are in the middle of a transition from Comics.com and some delays or confusion are bound to take place, but hopefully all this will be resolved soon.
Also, many have noticed the blog entries from my wife over the last few months and we have, under her strong suggestions, decided that I too should use this page to let you know what is happening in my life, as well as that of my paper characters. So I therefore promise to do so on a regular basis. Try it, you might like it, as they say.
This being my first entry, I should also let you know, dear readers, how important and appreciated you are. Without all of you, none of this would be possible. So thank you so much.
Talk to you soon.
Daniel
This past week we’ve been touched by the generosity of our readers using our new paypal donation button. Thank you for all those contributing, it’s appreciated and makes a difference!
