Captain Kangaroo, Sophrosyne, Red Quill

Popeye, Captain Kangaroo, Illustrate Your Week prompts, and more!

Happy Sunday! 

A shorter roundup this week. The week was full! Midway, I had a confusing day where the day started out fine, but then I somehow got confused and convinced myself it was the day before and that I’d wrongly been thinking all day that it was Wednesday when, in fact, it was Tuesday. For a few moments, I felt relief at the reality that I wasn’t as behind as I thought, that I had a whole extra day ahead of me. I texted my son that I had thought something was happening that day because I had wrongly been thinking it was Wednesday. I was at a stoplight trying to squeeze in an emergency pharmacy pickup when his reply came in. “It is Wednesday!”

My illusion of an extra day popped like the proverbial balloon, and my optimism fizzled. Not only did I not have that day, not only was I behind, but suddenly I was incredibly confused about why I couldn’t convince myself it was Wednesday. In the moment, I couldn’t sort out any daily anchors or footholds that differentiated Tuesday from Wednesday. 

1 — National Spinach Day was last week. I used a prompt about a children’s show and drew Popeye and Olive Oyl. I have a wisp of memory of loving the show. But I couldn’t have told you what the characters really looked like before looking them up to draw them. Seeing that Olive’s classic phrase is “Oh, dear!” didn’t really ring a bell, but Popeye’s “I yam what I am, and that’s all that I yam” did. I could hear that in my head even though it was funny to see it spelled out. While I drew the characters and thought about why I have such a strong sense of attachment to the “idea” of Popeye but can’t clearly remember the show, I kept hearing, “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." I knew that line belongs to “Wimpy.” Looking it up, that line is, indeed, from J. Wellington Wimpy.

The things that stick around, detached from all of the details that would give them life and meaning, always puzzle me. I have less than a handful of fractured and incomplete memories of childhood, but when I think about Popeye, I know there were a few other shows that were also important. Captain Kangaroo is one that I know was a favorite, even though all I remember is the title character, someone named Mr. Green Jeans, and Slim Goodbody (a character who wore a unitard covered in paintings of body organs and that I initially misremembered as Mr. Goodbody). I feel like I watched Mr. Rogers, too, but with so many wonderful contemporary movies about Mr. Rogers, I’m not really sure what I know from now vs then. When I try to picture myself watching any of these things, I am always somehow an adult. The whole time continuum is always blurred.

Twenty four hours after first drawing Popeye and Olive Oyl, I was inking some notes around the perimeter of the drawings, and I was still puzzling over these characters and these shows. I searched to see when Popeye aired and was surprised to find it only ran for 2 (or 3, depending on the source) years in the early 60s, which makes these characters older than me. But it continued to run in syndication for many years. Still thinking about this, I looked around my journal page for the notes on Captain Kangaroo…. but I couldn’t find them. Those notes were written here, not inked on the illustrated journal page. There is a curious disorientation when the layers of recording overlap and yet also diverge. 

I am too young for Mr. Ed., but thinking back to these shows I only half remember makes me think of all the people I’ve known who had similar memories of Mr. Ed and of the Mickey Mouse Club. My kids might someday think back on Bob the Builder, Dora the Explorer, and the Wiggles. Maybe Kim Possible. Maybe Avatar: The Last Air Bender. Maybe X-Men: Evolution (animated). Maybe Blue's Clues. There are so many more options now, of course than fifty years ago!

What shows stand out from your early childhood? Have you ever stopped to draw some of these characters into your pages?

2 — Episode 485: Inviting the Unexpected is available. I mentioned it last week, but I didn’t get it posted as quickly as I hoped. If you didn’t already find the show in your podcast player, it should be there. This show has a bit of wander, a bit of the library, a fleeting vintage arcade game moment, and then two graphic novels about artists and writers as children. These are wonderful books by Elizabeth Haidle. I hope you'll listen. (In this show, I also mentioned a long time ago reading and talking about a graphic novel about Julia Child. That show was Episode 203 and the book is Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child (Jessie Hartland).)

3 — I coupled a drop off with a drive to the library and then a walk last week. I talked about this kind of intentional wander in Episode 485. Ironically, I think my library trips are grounded in a very similar sensibility as the Artist Dates Julia Cameron describes. With the library trip and the short walk, I accomplished both my Artist Date and a walk for Week 1 of Write for Life.

On the walk, I kept reaching to pull out my phone and then deciding not to, trying to let myself just focus on the walk. Having just read Chapter 1, I thought about whether or not there were questions to be asked, but mostly, I just walked, looking around and feeling enchanted by everything being in bloom. I saw a cherry blossom tree (although I momentarily thought it was a dogwood, and as I walked on, I was bothered by not knowing with specificity), a bright pink stuffed Peeps character in a window, a stunning bird of paradise flower (at that point, I pulled my phone out and snapped a photo), and a lovely line of trees with gorgeous purple blooms marking the line between two houses. (I had the thought that if I was ever to pick a tree, it might have to be that one.) I passed all kinds of things in bloom. The sky was blue with billowy white clouds. The sun was bright. It was nice to just take it all in.

Later, I looked up the purple blooms. They were Saucer Magnolia trees (Magnolia Soulangeana). Purple isn't the right color. They are not purple like the deep, vivid princess flower. I initially thought of what I saw as lavender, which doesn't seem quite right. I think maybe orchid is the right color. What would you call the color? Online sources reference them as some combination of purple-pink (or pink-purple).

Remember Crayola green-blue and blue-green? (Last week's Illustrate Your Week prompt set had a "crayon" prompt for National Crayon Day, and I found it fascinating to look at the list of colors that have been retired, as well as the ones that have been added.)

4 — While at the library, I pulled a book on decluttering from the stacks and sat and flipped through it. I have yet to find a book or a philosophy that has really helped me with this process, though I will fully read The Swedish Art of Death Cleaning (Margareta Magnusson) at some point. (I read a bit of it before, and it’s very compelling.) Last week, I sat and looked through Lightly: How to Live a Simple, Serene, and Stress-free Life (Francine Jay). I’ve looked at lots of these books, and I know that I don’t need advice for how to declutter clothes or the mugs in the kitchen or even, really, the books. There are other things I struggle with though and am always hoping to find the right framework and mindset. I looked at the table of contents and flipped to read a few specific sections. I looked, also, at pages related to hobbies. Interestingly, the final chapters were on philosophy, on lightening the mind. There, I ran into a word that was new to me: sophrosyne, which is defined as self-control, prudence, and/or temperance.

Photo from Lightly: How to Live a Simple, Serene, and Stress-free Life by Francine Jay

I found this to be a delightful word discovery, worth the wander and worth the book flip. Sophrosyne, moderation informed by mindfulness is how the author characterized it, not simply temperance. (Note: I checked the pronunciation later, and it is not pronounced the way I heard it in my head.)

Photo from Lightly: How to Live a Simple, Serene, and Stress-free Life by Francine Jay

5 — In writing about this week's illustrated journal prompts, I was thinking about the importance (to me) of the personal documentation, the journaling, and the daily notes in my journal. I come to illustrated journaling as a space to combine my interest in graphic novels, cartoon art, sketchnoting, regular journaling, and, yes, portrait (and object) drawing. This example came up, and I am sharing it here since not everyone will click through to the new set of prompts. 

The Red Quill: One of my favorite inclusions in my recent pages is a comment, one I almost forgot. I jotted it down when my son said it a few weeks ago. At the time, I knew I wanted to record it in my journal, but I forgot until I saw that piece of paper again. While visiting another state to look at a graduate school, he saw a sign for a shop called The Red Quill. He was excited because he thought it might be a fountain pen shop. It was, instead, a tattoo parlor. It was a funny moment, a funny story from his trip, and a whimsical detail, the kind I love most. Personal moments like this make your journal your own. I know that any time I look back on this book and see that note (and those words), it will make me smile.

6 — We are in Week 1 of reading Write for Life. It’s not too late to join in, even if just because you would like to make a habit of doing a bit of journaling each morning. If you are reading along and want a very simple printable you can use to track the elements of each week, let me know. 

7 — The Illustrate Your Week prompts for Week 14 are available. This week, there are so many things on the calendar that might be fun to include on your pages! Note: There are additional prompts in the prompt set posted here on the substack this week. Have fun!

Thank you for sharing part of Sunday with me. I would love to hear what you enjoyed or what memory any of this sparked for you. There have been a tumble of memories recently, and dipping back in time and drawing some of those things can be really meaningful and thought-provoking.