Thoughts, sketches, nature—who knows what else!
I can guarantee there will be cat content though.
August 2026
I was in some mild pain with my knee but with lots of breaks I was able to make it through the trip! I think I was just generally stressed about finishing my comic about Muta (whose birthday is coincidentally the same day as our anniversery) and applying for Seattle Short Run Comix Festival (EDIT: I got in!!).
Figuring out how to paint while backpacking is interesting. I didn’t want to lug water or dump anything so I just used a water paintbrush and mopped everything up with a paper towel. It kept things tidy but I also liked how the set up prevented me from overworking things (though I certainly tried).
The next morning we woke up to a bunch of smoke from wildfires. We made it out of there and back to Portland just before the AQI really turned bad.
Middle of August I came out of retirement (lol) to play in a tournament with my team last year, Porch Bears. I only played for one day but I was so happy to run around pain free! Being in chronic pain takes such a mental toll and it was really nice to play and be present. I love frisbee and I don’t know how much I can keep it up, but if there are stretches of being pain free like this, I think I will try to play as my body is able. Retirement is hard when you’re having fun.
Also Porch Bears won the tournament! We won last year too so it was awesome to get back to back wins. Yay Bears!
July 2026
Without frisbee I have a lot more time so I’m taking advantage of the new free time and the PNW summer to go out more. I was invited by a couple of friends to do an overnighter in the Mount Margaret backcountry, which is in the blast zone of Mount St. Helens in Washington.
The trip itself was quite arduous (13+ miles in one day, 10 the next), especially for something that I didn’t really train for and jumped into, but I had good company and the views were spectacular. Mountains, wildflowers, berries—I’m going back in August because I couldn’t get enough!
The only downside about the trip is that I lugged a small watercolor kit, but I was unable to paint at all because we got to camp at midnight hahaha. Next time...
June 2026
I will kick start this blog page with a summary of June. It was a busy month with not a lot of art unfortunately but I did squeeze some in towards the end. Most of my time was spent preparing for the World Masters Ultimate Club Championships (WMUCC) at the end of June in Nottingham, UK. I played on Portland’s Grandmasters Womens team Glamour Shots, and we placed 5th (held seed). The tournament was a week long and most of the team stayed in the dorms at the University of Nottingham so we started affectionately calling our time there “frisbee camp.” The food was pretty sucky but it did serve its purpose. And food aside, it was a really fun trip!
I padded my time before and after Nottingham with a few days in London. I got to see some friends and I also went to the small but very nice Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration. It was very inspiring to see Quentin Blake’s work up close and it got me wanting to draw (which has been a challenge these days). I was only really familiar with Blake’s work in the Roald Dahl books and I didn’t realize how prolific of an illustrator he was or that he loved to draw birds so much. Beautiful work!