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Thursday, July 27, 2006

The Cat is possessed.

I'm just about ready to mail the completed manuscripts out to the publisher in Boston. They asked for two hard copies and one disc with the illustrations; to be on the safe side, I provided two of the latter.
All I need is one more permissions slip and it's off to the printers we go.
There were some typos to correct; all Disney films have to have their titles spelled out in their entirety, (SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS instead of just SNOW WHITE--this was a reasonable request from Disney, and when proofing the book I found a few mistakes at the very last minute. Fortunately computer editing makes them easy to remove and correct.)
I was working on the dining room table. It has always provided the best workspace for me since the animation desk really can't handle two large binders simultaneously.
The windows were open. This is one of the few parts of the USA not baking in triple digit temperatures. Some discarded pages were blown onto the floor. I then heard a familiar fluttering paper sound that didn't come from the wind.
Gizmo the cat was standing on two pieces of paper and lifting and lowering the top one with her paw. Repeatedly.
So this is no ordinary cat.
This is a cat who chews on animation pencils, is fascinated by the desk, pats the animation disc with her paw, and now flips 'drawings'. She's obviously the reincarnation of a female animator. And it is clear that she has been misnamed. What should I call her? Mary Blair? Retta Scott? Lillian Astor? LaVerne Harding? Casey Kissane? Faith Hubley? Lotte Reiniger?
I'll stick with Gizmo for now but I'm open to suggestions for a name change.

My illustration job continues and I'm pleased with the color work. The client is too, which is always a nice coincidence.

I went with a friend to the Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum of Play, which has just added a butterfly conservatory to its acres of kid-friendly stuff. It made me long to be three feet high again.
The conservatory only allows you in for a twenty minute walkabout with the butterflies. Most of the loveliest ones had 'common' in their names. I hope that this is true since so many are going extinct.

Then it was back to the house and the crazy cat.

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