I felt I had to post something today because it is the one-year anniversary of my first post on The Lonely Meatball. I began my blog to help get me through this depressing period in all our lives, the Covid 19 Pandemic.
In October, the other important anniversary I’ve had during the pandemic is my Silver Wedding Anniversary. Nathan and I weren’t able to travel as we had hoped for this “milestone”, but we had our dear friends, Laurie and Jim, over for dinner, and they took this picture of us in my husband’s shop.
Had it not been for the pandemic, I probably wouldn’t have considered blogging. WD Fyfe actually gave me the idea, along with some guidance, and so I thank him especially. When I began the blog, I had a stash of old poems that had been sitting in a drawer for a few decades, and I hadn’t written a children’s poem in about 17 years. Now, I’m back to writing them because I do want to maintain the blog. It also feels good to be writing again.
My weird little illustrations are something I started because I had been told that “graphics” add to a post. They’re fun for me to draw and I’ve rediscovered that I love colouring. My ability to draw, as you can see, is limited, and it was likewise limited when I was a child. However, I would sit for hours and draw pictures of a fashion model duck, named “Klukes”. Why I called her that, I will never know, but I do know why she was a highly “stylized” duck — I couldn’t draw human faces well enough to satisfy my “standards” so I went with the duck.
Klukes had the body of a curvaceous woman as well as a fantastic head of hair. Her face was always in profile so you could see her incredibly long eyelash (I assume there were more) on the one bizarrely large eye you were able to see. (Remember, she was in profile consistently.) When I think about it, the one thing that truly set her apart from a human form was her beak. However, if a beak can be pouty, it was. As I recall, she had no neck. Being a fashion model, she was always in a fabulous outfit, and I would color those outfits joyfully. Her dress or skirt was long because little girls love long dresses. She had various hairdos as well. Without fail, there was a story running in my head, page after page, as I drew Klukes, and I loved her and those hours spent with her. One of my regrets in life is that I threw out all those old notepads full of Klukes. She does live in my memory, however, and so I have drawn her for you.
Ultimately, I do thank you for following and/or visiting my blog in the last year, and thank you especially for leaving comments and “likes”. Your readership has meant a great deal to me in what I know has been a challenging time for us all.
The Lonely Meatball 
Good job on the anniversary, both the blog and the wedding. I’m glad you sound like you are going to continue the blog.
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Thanks, Herb. Blogging really does add a whole new dimension to life because you enter into a community of lovely people, and you definitely are a prominent voice in that community for me.
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Happy blogoversary, and long may you continue. I love your poems and accompanying illustrations. I think you may have to recreate all of the adventures of Klukes. There’s a book in there somewhere!
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Thank you, Peter. You’ve absolutely made my day. With regards to Klukes — I don’t remember any of the story lines, but I think they mostly revolved around clothes and going places in clothes, and I don’t think “conflict” had any place in the plots. A fashion model duck would probably be hard to sell to most readers. 😊
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Belated Happy Anniversary to you and the hubby, and Happy Blogoversary!
You are a much more talented ‘people’ artist than I am. I never got past stick figures!
I agree that blogging has been an immensely helpful way to keep in touch people. While family and friends are wonderful, they tend to be inconsistent in ‘supporting’ a blogger. Fellow bloggers are much better at that!
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Bloggers are definitely a supportive group. And thank you!
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Congratulations on your anniversaries!
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Thank you, Petra.😊
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Hey! Talk about a coincidence! Your fashionable duck has my same name! The whole thing kinda reminds me of my own childhood fascination with Katy Keene–more specifically, with drawing great clothes for my KK paper dolls.
So that is you in the photo, huh? I’d always pictured you as a redhead. So is your DH super tall, or are you just really short? Or is it a little of both?
Anyhow, congrats on BOTH anniversaries!
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That’s weird about the name, but I guess you’re right. The height thing is a little of both. And thank you!
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Total congrats on your first year. Without you knowing it you’ve written a book of poetry. Thanks for the shout out but all I did was say “Do it” and you did it. Again congrats!
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Your encouragement helped, no question.
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Thanks but you’re the one who did it. cheers
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I am so happy for your milestones!!!! BTW I would love to read a book on Klukes! I never realized you did all of your own illustrations! I love your style and your accompanying words. I am glad writing has become prominent again in your life….thats a silver lining in the pandemic. I hope you to continue to write and draw, all your creations are so creative and amazing!!!!!!
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Thank you so much. It’s nice to be writing children’s poetry again, and I am having fun with the illustrations. I don’t think there’ll be a Klukes book, but she did make my childhood much more fun. (It was all about the clothes with her. 😊)
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