Happy New Year!

Charlotte insisted that my first blog post of the year feature her in a pretty new dress, so here she is at the awards ceremony last night. (No, she didn’t win, but she did get to spend the evening curled up on various celebrities’ laps—Mirren, Clooney, Spielberg, etc.)

Ten points to anyone who gets Daisy Mouse’s “snood” reference, by the way. (Give up? It’s from White Christmas, of course!)

And speaking of Christmas, I hope everyone out there had a wonderful holiday—fun, festive, peaceful, restful. Mine was spent very happily in cold, wintry Wisconsin, with my dog-niece and -nephew, Molly and Ranger (and Giselle, our mouse-maid, who came along for the cheese).

I emailed Dad this quick doodle from there on New Year’s Eve—some “virtual chicken soup” until I could get home and make him the real thing. (A few days before, he’d caught that nasty flu bug that’s been going around, poor fellow.)

Actually, Molly and Ranger really did get to eat steak while I was visiting—about 4 times. (Sorry, Sis.)

On New Year’s Day, we all met back up in Chicagoland—my sister and her family, Dad and me, to celebrate Dad’s 85th birthday over pancakes. Here he is, through the ages. (Lookin’ good, Pop!)

Molly and Ranger were not able to join us, but phoned in their best wishes nonetheless. (See below.)

I hope everyone is having a really great new year so far, and is staying busy, happy and well! Look forward to visiting with you on here again real soon. (I’m hoping to do more frequent, if briefer, posts for a while, in order to circulate more of the looser cat doodles I leave on Dad’s breakfast table each morning. We’re drowning in ’em, so may as well share—eh?)

 Meanwhile, Happy New Year, Happy Monday, and have a great week, everyone!