And Doug’s finally chewed beyond repair the hedgehog we bought him for his adoption anniversary:

He had a clever squeaker cap attached to a pleasingly crunchy water bottle inside, so I salvaged that and made a new toy — an abominable critter, which contains a squeaky Dr. Pepper bottle into which I placed the trimmed bit of a “calming scent” collar (not that it ever worked). So this toy not only resembles an animal, it also squeaks and makes a smell!

…And looks ghastly, I know.

My sketchbook is so small — which I like, but some things make no sense in just four panels.

Today is Mom and Dad’s anniversary, so I felt like Mom and I should do something — just so she’s not on her own. We’re going to the Exhibition, the local end-of-summer fun fair. I don’t want to see the farm animals and she doesn’t want to go on the rides, yet I’m looking forward to it anyway!

A reckoning of intellect and imagination is coming: Technology has a capacity to displace the centre where locate ourselves, and in my own life as a creative person I find that dangerous. If the unexamined life is not worth living, the avoided one is doubly so.

I hope to figure this out for myself, because I’m not finding the answers I need out in the world — and perhaps that isn’t possible.