In recent years I have maintained a somewhat strict policy as regarding those awards that other bloggers hand out to recognize their compatriots in the bloggosphere. And that policy is this: DON’T DO IT!!!! But recently, someone who obviously did not know this policy gave me one of those darn awards. Being the bear that I am, I’m making an exception on my zero tolerance policy for a special reason. I’ve known Becky, over at Dark Food to Die For, since she was a teenager. I know her sister. I know her parents. I know all their dogs. I know the dogs they had before they had these dogs.

In other words, we have some history, and it’s been a really fun one. Anyone care for some Potato Dilly Bobs? (Okay, that was an inside joke and I’m not going to explain it, but, Kate, if you’re reading this, I hope you didn’t spew coffee all over your phone.)

The other reason I have decided to accept this award, if maybe not complying with ALL the requirements is this: Becky is smart, talented, and creative. She’s worked hard to perfect several creative careers in a world where the rules of engagement keep changing, and yet she keeps going. Plus she’s cute as a bug, like the rest of the members of her family. So, go check at her blog at Dark Food to Die For. Who knows what you may be inspired to do in your kitchen?

But before I comply with some of the rules, (because pandas are rebels, you know) Here is today’s panda-toon, because I know you are going, okay…can we dispense with the warm fuzzy memories of you and your little friends and get on with some panda satire????? 

The Portrait of Dorian Grey is probably the most parodied trope in literature, probably because it’s so irresistible. My favorite is in The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde, which I have read countless times. Go read it. I’ll still be here.

Okay, so back to this award thingie.
Rule #1: Acknowledge the blogger that inflicted bestowed this award on you. Thanks a bunch Becky…no really! Check!
Rule #2: Answer the 7 questions that they have provided for you: Okay, here goes:

1. What is the most recent food photo you took with your phone and why? : Um…I don’t do that. I think it’s weird when people do that. So sue me.
2. Tell me about your most vivid dream.: I had a couple vivid dreams this past week and I am TOTALLY not going to tell you about the first one, but the second one had a tiger roaming my neighborhood and I had to get myself and my cat (the lately departed Mehitabel) into the house, before it ate us. I realized that my phone was in a different house, so I could not call for rescue. I have no idea what this means, but I remembered the tiger when I woke up. Also that the litter box needed cleaning, but there was no way I was going out there with a tiger running loose.
3. What is your favorite monster movie?: I don’t really have a favorite monster movie, but there were some really scary monsterish villains in Kung Fu Panda 3. does that count?
4. Tell me about your best summer ever.: Boy, this is kind of a hard one. If I can count the spring that went before it, (and why the heck can’t I?) It would be the year I spent spring semester at the Delaware Water Gap National Park at an independent art program with 8 other students and various visiting faculty. I think that was the experience that solidified my dedication to painting. Second favorite summer was my first time at Jack Beal and Sondra Freckelton’s workshop in Oneonta NY with about 25 other phenomenally talented painters.
5. If you were trapped on an island for a year and could only have 3 things with you…what would those 3 things be?: Obviously an inexhaustible supply of cuppycakes, a permanently charged iPad, ( with internet connection) and a panda to keep me company.
6. Quick:  Cats or dogs?  Why?: Aren’t pandas and option? If not, then cats. And if you have to ask why, you don’t know cats very well.
7. What do you know now as a blogger that you wish you knew when you first started?: Well, I’m not sure what I wish I knew, but I can tell you what really surprised me: that I would make so many genuine connections with people who read my ‘toons, and that some of them have become actual in real life friends. That is completely awesome and amazing.

So before I get around to naming names, here are my seven questions:

1. If you could be an animal, which one would you be?
2. What kind of cuppycake are you, and why?
3. If you could change any event in the history on people on earth, what would you chose?
4. What is your favorite city (other than the one you live in) that you have visited?
5. What children’s book did you read as a child that you still love?
6. If you knew you only had one year to live, what would you do?
7. What do you wish you had done in your life that you have not?

So, before I list the blogs that I am saddling with all these things to do bestowing this award and my admiration upon, let me just say that any of these bloggers may not wish to participate in the whole award thingie, and that’s fine by me. I just want to recognize some of the blogs that I read regularly and think that you might enjoy them too.

https://vsomethingspeaks.wordpress.com/ Vicky is a fellow pandaholic that found me through Pandas International. We’ve been working on a project together for a while, and while it is as yet unrealized, I hope it will be published someday.

https://wronghands1.com John Atkinson writes hilarious one panel comics that are smart, funny, with puns that make you groan in admiration. He follow my blog early on, which is how I discovered his comics. I don’t know if he still checks in on the pandas, but I think he’s one of the best cartoonists working today.  He really doesn’t need this award, because he has lots of people following him,  but I just wanted to say, “You’re swell, John!” Plus he’s Canadian and…um…I might need to go there.

http://www.savagechickens.com is another really widely read comic, with chickens, and sometimes cats, doing funny,  snarky things. I love these ‘toons.

http://justoutsidetheboxcartoon.com/apples-and-oranges/ Another last minute I just remembered addition. I knew there was someone else I wanted to include on this post! Good thing I was checking my email! More smart, funny stuff from the land on the other side of the globe!

http://theartofnotgettingpublished.blogspot.com One of the things I love about this blog and blogger, is that like me, she’s one of the no longer a spring chicken who is trying to get traditionally published in the kid-lit arena. I also like that she is smart and funny and…um…politically on the same side of the fence as I am. So sue me. Wait, don’t!  Because she has a responsible grown-up job, she doesn’t always blog on a regular schedule, but I’m always excited to see one of her posts in my email box and always read it.

https://booksaroundthetable.wordpress.com This blog is the forum for five writers and/or illustrators of books for children. It’s always interesting and has shown me some great art as well. Not to mention I learned that I could go see original drawings from Winnie the Pooh at the Victoria and Albert Museum, from a series of posts here.

http://mynameisyeh.com Okay, Molly Yeh definitely does NOT need my endorsement, and with her schedule certainly does not have time to answer my dumb questions. But I have a serious fan girl crush on her and her life, (not in a creepy way, of course) or maybe it’s just all the CAKES she bakes and takes photos of for her blog. I’m not really sure how I first stumbled on her blog, but if you are a fan of food blogs and goshwejusthavesuchafunlifeandlook!here’saCAKE!!! kind of photos, you will fall in love with Molly and her blog. Did I mention CAKE? She also has a new cookbook out, with recipes that I can actually make and also liberal use of the “F” word, which may be a first for any cookbook I have ever seen. And oh yeah, CAKE!!!! You know how pandas feel about cake.

Well, I think that’s it for me and this whole award thing. Just don’t do it again.

Panda On
Bob T Panda