July 19: Henry Fussy, Billy Collins, "Feedback," New Cartoon

Dr. Dorian closed his eyes again and went into deep thought.  "Henry Fussy," he mumbled.  "Hmm.  Remarkable.  Well, I don't think you have anything to worry about.  Let Fern associate with her friends in the barn if she wants to.  I would say, offhand, that spiders and pigs were fully as interesting as Henry Fussy.  Yet I predict that the day will come when even Henry will drop some chance remark that catches Fern's attention.  It's amazing how children change from year to year.  How's Avery?" he asked, opening his eyes wide.

Mrs. Arable is worried about Fern.  Fern spends all her time in the Zuckerman barn, talking with animals, and Mrs. Arable thinks there is something abnormal about her attachment to Wilbur and company.  Dr. Dorian is able to quell Mrs. Arable's fears.  Fern is a normal little girl, he assures Mrs. Arable, and, pretty soon, Fern will lose interest in livestock and turn her attentions elsewhere.  Toward Henry Fussy, for instance.

My daughter is leaving to Bible Camp tomorrow afternoon.  My wife and I just spent the evening packing our daughter's suitcase, making shopping lists, filling out medical forms.   We had to buy her a new sleeping bag this year.  She's had her old one since third grade, I believe.  It was a little small.  My daughter is really excited to go.

It's really a blessing that she's so independent.  She makes friends easily, and everyone loves her.  What's not to love?  She's funny, smart, compassionate.  Oh, she's really pretty, too.  She's been texting one boy from Bible Camp since last summer.  I'm not too keen on all the Henry Fussys that are going to be sniffing around the girls, but that's part of the allure, I guess.

I'm really happy that she's going to be spending a week with good, spiritual people.  She looks forward to it all year long.

Tonight is the last night of my week of positivity.  Therefore, I will wait to discuss the fact that I received a rejection notice from a publisher.  I submitted my new poetry manuscript to them about a month ago.  It didn't take too long to get the "Thanks, but no thanks" e-mail.  But I'm not going to talk about it, because I'm happy and thankful tonight.  I'll save angry and bitter for tomorrow.

I chose a Billy Collins poem for you guys and gals this evening.  It's from his collection Horoscopes for the Dead.  Hope it makes you chuckle.

It made Saint Marty laugh out loud.

Feedback

by:  Billy Collins

The woman who wrote from Phoenix 
after my reading there

to tell me they were all still talking about it

just wrote again
to tell me that they had stopped.

Confessions of Saint Marty