Summer Holiday Comics
Comics from a holiday I took many years ago.
It’s summertime… time for holidays! This year, I haven’t ventured too far from home. But it’s still a holiday, since summertime is always my slow season for work. I’ve always enjoyed that. It’s nice to be able to take a break!
I’m back this week with more pages from my old drawing book, the sketchbook journal I kept in the late 90s and early 2000s. On our journey through the drawing book, it’s 1999 and it’s time for a holiday with a friend!
Holiday, Part 1
A few notes about some of the things mentioned on that page:
Who was James Dunn? A Halifax financier who had a university building (and a bunch of other buildings) named after him, thanks to donations from his wife, Lady Dunn, it seems.
The coffee shop where we sat, on Brunswick Street: I wrote “Steve-o-rama,” but it looks like it’s “Steve-O-Reno’s” - and to my delight, it looks like it’s still there, all these years later! Apologies to what must be a Halifax institution.
If memory serves, Steve-O-Reno’s was on a hill. This just reminds me of a recent video by Canadian comedy great Brittlestar, all about how hilly Halifax is. Yes, it is hilly.
And near the end of that page, my friend and I are talking about Alex Ross. Alex Ross was (and is, I think) the music critic of The New Yorker. He had just written an article about Bob Dylan, which is still online, but paywalled. Here’s the link in case you want to take a look.
And now, back to our travels…
That trip to Newfoundland was one of my favourite Canadian adventures - especially our road trip around the Avalon Peninsula. We felt a bit self-conscious about the fact that our rented car was a brand-new, shiny, golden vehicle that stood out in contrast to some of the rustic and faded heritage landmarks we encountered along the coast of the lonesome ocean. We called the car “The Golden Vanity,” a joke that Dylan fans should appreciate.
On that road trip, we saw a lot of caribou, which was cool! Of course, I can’t find any good photographs of them, but I did find this photo:
Sams River is located right near the southernmost tip of the Avalon Peninsula. That was a beautiful place!
Just one note about that previous page: I wrote that my friend made a “Noel Streatfield reference.” That showed me that my interests were rubbing off on her! Usually I was the one who rambled about Noel Streatfield, an excellent (though idiosyncratic) children’s book writer of years gone by. Her books are all probably out of print now, but she was famous enough to be mentioned the Hollywood movie You've Got Mail. Anyway, her YA fiction had a huge influence on me. I use commas the way I do, because of her (sometimes in defiance of her). For years, a quote from one of her books was painted on my kitchen wall. But I digress. If you want to know more about Noel Streatfield and my favourite book (at least… I don’t think it is, anymore, but it was for many years), you can take a look at an old blog post I wrote about her.
Holiday, Part 2
But my travels were far from over! I said goodbye to my friend and headed to England…
And then to Copenhagen (while grappling with some existential questions that made me think about the Crowded House song, “How will you go”)…
And then to Germany, a place I felt at home - especially when comparing it to the three most recent places I’d visited (apologies for my Newfie jokes)…
Just one note. The text on this last page, that is supposedly in Danish: I copied it from a music magazine I saw on the flight from Copenhagen to Cologne. I remember I noticed it because it mentioned Bob Dylan. But I didn’t know what it said. I just looked it up now, twenty-five years later.
First of all, it’s in Swedish! Who knew?? This was before the internet, folks (well, before its use became widespread. I didn’t have a “hotmail” account until a year after I wrote this comic). You couldn’t just look stuff up!
Anyway, what does it say?
“Vad sjunger du helst i duschen?”
“Yes-gitarristens hyllning till rock-varidens framsten rock-poet Bob Dylan!”
An online translation tool gives me this:
“What do you prefer to sing in the shower?”
“The Yes guitarist's tribute to the rock-variety rock-poet Bob Dylan!”
Hooray for the internet. Looks like “Yes” guitarist Steve Howe released an album called “Portraits of Bob Dylan” in 1999… exactly the time I was on this holiday! I found the first track online, a cover of Dylan’s “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.” Enjoy!
What a civilized way to end this crazy voyage. Thanks for coming along with me. Wishing you happy holidays, wherever you are. May all your voyages end well!