I have had this ideas for YEARS, and have always known how bad an idea it was.

Those huge snow jumps I remember as a kid? I’m sure they were more like this.

Oh, and hey, “Little Dee and the Penguin” got a starred review from Kirkus! How cool is that! Let me tell you, pretty dang cool.

Never stand in front of the train of earnest enthusiasm.

We are creatures full of contradictions. Which is why it’s fun to put that quality on animals too.

Oh, and apparently the strips got a wee bit out of order. Sledding and then first snowflake? Sorry!

I love the pristine quiet of winter, as well as being the one who stomps the first path.

How can one keep up war when hot chocolate is being profferred?

in his defense, it is a bummer when it’s simply slushy: not pretty and not fun, but cold.

I love jokes like this, that write themselves. I originally had him hitting Blake with a snow shovel because the thin light metal has a good “twang” noise to it. And then I was thinking, well, Ted would take it away from him (for using it meanly) — and it occurred to me that nobody really WANTS a snow shovel, they merely NEED them to do grueling work, so it would be pleasurable to give it up.

Ah, i adore writing.

Too often I have found myself being “moral,” and then in the same situation understanding the challenge. Although, for Vachel, I’mnot sure that saying “no” is much of a challenge.

I always thought snow angels looked like an angel had fallen from the sky, which seemed kinda morbid. Now, as an adult, I have more perspective: maybe they had merely been napping.