Featherbottom - 180

Featherbottom - 179

OK, I hate giving up!! After deciding to dump Featherbottom, I'm back in the ring to take another swing (as AC/DC sang). And I'm back to the single pane format. I think where I went wrong last time was in getting too tied to the concept of Featherbottom being an investment banker. Most other single pane cartoonists don't put such limitations on themselves. Now Featherbottom is completely freestyle, which gives me a much wider scope to create gags. Also, I've decided to simply the artwork even more. Here's the first attempt with this new concept... 

Mount Granier and the vineyards of Savoie

Last day of our long trekking weekend in Savoie. We drove back through the vineyards of Savoie, in the shadow of mount Granier - a mountain that we can see all the way from Lyon on a clear day. Here we were right up against it. Oh yes, we also picked up some bottles of Savoie wine from the gold-medal winning vineyard of the region (Domaine Philippe Chapot).

Valmeinier - Lac Curtalès

Second day of our trek in the hills of Valmeinier in Savoie region. Destination: Lac Curtalès. About 4 times the distance of Lac Vert (last post), through absolutely breathtaking scenery. The whole trip takes a good part of the day, and parts of it are risky (you can start a rock slide if you don't step carefully) and it's strenuous for out-of-shape middle aged folk like us. But the experience is memorable. For large parts, you have the experience of being alone in a rocky wilderness, especially if there aren't other hikers around - which there aren't because the crowds prefers the shorter and easier Lac Vert trek.

Valmenier - the green lake

This long 15 August weekend, Blandine and I took ourselves down to the nearby region of Savoie to trek in the hills of Valmenier. First Trek - destination "The Green Lake" (Le Lac Vert). So called because it glows emerald in the bright sunshine.

The Emu Farm - 3

The Emu Farm - 2

The Emu Farm - 1

Some years ago, Blandine and I were biking on the outskirts of Bangalore when we came across an Emu Farm on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border. The owner Mr. Diwakar Reddy was most welcoming and gave us lunch and a bag of mangoes from his garden and showed us around his farm where we made friends with the emus. To thank him for his hospitality, he not being computer savvy, I promised to set up a Facebook page for his farm, which I did the following weekend. Here it is: Facebook-DiwakarReddyEmuFarm

Anyhow, the years went by, the page gathered lots of followers but remained the way it was. Facebook kept reminding me to do something, but I hadn't any fresh photos to post. Recently, I had a bright idea. Why not post a weekly emu cartoon? Anyhow, I was getting rather fed up with the Featherbottom strip. It wan't going anywhere, and you guys don't seem to like it either.

So here it is, the first Emu Farm strip... I propose to do one every Sunday, if the inspiration keeps flowing. And only Sundays. Doing three strips a week is simply too tiring, now that I am a wage slave like everybody else. Ah, the good old days of being a penniless starving artist...

This first strip is exclusively in ENGLISH. I doubt this joke would work in French and German. I may add FRENCH and GERMAN versions from next week.