When I first wrote this I thought this was marvellously silly – but then when I came to draw it I realised I’d set myself the problem of having to render a rabbit playing a euphonium. I think I succeeded – I even let Scrumpy have a smile in the last frame.
Category / Smith
The rustle of spring
We’ve had a reprieve from the winter this weekend – on Saturday it was actually shirtsleeves weather. Winter is due to resume on Monday and will probably continue until June. At least the seasons in comic strips are a bit more predictable, and I can bring out Dave the parping daffodil for his annual appearance.
Polka dots
Cath Kidston is one of those girly things that this bloke just doesn’t understand. Our Cath has a range of boutiques in chi-chi locations selling inexpensive tat for vastly inflated prices, just because they have a polka dot pattern or a chintzy facsimile of a 1950s fabric print printed on them. It’s the same trick that Hollister pulls on clothes that would normally be found in Walmart, only this seems to be aimed at a generation of young people who want to pretend they’re living in a Ladybird Book.
The spider and the ‘fraidy cat
Fight or flight
Billy and Bella will spend an entire day prowling around something on a wall, mewing at it to some down and trying to work out if they can pounce up at it. The thing in question invariably turns out to be a picture hook.
Living on the ceiling
This kind of practical joke is so much easier if you have claws.
This will be the last cat tree strip for a bit – it’s finally starting to get a bit warmer so the cats can go outside and play in real trees again.
Doing a Jeffy
I always liked those Family Circus cartoons where Jeffy would go out for a wander and you could follow the dotted line to see what his doings were. This is the cat equivalent – it’s a bit more acrobatic that Jeffy could ever manage, but what the hey? I’ve seen Bella chase her own tail up and down the cat tree much like this – it’s like a competition to find the longest distance between two points.
The curse of ears
Pounce
Sometimes a drawing comes flowing out of your pen that is just right. Panel 4 is one such drawing. That’s a T-shirt contender. I also had fun in the first three panels depicting Smith’s expression using just the eyes.
…and repeat
Just a record of standard cat behaviour. Bella’s favourite game, once she’s tired of chasing her mouse up and down every level of the cat tree, is to place her mouse directly behind one of the posts and then try to catch it by pouncing at the post with her front legs splayed either side of it. If she doesn’t make it difficult for herself it’s not worth doing.