Paula’s Positivity-Packed Post, Part 1
—or P4, Part 1, for Those of Us Who Like to Abbrev.
I have juuuust a hunch that many (most? all?) of us could use an extra dose (or two or three) of positivity this week—so today’s post is packed with lots of positivity including my art (of course), comics, a book recommendation and a positive website!
🎨 Reasons for Me to Get Out of Bed in the Morning
In 2020, as a response to COVID and lockdowns, I created this art to celebrate some of the little things I enjoy in life.
📖 Book Nook
If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “Gee, I think I’d enjoy creating art, but I don’t know where to start, or what to draw, or what materials I need”—then boy, howdy, do I have a book to recommend: Draw Your Day: An Inspiring Guide to Keeping a Sketch Journal by Samantha Dion Baker.
Baker is an artist who keeps a (beautiful!) sketch journal celebrating the little things in life—the everyday things that make up an ordinary life. She writes with a friendly and encouraging voice and clearly explains how to start your own sketch journal, provides lists of suggestions for things to draw, recommends art materials to start out with, and shares her step-by-step process for creating sketch journal pages including inspiring examples of her own sketch journal pages.
I recently read this book (twice—because I enjoyed it so much!) and it’s one of the best how-to art books I’ve read in a long time. Baker’s enthusiasm for drawing everyday objects and “ordinary days” certainly is contagious! As she writes:
“There is always something to draw, no matter where you live or what you do.”
- Samantha Dion Baker
By the way, you might enjoy Baker’s blog as well.
😃 Action for Happiness
Every morning at breakfast I look at the Action for Happiness website, which provides a daily suggestion for a simple action to take that can help increase happiness. For example, a recent Action for Happiness was “Remind yourself that things can change for the better.”
Action for Happiness has many resources on its website including videos and podcasts. I highly recommend looking at their Calendar page with its daily suggestion and their 10 Keys to Happier Living. The Action for Happiness app provides these same simple daily actions plus other inspiring messages and connection to a like-minded community.
🐛 The Continuing Continuation of the Q Continuum
If you’re new to my blog, welcome! I’m glad you’re here, and FYI, the “Q” in “Q Continuum” stands for the Queen Butterflies that Hubby & I monitor in our yard. If you’ve subscribed to my blog for a while, then I’m sure you remember my photo comic in last week’s post, in which I showed a Queen Butterfly larva (caterpillar) contemplating a Queen Butterfly pupa (chrysalis, a.k.a. cozy sleeping bag). Our first Queen pupa of 2025 has been such a great role model for our other Queen larvae that I’ve given it the nickname The Influencer. Here’s a photo from this past week of three more of our Queen larvae in their pre-pupation “J” shape.
Fast forward a few days…we now have four Queen Butterfly chrysalises, all on the same Desert Milkweed plant—the largest number of chrysalises we’ve had all at once! 🎉 Here are the three “J”s from above, transmogrified into chrysalises.
In an homage to Sesame Street, today’s Paula Borchardt ~ Visual Storyteller is brought to you by the letter J and by the number 4.
We still have five more larvae that need to get with the program and pupate. I continue to encourage them (whispering “PYOOOOOOOOpaaaaate!”), but with nighttime temps in the 20s, I know it’s a challenge for them!
💭 Comics Corner
This Speed Bump comic totally explains why we shouldn’t expect to see any Queen Butterflies emerge anytime soon! 😆
I’ll wrap up with a relevant and hopefully inspiring quote:
"With any question of justice, the big picture can feel overwhelming. At those times, I have almost always found it helpful to zoom in, to focus on the same problem at a smaller, more manageable scale. I may not be able to save the zebras and the leopards, but I can help save the zebra swallowtail butterflies and the giant leopard moths. I can do that, at least in my own small yard, by nurturing the host plants they need to reproduce. Making a discernible, measurable difference to my wild neighbors is an act of resistance, too."
- Margaret Renkl
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What a gift you are!
<3