A darling cat, smaller than drawn here, has showed up at Billy's and was living by the pool.  Now he has gone from feeding her to cossetting her every time he goes outside, much to the amusement of his friends.  Billy loves cats and makes much of them, just like he feels about his friends.  Her name is Patches.  Randy Rabbit is ignoring the glorious day over the Gulf of Mexico and is watching Breaking Bad through the window, and both of these guys are 3 sheets to the wind before noon. Just another day around the hutch.

The Plague.  Arnold Bocklin, 1898. Our next stop is...    ...Isle of the Dead, 1883, third version.  Arnold Bocklin, the original party animal. Isle of the rich dead , more like.  All the rest of us go to the Everglades of the dead.  Oh, and this hung in the Obersalzberg after being acquired by that madcap Austrian art fan, A. Hitler.  Liberated from the Reich Chancellery,  1945. Vosh y Smert, Lice and Death.  The next line says Droogya - friends, and I can't read the rest.  Or I don't feel like it, same thing.  Oh, wait, here we are- Lice And Death Are Friends!  (They taint our lives, Lice and Death are sworn brothers!  Eliminate lice, the spreaders of disease!  Russian civil war era poster, 1919).  The artist is O. Grin, who spent 8 years in a camp after being accused of anti-Soviet activities.    German version. Pope Formosus and Stephen VII.  Jean-Paul Lau...

Billy is hard to live with, he knows that better than anyone.  His good and bad halves are disgusted with him tonight. But the cats love him as long as he breaks out the treats, no matter what. (The earring Billy and the two imaginary rabbits are wearing is the Golden Fishhook.  This was what Quintius Fabius Maximus, the Delayer, told everyone what fighting unnecessary battles was.  Nothing, he said, you can catch is worth the loss of that fishhook.  By avoiding a collision with Hannibal and harassing him at every opportunity he retrieved the situation when all seemed lost.  His motto was 'Hasten Slowly'. Billy doesn't know a damn thing about winning or even competing but he reads lots and lots of stories.  That's what you do in waiting rooms, and his bus is way behind schedule). Festina Lente

MajestiCat A Common Story Steve Davis on Instagram

Bernard Kliban, 1935 - 1990

Dragons are getting hard to find.

Haman Recognizes His Fate by Rembrandt, painted between 1648 and 1655, and a sorry-ass piece of work if there ever was one. Tonight we celebrate Purim, which runs until tomorrow night. Haman planned to kill all the Jews in Persia because Mordecai refused to bow to him, the king's new wife Esther asks Haman and the king to a banquet, she tells the king she is Jewish, Haman gets hung from a 50 cubit gallows that was meant for Mordecai, Mordecai gets the prime minister job formerly held by Haman, then the Jews in Persia preempt their enemies and kill 75,000 of them. Haman had cast lots, purim, to determine the date of the slaughter. Purim is celebrated by the reading of the book of Esther, the Megillah, all of it, therefore the Whole Megillah, with a festive meal, alms for the poor, and food gifts to friends. Costumes are worn. The name of God is not specifically mentioned in the book of Esther, but he's there all right! When Haman's name is read out loud...