Sketch book cover and early drawing from August 2014. The book was filled by August 2015.

Even before we ordered, Jennie would usually draw the beginnings of a complex pattern in one or two colors. Some times she would foil me by quickly drawing in as many different colors as she could before handing me the sketchbook.   If she had drawn curvy lines, then I would draw straight. If she drew circles I would draw squares, boxing in her circles. She would decorate my squares with squiggly lines. If she drew magenta lines, then I would draw green. When I tried to block the flow of her lines, she would boldly cover my lines with more aggressive marks.

By the time breakfast arrived the page was usually filled with our competing marks. I almost always conceded. When at the end of summer our Sunday sketchbook became filled, we began a larger one. But her first marks were no longer abstract squiggly lines, she had drawn a pony with large eyes and flowing mane. I looked admiringly at the picture but did not draw on the page.