Steampunk Temporal Thursdays comic page of adventurers — AI art by @CaylaCatz
@CaylaCatz · 9/24/2026
Entry in the The Love of Felines! theme on BudgetPixel.
Tea with Alice and the Cheshire Cat Special Guests: Robert Drayton, Polly Vaughn and Larry Strange from The Heads of Cerberus (1919) . Francis Stevens (Gertrude Barrows Bennett) wrote The Heads of Cerberus (1919). She is often called “the woman who invented dark fantasy.” This story involves characters inhaling a strange dust and being transported into parallel universes and an alternate future Philadelphia. This is one of the earliest female‑authored works dealing with interdimensional travel.
Comments
panos
HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!! That's awful! Hope it will be repaired soon! Well, first thing we saw as soon as we got in the yard in the village, with valises in hand, was that there was major damage in a part of the house. It appears that due to uncareful wotk done many years ago by my uncle and my father, made it unstable. Due to heavy rains this past winter there was a subsidence at the kitchen. (The village house is three buildings around a courtyard - main house, bathroom and kitchen) We were so happy to be there and suddenly a cold bucket of water in our faces. Repair work will be a major blow to our bank account - and I'm talking only for shoring it up so it won't collapse. Restoration to the damage will have to be at some later, unspecified time - if we ever find the money. No insurance for that house. Nobody does that for those old buildings. (It is my father's ancestral home - very old) As you can understand this poisoned our stay.
panos
The house is big, built around 1880. BUT, in 1l986, there was a big earthquake and half of it collapsed. after my grandmother died the house was was naturaly inherited in two parts, half my father, the other half my uncle. They literary decided who would get which, by taking a deck of cards and drawing the biggest card! The premise was that the one who got the falen down part would have to spend money to rebuild it, but at the end, he would have a brand new house and the other would have the very old one. The decided to choose by luck, so there would be no hard feelings afterwards. Mu father got to rebuild the fallen part. The problem was with the renovation of the outhouses (they were hosting animals there, donkeys, chickens, goats, rabbits) that they both converted to modern kitchens. It was there that my uncle an my father ordered unwise work, that had the seeds of what happened now.
panos
To tell you the truth we were kind of scared to go inside the kitchen. But we had to cook and we had to eat...As time passed we kind of got used to it. Fortunately the damage was only to the kitchen building. The main house and the bathroom had no damage at all. Thre was mo work while we stayd because when work starts we can't stay there, the whole courtyard wil have to be dug up. Yes, it was a great blow to see that just as we arrived. For the first 10 days we were in kind of a daze. There are state-spomsored programs for repairs but it was noit afordable. I will explain that: To get in the program we will have to get a state permit for building works and these cost. A lot. It will be more affordable to do it unofficialy, even without the program loan.
CaylaCatz
1880s is a good house, to me that's San Francisco houses. Here most houses are younger than 1950s as no one moved here until air conditioning was invented. I think outhouses must mean something different in Greek. In USA, it means those standalone outdoor shacks that are toilets just big enough to stand and sit in to keep the smell of poo out of the house. Basically they are just a big hole under the toilet. That doesn't sound big enough to hold donkeys, chickens, goats and rabbits, lol. So I think outhouses in Greek are outside houses away from the main house like a stable or a barn? That's an interesting way to split the house, playing cards. Hopefully the new workers you find will be better so your children won't have to deal with the work coming apart decades later.
CaylaCatz
wow! that's much worse than mine because no insurance to help. Was it livable enough for your stay? I know you had to stay for 2 months because of family. Were you able to repair it while you were there enough to restore it so that it's safer? That must have been so harsh to see when you were looking forward to your stay. It's sad that happened. Do they have programs to help pay to repair old houses? Houses are so much older in Europe than here so maybe they don't do that.
CaylaCatz
It sounds like a lot of work but you said it's been in your family for a long time so it probably carries a lot of family history. How old is it? I saw in an article that in Italy you can buy a house for 1 from countryside villages but I imagine they are old ancestral houses too that need a lot of work and money to fix them up. It's tough that it falls on you to fix it but it sounds like the house has a lot of meaning to your family. I hope the work goes smoothly.
CaylaCatz
Oh , it sounds like you will have to work on the building foundation. That's a lot. It's too bad the state program to help is expensive. It's lucky it's just to the kthcen although that's an important room. It sounds like it's going to be a lot of work. At least you found out about it this year before another winter so hopefully it won't get worse.
CaylaCatz
yeah, I can understand that. Half my roof blew off in a storm so I'm currently in a hotel while it's getting fixed. I'm not happy about it but it is what it is. At least the insurance is paying for the roof.
panos
Oh, yes, we were lycky it didn'r collapse. well, now there will be shoring up of the foundations and fill in with cement of the subsidence area. But reatoring the cracks in the walls... that will have to wait....
panos
Glad to be back, Cayla! Unfortunately, it was not so good. Things happened. I'll tell you about it shortly. But... I'm backl now! 🙂