I don’t have a lot of time this morning, but I did want to post something, as service here has been spotty lately. I’m not sure my subconscious wasn’t at work when I chose today’s classic A&J. I’ve been fighting with my computer lately, plus the mockingbirds have begun their seasonal concert. Except, in reality, they sing about 3 a.m. For hours. I actually have gone downstairs in the middle of the night to flush one from the camellia bush below my bedroom window. I didn’t kill him, but I did scare the bejeebers out of him. Is that a sin?
The Mockingbird’s Shrill
By Jimmy Johnson
Recent Posts
Ghost of Christmas Past
This holiday Arlo & Janis comic strip from 2022 is similar in concept to the new strip that ran yesterday. I thought the latter ...
Spearhead
I have produced a number of comic strips related to Veteran’s Day. Especially in latter years, I have tried to emphasize the universal experience ...
Dark Passage
Remember: it’s that weekend. The return to standard time can be a bit of a shock in the late afternoon, but I rather enjoy ...
What’s old is old, again
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build a web site, but there are similarities. Everything needs to be just right, or ...
Back to the ol’ drawing board
I don’t have a lot of time this morning. I wasn’t going to post anything, but I’m tired of looking at that old photograph ...
Thursday’s Child
On Sunday, I teased you with the suggestion there are more changes coming here. There are. They will appear soon, and I think you’ll ...
413 responses to “The Mockingbird’s Shrill”
Granny, Truely risen! Loon verified.
Jackie, I am so sorry to read that you’ve lost such a good friend. I can only imagine how devastated you are right now, but in time, it will pass and you will be able to be cheerful again.
If you’re still feeling down tomorrow morning, be sure to eat a good, hearty breakfast because low blood sugar isn’t going to help you recover. Have what I’m having today: Huevos Rancheros. Two heated corn tortillas topped with chili (no beans, please) a pair of fried eggs and some salsa. Garnish with cheese and onions and enjoy. Hot sauce optional.
🙂 Thanks, sand!
Sand, in that case my pet whisperer has a free pass past Go and a lifetime card not to go to jail.
Thanks, Sideburns, Wilma had terrible low blood sugars and she got pneumonia down working and caring for my pets. Her death is a good example to take care of myself. She always put others first, me foremost among them.
Jackie, I think I forfeited both back when… ASFAD. By the way, does anyone know what became of Mindy and John?
Yet again, Jackie, I’m sorry for your loss. I’m thankful that your friend was an inspiration to you in life and even more so that she will set an example for you now that her life has ended. I know how heartbreaking it is to lose a friend, but try to remind yourself, as I do, that the last thing departed friends would want is for us to be saddened by their passing.
sand, Symply may know about Mindy et al. I believe he had a back channel to them at one time.
Sorry Jackie… prayers for you and her other loved ones.
Gal, Wilma had us, the daughter i helped steal cats for and that was about it. I have a very dear friend I love very much who in discussing mortality said you begin to think about who would hold your hand as you drew your last breath. I only wish I had broken into her trailer last night when I wanted to because I could have done that for her.And I would have and held her close.
In discussing mortality and death, I have to say it is the reason I sign my name with love, Jackie Monies, and I kiss friends and acquaintances. Not because I am a Southern woman but because I lost so many friends in the 1980s and I might see them and the next week they were gone and I never got the chance again.
Love, Jackie
Evan: Arlo is a good ornithologist and is likely right about what the birds were saying in 2007: http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2007/04/09 . Sex rules!
I’ve had little experience with mockingbirds. Saw some in NY’s Dutchess Co. [yes, speelczech, that is how you spell that co. 60 m. N of NYC], but just in passing. When I was at a workshop at UNC Chapel Hill, I saw one fly into a large dense shrub, and immediately heard TWO “robins” squabbling in there. Neat.
The neat but improbable thing / the bird mocking Arlo is that it knows wings are homologous to human arms, so it mocks Arlo’s typing motion. It is less improbable that it also mocks his intermittent swearing.
Peace, emb
Dear Jackie, I am so very sorry. Wilma must have been a wonderful person. It’s okay to feel very sad about her death — you miss her so much.
I get to have a wretched Easter. It seems since my first cornea transplant a year and a half ago, someone at eyeball university invented some new thing where they stick a humongous plastic ring covered with placenta (yes, placenta) into your eye, wedging it in from top to bottom, supposedly it speeds healing. I can’t move my head too much or it hurts, I can’t find a comfortable sleeping position, it hurts, I can’t see through it, so it’s very disorienting and it’s goopy, teary and sticky, but I’m a big boy and it comes out Tuesday. .. .. . So my hard drive at work crashed, and somehow when IT fixed me back up, the last eight months of deleted emails was back and I was able to relive my wife’s emails to me as we went through the cancer, they were mostly mundane but some were special, I don’t know; it was glum? sad? melancholy? it just threw my loss back in my face all over again. I printed them all out.
I’m glad you printed them out, John. The other night, I came across some emails my Jerry had sent. I started to read them and became very sad. But… I put them away, knowing that when I am a little further along in my grieving process, I shall be able to read them and enjoy all the good (and some not-so-good) times. For me, I think it is important to remember some of those not-so-good times. Otherwise, I would be tempted to put him up on a pedestal. Lord know, he was Not a perfect man! But – it worked out, since I am not perfect either. An imperfect pair… a perfect match!
Well put and thanks for the earlier comment. My wife knows that she is lucky and I am lucky too. We’ve had some heated arguments, but any couple that hasn’t must lead a pretty boring life. I occasionally wear an NCIS cap to the mall and enjoy the doubletakes although obviously Mark Harmon would not be in a mall in Florida wearing his NCIS cap.
Well, Jerry if you look that much like Jethro I would agree your wife is indeed lucky and I am sorry I didn’t meet you between wives. I agree with People magazine when they said he was the sexiest man alive then and now.
Of course I am not complaining , I am not settling for anything less than my sea captain since I already had the Most Interesting Man Alive, got that out of my system already.
EMB, the reason I asked is that after you’ve listened to a mocking bird for several hours, especially pre-dawn, it becomes something other than a song… not a tweet, not a chirp, but coining a new noun-a “shrill” is entirely possible. The other option is shriek, but the pitch is more clearly conveyed with shrill as the new noun.
Jackie and Granny Carol, I’m so sorry for both your losses. Loving someone and losing them is the hardest thing we ever do.
Okay, John, that procedure officially sounds icky but miraculous; I hope it comes out *early* Tuesday. You sound pretty conflicted about the emails coming back, but now you have choices you didn’t have before. And whatever you choose to do will be the right thing.
I’ll look up Buffalo Rock, Mark…but I don’t know the joke about lovemaking in a canoe. Maybe I can figure out a way to look that up! 🙂 Vernor’s, Dr. Pepper, and Coke all have creation stories related to medicine or pharmacies, I think. I had to chuckle at Debbe’s hot toddy…my Grandpa swore by hot tea with whisky, honey, and lemon, but maintained that in a pinch, you could do without the tea, honey, and lemon!
Have spent the day pretty much doing one of most therapeutic things possible for myself and in my friends memory. I have been in purging my closets and giving away great piles of my clothes and life, most of which will go to the local women’s shelter or their resale shop to benefit someone who needs it far more than I do. Wilma thought I was one of the most beautiful women she had ever known both spiritually and physically. She was so proud of me and the progress I have made in reclaiming my own life and soul.
I always try to benefit the women’s shelters where ever I am but since we have so few here in Oklahoma it becomes even more important to do so. What greater tribute could I pay her than a serious commitment and promise to never go back where I have been? She will know.
Love, Jackie
Denise in Michigan, “It’s ****ing close to water!”. Insert your own favorite verb. If you can’t find Buffalo Rock, try Jamaican Ginger Beer, it’s close.
Jackie, very sorry to hear of your loss. And I’m sure your animals will miss her as well. And now we will never know if your deputy pit bull might have been Mr. cat whisperer #8.
No, no Mark, Wilma was my age. The employee with seven husbands is still alive and with me!
She is young enough to be my daughter and is going to have to take over pet care, along with yard and house.
And my deputy came by just now to tell me about Wilma’s death himself. His mama is ill and she is younger than me, he was in OKC taking care of his own mom. His fiance is in law enforcement too, that is how they met, She is apparently a tiny but tough police woman?
Somehow it intrigues me that anyone could actually be married that many times and divorced.
She says that no one lasted longer than 24 months average.
All this constant loss is difficult to adjust to and my pets are not wanting to be separated from the few of us left, which I can understand.
By the way, Ghost, my deputy is bringing me the paper work to begin the concealed weapon permitting and get me signed up for classes when I return.
Jackie, glad to hear your gardener is still with you! Especially as the season is upon us.
The seven husbands story reminds me of a scripture reference our pastor used today. Pastor brought up the story where the Pharisees try to catch Jesus out by asking him a hypothetical question. If a woman had 7 husbands, all of whom died before fathering children with her, which man would be her husband in Heaven? At this point, pastor said, “I don’t know about you, but somebody should have been looking into this woman. Maybe get a little dog to taste the meals or something? Cause something’s wrong here!”.
Better late than never. Prayers and hugs for everyone who needs them. Today is a special day to me. He is truly risen. Amen. God bless us every one.
Galliglo: “An imperfect pair…a perfect match.” = a neat summary of our 58 years. Thank you. emb
Looks like ancient people moved around and interbred more than some cherished theories tell us:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131120-science-native-american-people-migration-siberia-genetics/