A Scant Memory

by Jimmy Johnson

Today’s is a real oldie, from 1995. This was a transitional period, and I think it is evident in this strip. Janis’ face in the first panel bears a more-than-passing resemblance to her face today, but in the remaining panels she more resembles the earlier Janis, with a smaller nose and a less rounded jaw. With the exception of his haircut, Arlo has pretty much been Arlo since early on, once I got my feet under me as a comic-strip artist. They both looked pretty weird in the first couple of years.

…and we’re back!

After a brief break, I’m back behind the keyboard. I’ve already put in a few early-morning hours working on this site. Those are my ...

One Step Forward

There are two areas where I need to concentrate now, aside from the areas where I don’t yet know I need to concentrate. First, ...

The Only Constant

I cannot stress enough that what you’re seeing here is subject to change. When you come to this website these days, you are stepping ...

Hey there hi there…

ho there! We’re as happy as can be! I’m guessing an uncommonly large percentage of visitors to this website view it on a desktop ...

Dinner by Candlelight

It isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. Well, I’ll be John Brown. This blog was revived just three days ago, and here ...

By Special Request

We don’t even have the mouse droppings swept out of the corners yet. The last thing I want to do is bring up politics, ...

53 responses to “A Scant Memory”

  1. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    He ate it including veggies but he had put in hard day at the boutique. Too cool for much besides sweaters today!

  2. David in Austin Avatar
    David in Austin

    Jackie, nice! on the fillet. I love to buy a whole tenderloin, trim, and cut into steaks. The extra bits on the tip are great for a very quick stir fry. I did FFA meat judging in high school. 🙂

    I understand a little of Ghost’s concern about losing use of a dominant appendage! I don’t remember if I mentioned, but I’m having glaucoma trouble. My left eye has major nerve damage and “severe” vision loss according to the opthalmologist. That was my better eye. Severe myopia (20/400+) in my right eye corrects with glasses, but some issues with dominance now. I can still read, but I’m paying close attention to any potential change in the right eye! My left eye is unable to read anything but LARGE print.

    We just have to do like Dory, in the Finding Nemo cartoon movie– “just keep swimming, that’s what we do.”

    https://youtu.be/0Hkn-LSh7es

    1. John II Avatar
      John II

      David, I am traveling down that road myself. I have a filter/drain installed in right eye after 20% loss in visual field. It seems to be working, sometimes to well. Pressure tends to run low. Left eye has had several surgeries including the filter/drain, but pressure just will not stay down. Loss in visual field about 60% in left eye.
      As I have heard, “Getting old is not for Sissies.”

      1. David Reaves Avatar
        David Reaves

        John, no it is not! 🙂

  3. Bryan Avatar
    Bryan

    I don’t usually post the ‘what I did today’ kind of thing but I’m going to break a personal rule this time.
    I spent last week at Myrtle Beach, in a hotel on the beach. This was actually the first time in my life I was at the ocean where one could walk in the surf and all that. I’d been to rocky beaches a couple times back in the 70s and lava beaches in Hawaii but never one where I could walk in the waves for as long as I wished.
    I think I now understand, if only in the smallest degree, so many people’s fascination and enjoyment of beaches. I still could never live there but I see the reason for visits, even extended visits.

  4. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    emb, I just watched a video on FB that I wish I could share with you. Unfortunately, it was only posted there and unlike photos, I can’t put it here. It was a hawk attempting to catch what it thought was a tasty meal of rabbit. Trouble is, the rabbits were lifelike garden statuary. Watching the hawk stalking, attacking, and then walk around looking at the rabbits was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Finally it gave up and flew away.

  5. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    Prayers for all in need….

  6. Galliglo of Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo of Ohio

    CxP: Amen!

  7. emb Avatar
    emb

    Prayers, yes.
    As a devout heretic, I often declare that I don’t believe in miracles [except maybe for the first one, 13.7 BYA], but I/we experience them all the time. Watched/partook in one this morning. No details, for privacy reasons, but first thing at today’s service, our pastor dealt with a difficult heart-breaking situation and made it a heart-warming one for the individuals most closely involved [who had come up front with him], for children and self-selected adults at “children’s time,” and for all of us, working it into the sermon [text = 10 “lepers”, one of whom was a Samaritan]. And those most involved in the difficult situation now realize that they have a whole congregation’s back. Most moving Sunday service I’ve been at for years.
    Peace,

    1. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
      curmudgeonly ex-professor

      It certainly feels good to realize what one has seen or with what one has been blessed…makes one more alert for others, too.

  8. David Reaves Avatar
    David Reaves

    Bryan, I love to visit the beach. I like to walk on the sand, listen to the surf, and watch the stars at night. During the summer, I like to sit in a chair, under shade, and nap with the wave lapping on shore. Still, only want to visit.

  9. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    I love beaches, used to collect shells, living and dead, beach glass and sea artifacts. In 1960s and early 70s one could walk miles and hours alone in Hawaii, Texas, Florida, southern Eastern seaboard, the Gulf coast beaches.

    That all sadly disappeared with explosions of condominiums, privatization of beaches and masses of tourists. The last times I looked for places I loved to walk they were gone. We are talking 50 years of course but still it shouldn’t have happened. The ocean and its’ sandy beaches should have been left clean and open, natural.

    Of course I feel that way about mountains.

  10. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Mark, I too watched that video Tamara posted of the hawk attacking the “rabbit” but hurriedly on my phone. Glad to hear it was stone! Is it not able to copy because it is original posted to Facebook?

  11. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Ghost has a cat named Skipper who decided he belonged to Ghost. Ghost says he did not order a cat but Skipper thinks otherwise. He originally belonged to elderly man with dementia who tried to kill him. My deceased pet caretaker brought him to me many years ago. Ghost says the prequel does not make him feel better but I think it sweet.

  12. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    I am not a beach person – long ago I was required to go to “The Shore”
    I much prefer the hills & woods.

    emb a PM coming your way

  13. emb Avatar
    emb

    Should have cc’d you / one I just broadcast. Will do, if I haven’t already. Peace,

  14. Jerry in Florida Avatar
    Jerry in Florida

    Speaking of rosemary, I’ve had a problem with flakes on my scalp for almost 60 years. Someone gave my wife a recipe for mixing Selsun Blue shampoo and rosemary. It works! I was skeptical and almost refused to try it. I’m glad that I did.

  15. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    “Every nation gets the government it deserves.” – Joseph de Maistre

    “I keep getting the government my idiot neighbors deserve.” – Tamara Keel

  16. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    As Jackie mentioned, my right wrist decided to blow up on me a couple or three weeks ago…swelling, pain in my hand and forearm, loss of fine motor skills in fingers. In addition, loss of use of the hand is a pain in another part of my body as well.
    But I suppose humans are nothing if not adaptable. I’ve learned to use my left hand more easily and accurately. (Necessity is the mother of invention, or Mother is the inventor of necessity, or whatever.) And a week’s worth of steroids seemed to have helped my recovery. I actually managed to button my shirt for myself this morning rather than having to have Jackie do it for me. Made me feel like a “big boy”. Of course, she still had to cut my meat for me at dinner last night. 🙁 I go back to the orthopod tomorrow, to see if his Magic Eight Ball has come up with something other than “Outlook is hazy.”
    To paraphrase, “I complained about having a cast on my arm, until I saw a man with no arm.”

  17. Galliglo of Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo of Ohio

    Hang in there, Ghost! We are at “that” age…

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      Yep. Hanging. 🙂

      ;0

  18. David in Austin Avatar
    David in Austin

    Jerry, pleased to hear from you. So, with the rosemary addition, does your wife consider you a “dish”? 😀

    Mine would probably just say I was half baked!

  19. Charlotte in NH Avatar
    Charlotte in NH

    Jerry in Florida — It’s been so long since we’ve heard from you! I am awfully glad you are okay, apparently. How are the cats? Please come back here more often!

    Dear Ghost, The lighthearted way you report how you are getting treatment is entertaining. Very good that you are feeling better! It’s been tough for you and you deserve to relax and feel good for a while. Lots of love to you and Jackie.

    1. Ghost Avatar
      Ghost

      Thank you, Sweet Charlotte. I will endeavor to feel good for a while…just for you. 🙂

  20. TruckerRon Avatar

    A friend of mine, also in his 60s, recently discovered that an innocent-seeming childhood ailment, Fifth Disease(aka Parvovirus B19), can be very painful for adults. His hands and wrists were swollen and very painful. He finally found a doctor (my friend was touring the Middle East with his wife) when they made it to Israel and he got the right steroids to relieve the symptoms.

  21. joedon Avatar
    joedon

    Is JJ on vacation?

  22. Blinky the Wonder Wombat Avatar
    Blinky the Wonder Wombat

    Just got back from a weekend at the beach with my high school classmates- most classes hold reunions every five years after graduation, whereas we decided to have to celebrate our collective 60th birthdays instead, We had about 80 people show up, about a fifth of our total class- pretty nice turnout.

    One thing I observed during our various reunions is how the topics of conversation change- in the early years it was all about education and career; the middle years they turned to children and vacations. This time around, physical ailments was by far the most popular topic. I guess the next reunion it will be about nursing homes.