Have I shown you this little drawing? I thought I had, but I couldn’t find any evidence of it searching the blog archives. Anyway, I have always liked this vignette. I don’t know why; probably because I like to waste time in cozy cafés myself. I can’t remember what I had in mind when I drew it. Perhaps it was intended for coffee-cup art. There must have been some purpose, because I seldom draw for my own amusement. Whatever the project, it was never realized. I like this scene so much, I’ve drawn several versions: a larger version, a warm-weather version, a less somber, more frivolous version. OK, so maybe I do draw for my own amusement now and then. There is even one mirror-image version, with Gene seated on the left and Arlo and Janis on the right. This leads me to think the purpose of that particular piece was coffee-cup art, for that would have put Arlo and Janis front and center for right-handed coffee drinkers. I’m thinking I might work a version into the new Web site. Remember when the Worldwide Web was new? It was perceived as a gathering place, often a metaphorical café. I have always liked that, too.
Café Arlo & Janis
By Jimmy Johnson
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159 responses to “Café Arlo & Janis”
And a Very Early Good Morning Villagers…..
Couldn’t sleep, but I will in about an hour 🙂 love my meds.
I could not help myself, Big Yellow Taxi was always a favorite of mine. Here’s Suite Judy Blue Eyes (she was absolutely beautiful…Joni Mitchell, so naturally beautiful:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=song+with+lyrics+paved+paradise&ei=UTF-8&fr=chr-greentree_ff&ilc=12&type=714647
Enjoy the song Jackie…..and a happy belated birthday my friend.
Jerry, good one 🙂
Old Bear….is angry farmers like angry birds?
today’ deep thought:
http://cheezburger.com/8321565184
Jackie, you’ve got Spring Break season starting (lasts a few months), plus a couple weeks of races (of all kinds!), Valentine’s day, and snow birds enjoying the last month or two before heading home. And tourists. 🙂 Patience and enjoying what comes – you seem to excel at that!- will see you through. Happy Birthday!
Oops…that was crazy farmers, sorry Old Bear for misquoting you.
My husband has been laying feed out on the porch rail and we have quite a variety of birds dropping in for feedings. One of those is the rose breasted grosbeak, he looked up songbirds of Indiana…they are tiny and beautiful. Then there’s a couple of red cardinals, now there is a wood pecker out there….gotta go look……red top and black and white feathers. The cats seem to enjoy look too 🙂
Hemingway’s cats….I’m still laughing about that.
later….
The reason we have such a variety of birds visiting our porch now is that my outside cat has missing now for almost two weeks….I don’t think he’s coming back. I will miss my Poppee. He was black and white and was feral at first, but became a lovable cat…he had such a silent meow.
Jackie ; Wow! Semi-aimless travel and decent-to-good restaurant food! That sounds like a PERFECT birthday to me!
I was exited for a moment. I thought the cafe scene was a sneak peak at the kids new restaurant.
But I really like the drawing. I would buy a mug, or a signed print. (I am a sucker for signed stuff.) It has a very European feel. People not scared to be outside if the weather is not perfect. A more lenient view of pets in businesses. Small cups of coffee. Very nice.
Happy belated birthday Jackie!!
Nope none of E. Hemingway’s cats nor even a Key West chicken, both protected about as much as the endangered sawgrass I was down here last to rescue the infamous stuck in the mud Red Scamp sailboat from. Aimless travel without preparation is my favorite kind. Looks like we have a day until tomorrow before I have to take off north with refuges. I get a day of rest, which God decreed.
My minion was never married to anyone with good taste in food it seems, had to go to work for a crazy cat lady. I told her she had missed that part of life’s education. The crowds and traffic are heavy but the international babel is cool.
Minion likes to watch tv news, I tell her she is better off not to know or see. There were homeless street people sleeping behind shrubs on grass in shopping center of shopping center I was parked in last night while locating a bed that the really sweet elite membership reservation service was doing. Publix and some nice merchants, restaurants all around, shops and homeless winos five feet from car bumper. I don’t miss that
Love y’all, I am going to have to visit ATT when I get back home and get Smart phone where I can at least use basic features.
Jimmy, I love Cafe A and J, that is good art, my friend. I would buy one except no coffee mugs. A Diet Coke Koozie but they may stop cans?
Love, Jackie
Speaking of people who do or do not observe life, JJ you are a master and you combine visual with written word. An artist and writer, observer of foibles and idiosyncrasies of the human race.
Help did not figure out until yesterday I was really serious about why I was here. I can see why she has been married seven times and me just once.
Happy belated Birthday, Jackie! Glad you are enjoying your jaunt.
So, my curiosity got to me, I’ve been sightseeing, virtual, Hemingway’s house/museum, his cats, and quotes:
http://quotesnsmiles.com/quotes/25-of-the-best-ernest-hemingway-quotes/
a couple of the quotes reminded me of Jackie’s traveling now…..
Good morning Gal 🙂 , how are you today?
Hemingway has influenced my life, I will admit. Laugh —-but I won’t end the same way.
Not one Hemingway quote I would argue with, great words meister. Most are indeed me. But I hope to not end my life like Pappa nor Elvis either. Very imperfect talents. I am not but a flicker to great candles who burn so bright.
Seven marriages…a sign of either incredibly bad luck or a lack of discrimination (there’s that word again) in selecting Significant Others.
Perhaps some Jackie will rub off on Minion, although it may be rather late in the game for that.
OK, Jackie, the suspense is killing me…..I want details of the rescue mission….after it occurs. Then I will tell you about the one rescue an old room mate of mine and I pulled when I lived in Corpus (she raised Abyssinian cats), and had sold one in good conscious to this odd couple in San Antonio
She and I set out to rescue her cat after she found out they were like what a puppy mill is, only a cat mill….and the chase through the loop of San Anton was a rush, they chased us, but didn’t catch us 🙂
Happy belated birthday, Jackie. Sorry to be so late.
info on Abyssinian cats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abyssinian_cat#mediaviewer/File:Abessinierkater1.jpg
Debbe, ex and I had a blue Abby. Very nice cat, smart and highly active, like the article says. Lot of fun to play with.
OF due soon, now-1112 CST emb
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
Dom I thought of you in Baton Rouge but didn’t call. Just as I think of all of you as I “go thru”, as my mama used to say, You know I once worked for state of Louisiana down in old capitol area, and I suppose I did when I worked for Charity Hospital in Monroe? Sometimes I wonder that I have fitted it all into one life.
Coming back to ride paso fino horses with new friend I haven’t met yet and bring her cages back. When I have last cat I will say what we are doing.
Did I mention the original Houston animal cops were founded by one of my friends? As was the Palmer Drug Abuse program and all the women’s shelters in Houston? Three different people.
My friends are often as “weird as I am” and I love people like that, if I start listing all the great efforts my friends stand on soap boxes and try to change, it’d be a long list.
Rose Rustlers, the antique rose saviors who raided old cemeteries and abandoned home sites, the Louisiana Iris Society who went into swamps to find, save and hybridize iris, all kinds of people who saved flora and fauna and tried to keep a little bit of something alive.
My kids always figured I tied myself to trees, did sit ins, there are environmentalists and activists of all ilks.
Love, Jackie
Lagniappe: The geyser god, the cloud god, the wind god, and the webcam operator cooperated. A background geyser by the woods put on a nice display, which the webcam zoomed in on for a spell, then OF did its thing, “and did it very well.”
Day is partly cloudy, but OF was in sunlight most of the time, and the wind was mostly west, maybe WSW, so OF was not behind its own steam. The NPS also has a still of the geyser basin as seen from the webcam[s], with the names of the geysers. Maybe it can be opened of you scroll down from the live webcam. I’ll look later. First have to dissolve 255 g. polyethylene glycol in 64 oz. Gatorade[R]. And no, I’m not going to report further details hence.
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
Peace, emb
emb, why are you drinking antifreeze?
Happy belated birthday, Jackie! I am in awe of your energy and resilience as you travel around and I’m very glad you have a traveling companion for safety’s sake. I think you turned 71 (?) and you are dealing with all kinds of autoimmune problems and diabetes, but you continue on. You are a special lady!
For anyone who doesn’t read “Frazz”, today’s is a great strip…an outstanding strip…and one of the reasons many of us here read the comics: for the light they shine upon our own humanity.
On another comic note: did any other Michiganders or hockey fans wonder if today’s “Overboard” was a reference to Gordie Howe?