A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

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For What It’s Wyeth

By Jimmy Johnson


Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
It’s been six years this week since the appearance of this Sunday Arlo & Janis tribute to the painter Andrew Wyeth, who had just passed away. It includes an embarrassing mistake on my part, but it must not have been too embarrassing, because I’m reminding you of it here. It wasn’t difficult to isolate several Wyeth paintings that could (roughly) be adapted to the cast of A&J. Except for Ludwig, the cat. So imagine my relief when I found, on the internet, “Kitty in the Window,” the painting in the fourth panel. In my haste, I missed a few pesky details. The problem was, “Kitty in the Window” (my title) wasn’t a Wyeth painting at all but a photograph taken in Westport, Mass., by Frieda Squires, a photographer for The Providence (RI) Journal. The cutline mentioned that the mood and colors of the photograph were very Wyeth-like, which is how I happened to find the image by searching for “Wyeth.” Not many people caught the mistake, and the kitty served its purpose. Thanks, Frieda!

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255 responses to “For What It’s Wyeth”

  1. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Oh, and we might as well admit how much we all love and depend on these little critters. We do.

  2. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    Ursen: I’m curious now how common that cancer might be. We had a cat with a lower jaw tumor, discovered much later unfortunately, and so did a friend. Most of ours have succumbed to kidney failure, the usual fate for elderly felines. Thyroid problems also seem to be common.

    I don’t think we’ll hear much argument here that we do love and need our “fur children”.

  3. Mindy from Indy Avatar
    Mindy from Indy

    eMb – “Jackie: We all love you, but I think the 14th Amendment prohibits keeping lamas as livestock. Peace, emb” Took me a second, but thanks for the laugh! Ha! 🙂

  4. TruckerRon Avatar

    GR6: Do an image search for “ion magazine” (in quotes if the search engine uses them) plus the gal’s name (in a second set of quotes). You may get lucky.

  5. David in Austin Avatar
    David in Austin

    But llamas are ok Jackie.

    Headed for a possible kidney transplant. Call a few minutes ago. More confident this time as they are having me check into the hospital! Wish me luck, say a prayer, or anything else positive you can offer.

  6. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Oh David, I hope it is true and you get your kidney! I will think of you and pray too. What a wonderful Valentine’s gift. Last year I sat in the waiting room and prayed that Mike would survive a major lug operation and removal of his lung and other stuff. I will pray for you this year and may God answer with the prayer we implore.

    Valentine’s is for Love, Jackie

  7. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Lung! Lung!

  8. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Good luck, David. The prayers will be a bonus.

    Trucker, with this gal, I could probably get lucky if I wished without resorting to a search engine, but that’s another story.

  9. Mindy from Indy Avatar
    Mindy from Indy

    David – All ten toes and fingers, rabbits feet, and any other good will, good luck, and good vibes your way. (And somber thank you to your possible donor.)

  10. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Ghost, so how did I miss your inquiry about a girl? Woman or whomever? I cannot imagine that you need to do much searching! Went back and looked and cannot find original comment, so sometimes I wonder if they drop off my screen?

    So John is looking for someone to go bird watch in Nebraska and I am over tempting men with Maine, Penobscot Bay, wooden boats and lobsters. I am meeting with same success it seems, although they are drop dead jealous.

    I ate my 280 calorie diet meal (which is because they don’t put any food in the tray) and have to go feed animals who are looking distraught. Their sitter is gone

    Love, Jackie!

  11. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Ghost, why not just put the friend’s name in the search engine on Google, When you get results, click on Images, and see what you get. That way you don’t have to deal with the 10 gazillion Apple-related returns.

  12. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Lord! The future is here! Big Brother, Ghost and Mark and Sand!

  13. Galliglo from Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo from Ohio

    Prayers, David!!!!!

  14. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Forgot to tell you, I went and had my hair cut and weighed myself. Doesn’t that sound like weigh-in at WW? Anyway, it seems I somehow managed to lose a little weight with the hair cut.

    As a further Valentine’s gift to myself, I intent to buy myself the Glock promised myself this weekend, probably tomorrow. It may be against the law in OK to sell guns on Sunday? Once more, with enthusiasm, tell me exactly what I am to buy. And is Academy a good enough place to buy a gun? That may be best Tulsa has to offer. If not, who is good enough?

    Police officers have promised to teach me to shoot with some accuracy and get me into a class to get license/permit through sheriff’s department. Pretty nice offer, actually, I may learn!

    If I have to go back and search in archives here I may never find!

    Love, Jackie

  15. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    David, best wishes.

    Mark, Google says thank you.

    Jackie,
    1. The future arrived in 2007.
    2. Please, buy from a respectful gun shop.

  16. Granny Carol Avatar
    Granny Carol

    David, prayers that this will be the one for you!

  17. NK in AZ Avatar
    NK in AZ

    To David–

    Prayers, thoughts, wishes, good luck–and as has been said, comfort for the family of the potential donor. Both husband Jim and I are signed up as donors. Anything of use to someone when I am done with it is all for the good. Best regards, Nancy Kirk

  18. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Jackie, my comment about searching the InterWebNet for a girl was last night in response to your comment you were glad some of the things you had done in the past were pre-InterWebNet: ” And even things that are on-line are not always easy to find. A friend told me she had done some modeling (clothed) for an out-of-business on-line fashion magazine about 10 years ago, and I was curious to see if I could find any photos that might still be out in cyberspace. But the name of the magazine was Ios (Eye-ous), and if any pics are still on-line, they are thoroughly buried in the half billion or so responses related to Apple’s operating system that are returned by Google.”

    Then Trucker suggested that if I searched for the magazine name and gal’s name in quotation marks, I might get lucky.

    And, yeah, Mark, I tried that, too. No joy.

  19. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Jackie, you talked above about how open and transparent you were as a writer and editor. So I did some searching and came up with this. It is a great piece and you and Mike obviously had a wonderful marriage. Think the rest of the Village will enjoy it too.

    http://duckworksmagazine.com/15/columns/guest/jackie/index.htm#.VN62T_nF-So

  20. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Jackie, I recommended the GLOCK 42 for you as the modern-day version of the snub-nosed revolver. Also, I’d recommend you purchase 100 rounds of Remington or Winchester practice ammo in .380 Auto, and at least one box of Hornady Critical Defense ammo. Then, before doing anything else, get some training in safe handling and operation of that particular handgun.

    http://us.glock.com/products/model/g42

    I have dealt with both Academy Sports and Gander Mountain and have been happy. In general terms, in my area, Academy has better prices and Mountain of Ganders has the better selection.

  21. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    I’ll probably need to prepare myself a bit before reading the Duckworks article. Some of Jackie’s brief remarks here have been tough reading for me.

  22. emeritus minn. biologist Avatar
    emeritus minn. biologist

    David:

    Thoughts and prayers, and yes, also for the donor’s family. Reminder: I must get to that Advanced Directive.

    Peace, emb

  23. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Mark, thank you for posting that. I personally think it is the best thing I have ever written– about boats and a love triangle. I wrote it on our anniversary five years ago as my gift to Mike and to all the men I know who build and sail boats, often not being understood at all by wives or others.

    Love is a complex thing and at Valentines Day perhaps it is appropriate to read this.And yes, I was married to a truly unique and principled man who deserves all the love he has been shown over the last month and a half.

    Perhaps I finally got it before it was too late but I did finally understand. Mike was my savior and I joke that I was his trophy wife but that was wrong. He was the trophy.

    Love, Jackie

  24. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    For the last few years I have been putting up a display in my high school library promoting National Donor Day, which is celebrated on Valentine’s Day, and giving out brochures and website info on how to register as a donor. For years our student government had a charity fund-raising campaign this week (which disappeared this year) called Lyman Has a Heart, so I labeled my poster Greyhounds Give Your Heart. I have been encouraged by how many teenagers have expressed interest and wonder how many of them know that at least two of their classmates are organ recipients.

    Hoping for the best for you, David, and blessings to those who make it possible.

  25. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    I too wish my organs could go to help others but I know they will not. My blood is no longer acceptable and hasn’t been since I was in my 20’s because of hepatitis mainly but the lupus doesn’t help. When Mike died I asked to donate his organs or anything that could be used. They turned me down because of the cancer throughout his body.

    While I still check the donor square, I know that given my complex medical history that there is little if anything useful. That is rather a sad feeling.