‘Snowbird, take me with you’

by

January 5, 2004

Speaking of Anne Murray and female singers often confused with Anne Murray, Helen Reddy died in 2020. This deserves mention here, because I recently produced an A&J strip noting the passing of K.T. Oslin. Both Ms. Reddy and Ms. Oslin died within months of one another, and both probably are best known for songs that became feminist anthems, “I Am Woman” and “80s Ladies” respectively. We, especially we of a certain age, mourn their passing. I am happy to report Ms. Murray is alive and, I hope, well.

81 thoughts on “‘Snowbird, take me with you’”

  3. I quit reading the news so miss just about everything. After returning from hospital I decided to face some but have discovered I have no idea who the “trending” names belong to. And really couldn’t care when I do.

    Anne Hathaway doesn’t like her name Anne was major news?

  4. **Helen Reddy.** In case you couldn’t hear me, I sang it with my hat held over my heart, the way the townspeople sang the name of “Randolf Scott” in “Blazing Saddles.”

  5. Amazingly I remember Helen Reddy singing I Don’t Know How To Love Hi!m and know all the words to Delta Dawn. However today was first time I heard I Am Woman. Where was I? That was year I gave birth to my oldest daughter and I don’t remember driving nor radios nor music.

  6. Today’s (1/14/21) retro cartoon caption reminds of the annual Great Northern Snow Bird migration to Lower Alabama (Orange Beach and Gulf Shores). Those are the many (mostly) Rust Belt (mostly) retirees that descend on the Alabama Gulf Coast each fall to winter-over until they head back north in the Spring. It’s a mixed blessing for the locals…the Yankee dollars are most welcome, but you can hardly get around at times for the heavy traffic, especially in OBA. Of course, it will be just as bad this summer, and don’t even mention Spring Break. (Although that could be different this year due to the ‘Rona.)
    I have not been to OBA since January 21, 2017, the day after my friend who lived there passed away. I’m not sure what it’s like down there now, due to COVID and following the recent storm damage. I always enjoyed visiting there, and I hope the community is faring well.

    • My wife and I went to Charleston, SC, a couple of years ago and had a conversation with one of the local shopkeepers. She echoed your comment about the money but also claimed they have a Go Back to Ohio Club.

  7. Helen Reddy did “Delta Dawn” – but I didn’t know so until now. Hitherto, I rather figured it to be a Neil Diamond creation along the lines of “Sweet Caroline” and “Cracklin’ Rose”. Those three I find very enjoyable, and have since they came out.

  8. Ghost-
    How was stew? Many times it is better the second (and third) day – the seasonings have a chance to infuse.
    No stew is bad – just a “Work In Progress” {^¿^}

  9. The stew morphed into bone in pork chops with sauteed summer squash.

    I personally would transform the remaining beef into soup. With more vegetables.

  10. I always thought it weird that Helen Reddy did the greatest feminist anthem of all time, one which was frequently referenced and parodied in TV shows and movies, and then went on to sing three other songs about women going crazy: Delta Dawn, Leave Me Alone and Angie Baby. So, women can do anything as long as a guy doesn’t dump them because that’ll drive them nuts? (In fairness, Angie Baby wasn’t that theme; it was just … odd.)

    Anne Murray is alive and well and has recently moved back to her home province of Nova Scotia. I believe she’s living in the Halifax area rather than the more rural community of Springhill where she grew up.

  11. I always thought it weird that Helen Reddy did the greatest feminist anthem of all time, one which was frequently referenced and parodied in TV shows and movies, and then went on to sing three other songs about women going crazy: Delta Dawn, Leave Me Alone and Angie Baby. So, women can do anything as long as a guy doesn’t dump them because that’ll drive them nuts? (In fairness, Angie Baby wasn’t that theme; it was just … odd.)

    Anne Murray is alive and well and has recently moved back to her home province of Nova Scotia. I believe she’s living in the Halifax area rather than the more rural community of Springhill where she grew up.

  13. Re 1-15-21 real-time cartoon: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley.” Including Arlo’s, obviously.
    Also, “…while we shave our legs.” Really? Who does Janis have in there with her, Blondie?

  14. I ran across a retro strip with Janis bathing that would go with today’s real time strip. The last panel has a box of bubble bath with Blondie’s picture on it, and labeled as opaque bubble bath. I posted it on about three different places in Facebook. And commented that Janis must have run out to send Arlo that text.

      • I don’t think it does, but, even if it did, I wouldn’t use it.

        Because I consider a smartphone to be an NSA-approved personal surveillance device, I have disabled or deleted as much as I possibly can, such as location and Google assistant. I did the same thing with the few apps that I put on the phone.

  17. BTW, @Jimmy Johnson, you might want to know: At least in the Boston Globe’s paper comics, the colors made the text message unreadable. I had to go online where it seems fine. Now it’s possible that the color printing was wrong in the Globe, but everything else looked ok. Just FYI. Not complaining!

  18. A true gentleman would volunteer to assist with various and sundry* female shaving chores. Although, come to think of it, no woman has ever offered to shave me.
    *Yes, I realize “various and sundry” is redundant, but it’s an old figure of speech. And perhaps, many years ago, it wasn’t redundant.

    • I found one older strip where Arlo is knocking on the bathroom door, and Janis tells him to go away. He offers several things but doesn’t get in. As he walks away he is thinking, “I’ve never see her shave her legs.” So I guess that answers any questions about today’s strip.

  19. Women think of shaving legs as degrading, not sexy. The results may seem sexy, the smooth hairless skin like a juvenile young girl. I hated shaving legs and began using deplitatories in my early teens. Interestingly the hair on my body disappeared and rarely grew.

  22. About cats, Skipper who came to me in lieu of going to vet (from previous owner) to be put down, has always had a distinctive personality.
    He dislikes outdoors and is only cat who gets to live indoors fulltime. He loves Ghost who tolerates him.

    Skipper is becoming more and more loveable as he ages, wedging his body under me, sleeping in my hair, exposing his stomach for belly rubs, sleeping in Ghost’s spot on bed.

    Lots of cat lovers here. Anyone else have behavior changes like this?

    • If you want to read about a cat with a very definite personality, check out the “In Death” series of future mysteries by J.D. Robb. The protagonist, Lieutenant Dallas, Eve, acquires a big tom cat with eyes of different colors in the first book and names it Galahad, after he saves her life. He’s very much a real cat and I wonder if the author has one or more cats.

      BTW, that anonymous comment about not ready Ally Oop was mine; my computer lost my name, etc.

  23. Old Bear: According to a friend who was in the business at the time, barbershop and salon shaves basically went away in the early 80s due to the increased concern about the spread of blood-born diseases.

  24. I’ve been using a mail-delivery subscription service for my saving products for the past year or so. Excellent razors and shaving gel; less expensive than store-bought for comparable items; and no fighting my way through crowds of people wearing their masks down around their chins in retail establishments.
    I support buying local when it’s practical, but the major manufacturers have driven the price of razorblades to ridiculous levels. You’ve probably noticed that many convenience stores either have them behind the counter or in cabinets that alarm when opened.

    • Yep. They have to protect them from being stolen and then resold at flea markets or online. The prices have gotten so ridiculous that it became economically viable for thieves to do this, just like the organized gangs stealing designer lingerie from Victoria’s Secret and such stores.

  25. Re 1-17-21 real-time cartoon: I stopped watching them sometime back, but is The Weather Channel still playing that silly game with naming winter storms?
    I suppose the ultimate name for one would be “Margie”, for Gale Storm.

  26. Anyone besides me ever visited Chautauqua sites or studied about the Chautauqua and its’ influence on rural America? Or am I just particularly weird?

    I think I always heard about a version of touring tent educational lectures from elderly relatives. Traveling I ran into remnants of the big permanent facilities.

  27. Per the shaving conversation:

    This afternoon, I read a bit of trivia that stated that, in 1900, Gillette began pushing his blades and safety razor.

    Twenty blades for $1 and the razor for $5.

    In today’s money, that is $31.01 and $155.04 respectively.

      • I’m not overly evolved, but I was a blond but now it’s silver and getting pretty thin. The beard was never heavy, so using an electric has saved a lot of expense and time. As for power, I once read that an electric razor uses less than a dime’s worth of power a year. Even with inflation it’s probably under a quarter now.

        • That’s similar to what I read about forty years ago. The primary point of the article was that using an electric razor is much better for the environment.

    • I used that company’s products for many years, as did my father before me. Until I realized their business plan was to practically give away their shavers and then soak their customers with the price of the blades.

      Hmm. Apparently makers of computer printers realized the same thing.

  28. Several years ago, I found an eBay lot of maybe 12 – 15 packs of double-edged blades from various makers. Cost was negligible. I suspect I have more than enough to last my remaining time on earth! I like a blade shave when I want it smooth; my electric razor doesn’t do as good a job. Yes, I reuse blades several times – once my beard is quite wet, even a used blade performs well. If you shave while in the shower, soaking the growth is never a problem.

    • Curmudgeon:

      I know what you mean about remaining time on earth.

      I will soon be only 68, but, several years ago, I found myself thinking, “Well, that’s the last one of those that I will ever need.”

      Another note: An increasing awareness of how little time I have left was the primary reason for retiring last year.

  30. Ghost – the blood thing would explain a lot – but they are not
    supposed to give that close a shave. 🙂
    It was before then that barbers stopped shaving the back of the neck – remember that?
    .
    I use 10 for a dollar razors from the $$ store – as long as Momma Bear did not use them on her legs they
    lasted a while as I shave in the shower. Retired now and, with a mask, I shave 2-3 times a week.
    .
    Have not been in a barber shop in near 50 years. In the Army it was once a week – 25¢. The last one cost $2.50

  32. M 18 Mr ’01. A&J blog. I last posted here 24 Nov ’20; a few of you may have received emails since then. Much has changed. I lived in a townhome community just across “Salisbury Plain” from the Sanford Health Bemidji campus. Now I have an apt in eldercare on that campus. Grateful that move was aided by elder son, his wife, & my loyal cleaning lady.
    Am not nearly as badly off physically as some of you; passed my annual physical couple of weeks ago & my annual eye exam last week w/ flying colors. Difficulties are all external handicaps: degenerative tears & such in arms & shoulders that make cooking & such too awkward & burdensome, & driving too dangerous. Still have most of my marbles, but short-term memory is poor. Unfortunately, move here coincided precisely w/ necessary COVID-19 restrictions. When I & my laptop reestablished our morning routine, had this vague sense that something was missing. This blog was. Despite seeing A&J daily on the GOCOMICS site, I forgot to come here, until last night. Have been able to read your earlier comments for a few days only; cannot go further back than the “comments are closed” notice. Peace,

  33. Happy all are well and COVID-19 free. I was worried.

    Tomorrow is return appointment for oncologist. I have missed two months of chemotherapy and need a PET scan. However, all my blood work in hospital was excellent. If normal tomorrow I get to resume chemotherapy.

    Oddly I feel broken leg has not impacted cancer and has had positive effect on general health.

  34. Glad to hear from Miz Charlotte and from emb!!! Also you, Jackie. I have the feeling that you are right about the broken leg and your overall health.

    Stay safe, everybody. I have gotten both of us onto a wait list for vaccine appointment as soon as available. Fingers crossed!!

  35. We inmates [correct title = Tenant] get our first COVID-19 shots Tue on the real MLK day, afternoon. Floor 1: 1330; fl. 2: 1430; fl. 3: 1530. There goes my pm nap. Gotta send my d-in-law out on a beer run. Peace,

  36. I was able to have my first Covid vaccination the last week in December. I felt somewhat guilty since I was still working at a health provider. I even asked the “powers that be” if I should have it since I was retiring. But – they said for me to have it. Perhaps it was a “perk” because I had worked for them so long.

    I had hardly any reaction. A little sore the next day, but not nearly as bad as the nurses warned that it might be.

    I am to have the second vaccination next Monday.

  37. emb: Good to hear from you, sir. Jackie and had speculated about the possible causes of your absence from the Village. My impression was that you have another line of communications with curmudgeonly ex-professor, and that had there been dire circumstances, we would likely have learned something from him.

  38. In addition to seeing her oncologist for the first time since her fall, tomorrow Jackie will get her COVID-19 vaccine injection and will return in three weeks for the second dose. I’m still waiting to hear from my primary care physician about my injection. Even though my PCP (an internal medicine specialist) is in the same multispecialty clinic as Jackie’s oncologist (their offices being one floor apart in the same building), she and the other PCPs apparently have to go through some type of central scheduling for their patients. Which is fine…we had already decided to avoid getting our injections at the same time, if possible, in case we should both develop some type of reaction to the vaccine. Both of us being under the weather at the same time would obviously be sub-optimal.

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