I missed yesterday, so here are the next two comics from the 1996 Thanksgiving series. In my mind, this series is significant, because it represents a departure from my previous writing and humor. The top strip, an allusion to a scene from the movie “Jaws,” and even the silliness of the next strip were outside the norm for the body of Arlo & Janis that had gone before. Until about this time, A&J mostly had been an unvarnished “slice of life” strip, concerned with the literal if hopefully humorous doings of a young family. About this time, I occasionally became more whimisical and absurd with the writing and have continued to this day. While still a “slice of life” strip (That’s what they’re called in the trade.), I like to think such stretching of the boundaries helps to set A&J apart a bit.
31 responses to “Stuffing Nonsense II & III”
Note how we are dazzled with cartooning insights, while the MIA tshirts recede into the ether? Meanwhile Christmas is only 42 days, 15 hours away.
I honestly felt these strips were a “slice of life” I mean I love make jokes about turkeys. Then there was the time that my mother served tongue for dinner and my brother put a thermometer under it. An oral one.
The playful interaction of Arlo and Janis is what makes this strip special.
Holiday silliness is what makes the memories special. It has been many years since my 4 siblings and I congregated with our families at my parent’s home the Friday after Thanksgiving (we all decided that Thursday was for in-laws and Friday was for family). My parents are no longer with us, but the stories of various pranks and the occasional culinary disasters (the year of the rubber potatoes and the time the pecan pie was more like soup still crack me up – and I’ll never forget my brother’s home-made hot sauce that needed a fire extinguisher!) live on!
I think departures like this make the strip more relatable. Husbands and wives often do silly things to, with, for each other. It keeps life fun and interesting. Seeing that in the strip makes it more like real life. 🙂
Judy,
We had one year with all my wife’s family and some of mine, all together. My wife was responsible for the pumpkin pies. For some reason, that year, she forgot to put ANY sugar into the pie mixture… We discovered it when tasting the first sample bite once the pies were cool. Luckily, there was a recovery option. We scooped all the pumpkin out of four pies, then mixed with extra, extra, sweet whipped cream. The result was spooned back into the pie shells and served as “pumpkin chiffon pie.” We still laugh about thatm pie. It was, however, delicious and worked fine since everyone liked pumpkin pie with whipped cream anyway.
The real “slice of life” comes with the next strip in the series with Gene’s comment to himself.
Other similar great “slices,” but when I post more than one, my post sinks like a stone into Moderation Hades, so here is one with the other to follow…
http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/1995/02/08
http://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/1995/09/18
Tune in a few years from now for Meg’s commentary on easily-excited, grouchy old Gene…
From time to time my mother would attempt to make fudge. She never could get it to come out like the store-bought fudge. Hers had a much firmer consistency which I loved… I don’t care for the super-soft stuff. It’s one of the many things I miss about her.
Judy in Conroe, I was at sea for Thanksgiving of 1976, the year my mom’s pecan pie could have been used for pothole patches. I missed the pie but got plenty of laughs reading about in brother and sister’s letters to me.
So if you have loved ones in the service, share these things too! They keep the feeling of family alive no matter where you are.
Jimmy, love the retro strips, both the Jaws reference and Mr. Gobble chasing Janis. That’s the kind of thing that makes the Day family real.
We had an extremely salty turkey one Thanksgiving not so long ago. Can’t recall the details, but it had to do with some advice [from the all-knowing net?] about soaking it in brine for quite a while. Some of it was quite edible, if one likes salt.
What’s the Louisiana thing/reference? Is it a license plate? A Civil War bond?
If A&J live near the gulf coast, as I suspect, they’d not be near the gulf stream, eh?
DavidinAustin – great save with the pumpkin pie! cep – I was stumped by the LA reference as well. Off to get ready for Book Club. Tonight we’ll be talking about 2 books “Orphan train’ and “Girl on a Train” -for at least 15 minutes- then we’ll be talking about everything else!
I believe Louisiana was just a convenient setup for the last panel. Our fearless leader wouldn’t use Alabama, and Mississippi takes too ling to say.
*long!
Blacklight has discovered the joys of Kraft mac and cheese. Thunder FINALLY figured out I had made her a shelter. She was quite grateful for it with all of this wind. And hopefully the newly homeless kitty figures out there is an extra shelter for her too.
emb, here is what Arlo is quoting from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfx2aTiPxZs
Sound is quite low, might have to turn up your volume.
Didn’t any of you see Jaws? Or are you too young to remember?
This article made my night.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/grandmas-house?utm_term=.vk9qEObB0#.nxarNAJ6Z
Mark/TT: We didn’t waste money on seeing lots of movies, and still don’t. Have seen the film on TV several times, but didn’t recall that scene. There are better uses for memory space.
Is there any truth in this ode to Wisconsin?
A Wisconsin poem for you…
It’s winter in Wisconsin
And the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At twenty-five below.
Oh, how I love Wisconsin
When the snow’s up to your butt
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.
Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I’ll hang around
I could never leave Wisconsin
‘Cause I’m frozen to the ground!
Thought I would check in briefly and say hello. Spent most of today shipping most of Mike’s boats off to donate to a wooden boat museum and boat building school on Texas coast. I will continue to help them preserve wooden boat building through a charity I am setting up to honor my late husband, give an award in his memory each year to honor his spirit of building and sailing wooden boats.
It was a bitter sweet day, I love boats and one of the boats was the 20 footer I bought him, the last, to sail in the Everglades Challenge, the boat I named Hard Core. And arranged for a friend, ex-Olympian and coach, who still designs boats and teaches dinghy racing to crew with him in a bid to win. Greater love has no woman.
Of course it was never finished but it will be now. Who knows what adventures it will go on?
Mindy
12 Nov 2015 at 8:14 pm #
I must live at Grandma’s house.
Good to hear from you Anonie -Bitter Sweet indeed – I know the feeling.
Debbe 😉 Nothing says mid-70’s rock like this…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcWVL4B-4pI
Anonie, life goes on. No matter how we feel about that.
Ghost, I would tell you to go look for me on Facebook but hell would freeze over. I actually put photos of what I looked like at different decades of my life tonight, plus there are some of me as I now look. Yes, life goes on, my mother kept photos of me so.I didn’t burn them all.
New minion is fantastic, she has given me a motivation to hang around and get the house back into livable state.
Good morning Villagers….
Re: today’s real time strip, had a good laugh on TDS 4th comment: “I had a perfect relationship once. I’ll probably never find a border collie like that again” 🙂
Doctor’s appt went good, she increased my thyroid medication, I now stand 5’5″ and weigh 110 pounds….as I’ve said, tiny, but might. Andrew and I had to pick up a 100 foot roll of chicken cage wire…I helped him load it into the car…sheesh…and he’s not much bigger than me!
Getting ready for the new crew, cage repair, blowing, etc. My Doctor also said I was to stay out of the hen house when they’re cleaning….I had already planned on that. Still have the congestion, going to pick up some expectorant today.
Dad is leaving for the weekend, and I got volunteered to feed his cats…..which I don’t mind, but he has a flea infestation and doesn’t see it. And the cats (he is finally down to 3) are his whole world. Looks like we’ll be doing another ‘bombing’ and taking the cats to the vets when he comes back….we’re going to have a serious talk with him on Tuesday night. Dad will be 84 in December…..stubborn, he is.
Jackie, what you are doing is absolutely wonderful in your husband’s memory. God bless you.
Ya’ll have a blessed day