I continue today with old A&J Sunday strips you won’t see anywhere but here, although I think maybe this particular strip has been shown before at arloandjanis.com. I’m not sure. This one is from 1993 and was drawn shortly after the first meeting at the seashore between son Gene and Mary Lou. No one suspected, least of all myself, how momentous that little storyline would prove.
Arlo and Janis has a lot of followers in the upper Midwest. I want to remind you that the Kenosha Festival of Cartooning gets underway today in Wisconsin. You might want to check it out if you do, indeed, live in the area. In the past, I would have posted a link for you, but unless there is something specific I want to show you it’s so much easier for everyone if I simply encourage you to “Google it.” You know what to do. If you do make it to the festival, tell ’em Arlo and Janis sent you.
211 responses to “Variations on a Theme”
Good for you, Ghost! How many people get a chance like that, to be a hero, and can’t follow through. But you knew just what to do, and you did it! I can picture the scene. No wonder everyone was so impressed.
Dear Lilyblack, your sunporch sounds marvellous, and no wonder it’s hot, in your climate.
GR6: I’ve had a couple of moments like that where I’ve stepped in while everyone else was too stunned or otherwise emotional to react in time. Two certainly would have drowned without me, the others were saved unnecessary harm or pain. I hope to continue to be able to step in when needed despite my current infirmities.
TR, in cases such as that, it’s the thought that counts, or I should say the forethought. If you get behind the curve, you won’t likely catch up in time. I seem to be blessed with a panic mode that is pretty much non-operative. As an example, there have been some episodes when I was flying I’d have to classify as “hairy”. But I can honestly say that none of them ever affected me adversely while I was dealing with them.
Which is not to say I didn’t sometimes get a good old-fashioned case of the shakes afterwards. 🙂
Post-emergency shakes? Oh, yeah! At the hospital where I’m a volunteer chaplain we always go through a thorough debriefing after the memorable incidents, and that helps a lot. it especially helps us avoid inaccurate self-blame when things have gone sideways and seems to help keep the staff out of PTSD territory.
Thanks, TR, for the hearty laugh this morning; I shared the banner video with my husband and he had a good chuckle too. And GR, on behalf of that elderly lady, I applaud your quick reaction to what could have been the end of her life as she knew it. Unfortunately, a bad fall for a fragile elderly person is often the beginning of the end, as we all know. There are so many good folks on here, and I missed you all when the site was down. After SS and church this morning I am off on a quick trip to see my eight wonderful grandchildren, ages 10 years to two months! Happy Sunday to you all!
TR & GR6, I recall a time when afterwards I sat down and laughed like I had gone insane.
The aftermath of being in mortal danger can do some strange things to one.
Enjoy your visit, Carol, and give your grandkids an extra hug from us in the Village.
Debbe 😉 You good, hon?
Husband says he would not live in my mind for 5 minutes. Even my nightmares are funny and strange——
Right in the middle of one (I blame the Village for this one) we are all dressed in black tie formal clothes like Downton Abbey having a multicourse elaborate meal served formally with tons of silverware and china and glasses and wine. My son in law however showed up in a sweat suit?
Wait staff starts to pile on the courses like a miniature Swedish buffet in front of diners (food wasn’t all that good or well plated either) and the other half of table is occupied by elegant French nobility who break out into perfect and eloquent French (I didn’t know I could dream French dialogue?) Led by an older Countess?
I knock over a huge wine glass of expensive red wine all over entire table and a river is heading for Countess, everyone is throwing the white napkins onto the table and red wine and this horrific howling begins under the table——-
You guessed it, the 10# dog’s motion sensor was going off and he set off the two 60# sensors out in the breezeway!
Lily, you should have been there to translate for us! The French were very talkative there at the end but I could follow the broken English and gestures.
By the way, you all should do a pear gallette (not sure my written French is any better) Bosc pears hold up really well in one and make pretty patterns in swirls around pastry.
Love, Jackie
One of emb’s blind spots again: Who are the couple who wish Luann a happy 18th?
Peace, emb.
Debbe. I am worried about you AND the chickens and the eggs, whichever comes first?
I had a hard time going back to sleep last night after the dog alarm and I almost came in office to see if you had checked in.
Mindy, one of my workers part-time works down the road as a convenience store clerk, has done this all over country, a big and sweet guy, works late shifts. We were laughing about convenience stores and the horrors. You have to laugh or cry.
We had a lovely picnic of fried chicken and cold spiral ham, etc. with my mama, my stone mason, my part time gardener, my part time mason’s helper and my next door neighbor who lives in trailer next door. Wonderful lady, used to own television stations and radio stations down in Texas, a trucking company. People’s stations in life change as we should all know.
I suspect we would have scared some people off by our appearances! And wardrobes! And backgrounds!
Love, Jackie
EMB I cheated and read the comments. It is Greg Evans and his daughter Karen who co-writes the strip but doesn’t draw it. Greg is Luann’s creator and artist.
He is 65 now and very youthful looking, I would say. Strip is one of most popular still although it took a long time to grow on me!
Love, Jackie
Jackie, I wish I did remember more of my dreams these days, but while I know I dream, by the time I’m awake enough to get out of bed the dreams are gone. ah well…
I do still remember a part of one I had while in college, I suppose because it was so strange. Whatever the first part was is gone, but at the end of the dream all action froze like the end of a tv show and credits started to roll up over the picture. And, if that isn’t strange enough, they were in Russian. Now I don’t speak Russian, but I do recognize the alphabet. I have always wondered what that meant, but haven’t found anyone willing to analyze my dream for me.
Jackie, I would have loved to translate. When we were on the canal barge I sometimes had to translate two different conversations at once as well as talk to the waiter, though he spke quite good French, He was a tease, though , and loved to drop comments bout my not eating as much as he and the staff thought I should.
Finished with my wind sprints for the week, hurrah, and am sitting in the choir rehearsal room singing the soprano parts for the basses to get their syncopated part right. Fun!
English, the waiter spoke quite good English. People are distracting me, sorry
OF due 1400-1420 CDT. Peace, emb
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
Jackie: ‘Right in the middle of one (I blame the Village for this one) we are all dressed in black tie formal clothes like Downton Abbey having a multicourse elaborate meal served formally with tons of silverware and china and glasses and wine. My son in law however showed up in a sweat suit?’
Sorry I couldn’t make it to that shindig. I don’t do jackets and ties in general, much less formal attire.
Jean, one of the sailing/boating events my husband does is a 300 mile endurance race from Tampa to Key West, Florida in very, very minimal boats or canoes, kayaks. All of these guys end up sleep deprived and hallucinating. Some of the stories are so wild because they are like dreams and usually they remember them.
One of the racers is nicknamed Crazy Russian for obvious reasons and I always laughed at his story of the entire Ukrainian national choir singing Russian hymns and Christmas music backed by a sky of angels. I do think it funny we should dream in languages we do not speak. He did speak Russian.
Back to work, my housekeeper is working overtime with me to clear out all the boxes and piles of assorted junk out of sunroom/laundry so we can walk through and use the room!
Love, Jackie
Heh, the laundry room here is all full of bottles and boxes of weird smelling stuff I have no idea the use of. I only venture into there to find clothes that the housekeeper hasn’t ironed yet that I want to wear. It’s in part of the house that was added onto and has a painted over window that looks (or would look) out onto the sun room, where it is covered over by a picture. Every once in a while I threaten to open it, but I get threatened right back
When Mike got lung cancer we stripped down the house to bare walls and packed up books, paintings, all knick knacks and extraneous belongings. I also got the entire contents of my mother in laws apartment and several hospital/nursing home contents to shove somewhere when she passed away.
Since Mike did not even get out of a hospital until July 4, not much has gotten done here toward going through this stuff. It was almost impossible to get through sunroom to reach the laundry.
My housekeeper is the worse laundress in the world! She said at the convent she worked in the laundry for several years but I don’t think they let her launder or iron the habits! I think she got to boil the linens and poke them with a big stick.
I did say I have a disabled ex-nun who works for me I guess? She left her order and became a nurse but then became disabled, so cannot nurse. She often regrets leaving her order I think.
Love, Jackie
Interesting, Jackie, as I have often considered becoming a nun myself. Our housekeeper has two sons in college so she works here to pay their bills. She is a great ironer and launderer but I have never figured out her attitude towards me, as she fusses at me like my mother (“Susan Schroeder, the way you keep your room is a disgrace. Why do you think I put those freshly-ironed sheets on your bed? This is the second time I have found then stuffed into the closet.”)but never says boo to The Boss Of My Life. Of course, few people do 😀
I thought they were movie or TV people everybody else would recognize. Cute.
Bonnie was in a teaching order and wanted to become a nurse, which she did. She also wanted to marry and have a family (not while she was in the order of course!) She became an RN and did marry but her husband tried to beat her to death, leaving her unable to nurse after a year in a coma. She was working for me when he was released from prison which sort of gave me pause, as he had sworn to finish killing her.
I either run a half way house here for the disabled and unemployable and those trying to stay sober or a really bad insane asylum according to my daughters. They subscribe to the theory that employees should not personally love you or be your best friend.
I doubt your housekeeper considers your “boss” her best friend.
Is she yours?
Love, Jackie Monies
Reread Lily’s post about not knowing what to do with stuff in laundry room. I remember that cartoon from prof about Greek laundress who learned why you separate reds from whites.
Lily, everyone should learn to do laundry correctly and iron, male or female. It is a life skill, like learning basic cooking and how to clean a house. If you never use it, then so much the better, but take opportunity to learn it from someone excellent at it.
You may be a princess with an endowed kingdom but things are known to change and all the Cinderella fairy tales don’t end well.
In the fairy tales they often say “get yee to a convent, woman!”
But that isn’t a sure thing either. It is protective still but it isn’t a fairy tale.
Love, Jackie
WOW! That Kenosha Festival of Cartooning is a serious, serious festival with major talent on their schedules and exhibits.
I like Kenosha area but this is NOT a good time for me to go there. Wish I could, I’d rather go to that than a ComicCon.
Love, Jackie
Laundry mysteries? This one’s cute!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8qOb8mdTTU