The Great Outdoors 7/2/21

Is it just us or does it seem like the older we get, the more time flies? I mean it seems like only yesterday when we were stuck indoors, wearing masks every time we stepped outside. The thought of going to a restaurant or an outdoor baseball game seemed out of the question. And now? 17,000 people are packed into indoor basketball arenas, maskless, screaming their heads off. And are we really on the cusp of Independence Day 2021 already? So John and I decided we would celebrate our recent relative freedom by doing a maskless 4th of July celebration. With a tan line. If you remember last year’s 4th of July version, we had our guys mistakenly squirting a giant size bottle of hand sanitizer on their hot dogs. This year, a few lines from masking up outdoors. That is a definite sign of progress.

The second strip on your scroll is one of our favorites. As John says to me, you just live your life and tell me the incidents and I will make them funny. To me they are funny enough already, but as my dominant sense is verbal, and comics are basically a visual medium, I see his point. As James Thurber, a noted author and cartoonist once said, “A drawing is always dragged down to the level of its caption.” In any case I was supposed to be writing about the comic. Here’s the inspiration; my wife and I sold our house and moved to an apartment when our kids were grown up and living on their own. One of my favorite activities is to go out on the deck, sit in a lounge chair to meditate and look out over the Hudson River. We planted beautiful pots of flowers on the deck to enhance the view. I like to go outside and commune with nature as I do a 20-minute meditation. The birds are attracted to the flowers and often come and sit on the deck railing by the flowers and call out to each other. At first I thought this was incredibly charming and wonderful. Then the birds got a little louder and started calling to each other from other decks. It got so I couldn’t concentrate on my meditation. Caw, caw, Tweet, Tweet, CHIRP, CHIRP! Suddenly my calm was broken and I started thinking, “Will you shut the f@#% up already!” And there you have it, with the add-on of a concerned neighbor thrown in for a laugh. I actually don’t have a concerned neighbor, or if I did, she was out of town, because I gave those birds a piece of my mind alright. I guess it didn’t matter because they were back the next day and every day thereafter. We sure showed them. We just rented a beach house and left them behind. Now all I have to interrupt my meditation are crickets, cicadas and whatever crazy, unsanitary thoughts are rolling through my mind at the moment. That’s all. But in fact, that’s a lot.

See you next week with two new ones, both maskless.

Andy and John

Happy 4th of July 07/03/2020

Happy 4th of July. Just think of the possibilities. You can gather up the whole family, kids and grandkids and go to the ballgame, or if it’s hot, a trip to the pool or better yet, the beach. And afterwards you can all enjoy a trip to your favorite restaurant or have a cookout at home. But wait a minute. There are no ballgames. And unless your governer is in denial, he or she has already closed the public pool and the public beaches not to mention indoor dining. And that stuff about the kids coming over? Well you can’t invite the kid who went into the office last week but had to quarantine since someone in her office contracted the virus three days ago, and then she can’t bring her husband or the kids so there goes that idea, etc., etc., etc. Which is how John got the inspiration for his poster, a socially distant 4th. At least there’s Hamilton on Disney +, so thank goodness for small favors.

But onto the next one about watching TV at home with mom or mom-in-law. I kept telling John about Ozark, this awesome series on Netflix my wife and I binge-watched and he kept saying, my mother-in-law is here for the time being and she won’t appreciate the language, violence and nudity. So we came up with our second comic, mom friendly TV. The day before we posted it, I was in Pittsburgh with my wife at her mother’s house and we came home after dinner and wanted to watch a movie. Well there’s only so much Hallmark Channel a man can take so we went with our friend Sandy’s advice and watched a Mark Ruffalo movie, “Begin Again.” Joanie’s 98 year old mom watched with varying degrees of interest, and when it ended, I asked her if she was okay with the language. Now in 37 years of knowing Joanie’s mom Charlotte, I can say I have never heard her curse even once. But when I asked if the language was offensive she said with a nice smile on her face, “No, it didn’t bother me. It was all fuck this and fuck that and fuck you. Nothing I haven’t heard before.”

What else can I say, besides have a Happy 4th and we’ll talk to you again next week.

Andy and John

Our comic, Fireworks and the "Honey Do" list 7/5/19

The more we do these posts, the more time flies. We remember last year’s 4th of July post like it was yesterday. We went digital on May 18th, of 2018 (not far from Andy’s May 15th birthday) but while one of us turned 65 that year, the New 60 was born. Many thanks to all of you who continue to support and follow us. We are currently working on a coffee table book with 100 or so of our favorite comics, annotated by John and Andy. Whenever that happens, rest assured, you will be notified. Keep your credit cards handy. Just a suggestion.

So now that we’re over a year old, we’re on our second Happy 4th of July poster featuring our characters in a unique way. John conceived this all by himself, but Andy has no problem accepting total credit. What, we were in advertising, remember?

The actual comic strip this week is also themed around July 4th. And around the “Honey Do” list. To those who are unfamiliar with the concept, allow us to explain. Honeydews are one of the most delicious types of melon you can eat. They are fabulous. Honey Do’s, not so much. When you are no longer in advertising, (like John and Andy), and your wives ae still working at their full time jobs (like John’s and Andy’s), it makes you a perfect candidate for the Honey Do list. “Honey, do you mind picking up the dry cleaning on the way to your co-working space? Honey, do you mind picking up the groceries? Honey, our friends are staying over for the 4th, so get the beer, the food, fix the grill oh, and maybe some herbs and flowers for the planter, it’s on your way.” And when you are no longer commuting into Manhattan every day, what else can you say but “Yes dear.” Now some of us might mutter under our collective breaths while we are doing said errands, but not John and me (at least not John). Anyway, it is with this insight over this holiday that inspired our strip for the week. But if you’re reading this, you’ve probably already read the strip.

Enjoy the fireworks but don’t shoot them off by yourself. As NY Giant fans painfully remember, superstar defensive lineman JPP tried that and ended up blowing off two of his fingers, which didn’t exactly help his contract status (THAT took a dark turn, didn’t it?) So enjoy the long weekend, your friends and family and we’ll be back at you next week with two more misadventures of the New 60.

Andy and John