Lazy Days of Summer 09/02/22

Well Monday is it. Labor Day, end of summer, back to work (for our younger readers who still work), and even more horrifying, back to the office and back to commuting. In our Labor Day comic, Al and Marv ponder all this and, as a smile forms on their lips, realize they no longer have to put up with any of it. I was reminded of a time 6 years ago, November, when my time as an ad guy came screeching to a halt (not my decision). It was the first free, non-vacation weekend I had in 40 years. I was taking a walk with my wife on this beautiful natural trail through the woods called the Old Croton Aqueduct. Yep, that’s right, it used to be an aqueduct carrying water from Croton-Harmon in Westchester all the way down to NY City. And then man discovered pipes, and so no more aqueduct. All that was left was this beautiful, wooded trail that stretches for 26 miles, about the length of a marathon. But I digress (is it really digressing when it’s something you do all the time?) Anyway, it was a Saturday afternoon and I realized I had forgotten to go grocery shopping. Saturday afternoon was my time to go shopping, because I commuted and worked Monday through Friday. I said to my wife, “Damn, we’ve got to cut this walk short. I forgot to go to Whole Foods (yeah, call me a yuppie but that’s where I go). She turned to look at me and said, “Why don’t you just go Monday?” It took a second for this new reality to sink in, and as it did, I felt my shoulders drop as I relaxed, and realized this was going to be my new reality. Free time, bike rides on Tuesdays, golf on Wednesdays, movies on a Monday when everyone else was working. Woo hoo! We imagined that’s how Al and Marv might feel as they pondered their own futures.

Our next comic was about grandparenting. How can you get the most joy from the least work? If you’re not yet a grandparent, believe us, there’s a lot of work. And a lot of joy. If you can figure out how to cut down on the work and up the joy, you’ve got yourself a winning combo. And bingo, we had our comic. Al just attached an inner tube to a rope tied to a remote-controlled boat, and the kid was being towed all over the pool without Al having to once get off his lazy butt. We all have shortcuts we use from time to time. Some, like putting the kids in front of Sesame Street while you get ready for work, are considered helpful. While others, like putting the kids in front of cartoon shows while you get ready for work, are considered lazy.

So how would you consider Al’s shortcut of watching his granddaughter in the swimming pool. Ingenious? Or lazy? Or a bit of both? Obviously Joanne, Al’s wife, opted for lazy.

Enjoy the last weekend of your lazy Summer as we retired folks transition to our lazy Fall. See you next week with two new ones. See, we’re not that lazy. Or at least John isn’t.

Andy and John

Watching the river flow, and the summer go 09/04/2020

First of all, an early Happy Labor Day to everyone. We pictured a typical Labor Day cookout, 2020 style. So what if Al mistakenly squirts some hand sanitizer on his hot dog. At least it’s sanitized. As summer turns into fall, the virus still hasn’t gone away, people (for the most part) are still not going back to offices and schools are trying to figure out what to do. And sports! We’ve gone from having none at all to having everything at once (yep, football is a week away). So enjoy this long weekend away before work and school should be starting and then get back to whatever it was you were doing before Labor Day. And one more thing, just use the hand sanitizer on your hands.

Next up was a subject for the kind of disagreement comic creators have with each other. I used to think advertising conversations were silly (this beer is made for weekends, this one is for weeknights, but with this positioning, we can own Friday nights), but this one may have taken the proverbial cake. A couple weeks ago I went into the ocean on an East Hampton beach with a friend of mine. Hot day, cold water. He said, “This is refreshing,” and I said, “I gotta pee,” to which he replied, “Let me stand upstream.” I thought that was so funny I wrote it down when I got out of the ocean. I called John and pitched the idea and this is what followed (with allowances for my memory, which at 67 years old is not getting sharper). Me: So the guy says, Wait till I get upstream. John: There is no upstream in an ocean. Me: Nobody will think of that. John: I just did. Remember how many letters we got correcting us on the difference between Medicare and Medicaid? Me: True. John: So we’ll just have the scene play out in the river. Me: But, I wrote in last week’s newsletter that we would have a comic at the beach this weekend. John: Oceans have tides, not streams. Me: Fine, let ‘em pee in the damn river.

Note: outside of that, we never disagree about anything.

Well, maybe not anything.

One thing we do agree on is to thank you all for being such ardent and loyal readers of the New 60. And we will be back to you next week with two new ones hot off the press.

Andy and John