Special Sunday doubleheader

Yesterday was the annual meeting of the women's organization of the LDS Church, the General Relief Society Meeting. To commemorate the event, I published a special cartoon over on Zarahemla Times, and I thought I'd also share it here.

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We now return to our regularly scheduled cartoon, a continuation of the story of why Jack in Good Heavens is so attached to his TV despite all the negative political programming.

Thank you for your indulgence.

The source

I'm pretty sure those guys down below have an advertising department. Probably a pretty good one!

A modest proposal

If the alternatives were 70s love songs or political invective, I might choose the 70s music...if I could have veto power over the playlist!

Here's mud in your eye

The other day, Bill Clinton said something nice about Mitt Romney as he introduced him for a speech. I think that's as close as we're going to get.

The agony of defeat

In the U.S., this presidential election has been marked by a preponderance of mudslinging and negative campaigning. There was a brief respite during the Olympics, but it didn't take long to get back to business as usual.

To every thing there is a season

As blooming flowers are a sign of spring, so are budding campaign signs a sign of fall.

Monday Sketchbook: Who's all that?

There's all sorts of jewelry and other accoutrements out on the market that, yeah, you could look pretty bad when you're all decked out. One of the strangest things I ever saw in the Mormon Bling category was in Provo, where a guy had a giant rodeo-style belt buckle that said, "I AM A CHILD OF GOD." It wasn't inspirational. It was scary.

Rumor has it

Have you ever noticed how the rumors start to fly whenever there's a General Authority coming to visit stake conference?

More longing for home

OK, this is corny. I apologize.

If you can't stand the heat

Our office building was just remodeled and now has a high tech heating/ventilation/air conditioning (HVAC) system. Instead of hot and cold spots like it used to have, the new building maintains an ambient temperature that falls within a certain range of comfort, right around 77 degrees plus or minus. I watched the other day as a coworker pulled out a sweater, put it on, and then pulled out a blanket and wrapped herself up in it -- and said she was still cold. There are some people, I think, who can never be too warm.

For what are we about to receive?

You know that saying, "Sometimes He calms the storm; sometimes He calms the sailor"? There are also times when it pertains to taste buds and food, as many missionaries can attest.

When there's Arrggh at Home

So here's the deal.

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I also learned that there is a consortium of LDS bloggers who have named this Proclamation on the Family Week.

So I figured I ought to combine both!

Here's the little tag for the Proclamation on the Family Week. I picked it up from my friend and fellow blogger, Just Me, the Mom.

And, with that, I think I've just exceeded the total number of links ever included in any of my posts! Whatever you do today, celebrate something!

It's strong with this one

You've gotta wonder where George Lucas came up with some of his ideas.

Well, except for Jar Jar Binks. I, for one, don't want to know where that came from!

Monday Sketchbook: Mind if I lead?

I understand that stake dances seem quite alien to those who are used to going to school dances. And having chaperoned both, I quite agree.

Then sings my sole

And the winner is...!

The winner of last week's caption contest is Kathy M of Seattle! There were a lot of great ideas submitted -- some of which I will undoubtedly use in the future! But Kathy's came the closest to what I originally wanted to say, I think.

A big thank you to everyone who offered ideas and suggestions. I have one or two other drawings that need similar help, so you might see those at some future time.

And may the Force be with you!

Warmest wishes

OK, normally I don't do a lot of cartoons dealing with the netherworld. But this was a side idea that came up while working on a strip for Good Heavens. I was playing around with the idea of what would make residents of the lower levels happy..which got me wondering if it would be appropriate for them to be happy...which led to this.

This idea wouldn't work in that strip, so I thought I'd run it over here and ask forgiveness later!

Have a nice day!

First contact

This is a re-working of an earlier cartoon. The original was vertical and in black and white, and I needed to have it in a different format and in color.

Sometimes ideas don't come across quite as well with those kinds of changes, but I think this one turned out OK.

Holy strikeout!

I've coached Little League. This is a bigger problem than you might think!

He who wins scratch off will not be burned

Some investigators have trouble wrapping their heads around certain concepts.

Monday Sketchbool: You know the drill

Seems like every six months or so I come up with a new batch of dentist cartoons. Thank you, Dr. Seare!

Softly now we think of thee

I think every Primary has at least one of these kids. We have three. All in the same class.

Help! Help!

So here's the deal -- I had this really great idea for a cartoon with some Scouts around the campfire. So I made this drawing, and I had a great time coloring it...and I forgot what the caption was!

That's where I need your help. Can you come up with a caption for this drawing?

I don't have any valuable prizes to offer, but I can at least offer you a warm fuzzy feeling if your idea is selected. Enter early and often. I appreciate the help!

I can feel it coming in the air

Ahh, the refined art of politics! I guess, really, that there's not much more to be said about this one!

Let's get physical

This is the second of two recently uncovered 121 strips. This one is kind of dated. I mean, do they even offer aerobics classes any more? Any you can't see it, but Mindy totally has leg warmers on, too.

Again, I apologize for the quality of the scan. It just makes it seem that much more historically significant, am I right?

Wake up, little Suzie

While going through some old files the other day, I ran across one of my early 121 cartoons. Apparently Kerri Jo at the time was taking on the role of the cranky, bossy roommate. She evolved into the sweet and innocent one, more so after Tina made her appearance.

This is one that I haven't run, and I'm a little doubtful of the quality of the scan. But here it is anyway, just in time for the back to school season.

They sent me here

A "mondegreen" is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a word or phrase that is sung or said. This is one mondegreen that, in some cases, may not be very far off.

Monday Sketchbook: Struggles

So last Thursday, BYU kicked off for its season-opening football game at the exact same time that Mitt Romney addressed the Republican National Convention. For many folks I know, that caused a real dilemma. Would it be wrong to watch one in favor of the other?

For me, it wasn't much of a problem. I figured I'd watch the game, then if I wanted to hear the speech, I could catch it on some site on the Internet or read about it in the newspaper.

As it turned out, the game broadcast I listened to carried a simultaneous feed of the convention speech (someone at the station must've left a switch open). It got a little confusing at times as the crowds at one event cheered at times that were kind of awkward for the other!

Chosen callings

I attended one ward that had its boundaries change, so there was a lot of reorganization that was going on. It seemed like they called and released members of several presidencies within the ward. They also announced that in the prior week they accidentally released some people who should not have been released, so they corrected those and reminded those folks that they still needed to perform their responsibilities.

That got me to wondering how they could have gotten to the point where they released those people, and why nobody said anything when it was being done. It was all very confusing, and I hope that by now it's all sorted out.

Anyway, here's one possible explanation of how that bit of ward business could have slipped in.

It's the final countdown

I was visiting another ward recently, and from a few rows back I witnessed a mother struggling all through Sacrament meeting to get her kid to be quiet. The mom kept looking at the clock, as if willing it to move forward to the time she could send her little Sunbeam off to Primary class.

It's not always like that with little kids at church, but it can certainly be a challenge!