I’m sure many here have gotten into the same routine as me, waking up Sunday mornings and cruising over to The Planet to take a stroll through the wonderful collection of political cartoons Sally has put together each week. It is a very special and widely enjoyed feature at PlanetPOV. Unfortunately, I have just found out that Sally is not even partially cyborg and can have some human being things come up from time to time (despite my advice not to).
So, Sally will be taking a brief hiatus from posting The Sunday Funnies and wants to share the following with her loyal readers:
Dear Sunday Funnies fans,
I am going to take a vacation from the Sunday Funnies for a bit. I will be going in for major surgery in September. I begged my surgeon to wait until after the summer because I didn’t want to be down now! He agreed that it could wait until then. Before that happens, Mr. T and I will hopefully be able to get a little camping in with the boys, Mansion and Moondozer. I need to sit in the beautiful woods of Oregon and reflect a little. Before and after the surgery, I may have to cut back some and I hope you all can understand. It can get very uncomfortable to sit in one position for very long right now. The funnies can take over 2 hours a night to do and 4-5 on Saturday night to get ready to publish. Okay, that is enough of Alibi-Ike from me.
The Sunday Funnies mean a lot to me and I enjoy doing them. They are my baby. My way of sharing my opinions here and there. And, I hope smiles and laughter with you. I am so glad that you have enjoyed them, too. I just wanted to let you know that we will be gone for awhile but we will be back. Maybe a little slower at first but we’ll get there. Of course, in the meantime, I will be watching for articles and comments you are posting and maybe comment here and there. And, especially in September while I am down on my back side!
Thank you, AdLib, Kalima, and Kesmarn for all your help. And KT, well, you know without me saying, Buddy. Also, thanks to all of you for making my day so many times these past Sundays with your comments and dedication to the column. I have appreciated it so very much and all of you!
Until then, ENJOY each other,
SallyT
So sorry to hear about your pain and surgery schedule, but I want to thank you for all you do to make each and every one of us smile. May your days be filled with laughter and delight, despite the discomfort. Be well as we all be waiting to hear your adventures once you return.
I hope to be able to get to each and everyone of your thoughtful comments real soon. But I did want you to know I am reading them.
No Funnies but I have a funny for you all. I haven’t been feeling all that great the last couple of days. But, today started off with a scream and laughter. Was sitting at the nook while Jake was making coffee. Mansion all of a sudden wanted under the nook. Now this is a small nook and Mansion is a big dog. He is down on all four trying to squeeze under. We are thinking that one of his tennis balls got under there. Jake gets the flashlight and it isn’t a ball! It is a dead squirrel! EeICK! It was pretty much smashed, like might have first been hit by a car.
So, that put Mansion and I into song, country western style. We hope you will like it. Titled- Dead Squirrel Underneath The Table
There’s a dead squirrel underneath the table,
There’s a dead squirrel underneath the table,
There’s a dead squirrel underneath the table,
And, we don’t know how it got there.
I can see it there, over in the corner,
I can see it there, over in the corner,
I can see it there, over in the corner,
How that dead squirrel get over there?
Daddy get the boom,
Daddy get the boom,
Daddy get the boom,
Get it out of there!
Daddy got the boom,
Daddy got the boom,
Daddy got the boom,
Got it out of there!
No dead squirrel underneath the table,
No dead squirrel underneath the table,
No dead squirrel underneath the table,
But we still don’t know how it got there.
We still don’t know how it got there.
Still don’t know how it got there,
But there’s a smile on the cat over there.
That cat sure is a smiling over there……….. 😉
I hope to get back to all of you real soon. You certainly know how to make a gal feel special! You are all so much appreciated!
LOL !! Keep up that wonderful since of humor SallyT, I have a feeling everything is going to be alright. Love the song. That must be some cat. 🙂
Laughter is the best way to start any day!
Sally,
I love the Sunday Funnies, and appreciate the hard work that goes into putting it together, but health must always come first. Best wishes for successful preparation, surgery, and full recovery. Enjoy the family time. We’ll all be here when you come back.
Dear Sally,
I have, as you know, been e mailing the link to your wonderful, and unique, compendium of the best (and the worst) in editorial cartooning to my political listserv almost from the first. I have 150 or so folks on my list. Nearly all are activists with whom I have worked on campaigns and other political actions.
I shared note from some of them and how several actually feature your funnies in their own work. I know that a number of them pass them on to others since I regularly get the link back in a message to a group from one of them.
I have been astounded at how complete your effort has been- spanning the globe, spanning the spectrum of opinion, spanning the current event of the day.
By it nature, a work like that one does not invite easy replies – I know I read through them religiously (on Sunday, get it) every Sunday. I cut and paste my favorite into a special file. About 2/3 of the time I drop you a “thanks” comment and about 1/2 the time I leave replies with my commentary on a number of your selections.
I hope that when you return we can find other ways to assist you, to spread the word on your extraordinary effort and to give you more feedback. You deserve it.
Please know that I will thinking of you and your family as you walk cope with a major surgery- physical, emotional, social stress walk hand in hand in such moments. I hope you will let us know how you are doing in whatever way you choose to do this…..
P.S. I came across this interesting article on the special place that editorial cartoons have in news reporting. The number of cartoonists has dwindled significantly but publishers continue to note that they connect with readers at a very particular, and often peculiar level, transmitting complex multi-faceted thinking in an image which tends to remain fixed in the mind of the looker maintaining access to an often sophisticated analysis.
Your work multiplied that by 100 plus!
http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/100658/What-Publishers-Think-About-Editorial-Cartoons.aspx
Hey Buddy! As much as I enjoy Sundays with your wonderful collections of cartoons, I would gladly do without them if it meant you were taking care of your health. The cartoonists will still be there when you’re ready to start again. Your health is far more important.
Spending time in the wilderness of the great Pacific Northwest sounds just wonderful. As you know, I lived in Vancouver Washington for about a year. Unfortunately I didn’t get much time to really enjoy the wonder that was all around me.
I believe there is nothing in life as healing and soul satisfying as communing with Mother Nature. The utter stillness, except for the music of the creatures, and the sounds of trees creaking as they are gently moved back and forth by the wind, and the gentle hiss of the wind itself as it rustles the leaves, allows our minds to calm and our thoughts sharpen. I think it’s a great idea for you and yours to spend time in this way.
As to the surgery, you know you will be in my thoughts and whatever powers that be, I will call upon, to help see you through to a new found health and happiness. Your gentle spirit and human goodness is on your side and brings others to it.
Oh Sally – of COURSE you need some time off! You’ve been giving us so much for so long, it’s time for you to focus on your health and comfort. We all wish you the very best in preparing for surgery and then having it! No need for you to suffer at all.
Thank you for all the Sundays we, as you can see from comments, revisited our youthful enthusiasm for the ‘funnies’ including all the more sophisticated versions you have offered to us now. We can almost SMELL the paper, the ink, the ‘hot type’ of our past every time we log on and see what you’ve compiled.
One part of the Sunday Funnies I especially have enjoyed is your running commentary. THAT, as much as the funnies, is a total delight.
Now it’s time for you to take care of you. Please know you are in our hearts and that as the time draws closer for the surgery, we are rooting for you coast to coast, border to border. Keep us up to date on your well being. You are a beloved part of our community, and we wish you well.
A big, virtual HUG for the enjoyment of the summer and the fortitude for what’s to come.
Dear Sally, your health matters more than anything. Please take care of yourself and take all the time you need to get better.
You’ve brought the gift of laughter to the Planet. And that is such a tremendous contribution. Not just with the Funnies, but with your whimsical and witty sense of humor.
I wish I could count the times when you’ve made me laugh out loud — even when I’m here all by myself. And sometimes at moments when I really needed to laugh!
Even if you’re not up to doing the Funnies, I hope you’ll bring your wit and optimism to the Planet whenever you can. Even if there are days when it’s only for a little while, until you’re feeling better.
Thank you so much for all those hours you put in. I know it was a labor of love, but that (like baby labor) is still labor!
The Funnies may vanish for a bit, but we hope our Funny Girl will stick with us.
All the best from “Kat”!
Oh Sally, I hope that you have successful surgery and a speedy recovery. After your time communing with nature. If you want to, I would love to take over the funnies until you get back. Just let me know, I won’t be offended if you say no, Wishing you all the best.
“Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.”
~~~~~~~ Maya Angelou
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”
~~~~~~~ John Lubbock, The Use Of Life
SallyT,
You know that you are always in my prayers, and your good health is of major importance to you, your family, and your extended family, that would be the members of PlanetPOV. Those of us who have read your post and laughed with you while enjoying our first cup of coffee on Sunday morning will wait patiently for your return. I have to say I sometimes even cried through what was a beautiful display of politics and sentiment through cartoons, always with your comments to clarify if you were really appalled at some right wing nonsense that you had found on the web. Rest dear SallyT, enjoy your family, rejuvenate, rehabilitate and then come back to us. You will be missed.
“Activity and rest are two vital aspects of life. To find a balance in them is a skill in itself. Wisdom is knowing when to have rest, when to have activity, and how much of each to have. Finding them in each other – activity in rest and rest in activity – is the ultimate freedom.”
~~~~~~~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sally,
Let me add to Nirek’s, Kalima’s, and Sue’s posts. As Kalima says, now is the time to concentrate on yourself. I wish you a restful summer followed by a successful surgery and recovery. I will miss your valuable contribution to the Planet every week, but you must take care of yourself–we will be here when you get back.
Be well, my friend.
Sally, enjoy a break in the woods. I believe that heals many wounds. I’m out most days for a few hours cutting and splitting fire wood. I don’t burn wood any more but can sell it without any problem.
Get yourself well, we’ll suffer without the funnies until you return with them. Be well, my friend.
Dear Sally, hoping your surgery will be a great success, and that you will be feeling better no matter how long it takes. The Planet will be here when you are feeling stronger, so will everyone who enjoys your Funnies every week.
Now is the time to concentrate on yourself, and I hope you have a wonderful trip.
Take care and come back soon. All the very best for September.
Mata ne.
Sally, whatever it is that requires major surgery, you must do it. I so enjoy your weekly funnies and your lead in pic reminds me of Sunday mornings pulling the funnies from the Oakland Tribune and messing up my dad and uncles’s favorite sections. I would read them cover to cover and was always the last one rushing to get ready for church.
I kept that routine for many many years and days there were no funnies, I was reading the side of the cereal box. A friend once said to me, “you will read anything, just to read”. Well that was not entirely true, I won’t just read anything, but yes, I do read a great deal. I think it was those funnies long ago that set a pattern. Scholastic book club, I always would buy one or two books, I had a library card as early as the 4th grade. I guess what I am trying to say is that it had been a pleasure reading cartoons again and reflecting on the fact that they most likely were a big reason why I love reading so much.
I will miss your column very much but wish only the fastest recovery for you.