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The glues of our life

I saw an image of the Lepage glue with the rubber top on Facebook and memories came flooding back. I remember using it as a child. Then I remember all of these glues – Elmer’s Glue, rubber cement and white paste, also by Lepage.

The glue with the rubber top had a slit in the top of the rubber and you would press down to let the glue out, it looked sort of like maple syrup, only thinner. The Elmer’s Glue we would put on our fingers, the white would turn clear as it dried, and then we peel it off. The rubber cement we made into small rubber balls and we played with them. I think we used rubber glue more than most of them other types of glues here.

And the White Paste. What I remember about the white paste is eating it. Yup, we would eat the white paste. I don’t know why and I don’t remember what it tastes like, but that was the thing to do when you were eight years old.

I remember one time in class, I was “tasting” the white paste and I heard a shriek from the teacher – it was a shriek like you would hear when someone sees a mouse. She looked at me and said, “You’re not eating the paste, are you?” And even at eight years old, I was a quick thinker – I told her, “No, I was smelling it.” A stupid answer but I guess I thought it was better to be smelling it than eating it.

I can almost picture the teacher in my head, but she wasn’t our regular teacher, she was either a substitute or a teacher’s aid, something like that. I suppose the regular teacher was used to us eating paste so it was nothing for her to be shocked over.

It’s amazing how seeing something or smelling something brings back so many memories.

I used to see a Facebook page where pictures of old toys and games were posted. There wasn’t any text, someone would just post a picture and the memoires would start flooding back, people would comment about their memories about the toy or game.

I guess my brothers and I were spoiled because I can’t remember seeing an old picture of something that we didn’t have. Every toy and game that was shown we seemed to have – Trouble, Skittle Pool, Clue, Monopoly, Flintstones things, Operation, Lite-Brite, Creepy Crawlers and even the Hasbro Frosty Snowman Machine, and lots of models – we used to make lots of plastic models and do puzzles.

I don’t know what happened to all these things, I guess my mother threw them out, but when I think of what they are worth now.

The interesting part is that my brothers and I must have shared everything no matter whose toy they were because I can’t remember who owned what. We must have kept everything in one place in the house and just picked and chose what we wanted to play with.

Now it’s all about electronics. Kids have so many electronics that one day will probably seem quaint to them.

**Hasbro Frosty Sno-Man Sno-Cone Machine.**

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Protecting the entertainers

There are two cartoons published today – same concept, two images.

I wasn’t sure which version to use, so I did two of them.

As you know, lately performers have things thrown at them from the audience. Not sure why, seems like a stupid thing to do. Cardi B threw a mic at one guy who threw water from a plastic cup on her!

The story goes that Cardi B was asking the audience to throw water on her because she was burning up in the Las Vegas heat. So this person threw the water. But when Cardi B threw the mic into the crowd, she hit someone else – a lady, and now the lady is suing because she is “bruised.”

The world we live in today.

Even the Sign Guy agrees. Saw this on his Facebook page.

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A Messi, Barbie weekend

It’s a pink weekend. Between the new Barbie movie and Lionel Messi. the soccer superstar’s USA debut, it’s all pink. You can swipe back and forth for both cartoons here.

Pink is of course the theme of Barbie and Messi’s color is pink. Messi’s pink a little bit lighter in color, but still, I think this deep, bright pink makes the point (cartoonwise).

I first did the Barbie cartoon and at the last minute I thought of Messi. Here in Miami, it’s Messi all over the place. Murals are appearing on buildings, soccer tickets have zoomed up in price and that’s all you hear about – Messi, Messi, Messi.

On the national news, I’ve seen lots of reports on Messi, so I thought I would add it to today’s cartoon as a second option, to add to the pink theme of the weekend.

The Oppenheimer movie is opening this weekend, too, and people are buying tickets for both Barbie and Oppenheimer and will do a double feature, sort of like the old days. The big debate there is which one to see first so as to set the tone for the next movie.

I couldn’t fit Oppenheimer into the pink theme. It’s anything but bright and pink.

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On strike

Today’s cartoon is about the Hollywood actor’s strike. First off, let me say I am in favor of everyone being paid what they are worth. And I’m in favor of the actor’s receiving their due. I also know that the majority of actors are not paid millions of dollars and some barely make a living wage. I know that.

This is just one view of how some people see the strike. It could be because they have big names as the face of the strike, like Fran Drescher, Jason Sudekis, Susan Sarandon and Brian Cox, who are just a few that have been shown on tv talking about the issue. I know the big names get the air time.

If it was a character actor that we don’t know, then perhaps people might feel differently. But again, I understand the SAF-AFTRA issue. They want their fair share, they don’t want their likenesses used with AI formats and so on.

When I started my Huffington Post column, 10 With Tom, my goal was to interview up- and-coming artists and musicians – people who were not known, but I was asked to write about well-known people, because that’s what the readers apparently wanted to read. So it’s the same here, publicize the famous stars rather than those in the picket line who really need to strike.

I know the writers are on strike, too, and many of them barely make a living wage.

I’m hoping for a good outcome for everyone involved.

When I first wrote the cartoon, I used a husband and wife watching tv, worried about their cable bill or streaming bill going up due to the eventual outcome of the strike, but I thought the two homeless guys would make more of an impression.

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Hot or cold milk in coffee?

This Our Boarding House cartoon is from July 10, 1929. Almost 100 years ago, and we are probably still drinking our coffee the same way in the U.S. – with cold milk, if we add milk.

I live in Miami, so when we order coffee at a restaurant, if you order coffee, you get Cuban Coffee, which is espresso with about eight, yes eight, teaspoons of sugar.

If you want a regular cup of coffee, you order “American Coffee” and then you’ll get it. But in many cases, they give you warm/hot milk on the side if you ask for milk or cream with it. You have to ask for cold milk, like The Major here in the cartoon.

I guess it makes no sense to have hot coffee and then put cold milk in it, but that’s how it goes in the rest of the U.S. if you’re not in Miami. For some reason I skeeve hot milk put in hot coffee. As for iced coffee, I like it ice and coffee. That’s it. No milk, no sugar. I’ve ordered it at a McDonald’s and I have to explain to them more than once that I don’t want anything else in it, just the ice and coffee. They could not wrap their minds around the fact that I didn’t want anything in it.

I live on Cold Brew Iced Coffee when I’m in New York in the summer, usually from Starbucks, I order it on the app and pick it up. These days, as you know, it’s sweltering in summer so I drink that a lot. They know me at a few of the Starbucks in NYC and they just hand me the coffee when they see me without calling my name – I’m there that often. But they get it – ice and coffee. Nothing else. Well, one thing – they used to have these little square bites – they were lemon coconut, something like that. They no longer have that as an item on the menu. So it’s just the iced coffee, nothing else, right now.

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Operation Lighthouse Rescue

I was telling one of my cousins last week that I watch a lot of PBS. She assumed I watched a lot of “nature shows” or educational stuff, but I told her I watch a lot of British tv – britcoms, mysteries, etc.

I love Doc Martin, Escape to the Chateau, Poirot, Are You Being Served, Keeping Up Appearances (my mother loved Hyacinth Bucket) and Death in Paradise (my father loved this show), to name a few. And interestingly enough, I saw this great episode of NOVA last night, an episode from 2016 called “Operation Lighthouse Rescue.” It was about the Gay Head Light (lighthouse), in Martha’s Vineyard, that has been a fixture since 1856.

The lighthouse was in danger of falling off of the cliffs, as the erosion got closer and closer. So a plan was set in place to move the much-loved and historic lighthouse back 135 feet to save it for another 150 years or so.

I kept picturing people 150 years from now doing the same thing- moving the lighthouse in another 135 feet, cursing the people in 2023 for not doing it at the time. But they can’t move the lighthouse too far back, – it still serves a purpose and needs to be visible by boats at sea.

It’s a fun program, talking about the history of the lighthouse, showing the village people of Martha’s Vineyard and the actual crew doing the job of lifting the lighthouse four feet off the ground and moving it without it collapsing under its own weight.

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The Brooklyn Museum

I went to the Brooklyn Museum the other day. I visited the art and then just before I left, I stopped by the Ancient Egypt area. And you know what? I felt at home. I literally felt at home.

I was pleased to see objects from Ramesses II and so many others, including Akhenaten.

I’m always fascinated by ancient Egypt. The exhibits have inspired me to do more Egypt-based cartoons.

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Cleopatra’s Needle

I don’t know why I waited so long, but I finally saw one of Cleopatra’s Needles – which is in Central Park, behind the MET Museum.

It’s an Egyptian obelisk. There are three, NYC has one, London has one and Paris. Alexandria, Egypt, is the original location.

The one in NY was erected in 1881. It’s over 3500 years old!

I love ancient Egypt so much, not sure why it’s taken me so long to see it.

While called Cleopatra’s Needles, they were already over 1000 years old in her time.

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Long wait for Starry Night

I went to the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art) in NYC to see Starry Night. It was on loan from MOMA for a special Van Gogh exhibit called Van Gogh’s Cypresses.

To be honest, if you’ve seen much of various Van Gogh works in different museums, it’s not worth the trip. The wait can be hours to get in.

Once you are in the museum, you need to get on a wait list for Van Gogh. You scan a QR code with your phone and wait and wait and wait and wait to be pinged for your arrival into the exhibit at your allotted time.

If you are willing to wait, you could be seeing everything else in the MET while waiting, but if you just intend to see Van Gogh, prepare for the wait.

Many people are crowded in and it’s more enjoyable to see his work, especially Starry Night, at it’s regular home at MOMA where it never is a madhouse.

I was in and out, but I did of course enjoy the rest of the museum.

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