life

I am that “lawn guy!”

OMG, I’m turning into an old man. I told a kid to get off the lawn.

Not exactly that way, but some kids were riding their bikes around the area and I yelled at one, “Hey, get off the grass!”

Then I died, thinking of what I did. Not because I yelled at the kid, but because I sounded like an old man.

We had a lot of work around the area for a few years. First we had our 40 year recertification thing, then we had the building painted, that took almost two years. Then we had seven months of street work, just in our small cul-de-sac. New drainage pipes were put in, the sidewalks and streets were raised and finally, they put new sod down in the swale areas.

In between all that, we had new pavers down on our own property, which was almost another month. So after all this time, things are done and nice. And this kid is riding his bike on the grass, which is still not settled yet.

While the city waters the grass from a big truck, one of my neighbors and I water it daily, to be sure it grows nicely.

So when I saw the kid on the grass, I lost it for a second. I turned into an angry old man.

I think the kid’s father, who I know called me to yell at me, I didn’t recognize the number, but it was local and rang me a few minutes later. But I ignored the call.

So I added some cartoon wall hangings to my Etsy collection. They are presented on a matte stretched canvas in different sizes and they have to do with professions.

I’ve been thinking of this for a long time. I remember some years back, I would see a guy at art festivals selling his cartoon art that were based on various professions. They were framed comic strips geared to dentists, doctors, lawyers, etc. And they sold very well. They are quite a unique gift.

I have a big backlog of cartoons that have been published, literally hundreds, if not over 1000 and I thought they would make great wall hangings for professional people.

The Flintstone cartoon shown above has been selling as just a simple PDF cartoon, where people have been using the art on their business cards, mailings, promos, and things like that.

I didn’t go out and start selling the cartoon, it just sold itself.

What happened was, it was published a few years back, and after it was published, I started receiving emails from people asking if they could by the rights to use it for their businesses – mostly real estate agents, designers, architects, that sort of business.

They just reached out through email and asked to buy the rights, which was amazing, since I would assume people would just grab the image online and use it, but these people asked to pay for the rights. And I ended up selling them the rights to use the cartoon for their projects.

It happened quite often for awhile and I sold the right – and for quite a bit of money and they paid it! I’m still selling the rights, but I lowered the price quite a bit and the masses now purchase it and use it.

Anyway, so now I am offering these business/occupation-based cartoons on various size canvases which I suppose would look great in offices. They are a first class gift.

Right now I have a medical/doctor’s cartoon, a paddle boarding one and the Flintstones one, I will add a teacher, lawyer, and other professions as time goes on.

You can see them as I add new ones at the Etsy store here.

Till next time . . .

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Winter finally arrived in Florida

I woke up to 35 degree F weather this morning. Windchill is in the mid 20s.

I know, that’s nothing to you guys with minus degree weather. And I’m always in NYC where I’ve been in 17 degree F weather at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but I guess down here in Miami, the cold doesn’t feel the same – maybe it’s the humidity, but it feels much colder.

People ask how we can stand the heat and humidity of the summer, which we really don’t feel if we live here – I honestly feel hotter when I’m in NYC, so I guess with the cold, we feel colder even when it’s not as cold as up north.

Summer has been brutal in NYC these past few years – I almost had heat stroke a couple of summers ago. I’m just saying.

The last time it was 32 or 35 degrees here was about 15 years ago. I remember it well. We had a food festival in the village and I remember trying to sell drinks, sticking my hands in the ice to get the glasses ready, all bundled up. Every once in awhile that photo of me bundled up pops up on social media.

One of my cousins told me that she doesn’t want to hear any complaints about it being too hot this summer from anyone, since we are all wishing for warmer weather now.

When I was a kid, I always looked forward to cold weather in Miami. I guess as you get older, you don’t wish for cold weather anymore, although I do wonder about those people who live in the Dakotas, Minnesota and areas near there that say they love the cold and snow.

I saw a show on PBS not long ago about a town in Maine where they waited and wished for the snow – and they then did everything out in the snow – I don’t mean skiing and winter sports – I mean holding school classes at picnic tables and having picnics and of course swimming. Yes, they loved doing polar bear swims – more than once in the winter.

Some of my favorite tv shows are Alaska-basked – “Life Below Zero” and “Port Protection Alaska,” etc., and the residents there thrive on the cold.

I don’t want to say I thrive on the heat, but I now do prefer a 76 degree day to 35 degrees. I know the iguanas prefer it, too.

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It’s a mess out there; but for a good cause

It’s almost like the pandemic here at home.

I don’t mean anyone is sick, what I mean is that we are sort of in quarantine here at the building.

For the past few months, our cul-de-sack has been getting new pipes buried in the street, which involved the streets being cut up and pipes being taken out and replaced. The workers are quite methodical. At first I thought the whole area would be dug up at once, and we would be navigating piles of dirt and big ditches in the streets, but they seem to work in sections of about 20 feet.

They dig up a 20 foot section and do their thing taking out the old stuff and putting in the new.

From a distance, it looks like a movie scene is being filmed on one corner. Everyone and every large piece of equipment is concentrated on one area – everyone in a large circle is looking at the same thing – the center of attention. Sort of like “lights, camera, action.”

When they leave at the end of the day, it looks as if they weren’t here. The street is all cleaned up, the huge ditches are covered up with some sort of metal covering, the areas are all hosed down and I guess until they lay the new street down at the very end, it looks nice, clean and tidy.

For the past weeks they were in one area, not far from me. Now these past few weeks, they have been in front of my building. I was hoping it would be when I was out of town a few times over the months, but it’s now. So for now, we stay home most of the time, but to be fair, we are able to get in and out and exit and enter the neighborhood through various ways.

But sometimes, it’s just easy to just stay home.

I waited a bit the other day to get out because large equipment was blocking my exit, but I made it out and back home. UPS, FedEx, the mail carrier and Amazon all make it through. Which reminds me, I still haven’t given the mail carrier her Christmas present, guess I’ll go down and look for her this week.

Unlike the pandemic, it’s noisy, where during the pandemic is was so quiet and the streets were empty. Out back on the bay, I would see people kayaking, boating, water boarding and things like that. There was a couple who would be in some sort of gray float or inner tube and daily they would flow out with the tide and then back in again, talking with each other the whole time, just taking life easy.

Being confined to the house reminds me of that period. Only now the bay is quiet, since people are at work and school. But the street out front is very busy with the construction crews doing their thing.

But again, they are methodical and neat and accommodating, but I do look forward to the day when they are done and gone.

I know- first world problems, and at least we aren’t dealing with the major snowstorms which are affecting millions of people in the country this week.

Till next time . . .

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The evolution of neighborly bonds

One of my current neighbors and I, met an old neighbor for lunch, over the holidays. The one neighbor who had moved away some years ago was in town, so we met up. We have all been friends for so many years.

I often think of when I moved into my condo building so many years ago and how I miss those days. Today I barely speak to some of the current neighbors, I just don’t like them and we’ve fallen out.

The sad part is that I don’t speak to them, but I don’t think they realize it. I don’t make it obvious, I just avoid them. As I get older, I’ve decided to get rid of people who are toxic to me. Unfortunately, there are many.

In the old days, we had neighbors who were jerks, but for some reason, since it was in the past, it seems great and I miss those days.

It’s almost like a tv show. We had our original cast of characters and then over the years, people left and new people came in and it’s different.

I saw a documentary on Cheers the other day, the tv show. And they were saying that when Shelley Long left, they thought it would go downhill, but arguably, it got better with Kirstie Alley as Rebecca Howe.

And when Coach died, they thought the same – that it was the end of the show, but Woody Harrelson as Woody, did a wonderful job to take over. Interestingly enough, the character Woody was named before there was an actor to play the part, so Woody Harrelson ironically just happened to end up with the part, and he was perfect for it.

With my neighbors, I don’t think it’s gotten better with new people moving in over the years. I miss the old ~~cast members~~ neighbors.

There was a time we used the elevator as a dumb waiter. People would bake and put things in the elevator for us to share. And at Christmas, it was non-stop up and down with gifts – we all would exchange gifts via the elevator, which now that I think about it, might have been nicer at a building Christmas party instead of the dumbwaiter way, but that’s how we did it.

We used to have so many condo meetings at that time, that maybe we felt we didn’t need a party, every few weeks the meetings were light and fun and sort of like a party. Now we barely have meetings. It’s a different building and world.

Back then, one neighbor used to own citrus groves and he would give each neighbor a case of grapefruits for Christmas. They were so fresh and delicious. I asked him how they were so juicy. He said that at the supermarket, by the time we got them, they literally were touched by 20 hands, but the ones he gave us were just touched by the guy at the orchard who pulled the grapefruits off the trees and put them in the cartons. One hand touched them!

But that’s a thing of the past, and so is he. He passed away a couple of years ago and we all miss his old grumpy self.

Here’s to 2026, hopefully we’ll have a bit of the old days this year.

Till next time . . .

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The man without a face

I was in NYC for a bit for my uncle’s funeral. I’m home now.

The wake and funeral were beautiful, if those are the right words. So many people showed up, he really touched so many lives. I knew many of the people from being there so much over the years, so it was nice to see some old faces. But there was one old face that “I knew,” but didn’t know.

This guy, let’s call hm Ricky, was at the wake and the funeral and he was sitting at our table at a restaurant after the funeral. There were many people present at the restaurant, and I didn’t know them all, but since he was sitting with the immediate family, I wondered who he was.

I asked one of my cousins and he said, “Oh, that’s my mother’s old boss.”

His mother, my aunt, passed away a few years back, but for so many years she worked for Ricky. I heard his name 1000 times, she always talked about him. He was much younger than my aunt who was the office manager, so she treated him like a son, she was a mother figure to him. I remember hearing about his exploits and non-exploits from when Ricky was a young guy.

I yelled out to my cousin, “That’s Ricky?” I was excited. I finally saw the man who was talked about so much. It was like a tv show where there is a character mentioned all the time, but you never see them, like Vera, Norms’ wife on “Cheers,” or Niles wife Maris, on “Frasier,” or Ugly Naked Guy on “Friends.”

I ran over to him and another cousin asked if I wanted to be introduced, which of course I did. I told Ricky how I had heard so much about him over the years, all good. I told him how much my aunt loved him and always felt he was one of the family and I went on and on. It was like meeting a favorite rock star or movie star. It was so nice to put a face to a name.

Not surprisingly he was very quiet, and mild-mannered, but he enjoyed our conversation and was very friendly.

I noticed over the long luncheon, that a couple of others did the same thing when they heard that that was Ricky. We all gushed over him! A little gray haired man sitting in the corner.

As he was leaving later on, I went up to him and shook his hand and told him it was a pleasure meeting him. I said I hoped we would meet again soon. He said, “Hopefully, under better circumstances.” I agreed.

It was a real pleasure meeting him after hearing about him and his life for so many years, putting a face to the name.

Till next time . . .

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This calendar makes a great gift, and it supports me, too!

An officer and a gentleman

My uncle passed away yesterday. The last of all my uncles is gone. All my aunts are gone and my parents, too; and of course, all my grandparents are gone.

That whole generation and the ones before it are all gone. Gone.

I was probably the closest to him out of all my uncles. I was in NY often and I saw him often. When I was young I would stay at their house for long periods. He was a second father to me.

I saw him last month. I have a photo I took of him at a family BBQ. I didn’t know it would be the last photo I have of him, he looks so great and healthy in the photo.

He left us on my aunt’s birthday, which I guess was a birthday present to her. Now they are together forever.

When he was in the hospital these past few weeks, I was remembering a story he always told. He and my aunt shared an apartment with my parents when they were all young married couples – an apartment in Brooklyn.

My uncle would tell the story of a tilted floor they had in the apartment; he joked that it was like walking up a hill. He would tell of holding me when I was an infant, and walking “up that hill” in the apartment, back and forth to put me to sleep. He would mimic walking sideways, trudging up a hill, as he told the story.

It always made us laugh, no matter how many times he told the story.

He was a New York City Police officer, and I always pictured him in his uniform when he told that story. He was quiet, polite, honest and a gentleman, the type you want every police officer (well, everyone) to be.

Now I picture them all together, on the other side. Back together again, like it was so many years ago – the fearsome foursome.

Till next time . . . .

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Urban cops

A funny thing happened the day before I left NY.

Since a Nor’easter was affecting things up north, I sat down on a bench to check my airline schedule, to be sure it was on time the next morning. This past summer I had my flight home canceled and then rescheduled and rerouted thorough Boston, due to bad weather, so I wanted to check this time.

All looked good. The app said all was on schedule.

I was sitting on a bench across from Lincoln Center looking at my phone when two NYC cops came up to me. They asked how long I was sitting there. “Oh, no, I thought, what was this about?”

I had just read an ad in the subway, which was in Spanish, which said something like, “Have your real ID on you, they are on the streets! Truth!” So I thought this was that.

I told the cops I was only there a short time, and I asked why they were asking. One said, “Well, we were told a guy was chasing another guy with a firearm and they ran right by here. And we wanted to know if you saw anything.”

“What?” I said? “If I saw a guy holding a gun up to another guy running by, I wouldn’t be sitting here so calmly,” and I held my hand out as if I was holding a gun.

The cops laughed and ran off, looking for the guys.

Oddly enough, a few days before, these two cops came up to me in Hoboken (I blurred their faces here).

Again, I was sitting on a bench, this time to tie my shoelace. I seem to do a lot of bench sitting it seems. Anyway, I was sitting right in front of City Hall, and they came across the street looking at me. It could be because I took this picture of them, but they came up to me and said, “Hello. how are you doing?” I said, “Ok, thanks.” And they were on their way.

A few minutes before I had taken some pictures of some bigwigs in suits in front of City Hall, although I don’t think the cops saw that. I took the picture because I thought it was funny. Hoboken is literally one square mile in size and they have their own city council, mayor, police department, etc.

It’s sort of a real life Mayberry, when you think about it. I always say if I was to move to New York, I would actually move to Hoboken, one train stop from NYC. It’s like being in Brooklyn, but on the other side of Manhattan, so it’s a quick ride in and out.

It’s autonomous, it rules and controls itself, as any city would. It isn’t part of a larger government, like Brooklyn is (which is part of NYC). So little Hoboken calls its own shots. There are really no tourists there, because who, except for me, goes to Hoboken? It’s easy access to and from the city (Manhattan), it’s right next to the larger Jersey City, which is its own city, too.

I’ve seen people pop over to Macy’s at Herald Square in Manhattan, it’s only a few train stops away. Very convenient, yet it’s a quiet little “village” right on the Hudson River, doing its own thing.

Till next time . . .

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Enjoying making them happy

When I’m creating a cartoon, I usually have one or two people in mind. I wonder, “Will they think this is funny? Will they like it?”

I don’t know why them. Probably because they are more vocal about my work and they have sent me cartoon ideas over the years, so I feel they are paying attention, even thought I might use 1 in 100 of their ideas – but they are being involved.

When I was publishing the daily news, there is one person who I would think of, too. I would wonder if she thought I was doing a good job. I wondered if she thought the article I was writing made sense and wondered if she would approve. She was always in my head as I was writing.

This person is gone now, but I always admired her and cared how she felt about issues. I admired her as I was growing up, she was always saying what I was thinking she was a fighter and protester. She cared about life and history. One time I saw her in person and was so excited. I didn’t say anything to her, but it was like seeing one’s favorite movie star in person.

Years later, I ran into her at a protest, and she knew my name. She literally knew who I was, she approached me and introduced herself and said my name! We eventually became friendly over the years. She wrote a book on Miami history one time and included me!

Are there people who you try to impress? But I think impress is not the right word, I don’t know what the word would be. Make happy? Entertain? Not sure.

One of my favs from quarantine time. Via TomFalco.com

I think in my cases, I just admired these people and the way they felt about things, so I wanted to try to entertain them with my work and put a smile on their faces when they see my cartoons and writings. I don’t want to lose them as an audience.

To be honest, I don’t think I ever changed an article or cartoon because “they” wouldn’t approve, but I just hoped they would enjoy what I was doing.

Does any of this make sense?

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I’ll do it every time

I saw this old comic strip recently, it’s “They’ll Do It Every Time.” It’s from the 1940s.

This reminded me of me because I never wanted to go anywhere – to weddings, parties, communions, whatever, and my mother would always say to me, “You always say you don’t want to go, and then you’re the last one to leave.” And she was right, I did it every time.

I remember a few years back I was at a Chamber of Commerce event and at the end, I was sitting at a table with three other people, and as we were talking the restaurant staff was taking the table cloth off the table, telling us they needed to get ready for the dinner service, so we were basically pushed out.

One of the people with us was a friend named Robert, who is no longer with us, he was a nice guy. As we exited the building, I can remember him looking down at my shoes and saying, “Nice set of wheels!” Which I guess meant he liked the shoes. I had never heard that expression before, but it always stayed with me.

“They’ll Do It Every Time,” the comic panel is one of the ones I enjoyed as a kid. I was surprised to read recently that it ran new until 2008; it started in 1929.

I also liked “Hazel,” and “Our Boarding House” and so many single panel cartoons, which is why I probably do my Tomversation single panel cartoon today.

I see also old “Our Boarding House” cartoons posted daily on Facebook and I often watch the old Hazel tv show reruns.

While the cartoon above is not single panel, most of the time “They’ll Do It Every Time” was single panel.

I like the fact that single panel cartoons have to happen in that one panel. Of course, “The Far Side” was the best when I was growing up. I loved seeing that in the newspaper every day.

While I don’t have to be limited to a single panel or a single size since I’m publishing online and I could fill up a whole page with multi-panels if I wanted, I do enjoy having the one size – 5″ x 5″ where I have to fit it all in.

Once in awhile I do break it up, as I did with this one last week, but it’s very rarely that that happens. I like to keep it in the one panel.

There are many single panel cartoons that I don’t like, simply because I don’t enjoy them, so it’s not that every single one is enjoyable to me. But the format is what attracts me to it.

New Tomversation tees are available at the Etsy shop. They come in four colors, many sizes. Only available in the U.S. at the moment. With free shipping on every order. Here’s the link to the shop.

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The cop’s hand signal

I felt old the other day when I had an interaction with a police officer.

Our streets had been blocked off due to construction in one area, so there were cops directing traffic on certain intersections.

I came up to one intersection, a block from where I live. It was a full stop, and the cop directing traffic looked at me and made some hand signals. It was sort of like a dog pawing at you with both paws, you know, “Paws up,” Lady Gaga style.

I thought he was signaling me to slow down, but I wasn’t moving. Then I realized, he was signaling me to put down the window so he could speak to me.

I was a bit taken aback, since the signal I would have given is the winding motion or cranking motion signal, like winding down the window – which isn’t a thing anymore and hasn’t been for a long time. But people, including me, still use that motion for opening a car window.

Strange and funny.

The cop wanted to ask me where I was going, that’s why he wanted me to lower the window.

I didn’t think about it until later, but that was a funny way of indicating me to lower the window. I guess that’s how it’s done now.

The good news is that the work on the streets was to take two weeks to complete, but the city got it done in four days! Unheard of – the City of Miami Water & Sewer Department got the job done in less than half the time. So no more cops, street closures or hand signals.

Impressive!

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