Recent Comments

1. 6 months ago on Amanda the Great

   No, I was a die-hard fan of a wonderful mandolinist named Peter Ostroushko when I came up with my screen name. He was the music director on Prairie Home Companion for many years, and I loved his playing so very much. So alas, it’s a fan name, and no indicator of my own talent! I miss him, his music was such a gift to his crazy world.

2. 6 months ago on Amanda the Great

   This pretty much describes what happened to me when someone gave me a mandolin.

3. 10 months ago on Lucky Cow

   Soldiers protecting our country. This comic is from Memorial Day 2007.

4. 10 months ago on Amanda the Great

   My cat John cannot WAIT for me to get up from my desk to get something so he can take my chair. It is literally surrounded by cat trees, all of which he likes just fine, and yet, there is just something about sitting in the chair where work is performed and not having to perform any himself which makes that one spot the most coveted one in the house.

5. about 1 year ago on Mt. Pleasant

   Thank you for this strip – I have enjoyed it! And good luck with future ventures!

6. about 1 year ago on Amanda the Great

   So I encountered this kind of in reverse. Years ago, I was attempting to teach English to some elderly Ukrainians who had just come to America. Their English was on par with my Ukrainian, so our weekly language sessions often involved a great deal of pantomime, sign language, and sketching things on scratch paper. I arrived for the lesson and found them intensely curious about something they had seen and they wanted me to explain what it was. They sketched what looked to me like a water tower, but eventually I realized it was a hot air balloon (they are a fairly common sight here.) They wanted to know what it was for, what was its purpose, and when I said people did it just for fun, they were stunned. дурнота! (Foolishness!) they told me. And that is one word of Ukrainian I have always retained.

7. over 1 year ago on Barney & Clyde

   Yes, I agree he had a more easy-going way of speaking. But somehow, it seemed like an affectation in itself – to me, anyway, but of course, I didn’t hear it when it was an innovation.

8. over 1 year ago on Barney & Clyde

   The internet introduced me to old-time radio, and I’ve enjoyed many shows over the years from the 1940s-1950s. Anything involving Arthur Godfrey, however, was not one of them. I remember seeing him on TV once in a while as a kid (I was 11 in 1970) and I instinctively didn’t like him. The few times I heard him on an old radio show, I found him obnoxious. I have read how he treated the singer in question, and it did not surprise me. He was wildly popular in his day; however, his treatment of this singer gained him no favor.

9. over 1 year ago on Amanda the Great

   I guess all cats have middle names. My female’s whole name is Stormie Jean Josephine.

10. about 2 years ago on Pickles

    Cougars are the biggest ones who purr, and you are right, they purr very loudly!