Pickles by Brian Crane for October 15, 2021

And you wonder why kids bury themselves in phones and game consoles

Be still my heart! Note that, my kinda fun also includes picking grass seeds out of my socks and clipping my fingernails…

I’m sittin’ here at two in the morning reading comics. And ain’t we havin’ fun

Counting flowers on the wall is LOADS of fun, too.

Spinning around in an office chair is a lot of fun.

Translation: Time to go home, Nelson.

I learned that senility is fun

Ooh, let’s not get too crazy now.

Nelson! You need to create your own fun!

Old fossilized relatives are not to be relied on for fun!

I pity Nelson. There are other families out there, even with old folks, who don’t think having fun is a sin.

After this we will go out and watch the grass grow!

Let the good times roll.

Nelson use your brain and create your own fun ;-)

Nelson needs a hobby. So many choices. Where to begin? Something that involves the mind, requires some physical activity, and brings pleasure,learning, and the reward of achievement. Ah! One is never too young to pick up an inexpensive camera to see the world through a different lens!

There can be fun in almost anything you do. Isn’t that right, Mary Poppins? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L4qauTiCY4

Giving the grandson no hope that his adulthood is something to look forward to. What could be more fun than THAT?!?

Can you give us your definition of “fun”, Nelson?

HEY! Don’t knock knitting. . .or crocheting. . .or quilting. . .or wood working. . .or, ya know, artisanal hobbies. . .more people should have ’em. . .

Nelson is always raring to go…Earl and Opal on the other hand……

Just sittin’ around, waiting for the Grim Reaper.

Fun Fact… In Japan, the call him ’’Shinigami’’.

I’m on the beach in Belize with a beautiful blond bikini model. Guess how much fun I’m having ?

Hey…… HERE’s an idea – STOP HANGING OUT WITH YOUR GRANDPARENTS AND GO MAKE SOME FRIENDS..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poor Nelson abandoned in the Twilight Zone in a house with 1950’s old people when people in their 60s were really old. I am 70 and know a lot of people my age and older and none of them act as old as Opal/Earl.

Nelson you need to learn to read, find a hobby. Other people do not exist just to entertain you. One good thing is at least you aren’t stuck on a tv or some other screen.

And later tonight, Parcheesi!!!!!

Give the kid a roll of bubble wrap. He’ll be happily occupied for hours.

We only ever see Nelson with the grandparents. Doesn’t he have any friends?

Study her finger movements, Nelson. It will come in in handy when you’re 12 or 13.

fun is where you find it I guess

“If that’s not fun, I don’t know what is.” Kind of answered your own question Earl. --How come Nelson’s hair looks like Curious George’s owner’s hat?

Earl’s last line: truer words were never spoken…

The Dangling ConversationSimon & GarfunkelIt’s a still-life watercolorOf a now-late afternoonAs the sun shines through the curtain laceAnd shadows wash the room

And we sit and drink our coffeeCouched in our indifferenceLike shells upon the shoreYou can hear the ocean roar

In the dangling conversationAnd the superficial sighsThe borders of our lives

And you read your Emily DickinsonAnd I my Robert FrostAnd we note our place with book markersThat measure what we’ve lost

Like a poem poorly writtenWe are verses out of rhythmCouplets out of rhymeIn syncopated time

And the dangling conversationAnd the superficial sighsAre the borders of our lives

Yes, we speak of things that matterWith words that must be saidCan analysis be worthwhile?Is the theater really dead?

And how the room has softly fadedAnd I only kiss your shadowI cannot feel your handYou’re a stranger now unto me

Lost in the dangling conversationAnd the superficial sighsIn the borders of our lives