Pickles by Brian Crane for March 11, 2023

That sounds like a good thing.

Didn’t Charles Dickens write a book about you?

Would Earl be allowed to be so honest about Opal, or would he be sleeping in Roscoe’s house?

His best is not so great. His worst is not so bad.

He’s at the happy medium of being mediocre.

Judy Collin’s Clouds song comes to mind “I looked at clouds from both sides now” etc.!

Mom always told my dad she took him for better or worse,but she told him I didn’t think it would get much worser than this!

How did it feel getting the backhanded compliment, Earl?

They’re like “The Bickersons” in retirement, when the vitriol has mellowed to at most strong vinegar.

Never that good, but never that bad!

I was once married to a woman who prided herself in pointing out others failings. When admonished for her insensitivity, she would reply, “I’m just being honest” (deflection). When a shortcoming of hers was pointed out, she ask, “Why are you being so mean to me?” (Playing the victim). Then I had to be reminded for four years (2016-2020) all the unpleasantnesses I suffered with. I’m grateful today that I no longer have to tolerate such selfishness. Which brings me to the term woke. I realized that many political bullies these days hide behind the term woke in a vain attempt to mask and excuse their rudeness, selfishness or misdeeds. The flip side is crying about being cancelled. Which, in my experience, says I don’t like people calling me on my rude, selfish or greedy behavior.They are not fooling anyone except the willing blind.

Steady to a fault?

plain and “BLAH!” is very consistent.

Consistency can be good.

Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.

Oy! And how about you, Opal…..is there much difference with your nest and worst?

I hope the woman who wears purple EVERY DAY isn’t complaing that her husband is predictable

A brief moment of biased truth.

Maybe his best IS his worst..??!!!

I have a friend who has been called “boringly consistent” in his life, and in his case, it is a very good thing. He was always nice, polite, and a lot of fun to be with. Always.

Earl has a little Walter Mitty in himself at times.

I decided after teaching for quite a while that very few things are binary (i.e. true or false, black or white, good or bad etc.) and that most everything is on a continuous scale somewhere (even sexuality, which was not an accepted idea when I first proposed it). However, some scales are longer than others and Earl’s behavior scale seems to be quite short.

Ooh, that’s deep! She’s good.

“I am what I am.”

“Yes, but I love you anyway.”