For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for July 21, 2024

Sweet.

The story from Rhetta’s perspective:

1. Rhetta is invited to the family campfire and marshmallow roast, which is significant because it shows a degree of acceptance by the Pattersons that they did not give to Martha.

2. Mike and Rhetta sit on the board suspended in some way, but Mike does not sit close to Rhetta. In fact, he sits as far away as he can from Rhetta and still be on the same board. Rhetta notices that even John and April are sitting on the log sit closer to each other than she is to Mike.

3. Rhetta notices that Mike has gotten so heavy with his giant butt, the board actually bends down where he sits on it. She also wonders why Mike is roasting his marshmallow with his eyes closed.

4. Rhetta wonders why they are all sitting in front of a hot fire in the middle of July with long sleeves and jackets on. Rhetta does realize that the advice she got to wear something drab and formless is paying off. She realizes that if she wore her shorts showing off her legs, it would not have gotten the right response from this fully covered crowd.

I love Edgar’s look in the first panel. :-D

Mmmm—I LOVE toasted marshmallows!

Next up, April can learn where s’mores come from.

Aww baby April so cute sitting by a campfire

Guess again…

Burnt marshmallow ash?

Why are they including Rhetta in this family moment?

A good time to teach her about Gods greatness. Will she jump on the opportunity ?

back at my husband and my old house we had a fire pit and we would have my family over for a campfire we all wore long pants and long sleeve to keep the mosquitos from biting us.Miss those days as we are now living in a condo.

In the movie “The Right Stuff” there is a scene where Aboriginals near a tracking station in Australia have a big bonfire and sparks are flying high, as John Glenn is trying to determine why there are fireflies outside the capsule. The word from NASA is that the mysterious sparkly things were ice crystals from the exhaust of the hydrogen peroxide fueled attitude control rockets on the capsule.

Whenever we establish a reasonable enough explanation we rush to accept it, right or wrong. This one seems very likely; others… are we so desperate to kill our gods?

How wonderful to live in a place where you can see that many stars!

You mean I labored through “Astrophysics of Stellar Interiors and Star Formation” in graduate school, when the answer was available on cool fall weekends outdoors with my family?!

They are all wearing heavier clothing because it is a lot colder in Canada…

Lovely strip.

Story about what really happens: The phone in the house rings – the mom answers and then calls the hubby in as well (it’s the useless grandma that forgets things), the middle daughter is distracted by a shiny rock and the college kids are busy making out. The unsupervised toddle takes a burning marshmallow and catches the garage on fire, trapping her. The stupid mutt follows her in hoping for a free snack and gets trapped and dies as the garage burns down around him. The parents finally notice what’s happening and comes out just in time to pull the somewhat slow april from the fire. Yea, another normal summer night in canuck cartoon land. Lets hope two dead dogs convinces the stupid parents to get a pet rock as a replacement this time around.

The story, from April’s perspective:

1. April has roasted a marshmallow, which she has, for some reason, decided to hang over her shoulder instead of eating it.

2. Edgar eats the marshmallow because he can.

3. April sees her marshmallow is gone and instead of making a new one, she hangs her head in shame. Possibly the Pattersons only allotted one marshmallow per person.

4. John pokes the fire and sparks fly up.

5. April sees the sparks fly up and instead of noticing that they disappear in a few seconds, she makes the assumption that this is how stars are made.

The story from Elly’s perspective:

1. Elly is the last person to put a marshmallow on a stick and takes special delight in telling everyone her technique for proper marshmallow placement.

2. Elly continues talking and she is delighted that no one else seems to be talking.

3. April announces that she knows where stars come from and for some reason, April wants her, Elly, her mother, to know this in particular. Not her father. Not her sister. Not her brother. Not the supermarket girl her brother is dating. Elly. Elly takes a certain pride in knowing that she is important to April.

I am in the race.

Woo woo woo, oh Africa!

Ah, so sweet!!!

I dont always love Sunday strips, but this one takes the cake!! Great art