Puntastic!

With all the craziness going on these days, I could use a humor break. Luckily, I’ll admit I’m a sucker for good puns … and even some bad ones. I figure it must be the company I keep. Yes, I have that kind of friends and relatives.

Pretty early in our marriage, I discovered that my husband and his cousins could hold an entire conversation that consisted of nothing but one pun after another. The first time I met them, one of the cousins warned me, “Don’t groan. It just encourages them.” Instead, she instructed me, just say “Oh.”

Some of my friends are nearly as bad. My animal-loving friends share some pretty doggone cat-astrophic puns. My more nerdy friends like to serve up mathematical pi. On a different note … my musician friends like puns as much as my in-laws do. Even church friends can’t seem to resist puntificating.

Sometimes I may tell one or another of them, “Get thee to a punnery!” But mostly, I’m surrounded. So I figure if you can’t beat ’em, might as well join ’em.

After seeing the last pair of offerings on this post, I suspect even Jesus himself might say, “Oh.”

Dieting made easier

As I try to stay on track with my healthy eating plan, I keep hoping I’ll discover how to make this decadent chocolate confection with cauliflower.

Alas! I have yet to find the recipe.

But I have found some other dishes that are almost guaranteed to make resisting temptation easier. Can I turn down these offerings and stay off the naughty list? No problem!

Gardening: Sweet agony

When it comes to gardening, I always start out the year with good intentions.

Seed catalogs offer such enticing possibilities, I begin to envision landscaping around my house that rivals the most gorgeous Japanese garden or Thomas Kinkade painting.

As soon as the first shoots appear in the spring, I visit the nurseries, where I encounter flat after flat of seedlings that all seem to shout in unison: “Take me home! Take me home!”

Once I get a carload of them home, my eyes widen as I realize I actually need to find a place for each one. Oh my.

I tell myself, “God’s work, my hands,” get down on my hands and knees, and start digging in the dirt.

Then the @#$#@ weeds arrive! I belong to several local Facebook gardening groups, and we’re forever sharing tips on how to outsmart those little suckers. None of us ever quite succeeds, but that doesn’t stop us from trying, even those of us committed to not using chemicals in our yards.

But when I gaze upon all my lovely flower beds on a summer morning or slice up that first vine-ripened tomato for lunch, that’s when I decide the results are well worth all the hours of toil.

One could say my relationship with gardening resembles my love-hate relationship with writing. The process may be agonizing, but when I’m finished with a plot, I love having done it.

So to all my fellow gardeners, here is a baker’s dozen of my favorite gardening memes.

More cute animals

I shared my “Top 10” favorite cute animal memes about a year ago, but there are WAY more where those came from — a good thing, too, since the really irritating political ones just keep clogging my newsfeed on Facebook.

When I feel like I’m going to scream if I see one more snarky political meme, along comes a cute animal meme to the rescue.

So here is another batch of “Top 10” favorites.

Those mittens

Peace-loving person that I am, I generally try to avoid sharing political memes on social media. But occasionally, something comes along that is so funny I just have to make an exception.

A photo of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at the Biden-Harris inauguration, sitting with his arms crossed and wearing gigantic mittens, proved irresistible to the meme artists of the world.

Even the Senator himself is reported to think the memes are hilarious. So of course I haven’t been able to resist sharing a few of my own favorites.

Fashion magazines love to tell readers how to re-create a celebrity’s outfit. Note the manila envelope.

The Senator photobombs the vice presidential debate.

Here he is with one of our favorite cartoon characters.

Go ahead … pull up a seat at the table.

This has to be one of my favorites.

This was inevitable …

And last but not least, one web site (link HERE) even lets users insert the image into any Google street view photograph. Just type in your address/location and voila! So I simply had to invite the Senator – and his mittens – to our house.

My first thought upon seeing the memes was, “I want those mittens!” They look super warm. Alas, the mittens were a gift to Mr. Sanders from a supporter who reported on Twitter that she made them from some rather unusual materials. So they are truly one of a kind:

How cool is that?

Some holy humor

I just love all those funny church memes. Who says Christians can’t have a sense of humor? Here are my “Top 10” favorites this week.

When I saw this meme, I could still hear my own mother holding forth with one of her many “Momisms.”

Talk about missing the boat …

Needless to say, I made sure my sweet hubs saw this:

For anyone who has ever had to mess with technology at church …

And while we’re on the subject of technology …

As someone who had to do a lot of academic research over the course of my career, I find this one seriously funny.

I’m getting to just about the right age to appreciate this one.

There’s gotta be at least one COVID-19 meme in every bunch these days. I have a pair of “Cat in the Hat” slippers that would be perfect for the occasion.

Here’s one of my all-time favorites.

And another favorite … LOL!

Time for some cute animals

I know I’ve been spending way too much time on Facebook during this dang quarantine. But so far I’ve been resisting the urge — at least most of the time — to share the dozens of political memes that have been popping up on my news feed lately. I’d prefer to let others fight about the upcoming election and the best way to handle the coronavirus.

Cute animal memes help me maintain this discipline. So I’ve been collecting and sharing my favorites. Here are my “Top 10.”

Of all the variations on the “Woman Yells at Cat” meme, I think I like this one the best.

If the animals really could talk they’d probably say we taste like chicken.

Ms. Kitty means so well. How can we NOT be appreciative??

Get the tomato juice ready.

No truer meme was ever created.

An oldie but goodie.

Gotta have at least one bad pun.

Or two.

This is SO sweet.

And last but not least, my absolute favorite meme of all time.