6/20/14

Franklin decided to take a shortcut home from the park, but wound up unable to work up any traction in the sand, thereby missing dinner by forty-five minutes!

Each year, renowned magician The Amazing Count Cuttzoff held a reunion for all his former assistants and strove to make them as comfortable as he could along the top of his comfy sofa...

Howard had behaved so badly at Cyprus Gardens that Velma decided not to let him eat with her and The Gulletsons, so she chained him outside the restaurant where only Spunky could keep him company until the doggie bags arrived.

Between all the candles burning, the heavy foliage and the heat-retaining hats, the sanctuary became piping hot until each of Paige's bridemaids became ever grateful for not only the tea-length, asymmetrical dresses, but also the useful, flower-strewn fans!

With three-fourths of her children now fully grown and out of the "house," Mrs. McCann started giving tours of her unusual abode in exchange for a small admission fee.

Biff was forever trying to needle Julie into changing the TV channels with the remote control and yet every time she forgot that such devices hadn't even been invented yet!

6/18/14

Having already successfully discarded an old sewing machine, a hibachi grill and a broken lawn mower, by setting them out at the foot of the steps, Ralph decided to try his luck by putting his mother-in-law Bessie out there for the same purpose.

Anna May was so eager to get inside and catch the latest installment of "Lights Out" on the radio that she bulldozed into Pegatha, who then banged into Elise, who in turn knocked down Helene!

Sure, it was all smiles on the outside for Betsy and Mike's wedding, but sister Janet (far right) had not quite forgotten that it was she who first brought Mike home as one of her dates before Betsy began "accidentally" coming into the living room wearing only a towel...

All seven of the gals from Bridgewater Baptist Church were delighted to finally get to see Mount Vernon, but Susan and Marguerite had a little trouble standing up straight after the herky-jerky, six-and-a-half-hour ride on the charter bus.

True, it was a small party, but Bobbie had deliberately decided to keep things intimate as she celebrated the 4-year anniversary of her rec room paneling.

The remarkable thing was not that not that Tina, Tammy, Amy and Chris won the Marvelanes Ladies Bowling Tournament. It was that Mr. Ballbricker had kindly arranged to let all four of his cashiers at Ben Franklin General Store have Wednesday evenings off for eleven weeks in a row!

6/16/14

Renee was thrilled to pieces by the arrival of little Mia, but was impatient for the baby's hair to grow in so that she could do something fun with it.....

Bradley was worried that the long arm of the law was going to come down on him after Scraps trampled and dug up all the flowers in front of the city building of Curtisville, Pennsylvania, but Sheriff Tom Tiny was tough, but fair, and ran a clean town, so he let them off with a strong word of warning and a $4.50 fine.

Private Munsing was used to some really primitive accommodations since he signed up with the army, but Camp Airy was, without question, one of the least comfortable, not to mention least protected from the elements, placed he'd ever been assigned!

Dianne was ecstatic to be chosen to play with the Goldwyn string quartet on a major movie soundtrack, but was far to embarrassed to stop the recording midstream and admit that she'd placed her music upside down on the stand!  Thus, she just plowed through the best she could and hoped no one would notice...

Patrice couldn't wait to take part in her very first portrait sitting as a Monogram Studios ingenue, but had difficulty settling on a bracelet....

Amanda never even bothered to open her other Christmas presents until weeks later since the one thing she'd wanted above all and had asked Santa for the most strenuously was Brent, and there he was beside the tree the morning of December 25th!

6/13/14

Berniece couldn't get over how comfy her drive from Wheeling, West Virginia to Sandusky, Ohio was since other previous times she would experience back strain after the first hour, but she wasn't about to question why...

In what was easily one of the closest races ever in its four-year history, Burt Sparks (and the previous year's winner, LaVerne Douglas) presented the title of Ms. Elmwood Grove to Thelma Jackman while the runner-up Bette Evans forced a smile for the cameras.

While it was fortunate that Nico had two good buddies like Albie and Ron who could get him home to thaw out, this was definitely the last time he would sit outside this way trading baseball cards on such a frigid day!

Since the chops were still marinating, the soup wasn't hot and Rodney was not yet back with the bucket of chicken, Wanda and Gert decided to toss a few quick appetizers onto the grill to hold them over till suppertime.

A family portrait underneath Great Uncle Woody's tree seemed like a great idea for The Dropling Family until Bryan's cap gun frightened all the birds who were roosting above, causing a real mess...

Though Wally felt it was never too soon to introduce Cara to the family's favorite beverage, Renate still thought that she should teach her daughter to pace herself, lest a nasty hangover might rear its ugly head the following morning.

6/11/14

The humiliation and agony of house arrest was made somewhat more palatable for Virginia when Reggie redid the trellis on their front porch, allowing her to see the neighborhood goings on with greater ease...

Irina and Hodel found it more than difficult to transition from their former home in Kursk, Russia to the metropolitan ways of Baltimore, Maryland, but their newfound hobby of duckpin bowling helped them to assimilate.

As the morning light began to peer through the windows, Timothy started to peek, with great trepidation, to see if his little accident during the night had found its way down to Tracy and Kim on the bunk below.

Never a tremendous hit at parties, this time Norb knew that his flashy new shirt was going to spark all sorts of compliments and lead to conversation galore!

No night of euchre was ever complete without two things:  Aunt Rose's Ham & Pickle Relish Dip and the arrival of Sam and Evelyn Sidewinder, always the life of any party.

And so history was made this night when young Kris Kringle placed an engagement ring in a box (within a box, within a box, within a box, etc...) and presented it to Miss Martha Frost, whose acceptance led to a long union together up at The North Pole.

6/9/14

Archie and Clinton didn't mind having a portrait taken, but their enthusiasm paled significantly next to Sammy, who looked forward to each click of the flashbulb with mounting ecstasy!

As the party rolled on at Steve and Eddie's garage apartment, Sheldon found it more and more humiliating that his breed happened to be referred to as "weiner dogs" and Steve liked to joke about that fact by clamping him between his legs.

Not that Chip wasn't delighted to be granted a bike for his birthday, but the one his mother picked out was not only several inches too big, but also a ladies model!

Though nasty gossip had sometimes spread through the village about what Mrs. Claus was really up to during her husband's tireless efforts at making and delivering toys, no one could miss the family resemblance on his side when it came to their two sons...

And so with one final pat of the hair, Jessamyn was at last ready to head to the Elks Lodge in Mendota, Illinois for a night of splendid square-dancing.

It didn't matter to Felice in the slightest that she wasn't the one getting married today instead of her mousy cousin Pearl.  She was "Gone with the Wind" fabulous and knew it.  

6/6/14

Arvide was highly tentative when it came to walking on Great Aunt Myrtle's new linoleum because to his untrained eyes it looked like snow and he didn't want to get his paws wet!

Private Haines found out the hard way that on laundry day, everyone was expected to wash his uniform and if he chose not to, others would do it for him -- even with him in it!

Yes, Debra might have been a teensy bit overdressed for the AC/DC concert, but she had her eye on Bon Scott and was determined to stand out in the crowd.

It's not that Grady didn't appreciate the thought behind Shirley's gift of jade green silk undershorts.  It's just that for the last thirteen years or so, he'd had no use for such things...

Every year on the anniversary of their escape, Hansel and Gretel would return to the site of the long-since destroyed Gingerbread House and celebrate the defeat of the witch who tried to eat them.

Reviews were mixed when it came to the Keller Ranch, the site of horseback riding lessons for tots, since many times the attendants would inadvertently place a youngster on something other than the horse!

6/4/14

Frankly, Annetta didn't care if her nose and chin became sunburnt, but there was no way she was going to let the rays bleed the color out of her freshly dyed hair!

It took several trips to Walgreen's, but Bridget finally found the exact hue of eye shadow to compliment Geoff's beautiful tuxedo shirt.

Maureen's bridal shower had been sort of snoozy, up to and including the opening of her new blender, but once she tossed the ice, strawberries and rum in to it and tried it out, things perked up considerably!

No one realized on this ostensibly ordinary day, Etta and Mabel's first one with Frisky, that it was actually the start of what would later snowball into a plethora of pet adoptions resulting in them becoming labeled, "The Cat Ladies of Poplar Avenue."

Charmaine rightly gambled that her new party dress would perk up Glenn enough to get him to take her out and, for once, part from their cozy bedroom with built-in TV and extensive ventilation...

This latest, depressing instance of being passed over for dances at her friend's party was the catalyst that finally led to Carol not only undergoing arm and leg electrolysis, but also having her thyroid looked into.

6/2/14

Sonya and Tonya never let their mother forget when it was time to watch "The Patty Duke Show" and as a result would stage a sit-in until she came in from the kitchen and turned the TV on, setting it to the correct channel!

During the final hours of his hunger strike, Clarence began to falter somewhat and eventually couldn't help but give in to temptation whenever some sort of tender morsel was placed in his path...

Tangie had agreed to go back to Leo's motel room expecting a night of scintillating passion, but even after dimming the lights and downing all the alcohol he could get his hands on, he still required her to obscure her face before he could proceed with the full-on seduction.

And so what could have been a delightful portrait of the grandkids, Smitty and Roseanne, was spoiled when Smitty pulled one of the tips off of grandma's four-pronged cane and proceeded to swallow it!

At long last, Genevieve got her new glasses and so was finally able to achieve her Girl Scout badge for archery.  Of course, it was by now far too late to save Miss Arrowhead, who had been the instructor prior to Genny's treacherous attempts with a bow...

The big secret was finally revealed when Agnes unveiled the inspiration for her unusually-decorated Christmas tree, a vintage pitcher that had been given to her several years prior by her treasured Aunt Molly, seen at left.