We turned our attention to Cherry this past week, where we found her once again working in the gardens of the Sunny Soleil Society, as if nothing bad has happened! I would have expected to see her fired by Violet Cheshire after that dustup with Honest Ernest’s lawn treatment gig and the revelation of their secret tryst.

Instead, Honest Ernest showed up to gloat over Cherry’s growing dismay at his newest business of laying concrete over some (or all) of the surrounding grounds and gardens. He boasted that this job will also help him get even with Cherry for her role in ruining his marriage and lawn care business. Cherry responded in her usual dramatic and hyperbolic manner, hoping to convince Ernest of a likely environmental catastrophe. Of course, he laughed in Cherry’s face, leaving her unsure how to proceed.

My criticism here is similar to what I leveled at Mark:  the constant recycling of the same opponents in almost every story; in this case, in virtually every one of Cherry’s stories! Can’t Rivera put Cherry in a new situation once in a while, with different problems and different adversaries? This is kind of like watching somebody continually return to the same abusive relationship. Phew! Time to move on to the Sunday sermon.

Have to admit that, once again, I like her Sunday title panels. Unlike most strips that use a standard logo-style panel or none at all, Rivera always creates a customized panel that tries to fit the strip’s theme. Having said that, I’ll also award some points for a topic I doubt was covered by prior Trail artists. But I would have thought she would focus on forest fires, for example. Anyway, I think today’s strip looks hurriedly designed. And it is probably a bit too wordy for a strip issuing cautionary advice.