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…If not the Gothic Novelist… I see whispers of Mary Shelley emerging…
Happy Trail Farms? More playing with words! In Florida, no less…
Glad to see some of you returning to take a look… out of morbid curiosity (at least…)
Welcome Amy Lee! We are continuing to round out the character roster in the new Mark Trail…
Of course Mark’s reputation precedes him! Even though he feels like he’s yesterday’s news and without prospects, apparently there is a quiet undercurrent of society that hasn’t quite forgotten him…
Appropriation! Ha! that’s a word that has never been used before in the Trailverse… Let’s unpack that, shall we?? …the action of taking something for one’s own use, typically without the owner’s permission. How, pray tell, does one go about getting a fox’s permission to use it as a spirit animal? Besides, in certain spiritual traditions or cultures, spirit animal refers to a spirit which helps guide or protect a person on a journey and whose characteristics that person shares or embodies. It is also metaphor, often humorous, for someone or something a person relates to or admires. Sense of humor much? Let’s see where this goes, but if we are asked to go too far down the PC path, this could get a little taxing… Or perhaps this is simply a window into Amy Lee’s world view.
In the old days, we never really had much to go on as it related to Mark’s psyche… In fact, it was always assumed that his brain consisted of a fairly shallow pool of emotional intelligence paired with a deep, endless reservoir of arcane and useless knowledge of the Natural world…
But now… oh my. We see his brain whip-sawing back and forth imagining all kinds of things. But with his square jaw firmly set, and in consideration of the fact that he’s got nothing else going on, and with his livelihood and self esteem on the line, Mark relents and dives in!
I normally don’t check the Sunday offering, but out of curiosity (and as pointed out by Faithful Reader George) I was wondering about what this part of the Trailverse would look like, and here we find Jack Elrod’s take on the common Chipmunk (part of the Squirrel family?) auditioning for a Lifetime special on hoarding.
For what it’s worth, I have personally witnessed a chipmunk make off with a dying Sunfish, left on the shore at the cabin. Gathering yes, but clearly something that would “go bad” if not consumed in real-time…
Speaking of something going bad in real time… we now go to Mark and Bill Ellis talking about potential assignments… with a nod to the age of COVID…
Ha ha! It’s funny because Mark has whiskers!
HA! I see what you did there, Julz… A little not-so-vague reference to (probably) the best known and hated offering of the Allen regime… OK, come out swinging, I guess, but that approach might not work out so well…
Perhaps maybe more important is the fact that Mark is now a verified member of the Gig Economy… Something that I have wondered about over the course of this blog- whether Mark was salaried or paid by the Article… Well, there’s no guessing about that now…
Uh oh… Mark NOT happy… and goes to a dark place… and a cautionary lesson in expectations, which drive satisfaction and (more often) disappointment. Best to keep them moderated…
And one by one, we get to see who made the jump!
With the day’s shooting scuttled over an uncooperative snake, Mark and Cherry amble back to their little cabin in “The” Lost Forest. Like there’s another? I don’t think so… I see a greenhouse and Azaleas all abloom…
Mark, you got an email? Really?? The average person, with average on-line habits, probably receives 50 emails a day! Or maybe the excitement is over Bill Ellis reaching out. Let’s see what happens to him- Suit? Horn-rimmed glasses? Crazy slicked-back hair? Manhattan tower office? It is probably all up for grabs…
I wonder why Mark is bereft of assignments… Could it be he’s a free-lance writer/blogger/vlogger in the new gig economy? Well, anyone reading this blog knows that monetizing this kind of activity isn’t as easy as the “experts” suggest… for every “influencer” out there making bank, there are literally millions not “making it.”
But good for you, Cherry. With your brains and Mark’s sweet back-side, how can you guys lose?
Boy, I am going to learn a lot reading this strip! That’s a euphemism unfamiliar to me… and apparently to Google, since the only results are related to milking mice…
I see how this is going to be… Mark, the man, is going to be asked to acknowledge his own limitations on a daily basis. While not necessarily emasculating, it’s going to be different that Mark Trail of yore… although I do like Cherry’s suggestion…
Not only doesn’t it rhyme, I am guessing your 4th grade grammar teacher is rolling in her coffin right about now!
Writer’s Note: Not only am I being asked to consume Mark Trail with a new set of expectations, but WordPress continues to create all kinds of issues- like having to enter through an incognito window in order to save the blog entry… which means I have to log in every time, including two-factor codes, any time I wish to make or edit an entry… I checked the google, and it’s a thing, but it would strike me that this wasn’t intended…
2020- such is the way. I wonder if Nostradamus saw any of this coming?
It’s not like it took me all day to come to grips with this… in fact I have been looking forward to it. It’s just that my paying gig took up my day starting very early! Anyway, we have seen this one before, which is interesting because it seems to start in the middle of something…
But here are some screen shots of the write-up in <my> local paper:
Funny how Mark Trail seems to be a thing. At least for people who still read newspapers… I am encouraged by the notion that there will be an actual STORY with and ARC that MOVES. That will be refreshing.
The Daily Trail 