Smiling orange teapot
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: Real Life from the #Funny Pages

The Sunday Stills challenge this week is to capture moments that are funny, silly, and just plain unexpected. The image can represent an inside joke (which you may have to explain); something ironic, or something that is just plain silly. Sometimes we take a bad photograph, and it ends up being quite comical.

Oreo-and-Aero
Aero crawled up on Oreo’s back (2010)–taken through the screen door

History of Funny Papers

Are you old enough to remember when the comics section of the Sunday newspaper was called the “funny pages (or the funny papers)”? As a kid in the 1960s-70s, I couldn’t wait to wake up on Sunday morning and grab the thick newspaper from the front porch full of huge ads, The Parade and other special items saved for Sundays. Alas, those days seem gone and I can’t remember the last time I read the Sunday newspaper edition.

The author of this article shares how (after being a newspaper delivery boy in his teens), he “fell in love with comic strips in all their glorious variety — humor, adventure, romance, you name it. I had favorites — Peanuts, Prince Valiant, Pogo, The Phantom, Blondie, Li’l Abner — but I would also get caught up in the soap operas unspooling in the likes of Brenda Starr, Mary Worth, and Rex Morgan, M.D.” (Source: Saturday Evening Post: The Funny Papers)

Here is an example (free image public domain) of a comic in a Chicago Examiner Sunday newspaper circa 1916.

Krazy Kat comic in Sunday Newspaper
Krazy Kat comic in Sunday Newspaper (public domain 1916)

If you have ever watched the 1947 film, It’s a Wonderful Life,” starring Jimmy Stewart, there is a scene where George says to Sam, “See you in the funny papers — goodbye Sam.” I personally don’t remember this scene, but the reference relates to leaving a friend with a lighthearted greeting like you would feel after reading the comics section of the newspaper.

“Newspapers may be in trouble, but the comic strip is alive and well — and flourishing online.” ~ Ed Dwyer

Photos That Are LOL Funny

Animals always seem to make us laugh. I’ve captured funny expressions on various birds and dogs, especially. With animals, sometimes its posture or the setting in which it is found becomes funny.

The angle of this dragonfly looks like a funny face!

A surprise face from this angle

Animals and Birds

Gideon sits and chats
Gideon (dog) thinks he can just sit on the sofa like a human and chat!

A photography mistake can make for an interesting image. My two-headed hummingbird taken a few years ago made me smile when I discovered the mistake.

SQ 2 headed hummer
Two-headed hummer
two-headed hummingbird
2 heads in black and white

This Western Bluebird seems to look annoyed that I interrupted his bath!

Annoyed looking Western Bluebird taking a bath

My dogs have always been a source of humorous photos over the years.

Aero (left) really is a friend to Brodie.
Aero (left) really is a friend to Brodie.
Aero coaching Brodie on the finer points of a dog's life
Aero coaching Brodie on the finer points of a dog’s life.

I snapped this grainy photo in 2014 of Aero facing off cows in a pasture. He was a lion-hearted little dog!

little brown dog and cows
Aero faces off with cows

Just for fun, I edited this photo of my dogs through the Painnt app which gives it a comic-book or cartoon texture. But you don’t have to go that far!

Dogs resting

I couldn’t resist adding this to today’s collection. This park ranger guarded the slow tortoise as it meandered across the bike trail. Talk about averting danger!

A Tortoise Crossed the Road

Inanimate Objects

“From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.” ~ Dr. Seuss

Inanimate objects can also be an accidental source of amusement.

As I took the photo of this orange tea kettle for a color challenge, things lined up perfectly to make an unexpected smiling face 😊

Smiling orange teapot
Do you see my smiling face?

Last winter, I walked back to our driveway and found my Toyota smiling at me!

Snow conspired to make a happy face on my Toyota's front Grill
Snow conspired to make a happy face on my Toyota’s front grill

And the Sign Says…

This week we enjoyed an outing on one of the last glorious autumn days of the year at nearby Green Bluff, an area that boasts a variety of local farms. Picture corn mazes, pumpkin patches, apple-picking, food vendors, restaurants, and retail (which can be a bit dangerous to my wallet). In many of the retail shops, folks can purchase decorative signs for the home. These were two I snapped.

rustic sign
rustic sign and plant
“Pay a farmer now, not a doctor later.”

While shopping the farms, I found some tiny pumpkins and bird-like gourds.

bird-shaped gourds and pumpkins

reading newspaper

When was the last time you read an actual newspaper or read the “funny pages”?

(Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash)

Inspiring Photo Challenges This Week

Each week I find inspiration from my fellow bloggers’ photo challenges. I enjoy incorporating these into my Sunday Stills weekly themes.

How To Participate in Sunday Stills Photo Challenge

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

This Week’s Featured Bloggers

Sunday Stills is a wonderful community of bloggers, poets, and photographers who desire to connect with one another. Below are this week’s links from bloggers who shared their photos of funny things. I add these all week as new links are posted.

rust brushstroke

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What funny photos are lurking in your archives?

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123 comments

  6. This was a fun post to read with all the smiley faces. We no longer get papers. And I can’t even remember when I last read an actual newspaper. I read snippets of news here and there online.

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  11. I can’t remember the last time I read a newspaper, Terri. But I do remember how thick the Sunday newspapers were. As a paperboy, they were a nightmare trying to get them through the narrow letterboxes of the homes in the UK. I recall many dogs grabbing the other end of the newspaper and pulling them through, usually shredding the newspaper.

    I think the snowy face your car was showing is rather creepy. It reminded me of the skeletons from the movie ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ (check it out if you’ve never seen it)—perfect viewing between Halloween and Christmas.

    Here’s my entry. A strange rock creature that looks more funny than scary.

    Thanks for the laughs, Terri.

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    • Always happy to add humor into the images, Hugh! I can see by the image you shared how the Toyota snow face has that creepy look. Those rocks are very similar looking! I loved that movie Nightmare Before Christmas.

      It is sad that newspapers have become the dinosaurs of the 21st century. Hans was a paperboy too. Seemed like a great job except for your description and the big Sunday editions that needed to be lugged around.

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  14. I’m still grinning at your great fun collection. Both the teapot and the front grill got me chuckling. It’s usually the unexpected capture that we remember most. Aero and the cows was pretty cute to see especially because it reminds me of Cooper; even this morning he wanted to “greet” the neighbors goats.

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    • I wonder how I keep capturing these silly images? Some are accidental believe me, Cheryl! Dogs always give us good ones and funny ones. I wish I had a better image of Aero facing down the cows. Even his brother Gideon was hiding in the shadows that day.

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  15. Terri! This post was fun, funny and interesting! And I did read the funny pages too. And still do if I get hold of a Sunday paper on vacations. Lots of favorites today, but I love the ranger and the turtle. I can relate to having moments like that.

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  28. I forgot to mention that I still read the comics in the papers I get on Saturday. Sunday papers as a kid had eight pages of comics and in two newspapers! It was a rush to get the Sunday papers take out the comics before Dad got them 😂

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  32. These are hilarious. I agree with everyone about the teapot. An alien! My favorite, the dragonfly. He’s brilliant. So much to love in this post. The Toyota smile, your policing of turtles on the bike path – perfect for WQ, wetting plants, Brodie getting a dose of doggie breath. It didn’t seem to bother him much! I think you had way too much fun with this post. I sure did when reading it! 🙂

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  35. Terri this post was so much fun, and I’ll admit I still get a newspaper and read the comics aka funnies every day. Both the ones that make me laugh and the sagas like Mary Worth. Some of the best oldies live no more but there are still enough to make me smile. Still love Peanuts even tho it’s reruns now, and my favorite is Pearls Before Swine. I no longer have a dog but loved your pups this week, The tea kettle is hysterical as is “wetting my plants”. Thanks for the smiles – these days we’ll take any we can get! Thanks also for the mention. For anyone interested, here’s a link https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/2023/10/21/lens-artists-challenge-272-billboards-and-signs/

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    • Tina, I had loosely planned this post in August. Who knew we would need a good pick-me-up to lighten our moods. Congrats on still reading a real newspaper! The funnies are quite to art medium these days, especially those beloved oldies. So glad you enjoyed the silly snaps! They were fun to dust off and share.

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  37. This post was funny Terri, especially the unexpected smiles from ordinary things, like snow on your car or your teakettle and stove lined up to make a smiley face. I like when I am looking at photos on the screen and find an unexpected photo bomb or animal or bird with a hilarious look on its face. Sometimes in the moment I don’t think these critters look mad at me, like your bluebird aghast at you taking a photo of it in the birdbath, but those indignant animal/bird photos are LOL funny later on. I have linked my post to yours; it’s the first time I did an intentional photo challenge – in the past you featured a few posts which coincidentally were the same topic as your Sunday Stills theme. I admit this post is a long read, but hopefully the groundhog’s sneer and turning his back to me count for funny images. 🙂

    Here is my post:

    The GRRreat Groundhog Debacle.

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    • I’m so happy you are linking to Sunday Stills, Linda! Our posts have much in common with each other as we enjoy similar things in nature! Photobombs are cool, as are the accidental funny pics thar arise out of poor perspective like my tea kettle. Always good to have a sense of humor, right?

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      • Thank you Terri! I am glad you suggested I do this and my groundhog debacle was a fun story to tell. I will be able to contribute next week to your topic “Frightful” as I’ve already scheduled a Halloween post. Photobombs are great as are silly animal expressions. I meant to say as to this post that I did read the “funny papers” or “funnies” back in the day – never missed the color comics section. It’s been ages since I read a newspaper. I recently subscribed to the online version of our local paper. They used to post stories online for free, then they put up a pay wall. I like to know what’s happening so I subscribed.

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      • I will start looking at your Challenges for the month and see if I have a walk that fits a theme. You would not believe all the walks I have taken and not written about and I am trying to vary them a little, so it is not always “I went on a walk and saw ….” I actually cancelled my cable in 2010 so I listen to AM radio during the day (workdays and weekends) and watch the news online. I stream some movies or TV shows from Amazon or Peacock (which comes with my Comcast). I may eventually get cable again when I’m retired – my TV is a model from the 1990s, so I’d need to get a more modern version. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      • I have two more nature calendar pages left for this year, so my November 6th post is going to be leaf pics from today at Lake Erie Metropark, plus some pics of a jeep with different military flags which was kind of different plus it’s close to Veterans Day, so I can join again. I will think on “brown” for Monday the 13th … I have options, some harvest pics – they are brown tones and some swans in a marsh – my first Trumpeter! 🙂

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      • Thank you Terri for your compliment and I’ll look forward to linking my posts too. I actually have a grid to keep track of what I’ve got left to use, the date walked and how many pics. I usually write a quick draft of where I went and what I saw for each trek the day I walk. I didn’t do that today as I wanted to add your link to today’s post which I wrote yesterday. It helps me stay organized (somewhat).

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  40. Terri,
    When I was too young to read, my mother would lose her voice because I would make her read all the comic strips in the Sunday paper. My favorites were Little LuLu, Nancy, and Dennis the Menace. Thanks for the memories. I love the picture of Hans and Gideon–too funny! My contribution is a picture I took many years ago when I traveled the hill of East Tennessee. This creature was always sitting on a car in a junkyard. I called him the “Guard Goat.” Have a great week. Joe
    http://www.easingalong.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Goat-scaled.jpg

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    • That was so nice of your mom to read them to you! I remember all three of those. I bought Dennis the Menace comic books back then too. Thank you, Joe, that pic of Hans and Gideon was too cute to pass up. Hans made it work, LOL!

      Wow, love the pic of the goat sitting on the car–how funny! They sure can climb!

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  45. How fun. We do need to laugh more! I get no newspapers delivered anymore, but my husband hates the presentation of online newspapers. What joy to find the Wall Street Journal has an app that presents the digital news exactly like the print paper.

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  47. I was thinking the same thing about comic strips – it was a big deal to grab that heavy newspaper and pull out the comics section to read before reading any of the ‘news’. I was going to share comic strips from a 1967 The Post magazine but ended up on a detour down memory lane instead.
    My favorite photos of yours for the day are the cow standoff, the chatting dog sitting on the couch, the tea kettle face, the two-headed hummer, the new signs you scored, and well…dang, I enjoyed all of them, well done!!

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  54. Love these, Terri 😂 I can’t get over the dragonfly! And the white gourd looks just like a swan. The two headed humming bird, the park ranger and the kettle…they’re all brilliant!

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