That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for March 14, 2022

Margarethe’s tip for the gondolier was her room number.

Maude, keeping her eyes on the prize.

Why does this gondola look like the inside of a hearse?

/// All the gondola rides which I’ve shared

when in Venice have been “open-aired.”

Tourist guys and their gals

are poled down the canals

in plain sight as the residents stared.

/// In past centuries, though, one could ride

in a felze, where, hidden inside,

in dim light, out of view,

you’d do what lovers do,

and not even the gondolier spied.

No wonder Alma wanted a seat with a view.

she looked fore, saw his aft and hoped she wasn’t on the poop deck!

She admires the gondolier/

That much is abundantly clear./

She has viewed him from aft/

And he’s driving her daft:/

(Gondoliers are best viewed from the rear.)///

With what vigor he’s plying his pole/

Such power, combined with control/

The gang on the Lido/ Call him “Il Torpedo”/

And he perfectly suits the role..///

But she’ll probably always remain/

Profoundly sedate and sane/

For the climate of Venice/

To some is a menace/

But she is a sensible Dane.

“Damn it! Another earworm…stop thinking ‘row, row, row your boat’. I’m famished. I’d love a ham sandwich right now.”

This was the 5th time she needed to be rowed to the apothecary that day. She would probably need some cough syrup later, then band-aids….

Pin the Tail on the Gondolier…

Margarite was off on her big adventure, but she couldn’t help but wonder if she had turned off the stove before leaving the house.

“Fart Box?” LOL Never heard that before.

“The GondoLEER”

“Hello Sailor”.

“Bella scatola per le scoregge.” You’re welcome, lady.

In genteel literature, the phrase “well set up” would appear, referring to fact that a guy had a nice bod. I think the lady passenger might send her friend a letter from Venice describing the gondolier as such.

Hey! His eyes are up there, lady.

A Gondola: 

Most modern web browsers invoke a search engine when something other than a URL is put in its address bar. Since GoComics has decided to disallow a URL in comments, paste (including the quote marks) 

"File:Exner_En_Gondol_1859.jpg" site=commons.wikimedia.org 

(syntax supported by the Google and Yandex search engines) in the address bar (or search for it using one of those search engines, would highly doubt in either case the search causes ads to pop up) for info and links that point to more info (best viewed by Google Chrome, which can automatically translate most webpages if necessary) about this roughly jumbo envelope size painting.

Again, a larger strip image is shown by (Ctrl- or right-) clicking the image in Mr. Melcher’s MASTERPIECE #2894 (March 13, 2022) blog entry, accessible by the Check out the blog! box after the last comment, and using the dropdown menu (even larger if you trim what’s after .png from the URL). I have added a comment there (awaiting Mr. Melcher’s approval) pointing to the artist info I used to point to here. So far 2 works, by this artist, have been used here. The August 30, 2017, strip has the prior. My comment there (if it hasn’t been removed by the GoComics Moderator due to URL usage) points to one of the here links in my blog comment as an artist info URL.

It’s a fascinating picture – the artist’s study in light and shadow?

I thought sailors did not get sea sick? And here I sit.

How is gondola coitus like American lite beer? It is f’n near water.

After one forgets to tie up the gondola to enjoy some afternoon delight.

ANNE: As the gondola began to sink, the noble gondolier inadvertently thrilled his passenger with his broken English declaration of “I will go down on boat, signorina!”

I KNEW THIS EXCURSION WOULD CURE MY WRITER’S BLOCK! I just hope Fabio is available for the cover!

Maude didn’t realize it yet, but she was headed across the river Styx.

The accommodations weren’t much, but she did like the view.

As the farting gondolier said to the actress, “Signora, una casa vuota è meglio di un cattivo inquilino!”

It was there that the wisdom of the Bard came home to her: “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends.”

Bella scatola per le scoregge.

It’s still the same old story/Women, stunned by Venetian glory/When some young gondolier/Starts flaunting his rear/“La veduta a posteriori”…

Mary ann, starting her trip to the south of France looks at the man she will invite to her chateau

/// Alma’s nervous to get any nearer

to the young man she’s paying to steer her.

So it won’t be so clear

she likes viewing his rear,

she has purchased a new rear view mirror.

something something something something … in the mornin’!

Should I do what my best friend recommended and undo one or two buttons?

No! Much too scandalous!

Bella scoreggia signore