Seeing Sparky’s original comic strips (approximately 7″ tall and 21″ long) is always a learning experience because it seems that every ink line reveals a secret. Each has its own expression. A small change can express a jaunty walk, a depressed walk, a gleeful smile, a self-satisfied look. And many strips bring back personal memories.

The recently acquired strip below, from 1983, had its genesis in a trip to the beautiful State Park just below the town of Carmel on the Pacific Ocean. We went there with a couple who were good friends and neighbors. It was to take a class in scenic photography. Greta and I took the class while the men hiked and enjoyed the park. Greta was already a professional animal photographer; I was an amateur.

I don’t remember everything we saw there that weekend. We did see couples walking hand-in-hand on the beach, but I am sure we didn’t see any weddings in progress. So how Sparky came up with this delightful combination of the bird photographers, the wedding couple and Snoopy’s expression of the irony at being in this exquisite landscape and taking photos that could have been anywhere.

A strip like this goes back to one of Sparky’s cartooning beliefs and I heard him say it many times, that a cartoonist has to be able to use every experience he has, and he has to be able to sit down and cold-bloodedly come up with something. Otherwise, he would say, you can’t put out a comic strip day after day, year after year.

It still amazes me how he did it.

— Jean Schulz