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Apologies for the lack of an update yesterday - the studio was closed due to a severe winter storm.
- The Studio Crew

Greetings from the panhandle of Texas. Got up this morning to a wintry snow mix, looks like we should be in the north instead of the south. But it happens here in the northern panhandle. Although we have snow today we will be in the 60's tomorrow so most will melt away and we hope for the moisture. I got my first cup of the day ( not in a spill the beans cup I might add, I know it would taste better too) and got online to see what is up with the Patterson family.
I have become such an addict to this strip and find how it relates to almost everyone at one point in their lifetime. I have enjoyed all exploits and wished I had become a fan sooner. I do enjoy the past strips and it brings me up to date with how you are combining the present with it as well.
It has become the first thing I log on to in the mornings and I look forward each day to new antics of this growing family.
Thanks for keeping me young and not ashamed to read the comics!

Joan A, Amarillo TX

I adore this comic strip! I've been reading it for years and years, and it has made me laugh and cry and just jump for joy at the simple day-to-day events of family life. BUT--as much as I love revisiting the wonderful past strips, I am missing the plot moving forward...I am so intrigued with where everyone is NOW in their lives that I want to know more about the PRESENT! I eagerly await the next steps in Elizabeth's life, in Michael's life...in EVERYONE's lives!!

Thank you, and joy to you!

Ali G, Cleveland Ohio

It's a real shocker to see Elly relaxed, smiling, and not taking things so seriously in some of these earlier strips. She seemed a lot more able to deal with life back then: none of this constant whining, flapping, shouting at the dogs for acting like dogs, biting phone books, and generally being a shrew. What happened to her?

J., NYC

Lynn, I've been following your strip for years, and my oldest son was born at home within a couple of days of April who was also a midwife assisted home birth. I do have to say, though, that I'm really not a fan of the new strips you are making with the flashbacks. It interrupts the story line and looks as if it were drawn by a totally different person. When I have memories, the person doesn't look that much different, they are just younger than they are. Your 'old' characters are different people. I thought something had happened to you and someone else had taken over the strip, like Mason for Johnny Hart and BC. I was pretty surprised to see other comments on this site that other readers really like them, so I probably won't have any influence here. But I'll probably skip the 'new' ones. Even the lines are heavy and the coloring dark, like the first panel on Wednesday's strip. I had to really study it to see what it was supposed to be. I really hope this fad passes soon and you get back quickly to your excellent story-telling. I really like growing up and old with your characters.

Karen C, Arizona

Thank you so much for going back to the beginnings!
I grew up reading about Elly's family -- even homebirthed my 1st child at the same time her homebirth was printed.
But I missed the very early strips (too young), and am glad for the chance to see some of them now. Your talents inspire!!!

It's thanks to the new/old strips, that I found your wonderfull on-line site. Now I wonder why I hadn't looked before.
Just... Thank You.

Cynthia M, Collingwood, ON

Dear Lynn
Love the strip and have been reading it for years.

The story between Jim and Iris has touched me in many ways. My dad is in a similar situation to Jim and his wife (my mother is deceased) is a jewel all around. I read a piece in early January berating Elly for not doing more for Jim. There is a fine line between doing for others and meddling in someone's life. And it is unfair to assume that Elly doesn't do things just because they aren't events that occur in the stirp. AND Elly has a brother who seems to have dropped off the planet. Where's he?! We still assume it's the daughter who's in charge of care giving! That stereotype is still alive and well.

Thanks for a great read every morning.

Wanda M, Greenville, SC

I must admit that I have been reading the strip since I was old enough to read and have always enjoyed it. However, last week the Detroit Free Press ran an old strip with Elly lamenting the woes of being a stay at home mother. That strip brought TEARS to my eyes and yet I was laughing because I wondered how someone I'd never met, who raised her kids more than 20 years ago could feel the same things I am feeling as the mother of a 2.5 year old with another on the way in the year 2007! It's so frustrating to me to hear about all the mothers who tell me they "LOVE" being a mom and staying home. Sometimes I agree, but most of the time, I'm like, wait! Am I losing myself in all of this? Would I want to work full time? Some days, the answer is a resounding yes! But then I am always like, "and miss all this?" No thanks. Thanks for putting so eloquently what I deal with on a daily basis! I really needed to see that someone else felt the same way.

Erin A, Dearborn MI

Hi Lynne,

My mother has been an adoring fan of your strip for years, and as a result I can't help but follow the train of your characters' lives. As the strip seems to be revisiting- in the most humourous way possible- issues of gender / family roles, I wonder if we might not see some resolution for a character I always felt was dealt with a bit unfairly, Therese. While Therese embodies traits we would find undesirable in any partner- infidelity being the biggest one, and absence as a parent being another- I couldn't help but feel she was a bit demonized for choosing a path that is more commonly attributed to men, i.e. career orientation. While we should feel happy that Anthony tried to adopt the role of homemaker, the tone was always that he was a bit unhappy doing so. Also, why not deal frankly with the issue that Therese tried to please Anthony by having a child in the first place? The issue at hand is not simply that Therese is cold and absent; rather, that she and Anthony never really learned to communicate frankly with each other in the first place. Let's face it- not all women (or men) want children, and I think it would be a great challenge to treat this topic a little more deeply, and a little more self-reflection on the part of both Anthony and Therese.

Thanks- and my deepest respect for your influence on so many readers, including my mom.

AC, Houston TX