Author Archives: stripfix

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I remember telling my mother I was not a servant! As a mother and grandmother, I now know what a "servant" really is!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My friend, Ghislaine, has been a teacher for many years. She is strict, smart, funny, and fair. She has recently begun to tell me some of her adventures with today's generation of teens, and the things they do and say make me cringe. The reward in teaching, she tells me, is that, "now and then someone learns something." Interestingly, this strip was published almost 30 years ago!

Monday, April 6, 2015

Lynn's Comments: As a professional trumpet player, my brother, Alan, introduced me to some wonderful music, and to artists I might never have learned to appreciate--like Wynton Marsalis. A dear friend of mine wound up in the hospital one time and was in so much pain, there was little we could do to comfort him. I took him a cassette player, headphones, and some tapes--one of which was Wynton Marsalis. This music, he later told me, made his illness bearable and aided in his recovery. I wanted to say the name Wynton Marsalis out loud in the newspaper to thank him for helping my friend. I wonder if he knows how much his gift means to the people he shares it with.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My dad loved to invent characters and to story tell. When he read a book to us, he read like a practiced thespian. He spoke with accents, changed the pitch of his voice, and made fairy tales come alive. When I did this strip, my dad had been gone for a number of years. I was able to bring him to life again by writing and drawing short vignettes like this one. It would have been just like Dad to call and pretend to be the Easter Bunny!

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I wanted my son, who really had a good ear for music, to take piano lessons. In an effort to encourage him (and to learn myself) I arranged to take lessons with him. We went to a particularly strict and humourless lady who treated us exactly the same way. Admonishments like, "Keep those wrists up! Do you want to play "McDonald's Farm" for another week?!" were doled out to us both. I earnestly wanted to learn how to play the piano, but I fully understood my son's reluctance to practice because I hated to practice, too! Neither of us looked forward to the lessons, so neither of us worked hard to learn. This is a sad admission. I wish we had focused on our talent and not on our teacher!

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Lynn's Comments: The other day, I discovered a tiny dress in the back of my closet. My daughter, Katie, had worn it in the Lynn Lake United Church Easter parade, and I still had it! There was a matching bag and hat. I showed them to Kate and said, "Can you remember being this small?" Having a three year old now herself, made the dress and accessories even more interesting. I'm hoping she keeps some of her children's favourite clothes because photographs can't show the actual size the child was. Holding the small dress was like touching my little Katie again! Sorry, I won't apologize for being sentimental. That's what moms do!

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This punch line came from Jim Unger's brother, Bob. Jim, who did the wonderful cartoon panel, "Herman," had come with Bob to visit us here in North Bay. Soon after their arrival, I served them a big breakfast and noticed that Bob was wearing a rather hideous sweater--kind of a greeny-yellow, rather "pilly," and in need of a wash. When I made a crack about the sweater, he leaned back in his chair, scratched his tummy and said in his thick British accent, "I've got a sweater for every day of the week--This is it!" I never forgot the line and shamelessly used it in this strip. I don't think I ever told him--and he died not long after their visit. Jim, sadly, has gone, too, so this strip is a nice reminder.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Lynn's Comments: There was a song: "June is busting out all over" and I think it came from a big Broadway musical. Someone out there will tell me! Anyway--a neighbour of ours (whose name was June) had told my mom, in secret, that she was expecting. Mom was asked to keep it quiet until June knew for sure. In a weak moment, mom told my dad--who was always thinking of puns, gags and ways to crack people up. When dad came upon my mom and her friend talking over the fence, he started to sing "June is busting out all over" and the look on the ladies' faces was a cartoon waiting to be drawn. Both had their mouths open in that tense little "O" of surprise. Dad was in the doghouse until June was sure of her condition. All was forgiven and baby Alex busted out--red and healthy six months later.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This kind of teasing came from my dad who loved to twist fairy tales and embellish stories. Easter was a good time for story-telling. My brother and I looked forward to Easter as soon as Christmas was over.

We didn't have a lot of commercial decorative stuff when I was small, so we made our own. Every Easter, dad would find the right sized cardboard box. This we would decorate with crepe paper, (remember that?) drawings, ribbons and tulle. Whatever we could find went onto the box to make it attractive to the E. bunny: a nest for the goodies he'd bring! The decorated box would be left in the living room the night before and on Easter morning, it would be filled with things like big chocolate bunnies, fluffy pom-pom chicks, jelly beans and a few small toys. After we went through the bunny box, my brother and I would search the house for coloured hard-boiled eggs--and there was always one in the bathtub plug hole.

Great memories come from such simple things. This year, my granddaughter is old enough to make a bunny box--and I have one, just the right size!

Friday, March 27, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This is one of my favourite punch lines. If you can work a famous line into a gag, it's very, very satisfying.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Some of the best events I got myself into were the ones for which I was "volunteered". Because I couldn't say "no", bake sales, costume sewing bees and skating festivals were all part of my time in Lynn Lake Manitoba. Some of my favourite memories are of these of bee-hives of activity in the company of other moms trying to do everything for everyone all of the time!

Monday, March 23, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My mother in law made the best cookies ever. I could never make them as well, because I can't seem to stick to a recipe. First of all, I hate to measure. It means extra time and extra utensils. I like instructions which say "a dash of this or a knob of that." When it comes to dinner, I'm a fairly good cook, but when it comes to the finer things like cookies and cakes, I defer to those who follow directions. This reminds me: my grandmother, when asked how she measured molasses would say: "two golollups and a drip". I loved that expression!

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Here, I've created an "Everest of woe". I can't see past an infraction until I've confronted the offended party and apologized.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Lynn's Comments: The frustrating thing about being a writer (which I am to a small degree) is that my imagination works over time. If I need to talk to someone about an important matter or if I've done something for which I should apologize, I have the conversation a hundred times--in my head. I make my own arguments, answer my own questions and before the conversation ever takes place, I have worked it to death--ad nauseam. Most often, I beat myself up over trivial stuff that is easily resolved. I imagine every possible scenario. When the confrontation does take place, I have blown the situation so far out of proportion that the person I am talking to has no idea what I'm so worried about! Oh well, there's nothing like being prepared for the worst!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Like other twists in the story line, this revelation came as a surprise to me. I had no idea that Ted had been interested in his receptionist/secretary! The neat thing about Irene was that she took Ted away from Connie. Connie could move on. Irene had a "throw-away" part; her character didn't need to be rounded out. I invented a character I could play with for a while and then ignore--the kind of role in which an actor would hate to be cast!

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Lynn's Comments: The strip was starting to realistically show a family's weaknesses as well as its strengths, which I think made it more believable. I was trying to show real life: What happened to me and to the character, Michael, happens all the time. In an ideal world, I guess someone should be there to chaperone a child at all times, but like me, Mike was a responsible kid who was capable of helping out. Sometimes we could all use an extra hand to help make ends meet!

Friday, March 13, 2015

Lynn's Comments: With both parents working, my brother and I stayed in the house after school by ourselves. We had strict rules of conduct and some serious responsibilities! We took pride in our roles, which made us surprisingly compatible. We fought less when we were unsupervised. Who would have guessed!

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This isn't so much a scene from my son's adolescence, but my own. My parents both worked at our jewellery store and would be home around 6:00 pm. I was supposed to have the dinner on by the time they arrived--everything was set out for me and easy instructions were left on the counter. Even so, I thought it as the biggest imposition in the world; unfair, because my younger brother didn't have to do ANYTHING! Eventually, I started to have some pride in the fact that I could cook! This gave me some real confidence, since many of my friends couldn't even make a sandwich.