The Last Straw: Browse The Strips

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Lynn's Comments: My mom worked with her father doing the hand lettering in and around the stamps in his priceless albums. He was an expert on forgeries, and this fine work required them both to use of a variety of magnifying glasses. We kids were not allowed to touch them, but this made them all the more fascinating.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Looking for a wayward mutt on a night like this is one of the downsides of dog ownership. When our small spaniel, Willy, wandered off, it was usually "Mom" who put on the boots and jacket and went out into the gale to find him. I was convinced he could hear me quite well and was just ignoring me. This was something the kids did too. It infuriated me. At least kids understand a mother's wrath. When a dog comes home to a fuming human, he just pants and wags.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Lynn's Comments: I am guilty of letting my dog run about without a leash. We live in the country and our little black spaniel, Willy, was free to go where he pleased--which was usually next door to my in-laws' for toast and coffee. The neighbours didn't say anything--for the most part they let their pets out as well. It wasn't until the school bus nearly ran over Willy that I paid more attention. He died of cancer years later, but I never forgot his close call.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Gary Larson (The Far Side) once sent me a Christmas card, which showed a house with a brightly lit window through which you could see a group of wildly partying dogs. In front of the house, on a white lawn, was a snow sculpture of a fat cat. A path of paw prints lead from the door to the snow cat--the side of the cat was yellow! I guess cartoon minds think alike.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Lynn's Comments: One of the reasons FBorFW wasn't translated into many other languages was my constant use of colloquial expressions. When the imagined dialogue included something like "end of his rope," I had to use it!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Sheep dogs have big, wide feet, and their toes are webbed to some extent. This means that a snowy walk will result in wads of frozen snow plugging the dog's foot pads. I'd have to spread his toes and pull each chunk of snow out of the crevices--and with it, remove hair and dirt as well. It's a messy process, and the only rewarding thing about it is the look of relief on the dog's face when it's done!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Recently at a friend's house, my son picked up an old trumpet--and could actually play! I was surprised he remembered something from the lessons he took so long ago, and he was surprised as well. Guess he didn't hate practicing as much as he said he did.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Lynn's Comments: I was always happy to look after a kid for a friend, and enjoyed the reciprocal kindness. When you both have a childproofed house and all the necessary paraphernalia, one more kid hardly makes a difference.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Lynn's Comments: I did these strips after agreeing to look after a friend's two-year-old. Both my kids were in school, and my home was no longer baby-proof. I had forgotten how to feed, carry, talk to, and otherwise live with a toddler and was right out of my element. To add to this, my charge was the spawn of "New Age" parents who felt that discipline curbed a child's natural curiosity. In other words, the kid was a terror. His mother arrived before I called and begged for mercy. Thankfully, she never asked again!

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Katie loved to play on the lazy Susan where I kept all my canned goods. As long as I could hear the rumble of the sturdily built shelves turning, I knew she was safe and not getting into trouble--so I thought. As she rode around one day, she amused herself by removing all the labels from the cans. We had mystery meals for months afterwards!

Monday, February 3, 2014

Lynn's Comments: As a new mother, with no one close by to advise me, there were times that I truly believed my son was"out to get me!" When you do everything possible to stop a baby from crying and they still go on and on and on, it's easy for a novice to think a baby does things like this on purpose. I came very close to shaking him one night and called my social worker the next day for help. I can see why some parents just can't cope--especially if they're on their own.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Lynn's Comments: When I got together with other young moms, we talked a lot about coping. We reasoned that the nine month gestation plus the difficulty in delivering a baby made the kid that much more "valuable," and therefore worth the added suffering afterwards. Frustrations were all forgotten, of course, when we looked at the faces of our clean, healthy, and sleeping offspring.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Once my kids were toilet trained and could eat with cutlery, it was amazing how quickly I forgot everything I had learned about newborns and toddlers!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Lynn's Comments: Here I used Letrafilm, the now archaic method of adding black and white texture to cartoons destined for the newspaper. This is a wood grain pattern, and after it came out in the paper, I realized just how badly it reproduced! Sometimes this way of adding depth to a strip looked fine on the original art, but when reduced to the printed format, it became blotchy, muddy, and rough. I was constantly learning about what worked and what didn't!