Anne: Browse The Strips

Monday, June 23, 2014

Lynn's Comments: My friend, Carol, and I set up a lemonade stand in front of my house, and of course, my mom did all the work. We thought it would take all day to sell our wares, but were surprised to have many customers--one right after the other. It took awhile, years actually, before my dad admitted to calling everyone on the block--asking them to buy.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Lynn's Comments: There were times when well meaning friends, knowing I was at home, would drop in during the day. I would come up from the studio, long enough to be polite--sometimes I'd put on the coffee, but I was on a deadline and every minute spent away from the drafting table was time I'd have to make up later on. One woman was very unhappy when I told her I had to work. Having two kids of her own, she looked at me angrily and snapped "So do I!" When I look back at all the comics I did while juggling family, food, chores, business trips, volunteer stuff and just plain living, I wonder how I managed to do it all.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I had assisted Rod when he was in dental school. There was a free clinic in the evenings, and students got extra experience if they volunteered to work on patients after class for free. Spouses often accompanied the students--just so they could spend some time together. University took a toll on relationships. With this bit of training under my belt, I believed I could fill in for a while in our new clinic.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Letting my kids stay home alone happened rarely and only when I knew I could trust them! This meant not letting a bunch of friends in or digging into the liquor cabinet or calling someone in China as a prank. Another adult always knew where they were and had a key to the house. Still, Aaron's desire to hit the snacks before dinner was always a hazard of being home alone. I know the feeling. If there's a bag of Doritos in the house, it will go down before I heat up the leftovers.

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.

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.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Raising kids is a career. It's the most important one there is. It's unpaid and often unappreciated, but it sets the rules and the temperament for the next generation. Whenever I heard a woman say, "I'm just a homemaker" or "just a housewife," I grit my teeth. Like all women who must take time to earn a living, I relied on good daycare to help me raise my children, but I was a hands--on parent. I earned the "mom" in "working mom."

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Strips like this brought messages of hope and sympathy from moms all over the world. The one criticism I received was, "So, where did Elly find the time to have cookies and tea?"

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Lynn's Comments: When I worked as a medical artist for McMaster University, one of the projects I worked on involved foetal development. I learned that the creation of one human being is so incredibly complicated, it's amazing that so few of us have serious physical problems! In this series of illustrations I wanted to address the fact that some babies are born with abnormalities. I chose a situation that was common and easily remedied.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I don't think there's a mother on earth who doesn't blame herself for the unforeseen things which affect the lives and the health of her children. We wonder if the things we consumed or did, or even thought, affected our babies' development. We worry and we wish and we think, "If something bad is going to happen, God, let it happen to me."

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Lynn's Comments: As a medical artist, I once had the privilege of working on a long and demanding project which tracked the development of the foetus. I worked with tiny, unborn bodies. I drew detailed illustrations showing how internal organs grew, expanded, displaced other organs, and eventually packed themselves neatly into the body and began to function. I learned minute details about the bowel, the heart, and the brain. I learned that each organ depended on the others to turn, close, twist, secrete or open at an exact time in an exact order, and if anything failed to do what it was supposed to do at the right time, then there might be a serious problem. Years later, when I gave birth to my first child, I couldn't believe how perfect he was. When you think about the infinite complexity of creation, it's a miracle that any of us comes through the process as "normal!"

Friday, July 3, 2015

Lynn's Comments: When Annie had her baby, I wanted to acknowledge those who are born with a difference. I knew this might be a controversial topic and I didn't want to focus on something which was not an integral part of the strip, so I chose a condition known as "polydactyly," meaning "many fingers." It's not uncommon and can be corrected, often very easily, with surgery.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Lynn's Comments: When this story appeared, I received calls from editors wanting to know what the reader response was to this storyline. Many parents did contact me with stories about their babies' varying conditions at birth, and the one thing they all told me was how accepting their other children were of a new baby brother or sister who was just a little different.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My friend Ghislaine has three children--all married with children of their own. They had given Ghi eight grandsons, and baby number nine was due. Everyone wondered of this would be the long awaited girl, but when number nine boy arrived, they all breathed a sigh of relief. What would they have done if a little girl had come along? All the stuff they had was for boys! Now, they look forward to all the future girlfriends they will welcome into their homes.

Monday, July 13, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This was a situation which came from my own childhood: My brother had twisted his knee in a soccer game and was being bullied by some bigger kids in the neighbourhood. He was limping and they accused him of faking the limp (even then we were both theatrical and always pretending to be something or someone else, so the accusation wasn't entirely without cause). I jumped between the bullies and him and threatened to beat them up if they touched my brother. At the time, this thought went through my head, "Nobody knocks my brother around but ME!"

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Lynn's Comments: Friendships can be complicated. Being a "best friend" can saddle you with unreasonable expectations. My strongest friendships are with men and women who don't define our relationship. We are simply "there for each other."