Christopher: Browse The Strips

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Lynn's Comments: On rare occasions we would invite "the guys" over to watch the game. This was when smoking was as necessary to an evening out as the horse de oeuvres. I'd dutifully bring in the beer and pizza, watch long enough to appear enthused, and retire to the kitchen. Not that I was a domestic...I just couldn't stand the smell. Cigarettes, cigars, beer and pizza...all essential to a guy night out combined to create an odor that could peel wallpaper. Fortunately, today's gatherings are much less stressful. They happen somewhere else!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Lynn's Comments: My mother did not like surprises...or so she said. Gift giving was always a challenge for me because she was effusive, no matter what the gift was, so it was hard to tell whether I'd made the right choice or not. Mom was an excellent seamstress. She could make anything - even patterns from scratch. I was working at Woodwards in Vancouver, making a salary for the first time, so Dad and I decided to pool our resources and get her a Bernina sewing machine for her birthday. It was the latest thing. It could make designs and buttonholes without a template and you could use several colours of thread at once. It was expensive, however, and Dad worried that she'd be angry with us for spending so much when we could hardly afford it. He had to tell her our plan. Naturally, she said "Absolutely not!" She wouldn't have us spending wantonly on something she could well do without. So...we got her a jewelry box instead. When she opened her gift, we could tell that Mom was bitterly disappointed. "What's the matter?" Dad asked- genuinely surprised by her reaction. Pressing a hanky to her eyes, she cried, "I thought I was getting a new sewing machine!!" Go figure. Gift giving was always an awkward time in our family. Any time we did it right - it was a surprise!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My friend Mary seemed to have a bun in the oven every year. When baby number seven was on the way, she sighed and said she wondered if this one would be the last. I assured her it was indeed the last one and she wondered how I knew. "Well", I said, "your husband was one of seven kids and he told me he wanted the same number of children, too". "He did, did he?" she replied in her sweet Irish accent..."Well, why the h*** didn't he tell ME?!!!" We always wonder what the future will hold when we're in the family way - but it all seems so right when we're holding our beautiful new baby!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My friend, Audrey, was as nonchalant as could be when it came to delivering her baby. It was her husband who panicked! When she said she thought it might be time to leave for the hospital, Mack ran out to the car with her overnight bag and almost forgot her. Then he backed into a post on the way out of the driveway. Audrey ended up driving to the hospital and checking herself in. We laughed when she said she'd told the orderly to put Mack in the wheelchair for the ride to the room!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Lynn's Comments: When I was about to have Katie, it was important to spend as much time as I could with Aaron to reassure him that even though a new baby was coming, he was still the first, and was very special. I told him he would be a big brother, that he'd be the older one and be able to teach his new brother and sister all kinds of things. What he remembered most, however was that his friends said he might get presents!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Star Wars (one of my all time favourite films) was a phenomenon when this strip was done. Every store carried something relating to this wonderful fantasy and Aaron was caught up in it, too. What he wanted was a pet and he said if we got one, he'd call it Luke Skywalker. To me, it sounded like a good name for a housefly!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Even though you prepare your first child for months before a new baby comes by including them as much as possible and telling them that their status as "the oldest" makes them more important than ever, you still can't avoid the pain of jealousy. The absolute dependency of baby unavoidably pushes the older child aside. This is when partnership in parenting matters so much. The more hands and hugs and "I love you"s, the better!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Lynn's Comments: We tried to prepare Aaron for the arrival of his new sibling by telling him his position in the family would be elevated to "Big Brother" status. This didn't go down nearly as well as the promise that when the new kid arrived, there'd be gifts for him, too!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I thought I had my hands full with one child- but two were a challenge! Like many other moms, I was the main caregiver, teacher and disciplinarian. I was so lucky to have been able to work from my home!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Lynn's Comments: These words came directly from my mother's mouth and later from mine. Seems to me that kids enjoy being in on the local gossip as much as we do! Trouble is they, too pass it on!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Here's another example of how to bring readers up to date with a few underlying story arcs. In the first panel, you catch up with what's going on in two relationships and still get a kid-fuelled smart remark as a punch line. I loved this ploy!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Kitchenware and home cosmetics demonstrations were actually a big deal in Lynn Lake. We all looked forward to the opportunity to get together and if we bought some overpriced items, well, we had supported the seller and the hostess and all was well in the world.

The best home demo party I ever went to was here in Corbeil. It was my first opportunity to meet the local ladies, so I spruced up and took my chequebook. What I discovered was a relaxed and welcoming group, dressed in jeans and T's, drinking beer and gossiping about the neighbors. After several drinks, we were ready for the pitch and with all of us happily into the sauce, the demonstrator sold us everything!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Moms are always looking to other moms for advice and moral support. I don't know what I would have done without my "mom-friends". We shared everything from our personal meltdowns and ensuing guilt to comparisons of our kids' behaviour and development. Without judgement or criticism, we helped each other survive! Looking back, all the angst seems so "over the top". It's just that when you're standing there on the edge of the canyon, it's sure nice to have a friend to coax you back into the car!!!