Christopher: Browse The Strips

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I was once hired to do an illustration for a magazine in Nova Scotia. It was a rush job. I had to get the art there by courier--for which I paid. When I didn't receive a cheque in ninety days, I called to complain. I was told they had used another artist's work, and since they "paid on publication" and my work had not been published, I was out of luck. I was also out the courier charges!

Friday, October 12, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I loved making up names. When I thought up the word Grubberware, it immediately conjured up the idea of a party where toilet brushes, rubber gloves, plungers, and other unattractive bathroom cleaning stuff would be displayed and sold. This meant I could draw toilet-related stuff (which was rather discouraged) and possibly get away with it. I guess there's a part of me that will always want to bug the guy in charge.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Lynn's Comments: There was a time I'd go into a house like this--where the people took scattered toys, dog hair, and mangled furniture for granted. I'd step over Tinker Toys and half eaten sandwiches wondering how in the world they could live like that! I'd see crusts on tabletops and a sink full of dishes, and I'd think to myself, "How can she stand to live in a house that isn't clean, tidy, and well organized?!!" ... Then I had kids.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Lynn's Comments: We didn't have a chainsaw--we didn't need a chainsaw ... but for some reason known only to men, my husband bought a big one, with all the safety gear that went with it!

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I have always wondered why gymnasiums didn't harness all the energy that is wasted by wheels on exercycles and the like as they spin all day long. With that in mind, I think hamster wheels could be installed in homes where kids tear around relentlessly. If this energy was being put to good use, such as running the vacuum, perhaps we wouldn't resent the mess and the dust they create quite so much!

Friday, December 7, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This is another personally-experienced scenario which reached the papers. Even though we admonished the combatants, we laughed all the way to the food court!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Lynn's Comments: The kids were never far away--I used to listen to their banter as they made up games, created forts in the living room, and played house. I was impressed by their ability to fantasize. I remembered my own childhood, when a mud pie tasted like the real thing, and if you rolled up in a blanket, you could fly. Even though we seemed to be "in a world of our own," we were still aware of our immediate environment.

Aaron, Katie and Aaron's friend, Roy, were playing one day, and some of their dialogue disturbed me--they were talking about bombs, murder, divorce, and other things they had heard about on television. This had to be absorbed, of course, and dealt with as much as any other experience outside of Sesame Street and Saturday morning cartoons. I worried that I was not talking to my kids enough. Later, when Roy had gone home, I asked them about their conversations, their ideas, and their perceptions. I felt good about being there to answer questions and explain some facts. In return, Aaron asked me if life was the same for me when I was a kid and I had to say that it was--we just didn't hear or see as much as they do now. We were far more protected from negative realities. When I think about it, we were really naive, and for that, I'm somewhat grateful!

I now have a grandchild. I see kids as young as two, happily using computers, eBooks, and iPads and I wonder how much more the babies of today are learning...too soon, too fast.

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.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Lynn's Comments: A question like this would have made my parents get out the encyclopedia and look up the answer. My mother especially enjoyed teaching us stuff about plants and animals and would easily pick up a snake or a spider to show us it was something to admire. She was responsible I'm sure for my brother's degree in biology and my years working as a medical artist!

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Lynn's Comments: The towels in our family bathroom were often filthy. Alan and I would "wash" our hands but were always in too much of a hurry to use soap!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Lynn's Comments: The quote "home bought" came from my childhood. My mom was always making bread and cookies, so for us, the ones that came in a package were a treat. My faves were "Dad's" Oatmeal cookies and "Wonder Bread." Every so often, instead of having homemade cookies, I begged for "home bought!"

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Lynn's Comments: My mother had a day of the week for laundry. Rain or shine, she washed on Wednesday, and there was an order to the way she hung the clothes on the line. Sheets, towels, and good clothing was hung first--so it could be seen and appreciated by the neighbours. Underwear and things not meant for public scrutiny were hung closer to the house. These things were easily reached by standing on the rungs of our porch railing, and often fell prey to my brother--whose pranks with Mom's unmentionables were legendary.

After our neighbour's big dog, Teddy, died, their daughter, Tootie (our babysitter), bought a small fuzzy pup, which she called "Noby"--short for "Nobody." Noby was a sweet, easygoing little pooch who put up with just about anything the local kids would do to her. One day, Alan decided to dress her up in Mom's underwear. Noby dutifully stood still while bra and panties were administered. Al expected a wild struggle for freedom, but Noby stood still. Frustrated by the lack of action, Al lifted Noby up and placed her inside a sheet, which had been doubled so it could hang on the lower line. Noby went crazy. She squirmed and howled, and we worried that she'd tear the sheet open. Tootie soon came to her rescue. She pulled Noby out of the sheet, cuffed my brother on the side of his head, threw the bra and panties on the lawn, and went home.

I picked up the underwear and put it back on the line. The sheet was left to dry. Later, when Mom pulled in the laundry, I watched as she folded it. When she got to the underwear, she frowned, wondered why it looked unwashed, but kept on folding. Then she reached for the sheet. There in the middle was a mess of dirt and dog hair. Mom looked at me and said, "Where's your brother?" Alan, of course, was gone. I was close at hand and received the brunt of her wrath. After a thorough tongue-lashing, I was sent to my room--Al had to wait. Nothing was said when he came home, and I was furious. I thought I had taken the blame for everything! Later that evening it was clear that justice prevailed. When Al pulled the blankets back on his bed, there was the dirty sheet. Grossed out and grumbling, he slept on it for a week!

Monday, June 2, 2014

Lynn's Comments: I remember being so into mud pies that I really expected to taste fresh baking when I bit into them. I can even recall the taste of dirt and the feeling of sand between my teeth. I also remember putting more than one into my mouth--just to make absolutely sure it was mud.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Lynn's Comments: When I was a teenaged baby sitter, I resented it when the parents who hired me came home late. Having had kids (and now being a grandma) I understand why parents want to stretch their freedom for as long as possible--and often forget the time.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Lynn's Comments: My two and a half year old granddaughter views the potty as a torture device. Just the suggestion that she give it a try can bring on a fit. Thanks to friends' recycled mini-biffs, and cool scores at the second hand shop, we have been able to offer her a variety of receptacles: pretty colours with transparent glitter-filled seats, ones that play musical ditties, and others which display the grinning gums of familiar animated characters all thrilled to have done the job where it's supposed to be done--but no deal.

We have determined, since she no longer fits on the change table, that it's time. Very soon we will all take part in the process of elimination--which suggests that we (her mom, dad and I) will give up until one is left to watch for widdle and divine for dumps. With this in mind, I read the above comic strip and thought; "At least he USES the darned thing!!!"

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Lynn's Comments: This idea came from a situation in which a friend's house was broken into, and she was upset that the police had seen her unwashed dishes and her unmade bed. I remember thinking: Like wearing good underwear in case of an emergency, you should keep your house tidy in case it's robbed!

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.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Lynn's Comments: I think I was in grade three when I was cast in a school Christmas pageant as a wise person. I was told to wear my bathrobe as a costume, but my mom was so upset by its frayed condition that she hurriedly made me a new one out of striped material--much like the robes worn in Christian-Hollywood flicks. Though my behaviour wasn't particularly saintly, I wore my pageant bathrobe for years, pretending I was right out of the Bible!