Dawn: Browse The Strips

Friday, September 5, 2014

Lynn's Comments: This strip received some nice mail. Folks expected to read a sarcastic punch line. Growing up in North Vancouver, we were always playing with and studying next to kids from China, Japan, and other Asian countries. In fact, it was hard to learn French as a second language when we were more familiar with Mandarin and Japanese. I wanted to draw an Asian family, and the Enjos stepped in.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Lynn's Comments: The name "Enjo" was for my grade six home economics teacher. Miss Enjo was a sweet and lovely lady and must have been in her twenties at the time. My dad guessed that her last name had been longer and had been shortened when her family immigrated to Canada. The family I made up was based on the Masuda family--who had known my in-laws in Lynn Lake, Manitoba. They had also moved to North Bay, which was a nice coincidence: We had friends here to make us feel at home.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Lynn's Comments: The Enjos provided both Elizabeth and Michael with friends to play with--I wanted the whole family to integrate with the Pattersons. This is always the hope when new folks move into the neighbourhood, and I could make it happen in the strip!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Lynn's Comments: These ornate dolls were based on a collection in Louise Masuda's house. Children in Japan often receive these lovely figures as gifts. They form a large retinue of characters with different levels of importance, so after many years, you can have a sizeable number--arranged in order of their station. They are heirlooms not toys, and eventually a showcase is needed to display them in. I thought this was a wonderful idea and so I included them here.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My mother often said that she wished we would go to other people's houses and make a mess there for a change. It was true. Our friends always came over to our house. Maybe it was because Mom worked at home, and was kind enough to let everyone in. Maybe she permitted herself to be the local daycare provider so she would always know where we were. Other moms were at home, too, so it always bothered her that they never took their turn. They never offered. Maybe it's because she just never asked.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I once asked a friend to stay for dinner without asking my mother first. I didn't know that we only had enough food for the four in our family. Not wanting to be rude to my friend, Mom agreed to set another place at the table, but she had to fry bread with the potatoes, then cut the meat up into small pieces and mix it with the gravy in order to accommodate an extra person. Later, she explained to me that we weren't always able to feed others, and I was never to ask if I could stay at someone else's house for dinner. Even if I was invited, she cautioned me to be aware that the other family might have not have as much as we had.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I had fun showing a family of Japanese descent serving Tacos for dinner. This is part of the fun of living in a country where culture and cuisine are shared easily and often.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This was based on our neighbours in Lynn Lake, who had an elaborate train set in their basement. When I saw it, I thought it belonged to their eldest son, but was surprised to discover that it was the dad who had set it up. This was long before my husband built a model train you could actually ride on! What is it with trains, anyway?

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Lynn's Comments: My son, Aaron, really did stick his tongue to the school flagpole. A frantic teacher called me and I ran to the school in time to see one of the staff trying to pour hot coffee down the flagpole to warm it up. Another said to just pull him off, so I worked at his tongue, which was stretched like an elastic, and his teacher pulled him. With an "OUCH!" he was finally free. I thought he'd be upset, but Aaron was quite proud. When he'd stopped nursing his sore tongue, he happily pointed to the pole where a number of small, fuzzy spots marked battles with other frozen tongues. "Here's Cathy, and here's Bryan, and here's--" I guess it's a rite of passage: every kid has to see if the warning has merit--and every generation discovers that it does.

Monday October 3, 2016

Lynn's Comments: This is the way I talked to my kids; trying to let them know that they hadn't fooled me. I knew exactly what they were up to and it wasn't working. From their point of view, of course, everything worked perfectly.

Tuesday October 4, 2016

Lynn's Comments: The complex business of when to tell and when not to stymies everyone. Sometimes you're a tattletale; sometimes you're a hero. When I wrote for the kids, I could feel the inconsistency and the unfairness, and it occurred to me that "telling" is a tattletale when said with a whine, and information when said with anxiety.

Wednesday October 5, 2016

Lynn's Comments: A kid in my neighbourhood taunted us all with a bowl of ice cream--just the way Richard is doing here. I went home and asked for ice cream and my mother told me I should have something healthy instead. She gave me a big carrot. I went outside, chewing the carrot. When the kid came up to me to taunt me again, I spat my mouthful of pulverized carrot into his ice cream. I still feel good about that today.

Monday December 26, 2016

Lynn's Comments: I had a talking doll when I was about 8. She was entertaining for a while, but much more fun when her record broke and she became just a doll!

Saturday July 15, 2017

Lynn's Comments: I heard from readers whose kids created "no girls aloud" forts because of this storyline. Good thing. Not only did it get them out of the house, it created serious discussion. TV can’t provide that kind of entertainment!

Thursday July 20, 2017

Lynn's Comments: This series of strips is based on the wonderful and dilapidated "Camp Tillicum" just outside North Bay, Ontario.