Elly: Browse The Strips

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Despite watering both kids before bedtime, they both had to use the facilities during the night. This meant we had to leave the privacy of the compartment, lift the bed up, expose the lavatory, close the door and "go." The process was reversed when everyone got back into bed. I was not the most popular "travel agent" and heard a lot about what I "should have done" before booking something so irritatingly small!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Aaron was extremely social and enjoyed walking up and down the cars, talking to the other passengers. He was well behaved and didn't get into trouble until the novelty wore off. His favourite place was the dining room where, if he was lucky, he'd score an extra dessert before the second seating.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The bar car was also the observation car and even though kids weren't supposed to be in an area where liquor was served, there seemed to be a double standard on the train. Kids sat with their parents and when it got too dark to enjoy the scenery, youngsters watched the grown ups lose their cool and happily act like children!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Sharing a tiny compartment with my son was a challenge. The only time he really fell asleep was when the train was in motion. The rocking and the click of the rails nicely put him under - but as soon as we stopped on a siding, he was ready for action, wanting to know where we were. I remember lying pressed against the wall of the compartment with Aaron crouched at the window talking a mile a minute as I tried to doze. I thought "Some day, he'll grow out of this and have regular sleep patterns like other people!" At the age, now, of 39... my son is still a night owl!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Aaron used to be up and running at 4 or 5 in the morning. Food and dressing took an hour, but there were usually 2 hours left before I took him to daycare. Exhausted, I'd lie on the couch as he ran from room to room, jumped on the furniture and on me. Sometimes, I'd actually fall asleep and this was when he'd go into the kitchen cupboards and find the stuff he shouldn't have. This scenario really happened... and both of us survived to tell the tale!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Lynn's Comments: We were on the train for several nights. Even though the kids were the best they could be, they tossed and turned. And their constant up and down to the toilet made each night a real challenge. We also met others in the hallway as they reorganized themselves into these confined spaces - and more than once we heard "why didn't you a book a compartment instead of a roomette?"

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The dining car was, by far the highlight of the trip. At the time, CN Rail was still into "elegance". We had tables with cloths, nice dishes, good cutlery - and even the children behaved better in this classic and refined dining room. This is one of the rare strips in which I showed them being more of a hand full than they really were!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Aaron did not put a marble in a man's mouth - but he thought about it. He was standing on a seat, looking into this snoring aperture. It was an open invitation to neatly drop something in. I caught Aaron's eye just before he let go of the marble he was holding. We both smiled. It was almost too tempting to resist, but resist he must...and we both laughed out loud just thinking about it.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Lynn's Comments: All told, the trip by train was a great adventure. We had spent quality time together in an environment of constant change and we saw our country from a different perspective. It's something I hope we can do again one day, but next time... I'll know the difference between roomettes and cabins!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Lynn's Comments: It doesn't bother me now. In fact, a mosquito in the room when I was married meant a 50% chance of being bitten and I could sleep quite comfortably. When I was a kid, however, the high-pitched whine of a hungry insect drove me nuts. I'd turn on the light and take whatever time it required to hunt it down and do it in. I considered myself to be an excellent sniper. I'd wait for however long it took for the prey to appear and SMACKKK!!! I won. I fairly ruled the summer night until my brother showed me an article that said, statistically, we eat at least 3 spiders in our lifetime - they crawl into our open mouths while sleeping. AAAAAUGH!!!!!!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My parents had a cottage in Hope, BC. I believe we got off the train in Hope and drove to Kawkawa Lake with them. We saw my parents perhaps once a year, but the kids always remembered them. Even though "they were not going to be spoiled", Aaron and Katie were the center of attention and had a wonderful time.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Lynn's Comments: We were totally beat by the time we made it to my folks' place. It was such a relief to turn our two busy offspring over to healthy, active grandparents. Mom and dad weren't used to having such busy kids about, but they soon managed to get into the swing of things. It was fun for me to see them being parents again - from the vantage point of being a parent, now myself!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My mom did say things to make me feel like a kid again. I felt as though she was watching everything I did; wanting to correct me or give advice. I had been living on my own, coping with all kinds of challenges and I wanted to feel like her equal. It didn't take long before the old sandpaper formed between us and we had to make sure there were no match heads in the middle!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Despite his penchant for causing trouble, Aaron was a sweet and sentimental little boy. The bond he shared with my mother was very strong. The two of them seemed to have a secret between them and my dad thought he should spend more time with Katie to make up for it. Katie didn't seem to notice a discrepancy, though. Maybe she knew that Aaron needed the extra attention my mom gave him.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Lynn's Comments: It's strange how we slip from being careless and sloppy to fanatically clean. For years, I maintained a house so tidy you could enter any room and find every last thing in place. My lingerie was rolled, folded and colour coordinated, my linens were in perfect piles, my bathroom cabinets immaculate. Even if it was out of sight, my stuff was in order. Now that I live on my own, however, I have reentered the "who gives a ****" phase of life and I view my habitation much as I did as a kid of 10. I haven't made my bed since last week. My work has spilled into the dining room where I can easily get to it and if the dishes sit on the counter overnight...ehhh! I don't do laundry until I run out. I don't pick stuff up until I have to - and I can only describe this lack of decorum as liberating. The other day as I was leaving my bedroom comfortably littered, I distinctly heard my mother say "For heaven's sake stop living like a hermit and take care of this mess!" I thought about all the times I railed at my own kids for living in squalor and I sympathized with them. No matter how well you pick up after yourself, a place is going to deteriorate. I figure "what's the point?" So, like a kid, I only clean up if I have to. My incentive is company. Every time the mess gets to the point of no return, I invite friends for dinner. It's time again to shovel out, so...yesterday, I bought steak.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I remember the face-licking, body-slamming, seat-wagging welcome that Farley used to give us after he'd been left on his own for a while. It was a greeting so filled with joy and expectation, that you couldn't fault him for almost knocking you down!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Lynn's Comments: After living in my garage for more than a year, my brother, Alan got a job with the Stratford Festival Theatre and moved to Stratford, Ontario. My room mate, Fran, moved to Calgary to continue her studies and I was suddenly alone in the house. I helped Alan move to his new apartment and wished him well. Although I was happy to have the place to myself again, I missed their company terribly.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I was a bit jealous of Alan. He was still living in the land of the free. His friends were unmarried guys who travelled and partied and had few responsibilities other than coming up with rent and food money and I wished I could be as unrestricted as they were. Meanwhile, he was wishing he had a little more stability and thought I had the right idea. The grass was always greener somewhere else, it seemed.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I don't remember if Alan was seeing someone in Dundas when he left for Stratford. My efforts to pry had never been too successful. I looked forward to visiting him and seeing him perform at the Festival Theatre. I didn't show this in the strip, but one of his jobs was to appear in a green velvet Edwardian suit and play the herald trumpet from an outdoor balcony!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Coming up with lines based on sayings is especially fun. Take any saying, twist it around, change the lettering and see if you can make it work as a punch line! Most certainly, this one has been used by someone before me. Great minds shrink alike. But if you can do something different, you're golden- and I was always quite chuffed when I came up with a gag like this.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Good dialogue makes a comic strip work. It has to flow like poetry. If you're lucky, someone will come up with a smart remark and this becomes the punch line. Here was an opportunity to think like a kid who wanted summer to last forever and still be his mom who was thinking in real time. Michael was able to counter her argument with something that worked, and I thanked the muse - again - for helping me come up with another daily.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Lynn's Comments: For some reason, stinking socks are funny... much like burps and toots. In truth, the fact that kid's footwear did give off noxious gasses surprised me. But, then again, kids and odors go together like dogs and fleas. My son could wear a pair of socks until they were stiff and no amount of washing could restore the colour, no matter what it was. I dragged dirty socks into the text several times and each time readers reacted with comments like; "Whoa! this happens at your house, too?"!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Lynn's Comments: This exchange is, word for word, from my own childhood. I knew if I said to my mom "do you think I'm some kind of servant?" she'd go completely off her nut. Why did I say it? I don't know. I have always enjoyed a punch line - even if it meant getting a punch in return! So, I said it and she swatted me and put me in my room. I hoped that when she saw this strip, she'd be vindicated... once more!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I absolutely hated cleaning my room. I couldn't see the point. Why make my bed just to sleep in it and mess it up again? Why put stuff away when I'm just going to get it out again? Nobody lives in my room but me, and if I don't care... None of my arguments held water with my mom who would stand at the door like a jailhouse warden and watch me tidy up. "There", she'd say, "isn't that better?" Honestly, I couldn't say that it was. *Sigh* The things you have to do to please your parents!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Lynn's Comments: It's hard for a young artist to get her work published anywhere, so I volunteered a lot in the early days. I did posters, bookmarks and signs for the library. I learned about borders and lettering and ways to get the most from two plates on the press. It was an opportunity to learn and to make up a good folio. When I hear people complain that they have to volunteer I remember my dad saying "You pay for an education, don't you?" Well, this was an education and I was getting it for free!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I imagined Elly accepting the opportunity to write a column for a local paper just to see her work in print. She is aware of how much she will learn. She is looking forward to working with others and to practising her skills - and she is not embarrassed to admit she needs the outlet and the change. It's easy to question someone's direction and motives - until you see the world through their eyes!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Women have a sixth sense when it comes to their men folk "checking out the competition". A subtle sidelong glance will be transmitted to our waving antennae and we know that our partner has not only seen but has evaluated another female. Deny it he might, but we know it happened. Guys do this as instinctively as a hound sniffs a tree. Fortunately, wives and girlfriends are now countering this behaviour by accepting it as normal and natural, by understanding and communicating their feelings...and by doing a little ogling of their own.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Lynn's Comments: A friend of mine in Lynn Lake was expecting at the same time as Annie was and her input was priceless. I could capture the way she walked and shuffled in slippers as her feet swelled. I watched her shape expand in all directions. She was more than happy to play a role in my research and, even though I remembered going through it myself, having another mom to talk to, made all the difference.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Once again, I sort of threw a shot at Rod. I often made remarks suggesting that he was less than supportive, when in reality he encouraged me to do what I wanted to do. I ran a small business, had my own income and made my own decisions, but I wanted Elly to be more like the person I might have been. I loaded her with some of the baggage that I might have carried and made her a bit pathetic, sometimes. Maybe it was an effort to separate her from me - or maybe there was something I was trying to hide. I don't know, but that's the way it was!

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Lynn's Comments: It was interesting to go to the Hudson's Bay store with my friend, Jane. Everyone knew everyone else in town and we felt it was necessary to comment on the weather, folks' health and their families. People she hardly knew would come up to her and feel her swollen tummy and I laughed when she remarked "Why do they do that to pregnant women? Nobody goes up to a guy, grabs his nether parts and says 'Hey, Jake! How's the ol' hernia??'" You've gotta have a sense of humor. You just do.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I loved my children, but talking to toddlers all day fried my mind. I so desperately needed the company of grown ups, I'd go shopping just so I could exchange a few sentences that didn't contain "Poo-poo" or "Don't wanna!!" If Elly had a chance to work- even for free a couple of times a week, I figured she'd take it, even if it meant paying someone else to take Elizabeth. A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.