Elly: Browse The Strips

Friday, September 2, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Homework was a subject that riled us all. If Aaron had something to do for school, there'd be a stalemate right away. He might get out all the equipment. He might even start. But within a few minutes, he'd be miserable. I don't know how many times we sat and did his work with him- lesson by lesson, page by page. When some kids graduate to the next level of their education, their parents should get a promotion, too!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Lynn's Comments: This has to be one of my favorite Sunday pages. Aaron often came into my room early in the morning and talked to me while I was half asleep. Katie had no reservations about running outside in the buff. Combine these two elements and I had a good gag. I had fun with the illustration- most of all I loved doing the expressions on the faces of the characters. Facial expressions and body language are as important as the punch line and I erased Michael's sly smile several times before it was right on! Sunday comics like this one were fun to read when they came out in the paper. I would read this strip as if I were a stranger who'd never seen it before. If it made me laugh again then, I knew I had a good one!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Lynn's Comments: When I couldn't support myself and Aaron as a freelance artist, I accepted a job at "Standard Engravers" a packaging company in Hamilton, Ontario. Aaron attended the Dundas daycare, courtesy of the Canadian welfare system, for which I'll be eternally grateful! Before his first full day there, we went for an introduction. He was so excited about the toys and the company that he left me immediately and blended in. There was no separation anxiety and I think I was just a little hurt by that!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My friends told me about their toddlers' reluctance to be left at the daycare center, but Aaron was a social kid who couldn't wait to get into the stuff and the food and the excitement of new surroundings. Later, when Katie went to a sitter while I worked, she was also happy to have my friend Marian's attention and never made a fuss! These strips show what sometimes happens to others.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I did not feel guilty for leaving Aaron at the Dundas daycare centre. Not until he was sick! Nothing makes you feel negligent and helpless like a call from the daycare to say your child is sick and calling for you. I was lucky to have an understanding boss. Looking at my reflection in the rear view mirror, I remember thinking- "To heck with all the powers they come up with in the comic books- a REAL superhero would be someone who could be in two places at once!"

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Dundas is a small suburb of Hamilton, Ontario where I lived for about 4 years. I would go to the Dundas Valley Journal and see if they needed any cartoons and, eventually, they bought a weekly panel from me for $10.00 apiece. Elly and her quest for a column in her local paper was based on this.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Caring for offspring was something I could grasp, but feeding was often contentious. Once they had tasted sweet stuff, fried stuff and Cheezies, nutrition went out the window. I bribed, teased and created live theatre around spoons full of meatstuff and veggies. I made my kids stare at plates of cold casserole. I told them they'd never grow big. I said they'd get nothing else until the next day if they didn't eat what was in front of them and I'd take the plate away. The trouble was- we lived in a friendly neighbourhood. More than once, I found Aaron and Katie in the lane, sniffing the air and wondering which neighbour deserved a mealtime visit. The fact that they could get a snack next door was something I grew to accept and in retaliation, the neighbours' kids were often fed by me!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The Dundas Valley Journal was in a building on Main Street in Dundas Ontario. It consisted of a few cubicles, a couple of offices and a receptionist at the entrance. The receptionist had so many duties, you had to find her before you could ask to be allowed in!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Lynn's Comments: This was a small town newspaper in every way; a great place to begin if you wanted to know- and to work in each facet of the business! The DVJ was a popular weekly rag, but despite strong local support, the publisher had a hard time staying in the black and white!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Having Elly do a regular column posed the question: "about what should she write?" Since she was an avid reader (with little time to read) a column about books and local library news would be right up her alley. This was also something I could easily research. I looked forward to talking to our library staff and finding out what THEIR jobs were like.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Aaron was very much at home at the Dundas daycare center. As I said, I was grateful to what was then called "welfare" for helping me to keep my several jobs and be a mom at the same time. He was happy with the routine and when I came to get him, he often had to do "one more fing" before he was ready to go.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Lynn's Comments: When The Dundas Valley Journal accepted my first cartoons, I was thrilled. To see my work in print in a local paper was wonderful. For a while, I did this for free and it was one of the best learning experiences. I was working at a packaging company in town, freelancing for McMaster University as well as doing cartoons for the DVJ. As far as an education in graphic arts goes, this was a course well worth taking.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Lynn's Comments: We were living in a log house and having renovations done. A number of workmen, strangers to me, were coming and going at the time. One night the phone rang. The receiver was on my side of the bed. I answered, expecting it to be the Dental "on call" service, but a man's voice said something I couldn't quite understand. I had been in a deep sleep and wasn't prepared for a conversation. "What??" I said. He repeated whatever it was but I still couldn't understand. He said something vaguely suggestive, but I wasn't able to pick up the thread. He eventually gave up and asked if I knew who it was. I said I did not and he seemed surprised. At this point, I just wanted to go back to sleep, but he asked again if I recognized his voice and I said I didn't. Satisfied that he'd remain unknown, he hung up. The next day I was convinced it had been one of the guys who was working on the house. One, in particular, was a bit of a wild card and I wondered if it had been him. It amazed me to think how vulnerable and anxious I felt, even though the call had been clumsy and short. Somebody was "watching" me in an unhealthy way and it made me nervous and wary until the project was over and the strangers were gone. I tried to imagine what someone who had been seriously threatened would feel and how long, if ever, they would take to get over it.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I don't know where this idea came from. Sometimes things just happened without a real memory or situation behind it. As Elly Patterson, I just supposed this would be a natural neighborly gesture and allowed my imagination to go from there.

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!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Lynn's Comments: This is another example of something I just made up. In fact, I don't remember my husband taking the kids to buy groceries - this was my job and I enjoyed it. This is a gag that I knew had been done by other cartoonists, and yet, I did it again.

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!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Lynn's Comments: When Katie was born, Aaron did ask why she was so small. Having just pushed her out of my nether regions and with walking and sitting still a quivering thought, I told him it was extremely good engineering and that was that. I don't think I gave a full explanation until he was much older!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Lynn's Comments: No matter what, your baby is the most beautiful thing on the planet. I remember looking at mine as soon as they were out of the chute and thinking "miracle!" Red, blotchy and crying, they are the culmination of 9 months of concern, protection, discomfort, worry and joy. They are also a grunt to produce. I often thought that if it was an easy process, we might not love them and want them as much as we do!

Friday, September 30, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Aaron did ask why we didn't have another baby and my explanation was that we had sold the crib. In a way it's true. If you have even the slightest positive thought about having another, you store the stuff. With this in mind, however, I have friends who kept everything "just in case" and are now offering cribs and jolly jumpers to their married, adult children!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Lynn's Comments: It amazes me still to think that after the hard work and "discomfort" of giving birth, we go back and do it again! My friends and I supported each other afterwards. We discussed episiotomies, backaches, lack of sleep, lactation, depression and so forth. One topic was brought up again and again: would there be more children in the world if the men produced the babies and the women puffed cigars?!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My method for writing strips was to stretch out on the couch with a lined pad of paper on my lap and imagine myself in the Patterson kitchen at suppertime. It didn't take long for the characters to begin a conversation and I would listen in. Like a tape recorder, I could run the commentary back and forth, change or modify the answers, and if luck was with me, I'd get a funny line. I remember being particularly happy with this one and wondering again, where the idea had come from. It was too good (I thought) to have come from ME!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I have always welcomed question from my kids; It's an opportunity to share knowledge and to show them that I value their intelligence. It's just that they always seemed to ask me stuff when I had no time to answer. It didn't matter what I was up to; they always wanted an answer NOW! Do kids do this because they want our undivided attention all of the time, or because they enjoy hearing the often ridiculous, spur of the moment responses that we come up with? Either way, it drove me crazy.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I was so excited when I first saw my work in print I didn't know how to channel my energy. I danced around the house. I read my work in the paper over and over again. It was hard to believe what I was seeing, even though I had worked so hard to get there.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My kids regularly invited friends in for dinner- and THEN told me we were having guests. My lectures about proper household etiquette included the rule: "Ask first before inviting someone for dinner" but they knew I would always have enough food to serve and an extra kid at the table was always welcome.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Lynn's Comments: This is an example of how to fill the audience in on a lot of information with one strip. If I didn't have time to show the audience what had transpired, I could trust one of the characters to "tell all" in a sequence like this.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Any intimate partnership must pass the "sick" test before it can be called a serious relationship. Cohabitation requires us to accept, endure, and be considerate of our "significant other's" health concerns. Your partner's audible woe is an opportunity: every sympathetic gesture, every coo of understanding, and every expression of concern that you offer, are bankable brownie points to be redeemed when it's YOUR turn to be sick. And misery, as we all know, loves company!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The MaGoon family did live on McVeigh Avenue in Lynn Lake. The funny part of this strip was that their dog was the size of a chipmunk and sounded like a squeaky toy, no matter how furious he was!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Aaron seemed to roll in dirt. I would send him out clean and tidy and in seconds, he would return with sand in his hair, stains on his shirt and knees the colour of swamp crud. We didn't have a dog at the time, but with a son who brought in as much dust as Aaron did, we didn't NEED one!