Elly: Browse The Strips

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Alan was a good catch--but a slippery one. I met a few of the girls he went out with; nice people, easy to have around. None scared him like Joan did, however, because she was "the one." I remember him talking about her with the kind of angst that comes when you are at a crossroads and have to make a serious decision. Did he really want to get married? Was he doing the right thing? In the end, they both made the right choice. Al and Joan have just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Lynn's Comments: One of my Mom's tastiest recipes was for a cherry loaf cake. Unable to resist maraschino cherries, I would pull out the ones closest to the surface, leaving "mouse holes" in the cake as it sat on the counter to cool. I remember my mom being pretty irate by my inconsiderate attack on her baking, but I regarded it as a compliment--an honest display of appreciation. Her "punishment" one day, was to make me bake the same cake on my own to see how much work it was. When it came out of the oven, it was beautiful. I was so proud of having made my favourite cake; I couldn't wait for my dad to see it. When he came in after work, I led him straight to the kitchen and discovered that my mother had picked all the visible cherries out of it.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Aaron and Katie were pretty good about eating whatever I made--but company cooking could pose a problem. I was often determined to make something I'd never made before, and sometimes, the results were less than great. This meant the kids ate Kraft Dinner while our guests ate the experiment. Only once, my husband said he wished he had taken that option as well.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Coincidentally, "Georgia" and Alan's future wife, Joan, looked a lot alike. I had even decided to call Georgia "Geo" for short!

Friday, May 25, 2012

Lynn's Comments: There is only one downside to having a dishwasher: it has killed kitchen conversation. Great moments can occur when people, after a good meal, enter the sanctity of the kitchen to clean up. Those who choose to do the task are at liberty to discuss anything--knowing they will be uninterrupted. I got to know my father really well because he washed and I dried. Confidences, opinions, admissions, and jokes are all part of the cleansing process now killed by the dishwasher. But, I'm still keeping mine!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Because of the similarities between Joan and "Georgia", Al begged me to have Phil and Georgia wait to get married until he married Joan!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When this strip was released, I received a number of letters from women, mostly, saying that they too wanted bathtub faucets you could turn off with your feet. Whenever I travelled, people would comment on strips like this one and they would immediately start to tell me some intimate truth, some personal thing you would never tell a stranger! I heard about people's sleep habits, their food preferences, their parenting tips, their illnesses. They told me other things, too; about their fears and failures, their marriages, divorces, and family backgrounds. It was as if I had become a familiar friend who would always listen, be supportive, caring, and discreet. This kind of trust is something I will always cherish--it's the best part of having done a family's story with a bitter-sweet style.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Lynn's Comments: My folks were good badminton players. As soon as the spring rain subsided, they'd stretch out a net in the backyard and the games began. Alan and I would go through a couple of racquets each in a summer because Dad bought cheap ones. He knew we'd be using them to whack rocks, dirt, and each other. We even tried to make French fries by pushing a cooked spud through the mesh. We lost the shuttlecocks and made holes in the lawn. We pushed each other into the net and tried to swing from the posts. Badminton was an all-purpose sport, which we kids loved...and did eventually learn to play!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Ours was a one-bathroom house and Mom resented the parade of neighborhood kids coming in to use it. She was especially grouchy if Dad had just mowed the lawn and we'd been rolling in the clippings. I remember her washing handprints off the wall, hoping to make an impression on the people who had put them there...but, vindication didn't come until I had children of my own and complained to her about the exact same things.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Lynn's Comments: In reality, Rod and I had a very different kind of wedding. It was his first; my second, and we both wanted a small, private ceremony. Neither Rod's nor my parents could attend, so our friend, Marjorie Baskin, suggested we use the living room in her house--as her husband, Rabbi Baskin, was going to do the honours. She made us a cake. My brother and a few good friends were there. It was a beautiful service--a combination of Christian and Jewish ritual, which concluded with the breaking of a wine glass. It was a sunny afternoon and friends were looking after Aaron who, at the age of two, was not likely to sit still. After a celebratory drink and a piece of Marge's cake we went to pick him up. Aaron wasn't sure what had happened, but he knew our lives had changed. I picked him up and as he gave me a hug, he said, "I've now got a mom and a Rod!" This, as much as the ceremony, made us a family!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Roller Blades were just around the corner when I did this series of strips. There was still a roller rink in North Bay and it was a great place for kids and teens to go for a spirited, noisy afternoon. This focus on roller skates had more to do with my own past and memories of speed, daring, and prowess. Our awards were skinned knees, bruised backsides, and the feeling your feet were six inches off the ground, which would last for hours afterwards.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Aaron was well aware of what things cost and was encouraged to earn his own money with which to buy extras. Letters came suggesting that "Michael Patterson's" parents were far too strict and that I was putting out the wrong message. I was suggesting that kids work! I was stunned. I had been thinking that this was a good thing. Maybe it was...when I was a kid!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Here, Michael decides to come clean about the money he's lost and Elly treats the whole situation like the lesson that it is. I got letters. Folks complained that I had made Gordon look like a thief, that he wasn't "that kind of kid!" They thought Elly should have gone to Gordon's parents and complained. They didn't know that Gordon's dad was at the pub and not likely to be home before dinnertime. They didn't know that his mom worked two jobs to make sure that the bills and the debts were paid on time. Behind every character was another story altogether--a story I had no time to tell!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Lynn's Comments: It was hard to imagine my parents as children. To me, they had been born old and were just getting older. When they talked about days gone by, the photographs they turned to were black and white. Our world was in colour. What they talked about was hard to relate to. It was more like hearing a story than a real event.

Maybe it's because they had too much to do to enjoy the kind of childhood we had--they both grew up during the depression and had to work in order to help their families survive. Neither of my parents had the luxury of going to college or university. They learned from books and through experience, and were intellectuals in their own right.

I hoped that my kids would relate to my stories, but life changes so much between generations that Aaron and Katie probably listened with an attitude much like mine had been: "If you really were a kid at one time...why don't you understand kids NOW?"

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Lynn's Comments: To be completely fair at all times is an impossible task! Even if you do manage to think of everyone, the kids themselves will invent an inequality and you're stumped again!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This is an invented scenario. The only cash I found in the dryer was small change...but a cheque, now and then, did make its way into the laundry. Too bad cheques aren't made from the same semi-washable material as paper bills!

Friday, June 22, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Ominous thoughts like this were derived from my own fear of falling. I don't ski or skate and friends who say, "but, Lynn! You don't know what you're missing!" don't imagine themselves in casts and crutches the way I do!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Sometimes a friend would tell me something that was so perfect for a comic strip that I couldn't wait to go home and draw it up. My friend, Loretta, was a wonderful cook. She often had friends over for dinner and was always well prepared ahead of time. In our small northern town, certain fruits and vegetables were hard to come by, so when a shipment of fresh food arrived, we all got into cooking mode.

Loretta had filled her fridge in preparation for a neighbourhood get-together but had forgotten to remind her family that the food was for company. By the time she discovered their scavenging, it was too late to replace the groceries. When she told me what had happened, I remember laughing so hard that I couldn't catch my breath. A few weeks later ... the same thing happened at MY place!

Monday, June 25, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When Rod and I were first married, we agreed one summer to go to Miami, Manitoba and help his sister and brother-in-law on their farm. He was still in dental school, I hadn't been offered my job with the Syndicate and Katie had not yet been born. Our finances were dwindling and this seemed like a great way to earn enough to see us through the year. We rented our house to friends, packed up Aaron, who was three--and drove west. I had never experienced farm life and had no idea what to expect!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Farley, at this time, had been given to another family. He was now living on a farm himself, and I wondered how long it had taken him to adjust. His new family must have shaved off his long, thick fur, because he was a dog who loved to roll in everything awful and then trail it into the house!

Friday, June 29, 2012

Lynn's Comments: The real Farley never saw the insides of a kennel. He was always billeted with friends, and I, in turn, looked after their pets.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Lynn's Comments: The kennel you see here was based on the kennel we (much later) put our spaniel, Willy, in. Situations, which were based on reality, didn't appear in a chronological order. I relied on ideas and imagery, which came from the disorganized mess that is memory!

Monday, July 2, 2012

Lynn's Comments: My first husband, Doug, and I once left our house in the care of a friend. We were going on a road trip for a few weeks and he needed a place to stay. When we called to see if everything was ok, we could hear the sound of a party in the background. Our "friend" had let friends of his move in, and they were turning the place upside down! We cut our holiday short, came home, and threw out the lodger and his crew. Nothing was destroyed or stolen, but it took awhile to clean up. Sometimes generosity can bite you in the butt!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Aaron wanted to take his transparent plastic space-gun with him to Winnipeg and did not want it to go out of his sight.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This was long before the strict security measures of today. In Toronto, however, Aaron suddenly pointed the gun at a man in a uniform and we were immediately stopped, searched, and reprimanded for trying to bring a weapon onto the plane. It was funny, but we should have known better!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Lynn's Comments: The toy gun was confiscated and Aaron hoped that some other kid would get to play with it. I'm sure this happened. Someone must take all of that "dangerous" stuff home!