Elly: Browse The Strips

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Like other twists in the story line, this revelation came as a surprise to me. I had no idea that Ted had been interested in his receptionist/secretary! The neat thing about Irene was that she took Ted away from Connie. Connie could move on. Irene had a "throw-away" part; her character didn't need to be rounded out. I invented a character I could play with for a while and then ignore--the kind of role in which an actor would hate to be cast!

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Lynn's Comments: The frustrating thing about being a writer (which I am to a small degree) is that my imagination works over time. If I need to talk to someone about an important matter or if I've done something for which I should apologize, I have the conversation a hundred times--in my head. I make my own arguments, answer my own questions and before the conversation ever takes place, I have worked it to death--ad nauseam. Most often, I beat myself up over trivial stuff that is easily resolved. I imagine every possible scenario. When the confrontation does take place, I have blown the situation so far out of proportion that the person I am talking to has no idea what I'm so worried about! Oh well, there's nothing like being prepared for the worst!

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Here, I've created an "Everest of woe". I can't see past an infraction until I've confronted the offended party and apologized.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My mother in law made the best cookies ever. I could never make them as well, because I can't seem to stick to a recipe. First of all, I hate to measure. It means extra time and extra utensils. I like instructions which say "a dash of this or a knob of that." When it comes to dinner, I'm a fairly good cook, but when it comes to the finer things like cookies and cakes, I defer to those who follow directions. This reminds me: my grandmother, when asked how she measured molasses would say: "two golollups and a drip". I loved that expression!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Some of the best events I got myself into were the ones for which I was "volunteered". Because I couldn't say "no", bake sales, costume sewing bees and skating festivals were all part of my time in Lynn Lake Manitoba. Some of my favourite memories are of these of bee-hives of activity in the company of other moms trying to do everything for everyone all of the time!

Friday, March 27, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This is one of my favourite punch lines. If you can work a famous line into a gag, it's very, very satisfying.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Lynn's Comments: There was a song: "June is busting out all over" and I think it came from a big Broadway musical. Someone out there will tell me! Anyway--a neighbour of ours (whose name was June) had told my mom, in secret, that she was expecting. Mom was asked to keep it quiet until June knew for sure. In a weak moment, mom told my dad--who was always thinking of puns, gags and ways to crack people up. When dad came upon my mom and her friend talking over the fence, he started to sing "June is busting out all over" and the look on the ladies' faces was a cartoon waiting to be drawn. Both had their mouths open in that tense little "O" of surprise. Dad was in the doghouse until June was sure of her condition. All was forgiven and baby Alex busted out--red and healthy six months later.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This punch line came from Jim Unger's brother, Bob. Jim, who did the wonderful cartoon panel, "Herman," had come with Bob to visit us here in North Bay. Soon after their arrival, I served them a big breakfast and noticed that Bob was wearing a rather hideous sweater--kind of a greeny-yellow, rather "pilly," and in need of a wash. When I made a crack about the sweater, he leaned back in his chair, scratched his tummy and said in his thick British accent, "I've got a sweater for every day of the week--This is it!" I never forgot the line and shamelessly used it in this strip. I don't think I ever told him--and he died not long after their visit. Jim, sadly, has gone, too, so this strip is a nice reminder.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Lynn's Comments: The other day, I discovered a tiny dress in the back of my closet. My daughter, Katie, had worn it in the Lynn Lake United Church Easter parade, and I still had it! There was a matching bag and hat. I showed them to Kate and said, "Can you remember being this small?" Having a three year old now herself, made the dress and accessories even more interesting. I'm hoping she keeps some of her children's favourite clothes because photographs can't show the actual size the child was. Holding the small dress was like touching my little Katie again! Sorry, I won't apologize for being sentimental. That's what moms do!

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I wanted my son, who really had a good ear for music, to take piano lessons. In an effort to encourage him (and to learn myself) I arranged to take lessons with him. We went to a particularly strict and humourless lady who treated us exactly the same way. Admonishments like, "Keep those wrists up! Do you want to play "McDonald's Farm" for another week?!" were doled out to us both. I earnestly wanted to learn how to play the piano, but I fully understood my son's reluctance to practice because I hated to practice, too! Neither of us looked forward to the lessons, so neither of us worked hard to learn. This is a sad admission. I wish we had focused on our talent and not on our teacher!

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My dad loved to invent characters and to story tell. When he read a book to us, he read like a practiced thespian. He spoke with accents, changed the pitch of his voice, and made fairy tales come alive. When I did this strip, my dad had been gone for a number of years. I was able to bring him to life again by writing and drawing short vignettes like this one. It would have been just like Dad to call and pretend to be the Easter Bunny!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My friend, Ghislaine, has been a teacher for many years. She is strict, smart, funny, and fair. She has recently begun to tell me some of her adventures with today's generation of teens, and the things they do and say make me cringe. The reward in teaching, she tells me, is that, "now and then someone learns something." Interestingly, this strip was published almost 30 years ago!

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I remember telling my mother I was not a servant! As a mother and grandmother, I now know what a "servant" really is!

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Lynn's Comments: About three months ago, I took a few days to clean out all my kitchen and studio drawers. I discovered pens, pencils, erasers, tape, scissors, glue, push pins--enough to open a small shop. I put everything away where it should be and made sure to place supplies close to the phones. Yesterday, I called a friend to ask for an address--and I couldn't find a pen!!

Monday, April 13, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Although I never saw my children trying to eat from a bowl like a dog, it was something I tried to do myself. The weird thing about this confession is that I was in my twenties when I did it!

Friday, April 17, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This was one of the exercises we were given to teach Farley to come when called. My husband and I did this endlessly, but to no avail. The trainers blamed us for Farley's lack of success. They said we were not being consistent and should try harder. We did. We believed that with enough repetition, with enough rewards, Farley would learn. He didn't.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Sadly, we never did celebrate success with the real Farley. In the comic strip, however, the outcome to every scenario was up to me, so cartoon Farley was an obedient, and even rather smart, companion.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Lynn's Comments: A few years ago, I lost a load of weight. I was thrilled with myself, and in celebration, I gave away all my larger clothing--swearing to the walls and windows that I would never gain back those excess pounds. Last week, I went looking for a favourite pair of pants only to realize they had been jettisoned during my THIN period. Pity. They would have fit me quite nicely, now!

Monday, April 20, 2015

Lynn's Comments: At the time when I was working in our dental clinic, recorded music for headphones and office ambience was hard to come by. A small cassette player was all we could offer our patients, and eventually they had heard all of the albums we owned. We were living in an area where radio reception was intermittent at best, and satellite stations hadn't been invented yet. What we had was an enormous reel-to-reel system and about 10 huge reels of tunes we had prepared ourselves. We thought this would be enough music to last forever considering the number of albums we had recorded (illegally, I now realize), but after a few months, as the reels played, were changed, and played again, we could all hum the next tune before it even started!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Lynn's Comments: One thing we always had in our clinic was new reading material. Thinking of the patients, we subscribed to a variety of magazines, and children's books were replaced as soon as they looked soiled or dog-eared. People really appreciated this small waiting room diversion, and often said so. Whenever I go into an office or a clinic and I see that there are a variety of reasonably fresh and current magazines, I feel a little better about the folks who run that office. There, on the coffee table in front of me, is evidence that they care.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Lynn's Comments: "Brittany" is the name of one of my friends' daughters. I knew her family would be pleasantly surprised when they saw it in the strip. Little things like this were a lot of fun. Later, the Scott family became five, as their other children, Bourton and Elly were born. I never put another Scott family name in the strip, but I suspect their daughter, Elly was named for Elly in the strip!