Lynn's Comments: As we protested and blocked a city street, we wondered if we'd get our photos in the paper and be interviewed. Meanwhile, my parents, sitting at home, thought I was hanging out with friends after school. They had no idea what I was really doing.
Lynn's Comments: When I was about three years old, my aunt had given me a pair of very frilly under pants. The entire backside was ruffled, and I was thrilled with them. So much so that I went around the neighbourhood lifting my skirt to show them off. I didn't understand why my dad was so upset or why he made me come home and put on a pair of overalls.
Lynn's Comments: Hot feet. I suffer from hot feet. I have walked outside onto the porch at -40 and been happy to feel the cold. This was the beginning of my "journey" through menopause, and I'm still suffering. In my next life, I'm going to be a man. Then I will have comfortable feet!
Lynn's Comments: Be careful with those "round" hair brushes. They might do a good job of shaping while you blow dry, but get one tangled in your coif and you will be sorry.
Lynn's Comments: In Lynn Lake, Manitoba (where we lived for six years), there was a Halloween tradition called, "Trick or Drinking." Lynn Lake was a tiny town. You could walk from one end to the other in about half an hour, so you could visit a friend, drink your fill and not have to worry about driving home. "Trick or drinking" happened after the kids were done with their rounds and had gone to bed. It was a time for the grown-ups to have some fun by dressing up, going to a friend's house and demanding a drink. If the host couldn't figure out who you were, they still had to invite you in, give you a drink and then wait until the next morning to find out who had been in the house! One Halloween, a gorilla walked into our house and demanded a drink. I gave him a beer and watched as he worked it into his head. No matter what we said or how hard we tried, we couldn't determine the gorilla's identity. Around noon the next day, we found out it had been the bank manager—one of the shyest and most unlikely pranksters in town! This just goes to show you that a costume not only changes the way you look, but can change your personality as well.
Lynn's Comments: A neighbour in Lynn Lake used to take in foster children. She had just accepted a little boy who had been left in a backyard. His mother knew that the people who lived there would feed him. She had left him there before. Charlotte asked me if I wanted to see a truly malnourished baby. This little one had an enlarged tummy and all the features of a starving Third World child. She told me he had to have a cookie in each hand before he could go to sleep, and that he constantly hid food in his clothing, so she always had to check the pockets and cuffs of his pants. He hid food in his bedclothes and around the house. He was like a little squirrel: making sure he would have something to eat, making a cache, preparing for winter. With this in mind, I did this drawing...knowing that my own children were lucky to be safe and cared for and fed and loved.
Lynn's Comments: In order to draw this Sunday strip, I needed to take a series of photographs showing how one's hands are positioned while opening a CD case. I still have these odd polaroid shots!
Lynn's Comments: "Because elephants have flat feet" was our standard answer when questions became too numerous and too silly. Eventually the kids asked about elephants and why DID they have flat feet? This meant researching elephants...and finding a new quip!