John: Browse The Strips

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Here is another true-to-Johnston-life happening. Rod decided to carry on his father's tradition of making pancakes on Sunday morning but cancelled his next performance due to lack of interest. In colder climates, even pancakes aren't enough to make one leave a warm, toasty bed!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Because this storyline took place in late October, I had to make up something that would cover both the houseware party and Halloween. Imagining that John had picked up a costume for Michael created an opportunity to have some fun.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Lynn's Comments: It was fun to imagine this scenario: tea-sipping ladies caught off guard, shrieking at an evil face in the window. Funny situations like this drifted into my imagination so easily. I loved drawing facial expressions, and I loved making up names like "Nedwitt." Writing and drawing something like this was a joy.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Lynn's Comments: As I imagined this scenario, it occurred to me that the women I hung out with were all pretty strong willed and assertive. One of us would certainly have gone out to confront the delinquent outside, and she would have been armed!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Once again, my husband complained that I had made "John" look like an idiot. He wished that I'd make him the hero once in a while, which I thought I did! It's just that comedy requires somebody to be the fall guy, and, unfortunately, John was an easy target.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Lynn's Comments: The night I went trick-or-drinking, I wore a white-blonde wig, a Dolly Parton-style outfit, and my false teeth. In a British accent I'd learned from my mother, I greeted our wary hosts who repeatedly begged me to tell them who I was. I was one of the few revellers that night who got to do the big reveal the following day.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When we moved to North Bay and there were many neighbourhoods to canvass on Halloween, we knew that one of us would be carrying Katie home. One night, I saw a friend pulling a wagon behind her as she accompanied her costumed children and I said, "Whoa! Is that to carry all the loot they're gonna get?" and she said, "Nope...it's to carry THEM!"

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Lynn's Comments: There were times that I did outshine my mom-in-law, but it was not in the pie-making department. I made great casseroles, soups, and stews; she did the breads, the roasts, and the baking. Both of us were fine in the veg department, so between Ruth and myself, we provided our men-folk with some mighty fine grub. There's nothing like two women in the kitchen--especially when they're both a bit competitive!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I think I see my school days through "rose coloured glasses." I remember mostly good times, positive times with good friends and good teachers. I tend to forget the teasing, the bullying, and the tears. I've put aside the failures, the fiascos, and the teachers who made me want to quit. I've forgotten all the bad stuff and the sad stuff... and things I did that I wish, if given a chance, I'd do differently. My years in the hallowed halls now seem like the "good old days," and perhaps that's for the best. If I learned anything I guess I learned how to laugh at myself and be happy.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I rarely saw my parents kissing. Sometimes they held hands but it was a discreet show of affection--which was quickly over if someone drew attention to it. Still, they were very romantic. They thought about each other and did things for each other easily and naturally. They were husband and wife, but they were also the best of friends. I often made fun of the two of them and their mushy ways, but in the end, I wish for all the world I could have had a marriage like theirs.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Lynn's Comments: My taste in comics was much more tame than Michael's. I loved Little Lulu. She was a real girl with ordinary looks, cool friends, and a great imagination. I also loved the Disney books--Donald and the kids and Scrooge McDuck topped the list. I wondered what Scrooge did with a house-sized bin full of money. If it was mine, I'd have given it all away. I never imagined that I'd get to know two of the Disney writers who wrote those very books...but, that's another story!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Lynn's Comments: We were lucky to have several wonderful babysitters who would come at a moment's notice. One resource was the Clarke family and their four daughters. I remember calling at the most inopportune times, and if one of the girls couldn't come, Loretta would take the baby herself! I would do anything for her as well, which is what good friends do. She and I have been close for over 30 years!

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Lynn's Comments: With arrogance and purpose I walked up to the couple I had been staring at... to discover they were complete strangers. By telling such tales on myself, I was hoping to both cleanse my soul and warn others to MYOB!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Both my kids loved to go Christmas shopping. They still do! Finding the right thing for the right person is exciting, and in our family, funny gifts are the best. One of the best gifts I remember as a kid was a skipping rope. With cardboard and glue my dad made the longest, thinnest box in the world. He placed the skipping rope in it full-length, then wrapped it and put it under the tree. For the life of me, I couldn't imagine what it was, and when I opened it, I laughed and laughed. The parcel itself was almost better than the gift!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Lynn's Comments: The one time I remember going Christmas shopping with my dad was the time he decided we needed a new couch for the living room and wanted to buy one for Mom for Christmas. Bad idea. We bought a squared-off, ugly beige thing with fabric that felt like the rough side of Velcro. Mom hated it ... but, true to form, she never complained. They had that awful couch until they moved out of the house on Fifth Street. The next couch they had, she bought--with no input from Dad. Fair is fair!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Lynn's Comments: For years, Dad worked in the jewellery and giftware business. A lot of the stuff I thought was gaudy or too expensive but one year, a glass fairy caught my eye. Her face, hands, and legs were frosted glass, her wings and clothing were clear. She sat on a "tuffet" of pebbly, textured glass--and I thought she was beautiful. I must have been about twelve when I asked for her as a gift. She was given to me for Christmas and was the first breakable piece I ever owned. This little fairy sat on my dressing table until I left home. I wish I had taken her with me because she disappeared when my folks sold the house and moved away. She was the model for this Christmas story and I still hope she's around--perhaps on another child's dressing table--still unbroken and still loved.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This comes from a joke my dad used to tell about a man and his son who got onto an elevator. I can't recall the joke, but I always remembered the punch line, which was: "If anyone hears anything or smells anything--it's my dad!"

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Whenever we kids went into dad's shop, we were told "Look, but don't touch." He'd also say, "You can't break something by looking at it." One day, I was looking at the corrugated board my mother used for stringing pearls. One of the services our business provided was the cleaning and restringing of quality bead necklaces--and Mom was an expert at this. I couldn't help myself, I had to run my fingers down a row of pearls just to see what they felt like. The row of pearls rolled off the groove of the board onto the floor with a wild tinkling clatter. Dad spun around when he heard them fall and ran towards me. "Honest! ... I was just LOOKING!" I told him. We both got down on the floor--desperate to find each and every one before Mom could see what had happened. Unfortunately, she returned before we finished picking up the pearls, and as her eyes fell on me, with his usual comic timing, Dad looked up at her and cried, "Honest ... I was just LOOKING!"

Monday, December 17, 2012

Lynn's Comments: One of the things I loved about my dad was that he took things in stride. He didn't get too upset when something got broken. Stuff, after all, was just stuff, and what couldn't be repaired could be replaced. As long as it hadn't been maliciously done, occasional breakage was not a big deal. We did, after all, have a gift shop, and china got broken in transit all the time.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Mom was a master at repairing things. She could glue and sand and paint and varnish almost anything so that the crack, chip, or missing piece was restored. This meant that anything broken at the store that was salvageable, made it's way home. We had, therefore, a plethora of pots, vases, statuettes, and collectible objects strategically placed about the house. At the time, smoking was fashionable. On every table, armchair, and bookshelf was an ashtray with a butt in every one. Dusting the china and cleaning the ashtrays was often my job, and when I got to be a teenager, I swore that when I had a place of my own, it would have no bric-a-brac or dust-collecting junk anywhere. That was then. I now have my share of detritus but it's all in cabinets and there are no ashtrays!