John: Browse The Strips

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Lynn's Comments: My grandfather had the only car in the family, so if we went anywhere the bus didn't go, we went with him. He always exacted a price. In order to make a trip profitable for him, we had to stop off at one of his clients' homes first. Gramps was a stamp dealer, so en route to a family picnic, we had the horrible task of having to sit in some old fart's dreary home and behave ourselves until he had ended his talking, his tea, and our patience. As Alan and I sat fidgeting and contemplated his demise, I looked to the future. I thought about having my own home and I vowed that I would always have toys for kids to play with, even if I had no kids myself. One of the first things I bought when I had my first apartment was a teddy bear. Toys have always been essential in my life... to the extent that I still buy them, still find joy in the innovation of new ideas, and still play with them whenever I have a child around to encourage me. My grandfather was a grouchy old miser... but thanks to him, the kids who visit my house enjoy their time!

Friday, April 26, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Alan did encourage Aaron to play the trumpet. He gave him a few private lessons. The trumpet we had belonged to the school and had to be kept in pristine condition. This was one of the many reasons Aaron gave for not wanting to practice.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Lynn's Comments: We didn't have a garage, so my brother's bands practiced in our basement. For as long as I can remember, the sound of their practicing was ambient noise, and when he wasn't rehearsing with his buddies, Al practiced his horn for hours. The scales, the trills and the tricks of the tongue had to be repeated endlessly, and there were times I just had to escape from it. No amount of teasing or pleading kept him from practicing--which is why he was, in later years, such an excellent musician!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Sometimes my readers made some very astute but troublesome observations. When this strip appeared, a woman from Maryland wrote to say that the punch line didn't work because Elizabeth was not actually looking at the caterpillar. I explained that I needed to draw her face and also her dad's face, so I'd taken a bit of artistic license. Had I positioned her the way she should have been, the audience would just see the back of her head.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Lynn's Comments: The first panel in this strip was (and is) what I live for: Goofy expressions, exaggerated poses, and lettering that looks the way it sounds.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Lynn's Comments: An expression like "play by ear" automatically becomes the basis for a play on words or a gag of some kind. When a punchline like this came to mind, I was elated. A line like this would make a whole week of strips worth drawing.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Whenever I left my family on their own for dinner, I made sure there was a really good meal just waiting to be heated up. It was my way of showing how much I cared (and how guilty I felt as well). I kind of knew they'd take off to a fast food joint in my absence, which didn't hurt too much--it meant I didn't have to prepare a meal the next day!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Lynn's Comments: This series of strips was done as we led up to our exodus from the north by going through everything we had accumulated in the six years we had lived there.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Lynn's Comments: The big treasure trove was in my mother-in-law's attic. She had meticulously saved everything. There were ancient skis and snowshoes, lampshades and blinds. There were picture frames, bottles, quilt frames, and toys. There was a trunk filled with clothing--some of it her mother's. We found corsets, dresses, feathered hats, and knee-length knickers--some was moth-eaten, but most was like new.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Lynn's Comments: It took days to sort through everything. Behind every stack of familiar flotsam was stuff we never knew she had. Parting with some of it was going to be hard. We had several family meetings to determine the fate of Ruth and Tom's collection.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Lynn's Comments: When the stock began to run low, we ran home and dug through our own stuff--even though we had already sold everything we wanted to get rid of. Ruth and Tom went back into their house and did the same.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Lynn's Comments: I forget exactly how much they made, but the image of Tom, the family accountant, tallying up the take will stay forever. He meticulously stacked and sorted every coin, smoothed and organized every bill, and is the only person I have seen (other than the senior vendors in Vancouver's China Town) use an abacus!

Friday, May 31, 2013

Lynn's Comments: My brother and I fought a lot when we were kids, and Aaron and Kate did as well. When one kid is sick, however, the other's true colours blossom; any time Kate was ill, Aaron would be so concerned, I would almost have to keep him at home, too.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Neither Kate nor Aaron was ever so ill that they had to go to the hospital. We did live down the road, however, from a family whose young daughter had Cystic Fibrosis, and the threat of losing her was constant and cruel. Little Christine liked dolls, and I had a sizeable doll collection. I gave her one of my favorite handmade dolls, which started a sweet friendship. Visiting Christine and her family gave me new insight: it requires amazing strength of character to live with a chronic illness.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Lynn's Comments: I have waited in hospital lounges many times hoping that my presence alone would help to heal or to make someone's illness go away. Perhaps, the vigil is as much for me as it is for the person I worry for. Just by being there, I feel that I'm actually doing something.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Lynn's Comments: This is such an old gag image, but I had to use it here. I actually showed Aaron how to squeeze our garden hose to stop the water flowing--so he could "surprise" someone. Naturally, I was his first surprisee!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Lynn's Comments: After he was bathed and dried, it took another hour or more to comb out his fur and get him to look good again. The final touch was an elastic band in his hair to hold it away from his eyes. The ability to see, however, gave him a clear shot at the ravine behind our house or the nearest pile of stink he could roll in. I don't think he ever stayed clean for more than a day, but it was worth the effort just to have him smell good for a change!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Lynn's Comments: We had owned a small aircraft ever since Aaron was 4 years old, so he was no stranger to flying. With floats in the summer and skis in the winter, our Cessna 185 was like a flying carpet--which could take us anywhere we wished to go. We all loved to fly, and even the bumpiest trips were fun.