John: Browse The Strips

Monday, February 23, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My mom (who was good at business and bookkeeping) tried repeatedly to explain simple math to me. I was never able to get it. Years later, my husband, who was also frustrated by my aversion to math said, "The reason you don't like numbers is because they make SENSE!!!" At the time, I was making a good living, daydreaming and making stuff up, so I took this as a compliment!

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I actually looked forward to working in the clinic. It wasn't the passing of instruments that appealed to me as much as it was dealing with the patients. I really enjoyed putting them at ease and explaining the procedures. This later influenced my decision to learn Spanish and travel with the Medical Missions to Peru. Explaining an otherwise worrisome situation to anxious patients and seeing them relax with a smile, made my task a joy. It was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Saying thanks was something I tried to hammer into my kids and now, my grandchildren. It's a simple word, takes no time to say and it means so much to the person who has done you a good service. Sadly it's something not heard enough. The other thing we should hear more often are the words "I'm sorry".

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I learned that "anticipation" was essential to four-handed dentistry--as it is to anything complicated and delicate requiring more than one person's skills. As a dental assistant, I had to know a procedure well enough to be able to anticipate the instrument or materials required before they were needed and to have them ready at precisely the right time. I also had to know when to suction, how to cut and fit those rubber thingies they use to keep stuff from falling into your mouth and to be able to prepare the gelatinous goo used to make moulds.

Needless to say, as an untrained wife of the dentist, I made a number of annoying mistakes. Fortunately we didn't bark at each other over the head of a patient, whose trust we had to maintain. Nowadays, I don't think untrained assistants are allowed to help "chairside" unless the dentist is working with the Medical Missionaries in a third world country and there is no choice! I've done that, too.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This very situation brought my assisting career to an end. Dentistry is a fiddly business with many frustrating procedures. When my husband sharply asked for an instrument or for suction, I expected a polite "thanks" for my efforts, but he just carried on. His brusque manner wasn't personal--I just took it the wrong way!

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Lynn's Comments: When we moved to North Bay and set up a new clinic, we had two refrigerators--the one with the sandwiches was in the dining area.

Friday, March 6, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Here again is the old chestnut where someone working outside the home has no idea how much work it is to manage a home and family. Every Friday, I look after my grandchildren. Laura is 3, Ryan is 1. Not wanting them to sit in front of the television for long, I try to have things for them to do--and it's a real effort. It takes time to interest them in toys, give them meals and snacks, keep them safe and keep them clean. You can do nothing else and if you try, you only get annoyed and resentful. Parenting is definitely a full time job! After a full day of serious grannying, I am glad to see these beautiful children go home with mom and, I wonder how I managed to run a home and do a comic strip at the same time!

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Lynn's Comments: During the few times I worked as my husband's dental assistant, I was fortunate to have two wonderful parents in law, living a mere 5 minute walk away (from both the clinic and the house). Ruth and Tom's home was set up for children and the care was constant as we moved the kids from one house to the other. At the end of the day, we might stay at "Ruth's" for dinner or we'd pick up the kids and come home--exhausted. Either way, it was "mom" who put on the grub!

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!

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.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This kind of teasing came from my dad who loved to twist fairy tales and embellish stories. Easter was a good time for story-telling. My brother and I looked forward to Easter as soon as Christmas was over.

We didn't have a lot of commercial decorative stuff when I was small, so we made our own. Every Easter, dad would find the right sized cardboard box. This we would decorate with crepe paper, (remember that?) drawings, ribbons and tulle. Whatever we could find went onto the box to make it attractive to the E. bunny: a nest for the goodies he'd bring! The decorated box would be left in the living room the night before and on Easter morning, it would be filled with things like big chocolate bunnies, fluffy pom-pom chicks, jelly beans and a few small toys. After we went through the bunny box, my brother and I would search the house for coloured hard-boiled eggs--and there was always one in the bathtub plug hole.

Great memories come from such simple things. This year, my granddaughter is old enough to make a bunny box--and I have one, just the right size!

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!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Lynn's Comments: They told us at the kennel club (we were members of The Old English Sheepdog Association) that we needed to be persistent, authoritative, and to take charge. Having no children at the time, we had time to learn how to train a dog and considered this good practice for parenting later on!

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!

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I think what I was trying to say here is that a lot of published poetry is without rhyme. The poetry I like best is that which incorporates rhythm and rhyme--much like the lyrics of a song. I was also trying to say that when you do see your work in print, out there for an audience to read and remark on, it looks entirely different. It has significance, it means more than it did when you first read it to yourself and decided it was good enough to share. The combination of fear, pride and exhilaration compels you to do more, and to do it better. That's how success begins.

Friday, May 1, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Looking back I wonder how I managed to concentrate on such a solo job with life going on all around me. I had to divide my time carefully. I kept to a routine--depending on my daycare provider across the street and the time Aaron would be in school. My most productive hours were between 9:00 am and noon. I wouldn't be able to go back to the studio until both kids were fed and ready for bed. I often worked until midnight, then I was up by 6:00 am the next day to get breakfast prepared, lunches ready, and set out the kids' clothes for the day. It's no wonder that the drawings done in my early years were so simple!

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Lynn's Comments: When I was first engaged (1967) and my name was Lynn Ridgway, women were all expected to change their last name to that of their husband's. Even though I didn't really like my new name after marriage, I dutifully signed my work "Lynn Franks." Later, when I married Rod Johnston, I thought my full name was too long to put on the bottom of the comic strip and resorted to signing just "Lynn." For me, it felt right. It was the one name which I would always have--no matter what!