John: Browse The Strips

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This was done at a time when letters from readers were coming in such volume that I had to ask a friend to help me answer them. It was the simple, every day things people related to. Things like never-ending laundry, phones ringing in the middle of dinner, and the fact that it would be nice to hear the word "thanks" once in awhile.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Lynn's Comments: One of the best Mother's Day gifts I ever received was a small, round plaster "pancake" into which my son, Aaron, had pressed his hand. This was the brainchild of his kindergarten teacher. On the card that came with it was written, "This is the hand you held when I was five." It was a precious, wonderful keepsake, which was, sadly lost when we moved to North Bay from Lynn Lake. When my daughter's two children were babies, she pressed their hands and feet into similar pads of clay. I hope she keeps them in a safer spot than I did!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Lynn's Comments: When I first started to do public speaking I was so scared, I was physically ill. But I wanted to learn, so I accepted all kinds of invitations and I did my talks for free. I got to feel confident and decided to ask for an honorarium but I had no idea how much to ask for. I did talks for charity and talks for the price of the airfare and a hotel. Eventually, when I was happy with my presentations, well compensated, and able to enjoy the sight of a huge audience--I didn't want to do it anymore!

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This was a scenario from home. My daughter, Katie, had, at the age of four, learned how to use a screwdriver, and had gone about my mother-in-law's house unscrewing things. Ruth tried to open a kitchen cupboard door and it came off in her hands along with the handle. We were both perplexed. How in the world had all the screws come loose? We looked about for Katie and found her outside in the driveway trying to take the license plates off my car!

Monday, June 1, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Every time I moved to a new town, I got involved in projects which would improve things: flowers and signs to welcome visitors, painting an eyesore building on a main street corner, fixing up a church, cleaning up the cenotaph. Some of these things were successful and some were not, but along with other like-minded volunteers, I worked hard. After a few years, I stopped trying to improve things and became as complacent as everyone else. It seems to me that it's the newcomers to town who see the flaws around their city and try to fix them. Long time residents just accept things the way they are and don't seem to care any more. Hooray for the newcomers!

Friday, June 5, 2015

Lynn's Comments: The first time I ever gave a presentation, it was to a group of doctors who had just come from a meeting that had not gone well. Many of the delegates had gone away angry leaving a few disgruntled people hoping for a talk that would lift their spirits. At the time, I was being shadowed by the National Film Board of Canada, which was doing a documentary on For Better or For Worse. The director asked the "crowd" (assembled in the auditorium of the Winnipeg Art Gallery) to move up to the front and fill the empty seats so it would look like there was a bigger crowd. Nobody moved. I was so nervous I was almost sick. The cameraman, who always had a flask in his jacket, offered me a stiff drink, which I took thinking--it would calm my nerves. I rarely drink, so the effect was horrible. I stammered, apologized, forgot what I was going to say, and made a fool of myself. Later, I was found sitting on the floor beside a table of half finished sandwiches singing to myself. It was a good lesson: booze and public speaking don't mix. It also helps to have no distractions, and a friendly audience!

Friday, June 12, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My first husband was a radio announcer when I met him, and my second worked as a disc jockey for a while, as well, so I was pretty familiar with the workings of a radio station. Even so, I was tense and far too giddy when it was my turn at the microphone, and I did some awful interviews!

Monday, June 15, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I sent in this strip knowing it wasn't one of my best. Again, the pressure of a relentless deadline will often result in an "OK, it's done, I'm sending it!" situation. For someone trying to analyze this for its humour (and there are people who do this kind of thing), what I was trying to do was to contrast Lizzie's English language gaffes with something which has meaning. HUH? Anyway, it didn't work. This is where a storyline (rather than gag-a-day) helps because the audience, by following a series, might overlook one lousy strip! Did I make that clear? No? Uhhhh--OK--NEXT!!!

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Kate's kindergarten teacher was Miss Dorothy Lyon. Here was an opportunity to give a nod to a favourite person.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My brother and my husband never did go on a canoe trip together, but this series of strips was based on a true and nearly fatal story.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My husband, Rod, and I had purchased an aircraft: a Cessna 185 on floats with retractable wheels. Four of his friends had gone on an arctic canoe trip, and he had agreed to pick them up when they were done. Maps were spread out on the kitchen table of the remote location where they were to be found. Rod was confident he could find them and return them safely to Lynn Lake.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I wasn't happy about the idea. We hadn't owned the plane for very long, and even though it was August, the weather could turn bitterly cold up there. The men could have taken a chartered Twin Otter from their landing spot, but Rod insisted he could get them home.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Itinerary for the trip was carefully planned. Rod’s father, Tom Johnston, knew the area and had the planned location of the canoe party marked on a big aerial map. Their trip was to end at Yathyked Lake, where Rod could ease the plane into a bay and pick them up. It was going to be a long flight…much longer than expected. (To be continued…)

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This didn't happen, but here's a story that did: I was about 12 years old. For weeks, a cat had been coming to sit under my bedroom window and howl. It sounded like a demonic baby's cry, and I hated the sound. Nothing would deter the cat so one night, I decided to get even. I opened the window wide, placed a pitcher of cold water on the windowsill, and waited for the cat. Like clockwork, it arrived in full voice, and as soon as the howling reached a crescendo, I dumped the water. The cries I expected to hear, however, didn't come from a cat. They came from my brother who had a room in the basement. He had been sneaking out of his bedroom window and howling under mine!

Monday, July 6, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My daughter's husband is the kind of man who changes babies, walks them when they can't sleep, and takes care of them when they're sick. He feeds them, plays with them, reads to them, and does their laundry. This man is a rare breed. He should be cloned--And, he LOVES to fish!

Friday, July 10, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I have friends who are serious canoeists and they are in seriously good shape. After a couple of hours paddling last summer, I had to go to a physiotherapist for six months. No joke!

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Lynn's Comments: When I did this strip, my husband and I had a Cessna 185 with amphibious floats. Much of our time was devoted to flying and to looking after the plane. My husband was a serious and well-trained pilot, and when he bought our son, Aaron, a model aircraft, he was sure he could fly it as well as he flew the Cessna. He quickly discovered that a model requires very different skills. This is yet another comic strip based on a scene from real life, and I don't think I asked for approval!

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This story was based on a true story, which might have ended in tragedy.

My husband, who had been flying a float plane just long enough to feel confident, offered to pick up some friends after a canoe trip down the Kazan River in the Northwest Territories.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Lynn's Comments: The guys Rod had offered to pick up had been on a canoe trip with an outdoor adventure company, which had already arranged their return transportation, but my husband wanted the challenge of finding them and ferrying them back to Lynn Lake, Manitoba--where we were living. I was against the idea from the start, but Rod's dad, having been a prospector in his day, thought it would all be fine. The two men went over the maps, worked out the exact location the canoeists would be found, and prepared for the departure. The flight was on.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I changed the story to show John and Uncle Phil, winding their way towards Parry Sound, where there are so many bays and tiny islands a novice canoeist might easily become disoriented, lost, or capsized.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I went to the Lynn Lake airport to see Rod off on his arctic adventure. It was August; not too cold where we were living, but the summer ends in July up north, so the window of good weather was closing fast. He had to get to a small bay on the northwest coast of Yathkyed Lake as quickly as possible.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Back to the wilderness story.
Rod's first attempt to fly to Yathkyed Lake ended when he ran into a snow squall and had to put down on a lake halfway to his destination. Not knowing a lake on which you are going to land can sometimes kill you. Rock, debris, and other obstacles are often obscured in bad weather, and even though you are in the air, it's hard to judge the exact direction of the wind.