John: Browse The Strips

Friday, December 25, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This was me exactly; standing in the early hours of the morning staring at all the gifts under the tree and wishing they were all for me. I wonder when greed changed to giving? Somewhere between the ages of 5 and 15, I became someone who thinks about others. Whenever it was, I'm grateful.

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I kept my father-in-law's hard hat for a long time after he died. It was so much a part of him. For many years, he was an important part of my life, and I felt it kept him close by as long as I had it. Strange how something cold, plastic, and ordinary can have so much meaning. Divorce estranged me from his sons and his daughter. I returned his hard hat to them before I moved from Ontario. This strip was to honour the memory of Tom Johnston. He was one of a kind.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Bringing Lawrence and his mother back into the strip was a good idea. They were already part of the Pattersons' extended family and I didn't want to lose them! I came up with a plausible scenario; something that would allow them to come back to the neighbourhood, and the result was a much needed boost to the storylines.

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Little things stay in your memory, for example, I remember when my mother and dad finally allowed me to drink out of real glass. I felt so grown up. It was as though they were saying, in a significant way, "We trust you."

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Lynn's Comments: Writing for Lawrence was much more difficult than writing for Connie. As a single mother, I had gone through the same situation. I had a strong sense of what she was going through. Coming up with light-hearted quips while dealing with a serious situation, saved this storyline from becoming maudlin and preachy. As in all great personal upheaval, a sense of humour is essential--the best tool in your survival pack!

Monday, January 11, 2016

Lynn's Comments: This idea was given to me by a male friend. It was his observation that women's conversations were much more serious and meaningful than men's. What do you think? Was he right?

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Lynn's Comments: I was once part of a study in which single women were being asked what it was that attracted us to certain men. My answer was fairly complex, but when I asked the counselor what gave her the right vibes, she said, "he has to smell right."

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Lynn's Comments: My brother and I fought all the time, and it was often out of sheer boredom. When there was nothing going on we created our own drama. I often wonder if I continue to do the same thing; when everything is going well, I tend to screw something up, creating a problem I then have to worry about!

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Lynn's Comments: Recently, while looking for a house, I visited an artist friend who had the perfect place. As I walked around, I coveted the space, the design and the location. She graciously made tea and told me her home had been designed by a friend and built by her son. No wonder it suited her so well. Unlike the conch and the cowrie, humans don't always get to design the shell they fit into!

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Lynn's Comments: This was a one-liner of which I was particularly pleased. Sadly, like so many remarks, word play and colloquial expressions, it could not be translated, so FBorFW remained an English only comic strip. Imagine the world of wonderful humour we would all enjoy if we could only understand each other's languages!

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Lynn's Comments: I have offered to help with projects only to discover that I was the only one who was really working on them! The adage, "Be careful what you offer to do," should be added to "Be careful what you wish for." Both can have serious consequences.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Lynn's Comments: Yeah. The muse was in on this one. I remember laughing out loud when the idea struck, and I wondered just where these punch lines come from. There is no answer. Like finding a buck in the gutter, some gifts just happen.

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Lynn's Comments: When I was a kid, my mother was the staunch churchgoer. Dad, my brother and I could hardly stay awake during the services. In order to keep us from fooling around in our seats, Dad would bring big, round, white peppermints, which came in a squeaky plastic wrapper. Try as he might, he could not keep the peppermints a secret; everyone from the folks in the rows around us to the minister himself could hear the telltale sound of the wrapper. Mom would be furious. Dad would be shrugging with feigned embarrassment, and we, with a bulge in our cheek, would simply smile. To this day, when I hear the squeak of a particular kind of plastic wrapper, I am rocketed back in time to the hard pews, the cedar smell, and the sleep-inducing drone of a sermon at St. John's Anglican Church. Thanks, Dad, for the peppermints!

Monday, March 28, 2016

Lynn's Comments: When we moved to Lynn Lake, we took with us eight enormous reel-to-reel tapes of music especially chosen for the Dental clinic. The system we had was state of the art for the time, and we felt we had countless hours of enjoyable tunes, which would create a relaxing and pleasant ambience. After six months, we knew each piece by heart and could anticipate the song that would come next. Amazing what the human head can record, retain and regurgitate. Why is it that I can't remember a phone number or a password?

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Lynn's Comments: My husband and I actually took a ballroom dancing class. He was not enthusiastic, but we attended so many functions where a dance came after the dinner that we felt left out if we didn't join in. After a few lessons, we got pretty good at a few steps and it made a wonderful difference when opportunities to dance came along. What a graceful and elegant thing to be able to do! Nowadays, people just gyrate around to something like wailing and thumping. Whatever happened to the art of ballroom dancing?