Michael: Browse The Strips

Monday June 29, 2020

Lynn's Comments: I came from a staunch British family. It was considered bad form to call anyone at dinnertime—between 5:30 and 7:00. If the phone rang, my mother refused to answer, even if it was me calling!

Friday July 3, 2020

Lynn's Comments: Here, I go into my own family history to reveal the diner/pool hall that my wonderful, eccentric aunt Margaret owned. Oakview Lunch and Billiards was a landmark on the road to Wasaga Beach in Northern Ontario. One summer, I took the bus north to help her for a week or two.

Monday July 6, 2020

Lynn's Comments: Aunt Margaret's assortment of regular customers would arrive every day. It was a social hub. These regulars would spend their time playing pool or sitting in the coffee shop. It was my job to make and serve them breakfast or burgers and fries. If they ever took a good look at the griddle we used, they might not have swallowed their lunch.

Saturday July 18, 2020

Lynn's Comments: In Manitoba, you stop looking for hills and other landmarks and start looking at the sky. At night, the stars go on forever, and during the day, you can see a storm coming from far in the distance—for miles and miles!

Friday July 24, 2020

Lynn's Comments: From time to time, our whole family would go to the family farm in Manitoba to work and to visit...but mostly to work! One summer, I was asked to paint the wooden grain bins that were on the edge of the property. I was handed a paint sprayer, some red paint and a few rags.

Saturday July 25, 2020

Lynn's Comments: I hadn't used a sprayer before. With a strong wind whipping across the fields, the paint landed on me covering my face, my clothes and my hands with red paint. To get the paint off I used gasoline. One of my worst moments in time was sitting in the bathtub covered in gasoline, which burned like crazy, and hollering because there was no hot water. In fact, there was no water at all. Stories about the farm could fill a whole series of graphic novels!

Wednesday August 5, 2020

Lynn's Comments: After working on the farm, I came to realize how knowledgeable farmers have to be. Not only do they have to know about planting and harvesting and markets, but they have to be able to look after sick animals, fix all kinds of machinery and all on a few hours of sleep.

Thursday August 6, 2020

Lynn's Comments: This is from a summer I spent in Quebec. I was 16 and had gone to Montreal to learn French and to help my Aunt with my young cousins. I wrote letters to the "boy I left behind," and he never wrote back to me. I was heartbroken. Just one letter would have been nice. He didn't have to say anything personal...just "Hi" and I would have been thrilled.