bunny: Browse The Strips

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I so enjoyed my children's innocent years. The way they look at you - as if you ruled the world; as if everything you said was genius and true - makes you feel larger than life and I guess in a way, you are. Too bad it take so little time for them to discover the truth!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I don't think my brother ever wished I'd been a brother and my wanting a sister was set aside when I saw friends fighting with their sisters over clothes and dolls and hairpins. Aaron never said that a brother would have been preferable to Kate... so, this idea came from somewhere other than "us". Still, from listening to conversations over the years, I knew that for somebody somewhere, this thought rang true.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Father's Day has always been one of the more challenging Sunday comics to produce. We never really made too much of it when I was a kid and later, when my two were small, it was a day when the best "present" was to let Dad spend the day in his workshop! Still, it's a day that puts the spotlight on dads and children, no matter what the marital dynamics are - which is a good thing. We need more Father's Days and Mother's Days, if you ask me. Heaven knows- there's nothing more rewarding than being recognized and appreciated for doing a difficult job well!

Friday, July 29, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The bar car was also the observation car and even though kids weren't supposed to be in an area where liquor was served, there seemed to be a double standard on the train. Kids sat with their parents and when it got too dark to enjoy the scenery, youngsters watched the grown ups lose their cool and happily act like children!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Lynn's Comments: All told, the trip by train was a great adventure. We had spent quality time together in an environment of constant change and we saw our country from a different perspective. It's something I hope we can do again one day, but next time... I'll know the difference between roomettes and cabins!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Kate and Aaron both slept with one stuffed toy. It was me who filled my bed with stuffed animals and slept around them when I was a kid. My favourite was a koala bear that my grandmother brought back from Tasmania for me. It was real kangaroo hide and I loved him until his fur was almost gone. My brother stole him away from me once, insisted on sleeping with him, and then wet his bed. Mom couldn't wash my koala because he was leather, so her advice was to let him sit on the windowsill and air out: "In time he will be less 'whiffy'" she said. But he stank for years, so "Whiffy" was what I called him. I still have old "Whiff" in my china cabinet. He's sweeter smelling, now, and still well loved.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Katie had the ability to melt your heart with a simple look or a longing gesture. She could cry on demand. She could plead with such puppy-like innocence that it was almost impossible NOT to give in! Kids like this use theatre to such advantage that their siblings stop protesting and eventually use the thespian's gifts to their own advantage. Katie and Aaron were in cahoots on many occasions. Kate softened the enemy and her accomplice struck the blow. So many times they worked in tandem to get their way. It was hard to be angry. With a common objective, at least they were getting along!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Before my folks took over Shore's Jewellers in North Vancouver, my dad worked for the main store on Hastings Street. Every morning he'd walk to the bottom of Lonsdale and take the ferry into the city. Like clockwork, he'd come back on the return ferry at 5:30 and be home on the dot of 6:00pm. We knew exactly when he'd be home. Alan and I would wait like two giddy, wagging dogs, ready to pounce on him. His arrival was a big part of the family routine. It heralded a call to dinner, then (after homework) an evening of board games or TV. We'd watch something like "Gun Smoke" or "Walt Disney Presents" before going to bed. How lucky we were. I still remember the smell of my dad's raincoat as I buried my face in it. I remember being picked up so I could look directly into his eyes and thinking it must be wonderful to be so tall. I remember him kissing me and hugging me and swinging me around when he came home. When I drew this strip, I thought about how much I loved him and how love never runs out.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Lynn's Comments: A big kid in my neighbourhood once told me that my butt would fall off if I unscrewed my belly button. I believed him. I have an "inny" and it was hard to see just how the "button" was engineered in there. In fear of dire consequences, I asked my dad if this was true and he laughed out loud. He assured me that my belly button was a permanent decoration and I was not to worry about losing my behind. He did tell me, however, that if I screwed up my face... it would stay that way.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I remember lying on the couch the day before Christmas, watching the clock. My dad walked in to the living room and bragged that he knew how to make the time go faster. I said I didn't believe him and the game was on. He took me to the basement and had me help him empty the "clinkers" from the wood and coal furnace. He let me relight the fire and watch the rolled newspapers and kindling ignite. We refilled the small metal humidifier and made space in the coal bin for another load. After a bath and a snack, the clock had moved an hour. He was right. My dad had made the time go faster!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The day after the party, my husband was really under the weather. Surprised by how miserable he was, I asked him if he remembered the good ol' university days when drinking was a sport and the results taken for granted. His response was "I've never been drunk before! This is the first time!" I guess he was saving the worst for last.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I knew the kids suffered any time we fought. We didn't disagree too often, but when we did, Kate and Aaron felt it was somehow their fault. We usually don't talk to them about the issues, we don't explain what's happening and why we're mad, so kids try and unravel the puzzle the best way they know how. To a child, the world revolves around them--and if this is the case, it must be their fault if the world leaves it's axis and gets wobbly sometimes! I tried to show that here.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Lynn's Comments: In my own small way, I took every opportunity to chastise the media for incorporating so much bad language into everything we see. Movies and television shows are filled with trashy material--this destroys our children's respect for our language and for us as well!

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Lynn's Comments: My parents said this to us and I said it to my kids. When I did this strip, I had a mental image of thousands of parents nodding their heads and thinking, "I've said that, too!"

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I used photos of Beth and Don's house as reference, too. The older lady here is "Dan's" mother--she made few appearances after this.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Once in a while, I would put a bit of religion into Christmas and Easter strips to prove that I DID know the reason for the celebration and to assuage the readers who thought I was far too focused on the commercial aspects. I could guarantee three kinds of mail when a strip like this was released: One came from the Christian right, who asked that much more focus be put on ecclesiastical issues; one from the atheists, who felt that I was pushing religion down their throats; and finally the moderates, who appreciated the occasional reminder that festivals like this deserve a nod to the deity for whom the chocolate was fashioned and the bells were tolled. Again, I tried to answer every letter I received. Even if I disagreed with someone's philosophy, I certainly appreciated the time they took to write to me.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Lynn's Comments: My bed had a white headboard and, for as long as I can remember, a violet, flowered bedspread. I would turn it into a vehicle, a flying carpet, or a tent in the wilderness -- and with each incarnation came a different position for sleeping. I used the pillow for everything from a headrest and chest protector to a dashboard and helmet. The blankets could be a cloak, a tent, or a capsule in outer space. In my bed, my imagination went wild, which was good thing ... because I was sent to my room a lot!

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.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Lynn's Comments: This is why schools and daycares are the world's great Petri dishes. Along with the paper plate art projects and newly acquired skills, kids bring home a plethora of microbes. As a young mom, I really resented this bacterial exchange--until it was my turn to decide: is she sick enough to stay home or should I send her?

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Until I became a teenager and could work at the store, do chores at home, and generally understand adult conversation, my mother and I were like oil and water. My best memories of her when I was very small seem to be when I was sick! She spent hours sitting next to me in my room, reading, taking my temperature, and trying to make me more comfortable. Measles, mumps and chicken pox went the rounds of every neighbourhood, and there was little to do but stay in bed and sweat it out. Mom should have been a doctor. She was smart, unfazed by barf, blood and trauma, and eager to try every home remedy known to man. Her poultices, enemas and steam tents were worse than the plague itself, but they worked. Thanks to Mom, we were up and feeling better before anyone else on the block!

Friday, August 2, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Even though she was the centre of attention when he was gone and even though they fought often, Katie really missed her older brother. She'd lie awake and talk about him. One night, she even asked if she could sleep in his bed.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Lynn's Comments: My father loved to dance. He would pick me up and dance with me until I fell asleep in his arms. He could sing so well and knew the words to so many songs that he never seemed to run out of waltzes or shanties or tunes from the bar. I remember the swoop of his body as he waltzed to the "Blue Danube" with theatrical panache. He could two-step and tango and polka and jive, and I melted into his shoulder with the rhythm and the warmth of his style.

Last November, my daughter, Katie, and her husband, Lane, presented me with my first grandchild. Laura is now almost two years old, and she loves to dance with me. I hold her the way my father held me. I sing the same songs, and I move with the same style. I thank him again and again for this memory and a gift that I'm now passing on.