cup of coffee: Browse The Strips

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Lynn's Comments: Here is where I switched to another storyline. In order to keep the Connie and Ted arc going, I included this strip. I guess I should have stuck with hockey, but at the time I was into the politics of the game and not too keen on drawing the boys in the arena. What had happened was; Aaron had gone on a trip to the "playoffs" in Thompson. It was a long ride in a school bus and the team had to be billeted with families there. Because he was not one of the strongest players, he and several other boys sat on the side hardly getting to skate at all. When they returned one of the chaperones called to say that her son and Aaron had only skated for 30 seconds, during the whole time they were there! I was furious. I knew there was a tournament to win - but these were such young kids and such favouritism was so unfair. Together the other mother and I went to see the coach to find out, cordially, "what could be done". It was evident that the answer was "nothing". After that, our boys left the team, gave up their gear and skated for the fun of it. Parents worry about their kids getting hurt playing hockey. Not much is said about the emotional hurt of being left out of the game!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Lynn's Comments: The story of Connie and her unhappy relationships, again, is my story. When I was single (the first time) I went through a few frustrating relationships. I had a wonderful friend, however - a woman I'd met at the university when I worked there as a medical artist. She was a bit younger than my mom and became my mentor and confidante. I was sitting in her kitchen after a particularly confusing date...wondering aloud if I should see this man again when Marjorie said; "you have to decide: ...are you in love or in need?" Good question. The answer hurt. I moved on.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Lynn's Comments: From time to time friends who didn't have children would come by for tea, to chat about whatever ladies chat about during their spare time. I didn't have much time to spare, so unless the topic was a "grabber" I'd find myself drifting off, eyes wide open, trying to digest something that wasn't being swallowed. My kids noticed this ability to daydream - especially when I was working - and would ask if they could have a beer or a raise in their allowance just to see if I was tuned in! Suffice it to say, it became embarrassing when I'd run into folks later and ask a question I should have known the answer to. Eventually they knew me well enough to expect the occasional lapse of memory!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Lynn's Comments: The last time I wrote about being a "sports widow" we had numerous messages from women who shared Annie's point of view. If I had grown up in a home where televised sports were part of everyday life and was something we all enjoyed, perhaps I wouldn't be so sarcastic about the hours wasted on the couch watching a bunch of guys chase a ball. My folks were more into music and comedy. I have women friends who are addicted to baseball and hockey, too - but not me. I vented through Annie and put into words the thoughts I'd had when I, too, was wishing my spouse enjoyed more vertical activities.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Lynn's Comments: Steve Nichols was a character who rarely appeared in FBorFW. As Annie's less-than-perfect spouse, he was to be gossiped about unseen. This is likely the first illustration I did of him. I never put this drawing into my resource files and soon forgot exactly how I'd drawn him! In the next illustration showing Steve, he looked quite different - sans moustache. Nobody ever mentioned this to me and I never noticed until now. Things like this convinced me to keep an accurate character file.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Katie was getting to be quite independent and was an easy kid to live with. My friend Marian across the street had her a lot of the time - having raised three boys, she loved having a little girl around and enjoyed looking after her. Aaron was in school, so I toyed with the thought of adding to the family. After some intense discussion, we decided that two was enough, but I still wanted the experience - so Annie, in the strip, got pregnant!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Lynn's Comments: This was my abrupt way of storytelling. In the early 80's I was still learning how to make my 30 seconds a day morph into a story. I wanted there to be a rift between Connie and Ted, partly because I thought he was a schmuck, and just to keep things interesting. Had I been doing this segment today, I would have told their story in detail.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The way I saw it...Ted lived with an overbearing mother. The arrangement worked well for him as she did his laundry, made his meals and also made most of his decisions. There would never be a woman good enough for her son and she saw to it that Connie was a reject, even before the relationship got off the ground. In my head I knew what had happened and how the breakup had taken place, but I never told the story to the readers. At the time, I thought I could get away with such instant info, but it's hard for an audience to buy into something they haven't witnessed for themselves. It was a "learn as you go" situation and I eventually became a better writer.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Lynn's Comments: One of my neighbours easily deduced her expanding condition when she began to lose weight. Seems that every time she had a bun in the oven, she became so nauseous she couldn't eat and had to take supplements. During the first trimester, she went down 4 sizes - which was OK, as she was a healthy size to begin with. Not me. As soon as pregnancy happened to this corpus (not so delecti), mild nausea was accompanied by a ferocious appetite. I craved everything and ate everything and appeared to be "term" at 6 months. I was so wide, I sat sideways on the shower seat. My mom in law threatened to lock the fridge. I think I gained 50 pounds with Katie and then it took me 9 more months to work it off! It's strange how obsessed we can be about weight and body image. Even though she was sick so often, I envied my neighbour her ability to maintain her curves when she was pregnant- and she, on the other hand, would have given anything to be ME!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I don't know how many times I sat alone after some frustrating bout with the kids, wishing I had "done it better". It's hard to do something better if you're doing it for the first time - and considering how many firsts there are in parenting, you're bound to make a few mistakes along the way. Books, professionals, friends and family can advise you, but in the end this is your responsibility, your environment, your rules - and everyone has to learn to get along. My philosophy is: no matter how much your child looks like you or Uncle Max or sounds like Dad or walks like great aunt Beulah...he or she is a stranger in your home. You have to accord the same respect and consideration to your children as you would to a stranger - and with this as a guide, they should (by the time they're 20)...do the same for you! Even so, I made some awful errors. I shouted, I cried, I fought and I did things that weren't fair. The thing is; kids are resilient and understanding and an apology goes a long way! I remember some tearful times when I had to admit I had not handled something well and I told my children I was truly sorry. Noisy and fanciful, naive and full of mischief, children are still people. They know what's fair and what's not. They can detect a lie; they can sniff out insincerity and they appreciate an apology as much as anyone else. I have apologized many times to my children and they have apologized to me. It's not an easy thing to do - but the hugs, the comfort and the love that comes afterwards, make this humble sign of respect well worthwhile.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My brother's love life, at the time, was not complicated. In fact I think he was on the loose and happy to be free! He was leaving Vancouver and moving to Ontario, which overshadowed everything else. Later, when I wrote stories for FBorFW, I mixed up all kinds of things. Memories were used as resources and characters came from both my imagination and reality. Connie did not exist. Her character was based on someone real, but had morphed considerably. Her crush on Elly's brother, Phil, was just a fun idea and good fodder for the strip. I had no plans for where this relationship would lead - I let the story go where it wanted to go. In fact, Connie's loneliness came wholly from my own experience as a single mother - everything she said came from some painful places I needed to visit again.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Tootie, our teenaged neighbor next door, had chickens which she raised as pets...and for experimentation. One spring, after corn soaked in food colouring failed to colour the eggs, she dyed the chicks instead. Like tiny wind-up toys, blue, pink, green and orange balls of fluff ran about the wire enclosure. Alan and I were thrilled with them and were at the coop every day until the colour wore off and their stubbly brown adult feathers started to grow in. One day, Tootie let us watch a hen lay an egg. We were both fascinated and appalled. "Is THAT where they come from?" we asked. It was our first introduction to the mystery of birth and we were keen to know more. Unwilling to tell us too much too soon, our parents explained that this was where birds came from - and as far as we were concerned, that was information enough. This was one truth that really was stranger than fiction!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Alan's life hadn't really been this exciting. He had been working in construction while trying to get a music career off the ground and had moved to Ontario to see if the grass (yes) was greener in the east. Still, I was jealous of his freedom and his casual ways. I had become a mom and a homeowner who had little to live on, and I was determined to carry my own load. If I spent more than $20 a week on groceries, I'd be unable to pay the mortgage, which at the time was $147 a month. My friends who rented apartments and had no kids thought I was rich. This, of course, was far from the truth. Along with the mortgage came the taxes, repairs, maintenance and other bills - all of which meant that I was living at or below the poverty line. My friend Fran was renting a room, which helped a lot. She also took care of Aaron and did much of the cooking, but we were far from solvent. When Alan went out for groceries one day and came back with a few cases of beer, I knew that our living arrangement was going to come in for review.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My friend Mary seemed to have a bun in the oven every year. When baby number seven was on the way, she sighed and said she wondered if this one would be the last. I assured her it was indeed the last one and she wondered how I knew. "Well", I said, "your husband was one of seven kids and he told me he wanted the same number of children, too". "He did, did he?" she replied in her sweet Irish accent..."Well, why the h*** didn't he tell ME?!!!" We always wonder what the future will hold when we're in the family way - but it all seems so right when we're holding our beautiful new baby!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Lynn's Comments: This is a scenario straight from my past. My dad used a blade razor for years, until electric shavers became efficient and more popular. In fact, he sold them at the store, which had become a sort of high end gift shop by the time I was in my teens. I think it was a "Ronco" shaver which came home first. We had one small, communal bathroom so nothing was secret, sacred or safe! When Dad left the new shaver on the sink, it was only a matter of hours before Alan and I were shaving ourselves, each other and the carpet in the hall. I remember taking it apart and tapping the debris into the sink. Dad was never as miffed as Mom was by the things we did. Stuff always got tided up (by Mom) and besides, there were other shavers at the store to bring home and try. Dad could fix anything and when the Ronco jammed, he'd find a way to get it humming again. Ladies' shavers were introduced soon after the men's became popular, but Mom refused to have one. She preferred a blade on her legs, she said and would never use an electric one. We put this down to her great practicality until, one day when she thought she was alone in the house... I saw her shaving her chin with Dad's!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Lynn's Comments: When we accept the role of mom, we become a nurse, a psychologist, a short order cook, a laundress and an alarm clock. Our day seems to belong to everyone else. Everything has its schedule and coordinating lunches, school activities and the general business of living leaves little time in the morning for extras. There's no time to spend on make up and hair spray - we are our basic selves. I was miffed one time to be told that I used to look GOOD in the morning! This is another strip that says out loud what I was thinking.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I had been doing the strip long enough by now to let a punch line go in favour of a "cliff hanger". I hoped the readers would be sufficiently tuned in to the characters and their relationships to look for a continuation the next day.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The line "dumper-dumpee" occurred to me when I was a single mom. I was commiserating with my friend, Adrienne, who was in the same boat. Our husbands had "dumped" us both and we wondered if WE'D ever be the ones to say "goodbye".

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Lynn's Comments: During my first marriage, I spent a lot of time at night listening for our car to come down the driveway. I knew instinctively the sound of the engine and the pattern the headlights made on the walls. I'd feel guilty for being mistrustful, but then again, my husband was doing things I'd never do to him and his excuses never seemed to resolve things. This scene was easy to do and it felt good to write about it.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Aaron was extremely social and enjoyed walking up and down the cars, talking to the other passengers. He was well behaved and didn't get into trouble until the novelty wore off. His favourite place was the dining room where, if he was lucky, he'd score an extra dessert before the second seating.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The dining car was, by far the highlight of the trip. At the time, CN Rail was still into "elegance". We had tables with cloths, nice dishes, good cutlery - and even the children behaved better in this classic and refined dining room. This is one of the rare strips in which I showed them being more of a hand full than they really were!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Homework was a subject that riled us all. If Aaron had something to do for school, there'd be a stalemate right away. He might get out all the equipment. He might even start. But within a few minutes, he'd be miserable. I don't know how many times we sat and did his work with him- lesson by lesson, page by page. When some kids graduate to the next level of their education, their parents should get a promotion, too!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Caring for offspring was something I could grasp, but feeding was often contentious. Once they had tasted sweet stuff, fried stuff and Cheezies, nutrition went out the window. I bribed, teased and created live theatre around spoons full of meatstuff and veggies. I made my kids stare at plates of cold casserole. I told them they'd never grow big. I said they'd get nothing else until the next day if they didn't eat what was in front of them and I'd take the plate away. The trouble was- we lived in a friendly neighbourhood. More than once, I found Aaron and Katie in the lane, sniffing the air and wondering which neighbour deserved a mealtime visit. The fact that they could get a snack next door was something I grew to accept and in retaliation, the neighbours' kids were often fed by me!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Up north, friends and family were our day care providers. Kate went to her grandma's or to my friend Marian across the street, and was content with her regular stay in new surroundings. For the most part, the local moms took turns. Kids' parties and afternoon craft days in private homes didn't require the attendance of every parent. We all knew how precious a few hours on our own were- even though we had nowhere to go! Just the freedom to grocery shop without the weight of a backpack or the awkwardness of a stroller was such a pleasure, we all made sure to share it! Some moms took advantage, leaving their kids too long and too often. Those of us who took in the children rarely complained, though. The free time wasn't just for the mothers. We genuinely cared about the kids' time off as well!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The woman took the toy, laughed, put it back on the shelf and in front of Aaron said "No problem. Kids take stuff all the time!" I was livid. Here was an opportunity to teach a child about honesty and she passed it off as if it was nothing.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Whenever I've needed a serious change in my life, I've changed my hair. For some reason, hair that has been fine for ages suddenly becomes ugly and HAS to be restyled. I don't know why they call it "the crowning glory"--to me, it's less of a crown and more of a barometer!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Lynn's Comments: These words came directly from my mother's mouth and later from mine. Seems to me that kids enjoy being in on the local gossip as much as we do! Trouble is they, too pass it on!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Here's another example of how to bring readers up to date with a few underlying story arcs. In the first panel, you catch up with what's going on in two relationships and still get a kid-fuelled smart remark as a punch line. I loved this ploy!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When I did the weekly comic panel for the Dundas Valley Journal, they paid me $10 for each one. At the time, I was living on a shoestring and was desperate for a few dollars more. When I asked if they would increase my rate to $15, they refused. This is when I started doing cartoons for my obstetrician--preferring the approval from his patients and staff to the paper. I guess my pride was more important than my pocketbook.