cup of coffee: Browse The Strips

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?

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Lynn's Comments: "Should I or should I not cut my hair?" This was a recurring concern for me. Since I was 18, I had worn my hair long, but now and then I yearned for a new look. It took time to grow my hair. Cutting it was a huge decision, and it was one that nobody in the family wished to weigh in on. In the strip, Elly Patterson wore her hair long and tied back--the way I did. Readers would often say, "Why doesn't Elly get a new hairstyle? She looks so old fashioned--so the same!" The thing is--a comic strip character has to have a certain "look"; a certain sameness so that continuity is kept from year to year. To cut Elly's hair would have created a major change in the way I drew her (almost as traumatizing as cutting the hair on my head). So, both Elly Patterson and I retained the same look for many years. I did, however, allow myself the fun of changing the way the kids looked. This is all part of the subtle "rule of thumb" which governs the way we draw and perceive the characters in syndicated comics!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Lynn's Comments: I haven't done this yet; sort through all my photographs, but I will! Someday, when the time is right, I'll actually put all my photos together in albums--in the right order. Just saying this makes me wonder if the folks who make a living doing these kinds of things really exist. If they do--I wonder if they ever get around to putting their OWN stuff in order!

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Lynn's Comments: My husband really was happiest when he was in his workshop. No matter what was going on around him, his hobbies and his various projects kept him focused and content. If you wanted to spend time with him, the workshop was the place to be. Katie learned this at a very young age, which is why she can now fix or make just about anything!

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Lynn's Comments: This scenario dates back to my own childhood. My brother and I would torment each other by simply staring. This "game" even had a name: it was "Seeing" (from the lament, "Daddy! She's seeing at me!") This could get intensely annoying, and when my brother finally broke down and asked Dad to intervene, he got into the act. He invented the "one eye see," the "two eye half see," the "blinking see," and so on. With Dad ready to play the game along with us, the sport quickly lost its competitive sting and we gave it up. That is until I told my kids about it--and the tradition carried on.

Friday, July 8, 2016

Lynn's Comments: My dad had a friend who'd had surgery on his throat. The result was that he couldn't speak. He had learned to talk by what Dad said was called, "an educated burp." This fascinated my brother and me, so Dad challenged us to see how much of the alphabet we could recite in one long burp. Unimpressed, Mom told us off--saying we should have better things to do with our time. As soon as she was out of earshot, Dad, my brother and I continued our efforts. Yes, Dad didn't have to do much to convince Alan and me, and all the kids in the neighbourhood that he was one of us.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Lynn's Comments: As soon as I arrived in Montreal, I wrote to my "boyfriend." The relationship was pretty one sided, but that didn't keep me from thinking about him all the time and writing down my feelings.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Lynn's Comments: Here is another real life situation. My dentist husband was cornered, from time to time, outside his office and asked to give his expert opinion on someone's dental work. As a new practitioner, he would do this as a favour and I often saw him at parties, for example, with his fingers in someone's mouth! Eventually, he refused to do this and asked folks to please make an appointment. The nuisance, the intrusion, and the possibility of saying the wrong thing eventually made him realize that the clinic was the best place to do a check-up! Nothing was more convincing, however, than the above scenario! This really happened and it was fun to recreate the scene in the strip. If the culpable lawyer ever read the comics, I doubt he'd have recognized himself!

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Lynn's Comments: I have several friends, now, who are living in assisted care facilities. They each have small, comfortable apartments; they make their own breakfasts, but lunch and dinner is provided in a spacious, nicely decorated dining room. All three ladies admit that there is a very active social life going on around them, and it's not all provided by the entertainment committee.

Friday, September 16, 2016

Lynn's Comments: My friend, Anna, confessed that the elevator in her residence can be particularly challenging. As it provides an intimate space for a certain amount of time, proposals of a suggestive nature can be made quite discreetly between floors. She said it was not uncommon to see people get off the elevator on the "wrong" floor and stay there until morning.

Thursday October 20, 2016

Lynn's Comments: I wanted to be a teenager so badly. Ten wasn't good enough, and twelve was agonizingly close. When I finally added the "teen" to my age, I felt I had achieved something wonderful. I know I had an attitude. Like all my friends, I suffered the ups and downs of fitting into a new body with all the hormones raging. But it was a time of great positivity as well. I guess it was confidence that made being thirteen so wonderful. I had a supportive and loving family, I was doing well in school, I had confidence, education and security. I never knew how lucky I was.

Friday February 24, 2017

Lynn's Comments: If I was doing the strip today, I’d be even more intrigued by the ability to talk almost subliminally in coded texts and abbreviated comments. Today, it is communication as fast and as simple as it can be, but nuances and subtlety are lost along the way. I wonder how many serious misunderstandings occur now, because people don't use or don't know enough good words to be able to express themselves!

Sunday February 26, 2017

Lynn's Comments: While making a big cuddly fuss over the dog one day, I noticed a wistful glance from my husband. Whether he was cringing at the "dog-ma" of mother and dog or a bit jealous, I didn't know. The scene made for a good Sunday page!

Saturday March 11, 2017

Lynn's Comments: The problem with this strip is that it wasn't clear who did the "YEAAGHH!" Some readers thought it was Michael and didn't understand. I had hoped that the old adage, "Ignore something and it will go away." would be obvious and carry the joke, but not so. We're running it again anyway!