Anne's house: Browse The Strips

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Lynn's Comments: This is another true-to-life moment--and it took cleanser and elbow grease to remove the imprint of the ball from the patio table.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Lynn's Comments: I remember being so into mud pies that I really expected to taste fresh baking when I bit into them. I can even recall the taste of dirt and the feeling of sand between my teeth. I also remember putting more than one into my mouth--just to make absolutely sure it was mud.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Lynn's Comments: I loved the words my kids created while they were learning to speak. "Fmuffmee" was "Excuse me," "blaffoon" was "bathroom," "ice cream" was "eye-green," and so on. I wanted them to have a good vocabulary and learn the language well, but long after they grew up and spoke with clarity, I was still (to their considerable eye-rolling)--saying "fmuffmee" and "blaffoon."

Monday, June 9, 2014

Lynn's Comments: In real life, this didn't happen; the story grew around the idea of Elly babysitting, and I kept saying to myself, "what if?" It's the sort of thing you do when you're lying in bed and wondering where your teenaged kids are. You come up with all kinds of "what ifs"! When you look after little ones, the troubles encountered are often bathroom related, so this was my imagination running wild!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Lynn's Comments: I have to tell you a story, here.

Years ago, I was in Santa Rosa visiting Charles and Jeannie Schulz (Peanuts). They had invited me to stay at their home before we all attended a comic art event in San Francisco. They had recently put a very sophisticated alarm system into their house--and were just getting used to how it worked.

I had not stayed before in their guest room and was pretty nervous about, well, everything: Did I talk too much? Did I keep the room neat? Did I use too much water--you know, that kind of stuff. Anyway, after dinner we hit the sack, and the wind started to blow hard against the windows. Soon the trees were whipping wildly against the house, and all of a sudden, this massive, deafening alarm went off: WAAAA! WAAAAAA! WAAAAA! WAAAA!!!! All the lights in the house turned on, and so did all the lights in their yard. It was as if giant searchlights were trained on the windows. In a blind panic, I ran up the stairs into their kitchen, and there were Sparky and Jeannie in their pyjamas saying, "Wha? Wha's happening? Wha???." It was great. Here we all were hopping about in our pyjamas, ready for the end of the world.

Well, the next day S&J decided to rework the sensitivity on some of the outdoor sensors, and maybe cut the lights down a bit. We went to the comic art event, and I returned home, no longer shy of Charles Schulz. Having seen the great man running around in his pyjamas, I could say we were now well acquainted.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Lynn's Comments: One of the things I remember my husband saying is that the line, "I hate dentists," actually hurt a lot! We went to a large dinner party shortly after he graduated, and when a woman came up to us and said, "You're a dentist? I HATE you!" He was speechless. She said it as a joke, but the statement had hooks and claws--and it put a damper on our evening. Later, Rod said, "What about the folks who are happy to be out of pain? What about kids with a front tooth missing? I give people back their smiles!" True enough, and going to the dentist is no longer painful--but still, the comment comes. Guess it's a lame gag we make out of habit!

Monday, June 23, 2014

Lynn's Comments: My friend, Carol, and I set up a lemonade stand in front of my house, and of course, my mom did all the work. We thought it would take all day to sell our wares, but were surprised to have many customers--one right after the other. It took awhile, years actually, before my dad admitted to calling everyone on the block--asking them to buy.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This punch line came from Jim Unger's brother, Bob. Jim, who did the wonderful cartoon panel, "Herman," had come with Bob to visit us here in North Bay. Soon after their arrival, I served them a big breakfast and noticed that Bob was wearing a rather hideous sweater--kind of a greeny-yellow, rather "pilly," and in need of a wash. When I made a crack about the sweater, he leaned back in his chair, scratched his tummy and said in his thick British accent, "I've got a sweater for every day of the week--This is it!" I never forgot the line and shamelessly used it in this strip. I don't think I ever told him--and he died not long after their visit. Jim, sadly, has gone, too, so this strip is a nice reminder.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Raising kids is a career. It's the most important one there is. It's unpaid and often unappreciated, but it sets the rules and the temperament for the next generation. Whenever I heard a woman say, "I'm just a homemaker" or "just a housewife," I grit my teeth. Like all women who must take time to earn a living, I relied on good daycare to help me raise my children, but I was a hands--on parent. I earned the "mom" in "working mom."

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Strips like this brought messages of hope and sympathy from moms all over the world. The one criticism I received was, "So, where did Elly find the time to have cookies and tea?"

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Lynn's Comments: My friend Ghislaine has three children--all married with children of their own. They had given Ghi eight grandsons, and baby number nine was due. Everyone wondered of this would be the long awaited girl, but when number nine boy arrived, they all breathed a sigh of relief. What would they have done if a little girl had come along? All the stuff they had was for boys! Now, they look forward to all the future girlfriends they will welcome into their homes.

Monday, July 13, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This was a situation which came from my own childhood: My brother had twisted his knee in a soccer game and was being bullied by some bigger kids in the neighbourhood. He was limping and they accused him of faking the limp (even then we were both theatrical and always pretending to be something or someone else, so the accusation wasn't entirely without cause). I jumped between the bullies and him and threatened to beat them up if they touched my brother. At the time, this thought went through my head, "Nobody knocks my brother around but ME!"

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This strip inspired a number of readers to write in. Some were pleased to see the subject of birth anomalies discussed in the comics, and others were outraged by the suggestion that angels might work on assembly lines. It's hard to explain to those who take story-telling so literally that I was not trying to subvert their beliefs. Kids say things like this. The fact that they have faith in something greater and more wonderful than themselves, is part of the magic of childhood! Ah, but now I'm offending those who will object to seeing the words faith and magic in the same sentence. You can't please 'em all.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Lynn's Comments: This was another of my son's off-hand remarks. If he knew how many of his comments became punch lines for the strip, I think he'd have asked for a byline!