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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.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Jumping into the future, here, these strips come from our time in Lynn Lake when Alan came to visit. The stories in FBorFW were always a blurry mixture of then and now, of my own childhood then and the lives of my two young children now. In order to bring reality into the strip, I relied on every memory I had filed away. When I was writing about Michael, I would have to be the same age he was, thinking the way he did and behaving like a child. This is not to say that I ran about the house flailing my arms and refusing to eat cold peas. I would be in a trance, writing, talking to him, being him and talking back. Likewise, I would try and think the way my brother did: a bachelor, being crawled on by kids and expected to know something about family dynamics. Alan loved Aaron and Katie, but he was always keen to burrow into a book or fly the coop when the noise and the chaos got the best of him.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Our house in Lynn Lake was a large, three-bedroom split level home with a finished basement. This is the house the Pattersons lived in - but I had already established the outside of the house to look like the one I had in Dundas. The Dundas house was one level, so when the strip started to take shape and I wanted to keep some continuity I had to combine the two houses, which I did with difficulty. In the Dundas house, we'd have had to play musical beds. In the LL house, there was room to spare. Because it was more fun to have the kids vacate their space for Uncle Phil, I let the story go in this direction. Anyone really scrutinizing the floor plan of the Patterson house might have asked why - but there was still too little information to work with. And besides, once you start an idea, the deadlines force you to carry on no matter what! Having Uncle Phil take over Elizabeth's room would provide more opportunity for comedy, and I hoped the muse would bring me something funny to write about!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Now, we shift back in time to when Alan lived in my garage. As a musician, his schedule was 24 hours on call. If he had a "gig" somewhere, he might come home around two in the morning, all enthused after a night of jazz or rock or whatever had been "going down". Trumpet players are often like freelance artists. You join a group that's looking for a horn player, practice for awhile and blend in. Al had regular performances, too. He played classical and Baroque and when he wasn't playing for an event, he practiced. It wasn't unusual after a performance for him to practice in the garage well into the morning hours, and if I asked him to lower the sound, he used his mouthpiece. This made a Donald Duck kind of "kwakking" sound - which was fine if you were awake and sensible, not so cool at the bewitching hour. We had a number of tense discussions about this and I think I won. I don't remember. You lose some of your faculties with the lack of sleep.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I think it's safe to say that a mother's morning starts around the crack of dawn. Aaron was always up and ready for breakfast around five a.m. My job in the graphics dept. at Standard Engravers began at eight, so I had time to get clothing organized, get lunches made and make sure the car would run before I dropped him at the daycare at 7:30. My kitchen door led into the garage where my brother lived and I tried to keep the noise down so I wouldn't disturb his sleep. There were times, though, when I thought about him blissfully slumbering, unencumbered by household chores, bosses and babies and it really ticked me off. I had never lived on my own. I never had the luxury of falling into an unmade bed at midnight after a night on the town, then spending the weekend doing whatever I darn well pleased. Like many girls in the 60s I got married at the tender age of twenty and moved from my parents' home to an apartment where I assumed the wifely role of "caring for my man". Now divorced with a child to care for, I imagined my brother's life to be ideal. It's funny now to talk to him about this time in his career and he remembers it differently. For him it was unsettling to be living in my garage without a steady job and something to show for his 26 years on the planet. He felt lost and lonely and wanted the stability I seemed to have. We thought we were communicating at the time, but we never said what we were really thinking.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My mother made Katie a white stuffed bunny, which became her favorite toy. It went everywhere with her. Because it was so important, "Bunny" became a target for her older brother who'd hide, throw or otherwise mistreat it just to get a rise out of Kate. Fortunately, Bunny was well made and survived everything from the bathtub to the sandbox to travelling all over the continent. Still, I worried that he'd somehow disappear and asked my mom to make a spare, just in case. Mom made two more bunnies - a boy and a girl. She made outfits for both and eventually all three bunnies were essential to Kate's day. We still have these. Tattered and worn from washing and play, they are family treasures. They were made from scraps and cost nothing, but they're worth far more than I can say!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Uncle Phil's relationship with Connie illustrated the single side of things and Connie's having a child nicely complicated everything. Naturally, Elly was intrigued by her brother's affairs. Because he was living in her home and dating her close friend she felt it was...let's say... "her responsibility" to find out what was going on. When my brother lived with me, however, I refused to ask him his personal life. I would wait until he confided in my other room mate, Fran...and worm the information out of her!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Word for word this is a true exchange. Aaron and his friend Roy were allowed to go down to "Fergy's", the local corner store, pool hall and hang-out - and Fergy's motto "buy or bye-bye" meant that they wouldn't be there long. Fergy made his money on pop and penny candy and despite the difficulty in getting fresh produce into the north, the licorice was always fresh. Licorice, ginger and chocolate are my favorite diet-breakers and the kids knew I'd shell out a few bucks if I they'd be sure to return with "the goods". It's funny, this thing about licorice. It was my grandfather's favorite, my mother's favorite and Charles Schulz liked it too. I took him a bag of licorice allsorts when he was in the hospital and he lit up with a smile. This is what we munched on as we spoke for the last time. He died not long afterwards and every time I see licorice allsorts, I think of him.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My brother Alan has been playing the trumpet since he was about nine years old. He'd sit on the old blue couch in our folks' living room and, with unyielding dedication, practice until he was exhausted. We all admired his tenacity. Dad was a musician and taught me the guitar - so music was a way of life in our family. Eventually, Al's musical friends entered the picture. Our basement became a rehearsal hall, the kitchen a roost and the refrigerator emptied faster than a gut full of goose grease (a quote from Dad). Beer was never a staple in our family but it soon became the weekend libation of choice. Though drinking was never a problem, Mom's philosophy was; "If you can't stay sober, stay home!"

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Lynn's Comments: During the mid 70's when Alan wound up living in my garage, the quest for a cheap, clean apartment was ongoing. Everything from distance to parking to price thwarted his efforts and then there was the noise. Where could one practice the trumpet at midnight or two a.m. without being thrown out by heavyweights in the local Tenants' Rights Association? Despite his dreary existence in my garage, it provided him with cheap digs, a place to practice and a clear shot at the fridge, which was just inside the door. I wondered how long it would be before he found a more desirable location, all too aware that for now, at least... he had a pretty good deal!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Here was an opportunity to put myself in someone else's shoes. Never having been dealt the hand that Lawrence was playing, I tried to be a small boy, watching his mother becoming something unfamiliar. Mothers aren't supposed to date or worry about their appearance or have a social life beyond women friends, the kitchen and "ME!" It was challenging to be Connie - a single mom, hoping for another chance at love, not wanting to risk being hurt again, wondering if her child would be treated well by someone who was not his father. It was challenging as well to be her young son. When I wrote the dialogue for these people, I was in a different world. It was a surprisingly exhausting and emotional experience!

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!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Lynn's Comments: My friend Adrienne went back to school when she was 30. She finished her grade 12 and went on to become a lab technician in the blood lab at McMaster University. She was a single mom with more courage and determination than most. She made me realize that you can do anything - at any age, if you really want to. With "Andie" in mind, I had Elly go back to school and take some of the courses she had missed.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Smoking has always been a problem for me. Both my folks smoked and it was my job to clean the ashtrays. Because of the jewelry/gift shop, we had an ashtray on every surface, it seemed, and emptying them was a chore I hated! The ceiling above Dad's chair was yellow and the curtains always had the stale smell of smoke. I would kneel on the couch, looking out the window through the sheers and vow that in my own house, there would be no smoking. It was therefore a bone of contention between Alan and I when he moved in with his habit and his reluctance to smoke outside.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Aaron was just a baby when Alan became a roommate. Aaron was thrilled to have a man around; one with a sense of humor and the time to play rough and tumble with him. It was surprising to see how well they got along together and today, my son and my brother are still the best of friends.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Every time my brother went off to do a show or escort a lady to dinner, I was a bit jealous, and very curious. If I had rented my garage to a stranger, I would have left well enough alone – but because this was my brother, I had to know what was going on and with whom he was going! He was pretty good-natured about my prying. I believed I was the one with no life and all the responsibility and there were times that he thought so, too.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Lynn's Comments: When I read the strips which ask serious questions...I realize there were serious answers left unsaid.

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.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Here is a scenario that would play out many times in my housewifely career: you make easy meals which cover all the food groups, you leave them in the fridge to be accessed by the troops and without a second thought, they bypass your well organized and clearly labeled containers...and eat junk. On your return from wherever it is you went, you then find your freshly prepared grub reduced to dried, moldering leftovers - having never seen plate nor palate. So, you say the next time you fly the coop, there will be no meal preparation in advance and the troops can fend for themselves. I tried this once and the response was "What? You didn't MAKE us anything?" You can't win - which is why the freezer is such a good invention.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Lynn's Comments: In Lynn Lake, there were only a few meters before you hit pay dirt on the road in front of the house. Aaron carried a constant dusting of grime wherever he went and this was a good line. I wish it had been his - but it was mine!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I've said before that my brother's idea of a week's worth of groceries was several cases of beer. Well, he still comes to visit me with "groceries" but now he brings a more expensive brand!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Lynn's Comments: This one was a regular scenario. My studio was in the house and the kids knew when I was so into my work that I was "gone". They were pretty good about it, but now and then, they let me know - in a way kids do - that it was time to come out of the zone and be Mom again!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Lynn's Comments: This is one of the "put-down" punchlines that so often got me into trouble. Readers would ask why John was so unsupportive; why I made him look so mean. My husband wouldn't say something like this...but, for some reason, I did these things without really thinking about it. Some day, maybe I'll figure it all out.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Like most dogs tall enough to reach the porcelain receptacle, Farley enjoyed a "fresh" cool swig from the commode. The sound of his lapping was intensified by the shape of the bowl, so the "slorping, galooping" effects were as entertaining as he was. What I did object to was the trail of water that poured from his hairy mug when he left the bathroom. I was more concerned about cleaning up after him than I was about his choice of water sources. I kept the biff pretty clean and besides - dogs chew on every disgusting thing they can find anyway. I tried to keep the toilet seat down, but living with men rather thwarts any success there. The trail of post-refreshment liquid really got me down, but I lived with it for the love of Farley. The head-bashing incident belongs to a friend who told me that her three year old son decided to take matters into his own hands after hearing his mom complain about this same problem. She was shocked to find him smacking the family pooch on the noggin as he drank from the toilet. She gave her son a lecture about abusing animals and sent him to his room for a time out. Later she confessed that despite her son's unkind behaviour...the dog had been cured of a bad habit. In other words, he had "put a lid on it"!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Being at home when your spouse is with friends is usually a time to relax and enjoy the solitude. During my first marriage I was left at home too often, however, and the feeling of unrest is easy to recall. I remember wondering where he was, what he was doing and with whom he was doing it. In this strip, I turned the scenario around. Here it's the GUY who's left out and wondering if "something" is going on!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The good thing about having two characters together in a situation like this is that the dialogue can be much more fun. You can be more creative when there are two takes on a subject. A glowering last statement is much more effective if it's delivered to an individual and not to an empty space.

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.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Before the onset of menopause, my feet were always cold. I wore long cotton nightgowns and slept with my socks on (still do!) I don't think I pulled this trick too many times, but the idea was funny and the drawing was fun! Any opportunity to show a character hollering with a mouth wide open like this made my day!

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!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Lynn's Comments: Like most little girls, I was fascinated by make up and wanted to try it on. My mom didn't use much and what she had was out of bounds. Had I ever gone into her cosmetics without permission, I would have been in serious doo doo. One of my mothers' friends was a sales rep for Avon. She carried a stunning assortment of tiny "trial-sized" lipsticks which she gave away when the line changed and the colours were discontinued. Mom was often the recipient of her generosity and when the tiny tubes were empty, I would retrieve them from the garbage and use a toothpick to get the last smudge of colour from the bottom. Sometimes I'd find a big tube tossed away, which was great - except that the colour was always far too red. In order to get away with wearing the stuff, I would heat the tube and mix the lipstick with Vaseline. I managed to sneak the slightly rouged lips past my mom... until I left the tube in my pocket. This, of course went into the wash - leaving a load of laundry covered in red blobs. Too angry to speak, Mom took the ruined clothing upstairs and with a philosophical "what have I got to lose" attitude, she boiled the lot with soap powder in her big canning pot. All of the lipstick came out of the clothing! I was saved. Then it was time for the inevitable lecture about being too young and sneaking around. The next day, she came home from work with a tube of pale pink lip gloss. I had my lipstick and I could wear it openly. Nice touch! Having the "real thing" however, sort of dampened the spirit of adventure and I lost interest in make up until I was in my early teens!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Lynn's Comments: This was a "game" my brother Alan and I invented. It was a subtle kind of teasing which involved eye contact - or the lack thereof. We'd stare at each other - glaring, menacing, then calmly look away when a parent came by. We would enrage each other - and it's awfully hard to plead your case when there's no evidence of wrongdoing. I'm glad my kids didn't read my stuff, because I would have had to explain what this was about and they would have done it, too!