home: Browse The Strips

Monday, September 3, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This is the truth. As a kid I said the same thing. Kids clean up their rooms to please their mothers and as a mother, I felt I deserved this small effort!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Lynn's Comments: In the north, we always had pork and beans on hand. This was serious "bush" cuisine. P&B accompanied most guides and trappers into the woods. It was common to hear a hunter say, "I'm goin' out with a couple of pork an' beaners" ---meaning he was going hunting with a couple of guides. My daughter Katie loved pork and beans. She liked to mash them into her plate, fire them onto the floor, and occasionally eat them. They kept her occupied. And to this day, I still call her "Beans!"

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Lynn's Comments: After dinner we had a routine: Check to see what homework had been brought home and "remind" Aaron until he got it done. Oh, he would have done it without the nagging. He would have left it until the last minute and dashed off enough to make do. He might even get up in the middle of the night to complete a project, but we liked him to finish it earlier. We wanted to teach him responsibility and pride in having done something to the best of his ability. We didn't want him to do what WE did!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This is a rather revealing commentary. My husband's mom was the kind of parent who said, "Wait until your father gets home!" This made his dad the disciplinarian; one who was tired, hungry, and impatient. On a number of occasions, Rod told me he had been afraid of his father and I was surprised. In my opinion, he was kind and gentle and good with children, which shows how different we can be when we're under stress.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This was me. I remember tying knots in the curtains, jumping on the couch, melting crayons on the radiator, peeling the wallpaper, and dropping toys into the biff. I don't think I was doing these things to be destructive as much as I needed stuff to do. We didn't have a TV, mom worked all the time doing laundry, canning, cleaning, and making meals. And when she wasn't doing housework, she sewed for us and did repairs and alterations for the dry cleaners down the street. She tried all kinds of things to keep us occupied. It's just that we needed constant attention and she wasn't superhuman. She did the best she could. Rainy weather often kept us indoors even in summertime, so it would be interesting for me to poll some of my fellow North Vancouverites to see if they too were as full of mischief as we were.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When my children started going to school, I found it interesting to hear them talk about their teachers' private lives. Teachers talked about their children, their summer holidays, their childhoods, and so on. In short, they admitted they were real people! I think this helped my kids to relax, to trust, and to enjoy their classroom experience.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This strip brought in a lot of mail. People said they prayed for the safety and well being of their pets as much as they did for friends and family.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I don't really like this strip. Even though the things Elly says about herself are exactly the way I felt, I don't think I handled this idea well. What I wanted to say is: It's easy to criticize, but the truth is... nobody's perfect. Oh well. When a strip I hated came out, I'd cringe, wish I had done something better, and be glad that it would be forgotten by the next day. This was before we started reprinting the duds for everyone to read in perpetuity. So, do me a favour... skip this one and go on to the next!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Here is an example of bad lettering. Hand lettering has to be neat, clean, and legible. Spaces between the words are important as well. You have to make sure that the reader's eyes flow easily over the text and that he knows exactly what's being said. I never thought twice about the lettering in this strip until I received a note from a reader saying he couldn't understand why: In the second panel, Elly had called herself a "goon."

Monday, September 24, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I was happy when this punchline came to mind. I thought it was too good to have been thought up by me alone, that some other cartoonist had surely thought of it too. So far, I haven't been told of a duplication, so perhaps I'm home free. Believe it or not, there are days when two of us will think up the exact same line, and on rare occasions, these are printed on the same day!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Aaron came in one day from playing outside and he was filthy. I told him to go upstairs, take off his shirt and pants, and throw them in the laundry. I told him to then fill up the washbasin and give himself a thorough wash. He was gone a long time. When he finally appeared, he was wearing pyjamas but he looked as dirty as ever. I asked him if he had washed himself and he told me to look at his face. Around his mouth was a circle of clean, pink face. He had licked off the dirt for as far as his tongue could reach.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Aaron had one excuse after another for not going to bed. It seemed as though he never slept. I would hear him late at night doing stuff in his room and I wondered when he'd get into a "normal" routine. Well, he's almost 40 now and he's still a night owl. It's not unusual for him to be up and working at 3:00 am!

Friday, September 28, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This was true, as I guess it is for many couples. We were both so busy that we seldom had time for a good heart to heart talk. For this reason alone, buying an aircraft was the best thing we ever did. It meant long hours of silent, beautiful flight. Sharing the view, talking through headsets, we really had time to communicate. I wish I'd known then that it was more than a vehicle. Not only did the plane keep us in touch with the outside world, it kept us in touch with each other.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When I was about 12, I decided to draw the man I would marry. I sat down in my dad's yellow recliner with a pad and pencil and I asked the "spirits" to guide my hand. I drew an average-looking Caucasian man with light-coloured, wavy hair, a nondescript mouth and nose, and large, bright eyes. Once finished, I looked at the face; thinking it was a dumb thing to have drawn, I wadded up the paper and threw it away. Wow. I don't know how many times I wished that I had kept that drawing!!!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Lynn Lake, as I have said so many times, did not have the warmest climate. On the rare occasion that Katie did want to wear a dress, it was often too cold to go outside in one. At one point, Kate was determined to wear a pretty summer dress she'd been given. I let her do it. Fortunately, it fit over a warm sweater and her winter snow pants!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When a kid is hungry, no explanation for why one should wait will curb the appetite. A kid wants to eat NOW. Dinner time for us was always at 6 o'clock when Dad came home. Nothing was allowed beforehand because it would spoil our appetite. Many a dinner was already "spoiled" because I had to wait so long to eat it!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Lynn's Comments: I don't remember mushrooms being a bone of contention for us growing up because fresh ones were too expensive and canned ones simply disappeared into the stew. Mushroom soup was a staple gravy base and casserole sauce, so it didn't count either. When actual fresh fungi were finally introduced to our palates, we were all grown up. It's our children who have had the luxury of rejecting one of the most delicious culinary delights known to man!