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Monday, November 30, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Despite problems with his hips, Farley was a happy, healthy pooch who only seemed to avoid the stairs. I loved him because he was a real character--as close to a cartoon dog as one can get!

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I wanted to use "Custer's last stand" as a punch line, and saved it for a Christmas gag. After this strip ran, I got a pile of letters from people who had the same complaint about flimsy Christmas tree stands, and a diagram from a carpenter on how to make my own.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Every year, my mom dutifully sent us fresh holly from the tree in her backyard. Christmas wasn't Christmas, in her opinion, if there was no fresh holly. She also wanted me to miss North Vancouver in the hope that I would eventually come home. This year, we will celebrate the holidays with real west coast holly, and my parents will be here in spirit to enjoy it with us.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Lynn's Comments: When the first Cabbage Patch dolls came out, I was caught up in the frenzy like everyone else. I managed to score one for my daughter just before Christmas, but then my sister-in-law called to say there were no dolls available in Winnipeg until after Christmas, and could I find just two more. Word came that a shipment of dolls was to arrive at a local store in North Bay, and it would be first come first serve. I ran to the store and stood in line hoping to get a doll that wasn't too ugly. They were ALL ugly! I bought two blonde C-dolls, and mailed them off to Manitoba just in time for the great glut of Christmas. Apparently, I had saved the day. Looking back, it's hard to believe that such a strange looking doll could have made such an impact, and that I waited crazily in line for two of them! This series of strips was my "revenge."

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I remember this feeling. I remember going to bed and wishing so hard that it was Christmas, my teeth ached. I still love Christmas--but nowadays, it comes too fast!

Friday, December 25, 2015

Lynn's Comments: This was me exactly; standing in the early hours of the morning staring at all the gifts under the tree and wishing they were all for me. I wonder when greed changed to giving? Somewhere between the ages of 5 and 15, I became someone who thinks about others. Whenever it was, I'm grateful.

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Lynn's Comments: I kept my father-in-law's hard hat for a long time after he died. It was so much a part of him. For many years, he was an important part of my life, and I felt it kept him close by as long as I had it. Strange how something cold, plastic, and ordinary can have so much meaning. Divorce estranged me from his sons and his daughter. I returned his hard hat to them before I moved from Ontario. This strip was to honour the memory of Tom Johnston. He was one of a kind.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Lynn's Comments: It was hard to introduce a new character into the strip. I had to make a number of sketches: front, side, three quarters. I drew the character laughing, frowning, shouting, and calm--all in an attempt to keep him or her consistent whenever they were in a scene. I didn't always succeed. "Greg" changed from time to time, and readers would quickly tell me when I made errors.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Bringing Lawrence and his mother back into the strip was a good idea. They were already part of the Pattersons' extended family and I didn't want to lose them! I came up with a plausible scenario; something that would allow them to come back to the neighbourhood, and the result was a much needed boost to the storylines.

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Lynn's Comments: Little things stay in your memory, for example, I remember when my mother and dad finally allowed me to drink out of real glass. I felt so grown up. It was as though they were saying, in a significant way, "We trust you."

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Lynn's Comments: My son, Aaron, really did stick his tongue to the school flagpole. A frantic teacher called me and I ran to the school in time to see one of the staff trying to pour hot coffee down the flagpole to warm it up. Another said to just pull him off, so I worked at his tongue, which was stretched like an elastic, and his teacher pulled him. With an "OUCH!" he was finally free. I thought he'd be upset, but Aaron was quite proud. When he'd stopped nursing his sore tongue, he happily pointed to the pole where a number of small, fuzzy spots marked battles with other frozen tongues. "Here's Cathy, and here's Bryan, and here's--" I guess it's a rite of passage: every kid has to see if the warning has merit--and every generation discovers that it does.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Lynn's Comments: Since ours was a bit of a "blended family" I wanted to include the common concern: will my kid and our kid get along?

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Lynn's Comments: I wanted to give Lawrence a challenging situation, and therefore give me something challenging to write about. How was a young boy, accustomed to being in the care of one female adult, going to adjust to a father figure--plus two more adult females in his family?

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Lynn's Comments: I wanted to see this situation through Lawrence's eyes, to put myself in his position. A male child with a problem like this on his hands gave me an ample fantasy workout. Would I be able to write and draw a believable situation? Would a reader Lawrence's age accept the dialogue and the expressions as true to life, or would he say, "It's an adult pretending to know how a kid feels"?

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Lynn's Comments: Writing for Lawrence was much more difficult than writing for Connie. As a single mother, I had gone through the same situation. I had a strong sense of what she was going through. Coming up with light-hearted quips while dealing with a serious situation, saved this storyline from becoming maudlin and preachy. As in all great personal upheaval, a sense of humour is essential--the best tool in your survival pack!

Friday, January 8, 2016

Lynn's Comments: You can say something serious if the punch line is light. This was my way of keeping the characters "cartoons," while covering a sensitive topic.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Lynn's Comments: I've often thought I was part of a vast and complicated video game wherein the players directed my life in the craziest ways--giving me challenges I could never have imagined for myself. The players would deliver a score depending on the way I behaved under stress. Another challenging aspect to the game is that I won't know what the score is until I leave the planet. I just hope that the ultimate winner is me!

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Lynn's Comments: I went to visit Mike Peters (Mother Goose and Grimm) in Florida. He had a "NordicTrack" in his rec room and it was covered with coats and other clothing. I asked him if he ever used it and he said, "Of course!" and he pointed, theatrically to the elaborate clothes rack it had become. That was the inspiration for this strip.