street: Browse The Strips

Sunday January 3, 2021

Lynn's Comments: This punchline comes from my own childhood. My dad was a great pal to my brother and I when we were young. He'd play outside, letting us ride on his back, swinging us around and showing us how to make horns out of dandelion stems. Inside, he'd play board games and sing children's songs, strumming the chords on his guitar. He was a big kid at heart! When we grew too old for these things, he was a bit lost—he couldn't quite believe we had outgrown the things he so enjoyed. I remember the little kids in the neighbourhood coming to the front door and asking, "Can Mr. Ridgway come out to play?"

Tuesday February 9, 2021

Lynn's Comments: This strip left readers wondering and imagining what was happening behind those closed doors. Not showing anything more was a good thing—it kept the strip from becoming too negative, and it gave readers the opportunity to think about what goes on in their own neighbourhoods. You can suspect something is happening, but you might never know for sure.

Saturday March 6, 2021

Lynn's Comments: I was hoping the item on the wire looked like a jock strap! When newspapers reduced the size of the comics page, we had much less space in which to make a gag work. Every square centimeter had to count and small details had to be drawn with real care so that they were evident to the reader. I hoped that I'd had enough space in the last panel to include the characters (for expression), the dialogue and the gag. Maybe not!

Wednesday May 5, 2021

Lynn's Comments: In our case, there was no pump organ, but both of us wanted things that were full of childhood memories. I was happy to have my dad's collection of First Nations art and my brother wanted things that had belonged to our grandfather. It's great to see these things lovingly kept in our own homes now. I can't imagine what folks go through when they lose their home to a fire or flood— family heirlooms connect you to your past and to your heritage. They are priceless.

Friday July 23, 2021

Lynn's Comments: My parents never did sell their house and move to a smaller place. By the time they were thinking of this, Mom was too sick to move and Dad wanted her to stay in their old, familiar surroundings. What happened in the strip is what should have happened; how their last years should have been. I was able to hold onto both of them just a little longer in my make-believe comic strip world.

Thursday July 29, 2021

Lynn's Comments: Talking about favourite places in and around Vancouver was a lot of fun. I'd been told by editors that I shouldn't be "too Canadian" because the majority of my readers were American. Still, I went ahead because this is what I know! The result was a series of letters from readers talking about where they had been in BC and what they liked best about the scenery, the coast and the culture.

Saturday July 31, 2021

Lynn's Comments: When I was around 30, I asked my mother, "When can you say you have truly grown up?" She replied, "Never." When her dad died, she looked up from writing the obituary and said, "I'm an orphan, now." She was over 65.