daily: Browse The Strips

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When we lived in northern Manitoba, mechanical problems had to be fixed by US. There were no technicians to call, no company to complain to. My husband just figured out how to get things going again. A dental clinic is a really complicated place. There are water lines, air hoses, suction devices, and all kinds of appliances. When we set up the practice, he put in all of this stuff himself. The clinic was in an apartment above Walter Perepeluk's grocery store. Rod and a friend worked for days to attach all the pipes, and this had to be done between the tiles on the ceiling of the store below. After a great deal of hard labour, it was announced that the pipes and the wiring were complete. We celebrated with a good dinner and a glass of wine. The next morning, however, when Rod went into the grocery store to check on his handiwork, Walter met him at the door with a strained look on his face. The entire ceiling, a network of plywood, panels, and tiles had fallen to the floor. The store was a mess of tiles, dust, and dirty produce. With more than a little fanfare, the new dentist had arrived!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Lynn's Comments: All of this rant is absolutely true! My mom would have disinherited me if I had moved in with a boyfriend before marriage. She had a double standard when it came to Alan...he was, after all, a boy!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This dialogue between my brother and me really happened. My brother's wonderful wit often came out like a crafted punch line.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Alan broke my walking doll by holding both legs and making her walk as fast as possible. She wasn't meant for BOYS to play with!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When I was having marriage problems (the first time), I went home to stay with my parents for a while to clear my head and see things from a different point of view. I said to my mother that I wished I had lived with my partner before we had married. In reply, she said she would have disinherited me. "You wouldn't disinherit Alan (my brother) if he lived with someone before marriage!" I said. "That's different." she huffed, "He's a boy."

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.

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.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Lynn's Comments: Farley had always been a healthy pooch, but since dogs suffer like we do from illnesses and accidents, I thought it was time to explore a story about going to the vet.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This gave me the opportunity to show how worried the children would be seeing their dog go to "the hospital." We take each healthy day for granted, and to a child, the family dog seems invulnerable to anything that could take him away. Showing concern for Farley's well-being was, I thought, a story that families could relate to. My sister-in-law Beth (the vet) was a great resource at this time.

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.

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!!!