daily: Browse The Strips

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Because I didn't want to juggle a whole team of characters in the dental office, I made Jean both the receptionist and dental assistant. This is impossible! I then added the situation many companies dread: maternity leave.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Lynn's Comments: I don't think I had talked about Jean's private life. Whether she was married or not had never come up, and so this pregnancy was something readers just had to accept. I was still learning how to create a believable and consistent storyline.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Lynn's Comments: For a while, in Rod's clinic, both patient and assistant wore protective garb when x-rays were taken. It was soon evident that the on-off switch could be placed outside the operatory behind a permanent protective shield. This made things much easier.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Lynn's Comments: This storyline was really about the hiring of a new receptionist for the clinic. Our ad in the paper resulted in over a hundred applications. Many of these were instantly set aside due to the reasons I put in this strip!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Lynn's Comments: After the applications for a new receptionist had been whittled down to a few, we called each girl out of the blue to see what her telephone attitude was like. An answer like, "Who? Who's calling? Hey, you kids shut the H*** up, I'm on the %#*&@^ phone!" was a definite "no."

Monday, November 18, 2013

Lynn's Comments: The Lynn Lake arena had a row of heat lamps along the ceiling, but the warmth dissipated long before it reached the bleachers. Parents who sat through hours of practice and many games shivered miserably despite blankets, parkas and warm winter gloves. We were grateful for rotgut coffee and the occasional shouting match, which kept us pliable.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Boys really can smell terrible. A girls' locker room might have its ambient whiff, but a room full of young male hockey players can be downright asphyxiating. When it was decided that moms were no longer required for skate tie-ups and supportive hugs, women rejoiced all over town. The news made rink-side hot dogs and all-day coffee taste fine. It was, let me put it this way, "A breath of fresh air!"

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Lynn's Comments: One of the best ideas ever was the annual hockey exchange. As our kids grew out of their skates and uniforms, we gladly exchanged them for larger gear--used and still useable. Parents came to the Anglican United Church basement with everything that didn't fit and the bargaining began. This event made it possible for many of our kids to remain in the game. For a lot of families, hockey was just unaffordable.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Lynn's Comments: The room-cleaning scenario always reminded me of my own childhood. My mother made the exact same demands of me and I made the exact same excuses. This realization didn't mean that I went easier on my kids, it made me even more determined to "win" a losing battle.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Lynn's Comments: For the longest time, the Sears catalogue was our window into the world of new toys. Every Christmas, the special edition came out and was devoured upon delivery. These days the big box stores have it all right there, and the Internet will find you anything "unique."Â The catalogues are smaller now and feature clothing, mostly. Parents can pick and purchase toys before the book even comes out. Another tradition bows to instant availability!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Lynn's Comments: The crawl space in the strip was based on the one we had in our Lynn Lake house. The entrance was about three feet square with a door you pulled off and set to the side. The space inside was wide and went right under the house, which made for some dark and spooky spaces. Just inside the entrance, however, the kids had a playhouse, which saw a lot of action during the long, cold winter months. The crawl space was awkward to get into and a dusty place to store things, but we used it all the time!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Putting up Christmas lights on our log house was a challenge. The high peaked roof was a difficult place to climb, and the sides were hard to reach because of a glass porch we'd installed. When we learned that some folks were putting up smaller lights and leaving them all year 'round, we did the same. Still, the image of Dad having to struggle with Christmas lights every year was too good to abandon in the strip!

Friday, December 6, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Katie was much too big, but she insisted on riding in the shopping cart baby seat. I told her repeatedly that it wasn't a good idea, but I gave in. As soon as she was settled, she was stuck. I told her to be patient, that we'd get her out when I paid for the groceries. She wailed. The man at the meat counter came out from behind the showcase and lifted Kate's upper half while I pushed her feet. We extracted her without injury. I said nothing. I didn't have to!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Lynn's Comments: This story came about when I picked up a huge turkey by the metal tag and lifted it into my cart. It occurred to me that I had done something really stupid. The turkey weighed at least eighteen pounds, and if I'd dropped it, I could have broken a foot!