Monthly Archives: June 2015
Lynn's Comments: Every time I moved to a new town, I got involved in projects which would improve things: flowers and signs to welcome visitors, painting an eyesore building on a main street corner, fixing up a church, cleaning up the cenotaph. Some of these things were successful and some were not, but along with other like-minded volunteers, I worked hard. After a few years, I stopped trying to improve things and became as complacent as everyone else. It seems to me that it's the newcomers to town who see the flaws around their city and try to fix them. Long time residents just accept things the way they are and don't seem to care any more. Hooray for the newcomers!
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Lynn's Comments: Over the years, I have signed petitions based on the information given by the person who asked me to sign. I confess I didn't always read the paper I was signing and could have been adding my name to a petition for, well--just about anything!
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Friday, June 5, 2015
Lynn's Comments: The first time I ever gave a presentation, it was to a group of doctors who had just come from a meeting that had not gone well. Many of the delegates had gone away angry leaving a few disgruntled people hoping for a talk that would lift their spirits. At the time, I was being shadowed by the National Film Board of Canada, which was doing a documentary on For Better or For Worse. The director asked the "crowd" (assembled in the auditorium of the Winnipeg Art Gallery) to move up to the front and fill the empty seats so it would look like there was a bigger crowd. Nobody moved. I was so nervous I was almost sick. The cameraman, who always had a flask in his jacket, offered me a stiff drink, which I took thinking--it would calm my nerves. I rarely drink, so the effect was horrible. I stammered, apologized, forgot what I was going to say, and made a fool of myself. Later, I was found sitting on the floor beside a table of half finished sandwiches singing to myself. It was a good lesson: booze and public speaking don't mix. It also helps to have no distractions, and a friendly audience!
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Monday, June 8, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Lynn's Comments: Around this time in my career, I was doing a lot of media. Aside from book tours and speaking engagements, I was often asked to comment on something I had put in the strip, and I was always keen to do so.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Lynn's Comments: Over the years, I met all kinds of television and radio personalities. Some were wonderful and got the best out of me. Others were arrogant, obnoxious, and didn't know how to communicate. This made two of us. I was beginning to think I was God's gift to the airwaves as well!
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Lynn's Comments: The guys at the rock radio stations were often the most insecure. Having become minor heartthrobs and mini celebs, they were constantly trying to live up to their own hype. Some were manic, some were smarmy, and some were completely down to earth. The ones who were themselves, who didn't take their rock-radio job too seriously, inevitably moved on to bigger and better things.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Lynn's Comments: My first husband was a radio announcer when I met him, and my second worked as a disc jockey for a while, as well, so I was pretty familiar with the workings of a radio station. Even so, I was tense and far too giddy when it was my turn at the microphone, and I did some awful interviews!
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Lynn's Comments: I sent in this strip knowing it wasn't one of my best. Again, the pressure of a relentless deadline will often result in an "OK, it's done, I'm sending it!" situation. For someone trying to analyze this for its humour (and there are people who do this kind of thing), what I was trying to do was to contrast Lizzie's English language gaffes with something which has meaning. HUH? Anyway, it didn't work. This is where a storyline (rather than gag-a-day) helps because the audience, by following a series, might overlook one lousy strip! Did I make that clear? No? Uhhhh--OK--NEXT!!!
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Lynn's Comments: "I'm gradulating" is exactly what my daughter, Katie said. The simplest things can be turned into a smile.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Lynn's Comments: My mom used to say, "Give a white dress one hour." I think she was off by 40 minutes.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Lynn's Comments: Kate's kindergarten teacher was Miss Dorothy Lyon. Here was an opportunity to give a nod to a favourite person.
Friday, June 19, 2015
Lynn's Comments: These days are gone. Few parents will send their youngsters out to play now with a lunch bag and instructions to be home by six. But, this is how it was when I was a kid growing up in North Vancouver. We all played up and down the street until dark; until our mothers were hoarse from shouting.
I got some criticism for doing this strip, but at the time, my kids were quite free to roam too. We lived in a tiny rural town, and I could watch the lane from my kitchen and most of the neighbours' houses from my front window. I always knew where they were, and if I didn't, someone else was on the job. We moms were careful and the kids, we thought, were safe. Even so, I'm reminded of a story: Katie, who was perhaps 4 years old, had been playing in the lane with some friends. I lost sight of her and decided to go and see where she was. I found her in the hall of a neighbour's house. One of the boys, a 6 year old, was holding a rifle saying, "I know where the bullets are! I know where the bullets are!" His parents were at the bar and had left their oldest child in charge--she was 8. I asked the boy to give me the gun. I placed it back on the rack in the hallway. I took Katie home and told her she could play with those kids any time, but it had to be at our house.
I got some criticism for doing this strip, but at the time, my kids were quite free to roam too. We lived in a tiny rural town, and I could watch the lane from my kitchen and most of the neighbours' houses from my front window. I always knew where they were, and if I didn't, someone else was on the job. We moms were careful and the kids, we thought, were safe. Even so, I'm reminded of a story: Katie, who was perhaps 4 years old, had been playing in the lane with some friends. I lost sight of her and decided to go and see where she was. I found her in the hall of a neighbour's house. One of the boys, a 6 year old, was holding a rifle saying, "I know where the bullets are! I know where the bullets are!" His parents were at the bar and had left their oldest child in charge--she was 8. I asked the boy to give me the gun. I placed it back on the rack in the hallway. I took Katie home and told her she could play with those kids any time, but it had to be at our house.
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Lynn's Comments: Strips like this brought messages of hope and sympathy from moms all over the world. The one criticism I received was, "So, where did Elly find the time to have cookies and tea?"
Monday, June 22, 2015
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Lynn's Comments: This was my one bit of grandstanding in support of the arts. From community to community and from school to school, it always seems that athletics are better funded and better equipped than anything else. We called it, "The jocks VS the smocks."
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Lynn's Comments: My brother and my husband never did go on a canoe trip together, but this series of strips was based on a true and nearly fatal story.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Lynn's Comments: My husband, Rod, and I had purchased an aircraft: a Cessna 185 on floats with retractable wheels. Four of his friends had gone on an arctic canoe trip, and he had agreed to pick them up when they were done. Maps were spread out on the kitchen table of the remote location where they were to be found. Rod was confident he could find them and return them safely to Lynn Lake.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Lynn's Comments: I wasn't happy about the idea. We hadn't owned the plane for very long, and even though it was August, the weather could turn bitterly cold up there. The men could have taken a chartered Twin Otter from their landing spot, but Rod insisted he could get them home.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Lynn's Comments: Itinerary for the trip was carefully planned. Rod’s father, Tom Johnston, knew the area and had the planned location of the canoe party marked on a big aerial map. Their trip was to end at Yathyked Lake, where Rod could ease the plane into a bay and pick them up. It was going to be a long flight…much longer than expected. (To be continued…)
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Lynn's Comments: This didn't happen, but here's a story that did: I was about 12 years old. For weeks, a cat had been coming to sit under my bedroom window and howl. It sounded like a demonic baby's cry, and I hated the sound. Nothing would deter the cat so one night, I decided to get even. I opened the window wide, placed a pitcher of cold water on the windowsill, and waited for the cat. Like clockwork, it arrived in full voice, and as soon as the howling reached a crescendo, I dumped the water. The cries I expected to hear, however, didn't come from a cat. They came from my brother who had a room in the basement. He had been sneaking out of his bedroom window and howling under mine!
Monday, June 29, 2015
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Lynn's Comments: When I worked as a medical artist for McMaster University, one of the projects I worked on involved foetal development. I learned that the creation of one human being is so incredibly complicated, it's amazing that so few of us have serious physical problems! In this series of illustrations I wanted to address the fact that some babies are born with abnormalities. I chose a situation that was common and easily remedied.