Monthly Archives: July 2017
Lynn's Comments: My mother used to make us sit at the table until everything on our plates was gone. My brother and I might sit there until bedtime, and if the meal wasn't finished, we'd find it set out (cold) for breakfast the next morning. No fooling! "Waste not, want not" was the catch phrase of the day…and I never really did understand what it meant!
Sunday July 2, 2017
Monday July 3, 2017
Lynn's Comments: I have a friend whose husband refused to eat leftovers. He simply refused. He wanted everything to be "fresh," so she went out of her way to make him happy. (Yes, even in this century!) From time to time, however, she would make quiche or a delicious casserole. Served with a light salad, it was a perfect meal, and he would eat with gusto not knowing that yesterday’s veg, ham, bacon, and whatever else would cook up, had gone into the meal. It was years before he realized he’d been eating leftovers. This is a true story. They are still married, and he now eats whatever is put in front of him. Stir-fry anyone?
Tuesday July 4, 2017
Wednesday July 5, 2017
Lynn's Comments: This is another true story. Considering the "one-comment-a-day" nature of comic strip story telling, you can imagine the response I got from the SPCI (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Insects) supporters when they read this panel. There was outrage!
Thursday July 6, 2017
Lynn's Comments: The outrage continued as the second comment appeared. There was no internet, so I heard from my editors at the syndicate (who knew the ending to the story) and from newspaper editors who were fielding complaints from readers who were phoning in.
Friday July 7, 2017
Lynn's Comments: I wondered how these folks who were outraged by bug abuse felt about devastating world health issues.
Saturday July 8, 2017
Lynn's Comments: I had fun knowing that the angry voices would die down when they read this strip and saw that the danger had been averted. The spider was free.
Sunday July 9, 2017
Lynn's Comments: We never had a dog when we were kids, though my dad, my brother, and I all wanted one. Mom put her foot down knowing a pet would be another thing she would be responsible for. She said no to a dog, and she ruled the roost. Nonetheless, we dreamed that someday, we'd be able to have this kind of close and loving relationship with a dog. Neither my dad nor my brother ever adopted a puppy, but I did. My first dog was Farley; an old English sheepdog, purchased by my first husband, Doug Franks, and I on a Sunday afternoon drive into the Ontario countryside. He later became the character "Farley" in FBorFW. My next dog was "Willy": a sweet little black Spaniel. Katie picked him out of a pet store window and declared him "family" since he had such big feet. Willy became my pet and constant companion. My mom knew what she was talking about when she said a dog would become her responsibility. Willy was certainly mine, but it was a responsibility that brought me 8 years of fun, activity and genuine pleasure.
Monday July 10, 2017
Lynn's Comments: Better still was the finale. Interesting thing: nobody complained about death by ingestion.
Tuesday July 11, 2017
Wednesday July 12, 2017
Lynn's Comments: We did get a new fridge, but it was delivered and installed by professionals. During the delivery, I wondered how we’d have managed on our own. Asking myself, "What if?" was always a great way to start a series of strips.
Thursday July 13, 2017
Lynn's Comments: This was a serious comment. Those of us who are polite, understanding, and non-threatening, often find ourselves left to the last, in favour of customers who are demanding and miserable to deal with. Go figure.
Friday July 14, 2017
Lynn's Comments: This happened. The fridge box was a hit and my knives were hit-on more than once!
Saturday July 15, 2017
Lynn's Comments: I heard from readers whose kids created "no girls aloud" forts because of this storyline. Good thing. Not only did it get them out of the house, it created serious discussion. TV can’t provide that kind of entertainment!
Sunday July 16, 2017
Monday July 17, 2017
Tuesday July 18, 2017
Lynn's Comments: This is an observation from my childhood. The neighbours next door were building their house and had left a big wooden box in the yard. My girl friends and I claimed it as ours, telling my brother and his friends to keep out. We managed to hold our position, but it was a hot day and we nearly died of the heat. It wasn’t the victory we had hoped for…but then, war is full of disappointments.
Wednesday July 19, 2017
Thursday July 20, 2017
Lynn's Comments: This series of strips is based on the wonderful and dilapidated "Camp Tillicum" just outside North Bay, Ontario.
Friday July 21, 2017
Lynn's Comments: We were not able to send our two kids to the same camp at the same time, but for the sake of the story, this is what the Pattersons did.
Saturday July 22, 2017
Lynn's Comments: Stories are made so much better when familiar characters share the same experience…so in the strip, Mike and Elizabeth went to camp with their best friends. Unlike the real world, a comic strip artist can make anything happen!
Sunday July 23, 2017
Lynn's Comments: Puns were a favourite punch line. They were untranslatable, however, which made it difficult for my syndicate to sell my work to non-English-speaking countries. I knew that word play limited my sales, but if I could come up with a good pun, I figured it was worth the loss.
Monday July 24, 2017
Tuesday July 25, 2017
Lynn's Comments: This was another serious comment. I have always wondered how a mother would feel if she lost her child to war. In jest, I could voice an opinion in very subtle ways.
Wednesday July 26, 2017
Thursday July 27, 2017
Lynn's Comments: When I was a kid, Camp Kawkawa was the name of the camp my family went to every year. The cabins we stayed in are still standing on Kawkawa Lake in Hope, BC.
Friday July 28, 2017
Lynn's Comments: Luccia Messina is the name of a good friend and neighbour who lived across the street from me in North Vancouver. She moved to Canada from Sicily with her mother and dad and older brother, Pedro, and we have been friends since grade one. This was my way of saying "Hi" to her when she read the strip. Cartoonists do this all the time. It’s great to know we can send out a "hug" that might appear in 1000 papers!
Saturday July 29, 2017
Lynn's Comments: When I went to Brownie Camp in the 50s, the beds were old and the springs were sagging. The bigger kids always seemed to get the top bunks, and I remember being terrified as I lay on my lower bunk looking up at the perilously sagging shape in the bunk above mine.
Sunday July 30, 2017
Lynn's Comments: I had a lot of fun making up funny lyrics to these imaginary tunes…but readers focused on their objection to the word "crud". Today, this word would be conservative. How times have changed.