Howard Bunt's Blog

Father's Day

2011-06-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

Lynn Johnston’s website comic strip archive has a special collection of Father’s Day comic strips which covers most of the Father’s Day comic strip during the 29 years. However, it doesn’t include all of them and the ones it does include provide a curious history.

The first was this comic strip published on 1980-06-15. It’s curious because it features Elly on the plane with the 2 kids and no sight of John the father. Instead it features a man sitting beside Elly who plays with little Lizzie as she cries on the plane, while Elly thinks, “Now and then when you least expect it, you meet an angel.” The man is balding and fat and so Elly expects the worst from him (displaying Lynn’s early prejudice against the ugly), and so she is surprised when he is nice, i.e. he becomes a surrogate father to Lizzie.

1981 Father’s Day strip was published on 1981-06-21 and does not mention Father’s Day, but it does feature Elly and John eating out at a restaurant while Elly slowly consumes most of John’s strawberry mocha parfait one little teeny nibble at a time.

The 1982 comic strip was featured today, and has the first ever direct mention of Father’s Day in the comic strip.

1983 Father’s Day strip was published on 1983-06-19 and returns back to not mentioning Father’s Day. Instead it features Elly and John talking about the past.

1984 Father’s Day strip was published on 1984-06-17 and starts off with Elly looking in a jewelry store for a watch, which the jeweler thinks will be a gift for someone other than Elly (probably because it’s Father’s Day, but he doesn't mention it). Elly responds that the watch is for her. The comic strip is so out-of-character for Elly, I have the feeling there is a message being sent to someone.

1985 Father’s Day strip was published on 1985-06-16 and shows Elly and Lizzie out on the street observing 3 girls dressed in the Lynn Johnston interpretation of the style of the day. Lizzie stares at them, and when Elly tells her not to stare, Lizzie retorts, “Isn’t that what they want us to do?” There is no appearance of John, nor a mention of Father’s Day; but there is a biting judgment of 1985 fashion. It is not the only time during the comic strip when Elly had harsh words for the fashion choices of young women, but it was one of the first.

1986 Father’s Day strip was published on 1986-06-15 and shows Elly complaining that Farley won’t eat the dog food. John is there and suggests that the reason Farley won’t eat it is because he thinks it’s for dogs and not people. John says that Elly should make the dog food look like people food. At this point, Elly dumps the dog food on a plate in front of John and says, “Here. Make it look good.” Again there is no mention of Father’s Day; but the dad's opinion and suggestion is clearly dumped on.

The 1987 Father’s Day comic strip is in the on-line archive and actually looks like a Father’s Day comic strip. From this point on, the comic strips shown on Father’s Day mention and display a character in the comic strip who is a father, most often John Patterson.

What happened? Well, it’s around this time Lynn Johnston moved from Lynn Lake, Manitoba, a place she despised with a passion and her husband’s home town to Corbeil, Ontario, where she lives today and her mood changed. I have often speculated that the transformation from the very negative tone of the comic strip in the early years into the nicer and funnier tone of the middle years was due to this change in Lynn's life. In the Father's Day comic strips we have proof.

The only exception to this was Father’s Day 2002, which shows John and Elly eating out, but no mention of Father’s Day. 2002 is when the comic strip moved into the darker, serious final years and once again Father's Day shows the effects of it. What happened in 2002 was Rod Johnston, the real-life John Patterson, sold his dental practice and retired with the expectation that Lynn Johnston would do the same. She didn't but the pressure invades the comic strip in this year.

The other Father’s Day comic strips not shown in the on-line archive are these from 1988 and 1996. They are both from the time when Lynn Johnston was at the height of her powers and naturally, I consider them to be two of the best Father’s Day comic strips in the whole 29 years.

Lynn's Travels Reuben Weekend

2011-06-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

As usual, I will quote the text and then comment on it.

My daughter Katie, along with her husband, Lane, and I have just returned from the Reuben Awards, an event which was held in Boston this year.

In the old days, Lynn might bring a staff member to these occasions. I guess when you get right down to it, Katie is really her only staff member left that actually works on Lynn’s published material.

This is the "Oscars" of the comic art industry and an opportunity for all of us to get together, renew old (some amazingly old) friendships, make new ones and come up with new ideas; everything from web marketing to how to stay awake during the lectures.

Somehow I have the feeling that web marketing was one of those lectures where Lynn was falling asleep. By mentioning age, she is also emphasizing her stature within the organization. You will see this reference to age over and over in this travelogue.

We bunked in at the beautiful old Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel - the elegance of which deterred us from the usual olive toss and beer chug at the bar (the prices for booze and munch were astronomical anyway) and created a spectacular backdrop to this cheesy and chic annual event.

Lynn seems to be saying that she doesn’t like to drink at places which are too fancy (i.e. too expensive). I can only imagine why she would say something like that, as in, how many Reuben awards ended up with Lynn getting loaded at the hotel bar. It is fairly amusing to me that she manages to mention drinking in virtually every one of her travelogues.

We had ample opportunity to explore the city and took a "Duck Boat" tour. This vehicle looks like a tank, drives like a 56 pickup and rolls into the water as if it had webfeet. They were made for the military - and I guess they didn't want them. Anyway, we got some views of the harbor and some Boston history and returned to dry land where we sought libation.

It appears that Lynn is not familiar with the phrase "military surplus". I have done the Boston “Duck Boat” tour just recently, and the part which Lynn fails to mention is that the drivers of these tours are usually very funny. Lynn may have been too interested in the libation to pay attention to the jokes. Or maybe she didn't like the competition.

Katie, Lane and I rarely gussie up like this, so photos were a must. We lasted for about six hours before taking off the shoes and loosening anything that stretched.

6 hours? That a long dinner. I like the pictures though. Katie looks a lot happier when Lane is in the picture than when she is standing along with her mother.

Here's Cathy Guisewite with yours truly - two retired ladies with lots on the go (some has gone already, but we're cool!)

Traditional picture taken at every Reuben award dinner and notice that Lynn had to mention the retirement. You will notice that of all the cartoonists Lynn meets, even the ones a lot older than she is, Cathy is the only one who is retired like Lynn.

Richard Thompson was our Reuben award winner this year and to learn more about him, please go to: richardspooralmanac.blogspot.com. He received cheers and a standing ovation for his work in 2010. We were all so pleased to see him win.

Naturally Lynn knows Richard Thompson after they did their picture together back in March, or does she? Lynn’s praise of Richard Thompson is a little odd with the website link (not her usual style), when you compare it to the textual praise she is going to give the next series of cartoonists, many of whom also have websites.

Lee Salem has been my editor and friend for 30 years and has now taken the position of CEO for Universal Uclick. I asked him if he found it daunting and he said "No, it's been fun!" Somewhere in there lies the truth, but everything he takes on, he does well!

I guess the question now is, “Who’s going to be Lynn’s new editor?”

His wife, Anita, was a university math professor for many years and has now taken on the title of Grandmom to four beautiful grandkids.

Anita has 4 grandkids? Got that Katie? Anita has now taken on the title of Grandmom, with a capital G. And they are beautiful grandkids too. Anita retired and she got to be a Grandmom. Hey Katie. Did you know your mother has retired too?

Bunny Hoest and John Reiner produce "The Lockhorns" and continue to do a number of single panel magazine cartoons as well. We have been friends since my first day as a member of the NCS (National Cartoonist's Society) over 30 years ago.

As well they should be. Lynn likes the old school cartoonists, i.e. anyone doing comics longer than she has. Besides, there has been many a For Better or For Worse cartoon whose punch line was uncannily similar to one used in The Lockhorns.

Kate and Lane took in some of the large, beautiful parks in the city. People at the Boston Common had placed hundreds of flags before one of the statues; a Memorial Day tribute to the fallen soldiers of Massachusetts.

Don’t you mean M-ass-achusetts, Lynn?

Mort Drucker, one of our heroes and the man who established a style of caricature in Mad Magazine with his many movie spoofs, was unable to come this year due to poor health. Sergio Aragones (you have to know Sergio if you are a comic art fan - his work has graced Mad for as long as I can remember and his comic books starring "Groo the Wanderer" are hilarious!) happened to have a large piece of poster board in his car and we used this to send Mort a loving "Get Well" card. Wiley Miller of "Non Sequitur" is signing here.

No praise for Wiley Miller? Naturally, it’s because Wiley launched Non Sequitur in 1991, post For Better or For Worse. As for the other cartoonists, I am surprised Lynn Johnston knows Groo the Wanderer. It’s a comic book and it was launched post-Lynn. Maybe Sergio Aragones counts because he did Mad Magazine pre-Lynn. Possibly it's because Sergio Aragones received the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for 1996 for his work on Groo and Mad Magazine, and Lynn remembers it.

Lucy Caswell was presented with the silver T-square for her ongoing help, support and careful archiving of the largest collection of cartoon art in America. She has been to every Reuben, worked with every one of us to help us catalogue and care for our work and has been one of the most steadfast advocates for this unique art form. If asked, Lucy would say "YES! This is definitely art!" (And a whack on the head for asking!)

And yet Lynn’s work is not archived by Lucy Caswell, but with the Canadian Archive, as I recollect. Nevertheless, Lucy gets points for being in the NCS pre-Lynn.

All in all, it was another remarkable assembly of cartoonists and folks who make the industry happen, and a great time was had by all. I am so lucky to have been a member of the NCS...which reminds me...I still have to pay my dues!

Oh, Lynn. What a kidder. Liuba Liamzini does your finances and she probably paid your dues months ago.

Happy sketching to all the young cartoonists out there - who knows, we might be adding you to our membership list some day!

This is a pretty funny statement. Lynn is saying that she is a member of the NCS and the "young cartoonists" aren't.

After reading Lynn's comments, it was interesting to get another perspective from Scott Kurtz who does the PvP webcomic. His comments are here.

He says that 5 webcomic creators were in attendance at the Reubens, Dave Kellett (Sheldon, Drive), Kris Straub (Starslip, Chainsawsuit), Kate Beaton (Hark A Vagrant), Randall Munroe (XKCD) and Scott Campbell (Great Showdowns) and participated in a Webcomics Seminar as a part of the weekend. I suspect this is what Lynn is referring to when she said, "web marketing", unless there was another seminar on the subject.

Scott's best line is, "I’m 40 and I was younger than most of the 'young' NCS members. No joke, at one point I was asked 'who’s son are you?'" It's no wonder that Lynn closes with the line about the young cartoonists they may be adding to their membership list some day. Kurtz's opinion was that members of the National Cartoonists Society realize there are no print cartoonists coming into the industry anymore, and his impression was that the NCS members were happy to see representatives of webcomics there, so there will be an NCS in 10-15 years. Clearly Scott did not speak to Lynn Johnston, who has expressed the opinion on more than one occasion that the younger cartoonists need to knock her off the page, if they want to get into the industry.

Lynn's Travels: Peru, The Last Day

2011-01-05T10:09:00.000-08:00

As usual, I will quote the text and then comment on it.

Some people had to return right away to their clinics, homes or hospitals. The rest of us arranged a tour of the countryside with a trip by train to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu.

From this website:

Aguas Calientes is the colloquial name for Machupicchu Pueblo, a town in Peru on the Urubamba (Vilcanota) River. It is best known as the closest access point to the sacred Incan city of Machu Picchu (in Quechua: old mountain), which is 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) away, about 1.5 hours walk. Aguas Calientes serves as a terminal for the PeruRail passenger train service from Cusco. Trains serve locals and tourists arriving from Cusco and Ollantaytambo to visit Machu Picchu.

Farewells took place before a large, comfortable tourist bus came to collect the travelers. We hugged and waved and genuinely hoped we'd see each other again. It had been another emotional and memorable experience.

However it was not emotional or memorable enough for Lynn to mention any particular person by name. This farewell is emotionally distant compared to the heartfelt farewell to Nilda and her friends Ana Maria and Rosa from Day 3 in Lima. There is no promise of continued contact or how much she misses them. Throughout the course of the 5 days of her medical clinic description, Lynn hammered away at her theme of “what the people really needed was someone to talk to” versus the actual medical treatment offered by her partner Dr. Pamela Bradford, whom Lynn consistently and continually referred to without calling her “doctor”, in stark contrast to the male doctors on the mission. This stream of self-complimentary dialogue tells me that perhaps Lynn was not getting enough positive feedback from others on the mission. When you get right down to it, it would be difficult for her to get any. She’s not a medical professional and she admitted on several occasions to being an inadequate translator. She takes long shopping lunch breaks and she takes a lot of pictures. I can only imagine the reaction she got from the medical professionals on the mission with her.

When she took these kinds of trips with her ex-husband Dr. Rod Johnston, she expressed a frustration in her inability to contribute much to what was going on. To her credit, she seems to be doing more than she used do when she was traveling with Rod. Nevertheless, I think she would be better served to participate in mission trips which do not require medical expertise, instead of continuing to try to outplay or outlast her ex-husband. Lynn has very deep pockets, and there is a great potential there.

I thought about writing more. There is just so much to say about the wonders and the mysteries of Peru. To continue would have made this diary far too long. Besides, the mission itself was the most important thing to share.

This is a nice thought, but certainly does not match Lynn travelogues in Thailand or Oaxaca, Mexico or even the first 3 days of this trip. Lynn originally described this as a 10 day mission. Lynn posted Days One – Five back-to-back on December 6-10 and Days Six-Eight back-to-back on December 13-15. Then she skipped a day and posted Day Nine on December 17. Clearly Day Nine was intended for December 16 and Day Ten was intended for December 17, just before Lynn left for the holidays. I don’t think Lynn had any plan to write a Day Eleven originally. Her final line on Day Ten was very Christmasy and very “end”-like:

As we ate and enjoyed, I couldn't help thinking about our last patient and all of the others out there who were hungry. Just a few more days until the gift-giving and gluttony of Christmas and here I was seeing the "other side of life". Perhaps this is the gift I gave to myself; something to put my life into perspective and to make me thankful, once again for all that I have.

On the way home, I read through my notes and tried to add anything more that came to mind. I thought about the young mother at the church who didn't want her baby and I wondered what had happened to her. I thought about the farmer who survived the murder attempt and the dear little lady to whom we gave the waist pouch. I thought about how different my life would be if I had been born in another place at another time and that I was going home to a reality the patients in our clinics could never imagine.

Lynn has had such good fortune in her life, it’s good for her to get some perspective. If she had been born in Cusco, Peru, her life would have been very different from the life she has now. For one thing, she would know how to speak Spanish.

There are a bunch of pictures here which I presume are of the town Aguas Calientes followed by the ruins in Machu Picchu. The Machu Picchu pictures match others I can find on-line of the area. Aguas Calientes is less certain for me. I found this website from someone else who made the same trip and Aguas Calientes looks different. There was plenty else to tell about a PeruRail trip, the sights on the way there, and the river for which Aguas Calientes was named.

Christmas 2010 has come and gone. I've tidied up and changed my calendar.

2011 For Better or For Worse calendars are still on sale. Hint! Hint!

For me things are almost back to normal. I'm grateful for having had another opportunity to see what's normal for others and my sense of privilege and gratitude has been reinforced once more.

What an interesting way to phrase it. Her sense of privilege has been reinforced. Her sense of gratitude has been reinforced. I find that I have to agree with this sentence whole-heartedly as a very accurate summation of her travelogues.

I sincerely hope that everyone who has "come along with me" on this mission in Peru has enjoyed the experience. Thanks for reading. May good health, good news and good friends be part of your new year. All the best!

I certainly have enjoyed the experience. Lynn did not disappoint. Bathroom stories abounded. Women doctors were disparaged. Peruvian health care was vilified. Peruvian men were slandered. Names of people and places were misspelled. The only thing missing was Lynn’s description of her alcohol consumption, which I blame on the Christian aspect of the Medical Missions International. All in all, it was a very fine travelogue. I look forward to the next one.

Lynn's Travels: Peru, Day Ten

2011-01-04T13:14:00.000-08:00

As usual I will quote the text and then comment on it.

Christmas was busier than I thought it would be...but I say that every year. Here are the final two installments in the Peru Diary. Happy New Year... and I hope my memory serves me well!!

This is an interesting way to start out, since she has pictures and this was only 2 months ago.

On the last day of our Mission, we set up in a community center in a very run down neighborhood. This long cinderblock building was attached to a private home- a small, adobe flat with two large, vacant chicken coops at one end. The owner was inside the house watching television. He appeared briefly in his pajamas to use the latrine outside then got dressed and left for the day, giving us access to the property, the latrine and the chicken coops.

Pajamas? What happened to “pyjamas”? As for finding where Lynn is this time, it is difficult. Internet searches show there are many community centers in Cusco. One possible clue is the second picture, which shows a picture featuring the words “Apv. Villa Jardin”, which is probably a reference to The Garden House hotel. It is located in Larapa, Cusco, Peru, which is a spot further west in Cusco that the prior place where she had been working. However, the hotel is not located in a run-down neighborhood, so I can only guess is that each mission has been working more west in the city.

Inside the center, volunteers had created cubicles for the doctors with wire, string, blue plastic sheets and black garbage bags put together with clothes pins and masking tape. Triage was in the first cubicle, Pam and I were given the second, Liuba and Erin the third. Pam's husband was across from us, optical was in the back of the hall, pharmacy at the front. Outside, a tent was erected for integrated health and the psychiatrists found privacy in the chicken coops into which were placed a table and two small chairs. Seeing psychiatry being taken seriously within the shade of a chicken coop was the highlight of the day and we took turns going out to take photographs!

I can only guess that this is photo six of set since it just shows people talking in an outdoor area with a broken wall. There are no pictures with chickens or coops, so this description is iffy for me. Photo five is very interesting to me, who matches the picture I had found on-line for Dr. Pam Bradford. I had mistaken the picture of the tall, thin female doctor with glasses in prior travelogues as Pam, since Lynn had taken several pictures of her. However, it seems that this picture today is the first picture Lynn has put of the woman with whom she worked for most all the mission. It makes me wonder (a) Who is the glasses doctor and (b) Why didn’t Lynn have more pictures of Dr. Pam Bradford?

Pam and I saw the usual assortment of complaints and then a young man came to us with an older gentleman who had trouble walking. The young man was attractive, well dressed and well educated. His companion was about 55, dressed in the traditional garb of the agricultural worker; loose pants, white blouse and at his waist a colourful woven sash. The young man explained that this was his father's best friend. He had survived an attempted murder and was suffering from numbness down his arms, dizziness and depression. The story was right out of "The Sopranos". He had been a successful farmer - well respected and well liked. His wife, however, had a lover. She and her lover attempted to kill him, but failed. It was an amazing story. After his release from hospital this man continued to suffer but doctors blamed his numbness and dizziness on his pent up rage. Pam examined his neck and back and concluded that he had a pinched nerve - that his symptoms were not psychosomatic, but caused by the beating he endured. This news was such a relief that he nearly cried. After all that had happened to him, to be told that he was making up his symptoms was unendurable. We saw this so many times. When people actually know what their problem is, they feel better. To not know is as painful as the injury itself.

I don't remember any farmers in "The Sopranos", but I know what Lynn means. Lynn casts no judgment on the quality of Peruvian health care, which is contrary to the direction she had been going with this travelogue. My wife has had the same kind of problem with some doctors in the United States who couldn’t be bothered to figure out problems that she had and I will admit it is very gratifying to have someone figure out what is wrong with you instead of being told it is in your head.

Next door, Liuba and Erin were working with moms and babies. Occasionally a stray youngster would crawl under the plastic divider into our space. Older kids would peer in through the masking tape, but we were all too busy to worry about it. Privacy wasn't as important as seeing as many patients as possible.

Initially my thought is, “the kids want to see an old man’s neck?” Then Lynn leads into the prostate exam, and it becomes a lot clearer.

Our next patient of note was a man in his eighties who was worried he had prostate cancer. He had no teeth, mixed Quechua with Spanish and I had a really hard time understanding him. Liuba was busy shooing toddlers from under the dividers, so for a moment I could ask her to help with translation.

As if Liuba knows Quechua. I am not sure if the reason Lynn mentioned the kids is just to give herself an excuse for asking Liuba to help with the translation. Not to worry, Lynn. We know that your primary purpose here is to hold sheets and strip clothes off multi-layered women.

Pam had to do a prostate exam, so with me holding the sheeting together for privacy and both Liu and I looking the other way, our patient braced his hands against the wall and the exam took place. Pam told him he had an enlarged prostate but it was very unlikely to be cancerous. He sighed with relief. He had been worried for so long, he was almost in shock.

There’s something missing here. Most times people are not aware they have an enlarged prostate unless it is severe. The man probably had other symptoms. My experience with this is that next step is to consult a urologist to make sure that it is really “very unlikely”.

"Now what do I do?" he asked. "Are you married?" Liuba replied "Yes" he said. " You're over eighty years old, you're a healthy man - go home and enjoy!" said Liu. The patient started to laugh and so did we. Once again, to be told you were going to be OK was the best medicine... and a good laugh comes second.

Liuba makes a sex joke and judging from Lynn’s reaction, I wonder if Lynn understood it.

After awhile, it was necessary for me to go outside and use the latrine. It was a single toilet in a small, dirty space between the house and the community center. With all the people using it for urine samples, some local authority had put a padlock on it.

This is a mysterious statement. There is a local authority who, given that the community center is being used for free medical care, has decided to protect the single toilet in that community center by padlocking it?

This was our only nearby facility. Dr. Paul, having finished in the psychiatry unit for awhile was walking with one of the local volunteers down to the bus stop. I threaded myself past the waiting line of patients, through the chain link fence and ran after them. Desperate for a washroom, I asked the woman volunteer where I could go.

Another mysterious statement. Lynn can’t ask any of the other people around where to use the washroom, but she has to speak to a woman volunteer who apparently is not local (i.e. is leaving via the bus). Is Lynn too embarrassed to ask a doctor or nurse or Liuba where the washroom is?

She led me to a small, steamy restaurant and said for a small fee I could use use the washroom there. To digress slightly. I once met a man who was a health inspector - his specialty was restaurants. His advice was: "If you go to a new place to eat and you're not sure about the cleanliness, check out the bathroom. If the bathroom is spotless, then so is the kitchen. It never fails!" As I squatted to avoid touching any surface in the filthiest place I have ever been, I thought about his advice and thanked my lucky stars that I wasn't there for lunch.

Not to worry Lynn. I’m sure the beer was still safe to drink. Nevertheless, I am glad that Lynn had at least one bathroom reference in here. It wouldn’t be a Lynn Johnston travelogue without one.

Back at the community center, the sun had passed its peak. The patients outside were much more comfortable. They conversed with friends, sat passively and hoped to be seen before we had to close up shop. Dr. Norm, who had seen one too many back complaints and could speak Spanish quite well, decided to give a demonstration on how to avoid some back problems and set up a table outside. How do you explain core strengthening exercises and proper lifting techniques to a lot of people at once - especially if you're not sure they even understand you?!

Lynn doesn’t answer this question in words, but instead in pictures. It appears that you get someone to volunteer to help you do the demonstration while lying on a portable medical table. Looking at the environment around Dr. Norm, it appears that the community center is somewhere near some kind of government office since there is a reference to a lawyer written on the wall which also has the Joint Command Emblem of Peru, which joins the sword of the Army, the cross anchors of the Navy, wings for the Air Force and the national coat of arms. In case you missed it, Dr. Norm is Dr. Pamela Bradford’s husband, he speaks Spanish quite well, and he has been consistently located near Dr. Pam in every mission location. If Dr. Pam doesn't already know Spanish, I have a certain feeling that Dr. Norm was her choice for translation. Lynn is still consistent with her reference to men only as doctor. Oddly enough, Dr. Norm’s back demonstration gets him 2 pictures to 1 picture for Dr. Pam.

Our last few patients were elderly ladies. The one Liu and I will always remember was a tiny, sweet natured woman who had a bad heart and breathing problems. In order to listen to her chest, we once again, had to peel away many layers of clothing before we could find her inside. It was a surprise to see that she was wearing a brassiere over the top of one of her sweaters. No matter - it was not our business to ask. She had trouble walking. Arthritis had reduced her hips to bone on bone. She was hungry, emaciated and alone. Pam gave her as much of a check up as possible with our limited resources. She called Tanya, the MMI representative over to our space and arranged to have a walker delivered to the woman's home - along with some food. It was good to know that walkers wheelchairs and crutches are kept in a warehouse in Cuzco and given to those most in need.

The joys of Peruvian universal health care. I suppose there was no possibility of getting the woman any kind of arthritis medicine. Looking at the Medical Missions International website, the MMI representative is named Tania Catacora, not Tanya. She’s on facebook and her picture there looks a lot like the young woman sitting in the chicken coop with the doctor in picture 6.

We wanted to give her more. Since she was our last patient, Liuba, Pam and I wanted to give her a little money. We rolled together a few bills- maybe $30.00 Canadian in total, and she immediately reached inside her blouse and tucked it into her brassiere! It was not being worn as underwear, it was her purse. Not wanting to see her lose her money, Liuba took off her waist pouch and put it on our patient. She then retied her apron to cover the pouch. Our little lady was delighted with the pouch, the money and the news that she was soon going to have the aid of a walker.

Since Dr. Pam is not from Canada and Liuba is the one handing over the waist pouch, I have the feeling that this is more a gift from Liuba than anyone else.

Around us, people were beginning to take down the plastic dividers. The folks in the pharmacy were packing up and Tanya was telling anyone who had not been seen when the next mission would take place.

That’s November 5 – 12, 2011, according to the Medical Missions International website.

Our sweet patient sat on a bench near the door and watched. She didn't want to leave us. I gave her a banana and a granola bar that I had in my backpack. She smiled and put them away in the pocket of her apron. The bus had come to take us back to the hotel and still she wouldn't go. One of the volunteers took her by the hand and led her outside, telling her it was time for us all to leave and that she should return home. She sat down and watched as we loaded the bus and drove away.

One of the volunteers and not Lynn. Of course it was probably one of the volunteers who could speak her language. After giving her money and a pouch, Lynn makes her contribution of a banana and a granola bar, so it’s no wonder she’s not leaving. She probably thought the longer she stuck around, the more she would get.

Seems to me that every time you see a public service announcement asking for donations to support a child, there should be another announcement as well, asking us to help the countless, ailing and vulnerable seniors who have nobody to care for them, too. Poverty. It never ends.

Although this is a nice idea, the PSA folks know that sad-looking kids can get people to give money, whereas ailing old people have a harder time.

Back at the hotel, there was a jubilant atmosphere. We were finished the mission and looking forward to a farewell dinner at a nice restaurant and a couple of days to explore. Liuba and I had a shower (mouths closed) and dressed for the Inca Wall.

It’s so nice to know that Lynn keeps her mouth closed when taking a shower with Liuba. That makes it seem a lot more innocent. "A couple of days to explore" means that Lynn may have a few more days in this travelogue, which is kind of odd since she started out saying there was only one more.

As for the Inka Wall, here is its web site. I find it very amusing that Lynn insists on spelling it “Inca” even though her picture clearly indicates the business has a different spelling. On the other hand, Lynn has insisted on spelling it “Cuzco”, instead of the way it is spelled in the country of Peru as “Cusco”.

This lovely, upscale Cuzco eatery has incorporated a small piece of an original Inca stone wall into the decor behind their long and splendid buffet table. The table was laden with every local delicacy including "cuy"- or guinea pig. There were meats and salads and soups and pastries and as we gorged ourselves, an ample stage offered a variety of performances: singers, dancers - both modern and traditional. It was an absolute feast

How did that cuy taste Lynn? I have the feeling she didn’t try it. If you look at the picture, I only see beverages on that table. If you want to see an interesting picture of some cuy, take a look at this painting by Marcos Zapata.

As we ate and enjoyed, I couldn't help thinking about our last patient and all of the others out there who were hungry. Just a few more days until the gift-giving and gluttony of Christmas and here I was seeing the "other side of life". Perhaps this is the gift I gave to myself; something to put my life into perspective and to make me thankful, once again for all that I have.

Clearly this writing was geared towards a “just before Christmas” release on the website, since Lynn took the trip back in early November and it really wasn't just a few days until Christmas.

Lynn's Travels: Peru, Day Nine

2010-12-17T16:13:00.000-08:00

As usual I will quote the text and then comment on it.

I dragged myself out of bed to discover that my voice had become a whisper. It was my turn to say the morning prayer and I happily passed the honor to Dr. Jim who eloquently filled the bill. I have no trouble with public speaking, but for some reason I find it hard to speak to God in front of an audience.

There is a little bit of a disconnect here. Initially it looks like Lynn has bowed out of doing the morning prayer because she is losing her voice; but then she says it is because she finds it hard to lead a public prayer. Considering Lynn’s difficulty with religion she has expressed many times during these travelogues, this is not surprising. It does not come naturally to many and for a woman who told us 2 days ago she had not attended a church in years, it would be quite hard. As for Dr. Jim, if you guessed this is the first time he has been mentioned, you would be right.

The day was cool and windy, but the line outside the church was long and welcoming. We went to work without the usual bumbling about, having now created a system that took advantage of everyone's skills.

And now for a description of what that system is:

Docs and Spanish-English translators went straight to their stations. Runners guided patients through triage to the waiting areas and placed their papers in a docket on the wall. Quechua translators went from one clinic space to another, on call- and seemed to appear exactly when we needed them.

Do you notice the difference between the set up at the La Fuente clinic and what I presume is their setup for the second day at Iglesia Evangelica Peruana (Consistorio Cusco)? Quechua translators. At La Fuente clinic, Lynn was running about trying to find people to volunteer to be Quechua translators. At Iglesia Evangelica Peruana, they are already there.

Downstairs, the pharmacy- in a constant state of motion - received prescriptions and carefully prepared packages for patients who went to Integrated Health before receiving their meds. Integrated Health is a classroom of sorts where patients learn how to deal with their personal concerns, how parasites are transferred and how to stop the cycle, how to strengthen one's back to prevent strain, healthy ways to eat, child care, birth control and psychiatric help.

Oh, it’s called Integrated Health now. Back on Day Six, Lynn called it a "charla". Like on Day 6, Lynn said they talked about back care, parasites, nutrition and infant health care, plus the 2 psychiatrists. New for this time is birth control. Missing this time is the discussion about their faith. Later on in this entry, we will find out why.

I wondered at first how our two psychiatrists would handle emotional concerns when we were there for such a short time. The answer was soon evident. Alcoholism, thoughts of suicide, spousal abuse and endless poverty were things people wanted, needed to talk about. It didn't take long for Drs. Jim and Paul to find themselves quite busy.

For the obvious comparison. Dr. Pam Bradford was called “Dr.” only once on Day 6 and never since and the other female doctors did not get that title from Lynn. Jim and Paul are a different story. Jim has been “Dr.”ed all 3 times he was mentioned and Paul the one time he was mentioned.

Pam and I spent a long time with two young women who really needed to talk. Both had chronic illnesses and I saw for the first time how devastating this can be to people who would normally be enjoying their youth, their friends and their education.

The first time? It’s hard to believe that Lynn Johnston, who suffered with her dystonia for 10 years, would say this. Of course, for those of us who doubt whether or not Lynn Johnston actually had dystonia, this comment is not a surprise.

Both felt left out, worthless, betrayed by their bodies. They wanted a cure or a way out! Suggesting antidepressants wasn't enough. Pam sent them to see the professionals downstairs and arrangements were made for them to have follow up care.

Lynn doesn’t say what these chronic illnesses were, and it is possible she didn’t know. I wonder if they really did say that they wanted the doctor to cure them or kill them, as Lynn implies.

Most of the patients Pam and I saw were women - and one I will always remember is the beautiful young mother who, after her appointment, agreed to show us how she wrapped her baby so that he could be carried on her back. So many women carry their babies this way and it amazed me to see how they maneuvered around corners, or in and out of buses and cars without bumping the infant's head or feet. They are so intimately aware of the size and position of their bundle that accidents don't seem to happen. Her baby boy was a beauty and sound asleep when she began to unwrap him. He awoke as she showed us the shape and size of the shawl. She told us where to buy the same shawl and said that she would now have to show us the "awake" way of wrapping. She placed him in the richly coloured fabric, turned the edges this way and that, bent over and slung the little one over her shoulder all in one fluid movement. He was suddenly peeking over her shoulder, his dark eyes shining and eager to go. Pam and I were as enchanted with the lesson as we were with her and we wished we didn't have to hustle to the next patient and let her go.

Lynn expresses regret about letting the woman go because:

a. She told Lynn where to buy then same shawl she had, and Lynn wanted her to take her shopping.
b. She wants to learn how to wrap a baby in preparation for getting grandchildren from Kate.
c. She is excited about having a patient who isn’t depressed and looks beautiful.
d. She knows her next story about a mother and a baby is not going to be as happy.

This day went by more quickly than the last. Now a cohesive unit, we took apart in short order the clinic we had so neatly put together, packed the bags and were preparing to leave when something stopped us all. Near the side entrance to the church, a small and earnest group had formed a semicircle around a young mother of three. She was perhaps 25. She had two little girls and a newborn. The baby, 7 days old, lay on the bench beside her. It had not been fed. It was thin, listless, quiet. One of the nurses was explaining to the mother that she had to feed her baby or it would die. The translator had tired of waiting for the nurse and was admonishing the woman saying, "Do you want to be responsible for your baby's death? Don't you want to save this baby?"

This is a little confusing here. The translator is waiting for a nurse, when a nurse is already there explaining to the mother basically the same thing the translator is saying. The mother is near the side entrance to the church and has a group around her after they have taken apart the clinic. Is she there to be treated and got there late? Is she just a person who happens to be sitting on a bench near the church who is being admonished by the translator? Lynn has none of these details.

The woman's eyes were open, but she looked at nothing. Her eyes were without expression; completely blank... Her body was still rounded from having given birth, but her breasts were flat, her face gaunt and colourless. Her other daughters, ages perhaps 4 and 7, were being hugged by two of the volunteers. They watched but also with little expression. It was as if they were deaf to all that was going on around them. The nurses became frantic. The baby's condition was grave. Any decision involving the baby would have to be taken away from the mother. The baby would go to the hospital where it would have a feeding tube, where it would get treatment and hopefully survive.

More confusion for me. Why are the nurses frantic? Haven’t they been dealing with sick kids and babies for 4 days now? After all that, why are they losing their composure now? Don’t they have access to the pediatrician who has been working with Liuba? Don’t they have access to the doctors in the Integrated Health who have been teaching child health? Don’t they have the Cusco hospital just down the road? Why would any decision involving the baby mean taking the baby away from the child? Mothers don’t get to go to Peruvian hospitals with their kids? Why do the volunteers have to hug the other daughters? If the baby’s condition is grave and they are afraid it is going to die, then what makes them think the baby is in a condition where it can take food from its mother? As you can see in the text coming up, Lynn doesn’t stick around to find out what happened or what the actual situation is.

Liuba and I continued to help pack up the pharmacy and carry the supplies outside. We could do nothing and the fewer people in the area, the better. Outside at the bus, Liu was distraught. The scene we had just witnessed had been awful. It occurred to me that we had seen so many women left with children they had to raise alone, with no money and no support and this one had just given up. What was there to celebrate in this new birth? More responsibility, more need, more hunger. What I saw in her eyes was beyond desperation. She had lost the will to care.

Lynn’s description goes to the eyes for the 3rd time now. The mother’s eyes are without expression, the mother’s children’s eyes watch with little expression, and the mother’s eyes are beyond desperation. My guess is that Liuba is not reacting to the mother’s eyes, but the really sick-looking baby. That’s what would get me upset. It’s not too surprising Lynn’s focus is on the mother who was left alone, because that is her own experience; however this does not mean her concern is not real. According to this website for the Mantay Shelter in Cusco, “In Peru, one in four mothers is under the age of 18.” That is a very high percentage compared to the 5.4% in the United States, 3.1% in the United Kingdom and 2.8% in Canada; but small compared to Niger, where the percentage of women who had given birth before 18 is 53%. Now we see why Lynn added birth control to her list.

The small, cluttered shops passed by under the windows of the bus, now recognized - a landmark here, a sign there. We were becoming familiar with the way back to the hotel and glad to retreat to our rooms, wash up, and reassemble downstairs. After dinner, we again went through the events of the day. A tally was made of the number of patients we had seen, how much medication had been given out. We were low now on certain antibiotics, arthritis meds and nose spray.

I can understand antibiotic and arthritis medication, but nose spray? Lynn has not really mentioned anything nose-related about Cusco.

We still had plenty of eye drops, cough medications cortisone shots and antacids.

In an unusual moment, Lynn seems to have run out of commas. You will notice that for a person who has a cold, Lynn’s use of those supplies will not affect the MMI medical stores.

Some supplies could be replenished from a storehouse maintained by MMI in Peru, but was there time to get it? For those of us who were simply there to help, it was an easy few days of work. The organizers however were constantly busy, handling everything from dietary preferences to the loss of a passport to the recuperation of medical supplies. We were constantly amazed by their efficiency and consistent good humor.

In other words, Lynn is not concerned in the slightest about the low medical supplies or how to get them, because she is not an organizer. In fact, she describes herself now as “simply there to help”, and those easy few days of work, and has stopped talking about that hard translation stuff.

Those of us 45 and older usually went to bed around 9, but the younger people sang, talked or went off into town for some fun. Even the evenings were routine - and it took less than a week to make us all a bit "predictable".

"Predictable" for someone who goes to bed at the first opportunity.

As I waited for the cold medication to ease my stuffed head into sleep, I thought about how close we'd all become and how quickly we'd be leaving. Tomorrow, the last clinic.

Lynn talks about the closeness and yet, she mentions so few names. Compare this travelogue for Day 9 to the ones in the first few days in Lima, where her attitude towards naming people seems very different. If I were to go from Lynn’s description of the people working, I would get the impression that they are almost all women except for Dr. Pam Bradford’s husband and the 2 psychiatrists. Looking at the picture of the people on the bus, I get a very different impression about the ratio of men to women on this trip. I have the feeling Lynn only really talked to the over-45, female crowd, and there are not many of those on this bus.

Tomorrow, the last clinic.

Looking at the Medical Ministries International website, I realize what is going on here. The bulk of the mission trips are shown to last 14 days and so when Lynn said she was on a 10-day mission, I presumed she meant that 4 of the days of the mission were involved in travel and the setup, while the other 10 were on the mission. There are some missions that are 7 days only and this appears to be the type of one Lynn is working – probably 5 days of clinic, 1 day to start and 1 day to stop. Add to that a few days of vacationing in Lima, and you have Lynn’s 10 days.

Lynn's Travels: Peru, Day Eight

2010-12-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

As usual, I will quote the text and then comment on it.

Our next location was in an old Catholic church not far from the center of Cuzco.

For some reason, on Day 8, Lynn has chosen not to relate the events of the morning and moved straight into the description of the project. Why do I have the feeling Lynn slept late, missed breakfast and the MMI hymn sing? You might ask Lynn why did they move locations when they had that nice La Fuente clinic? Well, my guess is that since the La Fuente clinic was in San Jerónimo, Cusco, Peru which is on the far east side of the city and the center of Cusco is about 6 miles to the west; the move is to get medical aid to people on the other side of Cusco. As you can see from the sign in the picture, this old Catholic church is Iglesia Evangelica Peruana (Consistorio Cusco), and compared to a lot of churches in Cusco, it’s not that old. Doing an internet search for it, I found this video on YouTube. There were actually quite a few videos on YouTube featuring events in the church.

The courtyard was filled with waiting people who eagerly greeted us with hugs and handshakes. After carrying the supplies inside, we formed an assembly and sang the hymn that everyone seems to know: "Alabare" meaning "I shall praise". It's a pretty tune. With harmony, echoes and clapping, it always begins our day.

Another YouTube video of this song, just in case you want to sing along with Lynn.

There was plenty of space. Doctors had curtained areas upstairs, with small tables set up for examinations and another for supplies. Long benches ran alongside the outer wall for waiting patients, and at the end of the hallway were two private spaces for optometry and pediatrics.

As you may recollect from 2 days ago, optometry and pediatrics were the activities most closely located to Lynn in the La Fuente clinic.

Pharmacy was downstairs in an alcove next to the main floor and patients there could wait comfortably in the pews. It reminded me of a clinic we had in Arequipa where they had arranged all the spaces for us - putting the dentists next to the confessional, which seemed fitting to me!

Arequipa is a reference to Lynn’s 2008 trip to Peru with Medical Missions International. Looking at their website list of projects coming up, it does include Medical-Dental-Surgical for Arequipa. In 2008, fresh from her divorce from Dr. Rod Johnston, DDS, I am sure this joke is meant to indicate that a dentist should have something to confess. Without that context, I am not sure what to make of this confessional/dentistry joke. I am also not sure where the dentists are. Lynn mentioned not having to move their equipment into the Clinic a few days ago, but there is still mention of them on this trip since then.

The only problem here was the stairwell. Many people were elderly and a couple were in wheelchairs, so other arrangements would have to be made. The watchword "flexibility" meant there was always a way!

Doctors coming down the stairs is my guess for "flexibility". Since Lynn is not labelling her pictures, the doctor in picture #3 appears to be Erin A. Hannagan. The doctor in picture #4 appears to be Pamela Bradford.

By now, we were starting to bring some of our personal belongings to the clinics, knowing we would find the right person for the right gift. An elderly woman who had no electricity in her apartment complained of falling over things in the night. I gave her my wind-up flashlight and showed her how to use it. Another couldn't see. I had a pair of reading glasses which were well received. A dear woman, wearing the only clothes she had, accepted the gift of my burgundy and turquoise sweater and another took my flip-flops which were new, had sparkles on them and fit perfectly.

Finding the facilities are good and unable to be used a translator, Lynn has now started handing away things she happened to be carrying with her, claiming that these are gifts brought especially to be given away.

Good shoes are a luxury that few can afford in this part of town. A woman whose job was to carry heavy bundles up and down the hillsides wore broken "penny loafers" which already looked to be second hand. Pam told her she had to have new shoes. She looked at us respectfully, but her expression said "How can I buy new shoes when I can't even buy food?" I asked how much a good pair of shoes would cost. "60 soles" she said.

60 Peruvian Nuevo Sol converts to $21.25 dollars USD.

We gave her 60 soles and I made her promise she would buy shoes for herself. When she promised, I made her promise again.

As if that second promise is going to have any more effect than the first promise, aside from Lynn's indication that she doesn't trust the woman. Notice the use of the subjects here. I (Lynn) asks how much the shoes cost, but we (Lynn and Pam, or maybe just Pam) gives the money.

The problem with not going straight to the store and buying the shoes with her was that she might be tempted to take the money home. Being beaten for spending money on yourself when you could have given it to an abusive husband is always a possibility. We hoped she would buy the shoes.

I would think the problem would be that she would spend it on food, since she said food was her highest priority. Instead of worrying about that, Lynn goes off on a tirade which seems to assume that poor Peruvian women must have abusive husbands (otherwise they wouldn’t be poor?). She seems to be ignoring the situation with the 50-year-old man just yesterday, where he said he abandoned his family because of his drinking problem.

The day was filled and went by quickly. After we had seen our last patients, Liuba and I went into the village to look for a mochila (a backpack) and were told we would find one at the Paraiso Mall. The Paraiso was about 4 blocks from the church and was a walk I'll never forget!

I can’t find a Paraiso Mall on the Google Maps, but I did find a Turismo Paraiso S A, which is more than 4 blocks from the church, but reasonably close. I can’t expect Lynn to really know distances.

Small street-side shops, windows open to the wind, offered everything from freshly butchered animal parts to layers of just-plucked chickens, their yellow feet protruding from counters and sills, piled into neat, fleshy rows. Quechua ladies in their wide layered skirts, white top hats and long, black braids walked arm in arm with their friends, gossiping and laughing behind gnarled brown hands. Children played on the sidewalks, lovers quarreled, boys peed on the walls of the buildings while cat-calling to chums who ducked into and out of the traffic.

No description is complete without pee.

A warehouse receiving a delivery was open. A truck blocked half the road and men were throwing sacks of grain to others inside, oblivious of the pedestrians who waited for the right moment between flying packages to dodge past. Dogs ambled undisturbed from streets and alleyways looking for anything edible and folks hawking breads, corn and candy on sticks happily obliged. A boy with a handcart pushed a load of pumpkins. Ladies selling fresh chicha held plastic glasses out to passers by and everywhere, traffic and dust and people made this a constantly changing spectacle - and I wanted to remember everything I saw!

Looking at the picture that goes with this description, I see some street vendors hawking stuffed animal souvenirs, a Claro cellular phone place, a key shop, and a very neat-looking bricked sidewalk. Too bad Lynn didn’t get a picture of the place she talked about.

Unlike the tourist shops, the Paraiso Mall catered to everyone.

So maybe this is not Turismo Paraiso.

There were the usual rows of stalls and vendors, but their wares ranged from hi tech video equipment to plastic pails, beauty aids, bikes and baking. It was a social place for friends to gather and chat. Little kids seemed to be everywhere: on shoulders, in slings and in carriages. Young women held out plates of flan and rice with dark red sauce for us to sample, but the chance of something not agreeing with our North American guts held us back. It was a busy place - and less than half the clients seemed in the mood to buy!

Especially those American clients afraid to eat. Of course, flan and rice with a dark red sauce doesn’t sound very appetizing to me. I think of flan as a dessert. Lynn is now 3 paragraphs into a description about shopping.

The mochila vendor was eager to do business and soon Liuba was sporting a new Nike knock-off bag with zippered pockets and space for a water bottle. A back pack is such a useful thing on these trips; you almost live out of it. Every foray away from the hotel requires you to take toilet paper, hand wipes, hand sanitizer, a sweater, fresh water and, of course - a camera. A regular purse will hardly do the trick!

Let’s not forget flashlights, reading glasses and flip-flops.

Toilet paper is a commodity rarely found in the average establishment. Likewise, the toilet seat is a rare and coveted adornment, thus allowing one to be creative during private moments and mindful as well that Peruvian plumbing is finicky at best.

Lynn has this description and yet, we have not had an actual mention of the facilities in La Fuente or in Iglesia Evangelica Peruana. It’s hard to say if Lynn is speaking generically or from actual experience. We do know that this is not the case in her hotel.

During the day, November weather in Cuzco is warm and comfortable, but a chill settles in before sundown and by nightfall, it's quite cold. Layering is the best way to dress and wearing the same thing every day soon becomes fashionable.

Again about the weather. You would think that a person accustomed to living in Corbeil, could stand a little coldness, especially when it isn’t that cold compared to Corbeil. I expect the real difference is that in Corbeil, Lynn probably rarely ventures outside. This website shows the average temperatures in Cusco, which are shockingly similar all year long. November is the second warmest month of the year behind October with the average low at 6.1 °C and 43 °F.

Dinner in the basement of the hotel was a ritual we all looked forward to. This evening was our "talent night". MMI (Medical Missions International) has always had a talent night.

I can’t find anything about this on-line. I can only presume that no one aside from Lynn has chosen to write about it.

This is saved until such time that we have all become well acquainted and the ones prone to theatrics have been outed and pressed to perform. Some need no coaxing. I volunteered to tell a couple of stories and was waiting to do so when the Mariachi band arrived.

Lynn’s talent is story-telling? Who would have known? As for the mariachi band, my initial reaction was “mariachis in Peru?” However, it was not difficult to find yet another YouTube video, so I stand corrected.

There was a birthday to celebrate first and this was part of the surprise.

And the person who had the birthday was...? Somehow I have the feeling this is just another indication that Lynn is not bonding with the other MMI folks.

The band played for a long time. Dancing began and a sing-song and more music filled the night. I had begun to lose my voice during the day and it was gone by the time La Bamba was shaking the walls for a second time. I felt cold and clammy, excused myself from the table and gratefully slipped away to my heavily blanketed bed.

By mentioning "La Bamba" for a second time, Lynn is trying to show that she was there for a long time, waiting for a chance to tell her stories. However, if someone invited (paid for) a mariachi band to show up, there doesn't seem like there was any plan on "talent night" for there to actually be a "talent night". We know from Lynn's travelogue to Thailand, she does not like these crowded and noisy situations.

"gratefully slipped away" is the giveaway that Lynn used her feeling cold and clammy as an excuse to leave what was an uncomfortable situation for her. My guess is that Lynn blames the chill in the air for her sickness, since she has once again mentioned a cold bed. As to whether Lynn was actually getting a cold, that is difficult to tell.

Now, I have to tell you that being with a group of doctors and a travelling pharmacy is a very good thing. Whatever ails you can be dealt with quickly, sans appointment, and the necessary pharmaceuticals are handed to you in a bag. I had been given something to clear my head and help me sleep. It was good stuff, whatever it was, and I drifted off despite the band, the dogs and the machine shop next door. It was a perfect ending to a very interesting day, and I looked forward to what the morrow would bring.

So the perfect ending to the day consists of not being able to tell your stories, getting sick and then getting the right drugs to knock you out? That sounds like Lynn’s work on the last few years of For Better or For Worse. Of course, knowing Lynn, we have not heard the last of this cold.

Lynn's Travels: Peru, Day Seven

2010-12-14T16:51:00.000-08:00

As usual I will list the text and comment on it.

Up at 6:00 again and feeling a cold coming on, Liu and I dressed and made our way down to the dining room.

Lynn has mentioned this cold 3 days in row. I have the feeling she wouldn’t be saying this every day if there wasn’t some kind of payoff to it, but we don’t reach it today.

By day three we had begun to settle into groups - sitting at the same tables and lining up for the buffet at the same time. Funny how this happens. Humans like to be organized!

Lining up for the buffet at the same time is not that mysterious. When is the food? That’s when you go. However, sitting at the same tables may have more to do with friendships and cliques establishing within the group.

Breakfast was fried eggs piled high on a platter, flat buns that opened like pita, bananas, cereal, liquid yogurt and juice. We all ate well, since lunch would be small and wolfed down - when possible.

I was unable to find a Peruvian bread that was a “flat bun that opened like a pita”. Sorry.

The people who came to the Mennonite clinic (la Fuente- "The Fountain") were for the most part healthy and well dressed.

At last a name, here is a website for it.

The ones in real need had badly worn clothing and looked malnourished. The clothes these folks wear is often all that they have. In a way, I resented seeing people who had regular check ups. There's no discrimination of course - it's first come, first served- and serious cases had priority. But, we were there to provide for those who had few resources and really needed the help.

Actually this is the Mission of Medical Ministries International from their website:

MMI is an opportunity to serve Jesus Christ by providing spiritual and physical health care in this world of need.

It sounds like it is a good thing the organization has no discrimination, because a Lynn Johnston-run group would probably refuse health care to people who were not wearing rags.

I think Liuba, working with Erin in pediatrics, saw the majority of people seriously in need. Young mothers trying to raise children alone have a lot of trouble - as they do everywhere - and again, sometimes just telling their story to another woman was as soothing and as important as headache pills. Erin was also able to connect these women with a network of social workers in the area through MMI.

This is the old case of the deserving poor and the undeserving poor I have run into time and time again in my own life in dealing with the homeless in the United States. The vast majority of the homeless are men. If you are a single mom with kids, everyone wants to help you. If you are homeless man, it is the exact opposite, and these are often the people who are most seriously in need. I can’t really blame Lynn on this one. Many people have the exact same perception, until they work with people in need. However, as I said yesterday, someone in MMI wisely put Liuba working with the kids and not Lynn. Better that a well-dressed adult be scorned by Lynn than some kid.

The cast of characters we saw was so interesting! It appeared to Pam and I that many of the older Quechua women must sleep in their inner garments (the outer garments kept fresh to wear during the day) because in order to get to their chest and back with a stethoscope, you had to peel them like an onion!!! I think seven layers of undergarments was the record.

At 11,150 feet, if you sleep outside with your alpaca, you probably don’t change to sleepwear all that often.

These dear ladies allowed us to pull up their clothing with a good deal of humor. They were soft spoken, appreciative and eager to comply. The family members who came with them to help with translation fit nicely into our confined space and we marveled at our efficiency despite the conditions.

It’s good Lynn is doing something aside from standing around and judging her patients. It’s pretty clear from the line about translation that she is not doing any of that.

Bloomers, underskirts, overskirts and aprons made a tiny little lady look huge and I remembered from past visits watching them out in the fields with their alpaca, like ornate lampshades drifting through the grass!

Lots of clothes make you look like an ornate lampshade. Good to know.

A gentleman who had a problem resulting from riding a bicycle with a small, hard seat was relieved to hear he was not suffering from a serious ailment. He was also happy to know he could keep his delivery job - he just had to get something more comfortable to sit on!

A funny story. Need more of these.

We were unable to do thorough physical exams, so Pam was concerned about having to prescribe broad-spectrum treatments for vaginal infections and the like. We could do blood and urine testing and some patients happily brought us jars of urine they'd prepared at home. If we did need a specimen, it would have to be "fresh", but Pam would accept the jar anyway, so as not to offend the patient. Sometimes, a patient was given a cup, told to give a sample, and didn't come back! This was always interesting and made for the occasional "blip" in the lineup.

And a story about urine. Lynn always has to have these. She thinks they are funny, at least.

In the tiny space next to us Pam's husband Norman- also a physician - was seeing patients as well. One in particular was in bad shape. A young woman of about 25 had an infected wisdom tooth, resulting in a huge swelling in her neck and throat. If not treated immediately, she could have serious breathing difficulties. People have died from this, so it was important to get her onto the right antibiotic immediately and refer her to the hospital in Cuzco. Making this happen required the help of the people who ran the clinic and the MMI staff as well. Expenses could be covered for serious cases, which was a relief for everyone.

Since Peru has universal health care, I expect the real issue is here is the follow-up care for a woman with a prescription written by someone in a clinic, who is only there for a week, when no one at the hospital made the diagnosis necessary to write the prescription. The prescription would have to be justified probably to the clinic staff who are there all the time and not for just a week.

Liuba and I went for a walk at lunch.

I guess Lynn had more time for lunch than she thought.

The local market was a block away and as we meandered past the vendors, we recognized people we had seen earlier in the clinic. Piles of yellow pumpkins, open bags full of grains, pale coloured corn with huge kernels boiling in open pots are a local treat. Large, flat loaves of bread piled like small tires smelled delicious. We wished we could try everything, but had been warned not to eat anything not prepared for us and definitely not to drink the water. Local water was so likely to cause a problem, we were warned to keep our mouths closed in the shower!

Now Lynn remembers the issue with not getting enough clean water to drink, but not in time to point it out in yesterday’s travelogue. I am not sure how food in boiling water is going to be a problem, but it’s nice to know that Lynn is taking the warning seriously for a change.

The market people are hard workers. Those who came to us from the market had calloused hands, aching backs and arthritic hands. They had problems sitting and standing and everything in between.

Squatting?

I stopped trying to "bargain" with them after awhile, knowing how hard it is for them to earn a living. Giving them a bit extra is easy for those of us who can afford to travel to their country... and it means so much to them!

I suppose this is an improvement for Lynn who normally considers the bargoon to be the primary reason for going to foreign countries. Of course, Lynn just finished saying how she wasn’t going to buy any food, so I suppose this means she has decided to move into shopping for non-food items. It must have been a pretty long lunch.

Back at the clinic, Pam had just taken a man of about 50 into her "office". He too had work related woes, but the thing most affecting his health was his drinking. I mentioned the drink "chicha" which is made from corn. The red chicha is non alcoholic, the yellow chicha is.

I can’t find anything to confirm this. Most websites say that chica is a soft drink.

All over Peru, yellow chicha is responsible for poor health and broken relationships. More men than women suffer from alcoholism, though we did have a few ladies smile, blush and confess to liking their chicha!

Lynn can relate and you can tell there is no condemnation there.

Pam asked this man if he felt guilty. He told us he had left his wife and children, had lost his job - and was lost himself. All of this played a role in his physical health. Pam asked if he would like to pray. "God won't listen to me" he said "because I drink chicha". He was afraid he was already ostracized from heaven. Pam comforted him by saying that God understood. People make mistakes. She told him he was loved and still a child of God. He suddenly went down on his knees in front of her and cried as she prayed for him and his family. Even she was unprepared for his open surge of emotion and we both hoped he would soon find some way to get his life back on track.

Here you get to see Lynn’s gender bias in full bloom. She has sympathy for the single moms and all that business yesterday about women just needing to tell someone their troubles. A man does the same thing and it takes Lynn by surprise. Pam is doing the regret, repentance and reconciliation and she would have to be gratified that it seems like it worked for this man.

Understand that I have not attended a church service in years! I have had my own thoughts and feelings. I do believe in God - I believe we are here for a reason - perhaps to learn through adversity to be better people! I believe in giving back. I believe in the power of positive thinking. Here was an example of faith and religion doing what it is supposed to do; comfort, support and heal.

Ah, religion by Lynn. Look at all those pop culture buzz phrases. I think back to Lynn’s interview with Tom Heintjes on the subject:

Tom Heintjes: Are you religious?
Lynn Johnston: I don’t like organized religion where people tell me I have to follow a certain dogma. I don’t like other people interpreting Scriptures for me. I like to interpret them for myself. Not that I feel that I’m the only one who can, but I just feel . . . let’s put it another way. Only a couple of times have I ever been to church and felt enlightened by it.

Lynn prefers to interpret for herself and it shows she has little background or understanding of religion and its purpose. When confronted by this 50-year-old man’s reaction, the first thing she talks about is a personal defense of her own choice to intentionally separate herself from something that can bring a man to his knees. Maybe there is something to this religion stuff after all.

We arrived back at the hotel with all the supplies, prepared to set up in a different location the next day. The young Doctor who had set up "le Fuente" joined us. He had made a remarkable dream come true. He and his wife were providing help where it was badly needed and his children were growing up in a most interesting environment. It had been another exhausting, but memorable day.

That’s “La Fuente” Lynn. You got it right the first time you mentioned it, unless this is some kind of Spanish joke I don’t get. The doctor’s name from the website is Eduardo Astete Mendosa, and there are some nice pictures there of him, his wife and the staff, but not his kids.

Lynn's Travels: Peru, Day Six

2010-12-13T10:33:00.000-08:00

As usual, I will quote the text and then comment on it.

We were all out of bed and downstairs in the "dining room" by 6:30 AM.

By use of quotes, Lynn takes another shot at the hotel, with a dining room that is not really a dining room. Slowly, but surely, Lynn moves closer to agreeing with the taxi cab driver’s assessment of the hotel.

Morning prayer and some songs from the MMI hymnbook began the day and we were on the bus by 8. Our first session was set up in a tidy little Mennonite clinic, not far from the church we had attended on Sunday. The supplies had been sent on a separate bus and we all pitched in to carry everything inside.

Already this is not like those trips we are used to with Lynn and Rod and bunch of tents set up in some wilderness. This is a pre-established clinic and it appears the Mennonites must do this kind of mission year-round.

This time there were no dentists, so we were spared from having to load and unload the heavy chairs and other equipment they'd need.

“This time there were no dentists” is a statement which implies that there were other times when there were dentists. And yet, this is the first day of this, so clearly Lynn is writing this after having done the whole trip and is not bothering to maintain any sense that this is a day-by-day journal. That aside, this is a confusing statement. If they are operating in a clinic, then why couldn’t they unload the dental equipment one time and be done with it until they were finished? What are the dentists doing?

Already a long line up of patients was there to welcome us at the entrance.

If they didn’t leave for the area until 8 am, then this is not very much of a surprise.

It was a clear day. A brief rainfall in the evening had made the grass moist and green. Kids tumbled about in the small courtyard as volunteers put up tent shelters and rows of chairs. For some patients, a check up and a referral would be an all day process. Many of the ladies there wore traditional garments; multi layered skirts, several sweaters and blouses and knee high woolen socks. Tall white hats and long braids, often tied together at the bottom or finished with long tassels of black wool, made them stand out from the crowd.

Lynn is very descriptive and in the picture you can see there are a few women dressed this way, while the majority are not.

These were Quechua and spoke little Spanish.

For Quechua in Cuzco, I found this information from this website:

Quechua had already expanded across wide ranges of the central Andes long even before the Incas, who were just one among many groups who already spoke forms of Quechua across much of Peru. Quechua arrived at Cuzco and was influenced by languages like Aymara. This fact explains that the Cuzco variety was not the more spread. In similar way, a diverse group of dialects appeared meanwhile the Inca Empire ruled and imposed Quechua.

It was important to find translators who could speak to them and translate for us, so that we could then translate the Spanish into English for the doctors. We soon found several young women, nurses and volunteers who still spoke this ancient language and were eager to help.

“still spoke this ancient language”. Oh, Lynn, you do not disappoint. You are right about it being ancient, but “still spoke” implies this is a dying language. Not so. From this website:

Quechua has official language status in Peru. In Peru, a quarter of the population speaks Quechua, and about a third of the Quechua speakers speak no Spanish.

I can’t believe Medical Ministries International really walked into Cuzco without being prepared to deal with ¼ of the population. I find the idea of Lynn Johnston running about trying to find people to translate Quechua into Spanish for her very amusing. Ultimately, you find that Lynn will not mention these Quechua translators again in this day's writeup.

Inside the neat little clinic, I was paired up with Dr. Pam Bradford from Maryland.

You can see a picture of her here. Her specialty is Internal Medicine.

She and her husband, Norman, were given a small room, divided into two by a set of hospital screens.

Dr. Norman Bradford from Maryland. His specialty is Anesthesiology

We would have about 4'x5' of space each. Plastic bags were being applied to an adjoining window to create some privacy and to darken a room that the optometrist would work in. The staff had given us an examining table and Pam was pleased to see that we had a sink with running water.

I presume by this reference to a staff, Lynn means the staff of the clinic.

In the hall outside our room, two other cubicles had been created with pipes and curtains. Examining tables had been set up there, too. It was a clean and very well organized space, even if it was tiny! Down the hall was a room for pharmacy, to the left of the pharmacy was a long bench for waiting patients and around the corner to the left again, was triage where patients would be lead first to have their weight and blood pressure taken and their charts prepared.

All past tense as if someone else set all this stuff up before they arrived.

It took some time to set ourselves up. The first day is always a fluster of where to put things, how to arrange the flow of patients and which volunteer is best suited to what job. By 10:00 am, we had a system and by noon, we were a team!

2 hours to get there and set up. 2 hours to get a system and become a team. After all this, and Lynn has failed to mention one single thing that she has done.

Liuba had been assigned to Erin Hannigan, a young (and very pretty) pediatrician.

That probably Erin A. Hannagan, M.D. You can see her picture in this website and she does appear to be pretty. Too bad, Dr. Pam Bradford. I am sure if Lynn thought you were pretty, she would have mentioned it. However, the important message is that someone had the wisdom not to assign Lynn to someone dealing with kids.

Their space was in one of the administration buildings across the courtyard from us. Many complexes and private homes are arranged like this, around a central square or rectangular garden which serves as a living or gathering space. The building is hidden by a high wall. The outer doors then open to reveal a courtyard around which the residence is formed. The rooms all open to face the garden in the center; a tiny replica of the public square downtown. We saw this in Pompeii, so this ancient, Latin- style of architecture remains popular today.

So Lynn is saying that the Mennonites occupy a clinic where the architecture is Latin because it is similar to something she saw in the ruins of Pompeii. Pompeii is 1st century Italy. Cuzco was the historic capital of the Inca Empire in the 13th century. That's really a popular style if it carried from Italy to the Incans after 12 centuries.

Liuba's and Erin's space was next to Nora Porter, also from Maryland. Nora, a family physician, spoke fluent Spanish so she was on her own for most of the time, calling on Liuba only when someone's speech was too difficult to decipher!

I can’t find a Dr. Nora Porter from Maryland. However, I did find a website with this Dr. Nora Porter, in St. Louis who has this on her resume:

She has also worked as a volunteer physician for several organizations in Haiti, Bolivia, Costa Rica and Thailand.

There is also a Dr. Nora Porter who practices family practice in Pennsylvania, but I have a feeling that Dr. Nora Porter from St. Louis is the one. I would go on about Lynn getting the place wrong, but if Dr. Nora Porter is really from St. Louis, that explains the whole thing. Lynn thinks, "She's from St. Louis, Missouri. But wait, Missouri? Isn't that actually in Kansas? Oh, I am getting confused again. I'll just say she's from Maryland like Pam is."

Liu was in her element with the children, but her memories of growing up in Russia with little to eat and hand-me-down clothing would come back to haunt her time and again. It was hard for her at first to separate herself from the families who were in dire need, but her experience made her all the more compassionate, kind and understanding. I soon heard her laughing and teasing the little ones while she did the translation.

What? Is she saying Liuba was in tears when she was translating before she was able to separate herself from these families and her own personal history with poverty?

We all established an easy pace, wanting to be as thorough with examinations as possible and still see as many people as we could. Pam and I were a compatible pair. I loved her gentle, understanding style and so respected her abilities.

This statement is loaded with Lynn's patented "read between the lines". While Liuba was described as a translator, Lynn does not mention doing that. Lynn’s respect for Pam’s abilities is based on her “style” and not on what she was actually doing for the patients. Instead of saying she loved working with Pam, she calls her “compatible”.

Patients in these areas tend to suffer from the same things. Hard work and carrying heavy loads on poorly supported feet cause backaches, calluses and sore legs. Dry air - filled with sand the consistency of talcum powder - irritates eyes and throats. Vendors in the streets get up at 5 and work until sundown. Construction workers and farmers work without the proper equipment or adequate food. Women abandoned with children complain of headaches they can't stand and this is often from stress. Just telling another woman about her difficult life was what they needed more than anything.

After the laundry list of things, Lynn works her way around to the thing she was doing, i.e. listening to someone else complain about their hard life. And is that better or worse than getting medical treatment? Why yes it is. They needed it more than anything. By her own affirmation, Lynn is better than the doctor. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about Lynn's relationship with Pam.

At first, when Pam asked if a patient wished to pray, I felt uneasy. I knew my medical terminology, but religious phrases were embarrassingly foreign to me.

Here you go Lynn, “Shall we pray” in Spanish is “vamos a orar”. This is very odd for Lynn to say. Doesn’t she know this is Medical Ministries International? I thought she had worked for them before. If not, the hymnbook and praying should have been a giveaway. Of course, this is a woman who thought prayer and prairie were related and that was in English.

Pam would hold the patients' hands, bow her head and ask God to take the pain away. "Heal your daughter's aching muscles, calm the pain in her head, give her rest from all her duties and make her husband realize that he must support his children. Let her know that she is loved and cared for and that you are listening..." Words like this don't come from the Bible. They come from the heart.

Actually, Lynn, all those ideas (giving rest, calming pain, fathers supporting children, being loved and cared for, etc.) are in the Bible, believe it or not.

What Pam would say could not be given as advice or in conversation. We were, after all, strangers; foreigners. But, her comforting acknowledgement and sage advice, if given in a prayer, was gratefully accepted and would last far beyond the small bottles of meds we could give her.

I like this idea. You can say things in prayer with someone that you would never say to them in person. I can imagine Lynn praying, "Oh God. I pray that she will take a bath because she stinks so bad, not that I would ever tell her that in advice or in conversation."

I soon became part of an intimate trio; Pam holding the patients' hands, my hands on Pam's and the patients' shoulders. I wanted to be a translator, but this was a private exchange beyond words, beyond borders, beyond looks and lives, possessions and beliefs. It was an experience I can't even begin to explain, which is rare for a talker like me!!

Lynn has had a good experience witnessing someone else ministering to someone else and apparently does little else. “I wanted to be a translator” says it all.

Outside our little cube, patients were waiting patiently for their names to be called. "Runners" would put their charts into the docket on the wall, then lead patients to the next station after their appointment. Treatment continued with a "charla".

Charla = Conversation / Chat En = In Español just so you know. It is not the name of a medical practice, which is what the next text would lead you to believe:

This is an opportunity for nurses, therapists and ministers to help people understand how parasites and other diseases are transmitted and how to avoid them. Plastic models showed how the back works and how lifting in certain positions can put too much stress on the spine. Exercises to improve back and leg strength were demonstrated. People could learn about nutrition and infant health, and there were two psychiatrists as well who would talk to people about their lives, their fears and their faith. Fear is a serious problem- for everyone. In a country where services which house and protect the elderly are either too expensive or non-existent, the fear of having a terrible disease or a chronic ailment is constant. In a modern city in 2010, it's hard to believe that such services are so underfunded. Even hardy young people fear a health problem, as work cannot stop because of an aching back. Somebody has to feed the family and pay the bills.

Although Lynn is slamming the Peruvian health care system, the Health care system in Peru is universal, and financed by government though a system of national health insurance. In fact, this website shows that Cuzco has 1 public hospital and 7 private hospitals. In fact, after reading Lynn's description, I enjoyed this story talking about how Peruvian health care shames the USA health care system.

On the first day, Pam and I saw more women than men. This meant that we dealt with a lot of intimate problems and one in particular made us laugh for the rest of the week. Our patient was a woman of about 50, well into menopause and trying to cope with the crazy ups and downs of hormone change. One of her concerns was that she peed when she laughed. Pam smiled and said there was an exercise she could do to strengthen the muscle that controls the opening of the bladder. "The next time you urinate" she said, "stop before you're finished and hold on for the count of ten. This exercise can be done anywhere, once you know how to do it, and you should do it at least 10 times a day.". Even though Pam made it clear that you didn't have to run to a washroom, the lady was confused. "Look" I said. "you practice on the toilet, but you can do the exercise anywhere! Nobody has to know what you're doing- you just do it. For example," I went on, "you can do it on the bus!" I held an invisible stanchion and lifted my eyebrows as if counting to ten. "You can do it in the kitchen!" I whisked invisible eggs and grimaced up to ten. "You can do it while you're buying groceries!" I pretended I had a bag of grocs and was paying the cashier as I flexed my privates secretly. Both Pam and the patient laughed until they cried. This is the kind of audience a comic adores....and is far too encouraging.

This comment is far too easy. This is the kind of audience Lynn adores…audiences that love pee jokes.

We saw the dear Quechua ladies who complained of varicose veins. Their stockings, held up with strong elastics formed ligatures behind their knees and we asked the local nurses to find a solution if they could.

What? The stocking elastics form ligatures and this causes varicose veins says Dr. Lynn. This article on varicose veins suggests different sources: Pregnance, prolonged standing, obesity, straining, or trauma to the leg. Maybe Lynn means that the stockings fall into the "trauma to the leg" category.

They complained of aching backs, arthritis and dizziness. Pam listened and administered without letting on that she had seen and heard the same story from almost every patient.

What is Lynn suggesting here? It is a trial to the doctor to have a series of patients with the same symptoms?

One of the things everyone seemed to overlook was their need for water. In a climate as dry as this, Pam recommended at least 8 tall glasses a day; something we hear often enough as well. It's amazing what happens to your body if you don't get enough water.

Lynn. You take getting clean water for granted in Canada. It’s not as easy in Peru.

There weren't enough otoscopes to go around, so the few we had were in great demand. Blood pressure instruments break with the change in altitude, so we needed those as well and the one little knee-knocking hammer made the rounds, too making us a lot more aware of what was going on in the other operatories around us. It was clear to everyone that bringing all your tools with you was a good thing to do!

Well, Lynn. It sounds like the tool you needed was a Spanish – English dictionary, so you could look up the word “pray” in Spanish.

Around 4 in the afternoon, the line was halted and we were able to able to clean up and head for the hotel. Little was said on the bus. We were all more tired than we realized, having worked non stop all day with just a short lunch break in which to catch your breath.

Basically 10 am to 4 pm for patients. That's not a lot of time.

Liuba decided to try and use the miserable hotel computer and I crashed on the bed in our room.

Another slam to the hotel about its computer (as if Lynn would actually use such a thing).

I was starting to catch a cold and hoped it wouldn't tie me down at all.

Lynn suffers. Oh how she suffers.

Dinner began with grace and after we had all been fed, we dissected the day's events. Everyone had a story to tell about an unforgettable patient or a system we could try. Good suggestions and good laughs always followed dinner and after dinner, bed felt wonderful - cold mattress and all.

Another hotel slam. I guess Lynn must have a heated mattress up in Corbeil. I don’t think I have ever been in a hotel that had anything but unheated mattresses.

Lynn's Travels: Peru, Day Five

2010-12-10T13:18:00.000-08:00

As usual, I will quote the text and comment on it.

Sunday morning. We gathered in the basement of the hotel for greetings, prayers and breakfast. All of the suitcases we had brought full of medicines, clothing, toys and medical supplies were stacked at the back of the room, ready to be emptied and organized.

Looking at the Medical Ministries International website, I see they have an expectation that the medical professionals coming will be bringing in their own supplies

Surgery and clinic supplies, equipment and non-expired medicines are carried by participants to specific projects, or shipped (at the donor's tax-deductible expense) to our warehouses.

The first order of the day was to attend a church service at the Mennonite church on the other side of town. There are many Mennonite families living in Peru and from what I could see, their presence is much appreciated. Churches, clinics, schools and other services are maintained through volunteerism and donations.

Eastern Mennonite Missions appears from this website to have made a project out of Cusco. In this website, it talks about the first bilingual school in Cusco started by the Mennonite Church.

This church was a small, tidy hall and open to all denominations. A group of young musicians was performing heartily and a congregation of perhaps 50 people was already in attendance, singing and clapping, swaying and holding their hands up high. I always enjoy services in Latin America. The hymns are melodious and uplifting. The sermons are personal, positive and often funny. People take part with heart and soul and you come away feeling refreshed, surrounded by people you'd love to get to know. At least that's my experience!

I cannot remember Lynn ever talking about church services so positively before. I guess I am haunted by her old interview with Tom Heintjes for Hogan’s Alley, where she said, “Church for me was always politics and lies.” Maybe she’s outgrown these sentiments.

Back at the hotel, we enjoyed a strange watery chicken soup and plans were made to sort through the supplies.

You will see it as we go along, but slowly Lynn is going to turn against the hotel she praised yesterday.

Having just one free day before the work began, some of the group decided to go and check out some ruins and asked us to wait until they got back. Liuba and I, having caught a cold and feeling sort of ruined ourselves, opted to go for a walk instead.

Lynn must really be feeling sick, if she misses an opportunity to do tourism things. Of course, she’s not so sick that she doesn’t go out for a walk, so it makes me wonder if she just isn't feeling that social with the other workers.

Cuzco is about 11000 ft above sea level.

11,150 feet according to this website, but Lynn is close enough. That is pretty high. The tallest mountain in Arizona is 12,633 feet.

We had been advised to take some pills before we arrived to help with altitude sickness, so we didn't feel woozy. What we did feel was tired and out of breath.

Well, Lynn, “tired and out of breath” are 2 of the major symptoms of altitude sickness. And that cold you have which might mean you have a headache, cough, or chest congestion; that could also be altitude sickness.

The sidewalks are crumbly and the traffic is fast, so you take your time when you're exploring...but still we had to stop to rest, feeling light headed and wondering why our legs felt so rubbery.

Dizziness or light-headedness and the inability to walk in a straight line, or to walk at all are also symptoms of altitude sickness.

I bought a warm Diet Coke at a confectionery. Refrigerators cost too much to run, so a cold one is a find!

Also, some in some countries, as a practice, they don’t cool their beverages.

Back at the hotel, they were opening the supplies.

So Lynn took a longer time with her walk than the others did looking at ruins.

I worked with the pharmacist, counting vitamin pills and putting them into small bags. I was not good at this. After failing to master the stick and the counting board, I moved to labeling and picking up empty cartons, bottles and bags.

I think Lynn is referring to a tally stick and counting board. Being familiar with Lynn’s organizational skills as demonstrated through her comic strip, I am not surprised that keeping track of pills and small bags would be beyond her. However, I would guess that it might have surprised the pharmacist. After that, it sounds like she was moved to the trash detail.

It looked like we had a lot of stuff, but there is so much need - no matter what you bring, it's never enough.

I suspect this is a statement that should have come after the supplies were all used up at the end of the mission. Coming at this stage of her mission, it makes little sense.

People were organizing toys and clothing on one side of the room and others were dividing supplies into pediatrics, optical and general practice. Everyone soon found his niche and before long, we had a rhythm going.

And that niche for Lynn is the trash.

The rest of the evening was spent getting to know each other better, and discussing the way our teams would work.

And yet, Lynn still has not mentioned anyone by name, even the pharmacist. She hasn’t even said what Liuba ended up doing. And now onto complaints about the hotel:

The hotel was far from soundproof and there was no heat. On each bed were two heavy, felted blankets and we needed both.

With the 11,150 feet elevation, I was expecting Cusco to be pretty cold. Oddly enough, this website shows the average temperatures in Cusco to be shockingly even, and probably the reason why they had no heat in the hotel, i.e. you don’t need it.

The bathroom though tidy and clean was attached to all the other bathrooms through a central ventilating system, so you could hear whatever was going on in biffs nearby.

While it’s not amazing that Lynn would write about the biffs, it is a little surprising it took her until day 5 to get to it.

Blowing noses, loud emissions, conversations, flushings and a few songs made toiletry interesting. I thought about Wikileaks as I bounced around a shower that was either cold or scalding hot, glad that there was some anonymity...at least until we knew which noise belonged to whom!

Wikileaks publishes submissions from anonymous news sources. The apparent comparison point here is that Lynn thinks of the hotel toilet noises the same way, since they also come from anonymous sources. Suddenly I have this feeling Lynn is going to be occupied during her mission work by trying to figure out which one of her coworkers makes which bathroom noise.

Outside, the proverbial roosters and sundry street dogs kept time with the mechanics in the shops next door and I was more than grateful to have earplugs

Usually the proverbial rooster is the one who crows in the morning and it not known for its rhythm. I guess this means Lynn was allowed to sleep late.

Lynn's Travels: Peru, Day Four

2010-12-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

As usual, I will quote the text and comment on it.

Lynn's Travels: Peru, Day Four

I had expected some of the other MMI folks to be at the Lima airport, but we were on our own.

Lynn came to Lima and spent the last 2 days being a tourist. For some reason, she has an expectation that other people will be doing the same thing. I had thought that she had stopped in Lima because Cuzco had no airport, and she had to take some other form of transportation to get there. Looking at the flights, if you were going to work in Cuzco, which is a 1 hour 15 minute flight from Lima, there is a good chance you would connect through Lima and then go straight to Cuzco. It’s just a guess, but perhaps most of the people working in Medical Ministries International would not stop off in Lima in order to be toured around for 2 days by a woman they had met by chance on a flight to Vancouver.

As we checked our bags, we were told that our plane had been delayed and we would be leaving several hours hence. This would have been fine if we hadn't noticed that there were constant flights to Cuzco, some leaving within minutes of each other.

This is an interesting question. Expedia shows me that the flights from Lima to Cuzco are all on LAN Peru airlines, and there are about 9 a day departing from 6 am to 1:35 pm. The 9:45 am and 9:50 am flights and 1:30 and 1:35 pm flights are within minutes of each other. Lynn has a point. You would think they would put her on another flight instead of making her wait, if they had the space.

We waited from 11 in the morning until well into the afternoon. The sun was going down as we landed.

The 1:35 pm flight is the last to leave and it arrives in Cuzco at 2:50 pm. This means that her plane would have to have departed after the last scheduled flight. I can't imagine going through this trouble, unless there were space issues on the flights.

We were more than ready to settle into the next hotel even though our taxi driver told us it was one of the worst ones in town!

Somehow I have the feeling this taxi driver gets a kickback from a different hotel.

The soil in this part of Peru is as red as the soil of Prince Edward Island. Here, cinderblock walls butt up to adobe. Tiny rectangular houses tumble up and over the hillsides. Some are finished, some partly done. A visual jumble of rebar, corrugated iron, cinder block, glass and stone seems to have formed on its own, creating the outskirt communities, and we wondered how real estate could be bought and sold with any kind of regulation!

To answer that question, I did an internet search on real estate in Cusco, Peru. I found this website without any trouble. Per Lynn’s description though, I see that a number of the Cusco real estate listings have an indication of “unfinished project” on them and have comments like “All property papers are complete and in accordance with government requirements, including construction permit.” It's nice to know that straight away, Lynn has presumed that the Peruvian and Cusco governments have no regulation for land management.

The Inka's Yllari Hotel is a modest 6 story building about 10 minutes by cab from the city center. Small auto repair shops on each side still bustled with activity in the dull blue glow of naked light bulbs. Some of the MMI volunteers were in the lobby and welcomed us warmly as we checked in. Our room was clean, nicely appointed and comfortable, despite the cab driver's comments - and the best accommodation I've had so far with MMI!

This is the Inka's Yllari Hotel website. The pictures of the interior make the hotel appear very nice indeed. The description on the website says it is 8 minutes from the airport and 5 minutes from the city center. Lynn is close enough. Even though she compliments the hotel, I find it amusing to notice that she was not as happy with her prior MMI arrangements.

The narrow lobby lead to heavy glass doors, out and onto a small patio. We were directed from there past a tiny kitchen down into the basement where tables and chairs had been arranged. A buffet dinner of chicken and rice, bananas and local breads was a treat after airport fare.

It’s so nice to see she isn’t concentrating on the beverage choices (or lack thereof). MMI has the word "Ministry" in it, so I expect they are not going to be serving a lot of alcohol for Lynn.

We introduced ourselves to the group of doctors, nurses, ministers, translators and others- some of whom I recognized from my last Mission in Peru. We were all glad to be settled and ready to work.

“recognized” is the word. If she knew their names, then we would get some of the usual Lynn Johnston name-dropping.

Introductions and "pep talk" over, we decided there was time to go into the city to look around. The bus we'd hired was waiting. We piled on and rode into Cuzco, chatting and getting our bearings despite dusty windows and the failing light outside.

The characteristic jumble of unfinished homes and modern buildings abruptly ends where original Inca walls still stand, forming the outer walls of the city. A mix of Spanish architecture and ancient, original stone foundations make the city center an historian's dream. "The Plaza des Armas" is characteristic of all South American towns.

All South American towns? Really Lynn? Every single town in South America.

Taken from the Spanish style, a large rectangular boulevard, often with fountains and a gazebo, is the centerpiece around which government buildings, churches, shops and military headquarters stand.

Just so the Spanish don’t get all the credit here, this is the history and back ground of Cusco’s Plaza de Armas taken from this website:

The Plaza de Armas was called ‘Huacaypata’ after its construction during the Inca Empire. The original plaza was twice the current size, and functioned as the cultural center of Inca life. Cuzco, which was the capital of the Inca Empire, was designed in the shape of a Puma to reflect their Inca animal mythology. Historians proclaim the plaza was intentionally built at the location of the heart of the Puma, in the center of the city. The location of the Plaza is no coincidence. The Plaza is used for most of the city’s events, gatherings, and festivals. Historians feel that the Plaza functioned as the cultural center, or "heart," of the Inca Empire. In 1532 Spanish Conquistador Francisco Pizarro defeated the Inca Empire and took control of Cuzco, renaming the Plaza to "Plaza de Armas." The Spanish reduced the size of the Plaza by building two Churches, la Catedral and la Compañia. La Catedral was built where the palace of Inca Wirancocha once stood.

Now back to Lynn:

In Cuzco, these ornate and stately buildings, witness to hundreds of years of conflict and change, now house fine restaurants and tourist shops. We jumped out at the main entrance to the church, promising to be back at the bus in an hour. You can't see this place in an hour! Narrow streets lead to beautiful courtyards, ancient stone corridors take you up flights of hand hewn stairs into tiny neighborhoods where Inca walls amaze even the locals with their shape, size and engineering artistry.

Those hard-bitten and not-easily-amazed locals.

It was soon too dark to see. We let fatigue take over, joined our new friends on the church steps and waited for the bus "home". Interesting how "home" can be anywhere if you're happy!

I guess Lynn is indirectly saying she is happy. Of course, she is still doing mainly touristy kinds of things. Will her mood change once MMI puts her to work? Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Lynn's Trip to Peru Part 3

2010-12-08T08:53:00.000-08:00

As usual, I will quote the text and comment on it.

Liu and I spent the morning in the markets before meeting Nilda and Rosa for lunch.

Back to the markets for shopping and now she’s called Liu instead of Liuba. I think this is first time I have seen Lynn refer to her by this shorter term.

Ana Maria, a busy social worker, could not take another day off - so, in her borrowed car, Rosa drove us along the top of the ocean front escarpment to show us another view of Lima.

Ana Maria is the one with the car yesterday, so Lynn has to make a point that Rosa has to borrow a car and apparently has a lot more free time than working Ana Maria. I don't have a good feeling for what Nilda or Ana Maria do. Obviously Nilda has the finances to be able to travel to Vancouver, but neither woman seems to own a car.

New hotels and a modern sea-side shopping complex bordered a large, well manicured boulevard. Along the boardwalk, we ate freshly made ice cream, drank hot chocolate and watched kids play on big, colourful coin operated rides.

Lynn is probably talking about the Parque Salazar(Park Salazar). This website has this description and some pictures:

Named after the great Peruvian aviator Alfredo Salazar the park offers a stunning view over the Pacific Ocean. On clear days you can see the whole bay of Lima from Chorrillos and Barranco in the south to Callao with its islands in the north. Built into the cliffs is the famous ‘Centro Comercial Larcomar’. Larcomar is one of the modern shopping and entertainment centers in Lima. You will find exquisite clothes and shops for all kind of accessories, casual and sport clothing, lovely souvenir and arts and crafts shops, bookstores and the best cigars in town. Relax while having an excellent meal or snack in one of the restaurants, a good coffee or even an ice-cream or burger overlooking the beautiful bay. See the latest movies in one of the biggest cinema complexes in Miraflores, have fun at the bowling center or enjoy the theatrical performances at the theatre ‘La Plaza Isil’. Small kids will have fun with the coin-operated rides, bigger ones with arcade games. Since 2006 Larcomar houses as well an exhibition hall of the ‘Museo de Oro’ (Gold museum). The entrance is just next to the theatre. And for all night owls: nightclubs and discotheques invite you to an exciting evening and night. Parque Salazar is a beautiful starting point for a walk north to the many other parks along the ‘malecon’ of Miraflores.

It could have been anywhere, except for the endless desert beaches, precipitous grey cliffs and a dryness that makes your throat tighten and your eyes sting. I wouldn't spend so much time describing the delights of Lima were it not for the vast difference in living conditions we were to see later on.

In other words, Lynn is preparing for the fact she is going to do some kind of social commentary on the differences between living in Lima and living in Cuzco. She is usually terrible at writing about such things, so I can hardly wait for the Cuzco description.

That evening, Ana Maria joined us again and we were taken to another fine restaurant, known for its chicken - roasted over charcoal and spiced just right.

Trying to find this restaurant, all I found was that the Peruvian style of roasting chicken is considered to be a very common Peruvian food, oftentimes imported into Peruvian restaurants in the United States and Canada.

We had become connoisseurs of dark chicha - the fruity non-alcoholic corn drink - and ordered large glasses full.

As opposed to ordering small glass empty? Anyway, it’s nice to see that Lynn isn’t drinking the alcoholic form of chicha today as she did yesterday. However, I will note that even though Lynn talked about the roasted chicken, she still didn’t talk about eating it.

We toasted each other and said once again how much we three strangers had enjoyed our time together.

Yes, folks. Just like in the comic strip, Lynn does this in real life.

We promised to stay in touch. We exchanged gifts and addresses and warm, affectionate hugs before going back to the hotel to pack for our trip to Cuzco. Liuba and I talked again about our three hostesses and how much we would miss them.

Yes, Liuba is on her own with Lynn after this, so I am sure she missed those three.

Who'd have guessed that a chance encounter on a flight to BC would lead to such a wonderful relationship and two full days of fun!

And now going to Lynn’s favorite theme of fate, with her chance encounter. I suspect there was a lot less chance to that than Lynn is trying to put across. Nevertheless, it seems like the 3 ladies were pretty gracious to Lynn to tour her around Lima for the last 2 days.

The Last Strip in Hyperspeed

2010-09-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

This is a video of Lynn Johnston drawing her final comic strip, supposedly edited by her son Aaron, and the clearest indication that Lynn and her son Aaron have finally patched things up, since Aaron has not been mentioned in years. Aaron's editing seems to have been to speed everything up, eliminate Lynn's dialogue, and then do moving versions of the final product. For those of us wanting to observe the art process, it was a little difficult. I can understand why someone might want to eliminate Lynn's conversation, but that was the part of the video I had been looking forward to. So Aaron, thumbs down on this editing job from me.

The video of the art confirms what I have often suspected:

a. We see Lynn Johnston pulling out an old collection for reference, lending credence to the idea that she borrows jokes from her old material. The case in point for the final strip was the number of squeaking / creeking bones jokes she has done in strips before.

b. We do not see Lynn Johnston doing any kind of layouts. She draws straight from the first panel to the last panel in order and doesn't go back. This explains all those strips where something would be introduced in a later panel that did not appear in an earlier panel where it should have appeared. Unlike the old days when Lynn was shown writing her strip ideas up in a notebook before she drew them, we don't see a single reference to that notebook. It gives me the impression she is making it up as she goes along, lifting ideas from her old strips, which is certainly the way most of her last strips in 2010 came across.

c. Sometimes she draws the dialogue first and sometimes she draws the head first. So many of her artistic issues have to do with drawing a head without sketching out the body. I have seen several of her strips where the head size did not match the body size, and this confirmed it for me. As for the dialogue, it’s not a surprise either. Many times I have guessed that Lynn drew her characters to fit around her dialogue and not by what made sense, and this confirmed that too.

d. She doesn’t erase and fix anything. I didn’t see that eraser pop out even once.

e. Back when Laura Piché was inking the strip, the website made a big deal about how Laura had to put on gloves to avoid smearing the ink. Not a single glove on Lynn. I have a feeling she required Laura to do something she would never do herself.

f. What I did not know was that Lynn had pre-marked panel templates to choose from when making her strips. This certainly explains why so many of the Sunday strips in particular had panels which I described as a repetition of the previous panel. If she only has 4-5 panels worth of material, she is obliged by her template to draw in 10 panels of material, instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to expand the size of her drawing. While this may have been a time-savings for Lynn, it certainly cost her in terms of artistic creativity.

This video confirmed everything I have suspected about Lynn’s art after looking at it carefully over the last few years. And of course, the big insult is that someone coloured the final strip, but do we get to see a video of the colourist? No. The strip magically appears in colour, as if from nowhere.

The colourist is Kevin Strang. Great job, Kevin.

Straight Reprints: It's Official

2010-08-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

One of the options I suggested Lynn Johnston might be taking For Better or For Worse, when I wrote last week was this:

Since July 19, 1981 was reprinted way back on July 19, 2009; Lynn will start reprinting from July 26, 1981 next week and then continue that way with the strips off in date continuity between 1981 and 2010 by 2 weeks.

With today's reprint in For Better of For Worse, this is exactly what has happened. July 26, 1981 has reappeared. I had thought Lynn Johnston might synchronize the publication of the Sunday strips between the dates in 2010 with those of the original publication dates in 1981 as she has done with the daily strips, but that doesn't seem to be the case. As of this point in her reprinting, Lynn Johnston has no more strips in 1981 originally published after July 26, which she has already reprinted in the last 2 years of doing the new-runs. In other words, we have entered the land of straight reprints. The only place the 2-week separation will cause her trouble is around the holiday seasons. I doubt that she is thinking that far in advance.

As for today's comic strip, it goes along with one of Lynn Johnston's running jokes for the strip, i.e. husbands don't know how to dress themselves. Eventually this ends up being a little ironic in the later years of the strip when Elly Patterson hits her 50s and starts dressing like she is in her 80s. Unlike many other strips of this sort, John Patterson is actually allowed to make a case for his love of this particular jacket which sounds reasonable for a man who forgets to do up his belt and tuck in his shirt and who needs to scratch underneath his sports jacket while out in public. The humour works pretty well here, because Elly does not go into a giant fit over John's logic. She lets him sink himself. The clever reader will quickly understand that, given John's explanation, a wife might prefer him to cover up those activities.

Let's not think too hard about why John might be out in public with his shirt untucked and his belt undone. Probably he is talking about when he leaves the bathroom without remembering to do those things and not moments where he is leaving another woman's house in a rush.

What this strip does show in the final panel is what I refer to as the George Burns moment, where the character stops the action and makes a joke directly to the reader. Lynn Johnston must have gone through a phase in July of 1981, because she did the same thing last week and the week before. Eventually she stops doing this, and lets her characters say the punch line to another character, who will be shown laughing hilariously in reaction to it. I prefer the method she uses today.

August Date Check

2010-07-31T17:26:00.000-07:00

Lynn wrote in her Coffee Talk Blog on July 6, 2010:

The Sunday strips continue to be new additions because I used so many retro Sundays during 2007. The new Sundays will cease in August and the retros will begin with new coloring and sometimes improved imagery. Thanks for asking! LJ

Now it's August, let's check it out:

Sunday, July 11, 2010 was a new-run.
July 12, 1981 was reprinted on Sunday, July 18, 2010.
June 28, 1981 was reprinted on Sunday, July 24, 2010.
July 5, 1981 is reprinted today on August 1, 2010.

It would appear that there is not really any part of Lynn’s statement that is true. There was one more new addition, not “new additions” which did not cease in August, but ceased the very next Sunday after her statement in July.

As for what is really coming up, I can suggest a few possibilities:

1. Since July 19, 1981 was reprinted way back on July 19, 2009; Lynn will start reprinting from July 26, 1981 next week and then continue that way with the strips off in date continuity between 1981 and 2010 by 2 weeks.
2. Lynn will skip 2 weeks and synchronize the strips by date as she did with the dailies where the August 9, 1981 strip will be published on August 8, 2010.
3. There will be at least one more new-run strip published in August, which will make Lynn’s original comment turn out to be true after all.

As for today’s strip, the kids come to Elly playing the blame game and expecting Elly to do something about it. Foolish children. Have you met your mother? Elly does not do anything about it, but she does pretend like she should be able to, with her line, “Since I can’t possibly know who’s at fault here…” Just to give you a clue Elly, the phrase “broke my house” is something that can be checked. Nevertheless, I don’t believe that it is the parent’s responsibility to assess blame in these kinds of situations, but more to assess damage and calm down the kids. Elly sends them to their rooms for 20 minutes as if that technique actually works. It may work for some families, but it never worked for mine. My kids almost never stayed in their rooms when they were upset with each other. It took some time for them to calm down and they usually had to be watched during that time, since that was not their natural tendency. As for Elly’s reaction, it seems perfectly in character for her to show off her non-parenting skills and put those disfigured sock feet of hers on display.

Two Years = One Treasury

2010-07-24T23:57:00.000-07:00

Today's Sunday strip of For Better or For Worse was originally printed on June 28, 1981. Again, we do not have new material on the Sunday and since the next Sunday is in August, the only remaining thing to do is to check and see if the Sunday comic strip chosen next week is the one corresponding in time to the first Sunday in August, 1981. If it is, then we will be officially in straight reprints for Sundays and dailies. There is good reason for this to happen.

I suspect the actual last new work for Lynn Johnston will be the cover on the book Something Old, Something New: For Better or For Worse 1st Treasury. The description on the page indicates that what we are going to see in the Treasury is not like the chronological reprinting of the Complete Peanuts, but the new-run and reprint material that Lynn has printed since going to the new-runs in 2008.

The page length is close to the same as that of the Complete Peanuts series, which usually covers 2 years. Thus, we have an explanation to why the new-runs continued for 2 years -- Lynn Johnston wanted material to cover this new-run edition. If she continues on, then every 2 years there would be another treasury covering the reprinted (and occasionally slightly redrawn and recolored) strips. We also have an explanation to why the new-run Sunday strips stop in August -- to allow enough time for the publisher to put together the material for a November 9 publication date. Given that Lynn has to have her Sunday strips 8 weeks in advance, then that give the publisher at least 5 months and possibly more, if Lynn worked in advance.

The disappointment is that Lynn is not doing a treasury edition like the critically acclaimed Complete Peanuts, which published everything in exact chronological order and with a great deal of attention placed on a high quality presentation, as if it were the collection of a great historical document. This is a little bit of a surprise, because Lynn considers Charles Schulz so highly. You would think she would want to imitate the Complete Peanuts more exactly. You would think she would want to toss the awful new-runs of the last 2 years, because they were so full of errors.
Moreover, there were a number of good strips, she either did not reprint or she did reprint in the hybrid year of 2007-08. Without them, the For Better or For Worse first treasury is going to be a severely incomplete history of the early years of the strip.

The Mysterious Calendar of Lynn Johnston

2010-07-18T00:12:00.000-07:00

Today’s For Better or For Worse Sunday strip is a reprint from July 12, 1981. Lynn said in her Coffee Talk Blog last week:

The Sunday strips continue to be new additions because I used so many retro Sundays during 2007. The new Sundays will cease in August and the retros will begin with new coloring and sometimes improved imagery. Thanks for asking! LJ

As you know from last week's blog entry, I interpreted that to mean July 18 and 25 would be new strips and the Sundays in August would be reprints. Now that I see today's strip is a reprint, I am going to have to read Lynn’s message a little more carefully. Lynn does not say that the Sunday strips “will continue” to be new additions. She says that that the Sunday strips “continue” to be new additions. This is an explanation as to why she has not taken the Sunday strips to straight reprints as the dailies were taken to straight reprints. It is not a promise of things to happen in the future.

I also note that although Lynn does say that the Sunday strips “will cease” in August, she does not specify when in August they will cease. Based on this, it is safe to say that in order for something to cease in August, there must be at least one new addition which occurs sometime before then. So, we could get a new strip on July 25. Or we could get new strips from July 25 all the way to the second-to-last Sunday in August.

Another possibility is that last Sunday’s comic strip was our last new one and Lynn Johnston is simply lying. Certainly her recent response in Elly’s Coffee Talk would indicate that Lynn finds it very difficult to tell the truth.

Another possibility is that Lynn really doesn’t remember or know when the final strip is, because she did them so long ago.

I suspect what Lynn really means is that in August, the 2010 Sunday strips will start to be reprinted with dates that will be chronologically synchronized with the strips from 1981, as the dailies are done now. Technically, this Sunday’s reprint strip, even though it comes from July 12, 1981, is not synchronized by date. In other words, it is not the Sunday strip from July 19, 1981. Up until the time that the strips are chronologically synchronized, the strips could be reprints or new material. I guess we will have to see what shows up next week or any week up until the time when the dates between 1981 and 2010 match on Sundays.

Squeak, Squeak. The Comic Strip is So Old, It Needs Lube

2010-07-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Today I am with my family in Garden City, South Carolina enjoying a vacation at the beach. It's the end of the day and taking a look at Lynn's latest work, it looks like she may have drawn this comic strip while she had a spare moment at the beach. Today's new-run of For Better or For Worse is, according to the Lynn Johnston in her Coffee Talk 3 strips away from being her last new work. She said:

The Sunday strips continue to be new additions because I used so many retro Sundays during 2007. The new Sundays will cease in August and the retros will begin with new coloring and sometimes improved imagery. Thanks for asking! LJ

That means we have today, July 11, and then July 18 and 25 left.

Today's strip follows the same pattern as many of her Sunday strips of late. She recycles and combines ideas from old strips and then add lots of onomatopoiea. The squeaky tricycle strip is here. Here and here are 2 strips featuring Pattersons with creaking bones used for humour.

Artistically, Lynn continues her tendency to think in 4 panel sequences. John is in silhouette observing a squeaking kids' play thing in Panels 1 and 5, separated by 4 panels. Aside from that, Lynn's art suffers from her usual issues. The proportions are off in quite a few of the panels. In Panel 5, Michael and Lizzie are tiny compared to that enormous swing. In Panel 7, Michael's wagon is tiny in comparison to his body and the wagon doesn't look much like a wagon with its broken front axle. In Panels 1 and 4, Lizzie appears to be riding her tricycle without the benefit of a left leg. It's also pretty obvious in Panels 5 and 6, Lynn Johnston did not look at an actual swing set before she drew a picture of it. That's not how swings are attached to the swing set in the swing set in my backyard.

It will be interesting to see if Lynn plans to close her final new work with any kind of notice that it is her last new work; but the way she is going, I doubt she would want to . We have 2 more Sundays to see how it will all end. I expect more repeated old jokes from old strips and more onomatopoeia.

Save Me!

2010-07-04T16:21:00.000-07:00

I am back from the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. Itinerary 30 with 81 miles of backpacking over 12 days. I am quite exhausted, but apparently not as exhausted as Lynn Johnston as we see with today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse. Lynn has once again gone to her usual theme of kids acting like kids, with Elly Patterson reacting as though she is being tortured. I would count up the number of strips we have seen with that theme for the last year, but why bother? That’s about the only kind of strip Lynn Johnston does these days.

Being around kids acting like kids is not torture. Try being with Boy Scouts who don’t bathe for 12 days, while carrying a 50-pound pack on your back, up and down mountain peaks, and eating dry backpacking food every meal! That’s real torture. I unloaded the clothes for me and my son out of the packs and my wife left the room the smell was so bad.

Speaking of bad smells, let’s talk about Lynn Johnston’s material. Lynn is now 2 Sundays past the point where she had already reprinted the 1981 Sunday comic strips whose dates correspond to the Sundays in 2010. It is curious that she is still doing new material and has not gone to reprinting the Sunday strips instead. I have 3 theories about the matter:

1. Lynn has decided she is not going to officially retire (This makes how many times now?) and she will continue doing new material on the Sunday strips. That’s 4 strips a month, which she could easily knock out in a few days, leaving her plenty of time for her vacation time, and still allowing her to keep the “new material” status, especially for those papers that only carry For Better or For Worse on Sundays. Lynn has said she enjoys doing the Sunday strips more than the dailies (now 3 months in straight reprints from 1981). Maybe she had a conversation with Bill Amend (Foxtrot) at the National Cartoonists Society Convention about how easy it was to do a Sunday-only strip. This is assuming she knows who he is.

2. Lynn has one more Sunday strip she has already reprinted from 1981 which she has not passed chronologically, the strip from July 19, 1981. Instead of keeping track of things and reprinting the unreprinted Sunday strips from 1981 prior to that time, Lynn has opted to do new material until that point. Then she will go to straight reprints.

3. There is no plan. Lynn has been replaced by a robot which does her strips for her and simply recycles bits and pieces from her old strips to create new strips for Sundays. Unfortunately for Lynn, the robot has not realized that kids are terrible demons, John Patterson is the worst man alive, and Farley the dog exists only to produce waste materials; so some of the strips seem strangely happy. Take today’s new-run of For Better of For Worse, for example. All the kids are playing together with the dog. No dog poop. No fights. No destruction of property. It’s almost like a different strip from the one we are used to. Clearly someone has left something out of the robot’s programming.

There are a few odd things about today’s strip:

1. Farley the dog is shown running like a dog, and not like a rabbit. Admittedly all the characters still hover when they run, which is a Lynn Johnston standard; but I was struck by Farley’s doggishness. Can it be that someone has finally read all our comments over the years and whispered into Lynn’s ear the magic words “Dogs don’t run like that.”?

2. Lynn has mixed the space man and superhero themes. Lawrence and Michael are running about with superhero capes on and yet their made-up adventure involves Lawrence being called Twirg and saving the world from a beast and the use of pressure chambers.

3. Lawrence and Lizzie are unexpectedly mute. All the verbal description of the play comes exclusively from Michael, if you don’t count Farley’s barking noises.

4. 4-panel structures. Panels 4 and 8 are both silhouettes of the 4 characters with motions unrelated to each other or anything in particular, with colorfully worded sound effects. Panel 4 is not too bad with this, but Panel 8 makes it very obvious that the 4 characters seem to be operating on different physical planes, the worst being Lawrence, who actually casts a shadow as a silhouette, where the shadow is level with Farley’s head.

5. The final panel noise balloon with its BAM, POW, BARK, and ZAP actually has dandruff and dust and smoke clouds on it. Taken by itself, it makes it seem like Elly is begging John to save her from a noise balloon that has taken on a life of its own.

6. The final panel gag is a weak pun, even for Lynn Johnston. It keys on the word “save” mentioned 4 times by Michael Patterson. So, Elly is asking John to save her from the kids who are playing a game where they are also saving things (the world or Lizzie). It could have been redeemed if Elly had simply used the word Twirg somewhere in there.

Happy Father’s Day

2010-06-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

Today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse could end up being the final new strip from Lynn Johnston. This strip is the strip originally run on Father’s Day in 1981, which Lynn has already reprinted. It's not very fatherly. We’ll find out next Sunday if Lynn chooses to reprint the Sunday strip corresponding to that Sunday in June, 1981 or creates new material.

The only strip outstanding which could prevent Lynn from going to chronologically ordered straight reprints in 2010 corresponding in date to strips originally printed in 1981 is the strip from July 19, 1981, which is the only strip left in 1981 she has already reprinted and has not passed in a date from 2010. The daily strips have been in straight reprints for a few months now, so it appears clear that Lynn Johnston has no intention of doing any more new material there. The Sunday strips are the only question mark remaining. Even if she does a reprint next Sunday, there is still the possibility that Lynn could decide to do new material just because.

I will not be around next Sunday to check it out as I am leaving tomorrow to go to the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico to backpack with my son for 2 straight weeks. Assuming I survive this, I will return and see what Lynn has wrought. So, even though the Howard Bunt Blog has gone to an “only new material” perspective (meaning only once a week), I will miss next week. Sorry folks.

Looking at the strip today, you can tell we are in the era before John Patterson developed his love of model trains. In 1984, which was also before this time, we had this strip, where John has a similar problem with a model plane. The impression I get was that John Patterson loved playing with models long before trains became his affliction. However, John in 1984 doesn't seem to have the patience of John in the strip today.

Today’s strip ending is closer in tone to this strip from 1999 featuring a model train and April, so once again we have a strip that is sort of a combination between old strip ideas. That has pretty much been Lynn Johnston’s method. Although this is new material she is drawing, there is really nothing new as far as the stories go.

These are the Father’s Day strips you can get using the Comic Strip Catalog and the keyword search on “Father’s Day”. Interestingly enough, the first For Better or For Worse comic strip that celebrated Father’s Day comes from 1982 and it is actually one of the best. Even though today's new-run is considered to be before this one in the chronology, it doesn't matter because today's strip doesn't actually mention Father's Day. Nevertheless, instead of the usual theme of the father wanting to spend Father’s Day away from his kids, which is the theme of most of the Father’s Day strips, in this one John wants to spend time with his kids and seems to enjoy it. It's not too bad a strip, even though Elly has to put her hand over her mouth in the final panel to keep from laughing at something funny. After all, mothers should never laugh on Father's Day.

Old Themes, New Themes

2010-06-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

Today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse pulls out a lot of themes in the strip.

1. John can’t relax at home, which we see in this strip and this strip and this strip and this strip and (my favourite) this strip, where Elly has the same reaction as John after working at the office with John.

2. The kids like to fight as seen in these strips. There are a lot of these.

3. Farley makes a mess on the rug. Lynn Johnston loves excreted waste materials from animals.

4. John tracks in mud from the street as seen in these strips.

5. There is a list of chores. Actually this is a relatively recent trend with the chore list which can be seen in this strip and this strip. If you look through these strips, you can tell that in the pre-April days of the strip, Elly generally liked to tell people the chores and did not write them down.

6. Jokes about Monday as you can see in these strips. However, this is possibly the first positive joke about Monday. As you can see, Lynn generally went with the “Monday is a terrible day” theme.

7. Backwards musical notes for the second Sunday in a row. Like young Michael in last week’s strip, it appears that John thinks melodies that are out-of-tune, if we believe the answer given last Tuesday in Elly’s Coffee Talk of :

Sort of. Broken, bent, backwards or otherwise deformed music notes are common cartoonist code to signal a song sung or played (in this case, thought) out of tune.

After 2 weeks of this, I think Lynn Johnston has forgotten what musical notation looks like.

8. An outrageous list of things to be accomplished in a short period of time. This is another new theme, which we last saw in this recent strip. Looking down the list John has, I would be able to do one or two or those in a single weekend.

However, what I notice most particularly about today’s strip are the thought patterns themselves. At work and on the way home from work, John:

a. Thinks thoughts with words (and out-of-tune music), and
b. Hears and understands words from someone else.

Once he is home, John appears to:

a. No longer be able to think, and
b. No longer be able to hear anything from his wife and kids except lines spewing from their heads or a series of exclamation points and question marks.

I think the symbolism of those thought balloon comparisons works very well. John loses his ability to think at home and he can't understand what is going on there. Also, I congratulate Lynn Johnston for doing a strip which does not make John Patterson look like an idiot.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow (or That Dog-Gone Hair)

2010-06-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

We are on well-worn ground with today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, but as in many of these cases, Lynn Johnston is doing variations on things which are not exactly the same as what she has done before, but takes parts of them and put them together. In this case we go from trimming a bush to trimming Farley’s hair. Both items have been in the strip before, but never together in one strip. Oooh! Aaah! Lynn’s originality!

This strip goes from trimming a bush to trimming John’s hair and is the closest connection to today’s strip.

This strip shows Michael trimming his own hair and Elly’s severe reaction.

This strip shows April trimming her own hair and Elly’s severe reaction. Before she trimmed her own hair, first Aypo trimmed her dolly’s hair and trimmed the hair off Farley’s ear. If only Aypo had seen Elly trimming a bush, we could have gone full circle. Of course, one of the problems with today's strip is that there is not a mental connection between trimming a bush and trimming your hair. You would think Michael would have trimmed another plant in imitation. That would make more sense. However, when you are combining elements from similar, yet different old comic strips, you are not really thinking that having Elly get John's hair trimmed after he trimmed a bush involves a different thought process than a child imitating something the parent did.

Elizabeth did something about the same as Aypo, although she prefers to use the electric devices. She used a curling iron on her doll’s hair in this strip. She used an electric razor on Farley in this strip.

Not to be outdone, April eats Farley’s hair off his body in this strip. Frankly I think this beats Robin eating dirt. However, Elly eating the phone book is still the all time best. The scary part is that my Anonymous poster once wrote in that the phone book incident was based on something Lynn Johnston did in real life. But I digress.

Cutting Farley's hair is not the only thing the Patterson kids did with his hair. Elizabeth likes Farley in a Mohawk in this strip. Michael was new-runned to have the same idea in this strip.

Don’t worry about Farley though. He has plenty of hair. As you can see in this strip and this strip and this strip, he loses more hair during a brushing than he does from anything Michael might do to him with scissors.

My first thought on seeing the strip, was that it was unusual for Elly Patterson to be trimming bushes. However, looking at this strip from 1981, I see there was another time when she did trim a bush. By the time it rolled around to this strip from 1989, it appears that John has taken over the job or it just won't get done. Michael does it once for Mother's Day in 1990 and I notice the sound effects are "Snip" and "Clip". The sound effects are also "Snip" and "Clip" when John trims the bushes in 2003. Today's strip has "Clip" and "Cut". "Cut" has replaced "Snip" for the first time. I guess Lynn Johnston wanted to make sure her readers got the joke. "Cut" is there so we know that Michael got the idea of cutting Farley's hair from snipping and clipping, I mean, cutting the bushes. That crafty Lynn has realized that since she has gone to new-runs and reprints, the intelligence of her audience has diminished and needs all the help it can get.

Lizzie Imitates Farley, Lynn Imitates Her Old Strip

2010-05-30T05:22:00.000-07:00

With today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, I looked through the old strips involving dog food and found many strips where the kids (and grandpa Jim) end up eating the dog’s food. The closest approximation to the strip we had today was this one where Lizzie imitates Farley while sitting beside Farley on the ground. It is actually quite a bit cuter than the one we have today, where you have to guess that Lizzie is going face first in the food in imitation of Farley. Admittedly, you can draw the conclusion from the fact we have 4 solid panels of Farley eating and drinking with Lizzie watching; however, there are also 4 solid panels of Elly getting Lizzie ready to eat to distract you. As usual, the strip suffers from Lynn trying to stretch a 4-panel idea to 10 panels.

I remember my kids, when they were very little, could fall asleep on or in almost anything. We have pictures of my boy passing out with his cute, little head resting on the high chair in a plate of spaghetti. My first thought when I saw the strip was that this was where Lynn was going. I suffered from the “camera in my house” syndrome where readers take some part of the strip and then project something from their life into the story. Unlike many people who suffer from this syndrome, I went ahead and actually read the strip and realized that nothing like this had ever happened in my house. For one thing, my son has fur allergies, and so we have birds and fish as pets.

I grew up with dogs and cats and I feel very certain that if I were being served dinner and decided to eat that way in homage to them, my mother’s reaction would not have been shock. She would immediately correct me and inform me to use my fork or spoon because I was not an animal. I know this from all the years when I received this correction after picking up food with my fingers.

The parts I find strangest about the strip are the drawings of Lizzie’s face. Her jaw shape changes in almost every panel, and some of those faces look like little men and not a 2-year-old girl. In the panel before Lizzie shoves her face in the food, it looks like Lynn has brought in a stunt double. The inconsistency is disconcerting.

Even though the strip is poorly-drawn and executed and uses a joke Lynn Johnston has used before, I can at least take comfort that no character is shamed and no animals were harmed in the making of the strip. By current Lynn Johnston standards, that's a great strip.

Donga or Dunga?

2010-05-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

Today’s new-run of For Better of For Worse explores a strip with the theme of Elly looks at the something the kids have done and has no idea what happened. In this case we see 8 solid panels of young Elizabeth playing with a horse and rider toy, that leads into Elly seeing the toy followed by a trail of dirt coming out of a planter. Does Elly think:

a. I wonder how that horse and rider managed to ride out of the planter?
b. I wonder if the horse and rider are really alive, as in Toy Story?
c. I wonder how long it will take to clean up this mess?
d. I wonder if the horse has left a trail of horse feces after it visited the planter?

The clue is the use of the phrase, “Donga” by Elizabeth to indicate the horse motion. “Donga” is not the term typically used by Patterson kids when playing horsey as you can see in these three strips with April. You may be thinking that those strips were April and not Elizabeth, so let’s look at the one strip with Lizzie playing horsey. In this strip, you can clearly why it is that Elizabeth stopped plying horsey. As for the phrase “Donga”, my first thought is of a bell ringing. As you can see from this strip and this strip, this is the way Lynn Johnston thinks of it also.

Why “Donga”? I think it is because “Donga” is close to “Dung-a” and Lynn is subtely trying to tell anyone viewing the comic strip, Elly is really thinking horse dung. In other words, I think (d) above is the correct answer. Lynn Johnston loves animal poop jokes and apparently that extends to toy animal poop jokes. As for the strip itself, it could have easily been done in the daily with 3 panels. Lynn is really horsing around to stretch all that horseplay through so many panels to fill a whole Sunday strip.

As for the strip itself, I could comment again on Lizzie’s language regression or her matching “heart” outfit, but those are well-worn comments from me. Suffice to say, Lynn Johnston has no idea how old Elizabeth is or how children should talk or dress at that age, or even how she used to have the character talk or dress at that age.

I’ve Never Met a Woman Who’s Less Organized

2010-05-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

Today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse fall into the same category of strips as this one from November 19, 2006; where Lynn Johnston decided to show how busy Elly was after retirement, by showing Elly doing a lot of things she had never been shown doing before or since. Likewise this strip is a similar type of strip, except it shows all the things Elly did for conservation, which she had never been shown doing before or since.

Let’s run down the list for today’s “Elly is very organized” strip and see where Lynn Johnston strays from the norm:

1. Elly is shown dropping Michael off at school. As we know, Michael takes a bus to school. A more organized woman would have let him take the bus instead of driving him herself.

2. Elly is taking Elizabeth to see Dr. Flett and because Dr. Flett is able to take Elizabeth immediately after their arrival, Elly makes a note that she is going to be able to make her eye exam in 40 minutes. From what we have seen in the past, like many doctor’s offices, Elly and Lizzie had to wait before they went back. Regardless, it is idiotic to schedule an eye exam for 40 minutes after you scheduled a doctor’s exam for your daughter. However, Elly notes that because Dr. Flett is so organized she also has time to go to the cleaners. This goes to Dr. Flett's organizationsl skills and not Elly's.

3. Instead of the strip showing us Elly at the eye exam with Elizabeth or at the cleaners with Elizabeth, we see Elly loading up the back of her minivan with groceries and thinking she can drop Elizabeth off at Annie’s house. She has done all these things with Elizabeth in tow, and is just now thinking she should drop Lizzie off at Annie’s house. Hum. Seems a little disorganized to me. Hint to Elly. Drop Lizzie off first and then go to the eye doctor. It will make your eye exam a lot more pleasant for everyone involved.

4. Elly picks up Mike to drop him off with his dad. Then Elly is going to the gym. Then Elly is going to writing class, which had its last session on Thursday. The Sunday strips have often been out-of-synch with the dailies, so this not really a problem. However, Elly didn’t go to the gym back in 1981. Her exercise was to occasionally go jogging with Annie.

5. We see woman leaving the office who looks a little like Jean Baker that John describes as his receptionist. This has been a perpetual problem for Lynn Johnston doing the character of Jean Baker. In the new-runs, Lynn has put Jean Baker in the receptionist role, which she had at the end of the modern run of the strip. This woman is quite a bit heavier than Jean and John does not call her by name. It makes me wonder if it is has been so long since Lynn did a new strip with Jean Baker, that Lynn no longer remembers the character’s name or what she looks like. In 1981, Jean Baker was very thin dental assistant, so it also makes me wonder if this is another woman entirely.

6. Finally the joke is that John does not recognize or appreciate that Elly is organized. I hate to break it to you Lynn, but scheduling a lot of things to be done on the same day is not an example of organization. In fact, if anything, it is an example of disorganization.

Lynn was going more for a strip like this one, where John doesn’t appreciate what Elly does. Like most situations where Lynn tries to make a point, she ends up making the exact opposite point.

The most amazing part of the strip to me is the eighth panel. Elly has a figure. We see her from behind and for once, she does not have a giant rear end. I am simply shocked that Lynn Johnston could draw such a picture of Elly.

Why Celebrate Mother’s Day?

2010-05-09T06:06:00.000-07:00

Today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse is an odd strip for Mother’s Day, as Elly convinces Annie that she should insist on being honored for Mother’s Day by her husband. The nature of the Mother’s Day holiday is that it does fall on the father to provide the celebration. When the children are little, as Christopher Nichols is portrayed in the strip, they can do little. When they are older, the father can bankroll their efforts. Once the children are old enough to be money earners they could provide the Mother’s Day celebration themselves, but that is a very brief period of time. After that, the children will be out of the house and Mother’s Day falls back on the shoulders of the father, with the hope that the children will have the decency to call from wherever it is they are living. Since Lynn Johnston is now cut off from the fathers of both her children, for her, Mother’s Day celebrations depend entirely upon her children. She appears to have a good relationship with her daughter, with whom she went to Thailand, and so I expect Mother’s Day will fall on the shoulder of Kate for awhile. Lynn’s aloneness on Mother’s Day was reflected very well in the Mother’s Day strip from 2008, which showed Elly essentially celebrating Mother’s Day by herself. Obviously that’s Lynn and not Elly, who ended the strip with all her children living within walking distance of her home.

Today’s Mother’s Day strips shows Lynn’s first original Mother's Day strip work since then. If Lynn had written this strip back in 1981, you probably would have seen a strip featuring Elly being celebrating by John, Mike and Lizzie. Instead we have an odd strip where Elly tries to convince Annie Nichols to insist that her husband Steve honor her for Mother’s Day by canceling his bowling night and taking her to dinner. The logic Elly uses is that mothers’ efforts affect the future and that Annie is doing such a good job. Taken for what it is, the strip appears to be a message strip for all those husbands out there, that they should celebrate their wives as mothers. However, the last panel shows Annie calling Steve up on the phone to tell him this. Why wouldn’t Steve be home on a Sunday for her to tell him directly? I suspect this is a connection between Annie and real-life Lynn Johnston who has to call up whomever it is she wants to celebrate Mother’s Day with her.

There is also a self-congratulatory aspect to the strip which has an odd ring to it. Unlike this latter day self-congratulatory strip where Elly and Connie talk about what wonderful moms they were, here we have Elly complimenting Annie Nichols, without also a laying a compliment on herself. This is very odd for Elly. I don’t think she has complimented another mother on anything for the entire set of new-runs, and certainly does not fit in well with the most recent set of reprints from last week where Elly and Annie were at each other’s throats over child-rearing.

I think a little of this has to do with the character of Steve Nichols, who ended up being known as the husband who cheats, even though in the bulk of his few appearances in the strip, Steve was mainly the husband whose wife keeps having children. Steve’s one-and-only appearance in the new-runs was in this daily from March 31, 2010, where he gave Christopher a cookie in defiance of Anne. Immediately afterwards, Elly and Annie commiserated on how awful he was, with Annie comparing marriage to Steve to raising another child. Ouch!

Interestingly enough, these ended up being two of the last few new-runs Lynn Johnston did in the dailies before she went to straight reprints. Likewise I expect today’s strip will also fall into that category for Sundays. This sudden and unexpected charging into Steve Nichols may be a part of Lynn Johnston realizing she has not really done much with him. However, I suspect that Lynn may have realized that she doesn’t have to do all her man-bashing in revenge of Rod Johnston with just John Patterson.

The ironic part of the strip is that just this past Christmas and Hallowe’en we had strips that were distinctly anti-holiday. Here we have the exact opposite message. It’s OK to celebrate mothers, because they affect the future of the world; not like Jesus. However, I notice that this anti-Christmas strip was also a pro-mother strip. That actually fits well with this pro-mother, anti-holiday theme.

The most interesting part of today’s strip for me is oddly enough, the art. Modern day Lynn Johnston loves to draw full figure characters and rarely ever shows facial expressions reacting to things. Every time Elly reacts to something Anne says in the strip, Lynn just draws 2 dots for the eyes and a straight line for Elly’s mouth. There’s nothing there. Anne might as well be talking to a robot. And yet, in the last 2 panels of the strip, we have 2 full-on pictures of Annie Nichols showing her facial expression very clearly. What a difference it makes. Believe it or not, the first thought that came through my mind when I saw those last panels was, “Someone else must have drawn those panels.” That is how low my expectation is of the quality of Lynn Johnston’s art used to tell a story is these days.

Finally, happy Mother’s Day to all those moms out there, especially all those moms who have to call their husbands away from Sunday night bowling to celebrate Mother’s Day. I expect they are a very rare breed.

Farley’s business = John’s business

2010-05-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

Another Boy Scout trip and of course, another new-run by Lynn Johnston.

The last few new-runs of For Better or For Worse have continued on an interesting and odd theme. We continually see Dr. John Patterson performing household tasks that he rarely did in the original strip. Morever, we are seeing him do them badly.

Last Sunday, he was seen feeding Elizabeth and putting her to bed as soon as she refused to eat raisins. Back in March, he was seen bringing home groceries and asking permission from Elly to go out with Ted McCaulay. Today, Dr. John Patterson walks Farley, so Farley can relieve himself. Going through the strips, I did find instances where John Patterson walked the dogs, but it was almost always with someone else.

Strips dealing with dogs doing their business on a walk seemed to be limited to Liz and humourous things being done with the doggy poop bag, something clearly not in evidence with John Patterson. The closest we come to John’s involvement with Farley is the original training sequence and the new-run follow-up sequence from last month. In both cases, the extendo-leash was not used and yet today it is. Imagine that.

As for sound effects, those seem to be a popular theme with these last new-runs. Lynn seems to like to use sound effects as a space filler, as she did in this recent new-run. That's a lot easier than actually having to write something. In today's strip we have 6 panels of Farley snuffing, up to and including the visual element of having a dog sniff the panel corner, which also a popular theme with Lynn.

The strip which is the most closely equivalent in theme to today’s is this one, where dogs using the bathroom and John using the bathroom are closely linked. However, the all time best use of the sound effects, “SNUFF” and “SNORT” are in this strip, featuring someone other than John acting like a dog.

As usual, there are other common elements in the new-runs these days. The relative height of John and Farley to each other changes in every single panel. When John walks in the door of his house, his waist is so high relative to the ground, his groin is higher than the door knob on the door. Also, Lynn has gotten in the habit, when she draws John, of using unusual physical postures, like in this strip.

However, the most unusual part of the strip is the inconguity of having young Michael Patterson make a verbal joke on something which John does not actually say. This is very strange for Lynn Johnston, who oftentimes sets up whole Sunday strips for no other reason than to get the final panel pun. For example, there was the recent new-run which set up Connie as a gardener, for no other reason than to get to the “Not Tonight Deer” joke in the final panel.

In this strip, we have to presume that John Patterson said something about Farley taking a long time, because he is pointing at his watch. Only, John does not actually say that. Now, in order for the joke to work, Lynn has introduced a new level of indirection, where you have to guess the straight line in order for the punch line to make sense. I can tell you that with verbal humour, this never works. The straight line creates the expectation of the line to follow and the punch line surprises you, so that makes you laugh. With no straight line, there is no expectation, and consequently there is no laugh. The joke seems to be that John should not complain about Farley taking a long time to excrete his waste, because John takes a long time to do that too. And this is funny because…?

Why is it that John’s dialogue is not shown? Moreover, why does Elly have such a shocked look on her face when John says it? Is Lynn Johnston trying to suggest that John Patterson used such foul language talking about the time it took for Farley to unload, it was not suitable for the family audience reading the strip? That’s possible.

What would John’s line be?

a. Chee! Farley takes a long time to pee. I am never going to walk him again.
b. If it is going to take Farley such a long time to pee, then I think we need to get rid of Farley.
c. It took such a long time for Farley to pee, my watch stopped running.
d. It took such a long time for Farley to pee, one of my fingers fell off my left hand.
e. It takes Farley a longer time to pee than it takes you to get ready to have sex.

What Kind of Daughter Am I Raisin’?

2010-04-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

I get back from a Boy Scout backpacking trip and what do I find? New material from Lynn Johnston. It figures she would do this while I was gone. Let’s take a look:

Panel 1: John is putting Elizabeth in a high chair with no straps and he doesn’t remove or lift the feeding area to get her in. The chair looks like it is built for lifting. This is John we are talking about, so maybe this is to indicate his ignorance.

Panel 2: John is tying a bib on Elizabeth while she is being kept occupied with a spoon which, judging from her eyes, seems to have put her in some kind of hypnotic trance. After this, the spoon only appears in the even numbered panels. I guess it is not an odd spoon.

Panel 3: John has a giant bowl of Oatmeal With Raisins! to feed Elizabeth. We don’t see John cooking said bowl, so who knows how we got here. Nevertheless, Lynn Johnston has wisely put the box there, so we will know what is is . To be honest, I wouldn’t know what John was feeding her – rice with peas? Yes, I know that the American Academy of Pediatrics has raisins on their choking hazard list. Once again, the Pattersons demonstrate bad parenting.

Panel 4: In this panel, the part of Lizzie is being played by Popeye the Sailor Man complete with popped eye and jowls. Lizzie thinks, “?” Popeye is a questioning kind of man, so it seems reasonable to do this homage. Nevertheless, this appears to be more proof that this is a food Lizzie has never tasted before, i.e. an indication of how rare this event is for John Patterson. In the meantime, Lizzie is still holding her own spoon and flinging food off of it. How did that spoon get anything on it, if John is feeding her by hand? Where did it go in Panel 3?

Panel 5: The talented Lizzie spits out 3 raising with one Ptooh!

Panel 6: Lizzie spits out 3 more raisins with Ptooh, Pttt, Ptoohh, Pfttt. 4 sound effects. 3 more raisins. And this while John is still trying to feed her. Also, our last appearance of the spoon, which disappears by the time we get back to the high chair in Panel 9, possibly eaten by the leftover raisins.

Panel 7: Seeing that his child doesn’t like the raisins in the oatmeal, John does the thing most parents do in this situation. He picks her up from eating. After all, if she is spitting out raisins, then she is obviously not hungry.

Panel 8: Upstairs John goes, and for some strange reason, it looks like he is going up on his knees.

Panel 9: In the meantime, Elly wanders by, coffee cup in hand, and sees the regurgitated raisins. Will she react as expected and start screaming about the mess John made with Elizabeth? Will she notice that the raisins have increased from 6 to 13, thus “raisin’” the question about whether the raisins have started independently multiplying?

Panel 10: No. She just eats them, except for the 2 she misses, while she appears to have hired her crotch hand to hold her coffee cup for her. Now, her son Michael, in essentially the same situation, turned the raisins down. Elizabeth on the other hand, has developed a new habit of spitting out raisins, which will appear again in this strip.

There were many things my son and daughter spit out during their high chair years, and I don’t recollect ever wanting to eat it after they were done with it. It is a rare strip when Lynn Johnston writes about Pattersons doing something disgusting but that seems to be the trend with her new material. After all, it hasn’t been that long since Lynn did the strip with John humping the Super Vac. Maybe Lynn thinks the strip should be "For Better EWW Worse".

Even the Deer Don’t Get Any

2010-04-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

New material already? I only managed to stay retired for a week. I wasn’t sure if Lynn would do new material on Sundays, and now I see she is. She has the potential to be doing new stuff on Sundays for awhile, so this could be a Sunday-only blog. The real question is whether or not we are in straight reprints for the dailies.

With today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, I was struck by a few odd things:

1. Anne Nichols is shopping for garden supplies.
2. Elly and Anne are in The Garden Center.
3. There are deer in Milborough.
4. Of the plants Anne mentions: Hostas, Hollyhocks and Irises, only the Iris is native to Canada.
5. Not Tonight Deer deer repellent is a real product and the drawing on the product is actually quite a bit funnier than the drawing Lynn did today of that demented, mutated creature (supposedly a deer) on the box Elly is holding.
6. When Anne says she doesn’t have a fence, that actually matches what we have seen in recent strips.

We know from this strip that Mrs. Baird has a garden. We know from this strip that Connie Poirier has a garden. We know from this strip that Elly was gardening at the time in 1981. As near as I can tell, there are no Anne gardening strips. Anne was into cooking. That’s way she starting working as a caterer. I am not sure why Lynn chose to do this strip featuring Anne and not Connie.

The one really known for gardening is Lawrence Poirier. In this strip, he makes it seem like there is only one landscaping business in Milborough and he plans to open another. With this strip, however, Lawrence appears to be working for Lakeshore Landscaping, the business he will eventually own. The implication is that Lakeshore Landscaping is the landscaping business in town. However, that is in the late 1990s. In 1981, the place may have been The Garden Center. North Bay, near where Lynn lives in Corbeil, has 3 garden centres and notice in the link it is spelled "centre" in every single case.

Finally a search for a “deer” using AMU reprints and the Comic Strip Catalog have netted me nothing – not one strip talking a deer outside of reindeer at Christmas. In other words, Lynn Johnston went throught the entire strip talking about Anne having a deer problem, just so she could do a sex joke with name of the deer repellent. Naturally, the idea that another species is not having sex would appeal to Lynn Johnston. Watch for an upcoming strip about beavers and fill in your favourite “not getting any beaver” joke.

Straight Reprints? We’ll See.

2010-04-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

Today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse features the expected can opener strip, originally reprinted on April 6, 1981. Although Lynn Johnston has not officially announced it, I expect that since this strip lines up in time so well with our current date of April 5, 2010; we are seeing the first strip of Lynn Johnston’s promised straight reprints of For Better or For Worse. Lynn said she wouldn’t go into straight reprints until the story could stand on its own, and I can see that with this story. In the 13 strips which compose the storyline, Lynn touches on an issue which has been and probably always will be a struggle between husbands and wives – - the family finances, especially when one of the spouses claims priority because of being the breadwinner in the family. We also see Elly’s use of anger and outrage in full flourish as John struggles to placate her, a theme which will reappear continually for 30 years.

For fans of the strip, this is a well-known story. Over the years of blogging on this strip I have seen a number of die-hard fans make a reference to this storyline. Looking over the story in its entirety I can see why. It’s relevant. It’s funny. Elly does not avoid appearing a little silly. Although John Patterson takes a few shots in it, they are not as personal. He is not being called a bad father or a bad husband as a point of the humour, which is the way it was for much of the first 2 years of the strip. This is a good place for Lynn to begin the straight reprints. For those persons who have never read the strip before, straight reprints are the best thing for them. The comic strip will just get better and better until Lynn starts reprinting strips from 2000, the year I consider to be the turning point on the quality of the strip. After that, it will start getting worse and worse. With straight reprints, that will be 19 years from now. By then, who will care?

As for the Howard Bunt Blog, this is the point I have been waiting for since September, 2007, the date on which Lynn Johnston originally announced she was going to retire. I have no desire to continue blogging on the old material. However, if it turns out that I am wrong, and there is still more new material to come, then the Howard Bunt Blog will reappear to comment on it. Lynn Johnston has already reprinted most of the Sunday comic strips from April to June, 1981; so there is a good chance that she will continue to do new material for the Sunday strips for the next 3 months in order to line up the dates for them between 1981 and 2010. Until she makes a specific announcement of an end date, we will have to wait and see. If there is one thing that following Lynn Johnston’s work has shown me, it is that she is quite capable of changing her retirement plans.

As for the dailies, if you want to read in advance, the material is all there on the Comic Strip Catalog on Lynn’s website and can be accessed by ID, but not by date. The Date choice has been blocked out for the next 6 months to give you some surprise. For those you who don’t like surprises, the IDs are these in chronological order: 3676, 3987, 125-128, 3988, 129, 130, 3989, 3990, 131, 3991.

I have some regrets about not continuing on with comments on the daily strips. I have been doing it a long time now, and it takes awhile for a blogger to build an audience. If there is one thing that commenting on the reprinted strips over the last 2½ years has taught me is that I am not that fond of commenting on 30-year-old material that was done by a rank amateur in the comic strip field. Aside from being outdated, sometimes it seems like I am picking on someone too young and inexperienced to know better. It was much more fun to comment on the work of a seasoned 30-year professional turning out the worst material of her career.

Until there is something new, see you then!

Incomplete Chocolate Bunnies: Worth Eating, But Not Worth Giving

2010-04-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

Today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse comes from the Easter strip from 1981 and is one of the few Sunday strips from April to June, 1981 which Lynn Johnston has not already reprinted. The theme of the strip is a variation of the old joke where a person devours or otherwise destroys a gift, and then tells a long story about the reasons why it was a good thing that happened. The gift in this case is a chocolate Easter bunny.

Lynn Johnston never repeated this joke that I can tell, but the comic strip Sally Forth has a recurring storyline of Sally’s habit of eating the ears off of her daughter, Hilary’s chocolate Easter bunny. I wonder if Greg Howard, the creator of Sally Forth borrowed this idea from Lynn Johnston when he created his strip in 1982 a year later.

As for the systematic eating of chocolate Easter bunnies, only this strip of For Better or For Worse brings the subject up again, but not in the same way. The part I find most interesting about the strip is the idea that 6-year-old Michael bought a chocolate bunny for his sister. The Pattersons often have money expectations of Michael, which I would consider to be beyond the capabilities of most 6-year-olds. Even Michael’s story today, while funny, seems to me to be very advanced. My son is 14 years old and I doubt he could put together an explanation as skillfully as Michael does in today’s strip. Now, if we are talking Dennis the Menace, then that is a different story. Dennis was a consumate liar, and if think it is Dennis that little Michael is channeling today.

I am looking forward to tomorrow’s strip. Will it be the can opener strip? In other words, will we be in straight reprints? The tension builds…

A While or In A Few Minutes? That is the question.

2010-04-02T22:44:00.000-07:00

In today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, we have a strip where young Michael expresses his preference for the phrase “in a few minutes’ versus “a while.” That seems very familiar to me, but I cannot find another strip making that same comparison. In this strip, Elly uses the phrase “a while” to be short when the time clearly will mean a more open-ended time. In this strip, young Michael compares “20 minutes” to “forever.” Those are sort of related, but not exactly.

All week I had anticipated we would see the last March, 1981 strip which was not reprinted, because it introduced the idea of John training Farley. Much to my surprise, we have hit the end of the week and that strip has not appeared.

Back on February 23, Lynn Johnston wrote to aprilp_katje in her Elly's Coffee Talk about the cello-playing “’Allo?” girl and said:

Some new stuff is on the way...but there is very little follow up on this story idea. At the time, I had planned a more complicated series, but did not know how to keep from detracting from the main family unit. I then left the readers with NO idea what was going on...now there is a bit more info. Because I am working towards getting the story back on track, I am also short of time and space, so just mentioning who this person is, will have to do. Thanks! LJ

“Detracting from the main family unit” is the interesting part. Having seen the strips, I think I understand what Lynn was saying back then.

Sunday, March 14 – John slammed for going out with Ted. That’s Ted.
Monday, March 15 – Saturday, March 20 – Anne visits Elly and they discuss Connie’s trip to Montreal and the secret of the cello-playing “’Allo?” girl.. That’s Anne, Connie.
Monday, March 22 – Saturday, March 28 – John and Michael visit the car wash. That’s John, Michael.
Sunday, March 28 – Tuesday, March 30 – Elly and John try to train Farley. That’s John, Farley
Wednesday, March 31 – Thursday, April 1 – Elly visits Anne and Steve Nichols gets slammed. That introduced Steve Nichols.
Friday, April 2 – Elly spends time with Elizabeth .That’s Elizabeth.

These strips are making the rounds between the characters. The reference back to dog training was probably for no other reason than to have an opportunity to feature Farley the dog. Back in February 23, Lynn was saying she was trying to address the material to get the story back on track and that’s why there wasn’t time for a longer story about “’Allo girl?”” It seems clear now, but back in February 23, I had no idea what Lynn was talking about.

The Final Return of the Malevolent Bath Duck

2010-04-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

Although today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse could be interpreted as an indication of how a toddler loves to splash water, but hates to be put into a bath made of the same stuff; I prefer to think of it as the toddler’s recognition of the power of the Malevolent Bath Duck.

Of course, there are those who might say that little Elizabeth has an aversion to removing her clothes which poisoned all her relationships with men and this is the first appearance of that fear. They do have their point. After all, we’ve never seen grown Elizabeth in bed with a man, even when we knew she was doing it.

There are those who might say that the strip is a demonstration of how Elly Patterson fails to learn that her daughter gets into water and so things like toilet bowls, buckets of water and cleaning solution, and Farley’s water should be guarded from her. We see Elly constantly running to stop little Lizzie, which wouldn’t be necessary if Elly learned her lesson with Lizzie after the first time.

All these things are fine and dandy. However, my money is on the duck. You see, the last time the bath duck appeared, I rejoiced over it. I wrote the Coffee Talk saying,.”Give me more bath duck” and here you have it. My wish has been granted by Lynn Johnston. In what could be one of the last new comic strips from the pen and pencil of Lynn Johnston, the bath duck and Lizzie’s rightful fear of it have been illustrated. I am a happy man.

For those you may have missed my exposition on the subject of the Malevolent Bath Duck and its horrifying end in 2002, this is the link to the original Howard Bunt Blog discussion on the matter and a link to another strip I missed the last time where we see the Malevolent Bath Duck speak.

As for the joke in the strip, Lynn Johnston is once again reusing a joke she has done before, just not with Lizzie. Here’s one with Michael. Here’s one with April. Lizzie, on the other hand, likes baths, as you can see in this strip. We have had a theme of this mischaracterization lately with Farley the dog scratching the door the way Edgar the dog did, and with Steve Nichols undermining Anne’s authority the way John Patterson does with Elly. What’s one more to add to the list?

Finally, we must show the best bath strip of all time. Guard your eyes!

Husbands Are Like Little Children

2010-03-31T22:02:00.000-07:00

In today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, Steve Nichols’ cookie-giving is the topic of discussion after he’s left. However, what the strip should be called is, “Lynn Johnston trots out all the tired, old husband jokes”:

I make the rules, my husband breaks the rules.
I am raising 2 children -- my son and my husband.
They only write self-help books for raising the little children, not the big children like my husband.

Now if Lynn only threw in a joke about leaving the seat up on the toilet, or how he wants sex all the time, or he doesn’t want to talk about his feelings; we could complete the picture. Sometimes the limited space of the daily strip works to your advantage.

Naturally, Anne doesn’t confront Steve over the matter, and doesn’t take the cookie away from Christopher to enforce her rule. She and Elly just sit back and commiserate over their lowly estate. It is very difficult to sympathize with them.

I think the real question of the strip is: Why is Anne Nichols wearing spats on her feet in Panel 1?

The First New-Run Appearance of Steve Nichols

2010-03-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

Steve Nichols is Anne Nichol’s husband and up until today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse had not been seen in any new-runs. It seems today that whenever I think about Steve Nichols, I recollect that he was the husband who cheated on his wife in this storyline. He was known for that sort of like Lawrence Poirier is known for being kicked out of his house when he announced he was gay and Farley the dog is known for saving April. However when I look at the whole of the Steve Nichols strips out of For Better or For Worse’s 30 years, the affair strips are a pretty small portion of them. Most of the strips involving Steve occur during the birth of his second son, Richard, and his daughter, Leah. His last appearance involved an irritating leaf blower and it was back in 2003. In other words, we haven’t seen Steve for 7 years.

There was one mention of Steve in a new-run, where it appeared that Lynn Johnston was hinting broadly at a potential early indication of Steve’s cheating. The impression I got was that Lynn was going to use the new-runs to tell an untold story about the cheating. Over a year has passed and that hasn’t happened. With straight reprints looming ahead, perhaps Lynn Johnston decided it was finally time to wrap up this story she had planned to tell. It’s hard to say. Nevertheless, Steve the cheater gets the rap today that he is also the Steve the father who doesn’t consistently discipline.

It’s been awhile since Lynn has drawn Steve and it is nice to see that she hasn’t done like she did with Dr. Ted McCaulay and Mrs. Baird and draw someone that barely looks like they did before. Steve has his widow’s peak and his bushy eyebrows and the nose is kind of close to its original appearance. The only real knock against the drawing is the chin, which featured a nice set of chin-nuts before, and now doesn’t. All things considered, that’s not too bad. One thing I do notice about Steve through the decades is that, like John Patterson, his appearance never really changes.

The fun parts of the strip are (a) the reappearance of little Christopher Nichols as the tarbaby, (b) Elly’s lame reasoning about why John has suddenly taken up training Farley again, since it’s really to support an impending dog-training reprint (c) the strange lack of coffee cups (Can Elly and Anne really talk without coffee?) (d) Elly sitting on something other than a chair or couch/chesterfield and (e) Elly visiting with Anne at Anne's house, which is a much more unusual event than I would have guessed.

Come When Dragged

2010-03-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

Today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse continues on with the theme of training Farley, which appears to be occupying the week. Oddly enough, I was able to find on-line advice about training a dog which did not, for maybe the first time in the history of this comic strip, say that what one of the Pattersons was doing with Farley the dog was completely wrong-headed and the exact opposite of what any decent or normal pet owner would do. I was shocked. This is the reference and this is what it says:

Begin with the dog on a long leash. It's absolutely important that you are able to enforce your command should the dog refuse to obey. Don't allow your dog to ignore you. If you call a couple of times and the dog ignores you, use the long leash to make the dog come. It will take many repetitions of "Come Here, go play" before the dog is convinced that its freedom is not going to end just because the owner has called.

Not only that website, but this website and this website also agree on this method. Shocking! How could this possibly happen? Lynn has been so consistent about portraying the Pattersons as always doing the wrong thing. I think the only redeeming aspect of it is that by the use of Farley the dog’s “?” response to John and setting the strip up in a humorous light, Lynn Johnston appears to be mocking this style of training. Consequently, it makes perfect sense to me that the method Lynn would mock, would be a worthy and recommended method.

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 13: Aahh! My own bed!

2010-03-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

As usual, I will quote the text and then comment on it.

Early in the morning, I hopped the flight to Narita, Japan. Kate and Lane had spent a day in Tokyo and were wishing they could stay and see more (another adventure for another time)! They met me at the gate and we booked into a hotel in Narita - the name of the airport and also a small, pretty community nearby.

In an extremely unusual moment, Lynn Johnston actually explains the relationship between Narita and Tokyo without my having to research it and explain it for her. Don't worry. It won't last.

With some time to spend before the long flight to Toronto, we wandered around a grand old temple with gardens that will be exquisite in the spring and had lunch in a small local restaurant. We were the only foreigners there and folks watched us with interest as we ordered sushi and other goodies and handled the chopsticks well. We sat on the floor - unlike the other patrons who had secured the more comfortable western tables and chairs. When the meal was over, I said to the one man who was most interested in us, "we're from Canada". "Oh! Canada" he exclaimed... "Vancouver? Olympics?" "Yes, Vancouver Olympics!" we said... and everyone at his table laughed and smiled and waved to us. Seems to me that no matter where your interests lie and no matter how closely you follow the winter games, they are a real icebreaker!!

Lynn could be the Naritasan Shinshoji Temple or the Daijionji Temple. The Naritasan Shinshoji Temple seems closer by description, so that would be my guess. At the restaurant, Lynn makes a point of saying (1) We were the only foreigners and (2) We were the only ones who sat on the floor and (3) The other patrons sat at Western tables and chairs. So does this mean:

1. Lynn is better than the Japanese patrons because she is embracing the Eastern style of eating?
2. Lynn sat on the floor because the Japanese patrons took all the decent sitting spaces?
3. Lynn is just sitting on the floor because she is a little whacky?

"Sushi and other goodies". I wonder what those other goodies were. I am not sure where Lynn is on the timeline. We know from her Chinese New Year (February 14) references, this is probably after that date. The Winter Olympics started February 12 and this is her first reference to them, and the two timeline align nicely.

The flight between Japan and Toronto takes about 14 hours going west and blissfully less when coming back the other way. We were grateful to get standby seats and even more grateful for having taken carry-on luggage. To think that we could manage such a long trip with so little and without buying much; for me, this is a new travel era to be sure!

The Air Canada website tells me that the direct flight from Toronto to Narita takes 12 hours and 45 minutes, while the direct flight back takes 11 hours and 50 minutes. This is about 1 hour less and with Lynn’s 14 hour estimate, I have to presume she is including the connection to North Bay from Toronto; however the comment Lynn makes below about the difficulty in getting to North Bay makes me wonder. Lynn has been obsessed with the carry-on luggage and self-limited purchasing constraint of her trip. In spite of this, she still spent an enormous part of her trip visiting places to shop. I imagine Kate and Lane’s idea is that you spend your time doing things and not buying things, whereas Lynn does not seem to be able to break that shopping habit.

Landing in snowy Toronto was a relief and a wonder. Just a few hours before we'd been in Narita eating sushi with chopsticks! Getting into North Bay took some time as the flights were heavily booked but when we finally landed, that windy, white, blowing runway was a pleasure to see. Coming home makes you wonder if you ever were away at all. It seems like such a miracle that we can go so far so fast.

Lynn does not mention Toronto, however there are no direct flights from Tokyo to North Bay, so the flights to North Bay from Toronto are what she is talking about it being difficult to get.

Thinking back, I'm amazed we did and saw and learned so much. From the bustle of Bangkok to the simplicity of the monks praying in the temples, from the rush of busy highways to the serenity of the towering hillsides and white sandy beaches, we experienced so much and there is still so much more to see. I think the one thing that stands out for me about Thailand is the constant reminder of spirituality and faith. There is always a small shrine with flowers on it, always someone expressing their devotion in prayer, in the wearing of ceremonial clothing, and even in the greetings which bring the hands together in such a genteel salute. In a country that finds itself redefining its society in the face of social change, industry, and the influx of strangers... one is always aware of the comforting presence of God.
Thanks for coming on the journey with us! Lynn

"God"? Oh Lynn. This is the first time you have mentioned God in your whole travelogue. Do you really believe that the Buddhist shrines and prayers in Thailand are a form of God worship? Thinking back, I'm amazed you did and saw and learned so little. Why do have this feeling someone mentioned that today is Palm Sunday, so you felt the need to drop in a God reference?

Come When Called or Not

2010-03-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

Just as last week, Lynn Johnston reprinted one of the last few strips from March, 1981 which had not already been reprinted, today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse seems calculated to be a set up to allow Lynn Johnston to reprint this Farley unreprinted training-related strip also from March, 1981. I had presumed Lynn Johnston would not touch it, because it was too heavily tied to the Farley training sequence Lynn Johnston reprinted last year. However, it seems this is no longer the case. The joke in the unreprinted strip has to do with John being able to call Farley, and the joke in this new-run is that John is unable to call Farley. The two are directly related in theme, so I expect we will the unreprinted strip reprinted tomorrow, similar to the new-run and reprint sequence from last week.

This strip taken in combination with yesterday’s training strip creates an unusual pair. While yesterday’s strip seemed to be hell-bent on teaching Farley not to come to the house to try to get in, today’s strip is the exact opposite. It almost suggests the possibility that Elly’s water gun-related training was designed to cause John’s training with Farley to fail so she can stand at the door and mock John’s training. That is certainly in keeping with Elly’s attitude toward John training Farley as she did in this strip.

If this week is the final week of daily new-runs as I suspect, then we are in 1 solid week of strips not so much slamming John, as mocking John. Will Lynn Johnston want to end her new-run sequence with something like this? I think it is possible, and certainly appropriate. John has been slammed and mocked consistently since these new-runs began. It would be good for Lynn Johnston to go out the way she came in.

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 12: Bangkok is busy...Narita is sweeta!

2010-03-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

As usual, I will quote the text and then comment on it. First off, the I don't know why Lynn commented on Narita, since the travelogue has almost nothing to do with Narita, except mentioning why Lynn isn't there.

Between Bangkok and Narita, Japan I had a regular ticket. Kate and Lane were travelling standby and decided to head out on the first plane that they could get seats. This left me in Bangkok for an extra day so I went on a cooking tour of the country.

This is very curious. Lynn has a regular ticket and yet in the last travelogue she talked about how she and Kate and Lane couldn’t get to Japan from Phuket because of the Chinese New Year. At that time, they were trying to go to Tokyo. They ended up flying to Bangkok. I thought that was odd, because a good number of the plane flights to Tokyo changed planes in Bangkok, and there are a lot of planes that travel between Bangkok and Tokyo.

Now Lynn says that she has a regular ticket to Narita and not Tokyo. Expedia tells me that there are many flights from Bangkok to Narita, so this should not be a "connection in Tokyo to get to Narita" kind of thing. My guess is their original plan was to go from Phuket to Bangkok, stay a few days in Bangkok and then go to Japan. The reason they could go to Bangkok in spite of Chinese New Year is because they already had regular tickets to do that. The altered plan in Phuket must have been to deviate from their regular ticket plans for Narita and go to Tokyo, Japan 2 days earlier.

Now, Kate and Lane continue on with this plan leaving Lynn behind in Bangkok. It is very telling that Kate and Lane would abandon Lynn at this point. Reading this travelogue carefully, it seems like Lynn prefers to spend her day visiting street vendors and not buying anything, or taking pre-planned tours, while staying at Holiday Inn kind of places (her favorite hotel of the bunch). Katie and Lane seem to like the beach resorts and staying at places that have spa treatments and doing things like snorkeling or attending boxing matches. Lynn had strong complaints about the beaches (ugly people there), snorkeling (too many people in the water and rude people on the boat), and the boxing matches (putting her to sleep). I would like to think that passive Lynn might not express these complaints out loud to Katie and Lane, however Lynn’s departure from the boxing match after a single round makes it seem like Lynn may not be all that quiet about it.

Personally, I would not abandon my 60-year-old mother in Bangkok, no matter how much she complained; but clearly Katie and Lane have a different opinion.

A rough and portly man came to the hotel; he was jovial and seemed to enjoy his job. I was one of 5 - all of us English speaking. We travelled to yet another enormous food market and after doing a tour, were left to explore for 20 minutes on our own. The vendors were very kind about letting us take photos and we snapped away at delicacies such as live frogs (enormous ones!) eels, snakes, mountain rats, dried sting ray, shark fins and other gourmet delights. I would have liked to have tried a lot of stuff, but there was no time. I bought some jellied candies which were tasty and very sweet and we pressed on.

There are number of Bangkok food markets. Possibly this is the Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, as described in this website. Although the mountain rat does not sound that appetizing, this website indicates that it tastes better than chicken.

The country here is much like Holland - I'm told. Many canals, once used for travel and commerce, criss cross the plains giving life to such a variety of things: rice, lotus, herbs, cactus, fruits, and so on thrive. In the country, life is much as it is in any farming area, except for the herds of skinny cattle blocking the road from time to time.

This website agrees there are canals in Thailand. I was unable to find any website comparing Holland canals to Thailand canals.

At an historic temple a Chinese water raft was still in use and we hired the elderly boatman to take us down the canal to a Chinese settlement - perhaps 1000 years old. This was one of the first open markets and the Chinese inhabitants are descendents of the original settlers in the area. The boat was a flat barge covered with a bow-shaped canopy. It was cool inside. We had to be very careful getting in as it was very awkwardly balanced - at least for us! The boatman was in his 70's. A proud, handsome man and rail thin, he wore a traditional bamboo hat and was barefoot. As the first one in the boat, I sat looking up at him. He would not meet my gaze and I wondered what he thought of the "big noses" he had to ferry in a boat that belonged to a much more meaningful past.

It looks like Lynn is taking this tour. The lady in the website picture looks a lot like the lady in Lynn’s picture of her cooking. Judging from Lynn’s description, it sounds like the boatman was hired, however the tour description sounds like this was regular part of the paid tour. This is the description:

08.00 AM
- Pick up from Various hotel in Bangkok.
08.30 AM
- Depart Bangkok to Nakron Pathom province. - Enjoy a scenic drive to the beautiful greenbelt of Bangkok. - Passing rice fields, lotus ponds and much more. Then visit fresh much to learn about Thai ingredients for Thai cooking and you will enjoy The Thai local life with "Siamese Smile"
10.00 AM
- Driving to coconut garden to see the processing of palm sugar made from coconut sap
10.30 AM
- Cruising along the Nakron Chaisri river by traditional sculling boat. Then walk pass the old "Thai-Chinese village"
11.45 AM
- Come to the highlight of the tour and enjoy your first hand experience of cooking Thai food at the garden home. - Lunch will be severed.
13.30 PM
- After lunch, visit the wickerwork village to see people making the products from Water hyacinth.
14.00 PM
- Visit orchid farm to see many kinds of grow orchid and the amazing way to grow orchid.
14.30 PM
- Depart from orchid farm to Bangkok.
16.00 PM
- Arrive hotels in Bangkok.

His hands and feet had been altered by time to conform to the workings of the boat. His hands were broad and powerful, his feet bare and bent in an awkward position - perhaps from steering; perhaps he was born that way. I wanted to photograph them but didn't want to be rude. People in Thailand believe strongly in Karma and I wondered about his and mine.

Perhaps Lynn should see this website for more about Karma. As to what Karma has to do with taking photographs, I have no idea. This website talks about Thailand etiquette and says:

Taking Photos: Just as you wouldn't like a stranger walking up to you and snapping your photo, be respectful and ask first before doing the same in Thailand especially with Monks. Note that some rural hill-tribe people believe that a photograph will 'capture' their soul and will object to being photographed.

Perhaps this is what Lynn is talking about with her Karma --- the soul-stealing kind of Karma.

He dropped us off at the old Chinese settlement about a mile down the canal. After the others were safely off the raft, I put my hand on his shoulder, discreetly gave him a large tip, and thanked him for his time. He looked at me then. I didn't know if the was grateful or sad... but I hope he appreciated the gesture.

Back to Thailand etiquette:

The Range of Tips: It is important to remember that the majority of employees in the hospitality and service industries in Thailand earn a very basic wage. Therefore any gratuities received truly do go long way and will serve to recognise and reward enthusiastic service.

I am sure the man appreciated the tip. Of course, I don't know what Lynn considers to be a "large tip".

The Chinese market was a great piece of history. Almost abandoned as a place of commerce, it is still home to many families. We walked down the deserted passageway of stalls. A couple of vendors sold household goods and the barber was busy. Both he and his client smiled and waved pleasantly as we wandered by. It was as if they were part of a strange museum display. Again, I wondered what they thought of US. Tourism is Thailand’s biggest industry, it seems. Strange to have your private life be a part of a "tour". With all the young people leaving to go to school and work in the cities, these places are disappearing fast.

This website says the village on this tour is the Baan Lumphraya. Here are the details:

Baan Lumphya is situated in Nakorn Pathom Province, about one hour (54 km) west of Bangkok, a well known fruit land in Thailand . The surrounding countryside is renowned for its delicious pomelos, fragrant white rice and thriving wine industry.

On the bank of Nakorn Chisri River, Baan Lumphaya has been settled peacefully about 170 years, where the Thai - Chinese traditional lifestyle still remains even today.

170 years is not quite as old as the 1000 years Lynn guessed. It sounds like the place is doing very well from the website description. As for tourism being Thailand’s biggest industry, that’s not really true. This website says:

The economy of Thailand is an emerging economy which is heavily export-dependent, with exports accounting for more than two thirds of gross domestic product (GDP).

It’s nice to know that in spite of seeing all this agriculture around her, Lynn Johnston still thinks the economy of Thailand depends on people like her.

On the walk back down the canal, a lady and her daughter were prepared to receive us in their lovely, private home. We took off our shoes, accepted fresh coconuts with straws in them, and cold cloths for our faces. It was such a relief to be cool! Truly, I have rarely experienced such heat and it made me wonder how they could have fought for so long in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

I think this is the part of the tour described as:

Come to the highlight of the tour and enjoy your first hand experience of cooking Thai food at the garden home.

The reference to the Vietnam War is an odd one. If Thailanders are used to the heat in their own country, then what difference would the heat make to them in fighting? According to this website, the Thai Army saw action in South Vietnam between 1965 and 1971 and also in Laos between 1964 and 1972. This is assuming that Lynn is not talking about the more recent fighting between Thailand and Cambodia back in 2008. I doubt she would be aware of anything that recent.

In an outdoor cooking area, we had an impromptu cooking class. This dear lady taught us how to prepare coconut milk soup, pad Thai, and sweet pickle salad. Then she ushered us into her grand old home to enjoy the meal in her dining room. I think this was one of the highlights of my trip. Around the table we random travelers were now able to greet each other. The American couple are sign language teachers and are here in Thailand for a conference. The two ladies were mom and daughter, from Tasmania, travelling for fun. And then, there was me. This was my first all English-speaking tour and it's so obvious that the inability to communicate with people is a sad barrier. No wonder there are so many misunderstandings between countries. Language, religion, and politics tear us apart... and yet, we really are all the same. Perhaps THIS is what the real future of the internet is: a way to help us understand each other.

Impromptu? Impromptu? Hey, Lynn. When you pay for a cooking tour, it’s not impromptu. Why are you trying to make this seem like this is a part of Thai-Chinese village hospitality, when you have paid good money for it to happen? Finally Lynn talks to her fellow tourists because they all speak English, and this prompts Lynn to make statements how language tears us apart, even though we are all the same…as long as we all speak English. The future of the internet is to help us understand each other. Goodness, Lynn. The power of the internet is that I can do internet searches and figure out what the heck you are doing.

An orchid farm on the way home was interesting. Orchids are beautiful parasites! They can be attached to trees by tying them to the trunk until the roots grow into the bark. There were many varieties in this massive, fabric-covered operation. They are started by placing tiny cuttings into long, clear, square bottles in which a jelly-like growing compound provides a base and nourishment. The bottles are set out on long racks and are tended to until the baby orchids are big enough to roll into tiny slices of coconut husk. These are then placed in trays and put into the greenhouse where fans and sprayers keep everything moist and fresh. The initial growth process takes a few months. The tiny individual plants are monitored and kept sterile. Flowering doesn't occur for about 2 years so, the plants we casually buy in the grocery store have quite a history.

Lynn is right about this. Orchids are a big deal in Thailand and it is a part of the tour. However, by going to the orchid farm, Lynn has not mentioned going to the wickerwork village. I wonder why she left that out of her tour description.

It took hours to get back to the hotel. Bangkok in rush hour is the worst of places to be. If you think it's slow in (pick a North American city), Bangkok gets a prize! It took almost as much time to get back to the hotel as it did to get to the outskirts of the city. Next time, I'll take the train!

No Lynn. Transportation is provided as a part of the tour, but thanks for playing. Judging from the tour information, this is a tour you can pick up as a part of staying at the Holiday Inn Silom, which answers the question from last time about which Holiday Inn in Bangkok Lynn is staying at.

Tomorrow: the first leg home.

If Lynn does put out another one of these tomorrow, I will have to delay my posting about it, since I will be at a Boy Scout camporee this evening and tomorrow. See you after I get back.

John and the Super Vac Kissing In A Tree

2010-03-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

In today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, we see Part II of the vacuuming story, where Dr. John Patterson investigates the loss of his keys and finding out from Michael they might be in the Super Vac, he decides to…um…well I’m not really sure what he’s doing. The intelligent thing would be to go to the store manager and see they can open the Super Vac to find the keys. After all, we know from this strip, John is not above going into the trash for valuables.

Instead what John is doing appears to another customer as though he and the Super Vac are having a “relationship”. Searching the Comic Strip Catalog for “relationship” this strip is the closest I can find to today’s strip. In the all the other strips, “relationship” meant something between people or pets.

On the other hand, this strip has some similarities to today’s strips. Both strips paint an image of John Patterson who doesn’t mind doing something which appears sexual in nature while out in public. This strip is the famous “John has an orgasm in the massage chair”, while today’s strip appears to be “John has rough sex with the Super Vac”.

While the massage chair strip was a little more innocent, this one is much more obvious in its intent. The other customer specifically mentions “relationship” so even Lynn’s most devoted readers would be hard-pressed not to pick up on the sexual overtones.

On the other hand, if this ends up being one of Lynn Johnston’s last new strips, I think it is only appropriate that she ends the era of new-runs continuing on with one of her major themes of the new-runs: My ex-husband (represented by John Patterson) is a pig. It’s somewhat comforting to know that in the 3 years since her divorce, her hatred remains unabated.

Car Vacuum of Terror

2010-03-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

Apparently Michael escaped from the pressure hose unscathed by either injury or even slight wetness from yesterday’s new-run of For Better or For Worse. Today’s new-run moves on to a disaster with the vacuum cleaner as John lets Michael loose with it, but does not take the time to explain “Only vacuum up the dirt” or “Before you vacuum, let me make sure the valuables are out of the way” or anything a sensible person would say before turning a 6-year-old loose with a high-powered vacuum. In this area I speak with some experience, because I discovered when my children were at a very young age, they loved vacuuming because it was so easy to do. Naturally, at that age, they had to be monitored and things had to be removed from their influence to prevent disaster from happening. Any idiot who ever vacuumed knows that, but apparently not Dr. John Patterson. No doubt this is due to his complete and utter lack of experience with vacuuming.

So, the joke is that once again, due to his inexperience and incompetence, John Patterson’s car keys get vacuumed up. Or more importantly, John did not learn his lesson from yesterday’s strip. Lost keys are a regular source of humour with Lynn Johnston as you can tell from looking at this series of strips on this theme. She has done many variations on this joke.

The question that arises next, especially after seeing no consequence whatsoever of the strip’s antics yesterday, is whether or not there will be consequence from the loss of the keys in today’s strip. I get the feeling that we are seeing something like a Warner Brother’s Road Runner cartoon, where the coyote suffers some injury and then moves onto his next scheme with no effect whatsoever from the prior scheme. With this idea in mind, the next disaster we would see would be little Michael using the air to over inflate the tires on the car so it floats in the air or his spilling oil all over the car engine while changing out the oil filter or some other brand of nonsense from his doing things 6-year-olds ought not to do.

The overall point of this strip and yesterday’s strip seems to me to be that John should have stayed in his chair, kept reading his paper, and rejoiced in the fact that he had resisted any temptation to spend time with his son which, as we can see, would simply have been one disaster after another.

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 11: Back to Bangkok

2010-03-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

As usual, I will quote the text and then comment on it:

There are just a few days left before we face the long trip home. Travelling with no checked luggage and no set schedule gives you a lot of freedom but it makes for some long waits and last minute decisions. The thought of going to Tokyo for a few days and skipping Bangkok on the way home sounded good but, with Chinese New Year being such a big time for travel, all the flights were full. We booked for Bangkok and arrived around noon. Not having a hotel was a challenge and, to end the search, I suggested we try the Holiday Inn! A travel agent at the airport booked us 2 rooms with the caveat that we also book a tour of the city through her agency - which we did. I asked if this meant a mandatory trip to the tourist trap jewelry and silk stores and she just smiled.

Expedia tells me that there are no direct flights from Phuket (HKT) to Tokyo (NRT). It also tells me that most flights would connect through Hong Kong, Singapore or (you guessed it), Bangkok. That makes it a little suspicious that Lynn can get to Bangkok, but she can't get to Tokyo, eh? Expedia also tells me that this trip has a total flight time of 9 – 10 hours at least with very long layovers. Unless Lynn and company started off to the airport early in the morning, they are looking at an overnight flight to Tokyo. I can see why stopping in Bangkok may be more appealing.

This website describes Chinese New Year in different countries. It makes it look like the celebrations are mainly in the Chinatown districts of each country, even in Bangkok. That is also expressed in the website discussing Chinese New Year in Bangkok:

The best places to enjoy Chinese New Year in Thailand are Bangkok's chinatown Yawarat district and Nakhorn Sawan. Bangkok's Yawarat district was founded in year 1783.

At last, Lynn Johnston finally explains her much earlier comment about no checked luggage she made in a few of her earlier travelogue entries. It appears that that big deal is less the “no checked luggage” and more the “no set schedule”. Somehow Lane and Katie managed to talk Lynn into an open-ended vacation, which pretty much tells me that Lynn is not worried about meeting any upcoming comic strip deadlines. In other words, before Lynn took this trip, she had already set the strip up to go to straight reprints. We are in the end times.

As for the Holiday Inn, there are 3 in Bangkok. They are all about the same distance to the city center, so I have no idea which one Lynn is in:

1. SILOM BANGKOK Distance from city center: 2.32 MI / 3.73 KM
2. HOLIDAY INN BANGKOK Distance from city center: 2.56 MI / 4.12 KM
3. BANGKOK Distance from city center: 2.52 MI / 4.06 KM

Naturally you can call Hotel Reservations for Holiday Inn directly and not have to sign up for any tours; but Lynn and company don't seem to know that. Judging from Lynn’s comments, it sounds like she was hard-pressed to get Katie and Lane to agree to go to the Holiday Inn. From the prior travelogue entries, it looks like they have been favoring the hotel and spa kinds of places.

Surprisingly, the Holiday Inn has been one of the nicest and most modern hotels we've seen and of the service is... well... overwhelming. There are people to open the doors, people to press the elevator buttons, people to show you where the restaurant is, and people just... well, bowing and pressing their hands together in a gracious sign of welcome.

Ah, the joys of American hotel chains in other countries.

Our tour of the city began from our hotel. A sweet young man accompanied us and a driver in a spotless, air conditioned car to the center of the city where the old original Bangkok was still evident - tucked into the maze of skyscrapers and modern concrete architecture. Here the signs were in Thai and Chinese and Arabic. The facades of the buildings were ornate. Tiny crowded shops were bustling with activity as people did a ritual cleaning of their homes and offices, putting out offerings, and socializing with neighbors in a real holiday atmosphere.

"Ritual cleaning of their homes"? I can't find any reference to Bangkok home-cleaning rituals.

This website actually discusses a study done of the different signs in Bangkok. It says:

Huebner (2006) explored the linguistic landscape of Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. The official language policy of the country has Thai as the national state language while English is the language typically used for wider communication. To encourage the use of Thai, the government provides a tax incentive for including that language on commercial signs in Bangkok. However, not all businesses take advantage of this, and when they do, they often put Thai in small print in a corner of the sign, which shows the popularity and importance of English. Less than half of all signs (45 percent) contain only one script. The majority of those signs (57 percent) is written in the Thai script, with 38 percent in Roman script and 5 percent in other scripts, such Japanese (8), Arabic (3) and Chinese (1). A majority of the signs (55 percent) contains multiple scripts, either in Thai and Roman script together or in the three scripts Thai, Roman and Chinese. Government signs in Bangkok are quite similar all over the city, but privately posted signs display considerable variation across neighbourhoods. In most of the fifteen neighbourhoods that were studied the signs are either monolingual Thai, or bilingual Thai-English signs; however Thai-Chinese multilingual signs dominate in two neighbourhoods and languages other than Thai are dominant in four other neighbourhoods.

The number of signs spotted in 2006 with Arabic are not very many, however Lynn takes the English on the signs for granted and shows more interest in the Arabic (mysterious women in black, the women in chadors she mentions below) since she has been in Thailand. My guess is her next trip will be to a Muslim country.

Flower sellers had long wreaths of orchids and yellow chrysanthemums stacked in piles and hanging from posts - all part of the ritual. The small shrines and the big ones alike were spotless and decked with wreaths, candles, food, and drink. Overhead, rows of orange lanterns hung like necklaces above the streets, colored lights flickered along the shop walls and everywhere there was the feeling of joy and excitement. This is the Thailand I was looking for - not the cosmopolitan streets of downtown lined with the English signs; MacDonald’s, Dunkin' Donuts, and Starbucks pressed into glass malls with Gucci and Prada and Guess.

Based on this website, I am not sure these are yellow chrysanthemums. The website says the marigolds are the flower of choice for Bangkok shrines. Looking at this website, it appears Lynn’s description of the shopping malls is accurate. However, I find it very amusing that the same woman who detested Lynn Lake for its lack of shopping, is complaining about what appears to be a paradise for shoppers.

This website follows the Mad Traveler who was in Bangkok at the same time as Lynn for Chinese New Year and his pictures are a lot better than hers. The best part of all this is that Lynn Johnston, who has been complaining nonstop about not finding the Thailand she was looking for, while comparing it unfavorably to Beijing, China, now announces she has found it on a day where the Thailanders are celebrating a Chinese holiday and have Chinese decorations up like the orange lanterns. I can imagine Lynn in the San Francisco Chinatown on Chinese New Year saying the same thing, “At last, the San Francisco I was looking for.”

We toured two beautiful shrines which we entered barefoot. The artwork in these places always takes my breath away. In the courtyards there are places to buy lotus and incense and they teach you how to pray - just for your own peace, not to any one God in particular. People from all denominations and backgrounds shared moments of personal thought as others took photos, herded kids, and just marveled at the rich, awe inspiring buildings. Gold tipped rooftops, ornate blue, red, and yellow mirrored tiles, paintings, murals of inlayed pearl and precious stones all attest to the intensity of devotion to these sacred places.

I have been unable to find the shrine featured in the picture. This website has pictures of the most famous Bangkok shrines and it does not appear to be any one of those. However, to get an idea of just how many shrines there are in Bangkok, take a look at this video.

At the drink stand was a fortune teller and for about $20.00 Canadian, he told me I was a good person, my lucky number is 5, and I’m going to live to be 87. Lots of travelling years ahead!

According to this website, fortune-telling is a big business in Bangkok. The man in this picture appears to be doing a palm reading and he has an astrological chart by his left arm. I wonder who is in the signed celebrity picture under Lynn’s right arm? Bobby Curtola? And look, there’s Lane! Can this be the first picture we have seen with Lane in it?

The website says:

High-end fortune tellers command prices as high as 10,000 baht per hour, though on the street it’s possible to book a fortune telling session for as little as 40 baht.

According to this CAD to Baht converter, Lynn paid about $632 baht, so her session was a little pricey for a drink stand fortune teller.

Then we were lambs to the slaughter. Disguised as "traditional handicrafts", jewelry is the main reason for taking you anywhere and, like many tropical ports, seems to support a huge population. We expected the ruse, made our way through the mazes of glass cabinetry full of very expensive trinkets, and were finally allowed to escape to our hotel. The next city tour I take will be with a private guide. But, even THEY get a cut from the gem shops!!

In this area, Lynn is absolutely right and kudos to her for that. This website describes the gem market in Bangkok and strongly recommends not buying a gem in Bangkok for a number of very good reasons. Here's the one that applies to Lynn:

Guides will take you to the Government gem and jewelry shops that are just insanely expensive, because you will be paying government set prices, and also be paying the cut that the guide, and the taxi driver receives. They each get their cut if you are foolish enough to pay the outlandish Government gems store prices. I would however like to make one thing clear. The gem that you get at the Government store will stand the best chance of being real. When you get home and realize how much you paid over the world market price you may regret your decision unless you have money to burn, but at least we can say with reasonable confidence that your purchase will likely be a real gem, and not a fake, so that is something to consider if you absolutely have to make a gem purchase in Thailand.

This evening, we got a cab to the night market and the one here is something to see! It is easily a square mile of shops featuring everything from fake name-brand handbags to the finest of silk dresses. Tattoo artists work away next to women in chadors selling beaded shawls and handmade carpets. Women in saris float by men in white robes and ladyboys in tight fitting skirts and impossibly high heels work side by side in narrow alleyways. A honeycomb of tiny cubicles full of colorful wares take your attention away from the uneven flooring so you have to be in full shopping stamina to keep from falling over. We saw several foreign women with taped ankles and on crutches - it's easy to see why. I am still together, in one piece, and I thank my luck and my bifocals for keeping me this way. The fact that we can't carry anything has kept us from shopping but we walked 'til we dropped anyway.

Lynn still has not learned about shipping back things she buys, but that's OK. I think Lynn is talking about the Patpong Night Market as described in this website. However it could also be the Suan Lum Night Bazaar as described in this website. Both are in Bangkok, but Lynn does not give me enough detail to figure it out. As for the uneven ground, an internet search for “bangkok night market uneven flooring” found several entries of tourism blogs talking about the difficulties in walking there and various and sundry walking-related injuries.

As for the kathoey or ladyboys, it appears Lynn has learned the English language phrase for them, which she didn’t know the last time she talked about them in travelogue entry #2. Surprisingly the term “ladyboys” is not considered to be offensive in Bangkok, but is the popular English term. They even have a touring show with the name Lady Boys of Bangkok.

Well, today is a new day. We have taken the train to a less swanky part of town to seek cheap internet. My time is just about up and there's more stuff to see and do. Until the next installment, the intrepid explorer signs off, Sa wa dee ka! LJ

I don’t why she continues to write the endings of these things like she is in Thailand seeking the internet connection which will allow her to write it and that she is not already back in Canada and this trip didn’t occur in February. The Chinese New Year references are the giveaway, not to mention her daily entries which are posted every other day.

Last time around she wrote:

We are off to continue the adventure, so I'll sign off for now. Sa-was dee, ka!

There is one less “s” than last time, but Lynn is still trying to say, “Hello” as said by a female. Maybe before she is done someone will teach her to say "goodbye" in Thai.

Car Wash of Terror

2010-03-23T23:11:00.000-07:00

With today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, we learn that Dr. John Patterson is unable to read this safety sign:

Do NOT allow children to operate the pressure washer at any time.

Don't look for it in the comic strip, just whenever you go to a coin operated car wash. Of course I will have to grant that Dr. John Patterson wasn’t aware that the local car wash had such water pressure it was capable of generating an indoor tornado.

Apparently Michael did not find this moment to be so traumatizing as to keep him from going to the Doogie Dewitt’s Dewitt Yourself Car Wash, which is the only other time I can see any Patterson using pressure wash. Edgar did better in that strip than Farley does in the car wash in this strip.

Most of the time Mike uses the drive through car wash as in this strip. The one time we see anyone washing the car by hand it is in this strip and it is Elizabeth.

The best car wash story is probably the one where Mike takes Rhetta Blum to the car wash, only he doesn’t know how to close the windows. It is in this strip, this strip, this strip, this strip, this strip and this strip.

All those car wash strips, and yet I can honestly say that today's car wash strip is the worst of the bunch.

Justified Irritation

2010-03-22T23:56:00.000-07:00

Today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse hits upon a common theme in the early strips -- Michael bugging one of his parents, while they are trying to do something else. Mind you, I looked for the phrase “justified irritation” and “missed opportunity” on the Comic Strip Catalog and did not find anything which matched the situation of today’s strip. "Justified irritation" never appears. In the last panel of today’s strip, it looks like John has rolled up the newspaper in preparation for pummeling young Michael Patterson and refers to it as a missed opportunity, possibly because he could have pummeled Mike with the paper in any of the prior panels.

I did find a number of strips where Michael nags Elly in this strip, this strip, this strip, this strip and this strip. In none of them does Elly feel remorse for a missed opportunity.

There are also a few where Mike nags John as in this strip and this strip. In none of them does John feel remorse for a missed opportunity. This is one where Elly feels guilt. A rare event.

Here are a few strips where John actually tries to spend time with Michael and fails. This one is one of the rare strips where Michael interrupts John to ask him to play with him, and John actually does it. I could not find a similar strip with Elly Patterson playing with Michael after being nagged.

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 10: Snorkelling - The sport that sounds like its name

2010-03-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

Lynn never does tell us how noises from snorkelling sound like its name. I have been snorkelling before I and can honestly say that I did not associate the two.

As usual, I will quote the material and then comment on it.

Early this morning, we climbed into a van with 2 Russian couples and set off for the Similan Islands. The trip took over an hour and the driver was late. To the beat of wailing Thai pop stars, we shot through the streets sure that the driver had slept in and was nursing a serious hangover. There seem to be no rules when it comes to getting to your destination. A solid line means there is likely enough space for 3 or 4 cars as long as there's no drop or stone wall along the shoulders. Again, we passed an accident just after it had taken place; on the pavement a young girl lay in shock next to her motor scooter... her leg torn open from knee to ankle. As before, the injured was quickly surrounded by helpful bystanders, but there's little in the way of medical insurance here and it's not uncommon for injured motorists to be left to their fate as a helpful Samaritan can be suddenly responsible for hospital fees!

Where does Lynn Johnston get this information? According to this website the emergency telephone number in Thailand for Medical is 1669. Here is a company that does Thailand medical insurance in Phuket and another here and another here and…well you get the idea.

As for the trip to the Similan Islands, this website says:

Thap Lamu Pier, in the Thai Muang district of Phang Nga province, is the nearest launching point to the Similans, with boat trips taking about 3 hours.

This website says from Phang-Nga city to nearby provinces - Phuket 87 kms

We had a fast breakfast of fruit, toast, and instant coffee at the tour shack and were fitted for flippers - Kate and Lane brought their own gear. On the beach before boarding the speedboat to the islands, they took all of our shoes. The rest of the excursion was a feet of survival. Two hours of banging against the waves, dangerously racing other speedboats, and vying for space on the sticky leather seats, we were finally at the dive spot. We were all told to exit the boat where it was anchored just meters from a very different kind of land formation. The Similans are a group of uninhabited islands about an hour from shore and, except for the tropical foliage, look much like the worn and rounded granite islands in the Canadian Shield.

“Kate and Lane brought their own gear” – hardcore snorkelers.

“they took all of our shoes. The rest of the excursion was a feet of survival”. Is this some kind of foot joke?

Two hours is quite a bit shorter than the 3 hours projected above. This website says the trip takes 70 minutes via speed boat.

With the different geology comes a different sea bed. This area was all coral reef. The water was so clear it was hard to judge the depth we were swimming in. I have never been to a coral reef before and the shapes of the organisms below the surface were exquisite. There was a dark coral with a neon blue tip - something I wanted to see better but it was a surprisingly long way down and it took all my energy to get there. Many different species of fish and a plethora of gasping, gurgling, life-jacketed tourists bobbing about made this a veritable parade. I wondered how many endangered species were hoping we’d go away.

“The water was so clear it was hard to judge the depth we were swimming in.” Is she saying that when the water is murky, you can easily judge the depth?

“something I wanted to see better but it was a surprisingly long way down and it took all my energy to get there.” I think Lynn may have confused snorkeling with diving.

As for endangered species, this website mentions the main endangered species under the water near the Similan Islands are the sea turtles. However, I would not limit endangered species as the only creatures hoping Lynn would go away. I am sure there were other species as well.

We were then taken to an island park where we could rest and get a drink. There was little shade, so we all got pretty friendly as we crowded between the rocks and under the few overhanging trees. The sand is finely crushed coral and the consistency white flour. The good thing about this beach was that there were facilities and the place was clean. Other public islands were covered in litter and unexpected latrines kept one from exploring the trails. A sad thing about tourism is that many tourists don't care enough to leave just their footprints.

The island park is probably Similan National Park, which may also explain the niceness of the facilities.

“unexpected latrines” What does that mean? “I was going to explore this trail but a latrine jumped out at me and I wasn’t expecting it? Until they get the wild latrines under control, those trails aren’t safe.”

As for sand, this website has a slightly different take on its origin:

Much of the fine white sand found in coral reef settings is ground-up coral (limestone) that has passed through the digestion system of the parrot fish.

The trip back was a noisy, pounding grunt and a few travelers were frustratingly pushy about taking the best seats. When you can't speak to each other, courtesy seems to disappear. The passengers were German, Russian, Italian, and English and we all kept to ourselves - except for passing the plates of food at lunch, there was little eye contact!

German, Russian and Italian I can understand, but I thought Lynn spoke English. However, I will admit that these travelogues do raise a question about her English abilities. As for the food, it appears that food is provided by the tour which brings the tourists out to the island. There are no restaurants listed for Similan Island.

Back at the shack, we jostled to use the latrines. Fortunately, the driver was in no hurry to get back to Karon Beach where we are now staying. He was so dangerously close to falling asleep that Kate was prepared to holler at him the whole way home - I was too tired to notice.The best thing about these long drives is the chance to see the countryside….. You just don't want to be mashed into it!!! More to come. LJ

“Karon Beach where we are now staying”. Maybe Lynn forgot she put this in her last travelogue. The last travelogue had a very different feel to it than this one, making me suspect that it might have been written after this one was.

1500

2010-03-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

Today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse goes back in time to March 17, 1981, which is one of the few March, 1981 strips not reprinted. Supposedly tomorrow is going to be a new-run exploring more of the Mike and John relationship, which means that we will probably have another week of new-runs. As I have pointed out before, the next straight set of unreprinted material would have been originally published on April 6, 1981 so it would be wise for Lynn Johnston to produce 2 weeks of new-runs so she can synchronize April 5, 2010 with those strips before going to straight reprints. It may be she plans to do that.

This past Saturday, Lynn published her latest entry of her travelogue to Thailand, where she revealed that her trip actually took place during Chinese New Year, which was February 14. However, in Phuket, Thailand, they celebrated it from February 19-21. In all likelihood, these were the concluding days of her trip. In order to take a 2 week vacation, this would be mean that prior to her vacation she would have to have submitted daily strips for the next 6 weeks following that going to the last week of March. The next week would start on Monday, April 5. That lines up so neatly, it can’t be coincidence. My guess is that we are going to get 2 more weeks of new-runs and April 5 will be the start date for straight reprints. Of course, there is always the possibility that Lynn Johnston will change her mind about going to straight reprints. It would not be the first time she has changed her mind about things like that.

As for the Howard Bunt Blog, this very entry is entry #1500. Can you believe it? I’ve been doing this since August, 2005. Clearly if there is ever a hearing to determine my sanity, I will have to hope they don’t find this blog.

As for the strip today, it is a strange one. Lawrence Poirier broke his leg on January 27 and got his cast off on March 21. In the original publication, it was February 10 to March 17 – 2 weeks longer in the cast. The humour of the strip appears to be that Lawrence Poirier with his cast off, has to restrain himself from kicking other people until his leg completely heals. I do not get this joke. My first thought was that Lawrence took advantage of his cast to kick people and now he doesn’t get to do that with his cast off. Only that’s not what the strip says. “He just won’t be able to kick anyone for a while.” Lawrence can’t kick people? Since when is Lawrence a kicker?

Other persons in the strip are kickers, not Lawrence. In this strip, Michael kicks newly born Elizabeth. Here, Elly kicks Phil for wanting to drink something alcoholic. It’s usually the dogs who get kicked. Here Elizabeth kicks Eddy. Here Elly kicks Farley.

Going Back in Time

2010-03-20T23:06:00.000-07:00

Today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse is the first Sunday strip to move chronologically backward in the original publishing schedule for Sunday strips since this strip published on July 26, 2009, which was originally published on March 16, 1980. Today’s strip was originally published June 8, 1980. Everything else between the two strips was either a new-run or originally published in 1981.

The reason why this is important is because Lynn Johnston announced the moment of going to straight reprints would be in Early Spring, 2010. For Better or For Worse’s great claim to fame was that the characters in the comic strip aged in real time. Their birthdays occurred at the same time each year. The school for the kids started and stopped at the same time real schools start and stop. For these reasons, it is crucial that straight reprints line up with the reprint’s original publication dates. An April strip must be reprinted in April, for example.

During the last year and a half, Lynn Johnston has been pulling strips to reprint from 1979-1981 without respect to the chronological order of things. It appears the motivation was for these things:

1. Introduce the adoption of Farley the dog as early as possible, so that the cartoon dog could be used to promote Lynn’s children’s book about Farley.
2. Reprint only those strips which painted the avatars for Lynn’s ex-husband and son in the worst possible light for reasons of person revenge against them due to Lynn’s divorce.
3. Fill in the gaps for storylines Lynn felt were not properly covered in their original publication.

As a result from pulling these strips willy-nilly, Lynn ended up reprinting strips from 1981 as late into the year as June. This means that in order to line up the June Sunday strips from 1981 with 2010, Lynn must either reprint strips from years before 1981 or write brand-new strips. Spring, 2010 has happened, and sure enough, we see a Sunday strip reprinted from 1980. If this trend continues, we could see Sunday strips from 1980 published from now until June, when she can go back to reprinting Sunday strips from 1981. This move back to 1980 could be the sign that Lynn Johnston is officially doing straight reprints with the Sunday strips.

As for the theme of today’s strip, it is an interesting one. Elly is trying to change her hairstyle herself. This is a rare event. Elly normally does not change her hairstyle any more than just adding some curls as in this strip. Normally she goes to a stylist, but often she doesn’t like the result as in this strip and this strip and this strip. This strip is the closest one I can find to today’s strip, although Elly does not try as many different styles as in today’s.

Looking through the old strips about hair, I think I have found a new favourite. Elly is rarely satisfied with her hair, and rightly so, but this strip is the exception.

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 8: Another Day, Another Beach

2010-03-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

Actually Part 9, but who's counting? As usual I will quote the text of interest and make comments on it.

We’re retracing our steps, now. We've left the bustle of Ao Nang and are now at a swanky spot just across from Karon Beach on Phuket Island. (Or Koh Phuket - pronounced "Goh Phuket". Whot fun!) There were few places able to accommodate 3 people for 4 nights at the same place, this being Chinese New Year and all, so we're ruffing it at a place where the pool goes right up to your room - no nude bathing allowed, which is a good thing. The clientele is Russian for the most part and the shapes are North American... not good viewing before breakfast.

Chinese New Year. That was February 14?!! However, this website says that it was celebrated in Phuket on February 19-21. This trip was back in February? Then why did Lynn go through all the elaborate description of how she was having to type up her travelogues on the one working computer terminal in her hotel, so we would think she was writing these while she was in Thailand? According to this website, Chinese New Year in Phuket is a big deal. You can look at it and see all the things Lynn could have done, but didn’t do.

As for Koh Phuket being pronounced Goh Phuket, that’s not correct. This website has the pronunciation for Phuket as “poo – keht” and this website has the pronunciation for Koh as “gaw”. “Whot fun” to make risque jokes on the mispronunciation of foreign languages. Can you imagine the fun Lynn had all those years being married to Rod Johnson, I mean Rod Johnston?

Lynn doesn’t say where she is, but based on the picture and her description, my guess is that she is at the Karon Sea Sands Resort. However, the Thai food cooking class references coming up may refute that. You can look at this map for Karon Beach and find where Lynn is.

Before leaving Ao Nang, we went to a Thai boxing match at the local arena. A free van takes you there but first you ride it up and down the street picking up patrons as the loud speaker blares out messages about the matches, the stars, and the time of entry. The arena was spacious and hot. Lane got us executive seats on long leather couches next to the ring. The executive seats were on 3 sides of the ring, the 4th left for a throng of family, fans, and wagerers. A loud bell and 2 fighters emerged to a crash of cymbals, drums, and the tuneless wailing of what we called a "snake charmers flute". The fighters bob and gesture, screw up their faces, and almost dance as they work to psyche out the rival. Then the fight begins. It's over fast as the kicking is hard and the punches are deadly. The winner is declared to the shouts and waving of the rabble on the side. Despite the din, I found it hard to stay awake. Kate too was OK to pass up the last 2 rounds, so we left Lane to enjoy the rest of the matches on his own. Been there done that! HOO, was it noisy!

This website has a better description of kick-boxing (as we call it) or Muay Thai as the Thailanders call it. Considering Chinese New Year was celebrated in Phuket from Friday, February 19 to Sunday, February 21; and these boxing matches are held on Fridays, this must be February 19 when this occurred. The part I don’t understand is how in the world Lynn Johnston could find it hard to stay awake. Why do I have this feeling the situation was more like, “Lane. Mom drank too much and she’s about to pass out. I’ll take her back to the hotel and you can stay and watch this. It’s too violent and too loud for me.”?

An insight into one of the World's most excitng martial arts and the Thai national sport. Ao Nang Boxing stadium presents the ancient art of Muay Thai.

Kick-boxing or Muay Thai is the fighting system or martial art practiced in Thailand as well as several other South East Asian countries. Muay Thai literally means "Thai Boxing" and evolved from its ancestor "Muay Boran" or "Ancient Boxing". Known also as The Art of the Eight Limbs, Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand and has differed slightly from Muay Boran since King Rama VII sanctioned a code and set of rules that was successfully put into practice due to the regular occurrence of death during bouts. Since then, the sport has introduced the wearing of padded boxing gloves and a western style boxing ring.

Ao Nang Boxing Stadium stages Muay Thai contests every Friday from around 8 pm onwards, attended by hundreds of tourists and local Thais. Groups of Thai men with their cries and shouts elevate the atmosphere to what at times can only be described as frenzied. Be warned; these are no exhibition flights - it's the real deal! The only concession to tourism is the cost. Prices start at 600 Baht and go up to 1,200 Baht for a comfy ringside sofa.

Meanwhile back in Phuket:

This morning, Kate has gone to a Thai cooking class and we are keeping cool in one of the many internet shops. It's morning and by 8:30 it's already steamy hot.
The Thai custom of leaving shoes outside is getting to be familiar, although many places are too dirty for us to comply. Massage places have rows of shoes outside as do many private shops and even the hotel rooms have shoes outside the doors. People are easy going and accept the fact that the foreigners have their own customs. Everything seems to be tolerated. Girls in modest dress and hijabs walk past tourists with bare bulges flapping in the wind. Speedos leave little to the imagination. Boys who for all the world are girls (breast implants and shapely curves) give tourist info. to Harley riders in chains bearing tattoos of skulls and other gruesome imagery.

Apparently Thai cooking classes are all over Phuket Island. According to this website, at Karon Beach, the Thavorn Palm Beach Resort Hotel Phuket and Karon Villa Phuket both offer Thai cooking classes. As for Thai customs, this website has this to say about dress:

Do dress modestly. Thais now understand that Americans may show up in shorts and tank tops in public, but would never do so themselves. Wearing long pants, and clean, neat clothes, will gain you an extra measure of respect.

As for shoes, this website has this to say about taking them off. Considering the shoe-shedding obsessions of the Pattersons, you wouldn’t think this would be any problem for Lynn Johnston.

Do remove your shoes when entering a home or temple, or any place where you see other shoes left at the entrance.

Now Lynn will talk about the hillsides. It doesn't say she is actually going into the hillsides to see this stuff. It makes me wonder if Lynn has done a little research herself to fill out this travelogue. Unlike her prior travelogue entries, the next several part of this travelogue just seem to be random things Lynn is saying about the area with no particular connection to what she is doing there.

The hillsides here are fewer and less imposing and, between the cliffs, the countryside levels into wide, flat farmland. Rubber trees are planted in great rows. Small coconut cups fastened to the sides collect the sticky, white, smelly sap which when dry is like an elastic band. There are pineapple plantations, bananas of course, and some fruits and veggies we have never even heard of. Dragon fruit, for example is like a huge red turnip with curly red leaves coming out of it. The fruit inside is white, full of tiny black seeds and tastes to me like a mix of potato and watermelon! Breadfruit, mango, papaya, and the strangest citrus fruits are all so tempting. This is what makes the markets such a joy to explore. Interestingly, you can give a banana as an offering at the temple, but it has to be unpeeled. A peeled one is… an insult.

Also a peeled one is unsanitary. Notice once again Lynn refers to the food as tempting, but does not actually mention tasting any aside from the dragon fruit. With respect to rubber trees, this website has this information. Lynn description appears to be basically correct.

The first rubber tree on the island appeared in 1903 and steadily expanded to the point where rubber plantations covered more than a third of the land area of Phuket Island.

A cut is made through the bark of the tree; this cut extends one-third to one-half of the circumference of the trunk and is made in the shape of a chevron. The latex exudes from the cut and is collected in a small cup, the amount of latex obtained on each tapping is about 30 ml (about 1 fl oz).

The dragon fruit is the Pitaya which, according to this website, like the rubber tree is not native to Phuket.

And now on to music:

The music here sounds very western. We hear little of the traditional stuff. They have a karaoke style of entertainment here where a single singer wails out the Thai equivalent of "Thriller" to the recorded din of synthesized accompaniment. Most restaurants play the North American hit parade. After awhile, you get pretty tired of Celine and Shania.

Celine Dion has not had a hit in Canada since "I Drove All Night" in 2003. Shania Twain has not had a hit in Canada since "I Ain't No Quitter" in 2005. Why do I have the feeling that Lynn Johnston has no idea what either of these ladies sound like? Even so, if these two represent the hit parade, then it is taking a little while to get to Phuket Island. According to the Phuket Gazette, they don’t like this karoake music in Phuket any more than Lynn Johnston does.

I asked about varmints and the most dangerous thing in the area is the cobra. We were told that cobras don't like bug spray, so it's worn when tramping through the woods with a dual purpose. I see a marketing opportunity for "OFF" here. Note: elephants really do have flat feet and don’t leave much of a footprint. I looked… not even the toes make much of an impression… everything just gets pretty flat. Elephants used to play a serious role in both logging and agriculture, but machinery and worldwide pressure have changed their lot. Now they are paraded for tourists and kept as pets. They appear in much of the local artwork and are considered very good luck.

Cobras in Phuket Island. I can just see OFF protecting me from that bad boy. Right.

This website agrees elephants were used for logging, but not on Phuket. According to this website, the elephants were brought to Phuket for the tourists.

Not many years ago, there was considerable debate about elephants in Phuket. Elephants are not native to Phuket – they come from the cooler northern part of the country – but were brought here to work in the tourist industry. As Thailand’s logging industry declined, out-of-work elephants and their mahouts headed for Phuket.

This website disagrees and says that at one time elephants were native to Phuket, so who knows?

In former times wild elephants roamed Phuket Island but as tin mining and rubber plantations changed the natural environment elephants slowly disappeared.

And now on to Good Luck:

Good luck is a big thing here and many things are done to generate it. The first sale in the morning must be followed by a prayer and then the money given to the vendor is wiped across the merchandise. This encourages further good luck. If you can score the first sale, you might get a bargain or you might be one of many “first sales” which makes for a good pitch at the doorway.

I can’t find anything to confirm or deny this statement. However, the association of “first sale” with “bargain” not only would attract Lynn Johnston’s interest, but also gives me the feeling Lynn may have been scammed.

In the big temple, boys line up to take part in a religious ceremony. They are required to enter the monastery as rite of passage. Some stay 10 days, some several months, and some for a lifetime. One of our guides told us he enjoyed his life in the monastery; he learned from it to be humble, caring, and grateful. Maybe this should be required in other countries.

According to this website, the rite of passage is typically 3 months. As for Lynn’s remark about being “required in other countries”, maybe Lynn should refamiliarize herself with the churches in Canada before she makes such remarks.

Mainland Thai culture is heavily influenced by Buddhism. However, unlike the Buddhist countries of East Asia, Thailand's Buddhists follow the Therevada school, which is arguably closer to its Indian roots and places a heavier emphasis on monasticism. Thai temples known as wats, resplendent with gold and easily identifiable thanks to their ornate, multicolored, pointy roofs are ubiquitous and becoming an orange-robed monk for a short period, typically the three-month rainy season, is a common rite of passage for young Thai boys and men.

And now onto the Big Buddha:

On the crest of the highest hill in the town of Phuket, a giant Buddha is being built - it can be seen for miles. The “Big Buddha” signs lead you up a winding road to a large newly constructed landing and the marble base of this huge monument. Because indentured servitude can’t supply free labor, the costs escalated and now there’s an effort to complete the project with the help of grants, donations, and volunteers. We bought marble tiles and autographed them, to be placed alongside thousands of others which will soon become part of the towering form. Someday we’ll come back to see it finished, knowing we have played a minute role in its completion.

The Thailanders call it Phra Puttamingmongkol Akenakkiri Buddha. This website has more information about the marble tiles:

This touching message is typical of those written on the thousands of bricks and white marble slabs used to make up the image. On a good day more than 1,000 people visit the site, many of whom donate money for building materials and write messages on the purchased items for good luck and in memory of passed-away loved ones.

Lynn does not end this one with a promise to write more, so this could be the last Travelogue entry for Thailand.

Contradictions

2010-03-19T23:54:00.000-07:00

There are a few contradictions in the dialogue of the today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse.

Anne: So, is your brother seeing someone, El?
Elly: I don’t know, Anne. I haven’t really asked him.
Elly: But he told me the girl Connie saw in his apartment plays the cello. He said they were working on some music – and they were just friends.
Contradiction: Elly hasn’t asked Phil if he is seeing someone, BUT she did ask about his relationship with the “’Allo?” girl to get that elaborate explanation.

Anne: Does that mean she still has a chance?
Elly: Maybe.
Contradiction: There’s a pretty girl in Phil’s house when he is not there and the reason Phil is associated with her is because they are working on some music. And yet, when Phil is not there, how can they be working on some music? We know from the strips coming up that Connie and Phil are not back together until Phil moves to Milborough.

Elly: Maybe. I don’t like to pry, but I’ll keep my eyes and ears open.
Contradiction: Phil lives in Montreal. Elly lives in Milborough. Considering that, there is no difference between prying and keeping your eyes and ears open. This is assuming that Elly doesn't have some kind of Superman-like abilities, where she can see and hear over long distances.

Elly: When you keep your eyes and ears open…it’s hard to keep your mouth closed.
Contradiction: Actually, if you are actively trying to see and hear things, it’s very easy to keep your mouth closed. It’s the talkers who don’t see and hear things.

So it turns out Phil didn’t really break Connie’s heart by leading her on. Connie broke her own heart by jumping to the wrong conclusion about the “’Allo?” girl. The story is back on track for when Phil moves to Milborough the next year and starts courting Connie. What was the purpose of this story again? To show Connie was a nitwit?

No Wrong Address, So Then What?

2010-03-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

With today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston has Elly confirm that the wrong address theory from the original strip, where Phil lived on 271 Rue des Fèves and in the “’Allo?” girl strip that address is 114 Rue des Fèves, is no longer valid. This means that Lynn remembered Rue des Fèves was the street, but arbitrarily changed the address number.

The question of what happened to Phil’s pipe has been answered. The question of whether or not that was Phil’s apartment has been answered. The question of whether or not Phil was there in the apartment at the time Connie visited has been answered. The question of how Connie spent her week in Montreal since she wasn’t spending it with Phil has been answered. I know it seems a little whacko for a woman to spend a week weeping in her car, but this is Connie Poirier and all things are possible.

We still don’t know who the “’Allo?” girl is and what is her relationship to Phil. What we can tell about her from this strip is:

a. She seems to be completely unfazed by a strange woman with a shocked look on her face showing up on the doorstep carrying Phil’s pipe. If she were the jealous girlfriend type, you would think such a situation would raise her curiosity and would lead her to ask the question, “How did you get Phil’s pipe?” Instead she acts completely unthreatened by Connie and invites her to come in.

b. She is aware of Phil’s schedule, which implies a certain degree of intimacy, although a roommate or a personal secretary might know the same thing.

c. Whatever she does for a living, she appears to be home during the day.

Clearly from Connie’s weeping scene, she thinks Phil is romantically involved with the “’Allo?” girl. There is no longer any question as to whether or not Connie thought she was the housekeeper or a roommate. Consequently, there is no longer any question as to why Connie went to the Jazzy Club to see Phil. She is there to throw herself at Phil in spite of the fact she thinks Phil has a girlfriend living with him.

To summarize, Connie Poirier will leave Lawrence with the Pattersons and ignore his cry for his mother after he breaks his leg. She will throw herself at Phil in an attempt to break up his presumed relationship with “’Allo?” girl. After this is unsuccessful, she will not go home to her son, but instead gets her hair done and buys a lot of nice clothes.

Congratulations Lynn. You have actually made Connie Poirier even more reprehensible than she was before. I knew you could do it.

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 8: No Place for Claustrophobes

2010-03-18T07:12:00.000-07:00

As usual, I will quote the material and then comment on it.

Unaware of what was in store for us, we signed up for the cave tour. We were told to wear good shoes and to expect to lie down - all sage advice. Nobody else had signed up so we had the van, driver, and guide to ourselves. Everything seems to be a long drive from the town, so we settled in to watch the scenery. Again, the cliff sides were magnificent and the entrance to the cave was right up against a great wall of streaked and striated limestone. Water running down the surface creates all the stalactites and mites on the outside, so the formations are like drapery, twisted columns and waterfalls of grey and yellow stone.

I had thought Lynn might be going on this trip to the Tiger Cave temple, but from her description, this cannot be the place. It may be the generic cave tour described in this website as being a little grotty.

We got into a low plastic rowboat with room for about 6 people. The entrance to the cave appeared like a long open mouth into which we ducked as we entered. The ceiling was low and irregular and you really had to watch your head. The river soon opened into a vault. We were helped onto a small landing where a well lit path led down and into a number of ornate chambers. Colored lights set the formations apart from the grey walls and it was nice to see that the natural ceiling had been so beautifully preserved. I've been to places where vandals have broken off many of the small, hanging bits - which is such a crime!

Lynn is quite correct that breaking of pieces of the stalactites does tremendous damage to cave formations. In Arizona, my family has been to the famous Kartchner Caverns, where we learned that tourists constantly touching the stalactites damages them. At Kartchner they have gone through great effort to allow tourists to see the caverns while still preserving them. Obviously with the picture of Lynn and Katie with their hands on the stalactites, they haven’t heard of this.

This cave, it turns, out is a shrine. After we had gone for perhaps 50 yards, another great vault opened up. In the center was a large limestone bulge about the size and shape of a 40 foot boat. Rising up from one end of the shape were 3 huge phallus-like projections around which were hung various wreaths, necklaces, and other adornments. Offerings, figures, tiny shrines, and other signs of devotion decorated the mound and we were told that this is where you come to pray if you want to get pregnant - and if you are already in the family way, to pray for the birth of a boy.

The big shock here is that Lynn doesn’t make some kind of snarky comment about the male-oriented culture.

Our guide, Kip, told us that this was such a sacred place that at one time a male member of a tribe would be ritually sacrificed after a big ceremony in order for his spirit to keep the place safe. Nothing like sacrificing a male member... in order to protect the male member.

I had to read this one twice to get it. The male member being protected is the phallus-like projection. My on-line searching did not find any evidence of ritual sacrifice in caves in Ao Nang, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. However, I find it interesting that almost every time I have been on a cave tour in a different country, the tour guide brings up ritual sacrifice. I wonder if it was a popular place for it, or if that's just something cave tour guides like to say to tourists. Lynn's guide’s name is Kip. Her driver to the Krabi town market was Kop. I wonder if these were their real names or if Lynn is just having fun with us. If another person shows up with names like Kap or Kup or Kep, we’ll know for sure.

Back in the boat, we were then instructed to lie back and make sure we were absolutely flat. Dolly Parton would have had problems in this space. We moved away from the landing and suddenly the ceiling came down to the level of our faces. The boatmen paddled as they stooped; one in front, one in back. Kip was behind me and he held my head in his hands. At first this was an irritation, but after a few minutes I appreciated the support. For what seemed like an endless time, we crept through the tiny space.

First a penis joke and with Dolly Parton we have a breast joke. Lynn is in a strange mood with this one. Perhaps it has to do with having her head held in someone’s hands. It may have affected her brain or other body parts.

Hanging projections were close enough to lick and any motion changed the position of the boat enough to make us hit hard. The air was hot and humid. A flashlight lit the way and the sound of dripping water, moving paddles, and breathing was all you could hear. This trip was certainly not for everyone! They said the tunnel was 60 yards long, but it seemed to take forever. I was glad to see light and the great exit vault at the end. We had gone through a path travelled by millions of people for centuries, through a sacred place… and we lived to tell the tale. Next time I'll ask to see the postcards!

It sounds pretty fun to me, but I like caving.

After this, we went to the hot springs - another spectacular natural phenomenon. A series of rounded pools sloped down into a larger pool, fed by a cool stream. What a paradise. After this was another natural spring with more spectacular limestone channels through which warm water flowed in a steady, clear stream into a great sandy pool. No wonder these people don't travel! Why leave such a place??

Lynn is making a lot of presumptions here: People in Ao Nang don’t travel because where they live is a paradise. Look at this website talking about one man’s trip to Belgium and what does he find there? Thailanders.

The hot springs Lynn visits could be this hot springs, however, the description here says, “When you get a bit too hot, simply jump into the river below to cool off. The nearby crystal pool is a lovely place to swim and it has a natural water-slide, which is lots of fun for the young and for the not-so-young too.” I would think Lynn would mention a water slide and a river below, if she saw one. Of course, the reason Lynn might not have seen them is because she is getting bored.

It gets boring after awhile. Phenomenon after spectacular sight after visual wonder after lunch after dinner... and the weather stays hot and clear. Some of the earliest humanoid fossils have been found around here and one wonders why they spread past this peninsula!

This website agrees with Lynn at least about the fossils:

Some anthropologists, however, have argued anthropoids originated in Asia, based on even older fossil finds from Pakistan, Myanmar, China and Thailand.

So Lynn likes the place, but finds the spectacle to be boring, and yet still wonders why any people would have left the area. Hum! If only Lynn could link together her own thoughts.

I just have the elephant ride to tell you about and it won't take long. You climb onto a platform, get onto a flat seat and ride around a path for about 20 minutes. The trainer or whatever he's called sits on the elephant's neck and with his feet and a metal hook, prods the animal to go right or left. It's a bumpy ride and I felt more than sorry for the elephants. The best part is when they pee - it's a wondrous amount of liquid. We also enjoyed watching them eat. We fed them bananas and it was neat to see something stuff a banana into its mouth with its nose.
Well, that's probably enough for today. Tonight we pack once more....and the adventure continues. LJ

I knew we weren’t going to mention elephants without some mention of prodigious amounts of urine. Having gone to a circus before, I agree with Lynn here. Elephant urination is very impressive in its quantities. The description of the elephant trek here sounds a lot more exciting than the one Lynn describes, which doesn’t mean they aren’t one and the same. “The elephant trek takes the visitor through untouched primeval jungle, unlike all other elephant trekking in southern Thailand…”

Tea: The Skank-Ho Drink

2010-03-17T23:19:00.000-07:00

I and others have made jokes about how the normal beverage of choice of coffee for Elly Patterson does not come out on occasions when Elly is talking about Connie Poirier’s sordid love life. aprilp_katje referred to it as “the skank-ho drink” in her excellent FOOBar comic strip.

So, when I saw today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, I about fell out of chair laughing to see the punch line of the strip. It’s as if Lynn Johnston is admitting that our jokes about tea being the drink for talking about someone’s trashy love life are correct. Elly is on the verge of finally telling us who the infamous “’Allo?” girl is, and then offers Anne Nichols tea in preparation for the event.

As for the rest of the strip, Elly’s description of Connie’s Montreal trip is interesting. She mentions that Connie did not tell Phil that she was coming to Montreal to him and she mentions Connie’s visit to Phil’s apartment and the “’Allo?” girl. However, she does not mention Connie going to the Jazzy Club to see Phil play, which is the real place where Connie considered herself to be rejected by Phil. Are we to presume that Connie did not tell Elly this story? It is certainly her emphasis in this post-Montreal strip. However, wouldn’t Phil have told Elly about the Jazzy club? Or are we to presume from this strip that Elly hasn’t spoken to Phil about Connie’s visit and is lying about Phil’s opinion of her visit to Connie? That’s the way it appears if I take today’s new-run into account.

The first panel of the strip is pure nonsense. Anne hasn’t seen Connie lately. First of all, when does Anne ever see Connie? They haven’t been in a strip together in any of the strips in the last year. In the modern strip they were together briefly before Elizabeth’s wedding and also at Elly’s 50th birthday party.

The add to the ridiculousness, Elly’s explanation for Anne not seeing Connie is that Connie is too embarrassed because of her trip to Montreal. Does that even make sense? Would Connie presume that Elly would tell Anne about her trip to Montreal and paint such a poor picture of her as a man-chaser, she would be embarrassed in front of Anne about it? We saw Connie’s supposed embarrassment in this strip, and it wasn’t true embarrassment, because she was bringing it up with Elly and talking about it. Connie sends Lawrence over to Elly’s place when she is entertaining men at her place, so it’s hard to imagine the Montreal trip would embarrass her.

On the plus side, it seems pretty clear that sometime in the very, near future, possibly tomorrow, we will finally find out the identity of the “’Allo? “ girl. Maybe Elly will even point out that Connie was at the wrong address, but that may be hoping for too much. In the original strip, Phil lived on 271 Rue des Fèves and in the “’Allo?” girl strip that address is now 114.

Don’t Cry Out Over Spilt Kibble

2010-03-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

My first reaction seeing today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse is, “This is what caused Michael to say, ‘Mom! Come quick!’?” No. No. No. This is what causes Michael to walk slowly into where Annie and Elly are sitting and say, “Guess what Lizzie did?”

My second reaction was, “Is that Annie’s son there? I guess he must have been the tar baby who came in with Annie on Monday.” That means that Annie was bringing over Lizzie’s clothes she had washed on a separate trip from bringing over Lizzie.

As for the kibble, it appears that there is a theme when it comes to Elizabeth and kibble if these strips are any indication. With this new-run we get to see the first appearance of Lizzie and kibble. Kibble King has nice alliteration. In the 1983 kibble strip Farley’s brand of kibble was Econo-size Dog Kibble. Personally I prefer Kibble King.

The “know for sure” line seems like a strange way to end today’s strip. Nevertheless, Lynn Johnston has used that same “punch line” in other strips. My favourite part of the strip is that Annie comes in, picks up her son, and leaves. It’s best to limit your children’s exposure to Elly.

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 7: A Few Bucks for a Tuk Tuk

2010-03-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

As usual, I will quote the text and comment on it.

According to this website, this is how you pronounce Tuk Tuk:

The name Tuk Tuk comes from the engine noise of the three-wheeled cabs that ply Thai streets. It rhymes, more or less, with duck, with the ''T'' rendered as if it were somewhere between a ''T'' and a ''D.''

So we have for the first time, a travelogue title word play that works with the actual pronunciation of the thing. The currency in Thailand is the Baht, but I wouldn’t be surprised if taxis in the tourism areas of Thailand did take bucks.

Today, we asked a tuk tuk driver to take us into the town of Krabi, but he insisted we go to his house first and get his car. The tuk-tuk is maneuverable, light and cheap to run. Vendors sell gas in wine bottles and it's fun to see a driver "feeding" his ride. He took us down a series of tiny rural roads and we were soon quite lost. The thought of never coming home crossed our minds, but it would have made for a cool and adventurous ending!

While researching gas in a wine bottle, I found this interesting article in the Phuket Gazette, which pretty much confirms what Lynn said about it.

Kop's house was a tiny concrete cube with a corrugated metal roof and an outdoor kitchen. His 2 boys were playing noisily outside and his wife, wearing the hijab and very polite, welcomed us as if bringing home strangers was all part of her day. It's a good thing we took the car. The road to Krabi is unfinished, fast paced and long. A few minutes into the trip, a truck making a U-turn ahead of us crossed the path of a young man on a motor scooter and the impact was awful. The traffic formed a "y" passing the scene on either side, everyone looking at the victim, lying, bleeding on the road. He was lucky to be alive. There wasn't much left of the scooter. Another good reason to be travelling with an experienced driver! People crowded in to help and as we left the scene, the ambulance arrived, but we were unnerved by the incident for the rest of the day.

For a view of a Thailand hijab, see this website. Since Kop's wife is not mentioned as a mysterious, veiled woman, I suspect her hijab looks more like that picture.

Again, the hillsides really take your breath away. On either side of the road, massive walls of limestone tower above you, the vegetation hanging off it is thick and rich and interesting fruits and flowers hang just out of reach. So many kinds of plants- if the human race started somewhere, it must have been near here. You couldn't starve if you tried! It took about 45 minutes of furious turns and more near misses to get to Krabi and the sky was beginning to darken. We had time to run to the big night market before the rains came and the market was a great place to take shelter. We were about the only Caucasians there, so we felt we had come to the right place.

As for the trip from Ao Nang to Krabi, www.mapblast.com say it is 22.3 miles and takes 36 minutes. The description of how to get there is this:

1. Depart Ao Nang, Thailand on Local road(s) (North) - 3.0 miles
2. Turn RIGHT (East) onto Local road(s) - 5.3 miles
3. Turn LEFT (North) onto Local road(s) - 1.8 miles
4. Turn RIGHT (East) onto #4 - 8.9 miles
5. Turn RIGHT (South) onto Local road(s) - 3.2 miles
6. Arrive Krabi - 0.0 miles

That's a lot of local roads.

According to the Weather Underground, the only precipitation in the area for the last month was on March 11, when it rained from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, which pretty much matches Lynn's description of night rain. It also tells you what kind of delay there is between the event and Lynn writing about it.

We have been looking for the best of local grub and we hit the mother lode. Everywhere you looked, food was being prepared and it all looked so good! Chicken on skewers, great steaming pots of meat in curry sauces, fruits of all kinds, desserts and drinks...it was heaven. We bought a little from as many vendors as we could and ate as we walked from stall to stall. The rain began to cascade down onto the plastic tarps, canopies and umbrellas. We dodged the torrents as they fell, too eager to hit the next banquet to notice how wet we were. The folks enjoyed our enjoyment and the time went fast. This was truly a highlight and it didn't matter that we had no time to see more of the town.

Here is more information on the Krabi town night market with pictures of food that are much more appetizing than the picture Lynn posted. Now I'm hungry. I can see why Lynn couldn't resist and finally ate something.

We were glad to find Kop, our driver waiting for us and the drive back to Ao Nang was even more exciting in the dark. Everyone drives a scooter here. Hoards of young people, tourists, kids, families all course around the turns. Few wear helmets and according to Kop, there were a lot of accidents - too many. Next, we have planned a tour of the limestone caves and a ride on an elephant. When in Ao Nang... do as the tourists do...

According to this website, road accidents are a real problem in Thailand mainly due to untrained drivers who don’t properly understand how to operate their vehicles. My guess is that this trip is what Lynn is talking about what she will do next. I notice it does include an elephant ride. As for doing what the tourists do, I suspect in Lynn's case, it is more doing what Katie and Lane want to do.

Kids: The Dream Alarm

2010-03-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

Today’s new-run in For Better or For Worse follows a typical theme with Elly and Anne’s socializing, i.e. they are regularly interrupted by the kids. For some reason, this is less of an issue when Elly socializes with Connie. The dream Elly talks about with taking a cruise is an unusual one for Elly. She doesn’t normally have these kind of fantasy dreams, especially when it comes to vacations. I think this is because, over the 30 years, the comic strip showed Elly and John regularly going on vacations without the kids. It’s difficult to fantasize about doing something you do on a regular basis. This was the only fantasy dream I could find with Elly.

As for a cruise, Elly and John did eventually take one in 1995. What I find amusing is to compare the list of activities proposed by 1995’s Elly vs. 2010’s Elly, who is supposed to be 14 years younger. In 1995, Elly said, “There’s dancing, casinos, games and nightly cabaret. There’s a gym and shops and pool and sauna and movies.” In contrast, 2010’s Elly’s list is “spa treatments, reading on the deck, a cold margarita served by a handsome waiter…sleeping late…” 2010 Elly’s cruise thoughts seem to match 2010 Lynn’s thoughts, while 1995 Elly’s cruise thoughts probably matched that of Lynn 15 years ago when she was in her 40s.

Another interesting part of this is that Elly is sewing while she talks to Anne. During this time period, what I remember with Elly and sewing involved a sewing machine. Ever since Deanna did the sewing for Elizabeth’s wedding, Lynn Johnston seems to be more concerned with seamstress Elly than she once was. I wonder where this is coming from. I don’t recollect seeing any reference to sewing in Lynn’s own life.

Can I Come?

2010-03-14T22:54:00.000-07:00

Lynn Johnston has opted to do more new-runs and we have one in today’s For Better or For Worse. Today’s topic to be resolved is Elly’s writing course last mentioned in November. In that strip, Elly still appeared to want to write, but in today’s strip she appears to have given up on that idea. It makes me wonder if Lynn Johnston has in mind to reprint the one strip of Elly taking the class, which she never reprinted.

Elly claims she would need a year alone in a Spanish villa to write, which is pretty funny when you consider the writing class was only one night a week. Besides, she has Annie taking care of Lizzie judging from this strip today, and Michael is at school. What kind of time does Elly need? It’s a bogus excuse; but at least Lynn Johnston is consistent in this characterization of Elly. There was a moment there when I thought she going to make Elly serious about writing, instead of giving up on something when it gets hard, which is more typical of the Elly we have seen over the last 30 years.

As for the punch line, it is one that Lynn Johnston has used before. Of course, when she used it before, it made a little more sense. Anne Nichols has just come over with Lizzie and tells her that she enjoys looking after her and Elly can ask her to do that anytime. In 2 more panels, she is begging Elly to take her with her to a Spanish villa. How do those 2 personalities go together? There should have been something to give us a clue why Anne wants to go to a Spanish villa with Elly, aside from the obvious romantic angle. Maybe Anne loves Spain. Who knows? Maybe we will find out in tomorrow's strip.

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 6: Getting the Hang of Ao Nang

2010-03-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

As before I will quote the text and then comment on it:

From this website entry, here is how to pronounce Ao Nang:
Ao as in cow, and Nang as lung. Assuming this is correct, then once again, Lynn Johnston has made a joke on the name of a Thailand place which does not match the way the name is actually pronounced.

We left Phi Phi around noon, yesterday, joining a diverse group of folks at the dockside. Thank goodness we are travelling with small bags, because you have to climb from one boat to another to get to the one you want. This ferry took us across a calm stretch of water, again into a bay surrounded by fantastic sheer limestone cliffs and tiny sandy bays.

According to this website, the ferry time from Phi Phi to Ao Nang is approximately 1.5 hours. As Lynn has pointed out boats from Phi Phi depart from the pier on Ton Sai Bay.

Ao Nang is a few miles from the town of Krabi which is much easier to find on a map. Ao Nang a pretty resort town with a high class clientele, clean streets and many international restaurants. The traffic, however is characteristically fast and the streets are no place to dawdle. Vehicles flow in the opposite direction to ours and if you look the wrong way for a second, you can be flattened. Taxis are motorcycles with a sidecar chassis and enough seating for 3. Seven is the max! A canvass surrey keeps you out of the sun and a fast talking driver makes for a fun tour around the coastline. Our hotel is modest and clean and the air conditioning works like a charm. Without it, we would have to really change our routines and our clothing many times a day.

The vehicle Lynn is talking about is called a Sam Lor. Here is a picture. As for Ao Nang, according to Wikipedia, it is a central point of the coastal province of Krabi, Thailand. Province, not town. However, I have seen a number of other tourism websites call Krabi a town, so I can understand Lynn's thinking here.

I walked down to the beach this morning and bought a lemon ice from a street vendor. The fruit drinks here are fantastic, flavorful, fresh and cold. We go from stall to stall on our travels trying all the juices and the local fare. Cocoanut, pineapple and bananas taste so sweet and different from the imported fruit we get at home - we just can't get enough.

Lynn drinks something nonalcoholic. It can be done.

A few observations: So many young European travelers have tattoos. This is big business here. Tattoo shops are combined with laundry, travel and manicure businesses and the art ranges from sublime to ridiculous.

Here are 2 websites for Ao Nang tattoo shops. I do not see any reference there to laundry, travel or manicures in the websites. I have the feeling the combination Lynn is talking about is not really a single business doing tattoos, laundry, travel and manicure. Perhaps they just share space.

Cashews grow here and the nuts are available in every flavor- much like our potato chips. A single nut grows on the end of a pepper-shaped fruit. The fruits are soft, red or yellow and they make a sweet drink- much like apple juice. The nut pod on the bottom of the fruit is so hard it has to be cracked by an instrument built especially for this purpose. I always thought cashews grew like walnuts - this was a real eye opener. No wonder they are so expensive! We bought some packages to give as gifts, but we have no room to keep them, so they have become part of our menu.

The fruit to which Lynn is referred to in English as the cashew apple. In Thai it is mamuang himmaphan. See this website for more information on cashews.

Small private shrines are everywhere. You see them at gas stations, in mini malls, on street corners and in front of private homes. Gifts of food and drink are put on the balconies of these shrines as an offering. I rather like these customs; the idea of praying to a fat, smiling man seems so positive - so healthy!

Buddhists praying. Hum! I believe that a Buddhist would say that you don’t pray to Buddha, since Buddhas are not gods. As I understand it, a Buddhist meditates in order to reach enlightenment. As for the smiling buddhas, this is a website that describes this particular aspect of Buddhism. Not all statues of Buddha show a fat, smiling man.

The big community temples provide baskets of miniature food and drink items for you to give as offerings. You can also buy the thinnest gold leaf sheets to press onto the icons. Lotus blossoms on long stems are also a popular gift when making your devotions. Outside most temples, a cone shaped hollow oven provides a safe place to blow off a few dozen rounds of fireworks for good luck and after awhile, the noise drives you crazy! The vendors must be used to it because the tourists are the only ones jumping out of their skins and holding their hands to their ears! This is the Asia I’ve been looking for!

Apparently the Asia Lynn has been looking for involves very loud fireworks. That doesn't really sound like a mysterious East to me. However, try as I might, I cannot find anywhere on-line that says fireworks are associated with Thailand Buddhist shrines. As for whether the vendors are used to it, or simply have a severe hearing loss, it is difficult to tell.

We are off to continue the adventure, so I'll sign off for now. Sa-was dee, ka!

Between these 2 websites, you can tell that Lynn is trying to say, “Hello” as said by a female. The way to say “Goodbye” in Thai can be found in this website.

The Change in the Pub

2010-03-13T22:16:00.000-08:00

As in this strip from last year, with today’s new-run in For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston seems to be establishing Ted McCaulay more as the guy with whom John Patterson spends time with at pubs watching hockey. In the past, the one time John Patterson went out to socialize with Ted McCaulay by himself during the evening ended up with John reaffirming how he preferred married life, while Ted suggests they ask girls to dance. However, in the new-run Lynn Johnston added to go along with it, she has John Patterson talk about how he talked to some girls.

Historically speaking, the pub is where Ted McCaulay does spend his time chasing women as you can tell from this storyline. I find this change to be especially interesting because I remember getting a comment from an Anonymous person who knows Rod Johnston personally, who claimed he was not the kind of man who liked going to pubs. Why would the new-runs try to reposition John as the pub-goer?

Ironically, we have a strip coming up from April 15, 1981, where John does essentially the same thing Elly does in this strip, while Elly goes to the pub. In fact, if this strip is any indication, Elly is the one known for going to pubs without John. The reason Elly and John don’t go to pubs together anymore was revealed in this 2002 strip. I find it interesting that John mentions they would go to pubs to go dancing. I have a hard time imagining Elly Patterson ever dancing in a pub.

Banana = Monkey = Michael

2010-03-12T21:49:00.000-08:00

My first thought seeing today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse is “choking hazard”. The second thought was to remember this strip where, once again, a banana was associated with a kid making funny noises. My third thought was, “Why is it that I can’t find any references to monkeys or bananas using AMU reprints searching the strips back to 1996, but we have 2 new-runs in the last year using a monkey and banana theme?”

I think the answer this question comes in this strip, where John imitates a monkey while he is at a zoo with Michael. Not only does it prove Elly’s point that this sort of behaviour comes from John’s side of the family, but it is probably the source of the idea for the new-runs. When Lynn Johnston reprinted the zoo strip she must have done something she does not ordinarily do, i.e. read the strip. I think she became so enamored of monkey-oriented humour, she had Lizzie make monkey noises and now Michael. However, the situation has gotten progressively worse with each additional new-run. First Lizzie is just making regular baby noises and Michael hands her a banana. With today’s trip Michael not only associates a banana with monkey noises, but somehow he is gotten it into his head that monkeys put banana peels on their head and dance around. You know the next step is for Elly to put a banana in a casserole while making monkey noises.

And Lizzie Gets Young Again

2010-03-11T21:47:00.000-08:00

At long last, one of my predictions about the latest For Better or For Worse strip has come true. Today we have a new-run. It appears from the story in the new-run that Lynn Johnston has forgotten about this strip, which shows how Lizzie’s bed looks and instead remembers this new-run strip or this new-run strip from about a year ago, when Lizzie’s behavior today would make more sense. In other words, when your daughter is getting close to 2 years old, you aren’t as worried about them crying during what appears in the strip to be an afternoon nap.

The joke is supposedly that little Lizzie can sleep through all those noises but is woken up by the “Click” sound on the door. As any experienced parent knows, children often fall asleep when they are riding in car seats, because they like the motion and the background noises. When my son was little (less than 1 year old), I used to have to take him on brief car rides to knock him out, or the other alternative was to put him in one of those electric swings. From this perspective, the strip works. Parents of young children, particularly children who don’t sleep through the night, are very careful to take advantage of any moment when their child falls asleep naturally. However, it is necessary to forget that little Lizzie is old enough to be potty-trained and is already pretty verbal to appreciate it.

There are a few other strange things about the comic strip. When my kids fell asleep in their car seats, I would usually try to carry them by themselves to their bed. I would not carry them and 2 sacks of groceries as it appears Elly is doing in Panel 2. Also, I would not take off my shoes while I was carrying them, as it appears Elly did in Panels 4 and 5. I would put them to bed and then get the groceries and then take off my shoes. These are the parts of the strip where I must suspend my disbelief. The biggest thing to disbelieve has nothing to do with Elly and Lizzie. After this new-run or this new-run or this old strip, who would ever believe Michael Patterson would ask his mother for permission to eat a banana?

Grade 1 Teacher AND Mother

2010-03-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

With today’s reprint from March 31, 1981, Lynn has finally reprinted all the unreprinted March, 1981 strips from For Better or For Worse. She skipped the unreprinted March 17 and 23 strips and she might go back to one of them tomorrow. Or we may finally get our promised new-run featuring the “’Allo?” girl. March 17, 1981 is distinctly possible, since it features Lawrence getting his cast off. March 23, 1981 is highly unlikely, since it ties in too closely with the already-reprinted Farley training strips.

The story today was originally the lead-in strip to the “non-linear thinker” parent-teacher conference strips. The speculation is whether or not the Grade 1 teacher featured is Miss Campbell, whom Elly had never met. In 1981, Miss Campbell’s first appearance by name was in the parent-teacher conference strips. With today’s story, not having Michael present in the shopping line, there is no way Elly or Lizzie would recognize Miss Campbell. The clever reader would make the connection later on in the week, when the same person showed up as Michael’s teacher.

The new-runs changed all that and in a rare occasions, for the better. Back in September, Elly attended the parent orientation for the first day of school and saw Miss Campbell then. This is something good parents do. It always struck me as odd that Michael would be so poorly-behaved in class and yet John and Elly wouldn’t meet Miss Campbell until March of the school year.

In order to utilize the strip though, Lynn has to add something that shows this teacher is not Miss Campbell. The dialogue in Panel 4 is changed from:

“Worse. I’m a Grade 1 teacher.” To: “Yeah..I’m also a Grade 1 teacher.”

I know that Miss Campbell could have had children and still be single. Nevertheless, my guess is that this change in dialogue is so the clever reader knows that this Grade 1 teacher is not Miss Campbell. It also has the side benefit of letting Elly be right that the exhausted lady is exhausted because she is a mother, even though she is also a Grade 1 teacher. After all, what is more exhausting than being a mom, for Pete’s sake?

With the 1981 dialogue, the lady clearly considers teaching to be more exhausting than mothering. I prefer the 1981 dialogue, because saying she is a mother dilutes the surprise effect of the joke. In other words, Elly thinks one way and then ::surprise:: she’s wrong and we hear something unexpected. That’s funny. With the alteration, Elly thinks one way and then we find out in the final panel that she’s right. Only ::surprise:: the woman is also a teacher. That’s not as funny.

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 5: Three for Phi Phi

2010-03-10T06:05:00.000-08:00

As before, I will quote the material and comment on it:

Posted: March 10, 2010
Early yesterday morning, we packed and left Kata on our continuing journey towards enlightenment. We packed ourselves into one of the small tour vans and joined a long line of tourists and locals carrying kids and cargo en route to the island of Phi Phi. The ferry is fast and spacious. We were given a cup of strong coffee and a croissant. Again, the mix of languages is a symphony of sound.

At last Lynn eats food and drinks something other than beer. I had hoped Lynn would go to Phi Phi, pronounced “pee pee”, and would take the opportunity to make a good urination joke. Unfortunately the fricatives in the title tell me that at least in her mind Lynn is treating the name like she did with “Ah Phuket”. According to the Phi Phi tourism websites, there is a day tour to Phi Phi Island you can take from Phuket, and that appears to be what Lynn and company have done, since they are only on Phi Phi one day.

Phi Phi (pronounced P.P.) is a long bow-tie shaped island. The flat center has a white, sandy beach on either side and it's an easy walk from beach to beach. At either end, the land juts up out of the sea, forming vast cliffs which are all but impossible to scale- one would think! The "poker chip" shapes I said could be seen from the air are now massive walls and if I had to build this in miniature, I'd take dominoes, poker chips and cubes of wood, stand them on end and then push clay around them to keep them stable. I'd then cover the tops with a fine, crushed sphagnum moss and paint it a rich tropical green.

Lynn is referring to her line from Travelogue entry #2:

The flight to Phuket from Bangkok is only about an hour long, but there are many flights a day- mostly 747s and they're all full. From the air you can see the great wetlands change to hills and then craggy mountainous terrain. Islands pop out of the sea like poker chips on end, and countless bays cut into the shoreline making this part of the country look like a pirate's paradise.

As for mountain-climbing in Phi Phi, it is done. See this website.

This is a party place. Few people over 50 inhabit Phi Phi unless they work here. The rest are scuba guys, rock climbers, vacationing kids and young, global wanderers. Alleyways of clothing vendors, travel agents, massage shops and food stalls form a colorful grid as you make your way to your hotel. Ours is the "Palms" and it's new. Everything here is new. When the big wave hit, everything here was washed away. There was nothing here to stop it. The loss of life was significant and if you think about it, this is something of a shrine! The locals will tell you it's better here, now.

My guess is Lynn is talking about the P.P. Erawan Palms Resort. This is their website. Unfortunately Lynn doesn't take the time to describe the accommodations or the bathroom. As for the effect of the tsunami, this website has lots of pictures. This website describes some people’s experience during the tsunami. It’s a pretty impressive story. Lynn is not exaggerating in her description of the effect of the tsunami on Phi Phi Island.

It's an attractive, funky place to hang your hat and to do some underwater exploring. Still looking for the Thailand we've seen in the photos, we hired a young man to take us to the neighboring island of Koh Phi Phi where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. This again is a massively high piece of land- a marvel of twisting limestone formations, outcroppings, tiny bays and caves. Our "long tail" boat was old, wooden and interesting. The long, curved bow was ringed with colorful plastic wreaths, a plastic purple canopy kept us from the direct sun and the motor was a Chevrolet engine to which a long shaft was attached. The propeller at the end was able to skim above the coral and plunge into the channels, making it a very useful craft. Our driver," Ed," was a beautiful young man with the most amazing smile.

Funky? Did Lynn ever actually do underwater exploring. Not so far as I can tell. She is “still looking for the Thailand we've seen in the photos”. Well, at least she didn’t call it the mysterious East this time. I don’t know why she has the expectation when she already knows Phi Phi was rebuilt after the tsunami. Nevertheless, it’s fun to see Lynn’s more lascivious side come out with the appearance of Ed. The movie “The Beach” was filmed on Koh Phi Phi Leh. Lynn is so close in the name. See this website for details.

High up in the cliffs we could see what looked like sticks, just propped here and there. What they are is climbing poles and they are used by men who gather birds nests for birds nest soup! People risk life and limb, scaling these impossible cliff sides to collect nests- and on the mainland, we marvel at North Americans in safety gear who make it to the top of a hill! Ahh, cultural differences!

Cultural differences? Or cliff climbers working for minimum wage while improperly equiped? In any case, this website discusses bird’s nest soup, if you are unfamiliar with it:

Phi Phi Le lies just offshore, and is almost all sheer cliffs, with a few caves and a sea lake formed by a cleft between two cliffs that allows water to enter into a bowl-shaped canyon. It is uninhabited but has several nice beaches, but its major claim to fame is the caves that are the favorite nesting ground for the migratory Forktail Swift. The swifts who favor lofty limestone caves and cliffs as a nesting habitat. Between January and April each year, thousands of these birds descend on Phi Phi Le to spend about 2 weeks in the caves building nests held together by their saliva. These famous nests are prized by Chinese gourmets for bird’s nest soup.

Bird’s Nest Soup

Whatever the origins, the culinary use of bird’s nests became a Chinese passion. One much misunderstood in the West, where nests are thought of in terms of twigs, feathers, and other unpalatable ingredients. The nests produced by the by the tiny brown and charcoal colored swift known as 'Collocalia esculenta' and consumed by the Chinese are a far cry from the western conception. The material from which the nests are constructed is a gluey secretion discharged from two glands under the bird’s lower jaw; this comes out in long strands that soon dry into a strong, resilient substance after exposure to air.

Collecting bird’s nests is a big and profitable business with small good quality nests selling for over $2,200 per kilo. Hong Kong alone purchases over 25 million dollars worth of nests each year.

You can see the monetary motivation for people to risk their lives for bird's nests.

Speaking of cultural differences, the Thai people tell us that Canadians are among their favorite visitors, which makes us feel great. Kate and Lane have gone to check out of our hotel so we can prepare for the next adventure. In search of even more natural phenomenon... and air conditioning, we'll write again, tomorrow!
LJ

I can only imagine one reason Kate and Lane would go back to the hotel without Lynn and it isn’t for checkout, although they may do that afterwards. As for the Thai people and the Canadians, my guess is that the Thai people say that to all the tourists. Is that really a cultural difference? Maybe it is for Lynn. As near as I can tell, this the first day of her trip that Lynn has actually enjoyed.

6-year-olds Are Easily Distracted

2010-03-09T15:53:00.001-08:00

Lynn continues down the unreprinted March, 1981 strip list with today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse. She skipped the unreprinted March 17 and 23 strips, did the March 24 strip yesterday and with today’s strip has reprinted March 26. That leaves March 31 as the remaining March, 1981 strip unreprinted, unless Lynn decides to go back in time and pick up the 2 skipped strips.

My prediction:

We will have some new-runs to complete this week and to fulfill Lynn’s promise of new material briefly mentioning the “’Allo?” girl. Then on Monday, March 15, the reprints will synchronize with the Monday, April 6, 1981 strips and we will be into straight reprints for the dailies. My proof is that when I go to the Comic Strip Catalog and use the Date category to pull the year 1981, the strips from April 6, 1981 to October 5, 1981 are not there. It skips from April 5, 1981 directly to October 6, 1981. That blocking tells me strips from that period are the next up to be reprinted. Lynn said she would be in straight reprints by Early Spring and technically March 15, 2010 is not Early Spring, since it is still considered to be Winter. I doubt Lynn will care about that distinction, especially considering she will probably still be doing new-run Sunday strips for awhile.

As for today’s strip, this is one that is close to being lifted directly from my life with my kids. I will tell them we have to leave and at what time we have to leave. I will give them a 15-minute warning of when we have to leave. And then of course, when the time comes, getting them out of the house is like a giant tug-of-war. They will actually say to me that I did not tell them. I kind of miss the days when they were young, when I would be allowed to dress them to get ready.

In Elly’s case, she is not as direct as I am. “Hurry and get dressed” and “Eat your breakfast” don’t say the reason why Elly is concerned about such things. Probably Michael should know, but I remember when my kids were in First Grade, they didn’t. When Michael complains, “Why didn’t you tell me!” he actually has a legitimate point, even though he isn't really asking a question with that exclamation point. Elly never told him he was going to be late if he didn’t hurry and get dressed or eat his breakfast. When I am dealing with my kids that “if” comes up every time I speak about meeting a departure deadline. “Get dressed or you will be late.” “If don’t eat your breakfast now, you will be going to school hungry.” Based on my experience, it wouldn’t help Elly if she told Michael why she wanted him to hurry, other than being able to say, “I told you so.”

Finally, Michael’s exclamation implies that he is concerned about being late. My kids only care about that when they realize that because they were late, they missed something they wanted to do.

The final panel art does the standard Charles Schulz open mouth and nose in the air. However for some reason, the picture reminds me more of something from Beetle Bailey. I can’t quite put my finger on the reason for that though.

The Local Fearground

2010-03-08T21:41:00.000-08:00

Today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse is from March 24, 1981. That means that Lynn Johnston has opted not to reprint the March 23 strip which was related to the Farley training sequence already reprinted last year, except for that strip. Today’s trip is a lead-in to the already reprinted March 25, 1981 strip about Spring.

I had figured the long-awaited “’Allo?” girl explanation new-run would tie into an Elly / Connie conversation and it appears I was wrong. Lynn seems to be going through the remaining strips from March, 1981 she has not reprinted already.

The strip itself is one that is unusual because Lynn Johnston was actually taking a shot at someone other than her husband or son for a change. The victim of Lynn’s ire this time is her neighbours. Back in 1980 in Lynn’ s interview with CBC, it showed a scene from her life in Lynn Lake with her son and other children playing in her backyard. Lynn looked very maternal in the picture and it always struck me as a dramatic contrast to the way Elly often comes off in the strip. Today’s strip sets that record straight. Even though the strip makes fun of Elly for being weak-willed, the first 2 panels make it clear that Lynn does not like having other kids over at her house for what she perceives is “all the time.” We know that in the 1980 documentary Lynn’s neighbours were aware she was doing a comic strip. In the interview, Lynn made a joke about how they started being careful about what they said around her for fear the “crazy dentist’s wife” would put the story in one of her comic strips. It seems to me then, highly unlikely, that little Aaron’s friends’ moms would miss Lynn’s shot at them in this strip. However, Lynn may have had the expectation that they would not catch on to what she was saying.

As for the story, the best part is Michael standing at the door with his friends fearfully asking, “Can we come in, mom?” as if that were a question Michael would normally ask. The sour look on Elly’s face clearly has given Michael pause and he wonders whether or not his mother would let them come in. I am not sure who the other kid is beside Lawrence. He doesn’t look like Darryl Smythe, who has yet to make his first appearance. Probably he is just a generic not-Lawrence friend.

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 4: A Day in the Life

2010-03-08T05:46:00.000-08:00

As before I will quote the text and then comment on it:

Posted: March 8, 2010
Kate and Lane have gone to the beach and I'm staying out of the sun and out of trouble. With so many shoe and handbag shops out there and no space for STUFF in my luggage, I'm banned from bargaining unless it's for stuff that's edible!

We have for the first time a mention of Kate and Lane, her traveling companions, by name. Someone has banned Lynn from buying any bargain shoes and handbags, which is probably a nice way of saying, “Kate told me I could not buy any more handbags or shoes because she doesn’t have any more room in her luggage to hold them, since I have already bought enough to fill up all the spare space in my luggage and her luggage. God I am so bored. Why did I agree to come on a trip with 2 honeymooners who spend most of their day having sex? I want to go see the ancient mysterious East.”

I've noticed there are no more mysterious, veiled women here in Phuket province. In Kata, anyway, everyone is in western beach wear and on the beach...the flesh hangs out in copious folds, flaps and formations. Lovely young things in tiny thong bikinis and handsome young men with tight stomachs blend in with red, rotund gents and large gelatinous women, none of whom seem to care about dress or decorum. I sat on the seawall for awhile and wished I'd brought a sketch book. No camera could capture this richness of imagery.

Along with what appears to be a picture of Muslim school girls, we get another comment about the mysterious, veiled women. Lynn mentioned them first when she was in Bangkok. The Muslim population in Thailand is a very small percentage of the overall population, but apparently Lynn prefers their style of dress to fat people on the beach. I am not sure in the line about the camera vs. the sketch book if that is her subtle dig that the fat beach people are so ugly they would break her camera. The comment makes me wonder if, on all those trips she took with Rod Johnston to Mexican beach resorts, if Lynn ever went to the beach. My experience is that fat people love the beach just as much as skinny people. Of course, in Mexico, Lynn may have gone to those resorts where the beach people knew to cover up to keep from offending Lynn.

The streets teem with food vendors. Tasty looking cubes of fish, meat and chicken, veggies and fruits of all kinds whet your appetite and then it hits you. Like a blast from a hidden jet of evil, a powerful whiff of sewer gas knocks you into closing your wallet and moving on. Where does this come from? There seems to be no obvious source. The streets appear to be clean and there are no privvies in proximity and yet, the pervasive and pungent scent of poo is there.

Another story of Lynn not eating. Has she eaten anything? Apparently Lynn is not alone on this issue with the smell. I have found a couple of references to Phuket and a strong sewage smell, which this writer says comes from the sea.

There are no timeshare people here. This obnoxious and exasperating animal is somehow absent from Thailand, but it's likely a matter of time before they, like other invading species find a way to thrive on this turf.

For Phuket timeshares, see this website. As to why Lynn is unaware of this, I can only guess it's the usual reason -- Lynn only knows what she sees, and my guess is that the resort and spa where she is staying is not a timeshare kind of place.

Tsunami sirens tower high above the entrance to the beach. This area was hard hit and people will tell you how the devastation affected them and their families. Nobody was exempt from suffering. Still, the resilience of the human spirit abounds and the local advertising is peppered with slogans reminding tourists that it's "better now it's rebuilt" and "we're STILL cleaning up!" (clearance sale)

Although she doesn’t say it exactly, I think Lynn is talking about the tsunami that hit Phuket back in Dec. 26, 2004. Here are the details.

Vendors are MULTI lingual. They call to you in every language and it's a game for some of them to see how many they can use. "Are you from Holland?" and they offer you their wares in Dutch. "Are you from France?" And they will bargain in French. Kate has already started to memorize some phrases in Thai. She knows the numbers up to 10, the names for a lot of foods and the very useful "Don't shoot! The drugs aren't mine!!!" I'm still working on "hello and goodbye"

This entry is her most negative so far. Lynn has a critical or snarky comment about every element of Phuket she has mentioned. You can tell from these comments on the differences between Kate's and her use of the Thai phrases, Kate is much more into this than Lynn. Normally Lynn brags on her own language skills. The drug reference is interesting and as near as I can tell from this news report talking about forming a special unit to deal with drug use, it is a concern from the people of Phuket for reasons of improving the appearance of Phuket. Drug use must be obvious if Lynn notices it.

Well, I've held onto this machine for too long and have to give it up to others, so will sign off for today. Tonight it's my turn to choose the cuisine and I think I'd like to hit the shop that offers "shark and fried". This must be the equivalent to Thai fish and chips. Maybe they serve it in newspapers! Cheers for now.
LJ

With shark and fried, Lynn wants fish and chips. She really is like Elly in her love of fried foods. As near as I can tell from this website, “fried” will refer to a fried noodle, not a fried shark:

Noodles

There are two styles of fried noodles which Phuket is proud to offer. One is mi hokkian or mi hun ( Amoy noodles) which is fried with fresh shrimps, pork, shellfish and green cabbage.

I can already predict Lynn’s reaction. “It wasn’t fried shark, so I decided not to eat any and just enjoyed my Phuket beer instead. Kate says I may need to be banned from buying any more beer, but I already told her I can buy all the stuff I want that's edible."

Continuing On

2010-03-07T21:45:00.000-08:00

Today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse is from March 14, 1981. That leaves March 23, 26 and 31 1981 as the 3 strips not reprinted from March, 1981. All 3 of these are unrelated to Connie talking about Phil, so I predict that tomorrow’s strip must be the long-awaited “’Allo?” girl explanation new-run. Once Lynn covers that ground then the following questions remain:

a. Will Lynn reprint any more strips from March, 1981?
b. Will Lynn go to the sequence starting from April 6, 1981?
c. Will there be any more new-runs in the daily strips?
d. Is Lynn finally done hopping around chronologically with her reprint choices?

The reprint today is one of those strips where I get the impression, looking at the expression on the characters’ faces, that Lynn had a different idea in mind for the strip before she wrote in the dialogue. Elly looks bored and yawning in Panel 2. In Panel 3, she has the appearance of someone being woken up. In Panel 4, she looks as though she is embarrassed by something. I can easily imagine the original dialogue being:

Elly: Connie, why are you always prepared for the worst?
Elly: {Yawning}. Phil wasn’t bothered by your visit. He actually found you were a little dull and lifeless.
Connie: Really? {Elly looks like she is waking up}
Connie: I wonder what I could do to spice things up. Maybe a naughty nightie.
Elly: {Thinking and looking downcast} Is there nothing I can say which will discourage her?

A Miracle Occurs

2010-03-06T22:11:00.000-08:00

I am not sure what to make of today’s new-run in For Better or For Worse. I was sure I had seen Lynn use the line, “Dear God …the next time something bad happens, please…let it happen to me.” in a strip before; but I could not find it. Nevertheless, I find it interesting that Elizabeth had enough body weight on her to injure her fingers by a drawer closing so severely that it required her hands to be completely bound in bandages like a mummy. However, in looking for other strips which showed a similar situation happening, I have come to a startling discovery: Elly shows more sympathy and care for Elizabeth than Mike and Deanna ever did for Meredith in the same or similar situations. Let’s look at them:

This strip is the closest match to what happened in today’s strip. In fact it makes a little more sense for Meredith to be hurt by this than in today’s strip with Elizabeth, since her brother slams her fingers in a door. No medical care is shown, but Michael does give Meredith a hug, after he does a bizarre “Wait for it” sequence before he gets to that point.

In this strip, you see Meredith step on a toy car and fall. Michael reaches out for her while thinking, “We’re close to the breaking point.” He is not thinking about Meredith at this point, but making a pun off something he was saying prior to Meredith’s accident.

In this strip, you see Meredith hurt after falling off a chair and pouring a pot of carrot coins on herself. To this scene Deanna thinks, “Momeeee!”

In the strip immediately following that, Meredith is crying and is comforted by Deanna who uses the method of (a) cleaning up the carrot coin mess and (b) telling her crying daughter to “Shush! You’ll wake up your brother.”

The one time Meredith gets medical attention following an accident was in this strip, where I see now it was the involvement of Lovey Saltzman which caused it to happen as she says, “Take her to a doctor.”

Even so, as Meredith explains she broke her arm, Deanna feels the need to correct her by saying, “It’s just a fracture, Lovey.”

There you have it. Today is a miraculous occasion. A parent in this strip actually comforts a child and gets medical treatment for a child without making a bad pun or worrying more about themselves than the child. Of course, Elly’s behaviour back when Lawrence Poirier got hurt was the exact opposite. Today, at least, Elly has a rare good parent moment.

No Class or No Self-Esteem?

2010-03-05T16:12:00.000-08:00

In today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse, Connie Poirier is rehashing how she feels about herself in dealing with Phil in Montreal. We know ultimately Phil is going to return to Milborough and start wooing Connie again, as we can tell from this strip from 1982. So, in spite of Connie’s behavior in the “Connie in Montreal” strips, Elly is going to have to end up saying that Phil has no problem with what happened, which is what will happen if Lynn decides to reprint the next strip following this one chronologically.

The one correction I see in the strip is Panel 2, where "upon" is changed to be more clearly "up on." The most startling thing about the colour version is Connie's hair colour. The hair style still matches her Montreal poodle cut from last month, but the hair is back to blonde. On the other hand, when I look at the black-and-white version of the Montreal poodle cut, it is shaded. In the black-and-white version of today's strip, it is not. Judging from that, blonde is correct.

The way the strip plays out is reasonable. Connie is playing the role of a person who is making self-deprecating remarks in the hope that Elly will contradict her, preferably with words from her brother. I have known many people who do this. As for her statements, let’s examine them:

1. Elly, I’m still embarrassed about the way I chased your brother.

Analysis: If Connie were embarrassed by that, she wouldn’t be bringing it up. Nevertheless, Connie’s point of embarrassment is her chasing. In other words, a proper woman does not chase a man. Men must do all the chasing. I would say this is very old-fashioned. However, I remember having a conversation with my 18-year-old nephew on the subject and from his perspective of his generation, this has not changed. Men of his generation still do the chasing. The indirect meaning we have here is that women do not offer themselves up to men, which is the way you would interpret Connie going to Montreal without her son, showing up at Phil’s club and expecting him to do something. Considering that the new-runs have painted a picture of Connie and Phil being much more intimate than they were back in 1981, this no longer makes much sense.

2. He must think I’m an idiot for showing up on his doorstep like that.

Analysis: This one is just plain confusing, even back in 1981. She showed up at the Jazzy Club where he was playing, not at his doorstep with him present. If she is talking about not calling Phil in advance to let him know she was coming, then I am in agreement only that she is a poor planner and not an idiot.

3. He must think I have no class.

Analysis: Showing up at someone’s club unannounced is not usually considered to be classless. If you take the indirect message again, i.e. offering herself up to Phil so he can take advantage of her if he wants to, then maybe she can get that no class meaning. However, I would call it no self-esteem. Now, if the "'Allo?" girl told Connie that she was Phil's girlfriend, and then Connie went ahead and threw herself at Phil at the Jazzy Club anyway -- that would be classless. As to whether women who do this are any more or less classless than men who do this, that’s a different story. Judging from the old Becky McGuire roadside story, Lynn Johnston clearly lays the blame on the woman in these situations.

After all this, the most surprising part of the strip is seeing Elly make tea instead of coffee. Tea? What is wrong with her? The best part is seeing Elly go from laundry to tea all while saying nothing. It’s as if she can’t have this kind of conversation without a beverage in her hand.

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 3: It's not the heat, it's the humidity!

2010-03-05T09:17:00.000-08:00

Once again another entry from Lynn. As before, I will quote the text and comment on it.

Posted: March 5, 2010
Well, actually, it's the heat, too.
At first, the temperature is a welcome change from freezing your fanny in North Bay...but without the invention of air conditioning, I think most northerners would take a long time to adjust. If ever!!

According to http://www.weather.com/, the temperatures in Phuket in March have ranged from 77°F/25°C to 93°F/34°C. Since Lynn’s website lists North Bay as -3°C, I can see why she might have some difficulty here. In Tucson, the highs have been about 72°F/22°C for March so it’s been pretty nice.

The Kata Palms hotel is about 5 blocks from the beach and is a small temple in the midst of a concrete maze of vendors' booths, massage parlors and tailor shops. There are innumerable tailors here, all offering the finest hand made duds at bargain prices and ready in less than 24 hours. I've just come back from a long walk and am now sitting at the one working keyboard in the lobby and enjoying the breeze coming from the fans in the ceiling. It's like a movie set. I'm surrounded by deep red walls. Tall open windows with thin, embroidered curtains strung from tiny brass rods open onto a small palm-lined terrace. There is an abundance of ornate, gold decoration on teak furnishings, around doorways and over the reception desk. A high ceiling with lovely pastoral paintings along the upper edge arches over 4 white canopied sofas which face each other in a most gracious lounge.

Lynn appears to be talking about the Kata Palms Resort and Spa. The website has a number of pictures, which make it look like there is more than one working keyboard (but you know how hotel publicity pictures are) and you can see the exact area Lynn is talking about. It looks really nice. Lynn seems to be settling in now. We get our first mention of “bargain prices”. However, the odd part is that Lynn seems to be doing things by herself with the “I've just come back from a long walk”. Lynn usually likes to do things with other people. I wonder where Katie and Lane are. Their disappearance and lack of being mentioned by Lynn gives credence to the theory that this may be their honeymoon.

The rooms are spacious and the bathroom alone is worth the price. When you sit on the loo, you face a stone bathtub, set like an outdoor basin on a bed of white stones. To the right is the shower and the water comes out of a huge flat spout on the ceiling- like a shower of rain. Above the tub is a large shuttered window which opens into the bedroom. The view from the window is a tropical mural of amazing flowering trees. In the courtyard below the room, a long, winding pool takes you through a jungle of greenery, past rooms which open directly into the pool. These could be dangerous if under the influence of the local beer which is light in flavor but carries a punch!

No travelogue of Lynn Johnston’s would be complete without a description of the bathroom and a mention of the beer. I think Lynn may be talking about Phuket Beer which, according to the website, I can actually get in Arizona.

Most of the visitors here are European. We rarely hear English spoken, but if it is, it's with a British, European or Australian accent. Actually, other that the decor of the hotel, there is little here to suggest that we are in Asia at all..so I am still looking for the feel of the orient- that sense that I am in the mysterious east.

Lynn's assessment of the visitors appears to be mostly correct according to this website:

In 2008, 52.37 % of international tourists were East Asian, with Malaysia and Japan providing the most visitors. Close to two million Malaysians visited Thailand. We assume they take short trips over the Thai-Malaysian border, and we think the number of Malaysian visitors, unduly inflates the total number of international visitors. Europeans provided close to 4 million visitors in 2008, about 27.22 % of the total. The number of visitors from the Americas, South Asia and Africa, is much smaller. However, close to 700,000 Australians visited Thailand, which is actually an enormous number, when taking the total population of Australia into account.

Even though the bulk of the tourists are actually from Malaysia and Japan, it is entirely possible that Lynn may not be able to recognize that these are tourists and not residents. At least she is accurate with respect to the Caucasian tourists.

Lynn is looking for the mysterious east, which I think is once again a reference to her preference for Beijing. She sees it in the hotel decor without realizing that the hotel probably set it up that way to appeal to tourists just like her. However, looking at the history of Phuket, I think she is in the wrong place for the feel of the orient. Until the 1970s, the place was basically a mining town. Lynn needs to be thinking about snorkeling and other beach resort-like activities. However, looking at the tourist industry information, Old Town Phuket has some old buildings. I wonder if Lynn will get around to those. Even so, looking at the pictures, these are Sino-Portuguese and not really the mysterious east in design. I expect she will be disappointed.

I shall send this before it's gone in the ether of the internet and will write again. LJ

I am simply amazed that technophobe Lynn is doing this herself. However, she does still fear the loss of thing in the ether of the internet if she doesn't send it immediately so that much still seems like our Lynn.

The Itch You Can’t Scratch

2010-03-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

With today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse, we see the eternal curse of the cast wearer – the itch. On-line advice says to not use hangars, but to try baby powder and blow dryers. Some recommend antihistamines. This website offers a cast scratcher which looks like it might work. None of the on-line advisors suggest hitting the cast with your fist. Sorry Lawrence.

This is a unique storyline for Lynn as far as I can tell. Two other times Pattersons end up in casts: The one where John drops the frozen turkey on his foot and the one where Meredith goes down the stairs on one of her toys. In both of those cases, the issue with an itchy cast never came up. I guess Pattersons must have skin that doesn't need scratching. In other words, we have a realistic storyline for this comic strip involving a cast. Enjoy it while it lasts.

What’s coming up?

If Lynn continues on reprinting the strips in chronological order, tomorrow we get to return to the Connie and Phil storyline from March 13-14, 1981 and we will finally find out who the "'Allo?" girl is, since Lynn Johnston already told aprilp_katje, she was going to do that.

We have the March 13-14, 1981 strips not reprinted. March 23, 1981 is not reprinted but it is part of the Farley training sequence which was mostly reprinted last year. I could see Lynn skipping that one. That leaves March 26 and 31 not reprinted for 1981. That’s 4 strips total, less than one week of dailies. After that all the dailies starting from Monday, April 6, 1981 have not been reprinted. If I were Lynn, I would try to synchronize April 6, 1981 to Monday, April 5, 2010. That’s close enough to make holidays match for most holidays except Easter. To do this, Lynn needs the rest of this week + 4 more weeks of new material. That's a lot for a woman who only did 6 new-runs last month.

With this little material left from March, 1981 to reprint; by next week, we should know if Lynn is going to jump back to reprinting the April, 1981 material, or if she is going to add new-runs to try to even out the timing between 1981 and 2010. If I were to guess, I could see her doing a few new-runs and then going back to reprints and repeating that sequence a few times. There’s no need to rush on synchronizing the dailies because of the situation with the Sundays. However, because the dailies and the Sundays have different deadlines, Lynn does not think of them the same way. She could easily go to straight reprints on the dailies, while still doing new-runs on Sundays.

Lynn has already reprinted all the Sunday strips throughout March 1981, and she has reprinted April 12, 26; May 3, 10, 17, 24; and June 7, 14, 21 of 1981. The Comic Strip Catalog lists Sunday, April 5 as missing, so I doubt that one will appear. April 19 is an Easter strip, so Lynn is probably saving that one for Easter, April 4, 2010. May 31 is an extremely outdated Women’s Liberation strip, but that certainly hasn’t stopped Lynn before when she did her “chauvenist pig” strips. Nevertheless, it could explain why Lynn jumped over it when she reprinted the other Sunday strips.

If February, 2010 is any indication, 3 of the 6 new-runs in that month were Sunday strips, leaving 3 new-runs for the dailies. I can easily see Lynn continuing this method for awhile until the Sundays line up. After all, when it comes to lining up strip publication dates with holidays, the Sunday strips are the strips which are most often used to show them, not the dailies. In spite of Lynn’s prediction that she will start straight reprints in Early Spring, the Sunday strips fly in the face of that prognostication. There were many Sunday strips in 1980 which were not reprinted, which she could use; but she hasn’t gone back to 1980 since she reprinted a few daily strips in November, 2009. You have to go back to July 26, 2009 to find a Sunday strip where Lynn stepped back in time. She seems to prefer moving forward, at least for right now.

Really His Friend, But Not Really

2010-03-03T21:45:00.000-08:00

Today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse turns out to be the one following yesterday’s reprint chronologically. In spite of the fact we have seen Lawrence standing without crutches in this new-run, Lawrence is now back in his broken leg state. Oh well, it was what I expected would happen.

The humour of the strip is one where the final panel joke depends on your surprise at seeing something different than what you expect. Michael is moping because Lawrence’s leg has made him popular. Michael declares that he is really Lawrence’s friend, and not like those people who only like him because of his broken leg. Elly gives him the straight line of how Michael likes Lawrence for more than his broken leg. At which point we expect in the final panel we are going to get some statement like:

a. Yeah – I like him because he’s funny.
b. Yeah – I like him because he likes rocks and sticks and spitting, like I do.
c. Yeah – I like him because he’s the only kid in my neighbourhood who will play with me.
d. Yeah – I like him because he’s my best friend forever.
e. Yeah – I like him because we both like sunsets.
f. Yeah – I like him because he’s gay and I think I’m going to be gay too, only I’m going to get married and have kids so people won’t know I’m gay, all except Lawrence, who will know about it, but he won’t tell, otherwise I’ll tell everyone he’s gay AND he can’t go to the washroom except in his own house.

Anyway, instead of that sappy sentimental stuff, Mike reveals he kinda likes him for his toys. We don’t get the caring response; we get the self-centered, selfish response. As we know, from Mike’s difficulties with expressing his affection for Deanna, he is probably not going say anything like “Lawrence. I love you, man.” He is most assuredly not going to say that in front of his mother. All things considered, his statement seems in character for Michael. However, because it is used as a punch line that depends on defying your expectation, it takes on an extra meaning. Poor Lawrence. The boy whom he thinks is his best friend only likes him for his toys.

I find this to be an interesting contrast with the old April Patterson / Becky McGuire feud strips. We had it pounded in that Becky would regret leaving April’s band to seek fame, because April was a true friend, and her new friends would betray her. Here, we have an opportunity for Mike to express how he is a true friend to Lawrence, and the joke is that he isn’t. For me, the best part of the strip is Elly’s gobsmacked facial expression in the final panel, which comes off as “Oh my goodness. My son is a selfish brat!”

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 2: Ah, Phuket!

2010-03-03T16:21:00.000-08:00

As near as I can tell from this writing, the joke on how “Phuket” is pronounced is a pretty common one. The most surprising part of this is that Lynn Johnston would make a joke about it, since there is a good portion of her audience who would find the “F” word to be offensive. I get the feeling that real-life Lynn may be a little more profane with her language than Elly Patterson, although considering last Sunday’s strip involving all the stars, saturns and exclamation points; maybe not.

The flight to Phuket from Bangkok is only about an hour long, but there are many flights a day- mostly 747s and they're all full. From the air you can see the great wetlands change to hills and then craggy mountainous terrain. Islands pop out of the sea like poker chips on end, and countless bays cut into the shoreline making this part of the country look like a pirate's paradise. The huge cliffs make this a climbing destination, but from what I can see of the tourist crowd, it's beer and beaches that get the most attention!

Bangkok Airways or Thai Air International flies from Bangkok to Phuket. Checking Expedia, I see that every single flight of Bangkok Airways is on an Airbus Industrie plane, while Thai Air International splits time equally between Airbus and Boeing 747. Obviously Lynn flew Thai Air International and drew her usual conclusions based on limited evidence. And finally our first reference to beer, but not to Lynn drinking it. What is wrong with her?

You hear every language here. Just because someone looks North American doesn't mean he speaks English, but English seems to be the one unifying tongue and is used for ordering food and chatting up hotel staff. The funny part is the accents! Someone with a pronounced German accent trying to understand someone with a thick Thai accent can result in some great bouts of confusion- all of which adds to the flavor of this soup.

The languages native to Phuket are (according to this website) Moken, Moklen, Thai Southern, and Urak Lawoi’. Clearly, Lynn is not talking about the language of the natives, which is made more evident by the phrase, “looks North American”. She is talking about the language of the tourists. I presume by “looks North American”, Lynn means “looks like me.” Looks like a Lynn, must talk like a Lynn. Can that really be what she was thinking? As for English being the unifying tongue, I refer to this message from this on-line source:

Do people speak English in Phuket?

As a truly international resort, you will find that English is widely spoken by most who involve in the tourist industry albeit at differing levels of competency, and you will find that communication with Thai people is mostly a delight - with the exception only of the most hardened workers in the tourist industry.

In other words, Lynn has come to the mistaken conclusion English is the one unifying language on Phuket, Thailand's No. 1 Resort Island. This is a strange conclusion for someone who has visited resorts before and should be well-aware of the language requirements for employment in the tourism industry.

They say there was an indigenous population in Thailand; very short, dark people and when the tin mines flourished, many mainland Chinese who came to work here decided they liked the place and the people and stayed. They eventually intermarried and created a new culture and a new language. The Thai people are proud of their unique mix and their diversity. Their alphabet is totally different from anything we're familiar with and I have to say- all the Asian lettering is a graphic artist's dream!

As she did with her trip to Oaxaca, Lynn Johnston cannot help but recount her understanding of the local history. As with the Oaxaca blog entries, she prefaces it with the words, "They say", which means, "If you correct me on my errors, it's not my fault, you picky faces. It's their fault." As you can from this history of Thailand and this history of Phuket and this history of Thailand mining, Lynn has gotten the history of Phuket and the history of Thailand mixed. Nothing new there. The history of Thailand begins with the migration of the Tai- Lao speaking people from their ancestral home in southern China into mainland southeast Asia around the 10th century AD. Phuket was the place for the early tin mining, and apparently Thailand’s tin mining industry occurred much later. It doesn’t appear that either the indentured servants brought to Phuket or the Tai- Lao speaking people came there because they wanted to work.

Something of interest: There are 3 sexes here: male, female and in between. Spectacularly beautiful young men with coiffed hair and long manicured fingernails greet you in the hotels and garment shops along with the rest of the staff. Acceptance is everywhere, but there is still an underlying resentment that makes it difficult if not impossible for these people to get higher education and well paid jobs. They are left to seek work in the entertainment business or the sex trade and cannot get legitimate passports if they become transgendered. Still, they are a colorful and attractive part of Thailand and with luck, the politics will change.

Lynn Johnston is speaking about the ladyboys or katoeys. This person has an interesting opinion on the subject. Going to my good friend Wikipedia, it appears that Lynn Johnston is referencing the fact that katoey work in predominately female occupations and in 1993 Thailand's teacher training colleges had implemented a semi-formal ban on allowing homosexual (which included katoey) students enrolling in courses leading to qualification for positions in kindergartens and primary schools. This ban was rescinded later following the replacement of the Minister of Education. Other than that, I wasn't able to find any specific evidence to confirm or deny Lynn's claims about higher education and well paid jobs. The people I know locally in Arizona didn't have that difficulty and it appears Thailand is far more open about this than the United States. I have my doubts about Lynn's opinion.

According to this article, the katoeys are trying to get recognized as a separate gender for the purposes of legal recognition to be a part a new constitution. “Male, female or other” is the phrase used in the article. This is unlike North America, where the preference of the people I know would be to be called “she”.

The taxi ride in from the airport took about 40 minutes. The route is rural and rustic and looks somewhat like Mexico, but far more lush and green. Little of the classic Asian architecture is left here. It's mostly modern buildings with glass fronts, big box stores and Starbucks. There is nothing outstanding yet about Phuket province. Tiny shops along the streets, narrow 3 story buildings, grey with the dampness in the air accompany us to the turnoff to Kata where we'll stay for a few nights. Travelling with carry on gives you a lot of freedom and spontaneity....and I'll write more tomorrow!

Judging from the history of Phuket I linked above, this is not really a place for classic Asian architecture. The history talks about the great things done to recover the area after the tin mining destroyed most of it and how the only great structures were the homes of tin mine owners. As for Kata, I think Lynn is talking about the Kata Beach resort area. I have no idea what she means about freedom and spontaneity when you are traveling with carry on if you are riding in a taxi to a place only 40 minutes away from an airport.

Looking at what I have written above, it appears the bulk of it is my trying to explain what it was Lynn Johnston was saying. This is worse rambling than the Oaxaca trip Blog entries and the pictures don't even go along with what she is writing.

Lynn's Trip to Thailand part 1: Bangkok or Bust!

2010-03-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

I noticed that unlike Lynn Johnston’s trip to Oaxaca, Mexico; her blog entries for this trip have ended up on http://www.fbofw.com/news/ instead of on http://www.fborfw.com/fun/blog/archives/cat_lynns_journal.php. The news section of the For Better or For Worse website only exists for a short period of time, as webmaster Stephanie has a tendency to delete off the old news. Perhaps that is the motivation for putting here. To that end, I will duplicate all the text (for my own reference purposes) and then comment on it.

Posted: March 1, 2010
We arrived in Bangkok after a night in Tokyo. It was a long flight and we were glad to have a bed to stretch out in. Bangkok is a huge, sprawling city, as smoggy as Beijing and not as beautiful. At least we haven't seen the attractive stuff yet! Long rows of tenements flow into the urban mix of hotels, glass office towers and the occasional temple. Everything looks grey, but the sky is clear and the people are friendly.

Looking at Travelocity, the likely sequence of events is that Lynn and company would have left North Bay, flown Air Canada about an hour to Toronto, where they would change planes and take the flight to Tokyo, which would have been about 13 hours arriving in the afternoon the next day. From there to Bangkok is about a 7 hour flight which would have been on Thai Airways Intl Ltd, All Nippon Airways, or United. Some people like to overnight in Tokyo to help with jet lag, and that is probably what Lynn did, although it is hard to say with her comment about “glad to have a bed to stretch out in”. Maybe she meant she stayed in the airport overnight.

Right away Lynn starts comparing Thailand to China with her comparison to Beijing. This will be a regular theme during the course of her writing. It appears Lynn prefers China.

Near our hotel, the streets are lined with vendors selling everything from sandals to steam irons. Every nationality is present. Mysterious women in black garments peer out from slits in their face coverings. Beautiful saris mix with the mode of the day. Pretty girls clatter along in the highest of heels past tough looking boys in jeans and T-shirts. Men in white caftans with white head scarves held in place by black, wrapped cords stare out from restaurants where hookah pipes sit on tables and tapestries hang from walls..

Saris – Indian. Black garments with slits in face coverings is probably Muslim. With the caftan, it is difficult to tell, since these are popular in Persian or African culture. According to one source, in Southeast Asia they favour the batik kaftans. However the hookah pipe tells us it is probably an Indian reference. These are interesting observations because Wikipedia tells me nearly 95% of Thailand's population is Buddhist, while in India the primary religion is Hindu. Also, you don’t see anything like this in any of Lynn’s pictures.

The streets clatter with cars of every size and color. Brilliant pink and purple taxis squeeze past trucks filled with commuters who hang from metal bars. Modern buses compete with tiny "tuk-tuks" and young people on scooters take chances at every corner. There are few bicycles here, unlike mainland China. Perhaps the short streets and many alleyways make it a dangerous place to ride.

This comment about mainland China with bicycles tells us how long it has been since Lynn has been there. I remember the 2008 Summer Olympics in China, where the television coverage made a big deal about how the old use of bicycles had been almost completely replaced by electric bikes. See this article for more exact statistics. The tuk-tuk is another way of saying auto rickshaw.

Outside the "Majestic Sky" hotel, girls line up and wait for business. They are young, pretty and well dressed. My guess is they make more than most vendors. Even the massage therapists get just a few bahts a day. Everything is for sale here, just steps from the hotel and if it's not evident, "trasvel agents" can arrange anything your heart desires.

I don’t see a “Majestic Sky” hotel listed in Bangkok, however, there is a Majestic Grande Hotel which is described as being conveniently located for the Sky Train. Perhaps that is what Lynn is talking about. Lynn addresses prostitution in Thailand, and once again exposes her ongoing personal issues with respect to physical beauty. The prostitutes are “young, pretty, well dressed and Lynn believes they make more than most vendors.” They are good-looking and they make lots of money. Oh, Lynn. According to this source, Thailand’s Health System Research Institute reports that children in prostitution make up 40% of prostitutes in Thailand, many of whom do it for reasons of poverty.

Yesterday, we took a tour of the floating market, saw snake charmers, alligator trainers and elephants. The food stalls along the river were too numerous to choose from and the variety of interesting fruits and veggies was amazing. Like most tropical countries, there is an abundance of interesting plant life. I wish I knew more about botany because I'm fascinated by it. Long canals criss- cross the land, flooding rice paddies and provide transportation.

Food makes an appearance. Fruits and veggies, and Lynn does not purchase any because they were too numerous. Food vendors, limit the choices you give Lynn or she will get confused!

Lynn wants to know more about botany because she is fascinated by it, but apparently not fascinated enough to learn about it. In fact, this is an odd entry because Lynn doesn’t mention buying anything, which is usually the hallmark of Lynn writing (i.e. the fantastic bargain she got shopping); but she also doesn't mention anything she learned, like the long discourse she did about chocolate in her Oaxaca blog entries. Aside from that, I would love to see an elephant in one of those floating market boats. I suspect Lynn is talking about one of the elephant tours you can take in Bangkok.

Here, the ancient ways blend in with the new. Everyone goes with the flow and the flow goes in all directions. Today we leave for Phuket and the sandy beaches you see in the photographs. The adventure has just begun! LJ

In Bangkok for one day and she is off to Phuket the next.