Posted on July 18, 2013 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

Ok. This is long overdue but coming up on Saturday, I will be posting a golf story which seems appropriate with the British Open in full swing. Ten years ago, I was on a golf trip to Ireland with seven lawyers. Don’t go there. I can already anticipate the jokes. After a round of golf, we stopped into a quaint Irish pub to catch a few holes of the final round of the Open. Or did we stop in for a few rounds to catch a hole? It turned into a marathon session. Someday I will write a story about this. What I most remember is that these fine gentleman would make a wager on anything. ” Will Ernie scratch his left ear in the next 15 seconds”? You get the picture. As I said, it was a long session!

Call me old fashioned but I love newspapers. I read the Globe and Mail on Saturday, the Herald daily and of course, The Casket on a weekly basis. Lately I have also been reading the Highland Heart Weekly, which is an excellent publication. I noticed a piece in the paper the other day about one of the national conglomerates shutting down several community newspapers. This leaves me profoundly saddened. Community newspapers are much more than news. They are a living, breathing history and deserve our support. I think it would be neat to give our grandchildren a unique gift for their birthday or Christmas: a subscription to The Casket. Otherwise they may never know what an actual paper looks and feels like. And, yes, I know that you can get these publications on line but it’s just not the same.

There, I’ve said my piece on that subject.

I’m still trying to get my Facebook friends to move over from my personal page to my Week45 page. Nudge them along if you get the chance or better still, get them to go to my website at www.week45.com and hit the follow button. They will get automatic updates by e-mail and won’t have to wade through the clutter of Facebook.

My editors are hard at it and my book of short humour stories is still on schedule for mid to late September. Some have suggested that it would make excellent bathroom material… reading material would be my preference! Others think it would be a good fit in doctors’ offices around the country. You could laugh while you wait.

Have a great day. I return all e-mails and Facebook comments so if you have something to say, don’t be shy.

“A Bag of Dreams”, coming Saturday.

 

Posted on July 16, 2013 under Storytelling with one comment

The gospel story was about the Good Samaritan and I listened intently to the sermon that followed.  The priest started by making a disparaging comment about lawyers and, sitting not ten feet away, was my brother, a recently retired lawyer.  We exchanged knowing glances and a grin.  A pending defamation suit was diffused after Mass following a meeting of the aggrieved party and the pastor.

I attend church at my mother’s apartment building every Saturday at 5 PM and I have been conscripted to do the music.  My brother was in town for his annual pilgrimage to the “Little Vatican” and came to Mass on this particular day.  As is often the case in the summertime, other relatives of the buildings’ residents were also in attendance.  The air was warm but so was the vibe.

I took my leave immediately after the service to attend to family visiting our house.  My brother and my mother had been invited to supper with another sibling who lives not far away.  This was a good thing as my brother was on a very tight timetable with tickets in his pocket for a concert at 7 PM.

They approached his rental car, a bright, shiny 2013 Dodge Avenger, black in color.  The remote entry key was engaged and he could hear the familiar sound of the locks opening.  He put the key into the ignition but, surprisingly, nothing happened.  The key would not move.  My brother had tinkered with cars in his youth so he wasn’t perplexed with this turn of events.  Initially.  He tried to twist the steering wheel and fiddled with the gear shift to no avail.  He stepped on the brake.  He searched in vain for a dashboard starter.  Thinking back to Mass, he contemplated a few additional prayers.

It was a particularly warm evening and from doing battle with the car on the heels of a warm church service, sweat appeared on my brother’s brow.

 And, the clock was ticking.

Mild inconvenience slowly seeped into frustration as he dug furiously in the cubby hole to find the user’s manual.  He ripped the unopened plastic and started looking for instructions: “How to Start Your Car”. When this failed to uncover any hidden secrets he thought he might have to call the rental company.  He fished in the console for his Blackberry and came up empty.  Tired, hot, hungry and aggravated, he was running out of viable options when along came the Good Samaritan.

The owner of the building strolled up to him.  “Donnie.  What are you doing in my brother’s car”?  The owner’s brother had come to town in a rented vehicle to spend some time with his mother.  Momentarily flummoxed, my brother searched for an appropriate response when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a 2013 Dodge Avenger, black in color, parked immediately beside the car he believed to be his.  Identical, right down to the interior.

After a hasty supper he made his way to attend the aforementioned concert.  It was about the trials and tribulations of our Scottish ancestors as they made their way on tall ships to the new world in 1801.

He left the concert and drove to his next engagement.  Only this time he was pedalling his bike.  It doesn’t require a key to get it started.

Posted on July 15, 2013 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

What a weekend! The weather in this part of the world was fabulous and there were huge throngs of people here for the Highland Games. The final tally isn’t in but everyone seems to think that attendance records will be broken. In honor of the Games, and in particular, the role of the volunteers, I wrote a story called ” A Highland Fling” which I will be posting in the near future.

The beautiful weather gave me the opportunity to get out and shoot a few video clips which I have added to my website. Check them out. They will form the basis of some new stories I’m working on.

I also wrote a story that I think you will enjoy about mistaken identity. This one is as close to being 100% true as it gets. Usually I take a few liberties but this time I simply wrote the story as I heard it told. It is called “The Good Samaritan”.

I have a big favor to ask. As you know, I have been posting my stories on my personal Facebook page until just recently. I am trying to get as many people as possible to join my Week45 page so please ask your friends to take a look.

I hope you all have a great week.