Posted on November 6, 2014 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

Shades of YMCA

 

 

I spend so much time chauffeuring the ladies to the malls in Florida that they chipped in and bought me a taxi driver’s hat. Looking a bit like one of the Village People, I spontaneously broke out with a chorus of Y M C A !

Do you have any idea of how many words an average 3 year old child knows? It’s around 1000 and this number leaps to an astonishing 50,000 words by the time a child reaches the age of 12. This is sometimes puzzling as many teenagers respond to questions with monosyllabic grunts. Where have you heard this before: “ Where are you going?” “ Out.” “Who are you going with?” “ Nobody.” “ When will you be home?” “ Later.”

The English language can be downright confusing for people from other countries who come to live here. Several words sound exactly the same but have very different meanings, like “ there” “their” and “they’re.”

And some of our shortest words have very complex undertones.

Take the word “we.”

On the surface, “we” is a pronoun,  very easy to understand. That is, until you enter a relationship or get married. When a spouse says to her partner, “we have to rake the leaves,” it really means that “he” is going to rake the leaves. You get my drift. Ah yes, the royal “we.” I am working on a story with this as the theme. Working on a title and it looks like this: “ We” do it All For “You.”

As regular readers know, I shy away from controversial stuff like politics. My goal is to entertain and not wade into shark infested waters. But watching the mid term elections in the U.S. and reading Graham Steele’s new book “What I learned About Politics,” makes me feel that democracy as we know it is in really bad shape. The U.S. is almost dysfunctional. There is no middle ground in their political system any more…or at least that’s how it appears at ground level. Enough.

A small committee is continuing to work out the details of how the community can assist Austin and Marilyn with their wedding. This is a real wonderful story. I am the “foreign correspondent” on the committee but we want to make sure that this is done properly and with dignity. After all, it is their wedding and we don’t want to step on anybody’s toes. An update will be coming shortly. Many thanks to all of you who have been in touch with me with offers of support. I still contend that Antigonish is the best small town anywhere. We’re far from perfect but when it’s crunch time, we deliver.

Have a great day.

P.S. My good friend, M.D. sent me this video link a few days ago. If you have 6 minutes and 27 seconds at the end of your busy day, take a peek.

http://www.aboveandbeyond.ca/bruce-teacher-letters-students/

Posted on November 4, 2014 under Storytelling with one comment

Long odds to get a hand like this

 

 

“Sometimes nothin’ can be a real cool hand.”

Paul Newman in “Cool Hand Luke”

I began my university career in September of 1970. I had been a reasonably good student in high school and was looking forward to broadening my knowledge base.  I entered the front doors of Nicholson Hall and promptly went straight out the back doors and headed to the library.  Rather than go to the stacks, I meandered down the stairs into the basement where I met a group of serious looking academics.  However, books on the table were noticeable only by their absence.

In the middle of the table was a solitary deck of playing cards.

And so began an education into the world of cards; and nothing, including classes in Political Science or English, would stand in the way of a game of bridge or 45`s. This is where I got to meet some lifelong friends including Big Alex and Lou Brosha.

Lest you think that we spent our entire time at St. F. X. in the basement of the Angus L. MacDonald library, like the groundhog; we occasionally poked our heads out.   We attended a class or two but even then, cards took precedence.  Many of us had the same classes.  The rule was that someone had to go to class and take notes.  We devised a roster and everyone had to take a turn.

You will not be surprised to learn that some of our student loan money changed hand in this den of iniquity. For some reason, Sir Henry Newbolt`s poem, “He Fell among Thieves”, crosses my mind from time to time.

After several months I started to get the hang of bridge, and it became a game that I continued to play throughout my life.

As it turns out I was no Rhodes Scholar, unless you count my prowess playing street hockey. We all managed to graduate and went our separate ways.

Lou ended up marrying my sister and he spent the first part of his working career teaching school in Northern Alberta. Eventually they moved the family back to Nova Scotia and it was shortly after this that he received his diagnosis of MS.

Rarely are any of us dealt a flawless hand in life. A blissful existence unmarred by trouble or strife is as rare as a 29 hand in cribbage.  In case you`re wondering, the odds of getting a 29 are 1 in 216,580. I suspect that the odds of having a perfect life are much greater.

Lou did not rage at his unfortunate situation but continued to live life to the fullest. He continued to work until he couldn`t.  He drove to his beloved cottage in Bayfield on a regular basis, always fixing something.  He was very well-read and could carry on a conversation with anyone on any subject.  And he kept playing bridge.

We played once a week for years and I loved being his partner. His style could only be deemed “unconventional”. Sometimes his bids seemed erratic, bordering on absurd, but he had a very keen mind and more often than not he made his bid.

Just over a year ago, he skunked us all for the last time.

When Lou was dealt a lousy hand from the deck, he never complained. He played the cards he was given.  And his trump card was his wife, Eleanor.  “In sickness and in health …” she left nothing undone.  Lou’s legacy is his beautiful, remarkable family who are left to remember, with tears of sadness and laughter intermingled.

Posted on November 3, 2014 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

No whining

 

 

The name of this shop in Florida is “Total Wine.” I am not a drinker but if you like wine ( or every conceivable scotch on the planet ) at ridiculously low prices, this is the place to come. There are millions of bottles of wine…8500 different wines according to an employee. The building is similar in size to Central Home Improvement Warehouse because this is precisely what this building is. It would take a very long time to sample all their wares. And the picture at the bottom is the “tasting centre.” The first two days we were here, it was scotch tasting.

If you haven’t yet heard or read about the story of Austin and Marilyn ( Saturday’s Halifax Herald ), then you must have been involved in a power outage. https://www.facebook.com/AntigonishCoupleMoveThroughLifeHandinHand

Please join this site and let’s give this couple a wedding to remember. They are truly sweet people. I have offered to help with the organizing … along with hundreds of other people!

The internet connection at our resort is spotty so some times I can’t tell whether messages are getting posted once, twice or not at all. Sorry if you received the same messages multiple times.

When is the last time you went to an old fashioned diner? The ones with the counter that you can sit at? I mentioned this in my Thursday post. The story has been written and is just waiting for the editor to get out of the hot tub. It’s called “Dishing it Out at The Diner” and will appear soon.

Tomorrow’s story is called “ The Cards We’re Dealt.” Some of us are very lucky. We have work that we enjoy, we have a roof over our head and enough to eat… and we are healthy. We all know that this can change in a heartbeat. This story uses cards as a metaphor for life. Sometimes we’re dealt excellent cards and some days, well we’re dealt crappy cards. It’s not the cards we’re given but how we play them. It is also a story about the people who care for those people who do not enjoy good health.

Also in the lineup, is “Kitty Kornered.” Some of you knew the late Kitty Chisholm from Heatherton. She was an amazing lady and she taught a young, inexperienced sheltered workshop manager a few things over a cup of tea ,32 years ago. We became good friends and I always enjoyed chatting with her.

I still have one of my “tribute “ stories in the works. I think you will enjoy this one as this lady had a profound effect on many teenagers. No spoiler alerts here. If I can pull all the pieces together, it will be a memorable story.

Have a great week.

P.S. Just a reminder of a “novel” Christmas party idea. I will come to your home and entertain your legion of friends ( or friends from the Legion! ) with readings from my new book… and a little singing. I will bring some of my books for purchase. I’ve already had one inquiry.