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IN THIS ISSUE

• Editorial
• Bill Murphy writes of his years online
• Margaret Manning promises to add to the stories she has told
• Stan French recalls his introduction to the newsletter
• Rafiki tells the story of a remarkable recipe
• Gerrit de Leeuw sends a timely poem

"WE WERE PIONEERS..."

As mentioned in Bill Murphy´s essay, we readers and contributors to the Tale Spinner were pioneers - "older" ones, at that. As we celebrate 14 years of publication, we look back at the time when seniors were among the enthusiastic dabblers in a relatively-new technology, along with all the gung-ho youngsters who have since eclipsed our hard-won expertise.

When Jay tried to pass on his Commodore 64 to me when he upgraded (to a 64-128?), I asked him why I would want a computer. He told me I could go online and chat with other users, and send e-mails, but I was unimpressed. It was not until I realized that I could do a spreadsheet for my volunteer treasury job on a computer that I accepted his offer. (One of many, as I remember. He went through the Commodores, then the Amiga, then a number of Macs, while I followed after him, inheriting his machines when he upgraded.) He has since guided my faltering footsteps through the wilds of the computing world, and he attributes his loss of hair to his frustration at my obtuseness.

At first I did not venture into the unknown world of the BBS that came with the server MindLink, but after I discovered that world, I became an avid user. It was an association of mostly young people, among whom I was an exception. I remember one new member asked me how old I was. I told him, "Seventy-three." He asked again, and when I repeated it, he wrote: "If you don´t want to talk sensibly, I don´t want to talk to you!" And he disappeared.

We called ourselves the Darksiders, because we usually chatted after midnight, when there was no charge for being online. We were mostly from the Lower Mainland area in BC, and besides getting together online, we met in person. I went to quite a number of parties, and threw a few myself, until I finally found it too difficult to drive at night and gave up this aspect of it. MindLink was sold to another company and the group gradually disbanded online, though it carried on for some time after I was no longer active. For all I know, they are still meeting, and some of those early members still get my newsletter.

Kate Brookfield told last week of how the Spinner started, with my letter to CARP asking if there were any older people using the net, and my receiving 40 replies. I began to act as a central distribution point for senior users who had stories to tell, and I have a bookcase full of hard copies of those early issues. Having changed computers so often, I have lost some of the electronic copies that I carefully saved on floppies and hard drives.

This special edition is to give a forum to several other long-time readers of The Spinner, who have their own stories of their early years in the online community, so without further delay, I give you...

BILL MURPHY

Bill writes: I would like to echo Kate Brookfield´s congratulatory message but I am incapable of her eloquence. I don´t recall just exactly when I first subscribed to your newsletter but it clearly was somewhere near the beginning. The rough timing is related to the date I lost my wife, which was just 33 days after the start of 1993, and I found the computer to be a method to salve the hurt.

As Kate related, those days were limited to BBS communication and those of us who became involved found that our Best Years conference was a good way to keep in touch with new friends and old. Needless to say, many new friends became old friends as the time passed. Kate may not remember but her first encounter with our group left her wondering if she really wanted to be involved since some of us seemed somewhat childish in our messages, but that was part of the fun and I remember sending Kate a message or two asking her to bear with us. I am happy she did. I was fortunate to know Bill Nyberg and lived within a few blocks of his store in Burlington. I often wonder how Bill would feel if he knew how many great friends and how many special hours his idea has spawned. The history of Best Years could be another article, but as one of our beloved members now passed on put it, "We were pioneers."

The World Wide Web came along and most of us sidled into it as the BBS world slid out. Here was a new way to communicate with not just words, but pictures too. It has been a pleasure for the most part and the get togethers and lunches we have enjoyed is a special memory for us all.

Well, I could go on about the events, good and bad, that we all lived through, but I have always been grateful for the friends I made and the contacts I found through this special relationship. The people had to be special because unlike so many seniors, they were not intimidated by computers and the new technology, but rather they used them to advantage. Your newsletter was introduced to us through the group so I count it as part of the benefits and I would like to add my own thanks for your efforts.

"All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people."

MARGARET MANNING

Margaret, who told us many stories about her adopted home in New Zealand, writes: Congratulations on achieving 14 years of The Tale Spinner. It seems like only yesterday ... etc....

If you are looking for any new material, I have some words to contribute. As it is the Christmas/New Year holiday period (and the height of summer in N.Z.), I have some time to think about matters other than croquet. Why would I want to be on a beach lazing in the sun, or swimming or walking or doing anything energetic? For me, staying indoors on "catch-up" is a luxury. So I wondered about sending half a dozen (probably) articles about our 2008 trip to England. It was quite traumatic and not the usual sort of "fun, fun, fantastic, amazing" trip one expects to have on a holiday.

Anyway I´ll put my thoughts down and have a go at contributing something.

ED. NOTE: Margaret´s story will begin next year.

STAN FRENCH

Stan claims he was "Hooked by Jean Sansum - a letter lured me."

Thank you, Jean, for introducing me to The Tale Spinner. Kate Brookfield´s tribute December 27th asked readers to join in her BIG THANK YOU for 14 years of dedication to The Tale Spinner.

I was a late starter because I came across Jean´s letter in CARP about 18 months after its publication. Pen pals were special to me and this idea seemed related. I had used computers for about 10 years but just for personal word processing, usually for letters to friends who did not care that I had a simple dot matrix printer. I never joined a BBS, but one was available through a colleague at work.

I wrote to Jean by regular mail to enquire about the responses to her letter in CARP´s publication and I got help right away by mail to get online at Victoria Village Public Library so I could get The Tale Spinner. My computer had a modem that would not work for me. It had been a computer for inventory control where my wife, Emily, worked and I got it for a bargain price when Letraset Canada moved to a new location in 1990. Jean and others led me to the Toronto Freenet for my first connection. Soon I had installed a replacement modem, purchased from a Radio Shack clearance depot, and it was barely able to keep up with a Toronto Freenet phone line text-only connection.

Like Kate, I look forward to the regular Saturday morning Tale Spinner. I have located printed copies of most issues for years ´98 through 2001, but by then I had a Windows 3.1 computer. Reading the screen was easier for me and the smaller, hard floppy disks could be better used to save what I wanted to keep. My first computer used two soft floppies, one for the program and one for the file, so, if I recall correctly, I was in the habit of saving to a floppy. Writing over was not something I did in case I wiped out a treasure. Finding the treasure later is a greater problem than anticipated.

Kate also mentioned the lunch with Jean with Best Years in Toronto. Perhaps it was not Jean´s first lunch with Best Years, but I did meet our editor at a Toronto lunch arranged by Ernest Blaschke, who reached me by e-mail, and we met at a restaurant near his home. I´ve been with Best Years since then.

ED. NOTE: Spinner readers met for lunch in Toronto a number of times, always arranged by Ernest Blaschke, who was an enthusiastic contributor to the letter and told us many stories of his life in wartime Europe. Unhappily, Ernest´s wife, Elsie, who was very ill for a long time, finally succumbed to her disease. Ernest has looked after her all through her illness, and after she died, he did not live long. He had lost his lifetime companion and perhaps his raison d´etre.

At last I have found someone who, like me, appreciates

CHRISTMAS CAKE

Rafiki writes: If you were closer, you would be having Christmas pudding and fruit cake with us!

Our fruit cake recipe has an interesting story which I would like to share with you. For many years, I used to purchase a fruit cake at a church bazaar in a small town close to where we live. It was incredible, and so reasonable in price that it was cheaper to buy than to make. It had a remarkable taste and we could never figure out the secret ingredient that made it so irresistible. I always used to say to my husband that I hoped and prayed the lady who made the Christmas cake would live a long time. Each year I would ask about the health of the woman who made it.

One year, we went over to the church bazaar and found there was no bazaar! It was cancelled as they were building an addition to the church.

I panicked, thinking Christmas wouldn´t be Christmas without this special fruit cake. I called a woman from the congregation and told her how in love we were with the cake. The woman was kind enough to give us the name and phone number of the woman who made the cake. So we called, and she invited us to come by her home. I thought it was awesome that she would invite complete strangers into her home.

Her name was Gertie, and she welcomed us at the door. We had a cup of tea and fruit cake together, along with wonderful conversation.

I told Gertie that my biggest fear was that something would happen to her and there would be no fruit cake. She laughed and said she was honoured that I treasured her fruit cake. I got up the nerve and asked her for her special recipe.

Gertie hesitated and said that no-one had the recipe, not even her family. She had never wanted the church congregation to have her recipe because of the special ingredient - cherry brandy. She said that because I had such a love for her fruit cake she would give me the recipe on the condition that I not give it to anyone else. I agreed.

Happily, my husband and I came home with the recipe. When we made the fruit cake, I talked frequently to Gertie on the phone as she guided us through the brandy-misting process to keep the loaves moist.

In the spring of the following year, Gertie died.

I do not want her recipe to die with me. I hope someday, before my time comes, I meet someone special who would treasure the recipe as I do so that I may pass it on.

It is interesting how things happen in life.... if the church bazaar had not been cancelled, I would not have contacted Gertie and the recipe would have been lost forever. Note: She didn´t have the recipe written down. It was derived from several cookbooks and she had the final recipe in her mind.

Making the fruit cake is an exciting process. Of course, overnight the fruit is soaked in the cherry brandy. But the excitement begins the following day when my husband cooks the fruit and brandy on the stove. He is intoxicated from the fumes and I´m intoxicated from drinking the remainder of the cherry brandy from the bottle! Please note that neither of us drinks very much alcohol.

The fruit cake is a taste explosion! It is the next best thing to sex! (My husband says I shouldn´t be telling you that.)

Happy New year to you and may there be many more newsletters to come!

Gerrit de Leeuw contributes this

AFTER CHRISTMAS POEM

´Twas the week after Christmas, and all through the house
Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.
The cookies I´d nibbled, the eggnog I´d taste
At the holiday parties had gone to my waist.

When I got on the scales there arose such a number!
When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber),
I´d remember the marvellous meals I´d prepared;
The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared,
The wine and the rum balls, the bread and the cheese,
And the way I´d never said, "No thank you, please."

As I dressed myself in my husband´s old shirt
And prepared once again to do battle with dirt
I said to myself, as only I can,
"You can´t spend a winter disguised as a man!"

So away with the last of the sour cream dip,
Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip.
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished
"Till all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won´t have a cookie - not even a lick.
I´ll want only to chew on a long celery stick.
I won´t have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie,
I´ll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.

I´m hungry, I´m lonesome, and life is a bore,
But isn´t that what January is for?
Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.
Happy New Year to all, and to all a good diet!

- Author Unknown

SUGGESTED WEBSITES

Just for fun, watch this crazy canine in the snow, on a site sent by Dick Monaghan:

http://www.dogwork.com/dogsnow/

The editor wishes you a happy New Year: http://arunaurl.com/2m1b