Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2011-07

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Terry Remin changes makes a radical change in her life
• Carol Dilworth and Jim Olson write to us
• Catherine Nesbitt repeats government winter travel warning
• Tony Lewis forwards the latest Washington Post "daffynitions"
• Pat Moore writes about the things we learn from animals
• Gerrit deLeeuw explains the law of the garbage truck
• Sites are recommended by Catherine Newbitt, Geoff Goodship, Tony Lewis, and Zvonko Springer

Pat Moore introduces Terry Remin, who decided in 2010 that she would make a major change in her life. After looking after her family and friends for many years, she decided to follow her dream of quitting her job, selling everything, including her house, and leave for a new life in Australia. Terry started a diary of her adventure, and following Pat´s request, she is allowing me to publish it. Here is the first instalment:

A NEW LIFE

The day I announced to the company I was leaving, I felt a double sense of freedom because I had put everyone else´s needs aside and put me first. Wow! What a concept! I was beginning to like this.

I went straight to the travel agent and paid for my ticket. I was finally booked! I would leave on December 12 for Honolulu and land in Australia on December 30. I was going to slide into Australia only one day before the end of the year! My intention was going to come true! Woohoo!

It seemed never ending, trying to get rid of enough things to get down to one suitcase as some things were being sent by a ship container. I had warm weather clothes for my trip, but still needed cold weather clothes. I had been fortunate weather wise and was thinking I was going to escape winter, but we were hit with a cold snap of -36. I was getting very tired of dealing with the winters and the cold. I kept all the clothes that were needed to manage the cold and then I had to winterize my vehicle. I remember laughing, thinking that I did not need a reminder of why I wanted to go to Australia.

The last few weeks were like being on an emotional roller coaster ride because I kept feeling that if I stayed in Australia like I wanted to, it could very well be the last time I would see some friends. I said, "See you in Cyberspace," to everyone as I left them, thinking how grateful I was for the computer and programs like Skype where you could actually talk to people in real time and see them. I wondered how many friends would fall by the wayside as I made this huge transition.

On the 30th I picked up the cheque for the sale of the house at the lawyer´s. I was no longer a home owner but was out of debt and had the healthiest bank account of my life. I still found it hard to believe that it was all happening.

The next week I flew to Kelowna to spend a week with my mother. It was very well timed because I was exhausted. I spent the week with my Mom resting, enjoying the ritual of happy hour each evening at 4:00 o´clock, making antipasto, laughing and enjoying our time together. Mom stood at the door and waved goodbye until she couldn´t see me anymore. I guess she was feeling it too.

Once again I returned to Red Deer and now there was only a few days left. My daughter, who was attending college, and I celebrated an early Christmas together on my last Sunday, and for the rest of the day I had an open house for all the friends who wanted to drop in. We sat around the table sharing food and conversation. It was lovely to spend my last Christmas in Canada with them all.

I had only one more thing to tie up and that was my vehicle. I needed it right up until the end, so I put it on Kijiji to sell, but really did not have time to show it. I had a few sleepless nights over it but I met with one of my friends for coffee a couple days later and without my asking, she offered to look after selling it for me.

We took some fun pictures at the airport and then it was time for me to go. Lots of hugs were exchanged and I headed off to Vancouver to visit my favourite aunt and her family before leaving for Hawaii. I had a 9:00 a.m. flight the next day, which meant a very early morning. My uncle drove me to the airport and my journey began. I had a short layover in LA and then was off to Hawaii - and finally, my destination, Australia.

I finally knew what I had to do, though the voices around me kept shouting their bad advice and doubts - I knew what I had to do, and so little by little, their voices were left behind. I strode deeper and deeper into the adventure, determined to do the only thing I could do - determined to live the only life I could live: my own, and the journey I meant to travel.

To be continued.

CORRESPONDENCE

Carol Dilworth writes: The five aluminum foil uses were all new to me, a wonderful video. Another use is to put a piece in a saucepan with baking soda and boiling water and soak your silver items until they are clean.

Here´s a question that my cousin and I differ on and is never discussed: which side out, shiny or dull? For ironing the grilled cheese sandwich, the fellow had the dull side out. Does it matter?

And one plea: if you toss a ball of aluminum foil into the dryer, please be sure that a cat has not jumped in before you close the dryer door. Cats love to chase aluminum foil balls.

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Jim Olson writes: I was browsing the web looking for a reconnection to an old friend, and I remembered he had been a U.S. Navy pilot in WWII. I found a reference to him in a website of his squadron commander:

http://webspace.webring.com/people/gr/rca49865/index.html

Maybe some readers would like to browse that website. (It´s far too long to copy and use in The Tale Spinner.)

I found the chapter on the invasion of Okinawa, where I served on the ground briefly in U.S. Army artillery, brought back many memories of that time and place, mostly reconstructed from research, as I arrived shortly before the war ended.

I did finally reconnect with my friend in a different fashion, as he phoned from a Georgia assisted-living home to ask about Wisconsin teacher´s pension matters. He is in bad shape physically and just barely hanging in there mentally.

He said only three members of the squadron were still alive the last time he had any contact with the group, and only one other member was alert enough to communicate with.

The website is called "One Man´s War" and the last entry seems to have been made at least five years ago, so I assume the author is not one of the three. Maybe the site could be renamed "The Lost Squadron." But it´s not lost as it keeps flying on the internet.

I suspect that when my friend, who is now 89, finally crashes that will be the end of the squadron.

Catherine Nesbitt forwards this

GOVERNMENT WINTER TRAVEL WARNING

Government experts suggest that anyone travelling in the current icy conditions should make sure they have the following:

Shovel
Blankets or sleeping bag
Extra clothing, including hat and gloves
24 hours worth of food
De-Icer
Rock salt
Flashlight with spare batteries
Road flares or reflective triangles
Empty gas can
First aid kit
Booster cables

I looked like an idiot on the bus this morning!

Tony Lewis forwards these definitions from the latest Washington Post´s "Style Invitational", which asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding or changing one letter, and supply a new definition:

DAFFINITIONS

Pigamist: Someone who actually believes that pork is the other white meat.

Jel-no: A liquid goo that appears when you completely disregard the instructions on a package of gelatin that warns against mixing in pineapple or kiwi.

Pestrogen: Hormone taken to offset menopause which has side-effects worse than the condition it is supposed to alleviate.

Gear lobe: Any human ear that is pierced more than four times.

Webonics: Language spoken and understood solely by computer geeks, often changed at random to ensure it is not used by the general population.

Malloween costume: Clothes worn by teenagers in public shopping centers that would only be worn by aliens in a "Star Trek" or "Star Wars" movie.

Pasteal: The color that appears on all your pages when your printer runs out of "yellow" and "magenta".

Halogem: A precious stone, usually a diamond, that is so large that it blinds anyone within a two- mile radius with its reflected light. See Taylor, Elizabeth.

Fortune Kookie: Anyone who actually believes that something written on a piece of paper stuffed into a curled wafer in a Chinese restaurant will actually come true.

Handicarp: The condition under which employees must work when they have a boss that constantly holds meetings to find out what´s taking everyone so long to complete a project.

Chide-and-seek: Any Barbara Walters interview.

Phonetick: The involuntary rolling of the eyes when one receives a call during dinner.

X-Failes: (Noun and verb) Any popular T.V. show that is turned into a movie.

Repoduce: The act of a bank auctioning off all property such as houses, boats, and cars that have defaulted on their loans.

Insect Rebellent: Any spray, citronella candle, bug bomb, pheromone trap or electric zapper that makes hornets madder than they were before.

Spamphlet: A thick section included in the center pages of a magazine designed to look like an legitimate article with the words, "Special Advertising Section" written on the top in microscopic letters.

Brousing: Having real estate agents show you around a whole bunch of houses you are not even in the market to buy.

Grand Copera: Any T.V. offering that is a high-drama police show in a serial format. See "Blues, Hill Street".

Russian Orthodixy: Certain sect of Christian beliefs found in the Russian state of Georgia.

Blaseball player: A certain kind of athlete who makes two million dollars a year and still makes fans pay to get his autograph; also known to have a slump immediately following a re-negotiation for MORE money.

Jaztec: A modern interior design in which ancient artifacts and style are placed among aluminum tubing-based furniture in an attempt to look stylish. See "taste, incredibly poor".

Pat Moore writes:

ANIMALS TEACH US A LOT ABOUT LIFE

When we lived in Ontario I got sheltie that I named Shelly - really for the children´s sake as a family of five plus my parents made for a busy life with perhaps not enough time for an extra to look after. However, I thought having puppies would be a good way for the children to learn about life - was I ever wrong!

Shelly taught me about being a mother, When she had a litter of six, watching the personalities of puppies and how Shelly treated them was like reading a book on raising children. Over the next five years she had a litter each year (36 puppies over the six years!) and each year I learned more. She was a wonderful natural mother and taught them many things. I kept all the puppies until they were three months old as I was told that would give her enough time to discipline them re running after cars, and other important lessons. They all lived and went to wonderful homes. Everyone seems to love shelties - it´s like having a small Lassie of their own.

At that time we lived right on Lake Huron, and of course we walked down to the beach every chance we got. Shelly was like a babysitter as she would only sit down when the children were out of the water. So while she was pacing back and forth while they were in the water, I had to remain alert as the children often had friends over, and although the water at the edge was shallow, they often ventured further out. Each child had a different personality, and how adventurous they were! Shelly seemed to know, and would only bark at certain children when she knew they were trying to sneak further out. Whenever the children were playing on the beach, after taking mountains of toys, cars, pails and shovels down each day, Shelly would rest, and that was my signal to read or perhaps to write a letter - no laptop then.

Watching each litter, I learned about the personality of each puppy and how Shelly treated each one differently - what a lesson! When we moved to Alberta and the children were older, I was not too keen on dozens of more puppies so we got two shelties. We had a huge backyard and they kept each other company. Shelties are herding dogs and they kept themselves in shape by chasing each other around and through all the trees in the back, chasing the squirrels that teased them incessantly, and chasing the birds that kept trying to sneak a bite of their bones. What a laugh!

After the stroke in my eye and losing my sight, the kids gave me a wonderful grey and silver German shepherd that took me walking every day and helped me get over the shock of my disability. I gave her away to a wonderful farm family when I moved into Barrett Place as only fish and birds are allowed here, and I miss her greatly.

I wonder if animals understand how much they add to our human lives....

Gerrit deLeeuw forwards this thoughtful story:

THE LAW OF THE GARBAGE TRUCK

One day I hopped into a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.

My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"

That was when my taxi driver taught me what I now call "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they´ll dump it on you. Don´t take it personally.

Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don´t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life´s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love the people who treat you right, and wave tothe ones who don´t.

Have a garbage-free day!

SUGGESTED SITES

Catherine Nesbitt writes that this tip on how to peel an egg without peeling it did not work for her. She thinks perhaps it was because she used an egg with a thick shell, and that it might work with a thin-shelled egg:

Geoff Goodship recommends this video as a way to start your day. The vocal quintet "Carmel A-Cappella" is a five female singers ensemble from Haifa, Israel, which specializes in unaccompanied polyphonic music (a-cappella). Here they sing the Spring portion of Vivaldi´s Four Seasons:

Tony Lewis forwards this video taken by a rearview camera mounted on a train that encountered a tornado:

If you suffer from vertigo, you will not want to watch this video of working on top of a 1768-foot transition tower sent by Zvonko Springer:

Jose Carlos Meirelles works for FUNAI, a government agency that protects Brazil´s indigenous people. Because of the threat posed by illegal logging and mining, he believes that the fight to protect these people depends on proving and publicising their existence. This aerial footage of one of the world´s last uncontacted tribes living in the Brazilian rainforest was shot from one km away using a stabilised zoom lens:

Rob Hopkins reminds us that the oil our world depends on is steadily running out. He proposes a unique solution to this problem - the Transition response, where we prepare ourselves for life without oil and sacrifice our luxuries to build systems and communities that are completely independent of fossil fuels:

To check out the features of the "freedictionary", which changes daily, go to