Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2012-44

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Carol Dilworth spends a morning with orchids
• We get letters from Carol and Jean Sterling
• Carol Hansen forwards an inspiring story
• Believe it or not, growing old has some advantages
• The editor complains bitterly about - a common cold
• Sites are recommended by Gerrit deLeeuw, Irene Harvalias, Shirley Conlon, and Tom Williamson

Carol Dilworth writes about an interesting tour in

SOUTHERN ONTARIO

I spent this morning at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington with 40 other members of the William Morris Society of Canada. This weekend is the annual orchid show, and we had to wait to see the display until the judges were finished. In fact, judging was still going on while we were there, which you know from the photos because the numbers are still on the displays. The cards saying where the displays were from were face down until the numbers were removed. We were allowed into the room because the plants still to be assessed had been removed.

This afternoon, we had a tour of Central Presbyterian Church in Hamilton. The current building, completed in 1908, was designed by John Lyle, who later designed Toronto´s Royal Alexandra Theatre and the Bank of Nova Scotia building at King and Bay. John Lyle´s father was the minister at Central Presbyterian when it burned to the ground in 1906.

Then we toured Hamilton´s Durand District, a collection of early 20th century mansions.

I commend all these locations for a visit. In the meantime, here are some of the many pictures of orchids I took at the show:

(click on any image to view an enlarged image of orchids)
(click on any image to view an enlarged image of orchids)

CORRESPONDENCE

Carol Dilworth writes: The embarrassing thing about the quiz for prospective professionals [in last week´s issue] is that I´ve taken it before, and this time I still got them all wrong! Good thing I´m retired from my profession.

In reply to my enquiry about how the hurricane Sandy had affected them, Jean Sterling wrote from Florida: It´s one huge storm, but it was over 200 miles off the coast when it went past here. It was big enough so that we got some wind and rain, but not too bad. We lost power for most of a day, but the stuff in the freezer survived, so we got off easy. Today was a beautiful sunny day, and (by our wimpy standards) cold. Abby [the dog] wore her pink sweater when I took her for a walk. She is the wimpiest Canadian I have ever encountered, but then she did winter in Florida.

Our oldest son lives in New York City, and he is in for it big time. We were talking to him tonight on Skype when the picture got dim, and he said something about a brown-out, and then he was gone. So we figure he lost power. On Yahoo news it said that Con Edison (NYC´s electrical utility) had shut down power to lower Manhattan, which probably includes Bill. New York is really hunkered down. They shut down mass transit last night, and today they closed the tunnels, and they are shutting down the bridges tonight. Our youngest son lives in northern Virginia near Washington, and it sounds as if they are getting quite a hit there as well.

Carol Hansen forwards this great story by Nancy Leitz:

COLOURBLIND

When Jerry and Holly announced that they were getting married on July 4, 1992, it was cause for great celebration, mainly because we all thought Jerry was going to be a confirmed bachelor like Uncle Ernie. Now that we knew he wasn´t going that lonely route, and because we were all crazy about Holly and knew she was the perfect partner for Jerry, we couldn´t wait for the wedding.

As word of the wedding spread around both families, the excitement was contagious and the guest list kept getting longer and longer, until it reached about 200 people and went from a simple ceremony to a full-blown wedding with a fabulous reception and a weekend of fun and celebration for everyone.

The wedding venue was set in the beautiful rolling green hills of Connecticut, in a lovely place just for weddings. It was a very large building with facilities for two weddings on the same day. The ballrooms were side by side but still very private for each group.

There was a nearby Marriott Hotel with every amenity for their guests, and our two families and all of Jerry´s and Holly´s friends took up most of the rooms.

The festivities began on Friday afternoon with the arrival of the families to the hotel. Aunt Sue and Uncle Carl were among the first to arrive, and they found us at the pool having drinks and snacks and greeting each other.

All afternoon various relatives and friends drifted into the pool area and joined the conversation and the fun. We had plenty of time before the rehearsal dinner, which was to be at 8:00 o´clock, so we lingered and caught up on all the news.

Uncle Carl was in his late 70s at the time and was tired out from his long trip from Pennsylvania, so he went to his room for a nap. Aunt Sue stayed out with us because the hotel rooms surrounded the pool area and we could see his room and know that he was all right in there alone.

We all knew we had to keep an eye on Carl because he sometimes forgot just where he was or where he was supposed to be.

Then it was time for the dinner and the dining room at the hotel was decorated to perfection for our enjoyment. Cocktails and (pause for spell check) hors d´ouevres were served and toasts and funny stories abounded. Dinner was delicious and all were very happy as we went to bed and rested for the big day tomorrow.

When Roy and I went into the dining room the next morning, we were seated next to two of our grandsons - cousins Tim and Francis, both about 12 years old. They were at a table for two with enough food on the table for an army. They had eggs, toast, waffles, fried potatoes, orange juice and chocolate milk in front of them.

Suddenly I heard, "Psst, Nanny." I looked over at them and Francis said, "I hope you are going to take care of this bill, Nanny, because I only have $11 and it´s not on me."

Then it was time for the wedding and Holly was a beautiful bride with a gorgeous lace dress and picture hat. Jerry looked pleased as punch as he stood at the front of the altar with his lifelong friend, Bones, beside him. The service was short and sweet, but they were well and truly married and as happy as two people can be.

Jerry had told us to use the right door into the reception hall because there was another wedding reception at the same time in the left side. The room was beautifully decorated and had large round tables set for about 10 with lovely tablecloths and place settings that Holly had chosen.

After a fantastic dinner, the music began and the dancing was in full swing and cocktails were flowing. Everyone was dancing and talking and having such a nice time that no one noticed that Uncle Carl was missing.

Aunt Sue asked Roy to search the men´s room but he was not in there, and he was definitely not in the main room. Where could he be? A few of us went out on the terrace to see if he was there, but he was nowhere in sight. Now we were beginning to worry.

Then I thought of the other reception room. Could he have wandered into that room by mistake? The only way to find out would be to go in there and look for him.

A couple of us went in and, sure enough, there was Carl, having the time of his life at the wedding of complete strangers. They were treating him like family. He had a beer in his hand and was just placing it on a table to dance when we appeared.

We apologized to the bride for the intrusion and she very graciously smiled and said it was fine; she didn´t seem to mind at all. We told Carl that Sue was looking for him and he thanked everybody, shook hands with several of the men, kissed the bride on the cheek, and we left to go back to our own wedding.

Now this is where the title of my story comes in. The wedding that Carl had crashed was African-American and he never noticed that all the people in that room were black.

And we can never thank that wedding party and their guests enough for being so kind to an old man who wandered into their affair.

As someone once said, "We could all take a lesson from crayons: some are sharp, some are beautiful, some have weird names, and all are different colours, but they still learn to live in the same box."

ED. NOTE: I am still anxiously waiting for an answer from Carol to my enquiry about what effect the storm had on them on Long Island.

SOME GREAT THINGS ABOUT GETTING OLDER (cough, cough)

* Finally you can eat dinner at 4:00 o´clock.

* Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.

* Kidnappers are not very interested in you.

* It´s harder and harder for sexual harassment charges to stick.

* If you´ve never smoked you can start now and it won´t have time to hurt you.

* People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

* Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can´t remember them either.

* Your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable size.

* Your eyes won´t get much worse.

* Adult diapers are actually kind of convenient.

* Things you buy now won´t wear out.

* No one expects you to run into a burning building.

* You don´t need the shingles with the 30-year guarantee.

* There is no need to spend money for a psychic to see your future.

* Someone else will have the unpleasant task of burying your pets.

* There´s nothing left to learn the hard way.

* Your joints are more accurate than the National Weather Service.

* Protecting your eyes during a solar eclipse isn´t as important as it used to be.

* Buying cheap tires and not rotating them makes economic sense.

* No one thinks you´re cheap because you don´t buy a half a cow to freeze.

* You may never have to vacuum under the bed again.

* Taking the shortest magazine subscription is economically defensible.

* You don´t have to bother planting perennials.

FROM THE EDITOR´S DESKTOP

I apologize for the brevity of this week´s issue, but up until today I was not even sure there would be one. I have been battling a vicious cold for a week, and it has been winning - by a knock-out! However, yesterday I began to feel marginally better, and today I have enough energy to draw together enough stories and articles to make up an issue.

I am tired of being sick, and sick of being tired, and I hope that you will manage to avoid a similar fight with the demon cold!

SUGGESTED WEBSITES

Gerrit deLeeuw writes: This lucky guy gets to travel around the world and meet all these interesting people and see all these different places to make these videos! Take some time out from the political rhetoric and relax and enjoy again Matt and his dances around the world:

Gerrit also recommends this site, which introduces a video like this: Yeah, we know this is an advertisement for booze, but rarely is such an ad constructed so elegantly. Go for a stroll with actor Robert Carlyle as he narrates the story of Johnnie Walker in this beautifully-shot and immaculately-rehearsed single-take commercial for scotch:

Irene Harvalias suggests this site for a video of a young boy conducting an orchestra performing a Strouss overture to

Shirley Conlon and Tom Williamson both send this link to a test of your knowledge of Canadian history. I got 18 out of 20 correct, and was asked if I have a maple leaf tattooed on my chest:

Playing For Change began with a small film crew and a mobile recording studio. From there it grew into a movement encompassing a non-profit organization that operates music schools in seven countries, and a touring band composed of musicians from around the world:

Do you ever wonder where the eggs you buy come from? Maybe they come from factories like this one, which was destroyed by a tornado. Here is the story of a hen that was rescued from that farm:

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