Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2016-26

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Barbara Wear has suggestions on how to have a happy old age
• Judith English sends a story about impaired hearing
• Betty Audet shares 12 tiny stories
• Irene Harvalias forwards a story of a doubtful strategy
• Marilyn Magid sends a poem about outdoor washlines
• Tom Telfer pays tribute to the benefits of walking
• Sites are suggested by Barbara Wear, Shirley Conlon, and Tom Telfer

Barbara Wear forwards these

EIGHTEEN RULES FOR A GOOD OLD AGE

Some of us have reached our golden years. These suggestions have been collected from many a senior. Some you know, some may surprise you, and some will remind you of what´s important.

1. It´s time to use the money you saved up. Use it and enjoy it.

2. Stop worrying about the financial situation of your children and grandchildren, and don´t feel bad spending your money on yourself. You´ve taken care of them for many years, and you´ve taught them what you could. You gave them an education, food, shelter and support. 3. Keep a healthy life, without great physical effort. Do moderate exercise (like walking every day), eat well, and get your sleep. It´s easy to become sick, and it gets harder to remain healthy. That is why you need to keep yourself in good shape and be aware of your medical and physical needs.

4. Buy the best, most beautiful items for your significant other. The goal is to enjoy your money with your partner. One day one of you will miss the other, and money will not provide any comfort. Enjoy it together.

5. Don´t stress over the little things. You have good memories and bad ones, but the important thing is the present. Don´t let the past drag you down, and don´t let the future frighten you.

6. Regardless of age, always keep love alive. Love your partner, love life, love your family, love your neighbour, and remember: "A person is not old as long as they have intelligence and affection."

7. Stay up-to-date. Read newspapers, watch the news. Go online and read what people are saying. Make sure you have an active e-mail account and try to use some of those social networks.

8. Respect the younger generation and their opinions. They may not have the same ideals as you, but they are the future, and will take the world in their direction. Give advice, not criticism, and try to remind them of yesterday´s wisdom that still applies today.

9. Some people embrace their golden years, while others become bitter and surly. Life is too short to waste your days on the latter. Spend your time with positive, cheerful people.

10. Do not surrender to the temptation of living with your children or grandchildren. Sure, being surrounded by family sounds great, but we all need our privacy. They need theirs and you need yours.

11. Don´t abandon your hobbies. If you don´t have any, make new ones. You can travel, hike, cook, read, dance. You can adopt a cat or a dog, grow a garden, play cards, checkers, chess, dominoes, golf. Find something you like and spend some real time having fun with it.

12. Even if you don´t feel like it, try to accept invitations. Baptisms, graduations, birthdays, weddings, conferences. Get out of the house, meet people you haven´t seen in a while, experience something new. The important thing is to leave the house. Go to museums, go walk through a field. Get out there.

13. Be a conversationalist. Talk less and listen more. Listen first and answer questions. Speak in courteous tones and try not to complain or criticize too much. Try to accept situations as they are. Always find some good things to say.

14. Pain and discomfort go hand in hand with getting older. Try not to dwell on them but accept them as a part of the cycle of life we´re all going through. Try to minimize them in your mind. They are not who you are, they are something that life added to you.

15. If you´ve been offended by someone - forgive them. If you´ve offended someone - apologize. Resentment only serves to make you sad and bitter. It doesn´t matter who was right. "Holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die." Forgive, forget, and move on with your life.

16. If you have a strong belief, savour it. Don´t waste your time trying to convince others. Live your faith and set an example.

17. Laugh A LOT. Remember, you are one of the lucky ones. You managed to have a life, a long one. So what´s not to laugh about? Find the humur in your situation.

18. Take no notice of what others say about you and even less of what they might be thinking. Have pride in yourself and what you´ve achieved. Now is the time to be at rest, at peace, and happy!

Judith English sends this story about

IMPAIRED HEARING

Morris, an 82-year-old man, went to the doctor to get a physical. A few days later the doctor saw Morris walking down the street with a gorgeous young lady on his arm.

A couple of days later the doctor spoke to the man and said, "You´re really doing great, aren´t you?"

Morris replied, "Just doing what you said, Doctor: ´Get a hot mamma and be cheerful.´"

The doctor said, "I didn´t say that. I said you´ve got a heart murmur. Be careful."

Betty Audet shares these

TINY STORIES

These 12 short stories are all very good lessons, and really made us think twice about the daily happenings in our lives as we deal with others.

Today, I interviewed my grandmother for part of a research paper I´m working on for my psychology class. When I asked her to define success in her own words, she said, "Success is when you look back at your life and the memories make you smile."

Today, I asked my mentor - a very successful business man in his 70s - what his top three tips are for success. He smiled and said, "Read something no-one else is reading, think something no-one else is thinking, and do something no-one else is doing."

Today, after my 72-hour shift at the fire station, a woman ran up to me at the grocery store and gave me a hug. When I tensed up, she realized I didn´t recognize her. She let go with tears of joy in her eyes and the most sincere smile and said, "On 911-2001, you carried me out of the World Trade Center."

Today, after I watched my dog get run over by a car, I sat on the side of the road holding him and crying. And just before he died, he licked the tears off my face.

Today at 7:00 a.m., I woke up feeling ill, but decided I needed the money, so I went to work. At 3:00 p.m. I got laid off. On my drive home I got a flat tire. When I went into the trunk for the spare, it was flat too. A man in a BMW pulled over, gave me a ride, we chatted, and then he offered me a job. I start tomorrow.

Today, as my father, three brothers, and two sisters stood around my mother´s hospital bed, my mother uttered her last coherent words before she died. She simply said, "I feel so loved right now. We should have gotten together like this more often."

Today, I kissed my dad on the forehead as he passed away in a small hospital bed. About five seconds after he passed,I realized it was the first time I had given him a kiss since I was a little boy.

Today, in the cutest voice, my eight-year-old daughter asked me to star trecycling. I chuckled and asked, "Why?" She replied, "So you can help me save the planet."I chuckled again and asked, "And why do you want to save the planet?" "Because that´s where I keep all my stuff," she said.

Today, when I witnessed a 27-year-old breast cancer patient laughing hysterically at her two-year-old daughter´s antics, I suddenly realized that I need to stop complaining about my life and start celebrating it again.

Today, a boy in a wheelchair saw me desperately struggling on crutches with my broken leg and offered to carry my backpack and books for me. He helped me all the way across campus to my class, and as he was leaving he said, "I hope you feel better soon."

Today, I was feeling down because the results of a biopsy came back malignant. When I got home, I opened an e-mail that said, "Thinking of you today. If you need me, I´m a phone call away." It was from a high school friend I hadn´t seen in 10 years.

Today, I was travelling in Kenya and I met a refugee from Zimbabwe. He said he hadn´t eaten anything in over three days and looked extremely skinny and unhealthy. Then my friend offered him the rest of the sandwich he was eating. The first thing the man said was, "We can share it."

The best sermons are lived, not preached.

Irene Harvalias tells a tale of

A DUBIOUS SUBTERFUGE

Two women were out for a Saturday stroll; one had a Doberman and the other, a Chihuahua. As they walked down the street, the one with the Doberman said to her friend, "Let´s go over to that bar for a drink."

The lady with the Chihuahua said, "We can´t go in there. We´ve got dogs with us."

The one with the Doberman said, "Just watch, and do as I do."

They walked over to the bar and the one with the Doberman put on a pair of dark glasses and started to walk in.

The bouncer at the door said, "Sorry, lady, no pets allowed."

The woman with the Doberman said, "You don´t understand. This is my seeing-eye dog."

The bouncer said, "A Doberman?"

The woman said, "Yes, they´re using them now. They´re very good."

The bouncer said, "OK, come on in."

The lady with the Chihuahua thought that convincing him that a Chihuahua was a seeing-eye dog might be a bit more difficult, but thought, "What the heck," so she put on her dark glasses and started to walk in.

Once again the bouncer said, "Sorry, lady, no pets allowed."

The woman said, "You don´t understand. This is my seeing-eye dog"

The bouncer said, "A Chihuahua?"

The woman with the Chihuahua said, "A Chihuahua? They gave me a freakin Chihuahua?"

Marilyn Magid shares this poem about

THE CLOTHESLINE

A clothesline was a news forecast
To neighbours passing by;
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link,
For neighbours always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you´d see the "fancy sheets"
And towels upon the line;
You´d see the "company table cloths"
With intricate designs.

The line announced a baby´s birth
From folks who lived inside,
As brand-new infant clothes were hung
So carefully with pride!

The ages of the children could
So readily be known.
By watching how the sizes changed,
You´d know how much they´d grown!

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It also said, "Gone on vacation now"
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We´re back!" when full lines sagged,
With not an inch to spare!

New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy and gray,
As neighbours carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way.

But clotheslines now are of the past,
For dryers make work much less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody´s guess!

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbours knew each other best
By what hung on the line.

Tom Telfer sends this information about

THE BENEFITS OF WALKING

The human body is made to walk.

Walking 30 minutes a day cuts the rate of people becoming diabetic by more than half and it cuts the risk of people over 60 becoming diabetic by almost 70 percent.

Walking cuts the risk of stroke by more than 25 percent.

Walking reduces hypertension. The body has over 100,000 miles of blood vessels. Those blood vessels are more supple and healthier when we walk.

Walking cuts the risk of cancer as well as diabetes and stroke. Women who walk have a 20 percent lower likelihood of getting breast cancer and a 31 percent lower risk of getting colon cancer. Women with breast cancer who walk regularly can reduce their recurrence rate and their mortality rate by over 50 percent.

The human body works better when we walk. The body resists diseases better when we walk, and the body heals faster when we walk.

We don´t have to walk a lot. Thirty minutes a day has a huge impact on our health.

Men who walk 30 minutes a day have a significantly lower level of prostate cancer. Men who walk regularly have a 60 percent lower risk of colon cancer. For men with prostate cancer, studies have shown that walkers have a 46 percent lower mortality rate.

Walking also helps prevent depression, and people who walk regularly are more likely to see improvements in their depression.

In one study, people who walked and took medication scored twice as well in 30 days as the women who only took the medication.

Another study showed that depressed people who walked regularly had a significantly higher level of not being depressed in a year compared to depressed people who did not walk. The body generates endorphins when we walk. Endorphins help us feel good.

Walking strengthens the heart. Walking strengthens bones. Walking improves the circulatory system. Walking generates positive neurochemicals. Healthy eating is important, but dieting can trigger negative neurochemicals and can be hard to do. Walking generates positive neurochemicals. People look forward to walking and enjoy walking.

And research shows that fit beats fat for many people. Walking half an hour a day has health benefits that exceed the benefits of losing 20 pounds. When we walk every day, our bodies are healthier and stronger. A single 30-minute walk can reduce blood pressure by five points for over 20 hours. Walking reduces the risk of blood clots in your legs.

People who walk regularly have much lower risk of deep vein thrombosis.

People who walk are less likely to catch colds, and when people get colds, walkers have a 46 percent shorter symptom time from their colds.

Walking improves the health of our blood, as well. Walking is a good boost of high density cholesterol and people with high levels of HDL are less likely to have heart attacks and stroke.

Walking significantly diminishes the risk of hip fracture, and the need for gallstone surgery is 20 to 31 percent lower for walkers.

Walking is the right thing to do. Best news is that the 30 minutes doesn´t have to be done in one lump of time. Two 15-minute walks achieve the same goals.Three 10-minute walks achieve most of those goals. We can walk 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night and achieve our walking goals.

Walking feels good. It helps the body heal. It keeps the body healthy. It improves our biological health, our physical health, our psychosocial health, and helps with our emotional health.

Walking can literally add years to your life. It´s good to walk. Be good to yourself. Be good to your body.

ED. NOTE: Get a dog! ;)

SUGGESTED WEBSITES

Barbara Wear forwards this link to the most beautiful and powerful e-mails she has received lately:

Barbara also sends the URL for a travel video of some of Alberta´s fabulous scenery:

Shirley Conlon sends this link to a tribute to the people of Fort McMurray, which was devastated by a fierce wildfire this spring:

Tom Telfer suggests this site for a video a record-breaking flight of drones accompanied by a rendition of Bach by a classical orchestra:

The heart of the Amazon rainforest is under threat. A huge new mega-dam could flood an entire area around the Tapajos river, destroying the home of Indigenous People and rare wildlife. But one Indigenous community, the Munduruku, are fighting back - and they need people around the world to join them. To sign their demand that the Brazilian government protect the heart of the Amazon, click on

In this TED talk, Andrew Youn discusses three ways we can win the fight against poverty:

If you think the traffic in your city is crazy, what do you think of the traffic in Adis Ababa?

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