Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2016-35

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Cynthia Chan writes about her blog
• Bruce Galway forwards a story about an exciting safari
• Irene Harvalias shares six small stories
• Rafiki sends a tale about attitudes
• The editor apologizes for the awful pun
• Pat Moore forwards some good advice from an old farmer
• Sites are suggested by Betty Audet and Judith English

Cynthia Chan started a blog to help with her homesickness:

GRATITUDE

This is the beginning of a project for happiness that I started over a year ago because I wanted to get into the habit of taking the time to be thankful.

I felt a big shift take place when I moved from my hometown for my husband´s work. I had lived in Toronto my whole life. I was constantly surrounded by my family and friends. I loved the familiarity of the streets and special places I frequented with special people. I studied there, and even managed to land my dream job teaching in my dream school district. Moving to Vancouver was a drastic change for me.

At first, it seemed like a big adventure. I worked hard to find a new (temporary) part-time job at an independent school. I began to explore and to become familiar with the new places around me, determined to make it my new "home." This positive determination soon died down though, and very quickly I began to spend an inordinate amount of time being homesick. I missed my friends and family, I missed my old job, I missed being able to even have a phone call without the time difference getting in the way. I missed the sunshine in the clear blue sky, especially when the never-ending season of rain began in the autumn. Culture shock, despite being in the same country, and my own anxiety, prevented me from making new connections with people here.

The gloomy clouds that often loomed outside in the autumn sky began to loom inside me too. I realized that I needed to change my perspective. I was neglecting to be grateful for the many people, things, and sights that I DID have in my life. I began writing a list of things I was thankful for, every week. Sometimes they are exciting events, and sometimes they are just the little things that we could easily take for granted. I have found that when practising gratitude becomes a habit, you really do become a happier person.

Here are a few things that I have written about in the past:

1) Photographs: I love looking through old photos and reliving happy memories. When I´m feeling down, it makes me feel happy to look back at all the great times I´ve had with the people I love. It´s happiness, frozen for you to revisit over and over again. What´s not to love about that?

2) Activities around the city: We are creatures of habit, and I´ve found that it is quite easy to get into a slow repetitive pattern of things that you do (or don´t do)! One weekend, I finally decided to go out and try something new. I discovered Paint Nite: I bought a coupon for $25 (versus $45 ... can I be thankful for discounts too?) and painted for the first time since elementary school! From Paint Nite´s website, you pick the painting that you would like to learn to paint (with the location and time). They are typically held in the private room of a restaurant so you can have a drink while following the artist who teaches you to paint step by step. You´re welcome to do your own variations, so it´s really neat to see what other people come up with. PS: Either time OR the glass of wine made me a better painter. I wonder which one....

3) Communication Technology: How amazing is technology nowadays? Before I was born, back when my dad was studying in Toronto and my mom was still in Hong Kong, they used to tape record themselves and mail each other cassette tapes to play so that they could hear each other´s voices, because it was so expensive to make long-distance calls! (Pretty romantic, eh?) Technology makes it much faster and easier to communicate with people who are far away, and while I miss them greatly, I am thankful that my family and friends are always just an e-mail or a phone call away.

4) Open windows: My home is not air-conditioned, and these past few days have been quite hot. And if I, the hot yoga-loving girl who usually wears cardigans in the summer, think it´s hot ... It´s hot. So when I open a window ... Wow! Fresh air, flowing in, totally refreshing!

What are YOU thankful for this week?

Bruce Galway forwards this story:

EXCITEMENT ON AN AFRICAN SAFARI

A curious cheetah got up close and personal with a holidaymaker on safari at the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya, when the animal jumped into the back seat of a jeep. The wild cat, with its razor-sharp claws and teeth, sure is one kitty you´d rather not have curling up on your lap. But nevertheless, the bold animal hopped in, much to the shock of an Irishman inside.

After entering the vehicle, it slowly sauntered over to holidaying Mickey McCaldin until it was barely a foot away from his face. Family friend David Horsey captured the tense standoff between the pair as it looked as if the cheetah was going to make himself comfortable.

At first, the cheetah simply looked at Mickey curiously, but then it moved closer as if to curl up on his lap!

David Horsey photographed the pair, including the moment the animal leapt into the vehicle. The cheeky cheetah and his family casually lounged atop the group´s Toyota Land Cruiser!

David captured the pictures on June 12, as the group tracked a well-known family of cheetahs, whose mother is called Malaika. Having followed them for a couple of days previously, they observed that the family hadn´t had a kill for several days.

David said: "The family had been looking for a gazelle for a few days with no luck. As we´d been around for a couple of days, I think they were used to the jeep, so the mum jumped on top to get a better view. I think this cheetah followed her up but went a different way.

"Once it got bored of Mickey, it turned away and looked out of the vehicle for a few minutes. It just jumped out afterwards."

David, who is from Mombasa, Kenya, said: ´I´ve been living in Kenya all my life and I´ve never seen anything like this."

ED. NOTE: For photos of the encounter, click on http://members.shaw.ca/vjjsansum/ or

http://nw-seniors.org/stories.html

Irene Harvalias sends

SIX LITTLE STORIES

1. Once all villagers decided to pray for rain.On the day of prayer all the people gathered, but only one boy came with an umbrella. That´s FAITH. 2. When you throw babies into the air, they laugh because they know you will catch them. That´s TRUST.

3.Every night we go to bed without any assurance of being alive the next morning, but still we set the alarm to wake up.

That´s HOPE.

4. We plan big things for tomorrow in spite of zero knowledge of the future. That´s CONFIDENCE.

5. We see the world´s suffering, but still we get married and have children.

That´s LOVE.

6. On an old woman´s shirt was written a sentence, "I am not 80 years old. I am sweet 16 with 64 years of experience."

That´s ATTITUDE.

Have a happy day and live your life like the six stories.

Rafiki shares this story:

IT´S ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR POINT OF VIEW

A writer was in his study contemplating what to write. He picked up his pen and began:

* Last year, my gall bladder was removed. I was stuck in bed due to this surgery for a long time.

* The same year I reached the age of 60, and had to give up my favourite job.I had spent 30 years of my life with this publishing company.

* The same year I experienced the death of my father.

* In the same year my son failed in his medical exam because he had a car accident. He had to stay in the hospital with a cast on his leg for several days. And the destruction of the car was a second loss.

His concluding statement: Alas! It was such bad year!

When thewriter´s wife entered the room, she found her husband looking dejected, sad, and lost in his thoughts. She carefully read what he had written, silently left the room, and came back shortly with another piece of paper on which she had written her summary of the year´s events and placed it beside her husbands paper.

When her husband saw that she had written something in response, he began reading her version of the year´s events:

She wrote:

* Last year I finally got rid of my gall bladder, which had given me many years of pain.

* I turned 60 with sound health and retired from my job. Now I can utilize my time to write better and with more focus and peace.

* The same year my father, at the age of 95, without depending on anyone and without any critical conditions, met his Creator.

* The same year, God blessed my son with life. My car was destroyed, but my son was alive and without permanent disability.

At the end she wrote:

* This year was an immense blessing and it passed well!

The same incidents but different viewpoints. One in the negative, the other with positive gratitude. In our daily lives we must see that it´s not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratitude that makes us happy.

My apologies for this groaner:

GO AHEAD, PATRICIA

A frog goes into a bank and hops up to a teller. He can see from her name plate that she is called Patricia Whack, so he says, "Ms. Whack, I´d like to borrow $30,000, please."

The teller asks for his name and the frog replies that he is Kermit Jagger, son of Mick Jagger, and a personal friend of the bank manager.

Unconvinced, Ms. Whack explains that she will need some identification and also some security against his loan.

The frog produces a tiny pink porcelain elephant and hands it to her.

The confused teller says she will have to consult with her manager. "There´s a frog called Kermit Jagger at the counter and he wants to borrow $30,000," she tells her boss. "And what do you think this elephant is about?"

The manager looks back at her and says, "It´s a knick-knack, Patti Whack, give the frog a loan. His old man´s a Rolling Stone."

Pat Moore sends this

OLD FARMER´S ADVICE

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight, and bull-strong.

Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.

Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.

Words that soak into your ears are whispered ... not yelled.

Meanness don´t jes´ happen overnight.

Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.

Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.

It don´t take a very big person to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay a cruel word.

Every path has a few puddles.

When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

Most of the stuff people worry about ain´t never gonna happen anyway.

Don´t judge folks by their relatives.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Live a good, honorable life.... Then when you get older and think back, you´ll enjoy it a second time.

Don´t interfere with somethin´ that ain´t bothering you none.

Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin´.

Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.

The biggest troublemaker you´ll probably ever have to deal with watches you from the mirror every mornin´.

Always drink upstream from the herd.

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.

Lettin´ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin´ it back in.

If you get to thinkin´ you´re a person of some influence, try orderin´ somebody else´s dog around.

SUGGESTED WEBSITES

Betty Audet forwards this link to an interesting list of rules for making the most of retirement:

Judith English sends this Samsung ad which created this anthem for the 2016 Olympic Games:

An Arkansas police officer, who saw a young man walking down the road at two o´clock in the morning on a frigid cold night, stopped to ask if he wanted a ride. The chance encounter ended up changing the college student´s life.

In this TED talk, climate advocate Monica Araya outlines a bold vision for a world committed to clean energy in all sectors:

Have you noticed a change in your ability to remember things? This short video explains how memories are formed, and why memory gets shorter as you age:

On August 17th, hundreds of people attended a public consultation for the Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline held by a review panel created by Prime Minister Trudeau. These people delivered more than 114,000 messages from across Canada calling on the Prime Minister to reject the project:

During the 2016 Gobi Deserts race in China, extreme runner Dion Leonard from Scotland was followed by a small female dog, eventually named Gobi. After running with him for 77 miles of the race, Leonard decided to adopt Gobi, and started a fundraising fund to get her home to Edinburgh:

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