Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2017-23

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Kate Brookfield writes about Leonardo De Vinci
• Kate also comments on an item in last week´s suggested sites
• From Heroic Stories, here is a memory of helpful strangers
• Tom Telfer tells about a new scam
• Betty Audet forwards a number of oxymorons
• Shirley Conlon sends the story of an enterprising individual
• Catherine Nesbitt shares another Little Johnnie story
• Sites are suggested by Carol Shoemaker, Carol Hansen, Catherine Nesbitt, and Tom Telfer

Kate Brookfield writes about

LEONARDO DA VINCI

Leonardo da Vinci moved to Milan as a mature artist, and his presence is felt around the city. Outside La Scala, the Milan opera house, is a statue of the elderly da Vinci with a group of young students surrounding him. The guide book mentioned who these artists were as they eventually became well known. I tried to get a postcard of this image but there were no postcards of the statue alone. There were many postcards of La Scala, but only the back of Leonardo is seen as he is facing the opera house. I did manage to get a photo, but don´t know the names of his student gathering.

Michael had visited Milan twice before. On his first visit, he was staying near the site of Da Vinci´s Last Supper painting, but when he went to see it, he discovered that one has to book on-line for a time and place to see the painting. On his second visit, he went to see it and was very impressed, and was sure that I would like to see it, so we had booked a tour. Michael said our time was 11:30, so we asked if we could leave our luggage in the apartment, as we were leaving Milan after we had our tour. But he had misread the time, and our time was 1:30 p.m., with no way of changing it.

The painting is housed in a large room which was originally the refectory of a convent. Because of the strict time allocation, people waiting for tours congregate in a large square next to the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Originally, this was the church of the monastery or convent, but over the years has had alterations and additions, so it is an interesting sight. We spent some time looking around the church. But we were asked to leave. It was a hot sunny day and there were not many seats. We went for a little walk to kill time and saw a promotion to see Leonardo´s vineyard.

Apparently, a wealthy Italian had given Leonardo some land, and the artist had used the land to plant a vineyard. He was always experimenting and trying out new ideas, so he planted different species of grapes. His notebooks and letters about the care and maintenance of the vineyard are extant. Over the years, Leonardo´s vineyard was lost, and the estate land gradually sold off. However, a few years ago, some scholars researched all the documents and were able to identify the exact place where the vineyard was located adjoining a villa opposite the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. The exact species of grape were identified with DNA studies and the vineyard, as planted by Leonardo, is now open for viewing. A tour of the villa and history of the family living there is included in the ticket price. A Google search for da Vinci´s vineyard gives more about this forgotten garden:

My pictures are on my blog site: http://tinyurl.com/koy5oe7

Finally, our time for viewing arrived. At first our guide assembled us in the square and handed out earphones and a receptor for putting round our necks. This is the latest technology so we do not have to gather round the guide to hear what she is saying. She speaks normally into her microphone and we can hear clearly what she is saying through our receptors. So we found a wall in the shade and listened to her very interesting talk on the life of Da Vinci, his time in Milan, and how he came to be asked to do a painting for the refectory wall of the convent. We were told how, despite his genius, Leonardo was always experimenting, and for this painting he made the wrong choice of painting on plaster on wood. As a result, the paint started to fall off very quickly. Also the painting is so big it covers one end wall and for years, there was a door opening in the painting. Over the years, the painting has been restored and about 15 years ago, an extensive restoration was done. The reason tours are limited to 30 people at a time, with only 15 minutes in the actual room with the painting, is to prevent damage to the painting from humidity from the breath and bodies of tourists.

He chose the theme of the Last Supper and the moment when Christ told his disciples that one of them would betray him. The guide explained to us the different expressions of the twelve apostles, who are in four groups of three, with Christ in the centre. Again, Wikipedia gives you a lot more information, plus a photo of the painting:

All I can say is that Michael was right. I was very impressed with the size and detail of the painting. Our guide pointed out that Leonardo wanted the painting to represent all of Italy, so she showed us how the food on the table would never have all been on the same table, as it represents different parts of Italy. The reflection of the colours of the robes is reflected in the silver plates.

So our visit to Milan came to an end. We picked up a rental car and drove to Lake Como.

CORRESPONDENCE

Kate Brookfield writes about the sea lion video in last week´s recommended sites: Somebody reported that since that video was shown, people, with their kids, have been flocking to the place where it happened in the hopes of seeing the aggressive sea lion. They ignored all the signs about not sitting on the harbour wall.

The report ended by saying that tourist flyers have the wrong idea. They should not promote beauty spots, but tell of places where dramatic life-threatening events might happen.

We live in interesting times!

In Heroic Stories, James Schrader of New York, wrote about

IF YOU NEED ANYTHING

In 1974, my college roommates, Steve, Craig, and I drove to Yonkers from upstate New York to take Steve home for spring break. Returning, Craig and I took toll-free roads to conserve funds.

Sunday evening we got $5.00 worth of gas on a side road, saving 35 cents between us for one upcoming toll road. A mile later we heard a terrible grinding noise under the car, the brakes quit, and we rolled to a stop on a dark, deserted back road. The axle had separated.

With little traffic, we decided we had to flag down the next car and ask for help. When a car came, we stood in the roadway. After we explained our problem to the husband and wife who stopped, Craig went with them to find help while I stayed with the car. Soon a trooper stopped, put up flares, and radioed for a tow truck. Even though Craig had gone for help, he said he must move the car as soon as possible for safety. Half an hour later a tow truck arrived - and Craig was riding with the driver!

By 10:30 p.m. the tow truck driver had us at his garage. We said we´d sleep in our station wagon, but he´d have none of that, and brought us to a small trailer by his house. He gave us blankets and pillows for the night. The next morning we woke to a knock. When I opened the door, a woman introduced herself as the tow truck driver´s wife. She brought us into her home, gave us juice and eggs, saying her husband left to work on the car two hours earlier. She drove us to the station, where we thanked her over and over.

We learned the bill would be $65.00. We had no credit cards, no way of getting money other than our parents driving down - but they were at work.

The couple we´d flagged down had given Craig a number to call if we needed anything. So we called, and the husband gave us a restaurant address, saying, "Come by. I´ll see what I can do." With the car fixed late that morning, Craig stayed behind as ´security´ while I drove to the small roadside diner.

I asked for the owner, we sat, and I described our predicament. He asked what I had for collateral. I had 35 cents, my license, and the car registration. He said the registration was enough, opened the cash register and handed me $65.00!

After thanking him many times, I picked up Craig, paid the bill, and we drove home. My Mom sent a check immediately, and the registration arrived by mail a few days later.

Though time has erased their names, I´ve never forgotten what the people who helped us did. Since then I´ve always helped people in tight spots, and never been disappointed. I´m still trying to give back to others what I got a long time ago.

ED. NOTE: to comment on the above story, or to get your own free subscription to the site, click on

http://www.heroicstories.com

Tom Telfer writes about

A NEW SCAM

An e-mail arrived from an old friend. He asked if I was going to be busy the next day as he needed some help. I wrote back that l would be free and able to help. Then he said that that his best friend had passed away suddenly, and that he would be unable to get to the funeral. He wanted to help the family with some money. Then he asked me to send $950 to a lady in Alabama.

I realized that the sender was not my old friend, but a scammer. I contacted the police, and they said to report it to the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre.

Betty Audet forwards these

OXYMORONS

1. Is it good if a vacuum really sucks?

2. Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?

3. If a word is misspelled in the dictionary, how would we ever know? And if you can´t spell a word, how can you find it?

4. Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?

5. Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing?

6. Why do "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing?

7. Why do "tug" boats push their barges?

8. Why do we sing "Take me out to the ball game" when we are already there?

9. Why are they called "stands" when they are made for sitting?

10. Why is it called "after dark" when it really is "after light"?

11. Doesn´t "expecting the unexpected" make the unexpected expected?

12. Why are a "wise man" and a "wise guy" opposites?

13. Why do "overlook" and "oversee" mean opposite things?

14. Why is "phonics" not spelled the way it sounds?

15. If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

16. Why is bra singular and panties plural?

17. Why do we put suits in garment bags and garments in a suitcase?

18. How come abbreviated is such a long word?

19. Why doesn´t glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

20. Why do they call it a TV set when you only have one?

21. Christmas - What other time of the year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of socks?

22. Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? I dunno, why do we?

Shirley Conlon forwards this story from The London Times:

AN UNUSUAL RETIREMENT PLAN

Outside England´s Bristol Zoo there is a parking lot for 150 cars and eight buses. For 25 years, its parking fees were managed by a very pleasant attendant. The fee for a car was $1.40, for a bus, about $7.

Then one day, after 25 solid years of never missing a day of work, he just didn´t show up; so the zoo management called the city council and asked it to send them another parking agent.

The council did some research and replied that the parking lot was the zoo´s own responsibility. The zoo advised the council that the attendant was a city employee.

The city council responded that the lot attendant had never been on the city payroll.

Meanwhile, sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain, or France, or Italy, is a man who´d apparently had a ticket booth installed completely on his own, and then had simply begun to show up every day, commencing to collect and keep the parking fees, estimated at about $560 per day - for 25 years. Assuming seven days a week, this amounts to just over $7 million - and no-one even knows his name.

I think this is my favourite e-mail ever!

Catherine Nesbitt sends another story about

LITTLE JOHNNIE

The kids filed into class Monday morning. They were all very excited..

Their weekend assignment was to sell something, and then give a talk on salesmanship.

Little Sally led off. "I sold Girl Scout cookies and I made $30," she said proudly. "My sales approach was to appeal to the customer´s civic spirit, and I credit that approach for my obvious success."

"Very good," said the teacher.

Little Debbie was next. "I sold magazines," she said. "I made $45 and I explained to everyone that magazines would keep them up on current events."

"Very good, Debbie," said the teacher.

Eventually, it was Little Johnny´s turn. The teacher held her breath.

Little Johnny walked to the front of the classroom and dumped a box full of cash on the teacher´s desk. "$2,467," he said.

"$2,467!" cried the teacher. "What in the world were you selling?"

"Toothbrushes," said Little Johnny.

"Toothbrushes?" echoed the teacher. "How could you possibly sell enough toothbrushes to make that much money?"

"I found the busiest corner in town," said Little Johnny. "I set up a Dip & Chip stand, and I gave everybody who walked by a free sample.

"They all said the same thing, ´Hey, this tastes like dog poop!´

"Then I would say, ´It is dog poop. Wanna buy a toothbrush?´

"I used the President Trump method of giving you some crap, dressing it up so it looks good, telling you it´s free, and then making you pay to get the bad taste out of your mouth."

Little Johnny got five stars for his assignment.

Bless his heart.

SUGGESTED SITES

Carol Shoemaker forwards this link to a clever adaptation of an opera to the political situation in the States:

Carol Hansen and Catherine Nesbitt send the URL for a video of Darci Lynne, a 12-year-old singing ventriloquist, getting a golden buzzer award in America´s Got Talent 2017:

Tom Telfer forwards this link to a story about a new "instantly rechargeable" battery that will ensure the future of electric cars:

Tom also sends the URL for a site which tells the story of a father who created a free Minecraft server specifically dedicated to kids with autism:

In this TED talk, Louie Schwartzberg shares highlights from his 3D film titled "Mysteries of the Unseen World":

This site asks if you can identify some classic movies from selected scenes. I got nine out of 12, but I was guessing wildly:

This Colombian garbage collector built a library from discarded books, and now maintains a free library for his district, and then started travelling around to deliver free books to poor people in remore districts:

This homeless shelter in Thunder Bay received a $10K donation from a former resident, a residential school survivor, who gave his compensation to the shelter to help keep it open:

This company has created a movement called Zero Waste, which salvages everything that is compostable or can be recycled:

For these troubled times, Howard Zinn offered a ray of hope that things will improve if people do not despair, but persist in making a better world for all children, everywhere: