Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2017-27

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Kate Brookfield continues her account of their spring holiday
• Tom Telfer writes about a continuing tradition
• Leo Notenbloom´s article suggests an antidote to grim news
• Sometimes headlines can be ambiguous
• Betty Audet forwards more groaners
• Shirley Conlon changes the sex of the protagonist in this tale
• Sites are suggested by Barbara Wear, Catherine Nesbitt, Don Henderson, and Tom Telfer

Kate Brookfield continues her account of their visit to

LAKE COMO

(Click on images to enlarge)

My last article covered more the details of getting to the Abbey on the Olgiasca peninsula. It did not do justice to the abbey itself. For anyone going to Lake Como, this abbey is well worth visiting. I have many photos, but they take up too much space, so I recommend the following website for photos of the abbey and other places on Lake Como: http://tinyurl.com/yafc6j5s

The following day, we drove from our apartment in Doria to Varenna to take the ferry to Bellagio (see map at right).

The weather had changed dramatically. We could no longer see the tops of the mountains, and banks of dark clouds were gathering. The ferries were busy transporting tourists to the many different places of interest in this popular part of Italy.

Our destination was the Villa Carlotto at Bellagio, a peninsula between Como and Lago Lakes. This villa was given as a wedding present to Princess Charlotte, cousin of Queen Victoria. For those of you who have seen the recent TV series on Queen Victoria, you might remember Victoria´s fear about pregnancy, because her cousin Charlotte died in childbirth. This is the home of that same Charlotte who, had she lived, would have been Queen of England. Unfortunately, she only lived here for 18 months. But the villa and the gardens were extravagantly remodelled as part of the wedding gift from her mother. The wrought iron gates have a large C in the centre.

We were there at the right time for the wonderful display of azaleas.

For more on this villa and museum please visit http://tinyurl.com/y8pucbkl

There are more pictures and descriptions at my website, http://tinyurl.com/ybb5tgj4

Tom Telfer writes about

NICKEL DONUT DAY

Every Tuesday, a local donut shop would sell their donuts for a nickel. The male teachers at our school would slip out the back door to head for the bargains. The lady teachers followed them and discovered their "secret." Over the years, every Tuesday, we would gather at Tim Horton´s. Retirees and current teachers would share stories over a cuppa. Looking at their watches, some teachers would rush to return to school for yard duty or appointments. The retirees would giggle and wave to them.

Today being Tuesday, at Tim´s we happened to meet our teacher friends. The tradition continues, giving us an on-going warm feeling.

This timely article is by Leo Notenboom, publisher of Heroic Stories:

WE EACH CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

We´re being flooded with negativity. Every day, it seems, there´s something newly horrific, upsetting, depressing, embarrassing, or just wrong that comes across our news feeds or in our personal communications. I think that´s having a deeper impact on our collective well being that most people realize.

I´ve said for a long time that most news is news precisely because it´s unusual. It´s the exception, not the rule. And yet, when faced with a constant stream of negativity, it´s all too easy to start to feel just the opposite - to "normalize" what we read and hear.

A constant diet of negative news is bad for you. It can "exacerbate" or contribute to the development of stress, anxiety, depression, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

But it´s not normal. Not only should we not accept it as normal, we also need to realize that all this negativity that we do hear about is far, far outweighed in everyday life by the average and the good that we don´t see. The average and the good that really is normal.

That´s why I started supporting HeroicStories many years ago, and took the project on as its publisher in 2014.

Twice weekly original stories remind us that people are good, that individuals and individual action matter.

You can help, too.

o Start sharing some good news with your friends, instead of continually debating the current state of affairs.

o Read something other than news. Perhaps even step away from it for a while.

o Volunteer.

o Don´t correct someone who´s wrong on the internet. (Bonus points: compliment them instead.)

o Support organizations that make the world a more positive place, by whatever definition you choose. Do so in whatever way you choose. It doesn´t have to be financial, though that´s often the most effective.

o Support people who need it. Donate to a GoFundMe that comes across your radar, or consider something like micro-lending at Kiva.org.

Basically, use the resources that you have to take action that makes your world, and the world of the people around you, a more positive place.

In our focus on the negative it´s simply too easy to lose sight of all that remains good and true and honest around us. The difference we can all make is to notice, and as a result, balance the actions we take so that we´re not guilty of simply spreading more negativity.

We can all, in our own small ways, make the world a better place.

HEADLINES

Include your children when baking cookies!

Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says

British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands

Betty Audet forwards another lot of

ATROCIOUS PUNS

1. My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned. Couldn´t concentrate.

2. Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but just couldn´t hack it, so they gave me the axe.

3. After that, I tried being a tailor, but wasn´t suited for it - mainly because it was a sew-sew job.

4. Next, I tried working in a muffler factory, but that was too exhausting.

5. Then, I tried being a chef - figured it would add a little spice to my life, but just didn´t have the thyme.

6. Next, I attempted being a deli worker, but any way I sliced it, I couldn´t cut the mustard.

7. My best job was a musician, but eventually found I wasn´t noteworthy.

8. I studied a long time to become a doctor, but didn´t have any patience.

9. Next was a job in a shoe factory. I tried hard but just didn´t fit in.

10. I became a professional fisherman, but discovered I couldn´t live on my net income.

11. Managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was too draining.

12. So then I got a job in a workout centre, but they said I wasn´t fit for the job.

13. After many years of trying to find steady work, I finally got a job as an historian - until I realized there was no future in it.

14. My last job was working in Starbucks, but I had to quit because it was the same old grind.

15. So I tried retirement, and found I am perfect for the job!

Shirley Conlon forwards an update on an older story:

LIFE AS A SENIOR CITIZEN

Yesterday my daughter e-mailed me again, asking why I didn´t do something useful with my time.

"Like, me sitting around the pool and drinking wine is not a good thing?" I asked.

My "doing something useful" seems to be her favourite topic of conversation. She was "only thinking of me," she said, and suggested that I go down to the Senior Centre and join something.

I did this, and when I got home last night, I decided to play a prank on her.

I e-mailed her and told her that I had joined a parachute club.

She replied, "Mother, are you nuts? You are 78 years old, and now you´re going to start jumping out of airplanes?"

I told her that I even got a membership card and e-mailed a copy to her.

She immediately telephoned me and yelled, "Good grief, Mom, where are your glasses? This is a membership to a prostitute club, not a parachute club!"

I calmly replied, "Oh my, I think I´m in real trouble then, because I signed up for five jumps a week!"

The line went quiet and her friend picked up the phone and said that my daughter had fainted.

Life as a senior citizen is not getting any easier, but sometimes it can be real fun. Just because you´re young, doesn´t mean that you can outsmart an old woman.

Remember: Don´t make old people mad. We don´t like being old in the first place, so it doesn´t take much to tick us off.

SUGGESTED SITES

Barbara Wear sends the URL for a video showing a year´s worth of pictures of animals passing a tree in the woods:

Catherine Nesbitt forwards this link to take your mind off politics and other negative news - the towel dance:

Don Henderson shares this link for a video from the BBC which claims that the Canadian Constitution was signed in Britain:

Tom Telfer forwards this link to a video which explains that we have much more in common with other nationalities than one would think:

Tom also sends the URL for the Kremlin Ballet turning Moscow´s metro station into a ballet stage:

This popular video shows the love and relationships between humans and wild animals:

In thiis TED show, Richard Browning shows how he constructed a one-man jetpack that actually flies:

Here are 20 prize-winning photos taken with iPhones:

Clearly the woman in this Britain´s Got Talent show had a lot of patience to train her dogs for this skit: