Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2018-02

---

IN THIS ISSUE

• David McLaughlan describes a simple gift in HeroicStories
• Carol Dilworth writes about her poem for Canada 150
• Rafiki describes this winter in Ontario
• Jean Sterling remembers the time it snowed in Florida
• Barbara Wear writes about Christmas in Massachusetts
• Tom Telfer reminisces about Wayne Gretzky
• Jackie Stevens forwards an article about charity´s effectiveness
• Shirley Conlon sends a story about a hypnotist at a seniors´ home
• Sites are suggested by Irene Harvalias and Tom Telfer

David McLaughlan of Ayrshire, Scotland, writes about

THE BRICK BABY

Sorn is a pretty little Scottish village. Nothing more than a few rows of cottages and a post office, nestled in a restful valley. That´s where I met Jimmy and Morag Wilson. The Wilson were shepherds from a long line of shepherds, and we fell to talking about a way of life that has almost disappeared from memory.

Reminiscing, Morag recalled her home, a single-roomed "bothy" in the middle of nowhere with flag-stone floors and a thatched roof. Back then her father was paid the equivalent of a pound a week, or $100 a year, plus a sheep! So luxuries were scarce.

"How did you celebrate Christmas, out there in the hills?" I asked. "With prayers and hymns," Morag replied, and the sweetness of her smile brought a lump to my throat. "It wasn´t much about gifts," she continued.

"We might be given a sugar mouse and a piece of fruit. But oh, one year I got hold of a catalogue. There was a baby dolly in there I wanted so badly. I was only six, after all. Well, of course Father and Mother had no money for such things. So Father made a pram from an apple box and some wheels and mother wrapped a brick in a baby blanket."

Morag´s gaze seemed to leave the here and now as she thought back across the years.

"Oh, I loved my Brick Baby so much and I was as proud as can be, pushing it along in my new pram."

Well, that story stayed with me. How could it not? I wrote it up and sent it in to a Scottish newspaper. Not knowing if it would be ?published, I neglected to tell the Wilson s about it.

It published in May 2005, but I missed it. The first I knew was when Morag phoned me the next day. It seemed Jimmy had been taken into hospital. It wasn´t a serious problem but meant an overnight stay. Morag was at a loss. She was worried for her husband and couldn´t remember the last night she had spent without him by her side.

Before going to bed that night she sat beside her coal fire with the paper, hoping it would distract her from the lonely ache she felt. She was surprised to find the story of her long-ago Christmas in print, but as she read, the tale of her Brick Baby brought back the security and love of her childhood days. Her worries were replaced for a while by warmer, happier thoughts.

She slept soundly that night. I doubt if Morag´s mother and father could have ever imagined that their homemade gifts would bring comfort to their little girl in her old age, so long after they were gone.

I´m happy to report that Jimmy is back home and Morag is happily fussing over him. And I´m left thinking about the power of a kind, loving act and its ability to warm a heart more than eight decades later.

E-mail subscriptions to HeroicStories are free. Sign up here: http://www.HeroicStories.org.

CORRESPONDENCE

Carol Dilworth writes about

POEMS FOR CANADA´S 150TH ANNIVERSARY

My Canada 150 poem is being published in "FreeFall," the first issue of 2018. The issue is being launched in Calgary at the end of January and is scheduled to be in bookstores in February. "FreeFall" costs $12.95 + tax. (I don´t receive anything from this promotion.)

The top five entries are appearing in print (mine was fourth). I´ve read the tenth place poem but none of the others, so I´m really anxious to see this issue. At some point, the top ten entries are supposed to be available online.

I´m going to ask The Bookshelf if they will order in some extra copies.

I hope you like the issue.

ED. NOTE: Congratulations on being among the top five winners, Carol! If these poems are published online, will you allow me to publish a copy of your poem in The Spinner? I know we are all hoping to read it.

Rafiki forwarded a photo of a door opened onto 50-70 cm. of snow. She writes about

ONTARIO IN WINTER

I don´t live in Grand Bend - I took that picture from a weather network that I follow. A girlfriend of mine knows the person who took the actual picture.

We live in Listowel, which is close to where Betty Audet lives. So far, we don´t have that much snow this year, but we have had unusual low temperatures this winter. Minus 30 Celsius at night, with the wind chill.

When areas like Grand Bend get that much snow, people hibernate! Roads are generally closed; schools are closed. Most people have snowblowers to keep their driveways clean, or they can hire a tractor and blower to come in for snow removal.

We´ve had winters with lots of snow. We live in the snow belt area! When I was growing up in the country, people would just stay in, keep off the roads, and pray the hydro stayed on! At one time, people in the country had wood stoves to keep themselves warm.

Some people have generators if the power goes off. Others don´t, and they have to bundle up or crawl into bed to keep warm. If the hydro is off for awhile, they set up warming centres in towns that people can go to. But if the streets aren´t plowed, people can´t get out. Warming centres in town don´t help the people in the country.

Generally, people know when there is a storm system coming in so everybody stocks up on groceries. People in the country have snowmobiles to get around, but the snowmobile trails have to be open.

Presently, it is snowing. My husband is out with the snowblower cleaning out the driveway. Roads are closed from Wingham to Listowel today. There will be a baracade set up to stop vehicles from going on the road. If people go around the baracade, they will be fined.

When you live in a snow belt area you just get used to the winters! Smart people (I haven´t got smart yet) run away to a warmer country.

Since Christmas, the temperatures have been so low that I´ve hibernated like a bear - but a busy bear! Winter is my time to do spring cleaning. Then when spring arrives, I can enjoy the good weather!

Jean Sterling has a far different view of winter:

SNOW IN FLORIDA

Yes, it does snow in Florida. Our big snow was in 1977 when it actually snowed as far south as Fort Lauderdale, which is not far from Miami. My kids got really excited as they had never seen snow.

On the 35th anniversary of the big snow, the Fort Lauderdale newspaper asked people to share their memories of this event. One person wrote that she remembered being in chemistry class doing a test. Somebody saw the snow and loudly announced, "IT´S SNOWING!" and the whole class jumped up and ran outside to see it. A lady remembered seeing it and telling her husband that it was snowing, and he said no way - that it was probably ash from the sugar plant.

The snow didn´t stick, and the kids didn´t get to build a snowman. But it sure did come down (for maybe 10 minutes) and generated a lot of excitement.

This is the third letter I have received about

WINTER ON THE EASTERN SIDE OF NORTH AMERICA

The first was from Rafiki in Ontario, the second from Jean Sterling in Florida, and this is from Barbara Wear in Massachusetts:

"The snow is snowing, the wind is blowing…." That is what the Wear family in Beverly, Mass., woke up to on Christmas morning 2017. It was hard to believe that just two years before we had sat on our deck to eat our dinner and the temperature was 70 degrees. Now we were facing cold, snowy weather and the temperatures had dipped to numbers in the teens overnight.

We are fortunate to have a fireplace in our living room and the fire raged as we sat and opened up our gifts. Everyone slept in late this year so it was close to 10 a.m. when the crinkle of paper sounded as wrappings were ripped open.

The snow was swirling around outside and traffic was light that morning. I was glad I had stayed up and watched Midnight Mass from the Vatican in Rome as I knew there was no way I was going to venture out on those streets to go to church.

My son Shawn has a landscape business, but in the winter he sands and plows, and already the phone was ringing from customers asking if he was going to plow on Christmas. His answer was that he would be out as soon as it stopped snowing - and guess what - at around 11 a.m. the snow suddenly stopped, and believe it or not, the sun came out for a short time. The streets were covered with snow as no plows had been out yet, and Shawn decided it was time to bundle up and go out and plow.

Gift giving this year was geared more towards the two teenage girls in our home. They now are at the age when clothes and shoes are what they want, and they were pleased with what Santa brought them.

Gift cards are what I enjoy receiving and I got a few, and they will be used long after the snow stops flying. It is always nice to find one tucked away in my wallet when I feel like taking someone to lunch or to go shopping for something extra special for myself.

Dinner was ham, scalloped potatoes and green beans with hot buttered rolls and choice of cake or pumpkin pie for dessert. A nice cup of steaming coffee topped off the meal.

It was a great day all in all, and as the day progressed, people started to venture out and soon another Christmas Day came to an end. I had been "Dreaming of a White Christmas," and this year I certainly got my wish.

Tom Telfer writes about

WAYNE GRETZKY, #99

Unless you have lived in a cave, you have seen that name a zillion times. There are enough stories about Wayne to fill a ton of books.

Let me share some of my experiences here.

I took a group of students on the train to the Maple Leaf Gardens to watch Wayne play against the Toronto Maple Leafs. During the day, over 500 fans from Brantford, Wayne´s home town, arrived on different trains. After the game, everybody headed home on the same train. With an extremely cold night, extra cars had to be heated and then hooked up. As a result, we arrived back in London, Ontario, at 5:00 a.m.

My second story comes from Wayne´s father, Walter, speaking at a Rotary meeting. One day, a van approached their home in Brantford, slowed down, and then drove away. It soon returned and two girls, aged eleven, jumped out, ran up near the house and quickly tore up some grass and fled back the van. Now they possessed grass that Wayne had actually walked on! Years later, Walter was at a book-signing and the mother of the two girls introduced herself. Walter asked for the girls´ addresses and mailed them some more grass.

Jackie Stevens forwards this interesting information:

WHERE DOES CHARITY MONEY GO?

The Terry Fox organization contributes $0.83 for every dollar raised to cancer research.

The Canadian Cancer Society: $0.22 for every dollar raised.

Admin. costs for the Terry Fox Run are low because most of the admin costs are paid by its many volunteers. Only $0.17 is used for run promotion and supplies. Every person organizing and managing absorbs all expenses other than the run donor sheets and some signage.

Do you know that the CEO of Shriners, the Imperial Potentate, makes $0.00 per year? How about that for a salary? There are 22 hospitals helping kids in Canada, the USA, and in Mexico. His salary is matched by the Provincial Potentate´s income, which is also $0.00 per year.

So the next time you see a Shriner in a mall, selling whatever, give generously.

Same for the Lions Clubs -100 per cent of money raised for charity goes to charity. Even Lions´ dinner meetings are paid for out of their own pockets.

?As you open your pockets for yet another natural disaster, keep the following information in mind.

We have listed the charities from the highest (worst-paid offender to the lowest (least paid offender).

The worst offender, for the 11th year in a row is UNICEF, whose CEO receives $1,200,000 per year, plus a Rolls Royce for his exclusive use wherever he goes, and an expense account that is rumoured to be well over $150,000. Only pennies from the donations go to the UNICEF cause (less than $0.14 per dollar of income).

The second-worst offender this year is Marsha J. Evans, President and CEO of the American Red Cross. Her salary for the year ending in 2009 was $651,957 plus expenses. She enjoys six weeks´ fully-paid holidays, including all related expenses during the holiday trip for her and her husband and kids, and 100% fully-paid health and dental plan for her and her family - for life! This means that out of every dollar they bring in, about $0.39 goes to charity causes.

The third-worst offender, again for the 7th time, was Brian Gallagher, President of the United Way. He receives a $375,000 base salary (US funds), plus so many expense benefits it´s hard to keep track as to what it is all worth, including a fully-paid lifetime membership at two golf courses (one in Canada, one in the USA), two luxury vehicles, a yacht club membership, three major company gold credit cards for his personal expenses, and so on. This equates to about $0.51 per dollar of income going to charity causes.

Fourth-worst offender, in the fourth spot for every year since this information has been made available since 1998, is amazingly yet again, World Vision. Its president (Canada) receives $300,000 base salary, plus a home valued in the $700,000 - $800,000 range (completely furnished, all housing expenses, including taxes, water/sewer, telephone/fax, HD/high speed cable, weekly maid service and pool/yard maintenance), fully-paid private schooling for his children, upscale automobile, and a $55,000 personal expense account for clothing/food, plus a $125,000 business expense account.

And get this: because it is a "religious based" charity, World Vision pays little or no taxes, can receive government assistance, and does not have to declare where the money goes. Only about $0.52 of earned income per dollar is available for charity causes.

Of the some sixty-odd charities we looked at, the lowest-paid president/CEO/commissioner was heading up a charity group in Canada. We found, believe it or not, that it was the Salvation Army´s Commissioner Todd Bassett, who receives a salary of only $13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar organization. Which means about $0.93 per dollar earned is readily available and goes back out to local charity causes. Truly amazing … and well done, "Sally Ann" and the "Shriners" Lions!

So think twice before selecting the charity of your choice.

ED. NOTE: I do not doubt these figures, but I would like to know where they came from. Only one year is mentioned, 2009, and they may have changed since then. If you have more current figures of percentages available for charities, I would be very interested in receiving it.

Shirley Conlon forwards this story of

A HYPNOTIST AT A SENIORS´ HOME

It was entertainment night at the Senior Citizens´ Centre.

After the community sing-along led by Alice at the piano, it was time for the star of the show … Claude the Hypnotist!

Claude explained that he was going to put the whole audience into a trance. "Yes, each and every one of you and all at the same time," said Claude.

The excited chatter dropped to silence as Claude carefully withdrew from his waistcoat pocket a beautiful antique gold pocket watch and chain. "I want you to keep your eyes on this watch," said Claude, holding the watch high for all to see. "It´s a very special and valuable watch that has been in my family for six generations."

He began to swing the watch gently back and forth while quietly chanting, "Watch the watch … watch the watch … watch the watch." The audience became mesmerized as the watch swayed back and forth. The lights were twinkling as they were reflected from its gleaming surfaces.

A hundred and fifty pairs of eyes followed the movements of the gently swaying watch. They were all hypnotized.

And then, suddenly, the chain broke! The beautiful watch fell to the stage and burst apart on impact.

"SHIT!" shouted Claude.

It took them three days to completely clean up the Senior Citizens´ Centre and Claude was never invited back again.

SUGGESTED WEBSITES

Irene Harvalias sends this link to a video of two wingsuit flyers jumping into a plane in mid-air:

Tom Telfer forwards the URL for a video of an Australian Shepherd who loves the snow so much that she does her own sledding - even pulling her own sled to the top of the hill:

In this TED talk, Dr. Lara Boyd of UBC describes how neuroplasticity gives you the power to shape the brain you want:

From Sydney, Vancouver Island, comes this story of a red-tailed hawk that was raised in an eagles´ nest:

This article claims that smart phones makes one stupid, antisocial, and unhealthy. Check it out:

From Not All News Is Bad comes this story of a school planning a Breakfast with Dads asked for 50 volunteers to stand in for absent fathers. Nearly 600 showed up:

You´ll appreciate farmers´ markets and community gardens all the more after you see this humourous look at the realities of modern supermarkets: