Monthly Archives: July 2016

The Book Of Thank You ~ Post Six: Thank You Wicked Witch Of The West

30 Saturday Jul 2016

Posted by in Books, Education, Entertainment, Uncategorized

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The first time that I ever felt real fear in my life was when I was four years old. I was watching the movie THE WIZARD OF OZ based on the book by L. Frank Baum. Everything was good until the part of the movie when the Wicked Witch of the West started throwing fireballs at everybody.

First lesson learned from the Wicked Witch of the West:

Don’t play with fire.

I ran into my parents bedroom and stayed there until I knew all was well again in the land of Oz, which was only about five minutes or so.

Second lesson learned from the Wicked Witch of the West:

Fear is only temporary.

Then there was the scene where the Witch has Dorothy locked in her castle. The Witch then shows Dorothy an hourglass and threatens her by saying that when all the sand has run dry, her life will be over.

Third lesson learned from the Wicked Witch of the West:

Time is precious.

Now fast forward to the scene in the movie where Dorothy has just thrown water onto the Witch and she is dissipating into nothingness leaving only her pointy black hat and clothes.

Fourth lesson learned from the Wicked Witch of the West:

If you treat people badly, you will suffer the consequences.

When I learned that Gregory Maguire had written the book WICKED, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST, I immediately purchased a copy.

As I read the forward, the author wrote that he wanted the book to be a study on the nature of good and evil. He invited us to ask ourselves as we read the book: By what criteria do we distinguish a good person from a bad one?

Then I went on to read all about the Wicked Witch of the West’s life and realized that I had badly misjudged her.

What had been perceived as an evil hag was in truth a very misunderstood soul.

Now, whenever I watch the movie WIZARD OF OZ it’s a totally different experience.

Fifth lesson learned from the Wicked Witch of the West:

Be careful when judging people without knowing all the facts.

Thank you Wicked Witch of the West for all the lessons. In return, you can count on me to always come to your defence.

I’ve got your back, my pretty…

 

 

❤

The Book Of Thank You ~ Post Five: Thank You Uncle Martin

28 Thursday Jul 2016

Posted by in Childhood, Television, Thanks, Uncategorized

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A long time ago on a planet far, far away, there came from the planet Mars…

…a Martian.

One day this Martian was flying in his spaceship just above our Earth when things started to go wrong. The next thing he knew was that he had crashed his spaceship into our planet.

Coming quickly to the martian’s aid was a very nice man called Tim O’Hara who worked in a newspaper office.

They become friends.

Before long Tim O’Hara invited Uncle Martin to come and stay with him until he could repair his spaceship which had taken up residence in Tim’s garage.

It was then up to Tim then to come up with a cover story. He told his neighbours and friends that his Uncle Martin had come to stay with him.

That, my dear readers sums up the first episode of what was my first favourite television show which came out in 1963.

This show was called MY FAVOURITE MARTIAN.

I was only six years old.

By way of television, he was one of my after school babysitters at 4:30 every day until my parents arrived home from work.

Uncle Martin had a friendly demeanour, a kind face and a wonderful smile. When he wanted, he could even make antennae rise up from the top of his head which allowed him to become invisible.

Uncle Martin got Tim into all sorts of trouble with his neighbours, his boss and his girlfriends.

Sadly however, Uncle Martin never seemed to be able to fix his ship or get back to Mars.

Eventually, the series ended, and I doubted I would ever see Uncle Martin again.

Then sometime during the 1980’s a new television series AMAZING STORIES by Steven Spielberg premiered on television.

How quickly I rediscovered my six year old glee when I glimpsed him during the opening credits.

Not long after that he became an infrequent visitor on STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION and STAR TREK VOYAGER series. He played BOOTHBY, a kind and wizened groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco.

When DVDs where at their height of popularity, I was finally able to purchase the first season of MY FAVOURITE MARTIAN. I was a little nervous when I first sat down to watch it as I wondered if I would find it old, cheesy and filled with dated humour.

My worry quickly turned to wonder as I once again fell under my old Uncle Martin’s spell. The show was as fresh and funny as I had remembered it.

In reality, Uncle Martin was played by Ray Walston who had a long string of successful roles in both television and movies. Tim O’Hara was played by Bill Bixby who later went on to star in the television series THE INCREDIBLE HULK.

In 1999 MY FAVOURITE MARTIAN, the movie was released starring Jeff Daniels as Tim O’Hara and Christopher Lloyd as the Martian.

Perhaps you’ve seen it.

My own Uncle Martin even made a cameo appearance as he revived his role at the end of the movie. I’m sure that I levitated out of my movie theatre seat.

Although the actor Ray Walston passed away January 2001 from lupus, my fond memories of Uncle Martin will be with me always.

For that, I am grateful.

Thank you my dear Uncle Martin.

 

 

 

❤

The Book Of Thank You ~ Post Four: Thank You Mr. Driving Instructor

23 Saturday Jul 2016

Posted by in Automobiles, Communication, driving, Uncategorized

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When my husband and I were first married in 1977, our first car was a Pontiac Astra.

This car had a standard transmission.

From time to time my husband Frank, would try to teach me the fundamentals of how to drive a standard vehicle. For whatever reason, I could never get the car to go forwards. I could only make it go backwards.

All these years later, that still mystifies me.

Shortly after I started working at the post office in 1988, it became apparent that a second family car would be needed. My husband had set his sights on purchasing an economic vehicle which came with a standard transmission.

I needed to immediately learn how to drive this vehicle.

It was decided that the best course of action was to get some professional help and hire a driving instructor to teach me how to drive a car with a standard transmission.

I, of course had my doubts. It was now over ten years that I had been trying to understand how to get the car to roll forward while in first gear. The problem was that I could not understand how one instinctively knew when it was appropriate to step on the gas while easing up on the clutch.

It just didn’t make sense to me.

Enter Mr. Driving Instructor who in the end was successful in getting me moving from a full stop while in first gear. Even better, I was able to go from first gear into second.

Through his skillful tutelage I finally saw the proverbial light.

How did he do it?

Easy.

All he had to say were two words.

Those two words were:

“Friction point.”

It was in that moment when I first heard those two words that I fully understood the importance of clear and concise language.

Thirty minutes later, after driving a few laps around some local city blocks I exited the driving instructor’s car and thanked him.

In the next several days, after arriving home from my night shift at 4:00 a.m. I would practise my new skills by circling the pre-dawn city streets over and over until I could change gears without even thinking about it.

That was 28 years ago.

That was my first lesson on the importance of well chosen words. Those two words superseded the thousands and thousands of words I had to listen to over the past ten years until I finally and clearly could understand how to drive a standard transmission.

Ever since then, whenever I am trying to explain something to someone as a mother, union representative, health and safety advocate, or friend, I am always confident that my listener will be able to understand anything that I am trying to convey, as long as I choose the right words.

The fewer words the better.

Now twenty-eight years later, if it were possible, there are two words of my own that I would like to say to to my well spoken driving instructor.

Those two words would be:

“Thank you.”

 

❤

The Book Of Thank You ~ Post Three: Thank You Mrs. Carter

20 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by in Britain, Children, Reading, Uncategorized

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The year was 1971.

Mrs. Carter was my 7th grade home room school teacher.

She was grandmotherly both in nature and appearance and was always neatly dressed in a sweater and skirt. She wore gold rimmed glasses and spoke with a British accent.

Mrs. Carter introduced me the concept that reading could be fun. She was also the first person that I can remember who ever read to me.

Looking back, it’s been hard to for me to remember the first book that she read to us. If I had to make a guess, I’d say the book was THE MOUSE THAT ROARED.

It was read to us in small doses as class time permitted. Sometimes we got to listen to her read for five minutes. Sometimes we got a full half hour.

We all enjoyed listening to her lovely British cadence. I was struck by the confident manner she showed to us as she read. She seemed to actually enjoy reading aloud in front of others.

I wondered if I would ever be able to read a story to someone else.

My first introductions to reading aloud in front of others was in school and always tinged in awkwardness and embarrassment, I’m sure we all remember that uncomfortable feeling.

When I was six years old, my Father would make me read him a story from my German book of Grimm fairy tales. Then, the purpose of reading was all about practising my German and had little to do with sharing joy.

The first books that I remember reading in their entirety on my own were the TRIXIE BELDEN mystery series when I was nine years old. After that I read CHERRY AMES, STUDENT NURSE and then the NANCY DREW mysteries. I was twelve years old by the time I finished them.

As my children were growing up I tried to make it a point to read to my daughters from time to time. I read them the CHRONICALS OF NARNIA and the HARRY POTTER series. My impression of Hagrid was very well received.

Then there was the time that I was reading a particularly touching Christmas novel THE TIMEPIECE by Richard Paul Evans to my youngest daughter. While I was overcome with teary emotion, my daughter handed me one tissue after another as I wept inconsolably while reading the final chapter.

Good times.

Indeed, the joy of sharing a book with someone else can be a very good thing.

Thank you Mrs. Carter.

 

❤

The Book Of Thank You ~ Post Two: Thank You Miss Jane

19 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by in American Civil War, Artists, Arts, Barbies, Civil War, internet, iphone, podcast, Uncategorized

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There are hundreds of podcast covering lots of different subjects such as music, religion, history, etiquette, television, entertainment, etc. etc.

By the way, a podcast is a radio show of shorts, except it is not delivered via a radio signal but rather downloaded from the internet onto your smartphone.

It’s always a good night when I can listen to a podcast and be introduced to new subject matter that I may not have heard of otherwise.

About two weeks ago I started listening to THE MINIMALISTS podcast.

If you’ve never heard of them, the minimalists advocate downsizing possessions in search of a more meaningful life.

I was immediately eager to find out how I could downsize as I am finding it hard to get rid of things that I have been accumulating for decades.

For whatever reasons, I have never given much thought as to what I would eventually do with all the stuff I had been accumulating. In my ignorance I just kept collecting more and more stuff. More books, more mugs, more records, more wool, more knitting needles.

More rubber ducks.

No word of a lie.

Case in point:

Now, I work with the lovely lady who I call Miss Jane.

She is very smart and an excellent conversationalist. We talk about history, religion, art, steampunk jewelry. Her necklaces have always fascinated me. They’re more like totems which usually have a cultural or religious significance.

From early on in our friendship one of the many things that I adored about Miss Jane is that she is as adept at discussing one of my favourite subjects, civil war history, as she is drawing portraits or designing fabrics.

Four years ago, she presented me with a small plastic shopping bag.

I peeked and looked inside.

To my surprise, I pulled out a General Stonewall Jackson Doll in it’s original packaging as if it had never been opened. General Stonewall Jackson was a confederate General during the American civil war.

She told me that it had been given to her as a gift.

The doll looked like it has the same measurements and attributes as a Ken doll, like in Barbie and Ken.

Miss Jane told me she was in the process of decluttering her home.

In all the years that she’s owned the doll, she never found any use for it.

Of course, I thought to myself.

Who would?

She offered it to me as a gift and asked if I would take it off of her hands.

I said yes and then thanked her for her kindness.

A few minutes later, as I watched her walk away, a question came to mind.

That question was…

“What am I going to do with a Stonewall Jackson Barbie doll?”

It was at that moment that I knew it was time to start thinking about downsizing my collections, or at least to stop collecting stuff.

That is why I would like to thank dear Miss Jane.

Without your kind gift, I may have never had that long overdue epiphany.

For that I am grateful…

And by the way…

If anyone is interested in acquiring a General Stonewall Jackson doll,

…please let me know.

 

 

❤

The Book Of Thank You ~ Post One

17 Sunday Jul 2016

Posted by in Barbies, StoryTelling, Thanks, Uncategorized

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Three days ago while in the car with my husband, we pulled up to a local corner store. As he got out of the car I asked him to pick me up a package of postage stamps.

“I’ve been meaning to write out a few thank you notes,” I told him as he got out of the car.

Being the good husband that he is, a few moments later he was handing me a ten-pack of postage stamps.

Now three days later, the stamps are still laying unused on my coffee table.

As I was getting ready for work tonight I stared at those stamps and thought about the thank you notes I never wrote. Then my thoughts went to all the unwritten thank you notes that I’ve gathered in my life.

I have no doubt that I will eventually get some of those thank you notes written.

But unfortunately they never get written soon enough…

Or often enough…

There is a quote by John Burroughs that I like to repeat to myself from time to time.

It goes:

The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.

I’m currently compiling some long overdue thank you notes to family and friends.

As you will see in the days and weeks ahead…

I have a great deal to be thankful for.