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MAMALADE
Newsletter
October
13th October.
A mousy tale
28th October . Where's there's a will,
Speech Contest
31st October .Nothing like good music,
Things kids say
Friday, 13th October, 2000
A mousey
tale
Oscar
brought me mouse the other morning, just before daybreak. Ollie, my
other cat sprang into action and chased it into the bathroom.
“Perfect,” I
thought, closing the door on Ollie and the mouse. “The mouse can't
escape. Problem solved.”
Oscar howled
about the unfairness from outside the bathroom door. Experience has
taught me to not shut Oscar in a room. It gives him the screaming heeby
jeebies!
Thumping
& pouncing noises from the other side of the door indicated that
Ollie was getting on with the job, so I left her to it while I did a
load of washing.
All was
quiet, when I returned some time later. Gingerly, I opened the door and
Ollie calmly emerged. I stepped into the room.
Aaaugh!! A
very alive mouse raced across my bare foot! I grabbed a plastic
container and lay it on its side on the floor. The mouse soon ran into
it, looking for shelter. Voila! I slapped a lid on it and carried it
outside, apologising to the poor little mouse all the way.
“You poor
little thing,” I told it. “You shouldn't have had to go through all
that. Never mind, I'll take you outside and hit you on the head with a
brick so you won't have to suffer....”
The mouse
must have taken great comfort in that thought.
I took it
out onto the back and squatted down with a brick poised as I upended
the container.
The mouse
bolted. On no, it was going under the house!
But
wait....there was a sudden flash of grey and white. Was it a bird? Was
it a plane? No, it was Super Shadow, the neighbours cat! He leapt the
fence with a single bound and grabbed the mouse in his jaws.
“Good on you
Shadow!” I cheered. Then I remembered.... Shadow has a kidney complaint
and is on a special low protein diet. A mouse meal might be fatal.
I chased
after Shadow, trying to take the mouse from him. Up and down the
driveway we raced, until he dropped the mouse and it ran through the
fence, into my neighbours yard. Shadow jumped the fence and flattened a
row of Hippeastrum lillies as he played hide and seek with the mouse.
It finally
escaped by running through the palings under my neighbour's house.
He is a
mighty mouse. After all that, he really deserves to live. Do you think
I should tell my neighbours they now have a mouse?
Saturday
28th October, 2000
Where
there's a will there's a way.
Some people
will do anything to get to a Toastmasters meeting. One night recently,
when we turned up, we found that the City Council had dug up the road
for new water pipes and had blocked off the entrance to our hall. Some
of our members climbed over the fence to get in. Others crawled under
the barricade. A few of us drove around the block and found the partly
obscured entrance to a steep rocky track that led to the back of the
building.
Everyone
arrived looking rather breathless and slightly disheveled in their
finery. We had all decided to dress up a bit that night, because we
were having a special farewell for a beloved long term member who was
leaving the area.
It was a
wonderful evening. We gave our friend a great send off with a Roast,
and a “This is Your Life” segment, and presented her with a bouquet of
roses and a book of memories we had compiled.
A few of us
took photos, but it wasn't until the next day, that I realised we
photographers had missed the real action. We should have been out on
the road snapping pictures of people climbing over the fence and
crawling under the barricade! Now that would have looked good in the
local paper – 'specially if we'd got one of the lady who straddled the
fence in her long evening gown and tiara!
Speech
Contest
Last week I
attended our Toastmasters Area Conference and competed in the Humorous
Speech contest. The standard of all the speeches was very high this
year. I really thought they were all better than mine, so I was
surprised to come third. Now, third is a very comfortable position. It
means it wasn't the worst speech after all, and it also means I won't
have the stress of competing at the Division Conference. I'm happy with
that.
You can read
my speech if you like. “When You are
Three.” It's mostly about Joel.
He hasn't seen it yet!
Tuesday
31st October, 2000
Nothing
like good music
Our World
Vision Club had a street stall last week. I thought it was a bit slow,
but then, I was down the end with the plants, and not many people want
plants now, with the water restrictions. Over all we did very well.
The morning
brightened when the an elderly trio of buskers arrived. They have
improved a lot since I first heard
them play in the street, but the wild flourishes of the trombonist
are still sufficiently off key to make it a most enjoyable comedy
performance. They would frequently stop in the middle of a song to
exchange a bit of repartee with their audience, and whenever someone
tossed them a coin, they rang a huge cowbell. They were so jolly. Most
of the people passing by had a huge smile on their face, and some
stopped to sing along. “There's nothing like good music,” remarked the
guitarist.
Their enjoyment was
contagious. By the end of the morning I could no longer resist. I
searched through the glove box of my car and found an old comb and some
paper, just in time to join them in their final performance. Yes, I
actually stood on a busy street and played “Knees up Mother Brown” on a
comb and paper!
The old man was right.
There's nothing like good music. And this was nothing like it, but it
was fun!
The things kids say
I do enjoy my grandchildren.
Miles is 8 and Hayley is 4. I never know what they will say next. Here
are a few recent gems....
We had chicken and
vegetables for dinner. Hayley enjoyed her meal.
“You cook good vegetables,
Meemar,” she said. Then she tried the chicken. “You cook good chicken,
Meemar,” she said.
I told her I had bought it
already cooked from the shop.
“You really do shop well,
Meemar,” she said.
Miles said, “ I'd like to be
wealthy when I grow up.”
“Some rich people are not
very happy,” I said. “Do you know who the happiest people are? The ones
who are content with what they have.”
“Well, I'm pretty content,”
he said. “I have my own library card!”
We were looking at some old
photos.
“How did Ben get so tall?”
asked Miles. “He's bigger than something I saw at the Ekka!”
“Did you go to Day Care today?” I asked Hayley.
“It's Kindy!” She informed
me. “I'm four now.”
“Oh yes,” I said. “You're
growing up.”
“Yes,” she said. “It won't
be long before I die!”
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Have you
visited the Hunger Site today? You can donate food to the hungry
and it cost's you nothing!
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