11-15 Turle Soup - North Shore Stroke Recovery Centre

Volume 9, Issue 9
NORTH SHORE STROKE RECOVERY CENTRE
Editor: Hana Sykora
Photographer: Sue Chalmers
November 2015
Mysterious Journeys
Have you seen
recently birds
in the typical
“V-shape” formation flying
south? Where
do they go and why? This is the mystery of migration. How are they even able to navigate such
distances with the astonishing accuracy, without
using a map or GPS to guide them?
On Thursday, October 29, we celebrated Halloween.
Many animals move from one place to another
during the year for different reasons. Some animals, like the birds, move south to stay warm in
winter. These journeys are often thousands of
miles long. Year after year, they are able to find
their way back to the very same place.
we exercised,
Some animals migrate for
food, water and protection. Other animals set on
a journey to produce their
offspring. For example, the Emperor Penguins
migrate inland, away from the sea predators, to
hatch eggs and raise their young ones. Some turtles travel thousands of miles to lay eggs on the
very same beach where they were hatched
themselves. During spawning season, salmon
swim thousands of kilometers from the sea to
the rivers where they were born. Similarly, Monarch butterflies fly thousands of miles to the
very same tree where their ancestors settled
generations before. The longest journey recorded is the one of California Gray Whales. They can
travel up to fourteen thousand miles round trip
each year!
~ by Hana Sykora
We played games, we had visitors,
we carved fresh peeled apples and created faces,
(the apples will, in time,
shrink , making unique
pieces of art)
we completed the art class with meditation time,
we sang and we had fun. (more on page 3)
Sadie Hawkins Day : November 9
Does anyone remember Sadie Hawkins Day?
One very popular comic strip in the
40’s and 50’s was Al Capp’s “L’il Abner”. Abner Yokum was a hillbilly, a
tall, strapping not-too-bright young
man with big biceps, over- sized work
boots and too-short overalls with only one shoulder
strap done up. His mother, Pansy, known as
“Mammy Yokum”, was a small, feisty character, always seen with a corn cob pipe in her mouth, and
Pappy Yokum was even smaller and obviously horribly henpecked. Abner’s girlfriend, Daisy Mae – a
beautiful shapely blonde – always wore a very short
skirt and an off-the-shoulder, puffed-sleeved, lowcut blouse. Daisy Mae blouses became all the rage
and we young girls wore them with our cotton
dirndl skirts (or broomstick skirts as they were also
called. They were made of cotton and we were supposed to dry them on a broomstick instead of ironing them). Daisy Mae looked 100% better in her
blouse than we ever did in ours!
One of the characters in the comic strip was Sadie
Hawkins, a man-chasing beauty who never left the
men alone. Al Capp created Sadie Hawkins Day. In
the strip, from dawn to dusk on that day a girl could
chase a boy and if she caught him he had to marry
her.
In Dogpatch, Li’l Abner’s hometown, Sadie Hawkins
Day was celebrated on November 9th. The idea
caught on and pretty soon it became one of the big
events of the year. The girls made a big thing of
choosing a date, wining and dining him and duplicating the courting practices used by the male species at the time.
In Lundar we didn’t do much with it – why bother?
We girls paid our own way into dances, anyway, and
chasing a boy seemed pretty ridiculous to most of
us. Supposing we caught him? So, it wasn’t until I
moved to Winnipeg that I experienced Sadie Hawkins Day. I really had quite a time adjusting to the
dating customs of the “big city”. I learned a girl waited for a boy to ask her out or she went with the
girls. A boy always walked on the street side of a
Page 2
girl, (it was hard getting used to all the shifting about
when we turned a corner). A girl always waited for a
boy to open doors for her. A boy held a girl’s arm
and assisted her across the street and up the steps
of the bus or streetcar (very handy when we wore
our pencil-slim skirts with a regulation hem that was
14 inches from the ground). A girl never, ever
phoned a boy just to talk. And when out for a date
or just a walk to the local soda fountain, the boy always paid! When I got my first job and was still going out with students I tried to find ways where we
could share (somehow it was okay to go Dutch treat
when bowling, but it seemed to be a personal
affront when I offered to pay my own way in see a
movie, although sometimes I could lie and say the
tickets to concerts, etc., were given to me.
So Sadie Hawkins Day was a big thing. I also learned
it was fun. We girls did ourselves proud. We took
the boys out dancing and gave them corsages. At
first they were homemade affairs (the more ridiculous the better). Huge, ugly things with balloons and
ribbons that reached to the knees, with candy, gum,
whistles, noise makers, toy cars and tools, etc. Then
the florists caught on and the “bought” corsages
were made of huge ‘mums, stuffed animals, etc. We
played the part, picking the boys up at their homes,
paying for the streetcar and giving them a hand up,
walking on the outside of the sidewalk and offering
our arms when we crossed the street. At the Roseland Dance Gardens, one of our favourite spots, the
girls produced their mickeys of rye, (our older brothers were usually called into service to get these for
us as you had to be 21 to own a permit to buy liquor) then the bottles were hidden under the table as
liquor was prohibited in public places and all dances
were ladies choice. One of our favourite eating spots
was in Chinatown (Winnipeg’s Chinatown consisted
of a couple of good restaurants and a corner store).
From there the boys took over and escorted the girls
home, hoping we didn’t keep them up so late that
they missed the last bus home.
With the advent of Women’s Lib, Sadie Hawkins Day
went by the board, but it was fun while it lasted.
- by Shirley Gibson
Halloween and Dracula
Have you dressed-up for Halloween?
I suppose that you did not get any
candies! The kids would have been
so mad! To use a costume as Dracula
was so much fun. Did you know that
Dracula was likely a historic person?
.
Cartoon Dracula
suggested real Dracula
The real Dracula was the ruler of a Rumanian province around 1460 AD and had a war with Turkey.
In that war he became well known for his most
gruesome treatment of Turkish captives. His preferred method of execution was to impale (Dracul)
them on stakes which earned him the nickname
‘Dracula’. It is not known whether or not he was
made known by the famous writer of horror novels Bram Stoker in 1897 AD.
So you might have to forget
about the bats, the ‘neck-biting’
and the maidens, but it is Halloween after all. No fun for the
impaled Turkish captives but
lots of fun for our kids with all
the candies and chocolates.
- by W.Stephan
If you wish to write a story for our Turtle
Soup Newsletter please email your story in .doc
format and jpg photo to:
[email protected]
Page 3
We dressed up
for Halloween!
Thursday,
October 29
Announcements
Page 4
We are closed on Wednesday, November 11th for Remembrance Day.
Caregiver’s Group
When: Monday, November 30th
Where: St Stephen’s Anglican Church – 885 22nd St., West Vancouver. The group takes place at the same location
& day as our Monday Stroke Program.
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Christmas Lunch has been booked!
When: Thursday, December 17th 12:30 p.m. start
Where: Holiday Inn, 700 Old Lillooet Road, North Vancouver
Cost: TBA ; Please let one of the coordinators know if you need a HandyDart ride!
Last program day before Christmas is Wednesday, December 16 th.
Centre reopens Monday, January 4th in West Vancouver and
Tuesday, January 5th in North Vancouver.
~by Gail Snelling
Ralph Robert Williams. Sr., a.k.a., Jazzy , and Tsa7a-t, in his native language, has moved on. Sunrise: January
21, 1951 – Sunset: October 18, 2015. Ralph’s compassion, wisdom and love were matched with a tremendous
wit and sense of humour. Ralph was thrilled the Christmas when we sang “The Huron Carol” in the Mohawk
language and drummed. Both Ralph and his son drummed. He taught me a lot about the respect within his
culture, i.e. who can drum, who can use reindeer hooves... very gently, he passed on his truth, his culture.
At the stroke centre, which the family even named in Ralph’s pamphlet, ”Because he really like to attend”,
according to Ralph Jr., we will remember Ralph’s smile, his beautiful carvings, which he donated for our raffles
and his winning the raffles all of the time. . . because he bought a lot of tickets ! We did not know this but his
nephew, at his service shared a story that when Ralph was young, he ..well.. got kicked out of jail…. “I don’t know anyone other
than Ralph and his cousin, who actually got kicked out of jail.” Knowing Ralph’s humility and his humour, he would like us to
know that funny story of his spirited youth. Ralph’s beautifully painted coffin, referred to as his canoe, by the Shaker spiritual
leader, had a paddle on the side. He said that our love helped Ralph to canoe over to the other side. When I told Ralph Jr. that I
hoped that he would still come to our luncheons, he responded: ”Yes. I will come and win the raffle.” He inherited his Dad’s quick
wit!! Happy hunting, Ralph.
~by Jane Rundle
North Shore Stroke Recovery Centre
225 East 2nd Street, North Vancouver, B.C. V7L 1C4 Phone: 778-340-5803
Website: www.nssrc.org
Co-ordinators: Gail Snelling (Pr incipal Co-ordinator), Barb Brander, Jocelyn Rea
Days of Operation
Monday: 10:00 - 2:00 p.m. - St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, 885 - 22nd Street, West Vancouver
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday: 10:00 - 2:00 p.m.
North Shore Neighbourhood House, 225 East 2nd Street, North Vancouver V7L 1C4
YOUNG STROKE SURVIVORS - Wednesday: 10:30am – 12:30pm, North Shore Neighbourhood House, North Vancouver
EDITOR’S NOTE: 1. What is in the newsletter does not necessarily reflect the opinion of NSSRC Staff or Board. It is a newsletter written by/for stroke survivors and their families.
2. Grammatical errors are not corrected by the editor unless requested. Our newsletter is part of our recovery. Restoring confidence in self expression takes precedence over grammar.
Printing donated by Contact Printing
Layout production volunteer Daniel Sykora