Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Table at the Mall where Miracles Happen


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The Table at the Mall where Miracles Happen
“Does it really pay you to sit at this Table all day?” asked my friend who stopped to talk to me yesterday.

Each week on Wednesday I set up my Table in the Peterborough Square in front of the Crop Circles Store – (lower level). I am there between 10 AM and 4 PM working with Crop Circles.

On my Table I have my wood carving, my lace making and whatever seasonal item that I am featuring at the time. Yesterday my new feature was my newly Carved Golf Balls. Each item on the Table has a  story behind it and each item is for sale or can be specially ordered by my potential client.

Now why would I expect anyone to purchase a Carved Golf Ball?  Not everyone Golfs, do they? Nope. But at times there are dozens of people that know someone that Golfs – and they buy these crazy critters that I have created.  They are great gifts for daughters to buy for their dad or mom.  They are also purchased by fellow golf buddies for their friend they golf with each week.  At $4 these are an ideal gift that brings smiles to someone’s face.

One the Table are also the Carved Feathers and Carved Leaves – which both are the higher end of my carving at the present time. These carvings are paper thin… and sell for about $150 each – at the larger size and down to $20 for the smaller size that are made for necklaces.

Besides the high end carving are the Celtic Love Spoons which range in price from around $45 each up to $150.  The love spoons are purchased by people going to a wedding or an anniversary. After carving the item I then burn the memorable dates into the spoon with the names of the couple on it.

Good question - “Does it really pay you to sit at this Table all day?”
Yesterday I didn’t sell a lot of things but I met a whack of people.  And on top of the new people that I met, repeat people returned to speak with me.  Then on top of the repeat customers were the every Wednesday People that always stop by to speak with me – catching me up on their lives and what is happening each week.

The Wednesday People are perhaps the most important at any given moment. They have few friends and likely the loneliest people I have ever met. 

One lady only has a cat and the cat can’t speak… but every week she tells me what the cat has done in the past week.  This lady is very heavy, uses a walker and struggles to walk. Yesterday when she stopped to speak with me she was very upset. She had been sitting on a bench and while there she was munching on a small chocolate bar.

A man stopped in front of her and told her that she shouldn’t be eating a chocolate bar because she was so fat. She had tears in her eyes as she described what had just happened. I simply listened.

It was a good day yesterday at the Table.  I have two more weddings to conduct after meeting brides that just needed to talk with someone.  They stopped to look at one of the things on my Table and then we began to talk.  They had been wondering around the mall on time off from their jobs in a building nearby… and simply wanted to talk.

A third potential bride and potential wedding ceremony for me stated with a giggle, “You should me a Wedding Planner!”  We had spoken about her plans that were indefinite as of yet. She and her boyfriend had two kids now and wanted to get married but couldn’t find a place that was just right. There were internal family struggles as to what they should or shouldn’t be doing.

Soooo… with my thirty five years of experience in doing weddings I shared with her all the different kinds of possible weddings that I have attended. I told her of the great places in our area where weddings can be conducted.

I truly think she was my happiest “customer” yesterday.  She took a woodcarving pamphlet and promised she would call

Lots happens at the Table.  And after yesterday’s whole day at the Table I may well have booked $600 in wedding ceremonies, a few $100 more in Golf Balls and woodcarvings.

Does it pay to sit from 10 AM to 4 PM each Wednesday?  Yep in ways that I cannot imagine. It is a Table of miracles where I meet the world… well maybe not the whole world but only about 100 a day.

I can’t stop thinking of the lady with her walker and the stories of her cat. The tears in her eyes were real… and she just needed someone to listen.  That story alone was worth $1,000,000 alone.

“Does it really pay you to sit at this Table all day?” Yes it does… yes it does.

~ Murray Lincoln ~

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

A Prize Pattern and Example for Creating a Bully


This BLOG is sponsored by Misty Hollow Carving. You are welcome to visit Misty Hollow and see all of my carvings.

My Web Site is a like a Gallery – please drop in for a stroll through.

To help me promote my Web Site please copy this URL address and email to someone today http://www.murraylincoln.com/  

A Prize Pattern and Example for Creating a Bully
As the Principal of the public school walked into the class of Grade 8 students a hush fell over the room.  The teacher had told the students that the Principal wanted to talk to them personally… not the whole school.

Graduation exercises were coming up soon and there was the normal amount of nervous tension about all that was about to happen.

But the Principal’s announcement wasn’t just about the actually graduation.  Her announcement was about “Jane”, a former student at the “Park School”.

“Jane will not be allowed to attend our Graduation exercises nor will she be allowed at the school dance that follows.  It has been found out that Jane has been bullying many of you and that is not going to be tolerated in any way. We value our students and care for them at Park School.” explained the Principal. (“Jane” and “Park School” are real places with different names in this story.  And this really took place in that past few weeks.)

The Principal went on to explain to the students in the Grade 8 Class that the bullying that Jane has been carrying on is now in the hands of the police who have obtained all the information that they need to deal with this problem.  All of Jane’s Text Messages and information that demonstrated her Bullying Tactics have been collected and the police will be dealing with her.

When I heard the extent that this problem was being dealt with at Park School I was taken back.  This is way more extensive than I imagined.  Jane had been dealing blow after blow to the students in her former class by using a variety of means to control the kids in her class… and especially hurt them emotionally.

How could she get away with this kind of horrific interaction as a mere Grade 8 student – who once attended Park School?  More important – WHY!!???

As you have read Jane is a former student of the school.  She is now living in Quebec with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. But she wasn’t always living in this arrangement. She had lived with her mother and father along with her sister “Judy”.  As a very bright and sharp young lady she was progressing well through her growing up years.  But something changed very rapidly to rip her from her school and the way she was living. 

Actually it wasn’t so rapid at all. Just one stage was rapid and ragged.

As I listened to this story for almost 7 years now I was aghast at the events that I was presented with as the mother and father came to speak with me.  Both parents are very bright and very capable people.  They have everything going for them… except an ability to know what a good relationship is all about.

In the relationship department I have never witnessed anything so sick as what I saw in this one.  And over the years as a minister I have seen “SICK” relationships in all their stupidity.

At the stage that I was drawn into this family to listen, the family had returned from a family vacation in Florida.  While they were on their way the mother casually informed the father that he was no longer needed and that the marriage was now over.  When they return from the vacation he was to move out and leave her with the girls.

Whoa!  That kind of announcement is ALWAYS MADE by the man.  In normal SICKO families the man is the one that has found a new young piece of meat which he then substitutes for the old dried up one he has been living with for the past decade or so.

Nope, not in Jane’s family – it didn’t happen that way!  Jane’s mother is the “ministering” kind of person. She regards herself as “spiritual” to the max with an ability to “help other people” spiritually or something.

Now in order to help the mother find herself or help the marriage to hold together the father put the mother through university and paid for it all.  There was no university debt when she graduated.  It was all paid for.

But as this was all taking place she had insisted on his moving out… which he didn’t do. He had no place to go so he chose a more difficult way to deal with it… with hopes that the spiritual woman that he called his wife would wake up and come to her senses as “God” might speak to her.

A more difficult way?  Yes. He moved to the basement of his own home and slept on a cot at the end of basement… something like an old dog might to find a place for it to curl up.

In the center of the basement was the computer station that the family used.  From the computer the mother carried on her Blogging and advising and making contacts with people that she was helping in her strange “spiritual” ways.

I do question the “spirituality” that I saw. God is the one that deals with the true spiritual. The kind that this woman was exhibiting was plain nuts… you know crazy.

On a whim or a moment of great spirituality she was moved to travel to Texas(and other places) by herself. To walk on a beach with someone she met on line, to connect spiritually with the ones she had met on line.

Of course the father at home with his two daughters is still sleeping on the cot in the basement… and paying for these adventures that his wife was having with these other folk – who were primarily men.

No one knows how “spiritual” her adventures were and what part prayer had in any of it. I have seen too many other couples do this kind of “praying” that usually has some or a lot of sex involved… but MIND YOU that is because the husband is an idiot with his new piece of meat!  Women like this mother likely are different and “god” uses them very differently… ya right!

The story progressed further. The mother told the father that he was to do this and that and even more of this… to get the house ready for sale. She had now graduated from university and the next stage of her life with her kids would be taking place.

They sold the house and bought a very old house out of town. The idea that the mother was zealous for was to bring in young adults that needed help… or maybe I should say people that needed help… from her spirituality and ministering abilities.

But the place needed renovations extensively. So away she went. She is not only a deeply spiritual person and a counselor and a wise woman, she is also a top interior decorator and designer.

She spent close to $100,000 on the renovations and upgrades.  The 150 year old house now is the best looking old farm house that is worth likely more than 30% over the possible selling price.

As soon as the renovation was done the mother was off to minister in Montreal… where of course she found her calling to a man that was her father’s age.  She moved in with him and began “ministry”.

The father is still in the old and beautifully renovated farm house with two heartbroken daughters. Mom is gone and not coming back again.  Telephone calls to Jane are often. Advice to the father is delivered through messages from his daughters who talk to mom about what he should do.

This went on for about a year and a half.  But through it all both girls kept their grades up and seemed to be doing well.  Both were top students.

The story gets too complicated to tell every detail at this point.

The mother shows up one weekend with her new “spiritual” partner. (Oh yes it is more than just praying together – she lives with him.)

The mother is in need of certain treasures that she wants from their home… things to be able to carry on in her new life.  While she is stripping anything that she wanted the girls watched mom at her best.

Needless to say, Jane was not doing well. As a 13 year old girl that has not seen her mother in about one and a half years (other than shopping trips with mom while visiting her in Montreal) – she is beside herself.

Mom and the dude leave and head out on the highway.

Jane is crying and then calls her mom.  She decides at that moment to go live with mom.  It is a weekend and she goes east with ‘mommy’.

I was not in the vehicle to see what happened or what Jane was doing as she watched the countryside slip away from her home and friends in Grade 8.

But there had to be a moment when she suddenly realized that I will not see my friends again. That part of my life is over. There was a moment that the 13 year old was suddenly sad.

And there was likely a  moment when ‘mommy’ told her that she could go back and see her friends…maybe even go to Grad with them. Mommy would make sure that would happen. And mommy likely assured her that through Facebook and her cell phone that she could keep in touch with all her friends… because friends are friends forever – right?

I am not totally sure what happened in the next few weeks.  But the girl did come back and spent a day at her old school with her friends.  Somehow the mother of the mother – the grandmother helped carry this out. The teacher may have helped also… or simply never knew what to do about Jane showing up.

BUT through the school visit and the Facebook and the Cell Phone texting… Jane started to control her victims of her abuse.

She had suddenly come of age. She was now almost completely her own mother with her methods, demands, erratic behavior and actions along with threats.

When the Principal contacted the father to tell him about how far the investigation had progressed – even across provincial jurisdictions of police services… he as absolutely shocked.

How could it happen?  Why bullying and why would a young person do such a horrific thing. Even the boys were scared silly from her threats and raving!

Try to remember that Jane is only 13 years old.

But also remember that her mom taught her well.  Dad can be treated like Dog Shit should be treated. Men are for you to handle and any woman that thinks she is smarter – well you can deal with them too honey. You are your mother’s daughter and mother knows best.

As to the Renos and the house that is for sale… the mother clearly has told the girls what a piece of crap the father is… after all HE ALLOWED THE MOTHER TO GET OUT OF HAND and GO WAY OVER BOARD with the money.

Pause and take a deep breath here…
Away back when I had the first glimpse of what was happening I had no imagination that the marriage could be saved.  It looked real bad as they came for “help”.  But I did warn them and particularly the mother that these actions and way of living would deeply affect her daughters.

She basically cut me off at that point and told me that I didn’t have a clue!

Well guess what? I have seen it all now… and I have seen where these rotten little Bullies come from.  They are made at home in sicko families that if others knew how bad it was – they would never allow their own kids to even attend a birthday party… let alone a Graduation.

As you read this story I hope you are as stunned as I am how it all can happen. 13 year olds can’t devise ways and means to be rotten to the core. That takes an adult that is feeding pure venom directly into their young systems.

But in this case… remember the high note of “spirituality” that has guided everything that was done.

Mental sickness and some sort of psychological problem… no darn way. The mother knows that simply is not true.  She is free of all that. The stupid father is a clown and an idiot… and the minister that he talks to regularly is just too stupid to describe.

Read my lips…. (But You will never read this…) you need help. Your girls will have helped forced on them with their problems later… but you need it now. For God’s sake get help mother!!!!!

~ Murray Lincoln ~

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Fragile Schedule – one little episode can tip it over


This BLOG is sponsored by Misty Hollow Carving. You are welcome to visit Misty Hollow and see all of my carvings.

My Web Site is a like a Gallery – please drop in for a stroll through.

To help me promote my Web Site please copy this URL address and email to someone today http://www.murraylincoln.com/  

The Fragile Schedule – one little episode can tip it over.
As I watched the two kayaks enter the water with the two boys in them I was fascinated.  It didn’t take much as the little craft slid through the water… to make a mistake.  One small adjustment at the wrong time and the craft would turn over.

Of course that was likely the plan… dunk your buddy and yourself on a hot day.

We were enjoying the beach side of the park… beautiful breeze, people walking dogs and then the two kayak paddlers.

As the canoeist came by as well… with a small wave from a power boat, the craft could be swamped as well. Making one mistake or rapid change in the schedule of the small craft – could be followed by a big splash and nasty turnover.

The day before for us… as I reported… changed abruptly when the call came to us about our granddaughter falling from a tree… and the four broken bones as a result.  The bones are not very big but the whole summer was radically changed as well.

Emma’s soccer team will play with one less person. They were doing fairly well and Emma was doing super. But a broken foot will not allow anymore soccer until maybe September or later.

Yesterday I sat to compose the Blog for the day… crash, boom, bah… the thunder followed the brilliant flashes of lightening.

Guess what?  The internet connections is highly reliant upon electrical current and a good balance in the connections. BUT Lightening will easily knock out the connection – and time is not there any longer.

As I thought about it and the changes that have come my way so quickly… my life changed rapidly with these outside influences… in a hear beat.  The finely balanced, day by day, routine was quickly dismantled with one call – or crash of lightening.

I have been thinking that I need to make adjustments to my life stream… and bingo it happened!

There comes a time when we all need to re-check what we are doing. Perhaps there are some things that we simply do not need to do any longer. And one quick call or a storm can change it all.

I started tossing out some more junk as a result.  When you cannot blog – you can clean.

Hmmm. What will happen tomorrow?

~ Murray Lincoln ~