Misty Hollow Carving
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
Let’s try the impossible – by getting you to draw something
Yesterday I wrote about the Right Brain/Left Brain and creativity. I wrote about the new group of artists that are now launching brilliant artistic careers from Fraserville. I wrote about the delight that they are experiencing with picking up a pencil and putting a line on to a sheet of paper.
Now I just bet that you thought they were painting, working with colours and canvass. I just bet that you envisioned that they were able to draw people and places and things as the pencil glides across the sheet of paper. And most of all I just bet that you are saying, “I could never do that! I can’t draw!” Then you laughed.
I know that you are able to create and draw and use your hidden abilities.
If I could convince you that you could draw, maybe even get you to pick up your pen or pencil then start drawing something simple… would you try?
Maybe if I could speak to your very logical Left Brain, and then kindly convince it that maybe with some very simple actions the “REAL YOU” inside of you could possibly, just maybe, even with the smallest amount of faith….begin to draw something.
I believe that will happen if you try.
Please don’t tell me that, “I could never do that!” Because I know that you can.
Why would you even want to try? Well for no other reason it would make the long telephone calls from that one special person that needs to talk and tell you everything… much easier to take and listen to.
For another reason it could help the grandparents to be the most amazing grandparents in the eyes of their grandkids… instead of being a rather over weight adult that does mostly nothing. Sorry… but that was the mental picture I just had… !!! Maybe you are not over weight but rather just doing mostly nothing in the eyes of your grandkids.
So where would I start?
There are basically only Five Things to note… to see… to use in order to draw something. It is really so simple that it may blow you away and you will respond with, “I can do that!”
Are you ready… take a deep breath and savour these words.
First – There is the perception of the edge
Second – There is the perception of the space
Third – There is the perception of the relationships
Fourth – There is the perception of light using shading
Fifth – There is the perception of the whole
These are the basic steps that any artist uses. With the greatest artists in the world these are steps that are followed a million times over. In every drawing or painting these steps have been followed.
Now as a budding, hidden, shy, or handicapped artist… you can use them too.
Here is all that you do.
Look at something in your room – a lamp, a book, a desk… whatever you can see. Now look closer. Does the something that you are looking at have an edge? Look closely at one point on the edge of that something, place your pencil on a scrap of paper… then draw the shape of that edge…moving down or over… turning the corner… going up again… then down… going all the way around the edge of what you are looking at. Now when the line keeps going all the way around and arrives back at where it first started… you will be amazed that you have a lamp, or a book, or a desk or whatever you saw captured on your paper.
You have just perceived the edge.
Next, with another piece of paper… look at the object again… look inside of the borders or edge. How many spaces can you see? There will be circles and lines joining and other rectangles… each is another line inside the edge… and between the lines are spaces. What shape are the spaces?
Now your amazing Left Brain just knows that you CANNOT DRAW A SPACE… but you can put a line around the space… and put that space inside of the edge.
Now see the space next to the space that you just have drawn. Put a line around that space the way that it is connected to the first space.
Whoa! Space after space they are all connected… and fit inside an edge. And each space has an edge.
Looking closely at anything you will perceive the space. A tree is not just branches… and the trunk… but it is all the spaces between the branches… all the sky showing through and the shape of that piece of sky… and the shapes if each bit of each branch. You will never look at a tree the same again!
Now try to look closer and see how the edges and space come together. As you draw a line here and then over there… just little lines… then look back again what you are drawing… looking only at a little at a time… you will begin to see an amazing thing happening… right in front of you is the Lamp, the Book and maybe the DESK – ON YOUR PAPER! You are amazing!
You have just perceived the relationship between the objects that you have looked at.
Now if you were to take another few minutes you could draw the Lamp on the Desk beside the Book… AMAZING!
NEXT… if there is some light coming through the window near the desk… it is causing the Lamp to be light on one side and not the other. Or if the Lamp is turned on you can see the light on the top part but it will be dark on the under or lower parts… the books will be light on one side… and dark on the other… and the desk will have similar contrast.
Let go of the pencil a little and change positions from writing to holding it on its side… so the side of the pencil is flat on the paper… making a much bigger line… and softening the way that the line comes off the pencil. If you have made the larger line… take your finger or thumb and run it across the pencil mark. The pencil line will smudge.
Now are you ready?
Place the flat pencil over the area of the place where the Lamp or Book or Desk is dark… rub some pencil marks there and the smudge it with your finger… until you fill in the dark areas. Add more pencil marks if you run out... then smudge some more.
You have now perceived the light and dark by adding shading to your new drawing.
Hokey Mokey… as you hold up the new piece of art work… and see the whole you have just completed the five steps.
Now granted the thing may look a little lop sided… may not be perfect… but they are better than the last time you tried to do that.
Most people start to draw by looking at the whole scene and then jump right in… only to be really frustrated because everything looks terrible in the end. Left Brain will shut down that from ever happening again and you will shout, “See I told you… YOU CAN’T DRAW!”
Most people try to do step Five instead of One – first.
All you need to do is look closely… and draw slowly… and then the Right Brain will shout… “Look what I did! I CAN DRAW!!!!”
Finally… the very last thing to do is SIGN IT with a date placed on it as to when you drew it… then Keep it!
A Promise…
If you will try to draw something… I will publish it on this Blog for the world to see. I promise.
All you need to do is Draw It, Scan it and then Send it.. and I will publish it. Or if you have no scanner… send it by snail mail….
And best of all … it will cost you nothing!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
Source:
http://www.drawright.com/vaceface.htm
http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm
http://drawsketch.about.com/od/suppliesbooks/fr/draw_right_side.htm
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
“Giggles and Groans” or “Adventure in Fraserville”
Misty Hollow Carving
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
“Giggles and Groans” or “Adventure in Fraserville”
The giggles and the groans in the room were plain fun. They were coming from my new friends in a drawing class that we started yesterday in Fraserville.
In fact ‘Giggles and Groans’ may be an excellent name for the newly formed group of budding artists.
I shared from my experience and journey as a man that loves art… that draws and creates in a wide format of media. I share as a person that loves to draw. And that loves has been developing since I was a young boy… maybe drawing and creating for about 61 years now.
The principle behind the ‘Adventure in Fraserville’ (which is another good name for the group) is unlocking the things that hold us back from even trying to draw…doing exercises that help us to begin creating.
Along with a number of artists I have found a delight in releasing my creativity. I have found that I need to do something to get the art flowing in me. I have found that there are things that lock up the art and creativity. I have found that life pretty much can mess up what I would really love to do… but have not been able to do anything about it.
After a lot of reading and experiments I have found a delight in studying the Right Brain/Left Brain Drawing.
Now to help you understand, it is not exactly both left and right sides of an individual’s brain… but it is a great way to describe it.
To help you see it better Right and Left help. But another way that also describes it is the Creative and Logical. But using that wording it kind of messes people up when you delineate one or the other. A creative person will object in that if she or he is Creative… and strongly creative it is inferring that they may not be Logical… or visa versa.. the strongly based Logical person is not Creative.
In the Right Brian/Left Brain definition mode it helps one to see that when one part is dominant while the other may not function as well – or at its greatest potential.
The Right Brain is credited as the place within us that can create the delightful things that we enjoy. It is part of our creator’s mark on us… and we all have a love to create something.
Most people started as little people. And little people had little or no inhibitions… they drew endless picture for their own pleasure… built and created wonderful things from sometimes nothing. Moms and Dads hung what their little people did on their refrigerator doors and walls.
I have a ‘little people’ friend named Lina. Lina has just started school. When we were at Lina’s place I noted with great delight that Lina had discovered her greatest creation place were the walls of her home, front room, hallways and basement rumpus room walls have all become Lina’s art boards. With complete abandon she creates wonderful pictures for all to see.
Lina pretty much operates completely in the Right Brain mode.
In a few years of schooling the system will have helped to develop her well enough that the Left Brain, the strongly based Logical oriented, structured and disciplined parts of her being, will take over. After all that is what schools do best… control, discipline and prepare people to be Good, Logical, Efficient, Productive Workers that have stopped drawing on walls a long, long time ago!
In fact most Logical Left Brain people stopped drawing a long time ago when they realized that they have to be Disciplined, Structured and Good Workers. If they weren’t they would never get a job.
People that keep drawing on walls like Lina does are not what they need to be.
An art class/drawing class let people become little people again. That is why they giggle. In fact every drawing class that I ever taught has people giggling within a few minutes as they discover what it is to become like my young friend Lina again.
“But you said Murray… that there were Giggles and Groans! Why Groans?” you question.
Well when the Good, Logical, Efficient, Productive Workers are encouraged to let go and let their ‘little people’ out… that is plain stupid! That is silly… that is not Logical… that doesn’t fit within the norm of what we have learned for so many years… and we will groan as the ‘little people’ inside simply enjoy what he or she is doing.
Letting go of the Logical is almost impossible. But with some small exercises it can be shut off for just a little while. With a wee bit of encouragement, a few rules to make it happy, a little bit of control the Logic can become part of the Creative process.
Lina’s wall drawings are illogical in a Big People’s world. But if Lina can discover the joy and keep the joy of doing the drawing on a sheet of paper or a canvass… she will maintain her artistic ability.
BUT – shut Lina down and tell her that it is bad to do this, that she needs to concentrate on better things, more profitable things and Lina will become a Big People that can’t draw even a good stick person.
In my class of yesterday there are some folk that don’t draw very good stick people. There are some that have been so busy that they have not had time to do something as silly as trying to draw anything.
Confession started to come from the group yesterday, when they shared how they have always wanted to try… and now something inside of them wants to do it now!
Yesterday with both younger and older minds – for the group had a range of about a 40 year life span… there was joy in drawing.
Yesterday I created with words that produced lines and giggles and groans… and a wonderful time together. What a delight to be the presence of greatness… and every last one of the students yesterday were great!
I can hardly wait until next Wednesday afternoon.
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
Source:
http://www.drawright.com/vaceface.htm
http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm
http://drawsketch.about.com/od/suppliesbooks/fr/draw_right_side.htm
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
“Giggles and Groans” or “Adventure in Fraserville”
The giggles and the groans in the room were plain fun. They were coming from my new friends in a drawing class that we started yesterday in Fraserville.
In fact ‘Giggles and Groans’ may be an excellent name for the newly formed group of budding artists.
I shared from my experience and journey as a man that loves art… that draws and creates in a wide format of media. I share as a person that loves to draw. And that loves has been developing since I was a young boy… maybe drawing and creating for about 61 years now.
The principle behind the ‘Adventure in Fraserville’ (which is another good name for the group) is unlocking the things that hold us back from even trying to draw…doing exercises that help us to begin creating.
Along with a number of artists I have found a delight in releasing my creativity. I have found that I need to do something to get the art flowing in me. I have found that there are things that lock up the art and creativity. I have found that life pretty much can mess up what I would really love to do… but have not been able to do anything about it.
After a lot of reading and experiments I have found a delight in studying the Right Brain/Left Brain Drawing.
Now to help you understand, it is not exactly both left and right sides of an individual’s brain… but it is a great way to describe it.
To help you see it better Right and Left help. But another way that also describes it is the Creative and Logical. But using that wording it kind of messes people up when you delineate one or the other. A creative person will object in that if she or he is Creative… and strongly creative it is inferring that they may not be Logical… or visa versa.. the strongly based Logical person is not Creative.
In the Right Brian/Left Brain definition mode it helps one to see that when one part is dominant while the other may not function as well – or at its greatest potential.
The Right Brain is credited as the place within us that can create the delightful things that we enjoy. It is part of our creator’s mark on us… and we all have a love to create something.
Most people started as little people. And little people had little or no inhibitions… they drew endless picture for their own pleasure… built and created wonderful things from sometimes nothing. Moms and Dads hung what their little people did on their refrigerator doors and walls.
I have a ‘little people’ friend named Lina. Lina has just started school. When we were at Lina’s place I noted with great delight that Lina had discovered her greatest creation place were the walls of her home, front room, hallways and basement rumpus room walls have all become Lina’s art boards. With complete abandon she creates wonderful pictures for all to see.
Lina pretty much operates completely in the Right Brain mode.
In a few years of schooling the system will have helped to develop her well enough that the Left Brain, the strongly based Logical oriented, structured and disciplined parts of her being, will take over. After all that is what schools do best… control, discipline and prepare people to be Good, Logical, Efficient, Productive Workers that have stopped drawing on walls a long, long time ago!
In fact most Logical Left Brain people stopped drawing a long time ago when they realized that they have to be Disciplined, Structured and Good Workers. If they weren’t they would never get a job.
People that keep drawing on walls like Lina does are not what they need to be.
An art class/drawing class let people become little people again. That is why they giggle. In fact every drawing class that I ever taught has people giggling within a few minutes as they discover what it is to become like my young friend Lina again.
“But you said Murray… that there were Giggles and Groans! Why Groans?” you question.
Well when the Good, Logical, Efficient, Productive Workers are encouraged to let go and let their ‘little people’ out… that is plain stupid! That is silly… that is not Logical… that doesn’t fit within the norm of what we have learned for so many years… and we will groan as the ‘little people’ inside simply enjoy what he or she is doing.
Letting go of the Logical is almost impossible. But with some small exercises it can be shut off for just a little while. With a wee bit of encouragement, a few rules to make it happy, a little bit of control the Logic can become part of the Creative process.
Lina’s wall drawings are illogical in a Big People’s world. But if Lina can discover the joy and keep the joy of doing the drawing on a sheet of paper or a canvass… she will maintain her artistic ability.
BUT – shut Lina down and tell her that it is bad to do this, that she needs to concentrate on better things, more profitable things and Lina will become a Big People that can’t draw even a good stick person.
In my class of yesterday there are some folk that don’t draw very good stick people. There are some that have been so busy that they have not had time to do something as silly as trying to draw anything.
Confession started to come from the group yesterday, when they shared how they have always wanted to try… and now something inside of them wants to do it now!
Yesterday with both younger and older minds – for the group had a range of about a 40 year life span… there was joy in drawing.
Yesterday I created with words that produced lines and giggles and groans… and a wonderful time together. What a delight to be the presence of greatness… and every last one of the students yesterday were great!
I can hardly wait until next Wednesday afternoon.
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
Source:
http://www.drawright.com/vaceface.htm
http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm
http://drawsketch.about.com/od/suppliesbooks/fr/draw_right_side.htm
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tumbling Characters in My Life
Misty Hollow Carving
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
Tumbling Characters in My Life
Now hang on tight… are you ready for a mental gymnastic ride? In the next few words I would like to take you on a roller coaster ride of words that describe a rich visual, audio and action packed 120 minutes of me. This will out do Hi Def TV by one hundred times!!!
Meet Doris Chisholm who is also know as Tandelaya in Vivian Bliss’ books about Nurse Jane. Doris is an advice Columnist who goes by the name of Cloris Bienfait.
Meet Edgar Chisholm who is also known as Dr. Edgar Sterling Vivian Bliss’ book about Nurse Jane. Edgar is also a Geography Teacher and takes Ceramics Classes where he first met Vivian Bliss and he is married to Doris.
Then there is Vivian Bliss, a very dynamic person with red hair that switches off and on from being Nurse Jane and then Vivian Bliss. She is kind of in Love with Edgar Chisholm who brings her home for a possible affair with her when his wife Doris is to be in Windsor for a special presentation of herself, but she called and cancelled at the last minute when she decided to spend more time with her husband Edgar who has just come into their house on Bridal Path with his potential new fling, Vivian Bliss.
But whoa… I am getting too far ahead of myself…
Meet Bill Scant who is also known as Taboo in Vivian Bliss’ book about Nurse Jane. Bill is a nervous dermatologist that uses the signature “Torn”, and who seeks advice of Cloris/Doris (think hard now… you met her few minutes ago as Doris Chisholm) who has discovered Vivian Bliss in her home and who had changed into her Baby Doll PJs for her fling with Doris, husband Edgar before… I think that is right.
Any way Bill Scant is weird. When I first saw him he came into the room with a pair of Panty Hose over his head with the two legs hanging from each side of his face. Doris/Cloris new he was coming – or someone was coming – to collect for the Heart and Stroke Foundation – or something or other. She in turn, immediately I should say, upon seeing him with the Panty Hose over his head, thinks he is a Rapist. Yep really… a Rapist. But he is not a Rapist but rather a frustrated, nervous dermatologist that was once in University with Doris many years ago… and that is where the part gets really interesting… but I can’t tell you that yet… sorry.
Next you need to meet Peggy Scant who is also known as Miranda in Nurse Jane’s book, the one that Vivian Bliss is writing. Peggy is a reporter for the United Church Observer who has come to write about the amazing abilities of Doris/Cloris, the advice columnist. BUT – Peggy’s interview goes a little haywire when Vivian Bliss pops out of the one door in her Baby Doll PJs with Doris, slightly frustrated, tried to introduce Vivian to Peggy as Doris’ Sister who is there for the weekend.
Slow down take a deep breath…
Peter pops in some where about this time carrying a decorated Birthday Cake for himself and looking for his long lost Father and Mother that he has searched for years to find… and his search ends at the Bridal Path address where his father lives. The only problem was that when he came in and met Doris/Cloris she was convinced that Bill, with the Panty Hose over his head, was his dad… but that was because Bill still wore the Panty Hose over his head.
Another deep breath… you have to meet Betty Scant that enters the room, and wait a minute you need to know that she is also Zelda Montgomery/Helga in Vivian Bliss’ book about Nurse Jane. Betty is also the Editor of the United Church Observer who comes to the address to see her reporter Peggy who is also her daughter, and who is writing all that she is seeing happen in this crazy house on the Bridal Path.
But it gets better and I will try to sum it up in the following words so that we are not here until midnight with me writing this all and you still reading which wouldn’t be happening yet until the next morning because I would not have finished it until last night which is really sometimes this morning in which case you were sleeping and not reading this Blog. Did you get that?
In an explosion of words and events at the Bridal Path home, I discovered that Bill Scant’s daughter was to be married soon, he is frustrated and beside himself but still under and in the Panty Hose head covering. His wife doesn’t know that he is here when she comes in. His and her daughter, Peggy the reporter doesn’t know that either of them are there as she wildly writes it all down. When Peter comes in looking for his long last dad we discover that Bill and Doris/Cloris had met in University away back when, had an affair and she got pregnant had a baby and gave it up. The baby, Peggy, was adopted by Bill’s parents and raised as their daughter with Bill as brother and Doris not knowing where the Baby had finally ended up. Peter came looking for Edgar who was his real father, who was once married a short time to Betty who is the United Church Observer’s editor and then she divorced him and gave the baby up for adoption as well but with years of counselling I think that Peter almost became a shrink…anyway he was almost normal with his own Birthday Cake.
Whao double over… who and what did I miss???! Oh yah… Doris/Cloris met her real daughter for the first time as Bill took off the Panty Hose head dress and she realized who he was from those many years ago.
If I haven’t lost you as the reader yet… I tried. Sorry.
You have just experienced a Community Theatre Play by the Hall’s Bridge Players in the Buckhorn Community on April 13th, 2010. The name of the play was “Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii” by Allan Stratton.
What this troop of players has done to make this happen is amazing. They were perfect in all that they did in 120 minutes of action!!!
To make it even a more eventful night I went to the play without my wife as she was deathly sick. My friend and kind of Business Acquaintance, Debbie had invited us to attend the evening’s dinner theatre. But because Alida, that’s my wife, couldn’t make it, Jack and Vivian, our friends, agreed to come along and be my guests as well.
Now I realize that my life pretty much fits into the home on Bridal Path and what I have lived for 66 years is almost exactly what Allan Stratton wrote and described in his play.
I have met all these Characters in Church. I was their minister over 35 years of my life.
I went to bed last night giggling at the tumbling thoughts of these weird and whacky people that I know… and the fact that they were all in one place, in one play and at one time.
Sorry you will not be able to get a ticket to this event. They are booked solid for six nights straight and are completely sold out.
Deb Crossen, the director, along with Judy McWhirter the producer, and their crew need to be complimented on an excellent production.
Buckhorn is amazing. What a community! It is along way from Bridal Path…
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
Tumbling Characters in My Life
Now hang on tight… are you ready for a mental gymnastic ride? In the next few words I would like to take you on a roller coaster ride of words that describe a rich visual, audio and action packed 120 minutes of me. This will out do Hi Def TV by one hundred times!!!
Meet Doris Chisholm who is also know as Tandelaya in Vivian Bliss’ books about Nurse Jane. Doris is an advice Columnist who goes by the name of Cloris Bienfait.
Meet Edgar Chisholm who is also known as Dr. Edgar Sterling Vivian Bliss’ book about Nurse Jane. Edgar is also a Geography Teacher and takes Ceramics Classes where he first met Vivian Bliss and he is married to Doris.
Then there is Vivian Bliss, a very dynamic person with red hair that switches off and on from being Nurse Jane and then Vivian Bliss. She is kind of in Love with Edgar Chisholm who brings her home for a possible affair with her when his wife Doris is to be in Windsor for a special presentation of herself, but she called and cancelled at the last minute when she decided to spend more time with her husband Edgar who has just come into their house on Bridal Path with his potential new fling, Vivian Bliss.
But whoa… I am getting too far ahead of myself…
Meet Bill Scant who is also known as Taboo in Vivian Bliss’ book about Nurse Jane. Bill is a nervous dermatologist that uses the signature “Torn”, and who seeks advice of Cloris/Doris (think hard now… you met her few minutes ago as Doris Chisholm) who has discovered Vivian Bliss in her home and who had changed into her Baby Doll PJs for her fling with Doris, husband Edgar before… I think that is right.
Any way Bill Scant is weird. When I first saw him he came into the room with a pair of Panty Hose over his head with the two legs hanging from each side of his face. Doris/Cloris new he was coming – or someone was coming – to collect for the Heart and Stroke Foundation – or something or other. She in turn, immediately I should say, upon seeing him with the Panty Hose over his head, thinks he is a Rapist. Yep really… a Rapist. But he is not a Rapist but rather a frustrated, nervous dermatologist that was once in University with Doris many years ago… and that is where the part gets really interesting… but I can’t tell you that yet… sorry.
Next you need to meet Peggy Scant who is also known as Miranda in Nurse Jane’s book, the one that Vivian Bliss is writing. Peggy is a reporter for the United Church Observer who has come to write about the amazing abilities of Doris/Cloris, the advice columnist. BUT – Peggy’s interview goes a little haywire when Vivian Bliss pops out of the one door in her Baby Doll PJs with Doris, slightly frustrated, tried to introduce Vivian to Peggy as Doris’ Sister who is there for the weekend.
Slow down take a deep breath…
Peter pops in some where about this time carrying a decorated Birthday Cake for himself and looking for his long lost Father and Mother that he has searched for years to find… and his search ends at the Bridal Path address where his father lives. The only problem was that when he came in and met Doris/Cloris she was convinced that Bill, with the Panty Hose over his head, was his dad… but that was because Bill still wore the Panty Hose over his head.
Another deep breath… you have to meet Betty Scant that enters the room, and wait a minute you need to know that she is also Zelda Montgomery/Helga in Vivian Bliss’ book about Nurse Jane. Betty is also the Editor of the United Church Observer who comes to the address to see her reporter Peggy who is also her daughter, and who is writing all that she is seeing happen in this crazy house on the Bridal Path.
But it gets better and I will try to sum it up in the following words so that we are not here until midnight with me writing this all and you still reading which wouldn’t be happening yet until the next morning because I would not have finished it until last night which is really sometimes this morning in which case you were sleeping and not reading this Blog. Did you get that?
In an explosion of words and events at the Bridal Path home, I discovered that Bill Scant’s daughter was to be married soon, he is frustrated and beside himself but still under and in the Panty Hose head covering. His wife doesn’t know that he is here when she comes in. His and her daughter, Peggy the reporter doesn’t know that either of them are there as she wildly writes it all down. When Peter comes in looking for his long last dad we discover that Bill and Doris/Cloris had met in University away back when, had an affair and she got pregnant had a baby and gave it up. The baby, Peggy, was adopted by Bill’s parents and raised as their daughter with Bill as brother and Doris not knowing where the Baby had finally ended up. Peter came looking for Edgar who was his real father, who was once married a short time to Betty who is the United Church Observer’s editor and then she divorced him and gave the baby up for adoption as well but with years of counselling I think that Peter almost became a shrink…anyway he was almost normal with his own Birthday Cake.
Whao double over… who and what did I miss???! Oh yah… Doris/Cloris met her real daughter for the first time as Bill took off the Panty Hose head dress and she realized who he was from those many years ago.
If I haven’t lost you as the reader yet… I tried. Sorry.
You have just experienced a Community Theatre Play by the Hall’s Bridge Players in the Buckhorn Community on April 13th, 2010. The name of the play was “Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii” by Allan Stratton.
What this troop of players has done to make this happen is amazing. They were perfect in all that they did in 120 minutes of action!!!
To make it even a more eventful night I went to the play without my wife as she was deathly sick. My friend and kind of Business Acquaintance, Debbie had invited us to attend the evening’s dinner theatre. But because Alida, that’s my wife, couldn’t make it, Jack and Vivian, our friends, agreed to come along and be my guests as well.
Now I realize that my life pretty much fits into the home on Bridal Path and what I have lived for 66 years is almost exactly what Allan Stratton wrote and described in his play.
I have met all these Characters in Church. I was their minister over 35 years of my life.
I went to bed last night giggling at the tumbling thoughts of these weird and whacky people that I know… and the fact that they were all in one place, in one play and at one time.
Sorry you will not be able to get a ticket to this event. They are booked solid for six nights straight and are completely sold out.
Deb Crossen, the director, along with Judy McWhirter the producer, and their crew need to be complimented on an excellent production.
Buckhorn is amazing. What a community! It is along way from Bridal Path…
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Funambulist and Funambulism and the Minister
Misty Hollow Carving
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
Funambulist and Funambulism and the Minister
In 66 years of living I have never encountered this word until this past week. It has been fun using it.
I now have words to describe my friend Winston as he walks with great effort. I now have words to describe me too.
Winston has said to me as he holds on tight to me or his wife, “This is not Fun!” and chooses his steps carefully. I am not making light of his condition of an inner ear problem, but does this ever describe him well. Winston is on a continuous Funambulism. He is a Funambulist!
Now Winston is FUN to be with. You just never know what will come out of his thinking at times. He produces more “groaners” than any person I have ever met… one liners that make his audience groan… and roar with laughter. He always has an audience too.
In a way that is amazing for Winston in that his balance is so greatly affected with this problem that many times he feels a constant motion sickness. Most people would quit – but not Winston… his humour just keeps on going! Winston you are my amazing Funambulist Friend!
My imagination first caught the word and its fullest meaning as I read of Charles Blondin, or Jean François Gravelet-Blondin. I discovered him as I continue to discover more about Niagara Falls.
Blondin had a 1000 foot Manila Rope stretched across the Niagara Gorge. The rope was 3 inches in diameter. It was also supported by a number of other ropes that anchored it at various intervals to lessen the sway from what I read.
3 inch manila ropes were the kind that ships were moored beside docks. They were heavy and big.
A 1000 foot long rope must have weighed thousands of pounds and to stretch it across the 1000 foot distance would be no small feat to say the least.
The feat was actaully recorded as 1100 feet (335 m) long, 3¼ inches in diameter, 160 feet (50 m) above the water.
Charles Blondin had begun this career of entertaining people while dancing on a rope when he was about 5 years old. His story is a fascinating one to say the least.
He was a showman to say the least. He entertained people and knew how to get a crowd’s attention.
He would dress in tights, or a gorilla outfit, or some other weird thing to get the attention of his admiring audience that he was trying to impress.
However when I read the accounts of his walking over the Niagara Gorge it was said that most of the audience gathered to see if he would fall. They held their breath as he did all kinds of stunts on the rope above the boiling/churning water below.
One man watching with his theatre glasses (small binoculars) was asked if he would loan his glasses to a person nearby. He flatly refused saying that he had travelled each week from Detroit to watch when this man would fall and there was no way he would give them up for even a few seconds.
That was the way it was for most of the audience. They gathered at the precipice to see the man walk in this rope… to be there when he fell… and if he did he would most certainly die in the turbulent waters below. How exciting!
Funambulist love to entertain. But to do so they must have two things, a tight rope between two points and an audience.
Now I know that my friend Winston doesn’t have to use a rope (or at least doesn’t have a rope) to do this… but he always has an audience.
On the side… most of us take for granted the magic we have within us to just stand up straight and be able to walk up right without effort. We have no idea how much of an effort folk like Winston have to use just to get to church on Sunday, to go shopping or to look after his grandkids – when everything is moving.
Society must be involved in order for the Blondins of this world to succeed.
The year that Blondin was doing his thing over Niagara was 1859. It would never happen in 2010 with all of the laws that protect us from hurting ourselves… and making a spectacle of a place like Niagara Falls.
Today it is different. We now have the Ultimate Fighters that beat on each other until they pass out, are knocked out, ask for the other guy to stop, or simply die. People pay huge money to watch this happen.
But if that is too wild, they also pay good money to watch Prize Fighters beat on each other, professional wrestlers purposefully hurt one another as the crowd screams for blood.
We are not like the folk that gathered at the Niagara Gorge to see Blondin fall to his death. We are more civilized by far.
Now there are times that I feel like a Blondin when I walk into church to lead a worship service. Dozens watch closely to see if I will fall to my death by missing something.
One minister told me he was quitting because of the critics that he had. He could do nothing right. He messed up so often that he was feeling useless and had enough.
I encouraged him to stay on. After all people were coming regularly and never missing a beat. They watched his every action to see if he would fall… but they also put something in the offering plate each week too.
Come to think of it Winston… I am kind of a Funambulist as well… in fact I think every minister is. Too funny!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funambulist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Blondin
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
Funambulist and Funambulism and the Minister
In 66 years of living I have never encountered this word until this past week. It has been fun using it.
I now have words to describe my friend Winston as he walks with great effort. I now have words to describe me too.
Winston has said to me as he holds on tight to me or his wife, “This is not Fun!” and chooses his steps carefully. I am not making light of his condition of an inner ear problem, but does this ever describe him well. Winston is on a continuous Funambulism. He is a Funambulist!
Now Winston is FUN to be with. You just never know what will come out of his thinking at times. He produces more “groaners” than any person I have ever met… one liners that make his audience groan… and roar with laughter. He always has an audience too.
In a way that is amazing for Winston in that his balance is so greatly affected with this problem that many times he feels a constant motion sickness. Most people would quit – but not Winston… his humour just keeps on going! Winston you are my amazing Funambulist Friend!
My imagination first caught the word and its fullest meaning as I read of Charles Blondin, or Jean François Gravelet-Blondin. I discovered him as I continue to discover more about Niagara Falls.
Blondin had a 1000 foot Manila Rope stretched across the Niagara Gorge. The rope was 3 inches in diameter. It was also supported by a number of other ropes that anchored it at various intervals to lessen the sway from what I read.
3 inch manila ropes were the kind that ships were moored beside docks. They were heavy and big.
A 1000 foot long rope must have weighed thousands of pounds and to stretch it across the 1000 foot distance would be no small feat to say the least.
The feat was actaully recorded as 1100 feet (335 m) long, 3¼ inches in diameter, 160 feet (50 m) above the water.
Charles Blondin had begun this career of entertaining people while dancing on a rope when he was about 5 years old. His story is a fascinating one to say the least.
He was a showman to say the least. He entertained people and knew how to get a crowd’s attention.
He would dress in tights, or a gorilla outfit, or some other weird thing to get the attention of his admiring audience that he was trying to impress.
However when I read the accounts of his walking over the Niagara Gorge it was said that most of the audience gathered to see if he would fall. They held their breath as he did all kinds of stunts on the rope above the boiling/churning water below.
One man watching with his theatre glasses (small binoculars) was asked if he would loan his glasses to a person nearby. He flatly refused saying that he had travelled each week from Detroit to watch when this man would fall and there was no way he would give them up for even a few seconds.
That was the way it was for most of the audience. They gathered at the precipice to see the man walk in this rope… to be there when he fell… and if he did he would most certainly die in the turbulent waters below. How exciting!
Funambulist love to entertain. But to do so they must have two things, a tight rope between two points and an audience.
Now I know that my friend Winston doesn’t have to use a rope (or at least doesn’t have a rope) to do this… but he always has an audience.
On the side… most of us take for granted the magic we have within us to just stand up straight and be able to walk up right without effort. We have no idea how much of an effort folk like Winston have to use just to get to church on Sunday, to go shopping or to look after his grandkids – when everything is moving.
Society must be involved in order for the Blondins of this world to succeed.
The year that Blondin was doing his thing over Niagara was 1859. It would never happen in 2010 with all of the laws that protect us from hurting ourselves… and making a spectacle of a place like Niagara Falls.
Today it is different. We now have the Ultimate Fighters that beat on each other until they pass out, are knocked out, ask for the other guy to stop, or simply die. People pay huge money to watch this happen.
But if that is too wild, they also pay good money to watch Prize Fighters beat on each other, professional wrestlers purposefully hurt one another as the crowd screams for blood.
We are not like the folk that gathered at the Niagara Gorge to see Blondin fall to his death. We are more civilized by far.
Now there are times that I feel like a Blondin when I walk into church to lead a worship service. Dozens watch closely to see if I will fall to my death by missing something.
One minister told me he was quitting because of the critics that he had. He could do nothing right. He messed up so often that he was feeling useless and had enough.
I encouraged him to stay on. After all people were coming regularly and never missing a beat. They watched his every action to see if he would fall… but they also put something in the offering plate each week too.
Come to think of it Winston… I am kind of a Funambulist as well… in fact I think every minister is. Too funny!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funambulist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Blondin
Monday, April 12, 2010
Mission Impossible – or is it Mission Possible?
Misty Hollow Carving
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
Mission Impossible – or is it Mission Possible?
As I looked at my target audience arriving slowly yesterday morning I kind of groaned inwardly. I have done a lot of things in my life time but NEVER ONCE have I done what was about to happen over the course of the next 70 Possible Minutes that I was being offered (or forced upon me… yikes)
Now some days it is a real joy to address my target audience. I have been addressing this kind of non responsive audience for 35 years – why should this be any different? Well this audience is aged between Grade Six and Grade Nine… 11 years old up to 14… and they are not always there… in their minds at least. Yawning, wishing they were some where else, thinking this is just like School – which they have endured for the past five days….
I am a Youth Class Teacher that tries to capture their interest when they come to church.
The problem however is that only two of a potential 12 are there each week. Families are too busy with everything things else and well… maybe… just maybe… they sleep in like I wish I could… and are well … not interested in what is happening to make it a number one thing their life. Yikes… all kinds of things come into your mind after you come to church on Sunday and a few show up!!!
My class is easier than my daughter’s class. She has about 5 to 7 almost always there kind of kids, who are pre-school to kindergarten age. Their listening ability has a vast range of 3 minutes flat out… and she has to “look after” these jewels for 70 minutes also, making sure that no one fights, bites or misses mommy too much… while mommies are doing other things some where else.
(That last paragraph is tossed in to consider when changes come suddenly… and to let you see what happens at “the other end of the building” on Sunday Morning.)
I love what I do and so does my daughter. We both think what we do makes a small difference in the lives of kids… really we do… and that is why we come back to try one more time.
Back to the Problem of Yesterday Morning…
As I had previewed the Lesson Plan... I gulped… I was given the task to teach the class about “DEPRESSION”!!!! Woooiee!
Remember these kids are between 11 and 14 years old…. Grade Six to Grade 9. And one thing I cannot tell you is what each is kid is like – just because they are a complex bundle of emotions. All I knew at that point was… this should be FUN. But the word FUN is in FUNERAL as well!
I started by telling them that I had never ever taught on this topic in 35 years of ministry. I jumped right in… oh boy!
One Hour and Ten Minutes later there wasn’t a person that moved or walked out quickly… they were quite and pondering the possibilities of a good future.
You see it had been a kind of week that had deeply affected me personally. A young mom left three young children behind. She couldn't face the world and the weight of it any longer.
Depression had taken its toll… it was over.
Teen depression is real. I have watched it take lives and destroy families for years. Yesterday was the first day that I talked about it.
Yesterday was my second last class with these teens as I have been called to do something else on Sundays for a few weeks.
I left with a lighter heart… but wondered what the teens were thinking about…
Mission Impossible was an old TV show that made a lot of sense when it was on the air. The Good guys always won or accomplished their goals.
Teaching Sunday School classes – whether to 5 and 6 year olds or to teens… is that kind of TV Show… Mission Impossible… or Mission Possible.
Now if you want a joy beyond your years I know of two good classes where you can get involved… any takers?
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
Mission Impossible – or is it Mission Possible?
As I looked at my target audience arriving slowly yesterday morning I kind of groaned inwardly. I have done a lot of things in my life time but NEVER ONCE have I done what was about to happen over the course of the next 70 Possible Minutes that I was being offered (or forced upon me… yikes)
Now some days it is a real joy to address my target audience. I have been addressing this kind of non responsive audience for 35 years – why should this be any different? Well this audience is aged between Grade Six and Grade Nine… 11 years old up to 14… and they are not always there… in their minds at least. Yawning, wishing they were some where else, thinking this is just like School – which they have endured for the past five days….
I am a Youth Class Teacher that tries to capture their interest when they come to church.
The problem however is that only two of a potential 12 are there each week. Families are too busy with everything things else and well… maybe… just maybe… they sleep in like I wish I could… and are well … not interested in what is happening to make it a number one thing their life. Yikes… all kinds of things come into your mind after you come to church on Sunday and a few show up!!!
My class is easier than my daughter’s class. She has about 5 to 7 almost always there kind of kids, who are pre-school to kindergarten age. Their listening ability has a vast range of 3 minutes flat out… and she has to “look after” these jewels for 70 minutes also, making sure that no one fights, bites or misses mommy too much… while mommies are doing other things some where else.
(That last paragraph is tossed in to consider when changes come suddenly… and to let you see what happens at “the other end of the building” on Sunday Morning.)
I love what I do and so does my daughter. We both think what we do makes a small difference in the lives of kids… really we do… and that is why we come back to try one more time.
Back to the Problem of Yesterday Morning…
As I had previewed the Lesson Plan... I gulped… I was given the task to teach the class about “DEPRESSION”!!!! Woooiee!
Remember these kids are between 11 and 14 years old…. Grade Six to Grade 9. And one thing I cannot tell you is what each is kid is like – just because they are a complex bundle of emotions. All I knew at that point was… this should be FUN. But the word FUN is in FUNERAL as well!
I started by telling them that I had never ever taught on this topic in 35 years of ministry. I jumped right in… oh boy!
One Hour and Ten Minutes later there wasn’t a person that moved or walked out quickly… they were quite and pondering the possibilities of a good future.
You see it had been a kind of week that had deeply affected me personally. A young mom left three young children behind. She couldn't face the world and the weight of it any longer.
Depression had taken its toll… it was over.
Teen depression is real. I have watched it take lives and destroy families for years. Yesterday was the first day that I talked about it.
Yesterday was my second last class with these teens as I have been called to do something else on Sundays for a few weeks.
I left with a lighter heart… but wondered what the teens were thinking about…
Mission Impossible was an old TV show that made a lot of sense when it was on the air. The Good guys always won or accomplished their goals.
Teaching Sunday School classes – whether to 5 and 6 year olds or to teens… is that kind of TV Show… Mission Impossible… or Mission Possible.
Now if you want a joy beyond your years I know of two good classes where you can get involved… any takers?
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Oh Boy… Am I ever glad that I don’t smoke!
Misty Hollow Carving
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
Oh Boy… Am I ever glad that I don’t smoke!
As many of you know I live in Peterborough, Ontario – home of the ‘Lift Locks’(a Tourist attraction and working Lock System), Peterborough Petes(Hockey Players), GE Factory, and many, many Tim Hortons Coffee Shops. It is a quiet little city that has much beauty in it and surrounding it. It is a wonderful place to live.
But Peterborough also has another side of it that is known locally and a not so nice feature. It is quickly becoming the Cheap Smoke Capital of Canada as a City. Within a short drive of our city one can buy Cigarettes for way less money than what the local stores can sell them.
How much cheaper are they? Well locally the store sells the equivalent 200 cigarettes for about $70 – which is one carton of 10 packages. Just a short distance away you can buy cigarettes in a plastic bag for just $6.00 !!!
If you know that there is this bargain waiting for you to pick up so close by, wouldn’t you take advantage of it?
I am a Non Smoker… I am not involved in having to find one or two packs a day for my habit. I do not have to find between $7.00 to $14.00 per day for the Smokes… or $49 to $98 per week… or $200 to $400 per month.
Smoking is very expensive.
According to John Clayton, VP of Corporate Affairs at the Imperial Tobacco Company that cost of cigarettes in Ontario will climb an additional $5 to $6 on an average carton of 200 cigarettes with the addition of the new HST.
As a Non Smoker it is easy to say, “Stick it to the Smokers, they should stop anyway!”
But that isn’t going to happen too soon. It is an addiction that is very hard to stop or get off of. Millions of people try each year and I can guess that Millions or people less a few fail.
Now add on more factor if you are a teenager with little of no money coming in… how can you buy Smokes that you so desperately need to feed your habit? Studies have shown that around 30% of the Teen Population now smoke – down from 44% in 1981.
In Peterborough you need only to get your friend to hop in his car and drive not far from our city to a Cheap Smoke Shop where you can get a Plastic Bag that is hanging heavy with brand new cigarettes.
And one further thing, if you are an enterprising young person you can sell the bags of smokes for a mere $10 and make enough to pay for your fuel costs. In fact if you pick up 10 bags, which is only $60, you could make $40 on that one trip – paying for your own smokes and getting some fresh air in the country.
Now it is not only Teenagers that drive there, but also the Ontario Works (Welfare) folks that I know…along with the people that are on disability pensions… and now a growing number of smoking seniors that get some one to get them smokes from the Cheap Smoke Shops!
And when some one is desperate locally and wants to Bum a Smoke off you… no more Bumming… it will cost you only 25 Cents… that is a bargain – 10 cents less than a Cig in the pack. Do you now that an enterprising Teen can make $40 profit at 25 cents a smoke – just like the Government!!!
This is a problem for the Government in that they are in the business of making their money from Smokes. And if a teen messes with the Gov they will get in trouble – right? Nope. What they are doing is perfectly legal… buying smokes in a Cheap Shop and then taking advantage of local addictions with a drug that is NOT ILLEGAL.
The government gets the following…
In 2003 the prices were broken down this way…
Carton of 200 cigarettes
The manufacturers' price (as of October, 1997) is $9.69.
The federal excise duty is $5.50.
The federal excise tax is $2.66.
The provincial tobacco tax is $4.70.
The wholesale/retail margin is about 17%, or $3.83.
There is a 8% provincial sales tax, amounting to $2.11.
The federal G.S.T. adds 7%, or $1.86.
The total price is therefore $30.35.
But this is not 2003 – it is 10 years later and our Government decided to jack up the taxes just a little higher… to make the costs now $70 a carton with the hated HST factor coming to add another $6 = $76 per carton soon.
The robbery reports in Peterborough have climbed and the targeted places have lost lots of cigarettes. Stealing something this valuable is easy and light to carry… and can be sold as well… easier than the plastic bags that are hard to carry in your pocket.
Why is Peterborough a capital for Cheap Smokes? Well just south of Rice Lake is a whole series of Cheap Smoke Shops. How can that be? Well they are situated on Aboriginal Land and that is legal for them to sell this way… and with no taxes!
In fact we have more than one Aboriginal Land areas near us.
Shopping is good there. One company sells computers at a very much reduced price because there is NO TAX on their machines. And for a short drive into the country to get some fresh air you can also get some bargains. Forget about going to the USA to save money! And this is all legal and just.
Many local convenient stores between Peterborough and Montreal are thinking of giving up. The Smoking Traffic are their main source of impulse buying… and when people no longer come in for the $76 cartoon of Cigs – chocolate bars don’t make enough!
In a completely different direction… A Revised History
About 500 years ago Canada was discovered by some enterprising Explorers and Conquerors – Columbus being one of them. Sir Walter Raleigh was another. From some of the stories that I remember from way back… these Explorers and Conquerors found not only a land….but also Tobacco that the Local Aboriginals had for their personal use.
There were no taxes then and no Government Regulations on Tobacco use or abuse. Up to that time people coming as Explorers and Conquerors did not die from Lung Cancer and their Teenagers never smoked. The worst they experienced or could offer was some horrific disease such as Cholera, Small Pox, and other little nasty bugs that they brought with them.
So being practical people that liked a good barter system – we traded with the Aboriginal People… their Smokes for our Diseases.
Our Diseases killed off a lot of them… and we got control of the land and developed their Tobacco Industry. They were rather inept at developing this product anyways... using it only for worship and cleansing of their minds!! They had no paper to ‘roll their own’ and they wouldn’t have the ability to design a filter like we did.
And to think the Aboriginal Population that existed prior to the Explorers and Conquerors missed the biggest Tax Grab ever… where they could have been Taxing their Smokers to Death and provided a tax system to nail the newly arriving Immigrants! WOW! They sure needed us to educate them… didn’t they?!?
Wow… just think of it… we conquered this country. What a feat?!
Now the Aboriginals are selling us Cheap Smokes that avoid the Government interference and miserable Tax Laws.
Wait a minute… the Cheap Smokes that the Teenagers, Seniors, Welfare People, Disabled People and the average citizen buys on the Aboriginal Land at the Cheap Smoke Shop is now killing us off at an alarming rate!
Someone changed the story here. The Cowboys always won in the Western Movies. The Indians (sorry – politically correctness makes it known that they are Aboriginals) always fell off their horses dead when we conquered the East, Central and West.
We are not supposed to DIE! We are the Conquerors… they are not!
Oh Boy… Am I ever glad that I don’t smoke!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
Source:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/illegal-smokes-hit-all-time-high-group/article1528818/
Tobacco in Canada
http://www.euromonitor.com/Tobacco_in_Canada
Affects of Price of Smokes on Youth
http://www.cps.ca/English/statements/DT/dt97-01.htm
Price of Smokes in Canada
http://www.nsra-adnf.ca/cms/index.cfm?group_id=1199
John Clayton, VP Corporate Affairs, Ontario Pre-Budget Consulation Speaking Notes
http://www.imperialtobaccocanada.com/groupca/sites/IMP_7VSH6J.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO82GTV2?opendocument&SKN=1
Additional Notes:
As price appears to be a major determinant of the frequency of smoking during adolescence, the current taxation policy with respect to cigarettes and other tobacco products should be reviewed on an urgent basis. Tobacco taxation policy should aim to produce cigarette prices that are sufficiently high to deter regular smoking among adolescents.
Tax rates should apply equally to all tobacco products, including alternates to commercially purchased cigarettes such as ‘roll-your-own’ cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products such as chewing tobacco and snuff.
Governments should take appropriate measures to discourage unlawful movement of cigarettes across provincial and national boundaries.
Educational campaigns regarding lifestyle, behaviour and the untoward health effects of smoking should continue and should be targeted at preadolescents, adolescents and women of reproductive age.
Research to address the need for development of effective educational programs aimed at presmokers should be fostered. Such research should also improve our understanding of adolescent motivation in adopting the use of tobacco products.
Stringent restrictions on tobacco advertising should continue to be applied, notably with respect to television and other media that influence preadolescents and adolescents.
Health professionals and all concerned Canadians should continue to counsel government against allowing tobacco-related sponsorship of high profile sporting and artistic entertainment events.
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
Oh Boy… Am I ever glad that I don’t smoke!
But Peterborough also has another side of it that is known locally and a not so nice feature. It is quickly becoming the Cheap Smoke Capital of Canada as a City. Within a short drive of our city one can buy Cigarettes for way less money than what the local stores can sell them.
How much cheaper are they? Well locally the store sells the equivalent 200 cigarettes for about $70 – which is one carton of 10 packages. Just a short distance away you can buy cigarettes in a plastic bag for just $6.00 !!!
If you know that there is this bargain waiting for you to pick up so close by, wouldn’t you take advantage of it?
I am a Non Smoker… I am not involved in having to find one or two packs a day for my habit. I do not have to find between $7.00 to $14.00 per day for the Smokes… or $49 to $98 per week… or $200 to $400 per month.
Smoking is very expensive.
According to John Clayton, VP of Corporate Affairs at the Imperial Tobacco Company that cost of cigarettes in Ontario will climb an additional $5 to $6 on an average carton of 200 cigarettes with the addition of the new HST.
As a Non Smoker it is easy to say, “Stick it to the Smokers, they should stop anyway!”
But that isn’t going to happen too soon. It is an addiction that is very hard to stop or get off of. Millions of people try each year and I can guess that Millions or people less a few fail.
Now add on more factor if you are a teenager with little of no money coming in… how can you buy Smokes that you so desperately need to feed your habit? Studies have shown that around 30% of the Teen Population now smoke – down from 44% in 1981.
In Peterborough you need only to get your friend to hop in his car and drive not far from our city to a Cheap Smoke Shop where you can get a Plastic Bag that is hanging heavy with brand new cigarettes.
And one further thing, if you are an enterprising young person you can sell the bags of smokes for a mere $10 and make enough to pay for your fuel costs. In fact if you pick up 10 bags, which is only $60, you could make $40 on that one trip – paying for your own smokes and getting some fresh air in the country.
Now it is not only Teenagers that drive there, but also the Ontario Works (Welfare) folks that I know…along with the people that are on disability pensions… and now a growing number of smoking seniors that get some one to get them smokes from the Cheap Smoke Shops!
And when some one is desperate locally and wants to Bum a Smoke off you… no more Bumming… it will cost you only 25 Cents… that is a bargain – 10 cents less than a Cig in the pack. Do you now that an enterprising Teen can make $40 profit at 25 cents a smoke – just like the Government!!!
This is a problem for the Government in that they are in the business of making their money from Smokes. And if a teen messes with the Gov they will get in trouble – right? Nope. What they are doing is perfectly legal… buying smokes in a Cheap Shop and then taking advantage of local addictions with a drug that is NOT ILLEGAL.
The government gets the following…
In 2003 the prices were broken down this way…
Carton of 200 cigarettes
The manufacturers' price (as of October, 1997) is $9.69.
The federal excise duty is $5.50.
The federal excise tax is $2.66.
The provincial tobacco tax is $4.70.
The wholesale/retail margin is about 17%, or $3.83.
There is a 8% provincial sales tax, amounting to $2.11.
The federal G.S.T. adds 7%, or $1.86.
The total price is therefore $30.35.
But this is not 2003 – it is 10 years later and our Government decided to jack up the taxes just a little higher… to make the costs now $70 a carton with the hated HST factor coming to add another $6 = $76 per carton soon.
The robbery reports in Peterborough have climbed and the targeted places have lost lots of cigarettes. Stealing something this valuable is easy and light to carry… and can be sold as well… easier than the plastic bags that are hard to carry in your pocket.
Why is Peterborough a capital for Cheap Smokes? Well just south of Rice Lake is a whole series of Cheap Smoke Shops. How can that be? Well they are situated on Aboriginal Land and that is legal for them to sell this way… and with no taxes!
In fact we have more than one Aboriginal Land areas near us.
Shopping is good there. One company sells computers at a very much reduced price because there is NO TAX on their machines. And for a short drive into the country to get some fresh air you can also get some bargains. Forget about going to the USA to save money! And this is all legal and just.
Many local convenient stores between Peterborough and Montreal are thinking of giving up. The Smoking Traffic are their main source of impulse buying… and when people no longer come in for the $76 cartoon of Cigs – chocolate bars don’t make enough!
In a completely different direction… A Revised History
About 500 years ago Canada was discovered by some enterprising Explorers and Conquerors – Columbus being one of them. Sir Walter Raleigh was another. From some of the stories that I remember from way back… these Explorers and Conquerors found not only a land….but also Tobacco that the Local Aboriginals had for their personal use.
There were no taxes then and no Government Regulations on Tobacco use or abuse. Up to that time people coming as Explorers and Conquerors did not die from Lung Cancer and their Teenagers never smoked. The worst they experienced or could offer was some horrific disease such as Cholera, Small Pox, and other little nasty bugs that they brought with them.
So being practical people that liked a good barter system – we traded with the Aboriginal People… their Smokes for our Diseases.
Our Diseases killed off a lot of them… and we got control of the land and developed their Tobacco Industry. They were rather inept at developing this product anyways... using it only for worship and cleansing of their minds!! They had no paper to ‘roll their own’ and they wouldn’t have the ability to design a filter like we did.
And to think the Aboriginal Population that existed prior to the Explorers and Conquerors missed the biggest Tax Grab ever… where they could have been Taxing their Smokers to Death and provided a tax system to nail the newly arriving Immigrants! WOW! They sure needed us to educate them… didn’t they?!?
Wow… just think of it… we conquered this country. What a feat?!
Now the Aboriginals are selling us Cheap Smokes that avoid the Government interference and miserable Tax Laws.
Wait a minute… the Cheap Smokes that the Teenagers, Seniors, Welfare People, Disabled People and the average citizen buys on the Aboriginal Land at the Cheap Smoke Shop is now killing us off at an alarming rate!
Someone changed the story here. The Cowboys always won in the Western Movies. The Indians (sorry – politically correctness makes it known that they are Aboriginals) always fell off their horses dead when we conquered the East, Central and West.
We are not supposed to DIE! We are the Conquerors… they are not!
Oh Boy… Am I ever glad that I don’t smoke!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
Source:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/illegal-smokes-hit-all-time-high-group/article1528818/
Tobacco in Canada
http://www.euromonitor.com/Tobacco_in_Canada
Affects of Price of Smokes on Youth
http://www.cps.ca/English/statements/DT/dt97-01.htm
Price of Smokes in Canada
http://www.nsra-adnf.ca/cms/index.cfm?group_id=1199
John Clayton, VP Corporate Affairs, Ontario Pre-Budget Consulation Speaking Notes
http://www.imperialtobaccocanada.com/groupca/sites/IMP_7VSH6J.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO82GTV2?opendocument&SKN=1
Additional Notes:
As price appears to be a major determinant of the frequency of smoking during adolescence, the current taxation policy with respect to cigarettes and other tobacco products should be reviewed on an urgent basis. Tobacco taxation policy should aim to produce cigarette prices that are sufficiently high to deter regular smoking among adolescents.
Tax rates should apply equally to all tobacco products, including alternates to commercially purchased cigarettes such as ‘roll-your-own’ cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products such as chewing tobacco and snuff.
Governments should take appropriate measures to discourage unlawful movement of cigarettes across provincial and national boundaries.
Educational campaigns regarding lifestyle, behaviour and the untoward health effects of smoking should continue and should be targeted at preadolescents, adolescents and women of reproductive age.
Research to address the need for development of effective educational programs aimed at presmokers should be fostered. Such research should also improve our understanding of adolescent motivation in adopting the use of tobacco products.
Stringent restrictions on tobacco advertising should continue to be applied, notably with respect to television and other media that influence preadolescents and adolescents.
Health professionals and all concerned Canadians should continue to counsel government against allowing tobacco-related sponsorship of high profile sporting and artistic entertainment events.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Blogging - Pouring Words into the Storm
Misty Hollow Carving
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
Blogging - Pouring Words into the Storm
Each morning I sit and think. The thoughts that come forward have been percolating for the past days. Each morning more ideas flow and meld with what has been in the stew.
This Blog that I prepare is kind like the Slow Cooker that we use to prepare some of the meals we have at home. At first it doesn’t look like much but then the savoury smell comes with promises of a wonderful meal ahead.
Many of the thoughts are random bits and pieces tossed together and then stirred a bit more, a few more ingredients added and voila there it is. It doesn’t actually come completely together until the time is right and the heat has brought it to the point of ‘just about right’.
This past week I rounded a corner with Blogging in a couple of areas. I make note of them here with email comments and some simple notes that I share with you. Direct comments I have generally clicked through about the posts themselves. These comments have come from people directly involved with the things that I wrote about.
On March 1, 2010 I wrote about “Cinderella and PMS” referring to Helena Guergis actions in a PEI Airport. I posted it and then sent a copy to my MPP, Dean Del Mastro. He in turn replied via Jeff Westlake with the following…
"Good Morning Murray,
MP Del Mastro will not comment on the behaviour of a fellow Member of Parliament. MP Del Mastro agrees with the Office of the Prime Minister that as Minister Guergis has apologized, the matter should be considered closed.
Best,
Jeff Westlake
Constituency Assistant
Office of MP Dean Del Mastro
1600 Lansdowne Street West
Peterborough, ON
K9J 7C7
705-745-2108 (p)
705-741-4123 (f)
delmad@parl.gc.ca"
Then the next day I wrote the piece “The Honorable Helena Guergis doesn’t matter any more”…never to hear from the PM or MP again about the matter.
This week Helena Geurgis was ousted from her position and put out of the inner circle of the Progressive Conservative Party – by the same PMO that stated “the matter should be considered closed”.
It seems that there was more going on than they would let on. Cinderella kind of messed up big time… or was it her husband and his bragging to very well off people that he had an inside way to get things done… possibly referring to his wife and her close connections with the PM and my MP?!?!
Do you think that they actually read something like my silly Blog!? I was shocked to hear she was bounced out. I just asked that she go back to the PEI airport and say she was sorry for freaking out at the staff on her birthday. Sheesh!
In a positive way and a way more sensitive issue I wrote another piece entitled “Project Hero – Baloney” on March 26, 2010. Yesterday I received the following email from another Professor at the U. of R. I consider this to be a great compliment and a demonstration of the quality and class of these professors.
Quote…
“Hi Murray,
Thank you very much for the letter you sent to Joyce Green in support of the stand she and the other 15 of us have taken regarding the scholarship Project Hero. Your own creative way of addressing this issue is much appreciated.
We are extremely grateful for the time you took to express your solidarity at this trying time for all of us who signed the letter in opposition to Project Hero and Canadian imperialism in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
As you can imagine, there has been widespread distortion in the mainstream media regarding the contents of our letter, and a vilification campaign directed in part by right-wing politicians connected with the Conservative Party and the Saskatchewan Party. As a result, we have been at the receiving end of a wave of vitriolic hate mails, full of terrible language and demands that we be fired from our university positions.
Over the last few days, however, as the contents of our letter have become more widely distributed and understood, we are receiving increasing numbers of supportive letters such as yours.
We can’t thank you enough for your support in opposing expressions of Canadian imperialism and the glorification of war on our public university campuses, the creeping militarization of Canadian politics and society, and our right to freedom of speech.
In solidarity,
“C”, on behalf of 15 who signed”
End quote..
I was humbled to receive this email. Thank you “C”.
I responded by then writing to my friends at the Regina Leader Post with a shorter version of my original post asking the “Letter to the Editor” folk to consider it.
“How can you ever expect these people to consider a retired person’s letter from Peterborough, Ontario to publish this or even consider it in that newspaper?” you may ask – because I asked myself that.
But if I thought, “I should write to the Leader Post” but then never did it, I would be just like almost everyone else.
I am not just like everyone else and I have to do something!!!
If nothing else happen I have supported some frightened and stalwart University Professors that could easily be affected by Political Prowess in that small University or Regina.
By the Professors standing up for what they believe they have now just ignited another generation of “Murray Lincolns” that may also stand up for what they perceive and say something.
There are still some thinkers in this world.
And with University Strategists, the “PMO” – that is the “Prime Minister Office” Staff, that are oh so good at what they do, and local MPs that are very careful to say it just right… THESE THINKERS need to say something.
At this point there have been 29,344 visitors to the 624 Posts that I have made since June 2008. The Chart below shows a little of this past week’s visits…
As I prepared sermons each week for almost 35 years, I doubt very much that an average of 450 per week listened to what I said. And the fact that 36,703 pages of the Blog have been read to date simply blows my mind. Never ever did I get that result from Sermons Preached!
Is it worth it all? You better believe it! Thinking is never without rewards. It hurts at times and at times when you wonder if any one ever really cares. But in the end you know that you do… and when you do… even that makes a difference.
I am celebrating today in my 65th year, 362nd day and 8th hour. Wahoo!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
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/
* * * * * * * *
Today’s Blog Post
Blogging - Pouring Words into the Storm
Each morning I sit and think. The thoughts that come forward have been percolating for the past days. Each morning more ideas flow and meld with what has been in the stew.
This Blog that I prepare is kind like the Slow Cooker that we use to prepare some of the meals we have at home. At first it doesn’t look like much but then the savoury smell comes with promises of a wonderful meal ahead.
Many of the thoughts are random bits and pieces tossed together and then stirred a bit more, a few more ingredients added and voila there it is. It doesn’t actually come completely together until the time is right and the heat has brought it to the point of ‘just about right’.
This past week I rounded a corner with Blogging in a couple of areas. I make note of them here with email comments and some simple notes that I share with you. Direct comments I have generally clicked through about the posts themselves. These comments have come from people directly involved with the things that I wrote about.
On March 1, 2010 I wrote about “Cinderella and PMS” referring to Helena Guergis actions in a PEI Airport. I posted it and then sent a copy to my MPP, Dean Del Mastro. He in turn replied via Jeff Westlake with the following…
"Good Morning Murray,
MP Del Mastro will not comment on the behaviour of a fellow Member of Parliament. MP Del Mastro agrees with the Office of the Prime Minister that as Minister Guergis has apologized, the matter should be considered closed.
Best,
Jeff Westlake
Constituency Assistant
Office of MP Dean Del Mastro
1600 Lansdowne Street West
Peterborough, ON
K9J 7C7
705-745-2108 (p)
705-741-4123 (f)
delmad@parl.gc.ca"
Then the next day I wrote the piece “The Honorable Helena Guergis doesn’t matter any more”…never to hear from the PM or MP again about the matter.
This week Helena Geurgis was ousted from her position and put out of the inner circle of the Progressive Conservative Party – by the same PMO that stated “the matter should be considered closed”.
It seems that there was more going on than they would let on. Cinderella kind of messed up big time… or was it her husband and his bragging to very well off people that he had an inside way to get things done… possibly referring to his wife and her close connections with the PM and my MP?!?!
Do you think that they actually read something like my silly Blog!? I was shocked to hear she was bounced out. I just asked that she go back to the PEI airport and say she was sorry for freaking out at the staff on her birthday. Sheesh!
In a positive way and a way more sensitive issue I wrote another piece entitled “Project Hero – Baloney” on March 26, 2010. Yesterday I received the following email from another Professor at the U. of R. I consider this to be a great compliment and a demonstration of the quality and class of these professors.
Quote…
“Hi Murray,
Thank you very much for the letter you sent to Joyce Green in support of the stand she and the other 15 of us have taken regarding the scholarship Project Hero. Your own creative way of addressing this issue is much appreciated.
We are extremely grateful for the time you took to express your solidarity at this trying time for all of us who signed the letter in opposition to Project Hero and Canadian imperialism in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
As you can imagine, there has been widespread distortion in the mainstream media regarding the contents of our letter, and a vilification campaign directed in part by right-wing politicians connected with the Conservative Party and the Saskatchewan Party. As a result, we have been at the receiving end of a wave of vitriolic hate mails, full of terrible language and demands that we be fired from our university positions.
Over the last few days, however, as the contents of our letter have become more widely distributed and understood, we are receiving increasing numbers of supportive letters such as yours.
We can’t thank you enough for your support in opposing expressions of Canadian imperialism and the glorification of war on our public university campuses, the creeping militarization of Canadian politics and society, and our right to freedom of speech.
In solidarity,
“C”, on behalf of 15 who signed”
End quote..
I was humbled to receive this email. Thank you “C”.
I responded by then writing to my friends at the Regina Leader Post with a shorter version of my original post asking the “Letter to the Editor” folk to consider it.
“How can you ever expect these people to consider a retired person’s letter from Peterborough, Ontario to publish this or even consider it in that newspaper?” you may ask – because I asked myself that.
But if I thought, “I should write to the Leader Post” but then never did it, I would be just like almost everyone else.
I am not just like everyone else and I have to do something!!!
If nothing else happen I have supported some frightened and stalwart University Professors that could easily be affected by Political Prowess in that small University or Regina.
By the Professors standing up for what they believe they have now just ignited another generation of “Murray Lincolns” that may also stand up for what they perceive and say something.
There are still some thinkers in this world.
And with University Strategists, the “PMO” – that is the “Prime Minister Office” Staff, that are oh so good at what they do, and local MPs that are very careful to say it just right… THESE THINKERS need to say something.
At this point there have been 29,344 visitors to the 624 Posts that I have made since June 2008. The Chart below shows a little of this past week’s visits…
Is it worth it all? You better believe it! Thinking is never without rewards. It hurts at times and at times when you wonder if any one ever really cares. But in the end you know that you do… and when you do… even that makes a difference.
I am celebrating today in my 65th year, 362nd day and 8th hour. Wahoo!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/
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