A Nose and a Chin

Nagging guilt has actually made me 

avoid the Cow for a while…

But, I found something that made me think 

and made me smile this morning.

Here’s a re-hash of the story 

I found this morning:

A lady in China never went to school… 

she was never taught to read or write.

She has cerebral palsy, 

so expectations were lowered for her. 

She can’t stand. She can’t use her hands.

And yet, she has published her own book… 

A book she wrote herself.

It’s titled: Greet You with a Smile. 

It took her three years to write this book. 

And, she wrote it using her nose and her chin! 

She typed the story on her ipad 

and her mobile phone.

She taught herself to read 

while watching television programs 

and by looking at a dictionary.

She has also written two short stories.

I love this quote from the author, Huang Yang: “Everyone encounters difficulties 

and setbacks in their lives. 

Some feel down about it 

and some solve it optimistically. 

Lying dead, or standing alive, 

it all depends on you.”

Huang Yang                             Photo credit: Women of China

While the news article calls Huang a girl, she is 28.

This is another story that proves that we should never set limits on what people can or can’t do.

Second Place Winner

 

This is the name of a winner:  

Ivan Fernandez Anaya.

OK, he didn’t win…

He came second in the race,

and his coach may have been

unhappy with that…

but, really, he won.

During a cross-country race,

his goodness and

sense of fair play really shone.

The race was close to finished…

Ivan was coming second. 

Abel Mutai was winning…

but, Abel got confused

about where the finish line was…

He stopped running too early.  

He was still meters away

from the finish line.

As Ivan ran up to him,

 he saw the error,

and could easily have raced past

 and claimed first place.

He didn’t.

He ran right up to Abel Mutai

and pointed to the finish line.

 

He stayed behind Abel

until the race had been won.

Ivan claimed second and was

 immensely proud of his efforts.

Ivan later said:

“I didn’t deserve to win it”.

He explained:

“He was the rightful winner.

He created a gap that I couldn’t

 have closed if he hadn’t made a mistake.”

Because the two men had

little common language between them,

Abel’s thanks were quite simple

in words,

but heartfelt in meaning.

Ivan hopes that his decision

to let fairness

overcome the need for winning

might help children everywhere

to see what is really important.

Although Ivan came second…

it’s probably the best second place

 he could ever take.

Champion.

Ivan’s facebook page



A Cut Above

Guy Henry

Several months ago,

my young nephew met a man.

He met Dr Guy Henry.

Lucky!

Dr Guy Henry saved his life.

He cut my nephew open

– twice!

 

 

The second time,

he removed a chunk of cancer cells

from my nephew’s tiny body

 and then, carefully and neatly,

sewed him back together.

What an amazing job he has!

What an incredible thing he does!

Dr Guy Henry is a

specialist Paediatric Surgeon.

He’s been doing this

for over ten years.

I’ve never met Dr Guy Henry,

but I will always be grateful

for what he did…

and how well he did it.

My nephew’s scar is almost healed.

It’s almost perfectly straight.

 

Maybe, in a few years,

we might have trouble

even seeing the scar.

But, each time the sun shines

 the right way

and a glint of scar shines at me,

 I will send a quiet

“thank you”

to Dr Guy Henry.

Apparently, he loves

rugby and fishing –

but rarely has any luck

catching a fish.

I hope he catches

the biggest fish next time

 he drops a line in!   

Read more about him here.

 

You Saw Nothing!

Today was so sneaky,

it almost snuck through

without being seen!

Just like a ninja!

Today is Ninja Day.   ­­­

Ninjas were professional spies,

sneaking in, finding secrets

and killing people

without being seen.

Before you throw today

 into the Crazy Day basket

 and leave this page…

you should know

that the white House security

and American SWAT teams

are trained by real-life ninjas.

Cool.

So, perhaps, ancient ninjas

were originally mountain priests.

Back between 592 and 710,

there are many references

to ninjas and their ability

 to sneak in,

gather information

and sneak away!

The most famous time for ninjas,

 however, was between

the 12^th and 16^th centuries.

During wars, they were hired

 as assassins

and were used as spies.

  Once things settled

and the country became peaceful

once more,

no-one needed anyone killed…

no secrets needed to be known…

the ninjas moment

to shine was over.

They were now jobless…

what to do?

They began writing…

explaining their training…

their tools…

their weapons…

and their skills.

Stories were written about them

 and movies were made.

While one time,

they dressed to blend in

 with the people around them

(black clothes and a mask

hardly hid you in a crowd!).

 Most ninjas wore blue outfits –

 the same clothing worn

by pheasants of the time.

People soon wrote about ninjas

 as though they were magical,

black-wearing sleuths

and killers…

superheroes and legends…

and this is still how

 we consider ninjas to be.

Perhaps, you could sneak up

behind someone tonight…

act like a ninja and scare them

(killing them may not be

 such a good idea –

just give them a good scare!)

Happy Ninja Day!

Dracula!

 

 

Vampire Day

Ok, not Vampire Day…

but, it is the anniversary

of the birthday of Bram Stoker.

I’ll take you back to 1847…

Dublin, Ireland.

Mathilda gave birth to Bram.

(Ok, they called him Abraham.)

Poor Bram was a sickly little kid.

Confined to his room

and barely able to walk,

he spent hours reading books.

By 1864, he was back

 in good health

and headed to college.

He studied maths

and earned many awards for athletics.

 By 1870,

he graduated with honours.

He started a “side job”,

writing reviews

for theatre productions.

In 1878, he took on

the manager’s role

at the Lyceum Theatre in London.

 He performed this role

for 30 years.

In 1886, Bram wrote his first novel.

In 1897, Bram wrote Dracula…

perhaps the first novel

about vampires.

(Ok, there was an earlier one –

but surely Bram

can be called the Vampire King!)

For a long, long time

“Dracula” had little company

among Gothic Horror Vampire books.

 (Though Count Dracula

has lived on Sesame Street

since 1972!

But, did Count Dracula

ever drink blood?)

Now, vampire books are everywhere!

And, with the Cullens,

Bill and Eric becoming such

celebrity vampires,

I’m imagining that Vampire Stories

 are here to stay!

Bram died in London in 1912.

portrait

This is a special day

for yesterday.

Today is

Chaos Never Ends day,

but I’ve celebrated the day

with such gusto

that things have been too chaotic

 for me to post about that!

Dictionary Day

A day to remember Noah Webster.

(You’ve heard of the

Webster’s Dictionary, right?)

Webster was born today –

back in 1758.

Webster started writing his dictionary

when he was 43 years old…

and it took him 27 years to finish it!

I wonder what Webster

would think of today’s dictionary?

Each year, more words are added

to the dictionary…

slang words, words created, accepted

 and used by large numbers of people.

 So, this year’s words?

Earworm ("a song or melody

that keeps repeating in one's mind")

  bucket list (yep, from the movie)

gassed (slang - drained of energy)

aha moment (a moment of

sudden realization, inspiration,

 insight, recognition, or comprehension)

f-bomb

(yep – f-bomb is now a “real” word!)

man cave (every man needs a hiding cave!)

So… to get a word into the dictionary,

you just need to be clever enough

to come up with something very catchy,

encourage others to use it…

and before long,

you will have created a real word!

 

Happy Dictionary Day!

 

Surfice Dog

 

Ricochet is a cool surfer chick.

Well, not a chick… a dog.

(And, she’s won several

surf dog competitions!

I didn’t know there was

such a thing to win!)

 

Her friends call her Ricki.

So, another dog who enjoys

 standing on a surfboard??

Ricki is more than that.

She’s been trained to work

 with people with disabilities,

as an assistant dog.

She surfs with kids

and people with disabilities.

Even though Ricki began her training

at a very early age,

she just wasn’t cut out

to being a service dog.

After several false starts

and much frustration,

Ricki’s owner – Judy Fridono,

stopped fighting

and let Ricki enjoy herself.

When Ricki was 15 months old,

she placed third

in her first surfing contest.

That’s when Ricki earned

her title of SURFice Dog.

The first person Ricki surfed beside

 was Patrick Ivison, a quadriplegic surfer.

After catching a few waves

beside each other, Ricki suddenly jumped

 from her board on to Patrick’s board

and they caught their first

 wave in together.

And, there was no going back!

Now, Ricki rides the waves

with anyone who will

ride them with her.

 I can only imagine the smiles

 on their faces as they ride

 the waves with surfice dog Ricki! 

She also involves herself

in fundraising campaigns,

 to help people

living with disabilities.

Check out her webpage

to find out more.

Or, her facebook page.

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