STORYTIME TAPESTRY

March 8, 2005

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Animal awareness series endorsed by Shiloh and Hank our mascots; all stories must receive their approval.

<p>And now on to the good stuff..........</p>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

BULLY THE CLOWN
From: Georgewaters Ojeigbe
??“ Lagos, Nigeria
gojiegbe @jhplc.com

It is just too amazing to find out that your heart is filled with lots of stories. The annoying aspect is that they seem not to come at the actual time you have wanted them to.

Some people can remember stories through what they see every day, others like me sometimes remember occurrences by reading other peoples??™ stories and of recent it happened when I finished reading Sharon??™s story on ???BOB, THE THIEF.??? This inspired mine on BULLY THE CLOWN.

Bully was maybe my family??™s fourth dog, at least as far as I could remember. Bully was featured in one of my stories sometimes ago but his exhibitions were not detailed enough.

Bully used to eat up slippers, handbags and sack bags, trousers and skirt s??™ cuffs of visitors; in fact he eats the eatables anywhere he gets to. He loved to chase the chickens around buildings and unplug electrical gargets from sockets by pulling the wire cords with his teeth.

One day a friend of the family left his slippers at the sitting room??™s entrance as he came to visit us. When leaving, he had to borrow a pair of slippers from us after the wonder dog destroyed his beyond repairs.

Bully in another occasion slipped underneath our sitting room cushioned chair where a visitor sat. As the visitor was busy chatting with the family, Bully was busy chewing up her skirt??™s cuff. Almost eating the skirt upward to her laps, she frightening jumped up from the chair with her head almost reaching the ceiling, she screamed and almost fainting. She was so scared thinking that a rat was about entering into her skirt. At the time we noticed Bully being the culprit he suddenly put on a sheepish look on his face and looked frightened; ears shaking and fidgeting still stationed underneath the chair. A clown dog we used to call him.

Once, a boy was pulling the feathers of a dead chicken and his mother had to call him away for a while. Before he did return, Bully had rushed to carry away the chicken from the hot water bowl. All day long the chicken was been looked for without success not until about two days later as the dead chicken began to leach out smell from underneath a cupboard in our store that we knew the truth of what happened to our neighbor??™s dead chicken which was supposed to have been used for her child??™s get together party.

A cousin of ours who is still in the police force up to date came to visit us. He knew not Bully??™s nature of destruction as he left his boots at the corridor. Before the following morning Bully the magician had done wonders on the boots. But Bully was unlucky that day as he made the mistake by wading hurryingly his tail before the owner of the boots; he got the beating of his life. Haun, haun, haun filled the air that morning as police man and dog bully began running all around the house.

Who won? Bully did any!

When he couldn??™t defend himself anymore, he angrily bit our police officer (my cousin) on his right wrist making the weaponless police man to cry out in anguish. Bully disappeared into hiding until my cousin the police man - dog beater left that late morning.

On one very peaceful day, Bully ended up turning it into the worst day for the girls as he took one of the girls??™ panties and hid somewhere. The two cousins of mine fought for close to 2 hours and purring out insults upon insults upon themselves saying you stole my panties??¦ As they were fighting one of we boys went searching in order to stop this deadly fighting only to see Bully laying on it under the cloths ironing table. To me, it seemed as if he was laughing because his tongue was out and he was breathing heavily as saliva was dropping out of his tongue, his eyes were also wet as one who had laughed heavily.

Not only had Bully caused commotions at home and far. He once succeeded in making me go hungry and angry as he ate the food that was served to me. You may wonder how he did it! He simply climbed on the table and balanced himself to eat as one in McDonalds Stores.

Bully knows how to steer up trouble between the other dogs at home and outsiders; humans and dogs alike. He would simply lug heads together by erupting and causing confusions and as soon as the other dogs burst into action he would simply decline and stay aback to watch the result.

Bully also has his special dancing steeps which he normally does when welcoming us back home from school or our parents from work and especially those who have been away for long.

One very good thing about Bully is the respect he has for little children. No matter how tough a child could be on him he never revenge or hurt a child, he would only simple leave that vicinity to avoid furtherance. But if an adult had done same as that child Bully would spear not that man or woman.

Bully, suddenly just disappeared from home after we moved to another house. Whether he was taking into glory or rapture, I can not say even to this prevent day. I really missed him for the happiness and excitement he gave us especially to me.

Well, these are just the few that I can still remember of Bully the funny dog that always leave our eyeballs watery after causing laughter by his destructive act. Although, these acts partially stopped at the time he got to about 2 to 3 years old.

THE END!

Georgewaters Ojeigbe
gojiegbe @jhplc.com

BIO-DATA

I was born on 21st April, 1970. I live in Lagos, Nigeria the most populous city in Africa. I sing in a Church music group where I fellowship. I love sports. I love admiring the heavens and other wonderful works borne from Jehovah??™s hands. I discovered the power of writing stories, encouraged by Carol. Thanks for her existence! I am pet lover minus snakes; I so much hate this creature called snake but others I prefer. I like to do lots of home works like creating my art works, gardening, making some home furniture, fitting electrical appliances etc.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today's Queue Stories:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What do you want on your tombstone--- and we??™re not talking pizza--?
Claudia Kerens

When you are in the final days of your life, what will you want? ... Will you hug that college degree in the walnut frame? Will you ask to be carried to the garage so you can sit in your car? Will you find comfort in rereading your financial statement? Of course not.-what will matter then will be people. If relationships will matter most then, shouldn't they matter most now? -- Max Lucado in "A Love Worth Giving"

Death seems to have crossed my threshold over the past few weeks several times. One was a 54 year old cousin who went to bed one evening, not to wake up ever again. Another was a Texas roommate, who had had some heart problems when we roomed together; but, she had been given a superlative bill of health. She also went to sleep at age 50 eternally in her own bed on a Saturday night. And then at the end of this past week, a high school class mate, age 51, met his maker. He refused to stop drinking when told to some years ago. His liver stopped functioning.

The ages seem young when I know each and everyone of the departed shared their talents in a variety of ways that enhanced the lives around them. And of course, whenever we face deaths of this sort- within our generation- it can??™t help but cross the mind that ???This could have been me!???

The spirituality bespeaks the age old acceptance humans have developed of ???The good Lord decided the time, place and hour.??? So as we grieve, we accept for the most part that God, like a master clockmaker, has every soul??™s life light timed from the moment the light was first turned on to the times it might have dimmed until the time the light was snuffed out forever.

For all of the sadness at what could have been, it can also be a wake up call for the rest of us to remind us that we, too, have gifts to give daily that enhance one another??™s lives if we take advantage of the opportunity. Sadly though, several of us don??™t know how to release the negativity that acts like a fog rather than open our minds to the ???presents.??™

Instead, acting out of immaturity, some strive to shut down any sort of creativity that makes them feel threatened because for the most part, they are ???getting by??™ doing the same old seen that, been there, done that. Doing anything ???extra??™ would be a huge stretch of activity. Vision is not in their vocabulary because having a vision means real work.

To me, that??™s almost like dying--- how can we live without a vision or a dream? In the educational field, visions of new ideas and new ways to present old ideas are a constant; or, at least they should be. After all, the clientele change and their needs change. Kids coming into the schools today are not usually from ???Beaver Cleaver??? homes. When some hit the classroom, that act alone is sometimes a miracle at work.

In order to be an effective agent of support or to even provide nurturing has to be an ever changing act of flexibility. In other words, the educator best be on the toes and be able to weave and bob. Then, once the student??™s mind opens a bit, a few common sense logic punches need to hit home so the student picks up the survivor skills to plan the rest of their life. That plan becomes a dream or if we are lucky, a vision of their future life.

So how can we best provide for those we are lucky enough to serve? While I have an age old sign hanging in my classroom stating: Thou Shalt Not Whine, I am in the process of creating a new sign that says: Check You Personal Vendettas [or grudges, or prejudices] At The Door.

That would be like having a ???defragment??™ moment with our minds, rather than just with our PCs.

Think of all of the mind space that is freed if we all practiced that!

There would be room for new thoughts, ideas, attitudes that just might add up to new visions or new dreams that just might make the world and our lives more interesting places to positively help each other to survive the things we cannot control. Instead we learn to remain 'true' to ourselves and the rest of humanity.

We discover how to live another glorious day until that great clockmaker allows our own soul lights to flicker, dim, and perhaps be recycled into a greater light that some of us call eternity. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Move It OR Lose It!
Claudia Kerens

Since life is growth and motion, a fixed point of view kills anybody who has one. ~Brooks Atkinson~

Thinking beyond the box has always been a favored mantra. This means one takes the lessons learned from past experiences and looks to see what the future has in store for the box itself because ultimately, it is ???the box??™ that one is shielding from the negative life incursions.

There are a multitude of parallels that can apply to this same view. How about protecting ???the box??™ called the family? Or, how many people plan to meet the needs of the financial ???box???™ Doesn??™t driving a car on freeways require one to think beyond ???the box???™ How much flexibility does it take to accomplish these?

Educators are required to think beyond ???the box??™ when planning the curriculum for an 18 or 36 week course knowing there will be unpredictable interruptions or elements of time taken away from meeting the mission of achieving the standards. Surely other professions also require managers to think beyond ???the box??™ in order to fulfill their employment responsibilities.

Ergo, thinking beyond ???the box??™ of life is not a crime; rather, it is a necessity. One has to be ready to role with the punches and be flexible enough to maneuver through the unforeseen pot holes or bomb blasts ??“ some lobbed by pseudo terrorists- that tend disrupt one??™s life path. It behooves those of us who think beyond ???the box??™ to pass it on and teach the skill to others!

That is only of course if we ascribe to the concept of as fair a shake as possible for all. Some people call this the philosophy of democracy. Now, if we want to be group think narcissists, then we don??™t want to teach anyone to even realize that there is life beyond ???the box.??™

Why is that-- one may ponder? There is greater control, power and influence that satisfy the superegos??™ desire to keep ???the box??™ just the way it is. The late Idi Amin or even Haiti??™s Papa Doc often ruled on the platform of keeping their populations uneducated. If the citizenry is kept ???ignorant,??™ the people won??™t know how OR will be too afraid to question the justice in how they are governed. These folks won??™t even know that there is a ???box,??™ much less have the ability to think beyond ???the box.??™

Remember, knowledge is power. We can all lose most everything precious in our lives- just like Job- but, unless we are totally smacked silly, no one can really take away what we know!

So, not thinking beyond ???the box??™ perhaps should be a varied leveled crime attached with a monetary fine given how little thought was provided. After all, when we prosecute people who drive drunk, aren??™t we asking them to think beyond ???the box??™ of their alcoholic haze, surrender their car keys and find a designated driver while also keeping in mind that they are responsible for the repercussions of a heinous, tragic car wreck that usually kills victims whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time? And then the next step is to hold accountable the people who sold or gave alcohol to the drunk- thus the bartenders are also required to think beyond ???the box,??™ aren??™t they?

So it seems that thinking beyond ???the box??™ should be a major skill taught to all, shouldn??™t it? Plus wouldn??™t it scorn the power of immature adults? You know those whiners and complainers! The people who want to make everyone ???the same.??™ The concept of change or upgrades are not words in their vocabulary because if they could stop time and keep things the way they were 20 years ago, they would.

So is that why people who innately, naturally think beyond ???the box??™ are penalized for seeing the whole picture?

Common sense, given most situations, logically concludes that life as a whole is not a peaceful, mirrored pond without any ripples to disturb the ???sameness??™ of it all. Really, humans are the most unpredictable of all species. Therefore, there are times that ripples have to occur in the pond if not only to prevent algae and the like growing out of hand and befouling the pond while eating all of the oxygen out of it.

I don??™t know about you all ??“ but- it seems to me that a pond that has gone unnourished and is rarely replenished normally smells worse than a ten year old working pigsty. Who wants a feces deodorizer for life?

Granted, as I have often been told, ???that is my perception;??™ BUT the same old seen that, been there, done that mentality doesn??™t wash in the 21st century. Jeez, if humanity held onto that idea as if it were life??™s breath, the wheel would never have been invented!

Does that mean we throw away everything every time we approach the vagaries of life? That certainly does not demonstrate intelligence either.

Instead, the recipe for the logical course of action is that we must pay attention to where we have been in order to refine and improve the manner in which tasks, goals or whatever is accomplished to best complete whatever the mission is deemed to be.

Then the next ingredient to role into this dough of life is probably several dashes ??“ in my case, I throw in a couple of cups, of ???roll with the punches.??™ We stir in all of the other ingredients that give our lives color.

I am sure some think beyond ???the box??™ chefs will also add a few ???secret??™ ingredients for their taste. And finally, there are the different spices of life to be added that makes it acceptable for all of us to be respected for being the unique individuals we all are rather than be punished when we won??™t do what those who think they Kings or Queens decree.

Generally speaking, that??™s the major lesson I have learned very well this year. The best thing has been is I have discovered I am not the only one in my world who shares this view. There are more people who think beyond ???the box??™ than most people tend to realize. Now that is a true atomizer of validation! The age of respecting the aged decadent ???monarchies??™ is declining because like all life forms, everyone ends up as dust in the end. And at that, they are dust in a box.

Claudia Kerens
mina1986 @ midwest. net

About Me:

General Bio - 51 year old educator who has
worn several hats in the broadcasting,
office and restaurant worlds. Turning 50
is a freeing experience thus most of my
writing revolves around lessons learned
and wisdom to pass on so that others don't
hit the same brick walls I did. The sooner
folks love themselves, they can give love
to others. And that, is the greatest
gift of all.

 In God I Trust.
Patricia Leeflang

God has a special purpose for me
He knows my days before I was born
God has me in the palm of His hand
He shelters me under His wings
He leads me beside the still waters

I may go through fire
I may go through water
even in a deap valley of tears
yet God holds on to me
He is there for me

It may seem like I am alone
that there is no-one there for me
that I must do things on my own
yet He is there with His Word
He is there with His Spirit

I may make my plans
I may have my hopes for the future
there may be things I deeply desire
yet God has my days planned
He knows what is best for me

God knows my days
before there was one of them
He guides my feet
He will show me the way to go
It will all be to His Glory

What can shake my trust in God?
Only my own sinfulness
Even then I know and believe
that Christ died for me
He has made me white as snow

God draws me close to Him
All praise be to God
He knows what is best for me
and will give me the strength
for each new day for His Glory

Patricia Leeflang
trishleef @yahoo.com.au

Bio.....

I was born in West Australia to a very large family, we lived in the hills just out of town. My parents have just celebrated 50 years of marriage, they had 14 children and now have 38 grandkids. I married and was blessed with three children to love and cherish. We lived in Holland for a few years but I had to return to West Australia after i was given the papers of divorce for the safety of my kids and my self. We happily live near the beach now for the last 8 years, enjoying God's wonderful creation and the life style here in WA. I am a care giver for the elderly in a nursing home thoroughly enjoying my work.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SENIOR WRITERS

Agee,Vance,  Apted,Violet,  Baker,Kathy,  Batt,Al,  Berry,Nell,

Boda,Ginger,  Bryant,Sharon,  Cassady,B.J.,  Crider,Mark,  Deming,Barb,  Goodier,Steve,

Harris,Kathy Anne,  Hunt, Sharlette,  Jacobson, Gary,  Kiser,Roger Dean,  Jenkins,Pamela, Liles,Norma,  Mazzella,Joe,  Moore, Loren,  Ojeigbe,Georgewaters, Sims,Richard, Vaknin,Sam, Walker,Joe,  Whirity,Kathy,  White,Robert

<p>STORYTIME TAPESTRY STAFF

Publisher: Carol Roach-founder

Moderator: Thelma Hartselle-co founder

Chief writer: Loren Moore-co founder,

Co-Publisher, Moderator: Kathy Baker

Moderator, Publicity Director

Moderator: Clara Westerfer</p>

<p> Send all inquires about the newsletter including submission requirements: