SLC Retirees Association

Dance steps when social distancing

4/23/2020

Larry Gibbons, an SLC retiree who now lives in Cape Breton, shared his experiences in coping with COVID-19 and keeping one's distance in a rather humorous recent blog with many fine photos. His distancing techniques appear to involve choosing the appropriate dance steps to fit the situation. Have a look at
https://www.larryagibbons.com/blog/smoking-out-the-virus. What about your experiences; do you use any dance steps, or how do you maintain the necessary distancing? Why not share your thoughts on coping with the current situation.

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A collection to smile at...

4/6/2020

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This is the first time in history we can save the human race by lying in front of the TV and doing nothing. Let’s not screw it the !!!k up
In one week, we've seen how healthcare workers, truck drivers and grocery store employees are more important than NBA players, actors and the supposedly famous.
Maybe now society will realize we can make it without celebrities and professional sports... but we can’t make it without farmers and ranchers!
Hey creative community! Just a reminder that Shakespeare was quarantined for the plague when he wrote King Lear. No pressure!!!
Half of us are going to come out of this quarantine as amazing cooks. The other half will come out with a drinking problem.
I used to spin that toilet paper like I was on Wheel of Fortune. Now I turn it like I'm cracking a safe.
I need to practice social-distancing from the refrigerator.
Still haven't decided where to go for Easter ----- The Living Room or The Bedroom
PSA: every few days try your jeans on just to make sure they fit. Pajamas will have you believe all is well in the kingdom.
Homeschooling is going well. 2 students suspended for fighting and 1 teacher fired for drinking on the job.
I don't think anyone expected that when we changed the clocks we'd go from Standard Time to the Twilight Zone
This morning I saw a neighbor talking to her cat. It was obvious she thought her cat understood her. I came into my house, told my dog..... we laughed a lot.
So, after this quarantine.....will the producers of My 600 Pound Life just find me or do I find them?
Quarantine Day 5: Went to this restaurant called THE KITCHEN. You have to gather all the ingredients and make your own meal. I have no clue how this place is still in business.
My body has absorbed so much soap and disinfectant lately that when I pee it cleans the toilet.
Day 5 of Homeschooling: One of these little monsters called in a bomb threat.
I'm so excited --- it's time to take out the garbage. What should I wear?
I hope the weather is good tomorrow for my trip to Puerto Backyarda. I'm getting tired of Los Livingroom.
Classified Ad: Single man with toilet paper seeks woman with hand sanitizer for good clean fun.
Day 6 of Homeschooling: My child just said "I hope I don't have the same teacher next year".... I'm offended.
Better 6 feet apart than 6 feet under
Also highly contagious is kindness, patience, love, enthusiasm, and a positive attitude. Don’t wait to catch it from others...be the carrier!
Still haven' decided where to go for Easter -- the Family Room or the Living Room.
Remember when we thought we were going to have a bad week because of the time change, full moon, and Friday the 13th. We didn’t have a clue!
Definition of irony: gas under one dollar a liter and no place to go...
Your grandparents were called to war. You’re being called to sit on your couch You can do this!!
With March and April cancelled, the next holiday is Cinco De Mayo - sponsored by Corona.
Since everyone has started washing their hands like we’re supposed to, we’ll be working on shapes and colors next week.
Due to panic buying, Walmart has opened register 3.
Pro tip: if you get pulled over, just start coughing.
All these kids who have been learning Common Core math are about to learn how to “Carry the One” from their new home school teachers
That moment when you’re worried about the elderly and realize that you are the elderly...

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How grandchildren perceive their grandparents

3/29/2020

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Contributed by Thelma Mott

1. I was in the bathroom, putting on my makeup, under the watchful eyes of my young granddaughter, as I'd done many times before. After I applied my lipstick and started to leave, the little one said, "But Grandma, you forgot to kiss the toilet paper good-bye!" I will probably never put lipstick on again without thinking about kissing the toilet paper good-bye....

2. My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, 72. My grandson was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, "Did you start at 1?"

3. After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. Finally, she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice, "Who was THAT?"

4. A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like. "We used to skate outside on a pond. I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We picked wild raspberries in the woods." The little girl was wide-eyed, taking this all in. At last she said, "I sure wish I'd gotten to know you sooner!"

5. My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?" I mentally polished my halo and I said, "No, how are we alike?'' "You're both old," he replied.

6. A little girl was diligently pounding away on her grandfather's word processor. She told him she was writing a story.
"What's it about?" he asked.
"I don't know," she replied. "I can't read."

7. I didn't know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was. She would tell me and was always correct. It was fun for me, so I continued. At last, she headed for the door, saying, "Grandma, I really think you should try to figure out some of these colors yourself!"

8. When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting pesky insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us in. Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, "It's no use Grandpa. Now the mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights."

9. When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, "I'm not sure." "Look in your underwear, Grandpa," he advised "Mine says I'm 4 to 6." (WOW! I really like this one -- it says I'm only '38'!)

10. A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother, "Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today." The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool. "That's interesting." she said. "How do you make babies?" "It's simple," replied the girl. "You just change 'y' to 'i' and add 'es'."

11. Children's Logic: "Give me a sentence about a public servant," said a teacher. The small boy wrote: "The fireman came down the ladder pregnant." The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. "Don't you know what pregnant means?" she asked. "Sure," said the young boy confidently. 'It means carrying a child."

12. A grandfather was delivering his grandchildren to their home one day when a fire truck zoomed past. Sitting in the front seat of the fire truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog's duties.
"They use him to keep crowds back," said one child.
"No," said another. "He's just for good luck."
A third child brought the argument to a close. “They use the dogs," she said firmly, "to find the fire hydrants."

13. A 6-year-old was asked where his grandma lived. "Oh," he said, "she lives at the airport, and whenever we want her, we just go get her. Then, when we're done having her visit, we take her back to the airport."

14. Grandpa is the smartest man on earth! He teaches me good things, but I don't get to see him enough to get as smart as him!

15. My Grandparents are funny, when they bend over, you hear gas leaks and they blame their dog.

SEND THIS TO OTHER GRANDPARENTS, ALMOST GRANDPARENTS, OR HECK, SEND IT TO EVERYONE. IF THEY'RE NOT ALREADY GRANDPARENTS, MAYBE SOME DAY THEY'LL GET LUCKY AND BECOME ONE!
IT WILL MAKE THEIR DAY

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Dick Tindal's snowy adventure

2/25/2020

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Weather Woes
I read with great interest the recent item about the college’s inclement weather policy.
https://www.stlawrencecollege.ca/about/college-reports-and-policies/inclement-weather-policy/

It was gratifying to learn that, if at all possible, notifications would be posted by 6:30 a.m. about any cancellation of classes or other service interruptions that day. This would be done through various means, including:

Email will be sent to all students and staff via college email accounts.
Notifications will be posted on the college website homepage.
Local media will be notified by college officials.
Notifications will be posted on official college social media: Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Adventures before such a Policy
No such policies existed in the early days of SLC, nor were the various social media and other Internet options available for communicating the need to cancel college operations because of bad weather. I remember this vividly because of an experience I had just about 50 years ago. It would have been during the winter of 1971 or 1972, as best I can recall. I was living in Brockville at the time and was teaching mostly on Kingston Campus, while also driving to Cornwall
Campus a couple days a week to teach some government courses in the Assessment Program there because the teacher who had handled those had left.
The forecast of heavy snow had materialized and I got up early that morning to drive to Kingston. It was a long and tiring trip but I got to the campus after about two hours, instead of the usual one. I took one look at the snowbound parking lot at the Kingston Campus and made a strategic detour to the home of my uncle and aunt, who lived in a house right beside the notorious Lakeview Manor Hotel in Portsmouth. I drove my car into their driveway as far as I could, essentially burying it in a snowbank, and then walked up to the campus. As I walked into the main entrance about 10:30, someone in the hall (I have now forgotten who – or perhaps have suppressed the painful memory – explained “Goodness Dick, someone should have thought to phone you; classes are cancelled today.” I returned to my uncle and aunt’s house, went in for a brief visit, shovelled my car out of their driveway snowbank and drove back to Brockville, arriving home in early afternoon.
In closing, I would emphasize that this is a true account of what happened that winter day and not a snow job.

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Root Cellar Recollections

11/30/2018

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After Dunc Stevenson and Mike Winrow had done the renovations to the building, the Root Cellar Club was formed. I was the first President of the Club. As near as I can recall, Luella, Barb Mantrop, Gwynn Williams, and I think Mike Winrow were some of the other members.
We tried a lot of things to make the Root Cellar the go-to place for faculty and staff. We had entertainers on Friday nights, auctions, book sales, and so on. Entertainment nights were popular and sometimes there were people waiting outside to get in.
The largest initiative and the most work was to to offer lunches Monday to Friday. To do so each of us prepared one meal a week at home which would only require heating and delivered it to the Cellar before work. I remember preparing Beef Stroganoff and also Louella's Paella. There were stews, spaghetti, and whatever the committee members could dream up. At Christmas we prepared and offered two sittings for a Christmas Dinner.
That kind of effort along with our jobs leads to burn-out and at the end of the year we were happy to let other people take over the responsibility of running the Club. There were of course problems and crises but fortunately the fogs of time have obscured them.
John Mason

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Our very own Blues Brothers...

7/21/2018

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Maritimes Branch of Retirees Expanding
Brian Murphy and his wife Peggy relocated to the Maritimes but he has remained a member of our Association.

Brian and Frank Lockington (and their wives) met recently for lunch in the Annapolis Valley and both are looking quite relaxed in this photo (attached) as if the Maritime pace agrees with them.

It appears that they dined at a place called Pete's Oysters but I am having more trouble making out the math displayed on Brian's T shirt. Not sure if it is a form of "discovery math" disliked by Ontario's new Premier.
Posted by Dick Tindal

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Testing the "Little Grey Cells"

11/11/2016

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As you probably recall, Hercule Poirot benefited from active "little grey cells." As a public service, we are providing herein a very simple test of the little grey cells of our Association members. Think carefully about your responses before you go to the correct answers below.
1. Johnny’s mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child’s name?
2. There is a clerk at the butcher shop who is five feet ten inches tall and wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?
3. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?
4. If you were running a race, and you passed the person in second place, what place would you be in now?
5. If a farmer has five haystacks in one field and four haystacks in the other field, how many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in a third field?

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Tips from those who have gone before

10/15/2016

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Bill Kirby, the founder of our Retiree Association, submitted this item. It begins with a reference to a plaque that is on his desk at home, quoting C.F. Kettering. “Take good care of your future because that’s where you’re going to spend the rest of your life.”
[I am reminded of a remark by someone (perhaps George Burns) to the effect that “if I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself,” but I digress - and not for the first time, I hear you cry.]
Bill goes on to say that when he attended the first annual general meeting of the SLC Retirees Association in May 2005 (as a guest, not yet retired), he invited attendees to write something that might be helpful to those considering retirement. Their responses, in the order received, are outlined below – along with an entirely frivolous piece from yours truly about “Great Truths We Learn Over Our Lifetime.” Please post below your tips for retirees.

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Declension of Trump

10/10/2016

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Knowing David Schleich, there seems little doubt that his title “Declining Trump Grammatically” extended to the declension of the word Trump which, as you know, can be both a subject and an object. For example: “Trump is an idiot” and “The idiot you heard is Trump.”
Not being an English teacher, my efforts will be amateurish at best, but I am hoping other colleagues will join in. A simple declension might suggest Trimp, Tramp, Trump – with the middle term being entirely understandable (in light of recent revelations) but the first term rather puzzling. Another approach might yield Trump, Trumped, Trumphet – with the middle term expressing what most of us hope is his fate and the last term describing his stentorian voice.
This exercise reminds of a story – as most things do, I hear you cry. This one, however, seems quite appropriate since it deals with declension and the familiar theme of under-employed Ph.D graduates who lack the job skills found in community colleges.

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Declining Trump Grammatically

10/9/2016

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The title of this proposed discussion topic comes from the fertile brain of David Schleich. As he explained in an email to me, Trump leaves concepts hanging. He ends his statements with prepositions without logic or completion, a habit up with which we should not put! The latter, as most of you will recognize, is a variation of a comment attributed to Churchill when someone objected to a sentence ending in a preposition.
[Apparently, Churchill didn’t actually utter this clever riposte, but he is responsible for a delightful response during a lecture tour in America. Churchill was served a buffet lunch of cold chicken and when he asked the hostess for some breast, she informed him that “in this country we ask for white or dark meat.” The following day, Churchill sent her an orchid with the message: “I would be obliged if you would pin this on your white meat.”]
This story, I realize, has nothing to do with the original subject, for which I feel appropriately penitent. So, on with the task at hand. Anyone care to offer some examples of TrumpSpeak that illustrate his grammatical deficiencies?

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Views on Voting

10/8/2016

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Views on voting vary widely. Asked about her voting intentions in a telephone survey, one lady allegedly replied: “Oh, I never vote; it only encourages them.”
As you doubtless know, the Liberal Party, during the 2015 election campaign, promised that, if it formed the government, it would introduce a new method of voting in time for the next election. Why and what, I hear you cry!

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Mystery Photo #9

11/25/2015

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Who is this dapper young devil, sporting a Tom Selleck-like mustache from his days as Thomas Magnum P.I.? Where did he work and what strong connection does he still have with Kingston Campus?

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One of the SLC Pioneers

10/4/2015

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She was the third or fourth person hired, back when the College was just starting up in the basement of LCVI. She was preceded by Bob Short, Bill Cruden, and Phyllis Stokes and followed by Graydon Hayward (a Finance guy as I recall) and then by faculty members Ruth Tracy and Don Douglas.
She is June (Morton) Clarke, someone many of us recall very fondly.

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Mystery Photo #8

10/4/2015

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Who is this young gal?
Does anyone remember her?
If you do, how about some stories too.

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When We Were Young

10/4/2015

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Great photo below from June 1984. Can you find yourself? How many folks do you recognize? Wonder where some of them are now. Please share if you have information on those who may have left the College along the way. Would be nice to reconnect with them for the 50th anniversary celebrations in 2017.

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Mystery Photo #7

8/27/2015

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Who is this lovely lady?
Besides a name, give us a story or two.
If possible, tell us where this SLC retiree is now.

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50th Anniversary Celebration for Ron & Barb Robinson

8/20/2015

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Family and friends, including quite a few SLC retirees, gathered recently to join in the celebration of Ron and Barb’s 50th wedding anniversary. Festivities included a game in which each table of guests had to answer a series of questions intended to show how well they knew the guests of honour.
As a result of this exercise, we learned that:

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Where Are They Now Feature

8/11/2015

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One of our members recently posted the excellent suggestion that we broaden our mystery photo series to include a Where Are They Now component. This will be a challenge, especially for those who left the College quite some time ago. That was the case, by the way, with Al Clarke the fellow in Mystery Photo #6. He was correctly identified by Bill Kirby, who inadvertently posted his comment at the cartoon display below the Mystery Photo. Bill will have to share his prize (?) though with Marg Matheson because when I was chatting with her in Lake Ontario Park a couple days back, she also correctly identified Al.
In his comment, Bill recalls the outrageous pranks that Al used to play on his nearby office colleague Ev Downe. I can certainly testify to Al's wild side as he and I used to hang out together in the very early years at SLC. In his contribution to the Memory Book that I prepared in conjunction with the Wall of Appreciation that was "opened" on Kingston Campus in 1997, Al wrote that "he would have enjoyed telling about the time he and Dick Tindal visited Montreal, but those files are sealed by CSIS."
Bill mentions that Al left the College to become a stock broker in Toronto, but that is the last information we have about him. How about it folks? Can anyone help with the Where Are They Now portion of the story - or otherwise provide some recollections of Al, or of any of the others in our mystery photo series.

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