Month: November 2016

…. You faithful long term readers will recall that every year we try and do something really  special for the most deserving little kids at Christmas time!

……..   I waited to at least  Thanksgiving to kick off this unusual toy drive ( take note Walmart:-), but now I need you all to jump into action….

 

 

…….. So here’s the deal ……   We’ve asked some of the poorest local elementary schools to pick 25 of their kids that are excelling, despite their challenging lives ….

 

 

………   so it’s our job to take the frown off these kids’  faces –

 

 

….and replace them with these !

 

 

…….. If you do your part, we can make it happen!    …..  So go buy a really nice toy, for either a boy or girl, ages 6 up to 11, (we’ll need about 300 toys!) ….. and don’t wrap them , and take them here –

 

 …. that’s the famous Christmas Palace that is located at 800 NE 13th Street in Fort Lauderdale     ….  from now until Dec. 17th …  tell them it’s for the Christmas Toy Drive ….

 

……We’ll pick up the toys on Dec. 17th, and on Sunday Dec. 18, we’ll hold a great big party for these wonderful, most deserving kids, and their parents,  at the Middle River Terrace Park – 1329 N. Dixie , from 1 until 4 pm   …. We’d like you to come to the party also, so you can see how happy your presents make these kids    …..

 

 

……………………….     thanks as usual  ……    Tim

…. I was beginning to wonder whether this 100 year old house, one of the very oldest remaining in the city, would ever get finished with its renovations.

 

…….  this is the house as it was in 1916, the home of the infamous second Judge of Broward, Judge Shippey   …. he was the “marrying Judge”, actually married Tarzan in the house ( no, not to Jane).

 

……  this is the house being relocated to the historic district, about 5 years ago ….it was in very bad shape!

 

… as it arrived to its new home, in very bad shape,  in the historic district ..

 

…. i hear there were hundreds of thousands of dollars, and boodles of volunteer hours, spent moving, renovating, landscaping, furnishing etc…. ( second photo  is Jessica, a social worker who moved here from New York,  just in time to help with the landscaping !)

 

…..  yes, that’s me on left  – chief landscaping volunteer, with house nearly complete

 

…..   and here is the ribbon cutting, all big-shots smiling, proving that the effort was a success!

…………… congrats to us all ! ( and thanks to Cal Deal,for all his photos)

 

 

 

 

 

…. it is the day after,the day after  ……

…. and many of us are feeling a tad sad, depressed, maybe even despondent ..  (see above)  …..

……. but  my sister in law just shared with me the following insightful Chinese Parable, and my mood may be changing!  …. I hope you get the same message I did!

 

    …………..   the Chinese Parable, ….. the Chinese farmer’s horse

 

………  one day , a chinese farmer’s horse ran away   ……  the farmer’s neighbors  came around to console the farmer and they all said to the farmer –

 

 your horse is gone,  ….”isn’t that terrible?  …..

 

   …… but  strangely,  the farmer said ” MAYBE” …….

 

 …….  the next morning, the farmer’s horse returned with a herd of wild horses … now, the farmer had lots of horses   …

 

……   another neighboring farmer saw all the bounty of the free herd  of horses arriving  and said to the farmer – “ isn’t that wonderful”  ?

 

 

   ….but strangely,   the farmer again said “MAYBE” 

 

……. the next morning, the farmer’s son went out to break the wild horses, but instead, one of the wild horses threw the son off the horse and broke his leg !

 

  … all the  concerned neighbors came by  to say… “isn’t that terrible?”

 

  … as you might now guess,……  and again, and surely most strangely, the farmer calmly said“MAYBE”……….

 

……  and just then, the Chinese army came by, looking for young recruits to conscript for war, but they couldn’t  take the Chinese farmer’s son due to the newly broken leg  !

 

      …….    the wise farmer