Eric Shackle Writes: Never Too Old To Meander The Web - or Me And Da Web
"Dear Bill.
"I can never find anything interesting on the internet," you told
me over lunch the other day. To show you (and many other over-50s) just how wrong you were, I'd like to tell you how I spent a pleasant hour meandering through the web after returning home…''
And Eric Shackle goes on to prove his point in interesting ways.
For further magnificent proof of what use a man in his eighties can make of the internet visit Eric’s world-famous e-book www.bdb.co.za/shackle Many a happy hour can be spent in Eric’s company in the net.
First, I found a message on my Guest Map from Jacquie Schmall, of Milwaukie,
Oregon. After replying to it, I fell to wondering why the name of her
hometown has a different spelling from the better-known city of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.
Googling Milwaukie I found a website which said: "Milwaukie is on the
Willamette River. The community is believed named for Milwaukee, WI." But
another site said " 24 Nov 1965, Milwaukie named by Pottawottamic tribe."
About 35,000 people live in Milwaukie, which is a suburb of Portland.
Next I googled Milwaukee Wisconsin (population 600,000), and found an
interesting story, "Beer made city famous but art, architecture are giving
it pizazz" that Jane Wooldridge had written three years ago for the Miami
Herald.
"If they could see this place now, Laverne and Shirley would tear the
buttons right off their sweater sets", she wrote. "It sure isn't the
Milwaukee those TV beer-bottlers knew." Her story continued:
A sleek modern gothic tower looms above the 19th-century banks and offices
that are in cream-colored brick. The Brewers are cracking the bat in a smart
new $394 million field with a retractable roof. The old warehouses down on
the Milwaukee River have been transformed into art galleries, theaters,
brewpubs and a hip museum of advertising design...
And on the shore of Lake Michigan, a half-block from downtown's stately
offices, is a winged white mast --- an addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum
that is arguably the most striking architectural statement in America in
recent years.
Sure, they still brew beer here --- though most of the major breweries are
gone.. But if you're thinking of Wisconsin's signature city as more
cheesehead hamlet than urban enclave, it's time to turn off the reruns.
Returning to Oregon, I visited Jacquie Schmall's website, which revealed
that she is both a fine artist and an astute marketer of her art work. She
has written a popular book, Who's Counting? Jackie's Guide to Staying Young
and Having Fun, released last year. The publisher's blurb says:
Spokeswoman for a generation, Jackie is saucy, sassy, and sure of herself.
Now she shares her wisdom for the ageless in Who's Counting?
So what does Jackie know that the young whippersnappers could stand to
learn? She knows that life is too short to spend worrying over every
calorie, every wrinkle, and every penny. She knows that too much of a good
thing can be a very good thing. Most importantly, she knows that she can get
away with anything!
In addition to her piquant observations and clever one-liners, Who's
Counting? features hilarious full-color photos of Jackie at her rambunctious
best. See her hanging tough astride a tricked-out motorcycle, flirting with
tuxedo-clad men a fraction of her age, and laughing it up with a friend (at
something off-color and hardly ladylike, no doubt).
There's a new and growing generation of women who are making "the good life"
last and last, and Jackie is an outspoken champion for them all.
Duly impressed, I sent Jacquie this email: "I've just visited your website,
and congratulate you on your artistry and enterprise. By the way, there's
another talented artist named Jacquie in UK, who markets what I consider to
be the world's best e-cards."
Within a few minutes came this reply:
I do know about Jacquie Lawson.....a distinctly talented and obviously
lovely human being, and it's very rewarding to discover the many positive
little nooks and crannies of the world through the internet!
BTW my son's name is Eric....always had a soft spot for the name. ^_^
I grew up in Connecticut. My son Eric and my daughter Valerie grew up on
Long Island in New York. Way long ago I worked as the lead technician in the
lab at Rockefeller University that participated in developing the first
birth control pill. More recently I produced an Indie film, and love to be
involved in the film and entertainment community. I adore writing and
painting both....and best of all I get to live in the big beautiful
northwest.
I was in Australia in 1987...had a fabulous time visiting with my childhood
friend Gloria who now lives in Queensland. At the time I visited she lived
in the suburbs of Sydney. However, when I arrived it was mid-winter......and
I had been traveling in China, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong where the
weather was sweltering. She was kind enough to whisk me off to Darwin so I
wouldn't shiver the whole visit.
It is one of my dearest wishes to return and spend some time on the west
coast near Broome perhaps, and then travel by train down the coast and
across to Melbourne. Ahhhh.....a lovely dream
Before leaving Milwaukie, Oregon, I enjoyed reading this delightful tale
about skookums and the Pudding River (two great names).
According to the Kalapuya Indians, long ago a hero named Tallapus (also
called Coyote) came to the Willamette Valley from somewhere far over the
Rocky Mountains. At this time, gigantic skookums (ogres) terrified the
people of the Valley. Worse still, the Kalapuyas (people of the Pudding
River) had no place to catch the delicious salmon that teemed up the
Willamette River every season. Tallapus decided to provide fish for the
people before he freed them from the worst of the skookums.
First, Tallapus tried to make a fishing place at the mouth of the Pudding
River. This proved unsuitable so Tallapus moved on, leaving behind a small
riffle at the place where the Pudding River meets the Willamette. Next--at
Rock Island in the middle of the Willamette River--Tallapus created an even
grander design. But this also was not quite right, and Tallapus moved on,
leaving behind a strong rapid in the River.
Finally, from bank to bank Tallapus constructed the Willamette Falls. There
he placed a wondrous machine to catch the salmon for the people. Tallapus
instructed the fish-trap to shout out "Noseepsk, Noseepsk" whenever it
became full of fish. But so great were the numbers of salmon (at one time
said to be so many that a man could cross the river upon their backs) that
the amazing machine called out "Noseepsk, Noseepsk" almost without ceasing.
Annoyed by the trap's constant summons, Tallapus told the machine, "Wait
until I build a fire, and do not keep calling me forever". The wondrous
fish-trap was so offended by Tallapus's anger that it instantly ceased to
work for all time. Now the people must labor for their salmon but the
Willamette Falls remains a scene of great beauty and the perfect place to
catch fish.
[Based on "The Reminiscences of Louis Labonte" in the Oregon Historical
Quarterly, 1901]
...The word for waterfall (tumwata or tumchuck) in the Chinook Jargon is
based on the term "tumtum," or heartbeat. A tumtum is something's spirit or
soul; to the local Indians, the waterfall was the tumtum of the river.
So ended my meander through the web, Bill. Take a look at some of the links
shown below this story. If you don't find at least two of them to interest
you, I'll be surprised ... and disappointed.
That word meander? I googled that, too. It's derived from the Greek
Maiandros, the name of a river in Phrygia, noted for its winding course. The
verb means "to flow in a winding course" (of rivers) and "to wander
aimlessly" (of a person).
The Buyuk Menderes (Meander) River, 363 miles (584 km) in length, is the
longest river in the Aegean region of Turkey. A Turkish website says "The
river has so many turns and curves that its name contributed to
international terminology."
There's another Meander River about 70 km north of a place called High Level
on the Mackenzie Highway in northern Alberta, Canada. A Canadian website
says:
Most residents are of native origin, belonging to the Dene Tha' Band. The
school, built in 1996, band office and the store offer the only source of
full time employment to a very limited number of people. Many people commute
to High Level for work.
Organized social activities are few. The new Band office offers recreation
for the youth as well as the young adults. The community has a recreational
hockey league as well as ball hockey and volleyball...
To sum up, Meander River is a quiet place to live.
Links
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
http://www.metromilwaukee.org/news/miamihearald.html
Jacquie Schmall's website http://www.cafepress.com/ohjacquie
Jacquie Schmall's story
http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/products/?isbn=0740750380
Jacquie Lawson's e-cards http://www.jacquielawson.com/
Jacquie Lawson's story http://www.jacquielawson.com/aboutus.asp
A Legend: Tallapus and the Hyas Tyee Tumwater (Willamette Falls)
http://www.usgennet.org/alhnorus/ahorclak/indians.html
Meander River, Turkey
http://www.turkishodyssey.com/places/aegean/aegean6.htm
Canada's Meander River
http://www.fvsd.ab.ca/Communities/meander_river.htm
The Dene Tha' language http://www.native-languages.org/slavey.htm
