The person suddenly in front of you, you know; however, you "choke" unable to remember who it is ~

U.S. Film actor, Douglas Fairbanks was driving back to his mansion, saw an Englishman of aristocratic mien and familiar face trudging along the road in the heat.  He stopped to offer him a ride, which the stranger accepted.  Still unable to remember the man's name, Fairbanks invited him in for a drink, and in the course of conversation attempted to elicit some clues as to his visitor's identity.  The Englishman seemed to know many of Fairbanks's friends and was evidently well acquainted with the estate, for he made approving comments on some recent changes.  Eventually Fairbanks managed a whispered aside to his secretary, who had just entered the room. "Who's this Englishman?  I know he's Lord Somebody, but I just can't remember his name.

"That," replied the secretary, "is the English butler you fired last month for getting drunk."

~ THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman General Editor, 1985.

"A wise old owl lived in an oak;

The more he saw the less he spoke;

The less he spoke the more he heard:

Why can't we all be like that bird?"

~ Unknown

Those we Love the Best  ~ by Ella Wheeler Wilcox*

One great truth in life I've found,
     While journeying to the West ~
The only folks we really wound
     Are those we love the best.

The man you thoroughly despise
     Can rouse your wrath, 'tis true;
Annoyance in your heart will rise
     At things mere strangers do.

But those are only passing ills;
     This rule all lives will prove;
The rankling wound which aches and thrills
Is dealt by hands we love.

The choicest garb, the sweetest grace,
     Are oft to strangers shown;
The careless mien, the frowning face,
    Are given to our own.

We flatter those we scarcely know,
     We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
     To those we love the best ....

*American author, poet (1850 - 1919) Her best known work perhaps The Way of the World, lines of which are, "Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone."

 

"We are alone, absolutely alone, on this chance planet; and amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us."   ~ Maurice Maeterlinck (Aug. 29, 1862 - May 6, 1949) Belgium playwright, poet.

 

CLOSING AUGUST 30/14

July 30, 2014
29 Talbot Street,
Cayuga, Ontario.

To:  Mayor Ken Hewitt - Haldimand County Council
cc:  Councillor Fred Morison - Haldimand County, Ward 2

Subject:  Open letter re:  Parking in Cayuga

As we are sure you are aware, there is a petition circulating asking that Haldimand County Council purchase or lease property for the purpose of a public parking lot in the Village of Cayuga.

Our very survival as a small used bookshop in Cayuga depends at this point on the availability of parking for potential customers.  Our building at the corner of Talbot (Hwy 3) and Cayuga Streets includes tenants who claim four street parking spaces on the Cayuga Street side of the bookshop.  The wrecking yard adjacent to our building can claim as many as six or seven parking spaces for plated and unplated vehicles ~ not to mention the frontage that the yard takes up along both streets.

The parking spaces on Talbot Street are well signed as two-hour and snow-route parking.  We feel that the parking spaces on Cayuga Street need to be signed as two-hour parking as well and two-hour parking spaces need to be enforced.  Complicating the ease of parking at the bookshop door is the dangerous left turn onto Talbot from Ouse.

It is our observation that Caledonia, Hagersville and Dunnville have designated public-parking lots that are convenient to the shops and services.  We understand that sometime in the future Cayuga may have limited parking available in the area of the existing fire station;  however, a parking lot on Highway 3 close to the downtown businesses would serve the visitors, tourists, businesses, rental tenants, residents and service organizations, encouraging economic development.  Available for sale is lot #15, Talbot Street West -- the property between the Royal Canadian Legion and the former Cayuga Hotel.  It sits as a derelict eyesore, a constant reminder to those of us committed to improving our village.  The location is highly visible, easily accessible to traffic coming from all directions and if converted to a public parking lot would relieve the current parking issues and work in concert with the planned downtown revitalization.

We have personally witnessed over the ten years that we have been in business the squabbling over ownership of parking spaces.  It has been a comment on our lack of planning and has caused headaches for struggling shops in the downtown area.

We ask for your full support in the urgency for a parking lot with proper signage that would encourage existing business owners to stay and act as a signal to potential businesses that we are looking toward a future in Cayuga with a vibrant, attractive core.  We envision a revitalized village with walkways, streets and shops where residents can proudly welcome visitors.

Thank you for your immediate attention and continued support.

Sincerely,

John & Lorna Walker
The Neat Little Bookshop 905.772.5997 or 905.577.5635

www.theneatlittlebookshop.blogspot.com

Lot Opposite GALLERY WILLIAM BIDDLE on Talbot St.

 

First we make our habits

Then our habits make us.

 

~ J. K. Rowling

 

You Are The Author of Your Own Life Story

 

~ Unknown

Day of 1000 Canoes 2013 ~ York

"A Canadian is somebody who knows how to make love in a canoe."

~ Pierre Berton, author and television personality, quoted by Dick Brown in The Canadian, Dec. 22, 1973. [John Robert Colombo's FAMOUS LASTING WORDS, 2000]

"In John Robert Colombo's Canadian Quotations, Pierre Berton is quoted saying "a Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe."  Pierre says he didn't say it, or if he did he took it from someone else, but whoever the authority is, if that's the test, I fail.  I do know how to gunwale a canoe...portage it, right it without getting out of the water, and sail it home with my hockey sweater tied to a paddle.  But make love?  You got me."

~ Peter Gzowski, journalist.  The Private Voice:  A Journal of Reflections (1988). [John Robert Colombo's FAMOUS LASTING WORDS, 2000]