ALL JOKES ASIDE!

A customer admires my work and stares at every object for about an hour.

Then as he is about to leave my booth without a purchase, asks:

Q:  Are they all hand-made?

A:  No. They are all home-made by hand. I also have a machine

      that is connected to my wrists. Want to take another guess?

      Go ahead. You might as well. Or do you think  I use my

      feet?  And what do you mean “all hand-made”?

      Are you suggesting some are while others are not?

ALL JOKES ASIDE

Q:  Oh! Hand-made! Do you make them here?

A: No! We manufacture them in outer space.

      Then we hire aliens to ship them out here!

ALL JOKES ASIDE

Customers questions at Craft Shows

Q:   Did you write this poetry book yourself?

A:    No! I just put my name on it for fun!

ALL JOKES ASIDE

Hilarious questions by customers at Craft Shows

Q:   Do you make these 'Woodburnings' yourself?

A:    No! They just fall from the sky on weekends early

       in the morning on the outskirts of this town. All you have

       to do is be there early to pick them up. Then, all you do is

       load them in your mini-van and drive! Then wait your turn

       to set up  and try to sell them here!

ALL JOKES ASIDE

WHAT A FINE ACCOLADE:

A customer stares at my work with admiration for about 2 hours,

 ...and after an unsuccessful purchase, quotes:

Tony, you’re doing an excellent job!

HOLDING HANDS

HOLDING HANDS       by   Tony Fernandes     

My wife often says to me at the Malls: “Look, that couple there, see how lovingly they are holding hands and walking along”. And then I am prompted to retort: “As if I love you any less if I don’t do what they do. You know I love you nevertheless, don’t you?”

As we walk further down through the mall we see more couples holding hands as they leisurely pace along the aisles.

Now, that is precisely the situation that prompts or suggests in my own few personal notions about this trait of holding hands through normal human behaviour.

Though holding hands is not new, it is definitely an expression of love as old as time and love itself.

Looking on the humourous side here are a few of my own observations why people, married couples, or just lovers, hold hands in public places and especially in the Malls.

· They are afraid of losing their partner – literally.
· There’s a mad rush.
· Huge crowds everywhere.
· The aisles are packed.
· They could be feeling insecure.
· They just got back from a recent spat.
· They first met at the Mall.
· Today is their first meet’s first anniversary.
· Re-living the moments of the first date.
· It’s their 20^th wedding anniversary.
· It’s better than paying alimony.
· They just can’t keep their hands to themselves.
· They staunchly believe that united they stand;
   divided – and if they let go, they might fall.
· He is definitely not her husband, or she is not his wife.
· One of them must be very rich.
· She must be after his money.
· He’s about to include her in his will.
· She has discovered a secret locker of his diamonds.
· They could be both big public show-offs.
· They are trying to make us feel jealous.
· They just got married.

· Who knows? They may have just met a while ago.

· It’s just a force of habit – and old habits die hard.

· It’s their first date.

· They just got back from the beer garden.

· They recently re-married (a la Liz Taylor/Richard Burton style).    

· They discovered that love can be re-kindled.

· One of them wants to know the other’s secret.

·  She’s using her hand today instead of a leash.

So, having given a few reasons that are, in my mind, positive, I look forward to better days ahead. We are of course still young, 37 years married, and in the rat-race of today’s world we haven’t found the time to hold hands seriously often enough. Perhaps we will do so in the distant future or whenever we visit the Mall. Holding hands, then, will just come to us. Naturally. It’s difficult to do that otherwise!

INTO YOUR HANDS

St. Anne's Church, Parra, GOA - India

Poem from my book "Goa - Memories of My Homeland'

Some Goans have traveled far and wide all across the globe.

Nevertheless, with strong family ties

 to their folks and friends back home,

 some sort of a prayer for the well-being

 of those they left behind

may have automatically come to them.

Here is my own.

INTO YOUR HANDS

Into your hands O Lord

My loving family I place

Take good care of them

With your fondest grace.

Shelter them while I am gone

Guard them while I am away

Shield them from troubles and ailment

Grant my humble request, I pray.

Let happiness always reign

In my humble abode when I am not around

Their smiles preserved

And laughter ever abound.

Thoughts about my family

Forth I will always carry

With your blessings O Lord

Keep us all in unity.

Guide me well on my voyage

O Lord to you I pray

And bring me back safely

To be once again with my family.

Should from my voyage

I be destined not to return

Then to Your will, I will surrender,

But remember Lord,

Look after my folks, have concern.

ART BY RODIN AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

REMEMBRANCE DAY - LEST WE FORGET

'LEST WE FORGET'

          Lest We Forget - three words renowned across most countries to show remembrance of those who have fought, and those who have died fighting for freedom. It means that we will never forget.

          In Canada, the day is honoured by wearing poppies, a flower that bloomed throughout the fields of battle grounds in France and Belgium during World War I.

          The wearing of the symbol of the poppy was made popular due to the poem, Flanders Fields, written by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae after witnessing his friend and fellow soldier struck down in the midst of battle in WWI.

SMILING ARI