Feb.2, 1978  Sense and Nonsense Mutual of Andromeda presents “Weird Kingdom” with Merlin Ferkins! (An Inter-Galactic Television Production) “To-day we are about to explore a little known region in the galaxy. The planet Earth is covered mostly by water, but few people realize that many strange animals abound amid the vegetation of the seemingly small…

February 16, 1978  Sense and Nonsense Hospitals intimidate me. I have a superstitious fear of doctors, (especially surgeons) nurses carrying enemas or needles, and cold bedpans. A few years ago I was scheduled to undergo minor surgery. My old irrational fears (and a few new ones) came back to haunt me. I had never had…

Sept 8, 1977 Sense & Nonsense This afternoon when my daughter phoned, I exulted at the sound of her voice. “Aha! You did catch my E.S.P. message this morning! Why didn’t you phone earlier?” “Mother, are you feeling alright? Why was I supposed to phone earlier?” asked my obviously un-tuned in offspring. ” “I was…

Sept 28, 1978 Sense and Nonsense “Why don’t we pick cones for the Forestry?” I suggested to a friend. “We could earn money in the great outdoors and have fun doing it!” The summer had been a cold wet one, and the day we went cone-picking was typical. In the wee hours of a gray…

July 14, 1977  Sense and Nonsense As much as I hate to admit it I am guilty of discrimination against a minority group. I have always prided myself on being a fair and tolerant person. However lately I have found myself uttering such disgusting phrases as “Black is ugly!” and “Why don’t they do away…

Sense and Nonsense 1976 Small children and animals are often smarter than we adult human beings realize. They sometimes have a surprisingly good sense of humour as well. The other day our not- quite-3-year-old insisted that she should visit the doctor. Her last visit to him had involved an inspection of the spots she had…

January 1977 Sense and Nonsense Over the Christmas holidays we managed to visit with almost all of our offspring. We have one of those space-age families consisting of “his”, “hers ” and a very small “ours” which makes for more than the average number of offspring. Quite a few of these are married and rapidly…

SEPTEMBER I, 1977 Sense and Nonsense Afternoon television interview shows seem to be hard up for things to talk about and people to talk to lately. The other day I half-listened to one show concerning tongue-twisters. The audience was participating (hilariously) in an exercise in speech agility. “Peter Piper picked a Peck” and “She sells…

November 17, 1977 Sense and Nonsense Trains are a romantic link with our past. Many songs have been sung and stories told of various incidents in railroad history. School-children have learned, and recently Pierre Berton fans have learned of how closely the “National Dream” was linked to Confederation. I have managed, somehow, to ignore trains…

Sept 15 1977 Sense and Nonsense I am finally completing my spring cleaning. I scrubbed half the walls in our living room last May. The clean part looked so good I decided to leave the rest dirty for a few hours, just to feast my eyes on the obvious results of my efforts. That was…