Spike

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Everything posted by Spike

  1. Since I'm the birthday girl ( a day late ) and no one has yet posted the next meet, I thought I would suggest an old favourite in the form of Hong Ping's restaurant at 339 Horton St E. in London. Start time is 6:00pm ( ish ) The food and prices are great. Sign up 1 - Dot & Ron 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 8 - 9 - 10 -
  2. This is appropriate since I am a writer
  3. Welcome to the club.
  4. Better late than never, I suppose. Obviously, I didn't need the wide angle lens for the group shot. I only had a chance to take a couple of photos before the parade, because once it started, I was busy tossing candies (and the occasional dog biscuit) to the younger members of the crowd and the 4-legged critters lining the parade route.
  5. Yes, he does occasionally wear long pants
  6. Nice pictures above. Here's one more. Not the best shot, but better than my other ½'s efforts (just kidding CH)
  7. I must apologise for Ron’s “lost in the shuffle”. When we headed out for the meet, I had a developing headache which turned into a migraine by the time we got there. Past experience with the bar scene, the normal smell of beer and potential noise made things worse and I asked him to take me home. When we got home, he opted to stay home with me rather than going back to the meet. Sorry all. Dot
  8. Something extra good coming out of the Smart car meet at the New Sarum Restaurant. A big thank you to Alice G. for remembering our conversation about recycling household alkaline batteries and dropping off a bag of them at our house. I took them with me to Springfield P.S. this morning as part of their School Batteries Recycling Project to keep batteries out of the landfills. They were very much appreciated.
  9. Sign-Up Sheet1. Bill2. Wild!3. Liz & Glenn.4. Carol & Don5. Alberta & Cliff6. Doug & Sharon7. Dave & Lu8. Ralph & Monica9. Ron & Spike10.11.12.13.14.15.
  10. Until Leadwing mentioned "indicated" speed, I could find no other reference to the claimed speeds being actual speeds or indicated. Perhaps including the words "indicated" or "actual" when referring to speeds would be a good idea. It would eliminate the nit-picking.
  11. Sign up:1. Liz & Glenn2. Bill3. Dot & Ron4.5.6.7.89.10.
  12. Since joining the club with Leadwing, I've wanted to write a Smart car short story, but my first attempt fizzled out. This is my second attempt that finally worked and I was able to finish it this morning. I hope someone out there likes it as much as I enjoyed the car rally that inspired it. The Unhallowed Falls I don’t know why I returned to the last official stop on our whirlwind car rally tour of the Niagara escarpment around Hamilton on that cool, clear night. At the time we stopped, we’d had no idea that the cascading Albion Falls was haunted by the many things that had happened there over the years. The place itself had been no help at all, with no tour guide on duty as had been the case at our previous stop – the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. As well as no tour guides, there was no legible marker to commemorate the falls’ history. Oh there had been a grist mill wheel there to mark the spot where the Albion Mill had once stood before burning and been finally torn down, but as I said, its plaque was illegible. It would take a trip to the Internet once I was back in my room at the motel to answer most of my burning questions. Though I never did find a website that had deciphered every word that was written on the plaque beneath the wheel, I did learn the tragic history of the area and found myself redirected to a paranormal website that declared the falls was indeed haunted. The site included night photos of the falls with glowing orbs visible near it. At the turn of the twentieth century the falls first earned its reputation for being a lover’s leap. A young lady had fallen in love with a man who would not marry her. Broken hearted, she had gone to the Albion Falls with a friend to take her mind off her sorrows. Once there, she had an overpowering urge to throw herself off the top of the falls, to the horror of her friend. Jumping into the falls feet first, her ankle length heavy dress ballooned like a parachute and she was stuck half way down the falls. Determined to fulfill her mission, the young lady pushed her arms down beside her, collapsing her skirts and sending her plunging to her death on the rocks below. During the Roaring 20s the woods near the falls were used as a body dumping ground by gangsters. In 1946 it became an even more infamous body dumping spot when four children decided to go and play near the falls. Heading into the woods near the falls, they separated after disagreeing on what they were going to do once they got to the falls. Two of the children continued to wander into the woods until they found what they thought was a dead animal. On close examination they discovered that the dead animal had a shirt on and ran home screaming to their parents for help. They had discovered the dismembered torso of the late husband of Evelyn Dick. She and several family members would be charged with the murder and dismemberment of her husband, but she alone would be found not guilty. She would, however, be convicted of the death of her infant son whose body was found encased in cement in a suitcase inside her apartment wall, and sentenced to several years in jail. The grist mill in the middle of the falls had its own history with its last owner meeting his untimely death when he fell into the mill wheel pit. The mill closed, would Page 2 later catch fire and eventually be torn down, with the mill wheel all that remains along with the faded plaque to commemorate it and the hamlet of Albion Mills’ existence. More recently, one other tragedy had happened by the falls. A driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed through the fence that lined the roadway overpass above the falls, sending the car over the falls and killing the young female passenger. The fence had since been replaced by a stronger metal one. Turning off my computer finally, I made a last minute visit to the bathroom before settling in under the bedcovers for a hoped for good night’s sleep. Though the room was now darkened for sleep, sleep would not come despite all the fresh air I’d received while driving my convertible Smart car all day with its top down, and then the eye straining Internet research I’d just completed. Instead my mind insisted on replaying over and over the stunning view of the haunted Albion Falls. The more I thought of it, the more I became obsessed by the urge to go back there and see for myself if the falls really was haunted. Getting up finally, I redressed into my street clothes and quietly left my room, heading for the hotel parking lot and my Smart car With no such thing as a garage to store it in overnight, I had made sure the convertible top was up and the doors securely locked before parking it for the night. It had been a learning experience when I’d first purchased the little Smart car as, unlike my previous cars, there was no place to put the combination ignition and door key to open it’s driver and passenger doors to get inside it. It only had remote control buttons with the ignition key to open it s doors As a result, the car beeped and flashed its lights as I pressed the key button to open the driver’s door. Inside, I quickly got it started and made my way stealthily down the road. Directionally challenged at the best of times, I’d made sure I had the route map for the rally so I could find my way easily to the falls, especially at nighttime. In short order I arrived at the Upper King’s Forest Park that the Albion Falls Lookout Platform and Albion Falls were part of. Pulling into the parking lot, I was pleased to see that I was the only one there. No one else had thankfully succumbed to the hypnotic lure of the falls. Mind you, probably no one else had brought an electronic gadget with them to the rally and learned what I’d learned afterward. I did wish I had brought a flashlight with me, though, as the way to the falls area from the parking lot was not lit up. The roadway that I had arrived by was the same one that the car that had gone over the falls years before had been on. It had appropriately lit up street lights, but they did not shine down onto the falls itself. No, I was very definitely on my own. Unlike Niagara Falls or the now waterless falls at the Devil’s Punchbowl that we had stopped at first along our route, this falls was not lit up in the evening for nighttime visitors. Page 3 I made my way carefully to the edge of the viewing area and stopped. Looking across at the falls under the moonlight, I could just make out the merest hint of the fabled ghostly orbs that were supposed to be visible there. I’d heard previously that such things were visible at the Donnelly Homestead and over the family gravestone at the cemetery where the Donnellys are buried in Lucan. I’d also heard that if you are in any way gifted, don’t go on a tour of the Donnelly barn as it is very definitely haunted though the homestead itself was burned down in the February 4, 1880 raid that took most of the Donnelly family. A friend of mine and his wife had done just that one fall evening and still had vivid memories of their spooky experience. Alone, looking at the orbs as they danced over the falls, I was glad I didn’t normally see ghosts, and hoped that would still be the case. Unfortunately I was wrong. Just as I was about to pull myself away from the hypnotic lure of the falls, I thought I heard a female voice behind me saying, “Come on now. You know you want to get closer to the falls, don’t you?” Turning around despite every fiber in my body telling me that it was definitely not the right thing to do, I came face to face with my worst nightmare, a semi-transparent wrath that looked very much like the picture of Evelyn Dick that I’d found on the Internet not so long ago. Screaming, “It can’t be you, you didn’t die here,” as I involuntarily stepped back to get away from the awful sight of her in front of me and smiling her evil satisfied smile, I felt myself falling and falling as the ground gave way under me and then nothing after my body hit the ground near the base of the falls with a hard thump. I wasn’t there, of course, when my fellow Smart car rallyists reported me missing from my motel room the next morning with my clothes, etc. still in my room, or later when tourists to the falls reported to the police that they’d found my seemingly abandoned car in the parking lot. I was there, though, when they finally found my smashed and lifeless body at the bottom of the gorge. Come to the Albion Falls some moonlit night, and if you’re at all that way inclined, you may just see me. I’m not sure whether I’m a full fledged ghost yet like Evelyn Dick - or just an orb bouncing around the falls-but I am here. Trust me, I am here To be perfectly honest, though, I really wish I wasn’t! The End The_Unhallowed_Falls.doc
  13. Thanks, Alberta. Glad you liked it.Spike/Dot
  14. Thanks, Karen. Actually, I've written 16 books so far, with 7 of them collections of lots of short stories I've written over the years (the rest are non fiction and one of poetry). All have been completely self-published because I can't seem to do it any other way. Being read is what counts anyway especially since I enjoy doing it. Not everyone can get rich from writing like Stephen King did, but it wouldn't hurt that's for sure. Spike/Dot
  15. Thanks, everyone for a great evening. Thank you, Alberta, for the solo photo of me commemorating my reaching 70 the day before and very proud of it. Thanks also to Bill and Santa for the not photographed but much appreciated perfect gifts for imperfect people.
  16. Sign Up:1 - Ron & Spike2 - Brenda (Waycool) - close to home, I like that :D3 - Don & Jan4 -5 -6 - 7 -8 -9 -10 -
  17. For those who weren't aware, these three people made this day possible. Everyone went home happy.Left to Right: Max (FlossyTheSmart), Brit (Britsmart) and Ron (Leadwing)
  18. They are called "curb feelers". Very popular in the 50's and 60's when cars were so wide you nearly needed clearance lights installed.CTC may still carry them.
  19. I think everyone who made it out agreed that it was a great evening with good food and the ambience of the restaurant specifically noted. Kudos to the staff who catered to us beyond the call of duty (after normal hours).
  20. Ron will be posting the pictures he took later today. In the meantime, it was generally agreed that next month's meeting would be held in St. Marys. Ron will post all pertinant information when he posts his pictures from yesterday.
  21. What a great time my husband Ron and I had during the mystery run and the buffet that followed. It was wonderful to finally see the floral clock again as I did when I was very young and my dad took my mom's picture there. It was the perfect photo op for sure. Ditto for the Spanish Cable Car, and though we didn't get to go on it, the view from above the docking platform across the whirlpool rapids was awesome. Loved the photo ops at the Ten Thousand Buddhas temple and later at the wee church too. Great job everyone. Ron winning the 50/50 draw after the buffet was the icing on the cake.
  22. A picture from the meet.