family

by Frank Morgan

Until the end of her 92 years, “Dottie” has been known by all in her world as a compassionate, loving person whose arms, heart and home were always open. As a mother of 3, she cared for numerous foster children as well as many long-term guests who needed a “home” for a while. When her late husband, Joe Morgan became a chaplain in WW II, and later, when they lived here in a Navy town, she left the front door unlocked and blankets and pillows behind the couch so that service men on leave could slip in and sleep on the couch or on a cot or on the floor (depending on how many of them showed up on a given night) when they had no where else to go.

Dorothy Mae Pidd was born in Los Angeles, California on September 24, 1915. Her mother had been Mayme Nelson, born and raised on a farm in Clear Lake, Wisconsin. We don’t know how long Dorothy lived in Los Angeles, but we know it was at least two years because that’s how old Dorothy was when, in her earliest memory, she recalled falling off of a pier into the ocean. “I remember looking down into the swirling water, feeling dizzy, then the water coming up at me,” she recounted to her children. “My Mother didn’t see me fall. I would have perished if it hadn’t been for some anonymous young man on the beach who saw me topple in and raced out to save me,” she said. Perhaps that was why she always claimed to have a fear of water and of high places.

Okay, so there are some things I think I will never get too old to enjoy... Here is a well-documented method to turn Mentos and Diet Coke into a raging fountain of soda.

Gotta try this with the kids!

The Kroc Community Center offers its ice skating rink for public use at least once per day. Check the schedule for dates and details. Cost: $6.50 to skate, $2.50 to rent skates.

The children of Epmi village play a game called Tali Masok. They explained it to me and I decided I’d share it with you!

Teams

Tali Masok is played by two teams of three to six players. The number of players must be the same on each team.

Setup

The playing field must be marked out on the ground with chalk or paint or, as the Walsa children use, ashes. Its pattern is always the same, but its size is determined by how many players there are on a team. The standard field has six squares and accomodates four or five players. Another pair of squares must be added for playing with teams of six.

When we lived in Papua New Guinea, we watched the games played by village children with curiosity. One tag game, which they called Tali Masok involved a pair of teams taking turns strategically guarding lines or avoiding being tagged.

Here are some more sites with games form around the world:

• Kids Games from Around the World
• GamesKidsPlay.net
  

Games on the Web

MSN Zone Kids

Mummy Maze from MSN Zone

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Alchemy

Last night as I was talking and praying with my 5-year-old daughter Evelyn, she asked me about something to which I answered "When you're all grown up." Then she asked when that would be, so I told her she'd go off to college in about 13 years. Her next question grabbed my attention, "Will you be alive then, Daddy?" I at first said, "Of course, I'll only be 53!" But then it sunk in that I couldn't make that promise at all. Not only could I die of accidental causes, but I might fulfill my hereditary destiny of dying of heart disease by then. It would only require that fall in line two years earlier than my Dad had his gratefully non-fatal heart attack.

The kids love to visit the tide pools below Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma. Check out the tide prediction and go some time! The park closes before dusk so be sure to plan your visit to coincide not only with low tide but also the hours of operation.