Monday, July 14, 2008

Hats off


Happy Bastille Day !
(Please Excuse my French for my English language peeps)

Joyeuse fête nationale aux citoyens et citoyennes ! Alors les fêtards, tout va bien après les festivités ?? Bien bu,bien mangé et tout le reste ?!

Next, an unusual story.
I saw a flash on cnn this morning ...I did my homework & followed it up on cnn.com :

The moral of the story : You're never too old to blog !

"An Australian woman often described as the world's oldest blogger has died at the age of 108 after posting a final message about her ailing health but how she sang "a happy song, as I do every day."



Olive Riley posted more than 70 entries on her blog -- or "blob" as she jokingly called it -- since February 2007

Olive Riley died Saturday at a nursing home in New South Wales.
Riley posted more than 70 entries on her blog -- or "blob" as she jokingly called it -- since February 2007.
On the site, The Life of Riley, and in a series of videos post on YouTube, Riley mused on her day-to-day life. She also recounted living through two world wars and raising three children on her own while working as a cook and a bar maid.
"She had a wonderful memory, and an amazing zest for life," said her friend Eric Shackle, who met Riley at a nursing home while visiting his wife, who has since passed. "Just two weeks ago, she recalled the words of a song that was popular before World War II, and sang the chorus with me."
In a post titled "Washing Day," Riley wrote: "You 21st Century people live a different life than the one I lived as a youngster in the early 1900s. Take washing day, for instance. These days you just toss your dirty clothes into a washing machine, press a few switches, and it's done."
She then described how she helped do laundry as a youngster, starting with finding "a few pieces of wood to fire the copper for Mum."
"When the water in the copper began to boil, Mum would add a cupful of soap chips, and throw in a cube of Reckitt's Blue wrapped in a muslin bag to whiten the clothes," she wrote. "Then she put in all the dirty clothes, first rubbing out the stains with a bar of Sunlight soap. ... that was jolly hard work."
Don't Miss
World's Oldest Blogger

Riley was born in 1899 and would have turned 109 on October 20. She took up blogging at the suggestion of Mike Rubbo, who filmed a documentary on her life four years ago.
"First of all, I had to explain to her what a blog was and that took some doing," Rubbo said. "Then I got across the idea it was sort of a diary that she would share with the world.
"The reason for its popularity is that she was such a standout talent -- just so touching and funny and such a great story teller."
Various others have at times been labeled the world's oldest blogger, including Spain's Maria Amelia who was born in 1911 and given a blog by "my grandson, who is very stingy."
Riley was 12 years older than Amelia.
In her final post, dated June 26, Riley wrote how she felt weak "and can't shake off that bad cough."
She wrote of singing a "happy song, as I do every day," with a visitor to the nursing home, "and before long we were joined by several nurses, who sang along too. It was quite a concert!"
Said Shackle: "The thousands of loving messages she received from fellow bloggers in such places as Iceland, India, Iran, North and South America and Australia helped keep her alive in her final year. "
"Her only regret was that she couldn't reply to them."
You got to give her credit; my Mom won't even touch a computer !
What a woman...
Rest in Peace, Olive.

14 commentaires:

Dragonstar said...

What a wonderful example to us all!

barbara said...

Hi Mereid,
I was quite surprised than touched by this story. Yes; it gives us bloggers hope for tomorrow ;that we will all be happy doing what we love for a long time !

debi said...

HaPpY BaStIlLe DaY!
You go, bloggers! More power 2 ya!

Zhu said...

Pas bu, mangé oui (comme tous les jours quoi!).

Yep, totally forgot it was Bastile Day. Man, I'm some bad French! :D

Rowena said...

I had seen a documentary on Olive a few months back and my first thought was "cool!" Her recollection of doing laundry in her day is the sort of stuff that should remind us how "lucky" we are to be living in this age. We think we work our butts off...ha! Nothing compared to catching, cleaning, cooking your own meal or building your own home!

Leesa said...

What a wonderful woman she was!! I got really choked up as I was reading the last part of her blog (written after she passed). I can't wait to go back and read her posts.. She seems like a fascinating woman.. God bless her! Thanks for posting this, Barbara...

We had really nice time at the picnic yesterday and met some nice folks...

---Leesa

barbara said...

Hi Debi,
Thanks !
We appreciate your encouragement ! I'm sure that Olive also, has heard that one.

Salut Zhu,
No Bastille day ? You have really become integrated into Canada! Even if we were here in France, we didn't do much, so I guess we are even ;)

Howzit Rowena,
I have to watch that documentary if it comes around. I love to learn about how people lived before us. It's always food for thought.

Hello Leesa,
I was really touched also. I couldn't believe what my eyes were reading on the TV at first! Quite a woman :) I have to go read her blog.

Have a good day everyone and enjoy !

GeologyJoe said...

Wow. Id imagine 'blobbing' helped keep her mind sharp.

never to old to learn.

barbara said...

Hi Joe,
I think that writing her meoires in her blog helped to stay sharp. And she got lot of love & moral support.
I love this story ;)

You take care & enjoy the Tour de France !

barbara said...

I meant memories in the first line... I hope at least to be as sharp as her one day :)

seev said...

I should tell my 93 year old aunt about Olive. She could have more than a decade ahead of her if she started blogging now.

barbara said...

Hi Seev,
I think that would be pretty cool ;) You would already be an example by all the people that you have met and the things one learns.
It is actually very healthy to blog out your feeling & emotions.

See ya again soon my friend.

Deb said...

Wonderfully inspiring. I just adore hearing the perspective of an elder. Maybe I can convince my husband's grands to do this! What a gift - especially to future generations.

barbara said...

Hi Deb,
I was so touched ! I have started reading her posts and I'm absolutely charmed. It is so wonderful to leave a legacy like this to one's family and to the world.
In a sense, we have all becaome a little bit her children.