Annie and Danny
OLIVE’S EIGHTH POST
(WITH ADDED PHOTOS, JUST ARRIVED)
Good morning, everyone. I am very much looking forward to this next post. Every time I think of my dear old friend, Annie and her husband, Danny, I get a smile on my face.
“Post” is a funny word, isn’t it? I feel like I’m building a fence.
People ask me why I do this blob. It’s because I can lie in bed just before I go to sleep, (that’s when I do most of my thinking) with a smile on my face enjoying about all the things that have happened.
Mike, Ollie’s helper. For those just joining us, this blob as Olive calls it, works in a special way. Ollie does the talking and I do the recording and the transcribing.
At 107, she does not see well and computers are not for her. You’ll hear more about Annie and Danny when their daughter, Lorraine, sends the photos I need.
Meanwhile we can start the story because I have found a way to transfer stills from Ollie’s film, All about Olive, to the blob. Some of these you’ll see below. They are marked ABA
Speaking of the movie, I have a few copies which I am going to lend to people who are furthest from Australia.
Two copies have gone already, to Iceland and Italy. Those folks will eventually pass their DVD on to others wherever they like, a DVD chain.
I may even learn how to put a bit of the film on the blob via YouTube. … one day! Mike the Helper.
Mike
How did you meet Annie and Danny?
Olive
They was me neigbbours. They had kids growing up. I had kids growing up. So, I used to hang out with Annie when the kids was at school. She was a lovely woman.
Mike
This is in Broken Hill you’re talking about? And that’s your house, you in front with the three kids. Not easy to find that photo, Ollie!
Olive
Yeah, our little place in the South End, and that’s where we all lived. Us and Annie and Danny.
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Mike
What did Danny do?
Olive
He worked on the cages which took the men up and down in the mine, the elevators. So, he didn’t have a dangerous job yer, see.
But he seen the bodies being brought up when there was an accident and there was a few of them, I can tell you..” (AAO photo)
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That’s why they had the big strike, because of the dangerous working conditions in the mines.
Now, one thing is interesting. When there was an accident at one of the mines, they’d blow a whistle, and you could tell by the whistle which mine it was because each mine had its own individual whistle. and if something happened underground, that mine’s whistle would blow.” (AAO photo)
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And my mum, I’m talking about when I was little, she’d say, “quick get the binoculars and see what it is.” (AAO photo)
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Mike
What do you mean, get the binoculars?
Olive
Get the binoculars to see where the anbulance was going. You could see the ambulance going to a particular mine and you could even tell if it was fatal accident or not.
Mike
How?
Olive
Well, because if there was a policemen sitting up front, I’m talking about a horse dawn ambulance now, one which was open and you could see who was in it. If there was a policeman up front next to the driver, then that meant it was a fatal accident. (actual Broken Hill ambulance in photo AAO below)
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That happened to us once. Dad had an accident. But I’ll tell you about that another day, ‘cos it’s a long story.
Mike
So what were they like, Annie and Danny?
Olive
They was full of fun, real dags they were. I used to laugh, so much.
That’s Annie with her son with Jackie. He comes into the story in a minute. You can see what a jolly sort she was, cant you?
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When Lorraine was tiny, that’s the one who’s me friend now and who’s sent me these photos. This is her at four, about the age in me story.
Well, when she was like this, you can see how pretty she was, she was was such a spoilt little thing. And she’s play on her father’s heart strings, oh something wicked.
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Mike
How?
Olive
For example, they’d all be round the kitchen table and she’d want another bit of bread and Jam even though she’d already had a lot.
So, Annie would say to her, “you greedy guts!” And Lorraine would go to Danny and cry. “Daddy, Mum’s calling me a greedy guts and all I want is more jam. More jam, Dad!”
Then, Danny would say, “Look at what you’ve done, woman. You’ve upset the child! Give her another piece, for goodness sake!.” and Annie would cry, “Oh, eveyone’s against me. What will I do? Absolutely everyone’s against me! ”
Next, the parrot would start up. I forgot to tell you that they had a parrot to add to the noise, and so cocky would hop around on his perch squarking things too, getting into the business.
Mike
This was all fun?
Olive
‘Course it was fun. It was bedlam too. And Danny would say to Lorraine, “here you are, Darlin’. You take a bit of Daddy’s jam.” and he’d give her what she wanted.
Mike
So Danny would always spoil her?
Olive
Spoil her rotten, I’ll say!
Mike
Was he ever the disciplinarian?
Olive
Well, he never hit his kids.
Mike
How was he to Annie?
Olive
Well, he loved her to madness. But you’d never know it from the way they went on. If anyone said aything bad about Annie, he’d break his jaw.
He did that too, and to his brother. Danny broke his brother’s jaw with one punch ‘cos the brother called Annie a fat old thing.
They was the Irish, you see, Irish as paddies pigs.
Mike
You didn’t have a a telephone, did You? It was always a matter of just dropping in on people.
Olive
‘Course it was! I dont think I used a phone till I was in me twenties, and strange it was the first time, I can tell you.(ABA photo)
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Mike
And what about the fancy dress dance you told me about?
Olive
Oh that? That was with Jackie. They had a son who was older than Lorriane. He was a real sook, that Jackie was, always wingeing about something.
Anyway, a fancy dress dance was on down at the hall. It was just a plain old place, the hall, down the road a few streets. A few pictures on the walls,….keroscene lights.
Mike
The king, I bet. The pictures, I mean.
Olive
Probably was, I dont remember. …Anyway and they decided to dress Jackie up as a parrot man, he was about 12 at the time, disguise him as a parrot man.
Well, Jackie wanted no part in the idea. He was crying away and the parrot’s joining in, knowing he’s in it too.
Then, Annie belts him for being a sook and says, “shut up you’re going as the parrot man, like it or lump it, and you’ll win a prize too, mark my words.” (Here’s Jackie much later in life, the best we can do.).
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So they got him into these shabby old clothes and he’s bawling his eyes out. With every extra feather they stick in his clothes, in his hair, there’s another wail, ” Not more feathers, spare me.”
At last he’s all ready to go to the dance. . Now, they give him a pram with the parrot’s cage in it. The parrot too in the cage of course. The bird’s the baby he’s taking to the dance, yer see. We all took our babies to the dances.
Mike
How could you do that?
Olive
Because in the hall there was forms, benches, around the walls and we used to take blankets and pillows and we’d make a nice soft place under the forms and we’d stick the babies in there so they couldn’t be trampled on.
Then, when the music started their little heads would stick out and they’d be following the dancing with their little eyes all wide open. They loved it. We all took our babies, too right!
Anyway, Jackie does it. He takes the parrot to the dance like it was a baby.
Mike
He must have looked a sight.
Olive
Yeah, everyone laughed, he looked such a dag. But he got into the fun of it too.
He’s pushing the pram around the floor and the cocky’s dancing to the music in the cage, bobbing on his perch.
Then, when the music stops the parrot starts to squark, he wants more music yer see. Jackie tries to shut it up. But he can’t. The bird wants more. And I thought to myself, he’ll get the prize for sure!
Mike
What was the prize.?
Olive
It was a bucket of mandarins that Charlotte had donated off her tree, and a batch of 20 pasties that Annie’s sister had made. So, I was right, Jackie won.
He got half the mandarins and half the pasties, half a bucket and ten pasties. Then he ate the two together and was sick, but he was happy that he’d won after looking such a fool.
Mike
Was Danny there?
Olive
No, he was working. He had his tricks too, though. Once he told the men at the mine that he had a wonderful vegetable garden.
And every day he boasted a bit more about his huge pumkins and his beans trailing all over the place, his enormous watermelons.
He told them about the prizes he was going to win at the show. And the men believed him till…. Well, one night five of them sneak down to Danny’s place to look at the amazing vegetable garden. He’s hiding, waiting for them, of course.
They get over the fence and what’s this? All they find are stones, stones as big as pumkins. There was nothing in their garden except stones. He got them, there, Danny did! Got them good and proper!
Mike
You didn’t have much water, did you?
Olive
Not till they put the pipeline in from the Darling, the river, and that changed everything, that made the desert bloom. It changed our lives, the pipeline did.
I remember at school when I was little, water was so scarce that there was a cup on a chain at the one tap in the yard, and that tap would only be on for a few minutes each day.
So, you’d have to be quick to get a drink. There was a boy beside the tap and he turned it on and off. But some of us brought water bottles that you could squirt into your mouth.
Mike
You all drank from the same cup?
Olive
Yes, we never thought about it…… Oh, we suffered because of water, and because of the dust storms too. I can tell you! Terrible dust storms we had in Broken Hill. You had to seal up the house and go into the basement.
All the houses had a crawl space down below when you could get away from the dust and we’d go down there with sandwiches and wait for it to be over. And even then, the dust would be in everything.
But then they put in the pipe and they planted lots of trees, and it was never bad again.
Mike
The weather changed because of the trees?
Olive
Yes, it was wonderful when the water came.
I’ll tell you one funny thing about the dust storms. I did not see this, but I heard about it when I was little.
Old granny Riley died, she was a large woman too, very large. Anyway, as they were bringing her coffin out of the house, the storm started and it blew the lid off the coffin.
There was old granny exposed to the elements, to the dust and the wind. They had to wrestle her back into the house, and because she so big, it wasn’t easy, and then wait for the storm to pass and try again.
Mike
Same name as yours?
Olive
I wasn’t Riley, then. I was Dangerfield. I got to be Riley when I married Bing after the war, so I didn’t think anything about the name, then. She was just poor old Granny Rileyto me.
I still miss Annie, even to this day. That’s why I’m so close to Ronnie and Lorraine. They are my conection with Annie. ‘Course I like them too, for their own sake! But Annie, dear old Annie
Ronnie and Lorraine. Ollie in the middle on the latter’s 102nd birthday
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Wednesday, March 21st, 2007 at 7:36 am
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62 Responses to “Annie and Danny”
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March 21st, 2007 at 8:07 am
Mike, I do hope that you can put some of the film on the blog. It would be great to see it!
March 21st, 2007 at 8:41 am
Hello Mrs Riley,
All my congratulations for your blog !
I write you from Paris (France).
Greetings.
Martine
Merci, Martine.
March 21st, 2007 at 8:43 am
Say hello from France to Olive. I have made a word about Olive on my blog tonight. Take care.
Hi Rose, I took a look at your interesting blog, (http://rosepourpre.over-blog.com/)
I loved the old photos especially and will tell Ollie about it. Did it take you long to learn to add the photos? It took me quite a while but there is great satisfaction when one masters this game. Mike
March 21st, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I am the furthest! hehehehe
Just kidding!
Looking forward to reading the next story.
Mike…try youtube to post part of the filme in the blob!
yay!
Cheers to you guys!
March 21st, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Olive and Mike, you’ve inspired me to dig through some old family photos I have as well; I don’t have a lot with me here in Italy (most are back in the States), but just this week, I posted one of my great-great grandfather and another of my grandmother and her friend. Can’t wait to learn more of Danny and Annie, and rest assured, Olive, that your memories keep me smiling as well
Michelle, you deserve a DVD if you would like so see Olive. Just a loan. Mike
March 21st, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Hi Mike, and Nanny. Mike, ask Olive to tell you about walking around the edges of Sydney airport when she was younger. Lynne from Bulli.
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:27 am
BUONGIORNO SIG. OLIVIA, VERAMENTE MI HA FATTO MOLTO PIACERE SAPERE DI QUESTO SITO.
L’ho trovato leggendo un e-mail degli avventisti del 7° giorno, nn so se ne ha sentito parlare.
Comunque, davvero interessentate gli argomenti posti.
Io purtroppo nn parlo inglese, ma un pochino lo capisco.
comunque visitero’ ancora questo sito.
BUONGIORNO E TANTI SALUTI
Silvia, I guess that you say here that you don’t speak english but you understand a bit. Seems like I am the same. Thank you for your reply. I am of Italian origin myself and Olive said yesterday she wants to visit Italy but of course that’s not possible. Mike the helper
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:06 am
bravo , c’est génial de faire ça !
nous avons un projet similaire avec notre Tante Germaine de 97 ans ( une gamine à coté d’Olive ;-))
mais c’est un sacré boulot et nous ne sommes pas encore passés à la phase “efficace” à bientôt
Courage, Clo. C’est beaucoup de travail de maitrizer un blog, de savoir comment on metre texte et photos, mais c’est vaut la peine. Wordpress est un template excellent. Michel, L’assistant.
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:17 am
un carissimo saluto dalla ciociaria alla blogger più dolce del web
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:13 am
Oh me me me! I am very far from Australia and I have a child who loves everything about your country. We live in the US, specifically the state of Maine.
Olive, thanks for you blob, it’s great!
March 22nd, 2007 at 10:04 am
Greetings from Wisconsin in the U.S.
I have enjoyed the stories in your blob and look forward to many more!
Thanks, Christy. Mike and Ollie
March 22nd, 2007 at 10:25 am
Sorry I haven’t been by in a while - I just changed jobs and have been moving, etc. I am so happy to be caught up with you again - great stories as always! Can’t wait to hear about Annie.
Christina, I am waiting for Lorraine and Ronnie to send photos of her parents, Annie and Danny. If they dont come soon, we’ll go on to other stories. Mike and Ollie in frustation
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Dear Olive,
Well, your post is like a fence, a fence that you are building to connect people, for example, connecting yourself and your wonderful life stories from Australia all the way to me in the very middle of Chicago, in the very middle of the United States!!
With the very best and warmest wishes to you!!
That’s a very nice way of putting it. disembedded. Mike and Ollie
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Mike, you can probably upload parts or all of your video to YouTube, and not have to worry about the technical issues of lots of people viewing it. I don’t know who owns the copyright though, which is a legitimate concern. You may have to ask for legal permission if there is a copyright issue.
Olive’s becoming famous, I’ll have you know! I currently live in northern NJ USA, but told a good friend in central IL USA, who passed-on your blob link to some of her friends, and also prints-out your posts and reads them to her sweet, content grandmother who’s suffering from Alzheimer’s.
So when Olive speaks, she’s speaking to the whole world, and even to a sweet grandmother in a nursing home in central Illinois, USA.
Robert
Robert, the problem is not a copywright one. It’s learning how to edit the material that satisfies us artistically and how to then get it onto You Tube. (there is a bit on You Tube already which does not please me at all)
Just learning how to put up text and photos has been a feat for me, (and a moivation for helping Ollie, I must say) Mike for Ollie
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Oh, and you should also consider using two different fonts or colors to make it very clear which words originated with Olive, and which are yours (Mike).
No, too formal. Mike or Ollie
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Links to Olive’s stuff on Ronin Films, Au.
http://www.roninfilms.com.au/video/search=olive/0/2425780376.html
http://www.roninfilms.com.au/get/files/2425780480.pdf
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:33 pm
(Was this blog created to help sell the $50 film?)
No, Robert, I would hope the tone of the blog would reassure you. In any case I will take the mention of Ronin Films off the blog. They do seem very expensive. Mike the helper.
March 22nd, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Hi~olive and mike~^^
I’m a Korean reader. I don’t know where i can leave my words. I read an article about ur blob and story on Korean Newspaper.
I’ll frequently visit ur blob and read ur story…^^
I went to Australia 3 years ago when I was a university student to study English for 5 months..
anyway I’m so happy to find ur blob..^^
Thanks, Sophie. The blog was first noticed by a Korean publication called, OHmynews. Was that the paper you read? We were wondering when somebody from Korea would leave a comment. Mike and Ollie.
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:18 pm
No no, Mike, leave the links to Ronin up, but with your disclaimer (as you’ve already stated). It’s all good, and thanks so much for your personal time investment.
The “amateur” style is a huge part of the appeal - warts, misspellings, and your reservations included. This is the “real deal”, in a vast Web of dross, hype, and superficiality. It’s exactly why we love Olive (and you, Mike). There’s no pretense or self-centered-ness with Olive, and she’s one tough cookie.
And Olive, you’re a doll and a firecracker (I love your hats); tell us all exactly what you want us to hear! You have insight and experience that few have accumulated. Pull no punches; get rude if you like!
What do you want the world to know, what’re the most important issues on your mind today? I don’t know of any other centenarian with a blob! The entire world is your audience, literally.
YouTube link:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8qpm1SdAyZI
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:53 pm
HI, OLIVE & MIKE
GREETINGS FROM IN SEOUL IN KOREA.
HAHAHA,, YOUR LIFE IS WONDERFUL!!!
Hello, Mrs. Ha. we like the way you bring your name into your greeting. I confess, I have been trying to get Ollie onto Ginseng, someting i have been taking all my life and which I feel gives me great energy. But of course one has to be careful what one gives somone who is 107. So, I havent actually given her any. I remember seeing Ginseng farms in Korea, the shaded terraces on the sides of hills. Do you know anything about the story of Ginseng? It is quite fascinating, especially how it was discovered in North America, near Montreal to be exact.
March 23rd, 2007 at 12:57 am
Hello,
Have a nice day !!!
Christophe from Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Thanks Christophe. You are the first to comment from Russia. My wife is Russian. She’s called katya and Ollie adores her. She likes me too, but compared to Katya in Ollie’s eyes… well, I just don’t rate! The only problem is that Ollie has trouble with her name. “Think of a littl cat,” I always say, though Katay is not little. It comes out as Kadjja often. Mike
March 23rd, 2007 at 3:20 am
Hola,
No domino mucho el ingles, por eso te escribo en español. Felicidades por tu Blog, me parece fantastico y es algo que quisiera hacer con mi abuela que tiene 92 años de vida,nosotros vivimos en Colombia pero en dos ciudades distintas, mi abuela en un pequeño pueblo llamado Pácora donde internet no hay, y yo en una pequeña ciudad llamada Neiva al sur de colombia.
Un beso grandisimo.
Thanks, Alexander. Can some traslate aAlexander for us? Mike and ollie
March 23rd, 2007 at 3:21 am
ciao, io sono marzia e vivo in italia a roma. ho 38 anni 2 figlie,e una nonna di 98 anni.che bello sapere che esistono persone come te…vivo la mia vita correndo tra casa e lavoro,lo sport nel parco,e le mie ragazze..a volte è tutto semplice,a volte mi sembra tutto così duro e mi chiedo se riuscirò mai ad essere serena come te ora..siamo tutti di corsa a roma,io stessa prendo 8 autobus per arrivare al lavoro..ma a volte mi soffermo a guardare la gente e penso ma chi ce lo fa fare a correre così?che ne dici Olive?Mi piacerebbe parlare con te,ti abbraccio e grazie,per avermi permesso di soffermarmi un pò
Marzia
Dear Marzia, we will have to get you comments tranlated. But thanks. I am lost. Michelle, can you help? Mike and Ollie
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:50 am
Hi Mark and Ollie!Hope you’re doing well.I can sum up the previous comment in a few words to help you.Marzia,from Rome,is 38 and has 2 daughters and a 98-years-old grandmother.She’s very busy with her job and her family.Thanks to you,Ollie,she got the chance to stop to reflect upon people always running here and there.Sometimes she wonders if she’ll ever be as serene and peaceful as you are.Finally she says thank you and bye.
lots of love from Alessandra
ps:Mike your french is really good!!I’m going to France in 5 days.
Thanks, Alex, I knew someone in the team would be able to translate Marzia. (I’m Mike by the way, my brother is Mark. He’s the bookseller in Melb.) it’s true Ollie is , as Marzia says, peaceful and serene, chortling over her memories. I’m the one running around like crazy for this blog, but it’s fun. If only those photos would come! Mike for Ollie
Michelle adds this to the translation of Mazia ” Sometimes it’s all easy, sometimes it seems everything is so hard and I ask myself if I will ever manage to be calm like you are now. We are all on the road to Rome. I myself take 8 buses to get to work but sometimes I stop and look at people and think but who can keep running like this? What do you say Olive? I would like to talk to you. I’m sending a hug to you and thanks for giving me the permission to stop myself a bit. Marzia”
I’m curious about the bit about her catching 8 busses to get to work. Can that be true, Marzia?
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:59 am
Merci pour votre sympathie !
Amitiees Mike.
Bises a Katya, Christophe.
March 23rd, 2007 at 6:21 am
Mike, I sent you translations via email
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:48 am
good mornig~
I write you from South korea.
Thank you for your story~
March 23rd, 2007 at 12:10 pm
hello olive~
i’m a Korean, 31years old. (my english is not well~.)
I read the article about you at the Korea newspaper, and just click the your blob~.
I was impressed. and I was stirred by the your article.
I love you~.
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:30 pm
HI Mike and Ollie! The Spanish comment above from Alexander Marin says something to the effect of: I don’t know much English so I write this in Spanish. congratulation on your blog, it is fantastic and something he enjoys(?) or likes to share(?) with his grandmother who is 92 years old. They both live in Colombia but in different cities far apart. she lives in Pacora and does not have internet. He lives in Neiva in the south of Colombia. (end of translation)
I think that is pretty close, I speak a little Spanish (hablo un poquito de Espanol!) but not too much.
What a fabulous story! I just love the part about how everyone took their babies to the dance and they watched from their nest under the benches.
Well done Christina. I am sure lots are grateful. Mike and Ollie
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Hi Olive!
It’s good fun to read about you! Thanks and carry on like that!
Alice from Perpignan, France.
Merci, Alice. Michel
March 24th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Hello again, Ollie and Mike!! Wow, this gets more interesting and amazing each day that passes by. What a wonderful story! I couldn’t help but laugh when reading all the parrot thing. I pictured the whole situation in my mind and it was such a bizarre thing that I couln’t help but laugh. I love this BLOB, it always puts a smile on my face.
It is amazing that Ollie is still able to remember so many things about her past, even the small details. There is a lovely quote from a latin poet which I think matches very well with the meaning of this post, I will try to translate it (sorry if there are mistakes, I’m Spanish and English is not my first language). Here goes:
“Being able to enjoy the memories of life, is being able to live twice ”
Hope you like it. Lots of Kisses for both Ollie and Mike. Keep it going.
Monica, that is a lovely quote. We agree that it should be at the head of Ollie’s next post. And for that, I want to send you Ollie’s DVD as a present. Mike and Ollie
March 25th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Dear Ms. Olive and Mike:
Well, Ms. Olive, many readers having been visiting my website to read about you and go on to read more of your ironic wit here on The Life of Riley. So now it’s time for me to send you (and Mike) a little blogging gift. It’s a post that I’ve published about Knut the polar bear cub living at The Berlin Zoo. It includes photographs, a touching photographic slideshow that I created and an extremely heartwarming video.
If you manage to sqeeze the time out of your busy, busy lives (both you and Mike) to look at it, I hope that you both will take a bit of pleasant enjoyment from it!
My very best wishes.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/knut-in-berlin/
March 25th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
When I grow up, I’m going to be just like you.
Wonderful blog, this is going to be my new daily read!
March 25th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Hello! Olive!
It’s my first time to have a chance to read your blog!I am so happy!
It’s my lucky to have such chance to have a look at your blog! Idon’t know what to say.
Best wishes for you everyday !!
March 25th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Hi Olive and Mike:
I would love to get a copy of your film about Olive to watch and then to share with others. I live in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. I love reading Olive’s blob, it is inspiring, it cheers me up and I tell and e-mail my friends and family about it. Please e-mail me if you think you’d like to send a copy of your film to the west coast of Canada. Thank you Olive for sharing your stories with us all and thank you Mike for all your hard work. All the best to you both from rainy (at least for the moment) Victoria. And please say hi to Katya too.
March 26th, 2007 at 3:25 am
Very interesting blog. Congratulations!
Bye from Italy
Thanks Francesco. Mike and Ollie
March 26th, 2007 at 9:40 am
witam serdecznie, przypuszczam, ze nie zrozumie pani mojego komentarza, no ale postanowilem mimo wszystko to uczynic. Gratuluje odwagi podlecia blogowania w tym wieku - jest pani najstarsza osoba na swiecie, ktora pisze swoj internetowy pamietnik =D pozdrawiam serdecznie
Can anyone translate Dabiplus for m?. Mike
March 26th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Hello Olive,
I found you bopping around the blogland I am apart of! You have a very interesting and entertaining place here. I agree about the term ‘posts’! Perhaps the term ‘article’ would make things much simpler, would you say so? Anyway, I’d like to put you as a link in my blog’s sidebar, if you don’t mind.
Go for it, Lee, the link I mean. And I think we’ll stick with posts for the time being. Mike and Ollie
March 26th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
My mother tongue is Slovak not Polish but I understand a bit of the above post if I extrapolate from Slovak which could be totally inaccurate. If I am right, the first sentence says something to the effect that Olive won’t understand this post and it also includes a heartfelt welcome. Then Olive is being congratulated on her courage to take up blogging at her age, and refers to Olive as being the oldest person in the world who is writing her internet memoir. The post ends with Dabiplus sending their hearfelt greetings.
It may be that someone else will provide a more detailed and more accurate translation.
We finally got a bit of sun today here on the rainy BC west coast.\
Thanks for the translating, Elena. The DVD was sent to you today. let me know when you have seen it. Mike and Ollie
March 26th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Thanks Mike and Olive, great stories, takes me back to listening to my old family stories. Well done, Great BLOG Mike. ……
March 27th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Mike/Site Admin:
The RSS feed for a single blog chapter is being sent out over and over, nearly once daily! (”Entries” not “Comments” - I only sub’d to the former).
It may be because you keep adding pictures or otherwise editing them. Please either adjust your blog software to only send out one RSS notice per chapter posted, or make sure you’re completely finished with an entry before you publish it.
Thanks.
March 27th, 2007 at 2:00 am
Hello Mrs Riley!
I’m brasilian. I don’t speak english…, sorry.
I will speak in portuguese, ok?
Eu li uma reportagem a seu respeito em uma revista de circulação nacional daqui do Brasil e fiquei impressionada com o seu autruísmo e a sua vontade de viver! É muito bonito ver isso! A senhora me lembra muito os meus ascendentes!!! Eles também conservam esse vigor que o tempo insiste em querer apagar.
Mesmo sem conhecê-la pessoalmente, a senhora já entra em nossos corações!
Bye! Kisses!
March 27th, 2007 at 7:05 am
Hello Mrs. Riley,
my name is Leonardo and I live in Brazil! I read about you in a brazilian magazine! I’m here just to say CONGRATULATIONS! Your history is beautiful! You are like a heroine for the people on my country! If you want to send me a mail I’ll be very happy!
PS: I’m sorry, my english is terrible!
Kisses from Brazil!
Leonardo, what magzine was Olive? We would be interested to know. We are also very happy with your kind regards. It is encouraging. Mike and Ollie.
March 27th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
How are you today Ollie and Mike? I hope all is well. These are more great stories! It’s so interesting to hear about the mines and a bit about how ordinary people lived their everyday lives…and what they did for recreation. The parrot story is a funny one
It was a different world for sure.
I’d dearly love to see that DVD Mike. Any possibility of you loaning me a copy?
Spring has finally sprung here in NY state and it’s pouring rain tonight, melting all the snow. We have flood watch warnings!
Kerrie, I will loan you a DVD. My library is almost exhausted but I do have a couple left. Others will have to get them from Ronin films. But you have been a constant visitor so you deserve one. Mike and Ollie
March 27th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Hi there Mike and Ollie. Greetings from the warm sunny beaches of the Philippines!
Your stories are not only incredibly informative and insightful (about history) but also inspiring and beautiful. Thanks for the rollicking good read and ride~~~
In the end, Ollie has lived a GOOD life because she loved life: that is, without fear and problems and pride and complications- just full of appreciation and love for the moment and acceptance of whatever the cards she’s been dealt with and dealing with them the best way she knew how.
I love listening to stories from the old- their lives are simply so much richer and honest. Gone is the temperamental swagger of youth, the restless searching and the seeking- what replaces it is affection and truthfulness to the lived experience.
I wish I can also write about my parent’s and grandparent’s stories…what I concluded from stories from old people is that historical progress and technological advancement does not really mean happiness and improvement on way or quality of life.
This blog is truly a breath of fresh air in the internet that’s full of the mindless narcissism of youth. (including moi-Im young and I have a blog, hehehe)
Fredda, that’s an interesting outburst. We are curious as to whether you live on the beaches of the Phillipines and thus are feeling a bit hedonistic, or are just visiting and in a reflective mood. But I know what you mean. There is something very different about Ollie’s voice and her take on things, which is why I dont tire of typing them.
I’ve met lots of centenarians, more than 40, but she is exceptional, not only for memory but for the way she’s emotionally engaged in her stories and in her life today. There’s a lot of passion in her opinions and that will be further revealed.
Of course, it is intoxicating I guess, for her to have been ingored all your life as far as public attention is concerned, and then suddenly to be in the global spotlight. It does have a good effect.
That’s why everyone readng this should get out a tape recorder or better still, video camera , and give all the oldies within reach, the reverential treatment. You should also show them how Ollie has embraced this modern tool and and help them not to be scared of it. I phoned an 83 year old relative the other day and was glad to discover that she has email, for example
Of course one misses the days of letters and the fantastic stamps which used to decorate them. Getting a well stamped letter was a thrill, but so is waking up to emails. Mike for Ollie
March 28th, 2007 at 12:53 am
Hello - I have loved reading your blog so far. Two of my Grandmas made it to 99 and I wish I had asked them for their stories from their lives as I’m sure they would have had some fantastic memories to tell. My granddad told us some of his tales of the good old days out farming the land and doing it tough. Having your stories captured on the film and your blog will be a great gift to future generations of your family I’m sure.
Kindest regards and best wishes,
Shannon
Wheatbelt, Western Australia
Shannon, It’s very special to have you comment. It is strange that so far the main interest in Ollie’s blog has been from overseas. There have approx 6 commets from her own country amongst about 400 replies . I wonder why? Is it that we are less sentimental and nostalgic, we Australains , more living in the present than other nations? Mike and ollie.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:24 am
Dear Mrs. Riley and Mike!
It is a pleasure to see you again! I mean the website was not available for a couple of days last week.
I was really enjoying the story about the miners. My two uncles and my godfather were miners too. I clearly remember the day when my godfather took me to his workplace under the earth. I was dressed like a miner with all the equipment.:)
I send you many virtual hugs to thank you all these great stories. Enjoy the spring, I do the same!:)
Take care,
Attila
Where are you writing from Attila? Mike for Ollie
March 29th, 2007 at 7:14 am
(about comment number 43)
Hey Mike and Mrs. Riley,
the news that I read about you was in the “Época” magazine.
I found the website but I think is only for subscribers:
http://revistaepoca.globo.com/Revista/Epoca/0,,5855,00.html
If I’ll be right, is the first edition of this mounth!
Kisses and hugs from Brazil…
Bye bye!
March 29th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
I was just introduced to your fascinating life by Kim Kommando.
It’s a privilege to meet you. I want to learn more!
Fran
March 29th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Olive and Mike, what a lovely post. So nice to see photos of Katya. I haven’t seen the interview in the Courier-Mail yet, but haven’t had the time to check this week. However, I have a friend keeping an eye out for me so I’ll contact him in the next couple of days to see what’s happened.
Take care
Cheers
Robyn
Robyn, sadly the Courier Mail decided not to run the story so your efforts were for nothing. They said it was because there was not enough Queenland content in the blog.. I dont think that’s the real reason.
They don’t like the idea that she’s helped. They want her at the computer alone to qualify as interesting. It’s really strange. I would have thought that the fact that a 19th century woman was taking an interest in 2st. century communication tools, reaching out to the world like this with her stories, and clearly inspiring lots of people, would be enough.
Many older folks, not as old as ollie, are making the painful effort to hoist themselves into this confusing new world if only to be able to email grandchildren. Ollie is commuicating with great great grandchildren for heaven’s sake!. Mike for Ollie.
March 31st, 2007 at 7:14 am
Love these stories, Ollie. I see you still have your red hair. I really miss my red hair, which just kept getting darker, but am bent on aging naturally. Alas mine has a lot of silver threads among my gold, or maybe I should say gold threads among my silver.
I remember some boys trying to get my attention once, by shouting out “I’d rather be dead than red on the head.” I didn’t have time for them, so just ignored it. My uncle who was a dairy farmer told me the reason I had red hair was because I got dipped in butter when I was little.
Keep blobbin’– as I’m enjoying every word. I keep referring your blob to others working with elders. Elders is a good word, Ollie — implies wisdom and knowledge, not necessarily age related. Thanks to Mike for bringing you to us.
That’s a good memory, Joared, exactly the sort of vivid detail which makes Ollie special. Share some more with. I had assumed you name was male, by the way. Mike the helper.
April 1st, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Olive & Mike, You make me laugh out loud. I love your stories and the way you tell them. This is my favorite post. I’ll be watching yous…
by the way, they say that for every one comment you have at least 1000 views. but thats just what they say.
I hope that’s true bout the 1000 visits for each comment, Emily. Someone told us that there were about 10,000 visits a day. So, that would be right since there are about ten comments a day. Mike the helper.
April 2nd, 2007 at 7:51 am
Hello Ollie and Mike what a wonderful blobb site, full of such interesting memories that you share with us fellow blobbers. It must give you such a feel good feeling Mike to be able to assist Ollie that way you do. Cheers Margaret
April 2nd, 2007 at 7:55 am
Dear Ollie thank you for sharing all your wonderfull memories with your fellow blobbers. I am still laughing about the ink spots being flicked on the teacher’s dress.
It must be very enjoyable for you Mike to be able to help Ollie to post.
Cheers Margaret
April 5th, 2007 at 4:14 am
I would absolutely LOVE to see any of the film that I can - maybe I can join the DVD chain? I would say that Canada is pretty far away from Australia!
Veronica from Toronto, Canada
April 6th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Dear Olive and Mike, I have recently found your blog thanks to Kim Komando. Greeting from Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. I have read as much as I can of your past blog entries and I find your stories fascinating. Olive, You’re quite an inspiration to all and I only hope that I have half your energy and sense of humor when I’m your age (or now too if I admit it). Mike I think it’s very kind of you to help Olive in posting her blogs. God Bless to both of you.
Thanks, Sherrie. We are doing our best and it seems that Ollie is inspiring a lot of people, dear lady that she is.
April 8th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Wonderful amazing stories. Blessings to you Olive & Mike! I hope to be able to see the Movie one day “all about Olive” look forward to that! Sharing your blob with many here in Maine. Best Best Best to you both! Tami C in Maine, USA
Dear Tami, I am in a quandry about the movie. I have been sending a few copies around as gifts. But of course there is a limit to how often I can do that. I am presently waiting to see if Michelle in Italy, Monica in Spain. Segge in Norway, and a lady in Vancover have got their copies.
The film is on sale from Ronin films but it’s expensive and so I hesitate to reccomend it. I think the price is geared to their usual market which is educational. I am trying to convince them to lower it. But if you really want All About olive, that’s where to go.
I am also due to put a short clip from the movie on the blog, but on the other hand, I wonder if will take away some mystery from Olive. She is happy either way. She likes her movie except for the part at the end about Bonnie, her daughter who wont see her. Lots of quandries for a blog helper. Mike
April 10th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Good morning Olive, Mike & Katrina!
Thanks for the lovely response!
I think adding a little clip to this blog would be just wonderful, giving us readers out here a chance to hear her voice and yours as well! YES, I did check out the Ronin films site and wonder if it’s even more expensive to buy from the US??!!
Maybe I haven’t gotten there yet within the blog stories, but I’m saddened by your daughter. We all have such times in our families, but at the end of the day it’s going to be a hard road to walk when the opportunity has gone. Olive, Bonnie will have to figure that out for herself. In the meantime hang onto the good memories you have as a mother. Being a daughter & mother myself, I did the best job I knew how, like most of us have.
Many many blessings to you all.
hugs!
Tami, the story of Bonnie is very complcated, covered in the film to some extent. Olive does not want to talk about it, and so I should stop being a biographer and go back to being a helper. Maybe they will be reconciled. I hope so.
As for the clip, I probably will get round to it soon. Mike the helper
April 27th, 2007 at 3:28 am
Olive’s stories of these times and the pictures you’ve posted, remind me of a book by an author you mentioned previously, Mike, Nevil Shute. The book was, “A Town Like Alice”.
PBS ran the movie of it here in the US years ago and I’d already read the book and, happily, loved the movie too. Is Olive familiar with it? I’d be curious to hear if she thought it was pretty true to life as she knew it in those times in AU.
All the best to you Olive, and you and your family, Mike.
Charlotte
I don’t think the 4000 a day is going to happen, Charlotte. It’s s just ticking away at a few comments a day, and that’s nice. Mike the helper.
PS: Look out for the 4000 e-mails…it’s bound to happen. As all of us who have fallen in love with Olive send e-mails about your Blob to all our friends, I know they’ll be as enchanted as I have been. Just as you and Olive have been blessed to know each other, we all feel that same happy sense of connection to ya’ll and to each other. Not a bad thing in this world today!
April 27th, 2007 at 4:22 am
4/26/07
Olive and Mike,
It’s been so much fun reading all the comments sent in from all over the world.
I’ve pulled the AltaVista-Babel Fish site up and minimized it and just translate away when your French or Italian, or Portugeuse, ect. speaking visitors write on your blog.
Olive, look what you’ve started! Just by being yourself. It really shows what a difference one person can make in the world.
And Mike, thank you for bringing the world of Olive to the rest of the world.
Charlotte
Charlotte, can you be a bit more clear about the site you’ve pulled up. People have offered tranlations of some foreign comments. But how does it work exactly? Mike the helper.
April 28th, 2007 at 2:49 am
Dearest Olive
I am a Ukrainian-American and reading your wonderful blobs brings tears of sadness and regret that I never had the opportunity to even know 3 of my granparents. My parents fled from Communism in 1944 and ended up in the USA but everyone else was imprisoned behind the Iron Curtain. My Mom’s father died of typhus in WW1 and father’s elderly parents were sent from Ukraine to a gulag camp in the Far East as a penalty for raising patriotic sons. Within 6 months of slave labor, Granfather Andrij died truding to work, his body kicked to the side of the road. Even now, with Ukraine free, I cannot get a documented death certificate. We are bulding a library in their native village to honor their memories.
Due to your influence, I plan to travel to the reaches of Mongolia to experience their landscape and lay flowers on the forgotten graves. Yoe have become a surrogate Babcia (Katya can translate this) to us all.
Mnohaja Lita!! Many Years!!
Olena
Olena, in a few short words you give us a vivid picture not only of horrible things that happened to your relatives but also what they have done to you, these events, how you grieve over them and wish to honor your grandparents.
I think it’s very good that Olive’s blog is beginning to be a home for such memories, to give them life. Yesteray in Texas, Charlotte had some funny memories. Do you have any to balance the sad ones?
The graves in Mongolia, are those of Andrij and other family? Was that where the Gulag took him? Tell us more about the trip you plan. Ollie will be fascinated when I read this to her. Mike the helper
July 18th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
[…] ask me why I do this blob”, Ollie says in her 8th post on March 21st, 2007. “It’s because I can lie in bed just before I go to sleep […]