OLIVE LEARNS SPANISH
OLIVE’S SIXTY FIFTH POST POST
Sorry that the blog has been down this past weekend, folks
Olive
Good morning everyone. I got no comments at all last week. How sad!
Mike was away in New Zealand and so we posted no new stories.
That meant no comments for this ooold, ooold lady.
Mike
That’s true, I was away. But I am going to tell you about my travels, Ollie.
I was walking along a fantastic track at the very top of the South Island. This was in the Abel Tasman national park.
I know you used to love bush walking, or tramping as they call it over there in Kiwi Land
But first we have to say hello to Maria Amelia. It’s something we should have done a long time ago.
Maria’s an elderly woman in Spain who, like you, Ollie, has a blog.
She’s now 96 and interested in everything which is happening in the world, and tells us about her interests on her blog.
Here’s Maria.
…………………
…………………..You can find her blog on our blogroll to the right of this page.
Maria has a huge number of readers just like you, Ollie. Maybe even more, who knows?
Olive
Fancy that!
Mike
Anyway, I thought we should send a greeting and that’s why Michael Galovic has come to help you with the Spanish.
I found Michael through Katya, my wife.
Michael is actually the husband of one of Katya’s students, and an Icon painter by profession as well as speaking excellent Spanish.
I had the idea that you could learn a few words of Spanish from Michael.
Our friend, Eric, thought the experiment was sure to fail.
So, folks judge for yourself how successful we were.
Olive
And my very best wishes to all and sundry.
…………………
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
This post is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
25 Responses to “OLIVE LEARNS SPANISH”
Leave a Reply
March 25th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Hello Mike and Ollie, and Eric and Katya too. I’m sorry Ollie had no comments to read last week, perhaps others have been having some problems with your site like I have. Strange entries have been showing up, duplicate entries which won’t open when you click on them, just an error message. Perhaps the gremlins have been getting in again ! I was very glad to see a “real” entry today, and once again Ollie amazes with her zest for life. Imagine being able to learn some simple Spanish words at 108 years old! There’s hope for me yet (at exactly half your age Ollie) I hope Maria sees your message and responds soon, and I hope that I’m still “blobbing” well into my own later years. Continued health to all of you, thanks for brightening my day.
Hooroo,
Christine in rainy Sydney
http://missmuffettwo.blogpsot.com/
Boy, you are sure fast, Christine. You have come back with a comment five minutes after I posted. Congratulations, Mike the helper.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Just thought I’d say hello!
Glad you did, Colleen, Mike for Olive
March 25th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Bravo! Heartwarming, as always!
March 26th, 2008 at 12:51 am
Hi, Ollie,
I haven’t written before, but anxiously await every new posting. You are an inspiration to me to continually try new things and not to say no so often. Thank-you, Thank-you.
Wally in Ft Myers Beach, Florida.
Hi Wally, are you generally a bit of a naysayer? Anyway, Ollie does say no herself when she doesn’t want to do something like an excursion she thinks will be too tiring. But I guess we are a positive team on the whole. Mike for Olive.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Hey Mike & Ollie,
Sandy from WI here. The reason no comments were posted on your March 13th blog titled
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? is because there was no story. All that was there was this: “Not Found Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn’t here.” Then the Silvertrees logo with a search box below it. I was going to write you but life got in the way of my time, then I forgot!
As Christine said, the gremlins were at it again! lol
A few weeks back there was a man that lives in a nursing home just 13 miles from me that had turned 108. Last year he was featured on a program here that lists centenarians and couples married 75 years or more. I was surprised to hear on our local news that he had made another year, and I immediately thought of Ollie. A world apart, yet the same age. Imagine the stories those two could swap if they were to meet!
Mike, I hope you got the notice of my change of address in the beginning of March.
May your trip with your daughter go well, and that you two can get closer through this trip. Those teen years are turbulent, yet they go by so fast. They want to try their wings, yet we as parents are sometimes hesitant to let them, as we still see a child there. Trust in yourself that you and Katya did well teaching her, and when the time comes to let go, she will soar.
Does Ollie remember ever hunting for Easter eggs when she was younger? I never did, and mentioned it to my husband, so Easter morning when I got up and went to make my coffee, there was an Easter egg in the grounds basket! Found another in my coffee scoop! I continued looking around the house and finally found all 12 of them. I felt like a kid looking for them, and had so much fun doing it! I had tears in my eyes for his thoughtfulness! Just thought I’d share that with Ollie. lol
Well, enough of my ramblings. May this find Ollie, you, Katya, and Eric all well and I look forward to more entries in the ‘blob’ before you leave.
Sandy in snowy Wisconsin
March 26th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Wishing you the Best of Everything, from Salt Lake City, Utah in the USA!
I really enjoy checking in on my friend in Austrailia and I’m happy to see you are still learning, Spanish no less!
Success in all you do!
Ron Hyer
Thanks, Ron. Yes, it is amazing isn’t it, that Olive is still open to new things at her age. Mike the helper
March 26th, 2008 at 4:48 am
Sorry that Olive didn’t have any comment.
Learning Spanish now. both of my boys took Spanish in high school but to be quite honest when they worked out in the fields in the summer time they actual liked the Spanish they learn from the Mexicans kids.
Do you mean, dear Pepperlady that that they preferred to learn Spanish from other kids? Mike the helper
March 26th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Hi Olive,
Just wanted to let you know that I came across videos of you singing some of the old songs on “YouTube” and I was really inspired by it!
We really lack today the quality of the songs that were around back in the day, and I doubt if any of the modern songs will last the tests of time…(I say this as a 29 year old father)
I hope that you have a great spring…
Kind Regards,
Jeff Campbell
Ontario, Canada
Hope you do get your kid or kids singing melodious songs, Jeff. Why not make it a family thing? It’s easy to find songbooks with all those old songs. Just one thing, we are going to fall, not spring. So, it you who has to have the great spring. Mike the helper
March 26th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
woohoo! muy bueno, ollie!
as someone who learned spanish in high school and the school of hard knocks, you did very well.
hasta la vista!
Minnie in omaha, nebraska, usa
Thanks for the encouragement, Minnie. I guess if an old blogger turns up in France, Olive will send a greeting in French. She’s proved she already knows au revoir
Mike the helper
March 26th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
you did so well with the Spanish,dear Olive.
You’ve inspired me to find some Spanish myself [on the internet]. >
“Gracias para la bendición Olive querida. El dios de mayo le bendice también.”
I used a Net translation - it should be saying to you >
“Thankyou for the blessing dear Olive. And may God bless you also.”
March 27th, 2008 at 1:10 am
Hello, from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Thank you Olive for opening your heart and live to us. I will have a word for you went I visit your blog.
God Bless
March 27th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Greetings from Estonia. It is very nice blog. I had seen Your songs in YouTube too, “Smile, smile, smile” is beautiful.
Here in Estonia today is snowing, snowing, snowing, but we hope spring will be soon.
Please excuse my bad english. My native language is estonian. But I know some spanish too.
So, dear Olive, be happy!
March 27th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Olive, I have just found your blog through a mate at MatesUpOver, a website for Aussies living in America-and I have to say that love reading your blog and watching the vids!
I am many things-a teacher, an artist, a Mom/Mum, but sadly, also a widow. My blog is about my journey of grief, and how I am making my way though life once again.
I am an American, and my darling hubby was the Aussie. We met via the internet in 1999.
We lost him last April
I think of Oz as my home away from home, and I cannot wait to visit family again in June.
Love your blog, O. Keep writing-it’s what helps us make sense of the world now, doesn’t it?
Cheers, Susan in TX
March 27th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Olive, you truly inspire me!
Imagining all you have accomplished in your life is enough to make a person want to strive harder and push the envelope further.
Rock on, Olive!
Jess, Council Bluffs, IA, USA
March 27th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
That’s great sending the message in Spanish! You are looking well in that video clip. Love the singing. Adios amiga, from Lynne at Bulli.
March 28th, 2008 at 1:18 am
I have just bookmarked the site with Olive. It is wonderful to see her zest for life, and hear her stories. Loved the singing and learning Spanish. It is wonderful to see her so active and vibrant. I will check back often, and for always G_d bless you all, and keep encouraging us, Olive. We need you!
March 28th, 2008 at 2:18 am
Dear Olive,
In a world of days so gravely confused and shallow in mindful steps carrying all true important matters of the heart - you give us all that wack on our heads for a wake-up call we, so desperately, need and deserve. You are a beauty of the example we should all be learning from. And you are a hope we can all wrap around our hearts for reward - if we only stop long enough to take the time. Though I haven’t posted comments - I have adored you, as much as my other Grandmas! And that comes from one who only recently became a Grandma, herself! {Hugs!}
March 28th, 2008 at 4:56 am
I missed you, Olive! I think it’s so cool that you keep a blog, we need to listen to our elders and learn from them. They’ve been through it all, and if we’d listen, we’d avoid a lot of heartache and frustrations.
Also, the blog is cool. I know people who are 60-70 and are very intimitated with computers, and the internet just scares the heck out of them. Rather than learn, they’d rather have someone else do all their work for them (and not pay them). If they’d just look at you, maybe they’d understand that computers are nothing to be afraid of.
Anyways, thanks for sharing all your wonderful stories, Olive! Have a great day!
March 31st, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Buenos Dias Olive! Actually, living so close to the Mexican border (less than 30 miles), I find it necessary to know quite a bit a Spanish. I was also amused by Peppylady’s comment about her kids preferring the Spanish they learned from the other kids…I imagine they learned all of the words you can’t say on TV!
Hope you are all well, and when the tourist season ends here I hope I will be able to keep up better!
March 31st, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Oh no, it says the video isn’t available any more
Sorry for both of you that the site is acting up, but lucky for us there’s still plenty of Olive for us to enjoy
March 31st, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Good to be able to read about you again Olive! I haven’t been able to get on to your blob for days!…I was beginning to worry in case you were sick. Well done with the Spanish Olive, I admire you for attempting another language… well done!! xxx
Karen UK
April 1st, 2008 at 5:00 am
I haven’t written in absolutely ages, but I read the Blob often. It seems that in our world, with all our labor and time saving devices, we all have less time to communicate with each other. The sad part is that, when all is said and done, the only part of our lives that really means anything is the communicating with others. Thank you both for taking the time to communicate with all of us in all the many parts of the world. You make my heart smile.
Kathryn in Sarasota, FL USA
April 1st, 2008 at 12:06 pm
So glad to see a new blob up Ollie! Mike, I hope you had a great trip
Muy bueno on the espanol Ollie!
April 1st, 2008 at 6:01 pm
How pretty right?. And how elegant she is! Her mind is quite sharp.
Ma’am, I am amazed that given your age you are doing better than I am. I see some as I can see out of one eye, but out of the other I see very little, very badly. I manage to get by because up close I am able to see pretty well. I am amazed that you, at your age are still so pretty, and that you wear that hat so well, like a young 15 year old girl. You are very likable.
And this man is teaching you Spanish but no one can teach me English so I cannot respond to you in English.
I marvel at the fact that you are 108 years old, because I know that I will not reach 100. I am already noticing what is happening to me. I have bad blood circulation to my brain. If I were to remain still…I am very restless and that is what kills me. I want to be involved in everything, even if my head hurts I want to be part of it.
If I were calmer maybe I too would make it to 108. But I will not reach that. I will not even make it to 100. I do not know what will happen this winter but no one in my family has lived so long.
In order to live so long you must have had a great deal of tranquility. Furthermore, you’re doing so well for your age, and with that hat that looks fantastic on you. And you are so funny when you talk!
That gentleman who is with you, does he have something with you? He is very handsome, has a good presence, and has such patience to go visit you every week.
Today I went out to take a walk through the fields and I was left feeling very calm. But my feet swelled up a bit. But I see you very well, even with younger looking hands than me. You have neither arthritis nor poor circulation. You move your hands, your wrists. I see agility in that body. You do not look your age.
So you are the oldest blogger. I started first, but within a matter of months you were online too. And you don’t have any relatives to keep you company? Children? Grandchildren?
Well, I would like to greet you in English but I don’t speak any English. Many people write to me from Australia, I wanted to find out where it was and everything. It is a very beautiful country. You are in a good place. If you were speaking Spanish we could talk a great deal!
Continue to maintain yourself looking so elegant. 108 years old. If I were to reach there… Here in Galicia the oldest I know of is 105. But no one else.
So pleased to meet you and my regards to the gentleman who accompanies you for keeping you company and for typing for you. Because an old woman appreciates it when someone does a nice thing for her.
I send you a kiss. You even sang in Spanish for me, which amused me very much.
I am your friend!!!
April 1st, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Hello Olive, My name is Julie and I’m a friend of Mike and Katya. Also, even though we haven’t met, I feel I know you - having seen “All about Olive” a couple of times and read your entertaining posts. I’ve also joined in the Family Art Story venture with my own blog on Artintegrity.wordpress.com and am really enjoying it all.
I’m leaving a comment now because I came across a little saying the other day about one big plus in growing old and just wanted to pass it on to you….
“GROWING OLD MEANS YOU NO LONGER NEED TO WORRY ABOUT ANY PEER PRESSURE!”
Isn’t that gorgeous? Somehow though, I doubt if you ever worried about peer pressure. You seem to have been a very individual, strong soul - even in the midst of a difficult youth. Is that right? Did you worry about what your peers thought?
Cheers Olly and much love to you. Julie