The Engleson Files

Well, enough of that nonsense (although I thoroughly enjoyed it!), it’s now time to get back to family matters. The past week has been a bit of a struggle around the Engleson houselhold. Magnus and Svea have been a little sick and some of that seems to be rubbing off on me as well. Nothing too major, but it is just enough to make things interesting around the house. Other than that, Magnus is still enjoying his time at school and Svea is continuing to grow like a weed - ah yes, family, where would we be without it?

Since Hitler was too scrawny to play any sports, he liked to just relax a little more on his leisure time and watch programs on that new invention called television - and there is no question that this was his favorite program!

Now, maybe not a true revolutionary perse, but, one cannot argue the impact this man had over the world while he was in charge of the Vatican. But what many don’t know was just how big of a sportsman the Pope was - ping pong, football, crokinole, he loved them all. But, in the inner circles of the Roman Catholic church, it was very widely regarded that ol’ John Paul was, in fact, the best bocce player in town. “Oh yes’a, the Pope’a throws’a the bocce ball as beautiful as Mother Mary herself.”

What does one do after successfully running the Japanese and Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalists out of business in Chinese territory? That’s right, ping pong. It is a little known fact that the great Chairman loved his ping pong dearly and would spend hours playing it in order to find that inspiration needed to re-build a stronger China - only one rule: the Chairman wins everytime!

Today we have two extraordinary revolutionaries, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, engaging in a nice, gentlemanly game of golf. Yes, after spending all that time up in the Sierra Maestra mountains organizing their rebel forces to overthrow Fulgencio Batista, the golf course became the sanctum of creative energy for the Cuban Revolution - $5 dollar skins per hole and a more “relaxed” golf attire was how these guys liked it. Nice putt, Che!!

Next we have Ho Chi Minh, now what does one do after repeatedly overwhelming Americans in guerilla warfare and single-handedly bringing them to their knees? That’s right, a nice, brisk game of pool is just the tonic needed to help take a load off, get those batteries re-energized and solidify the game plans to unify Vietnam - no flukes allowed!

Well, this week we are going to change it up a little bit (along with our new look–hope you like!); this week we here at The Engleson Files are going to take a deeper, more intimate, look into the lives of those great revolutionaries who spurred on great change in their countries. We will explore the more human aspect of these great historical figures and find out once and for all what it was they did when they chilled out. First up, we have the one and only: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin playing a nice, sophisticated game of chess - the perfect substitute to rejuvenate those Bolshevik principles.

Well, here’s another example of how Magnus’s childhood is completely different from mine. While I was growing up, around this time we had the Easter Bunny come and visit, but for Magnus it is the Easter Tuzi (roughly pronounced Tooza) who comes and visits - tuzi, of course, meaning rabbit in chinese. Ever since the Jólasveinar came at Christmas, Magnus has been very suspicious of these strange creatures who come in the middle of the night and leave him gifts and candy. I wouldn’t say he’s scared of the Easter Tuzi, but he is constantly asking questions about him just to keep him in check - oh yes, the imagination is beautiful thing! And for us, the Easter Tuzi has come at the perfect time, because right now, we are desperately trying to get Magnus to go #2 on the toilet and (from what Magnus is hearing) the Easter Tuzi thinks very highly of children who do this and will reward those with lots of candy. So far, it seems to be helping. Thank you Easter Tuzi!

What do you get when you put Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabar together in an all-out deathtifying kung-fu fight? You get this…

Well, we just can’t get enough of this little girl so we wanted to show her off to you once again. So far, Svea is a very happy young girl and has been an absolute joy to have around the house - I think she even kinda likes me!

In the early 1980’s, I can remember watching the show Police Squad! and loving every minute of it. This television show was produced by the same people that did Airplane! and it was a shame that ABC pulled it after only 6 episodes. This show later went on to cinematic fame with the Naked Gun series, but it was not quite the same as this television original. This genre has been done many times since then but it often fails to capture what this show did - Police Squad! was truly the original.

Well, here I am playing a little game of baseball with my buds back in 1978 at the Columbia Elementary School playground in Penticton. Not sure who won the big game, but I am sure I hindered our team’s chances due to my pants constantly falling down!

Well, unfortunately, many of the kids in Magnus’s class have come down with the dreaded Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (at least it’s not the ghastly Scarlet Fever that ran rampant last year!), so it looks as though Magnus will be doing a lot of this (see picture) all week since school is pretty much off-limits. Now, I have never had Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, but have suffered many times from Foot in Mouth disease - one can only hope it is not as damaging. So, to all the kids at school, get better, and if any of you need to know what this horrible virus is, check out Kristin’s trusty link: Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

In China, the people who clean the exterior of high-rise buildings are absolutely nuts. Now, back in Canada, these guys are securely fastened to a plank, which can be mechanically lowered, or highetened, and is completely WCB approved. Here, basically you have some guys who throw over a long rope, loop themselves into that, tie a really good knot and then jump over the side and start cleaning! A tough way to make a buck in China.