[Paddlewise] Hallie Re: Thunder Bay ON

From: ralph diaz <rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 09:13:56 -0800
Sandykayak_at_aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 11/21/1999 7:57:39 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com writes:
> 
> << One of them, Hallie, is named after me and them's is fighting words!  :-)
> ralph diaz >>
> 
> OK, I'll bite.  How does the word Hallie derive from the name Rafael Diaz?
> Pray tell us the story.
> 
> Sandy 

This is really a wonderful Jackie Fenton story more than a Diaz one.

Just before Christmas last year, Jackie who lives in Southern California
and much more soft-hearted than her tough PaddleWise den mother persona
lets on, got upset about something she had heard of through the 'Net.  A
Westie puppy, the same breed as her beloved Mollie of ascii art fame,
had been returned to a pet shop in Las Vegas because of some ailment
that is common among Westies.

Jackie knew that the ailment could be cured with a caring regimen of
medicine and attention. She negotiated with the shop to buy the puppy. 
But it was now Christmas eve. Jackie was upset by the vision of the
puppy alone in a closed shop over the holiday.  In a scene reminiscent
of the Three Wise Men and the baby in the manger, she got her
significant other, Bob, to drive the long distance over the Rockies with
her and Mollie to pick up the puppy before the shop closed.  

The puppy turned out to be a delight and took to Bob and Jackie right
away.  And to Mollie.  The two greeted each other like twins who had
been separated at birth...no jealousies, no territory staking out, just
a lot of sisterly sharing.

The rescued puppy showed herself immediately to be a scamp.  Her
favorite trick was to steal any sock or small object that was lying
around and to hide it.  With the story of her rescue on Christmas eve
and her loving way with people, the puppy stole the heart of anyone who
met her.  Jackie started thinking of her as a pirate of hearts and
things.  And that is where one Rafael Diaz y O'Halloran comes in.

About a month earlier, Jackie and I had been exchanging email on some
matter.  Somewhere along the line, I mentioned to her that her last
name, Fenton, meant "someone who lived near a marsh or low wet area." (I
had written a book, still not published, about surnames, so I kinda know
such things).  I mentioned what my two last names meant.  Diaz (paternal
surname) coming from "of, or son of, Iago or Diego" and O'Halloran
(maternal surname) from early Gaelic for "pirate or stranger from across
the sea." 

Jackie remembered that.  And so the new puppy became Hallie as a
dimunitive of O'Halloran.  So that is why I have a puppy named after
me.  Sic transit gloria.

ralph 

p.s. sorry that this is not kayaking related but it does say a lot about
Jackie, our den mom.


-- 
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Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
"Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
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Received on Mon Nov 22 1999 - 08:19:38 PST

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