A man in his mid-forties stops me on my morning walk along Vancouver’s seawall to say he thinks I am “breathtakingly beautiful.” Okay. He’s over the top with his compliment. But I understand. He knows — and I unabashedly acknowledge — that he made my day. We go our separate ways. The encounter astonished, charmed […]
INTERNATIONAL SELF-CARE DAY
On July 24 each year since 2011, International Self-Care Day raises awareness about self-care as a vital foundation of health. The date chosen — 7/24 — serves to remind us to practice self-care and reap its benefits 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Not long ago I probably equated self-care with selfishness. After […]
COOKING DURING COVID
When Glen and I arrived home from Scottsdale in mid-March, we entered the netherworld of COVID-19. For our quarantine, Brandon stocked us with food, disinfectants and sanitizers, and coveted rolls of toilet paper. Eventually, however, I wanted to buy groceries myself. First, I tried shopping online using home delivery, but items often ended up being […]
WALKING WONDERS
We know walking can be an easy activity that burns a few calories. A spry 92-year-old woman attributes her good health to taking a walk, faithfully, every day. During frigid months in Edmonton, Mom joined the ‘Mall Milers’, walking a circuit in an indoor mall with other older people eager to move. Neuroscientist Shane O’Mara […]
WOMAN CAVE
When Glen and I moved to Vancouver in 2012, we downsized from a two-story house with a finished basement to a 900 sq ft condo. By purchasing our new home two blocks from English Bay in the West End, we satisfied the most important principle of real estate: location, location, location. But did we meet […]
FLATTENING THE CURVE 3
Guest writer Janyne Hodder returns with her amusing musings: Flattening the curve part 3. Into Week 6. I would like to report I have been re-reading Dostoyevsky or perfecting my sun salutation or generally finding a deeper and inspired inner self. I haven’t. I did finish a Miró jigsaw puzzle; in fact, I have completed […]
FLATTENING THE CURVE 2
Update from guest writer Janyne Hodder: Week 3 of voluntary isolation is now complete. Week 4 began yesterday, a week in which self-isolation is less and less voluntary, at least in a country that does not think preserving life only matters before you are born (as a clever journalist in The Washington Post put it). […]
FLATTENING THE CURVE
This piece was submitted by guest writer Janyne Hodder, who worked for decades in the field of education: Assistant Deputy Minister for Quebec’s Ministry of Education, Principal of Bishop’s University, President of the University of the Bahamas and now a consultant to various non profit organizations. I am 70 years old. There, acknowledged; though few […]
MARVELOUS MUSIC
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” – Plato (c. 428 BC – c. 348 BC) How did Plato manage to encapsulate music so eloquently long before it evolved into the many pleasing genres of today? In a brief history of classical music, […]
JANUARY: GET ORGANIZED MONTH
Discovering early in the New Year that January is Get Organized Month in the U.S., where I’m currently residing, could serve as the impetus for me to do just that. And I intended to. But procrastination prevailed until month’s end, even about writing this post on the value of organization. Many friends and my siblings might […]