My audience with Peter Mansbridge

So, Peter Mansbridge is coming to Sidney, and I managed to snag one of the last tickets.

I think I would always have been interested in hearing him speak, but in the context of today's fake news, attacks on the media and whistleblowers I think it will be fascinating.

Creative Commons Image thompsonrivers on Flickr

Preparing this post, I learned these things I didn't know previously:

• Among his hobbies, Mansbridge collects small mementos from his travels around the world, including rocks, soil and other “sentimental” items from various prominent historical places. He kept pebbles from a visit to the Battle of Dieppe site in France, dirt from Vimy Ridge, and sand from the beaches at Normandy, as well as pieces of the Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China.
• Mansbridge had a voice cameo in the 2016 Walt Disney Animation Studios film Zootopia as "Peter Moosebridge," an anthropomorphic moose news anchor.
• Peter Mansbridge was awarded the Order of Canada in 2008.
• He has a cottage where he disconnects and watches NO NEWS (though he'd answer the phone if work called to say, interview Obama)

More
Mary Winspear Speaker Series: Peter Mansbridge, September 27 - it's the last in the series *
Why Truth Matters - My short blogpost when he accepted his lifetime achievement award
Order of Canada story
Peter Mansbridge voices moose in Disney film 'Zootopia'
Famous Canadian Cottagers: Peter Mansbridge

* darn, I missed Andrew Coyne back in May... he would have been great.

A place to hang my hat?

Vancouver Airport

On my layover between Victoria and Kamloops.

Nice little section of the terminal they have here, low down for all the little walk on planes, so you aren't wasting time going in and up and down and out. About a dozen gates here, no through traffic, so pretty quiet, except when there is a rush of arrivals. One Tim Horton's with very cheery peeps. If its busy, wait 5 minutes and the line evaporates. Or so it seems to me.

My carry-on bag, bought off  a

 kid in Berlin,, it always makes

me smile

I am travelling with just a carry on, but I seem to have lost my touch: my bag is stuffed. Like it better with less stuff and some spare room. Maybe if I didn't wait til the morning of my flight, I could be more decisive. But a nice chill place nonetheless.

As the plane takes off from Victoria, I feel this desire to fly, fly, fly.

Landing in Vancouver, seeing the skyline, I am hit again with a pang of missing this city. Not likely that I will live here again ($$$), but it still feels like home. Its good to process this feeling when I feel it, to understand it, to move on, to really get it that I have moved on. I have, but have I? Really?

I am "here" ~ in Sidney ~ not by design, but I am getting used to it. 7 years now. How strange. I realize I could hang my hat here. Maybe.

Or maybe it's destined to hang somewhere else.

 I am in the void of not knowing. But it's not a dark void. And it's not really limbo. It's more of accepting where I am, and being open to what's next.

Kamloops will be interesting. Old friends. Canada Day in Riverside Park? Looking forward to the reunion dinner. Staying downtown.

I kind of never looked back when I left, except for Karen's wedding... pseudo tolerated business trips, and was ok with 2 prior reunion trips. But this trip feels different. Hmmm.

Really random reflections

This is me down by the ocean, half a block from where I live. That's the marina in the wee town of Sidney where I live, in the background. The pathway down to the water is called Memory Lane...

... and this is what it looks like when you get down to the end of the lane. Nice steps down to a big rock. Not so easy to climb down the rocks anymore, but there are many little seaside spots where one can walk on the beach nearby. I should do more trips to the water, as I do love it. My sister (who is here maybe half-time helping me with mom) is really good at getting out to our wee slivers of nature. An inspiration for me..

Now for a picture of my niece who was here to visit her G'ma recently. She and I weant out the day she got here, and it was nice to share a beer in a pub :-)

The big event around here has been mom's birthday... she turned 90 in February! She seems surprised, somehow... and is also really rolling with the punches. She figures now that she is 90 she can do or have pretty well whatever she wants. lol. Wasn't sure what that meant. But I did ask her if she wanted to go skydiving or something... and I got a resounding "NO!!", so I think we're good.

Mom's birthday from my sister was her presence! We laughed about that one... but sissy had timed her arrival to be on the big day, and it was grand.

Mom has been very busy lately, participating in two wonderful day programs each week: Mount Newton Centre (where she gets a bath in a huge fancy tub with jets!) and the Vet's Health Centre at the Lodge at Broadmead the Vet's Health Centre at the Lodge at Broadmead - where she found this book when we went for our preview visit. For a lady who loves books and loves birds, this was a real wow experience!

It's nice to see mom busy, and with so much going on, that she can't remember everything she's done to tell me. These programs started for her in January and February, and her world is so much better now. She is getting great socialization, which she revels in, and exercises, and live music, and time with her contemporaries - along with great care.

I can tell you that it was a l-o-n-g wait wait for these health care services for seniors to kick in. We got help right away after mom's fall last summer in terms of home health care workers, and respite breaks (at Piercy Respite Hotel), but the waits for the other services were sooooo long. August to January is long time to wait if you are elderly... it felt like an eternity to her. Well, it's all good now, she is in.

It was a long haul for me too. Now that she is participating in these programs, I get small stretches of respite a few days a week - which is really helping. I am at my best for her when I am grounded and rested.... I know this. People tell you to take care of yourself. Got it. But it's hard to do when you are sinking and can barely get your head above water. That's what it felt like at times last fall. I do have good support - through the Family Caregivers Support Network, our VIHA Case Worker and Vetrans Affairs - but it's still a process to find balance.

In short, there were some periods last fall that really sucked. Big time. Survived though. Now on the other side. But it does scare you a little: figuring not only that you have a breaking point, but finding out exactly what it is - and what it feels like. Sheesh. Holy shit. Overwhelming. Sinking. All that.... Now that I am on the other side I am grateful, but I am very aware and careful not to go back there again.

So, of course it was hard for mom too: she not only had the long wait for extra services, but I know I wasn't the best I could be for her when I was depressed. And that has to have impacted her. As I learned more through some courses I took on caregiving, and dementia, there are ways to 'protect' her from that, and I do that now. Not to say it was really bad for her, it wasn't, but she'd feel it if I wasn't quite as chipper as usual, or was too tired to take her out for a drive, that kind of thing, mostly. yada yada yada... I think I'll stop trying to explain all that.

Anyways, spring is virtually here!!!

With some good respite, and lots of help from my sister, I'm feeling a lot more human these days.

Now for some random reflections:

• I am reading again. Can't believe I stopped, guess I didn't have the attention span. Plus I have a crackberry, which diverts one...
• Currently reading The Botticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato - set in Florence, in Botticelli's time - very good, though so far a lot of people have been murdered (!)
• Also reading The Stone Boudoir by Theresa Maggio - non-fiction travel writing set in Sicily - I'm loving how it is written... and I seem to be have Sicily on the mind lately... would love to visit
• So... I've been thinking more about future travel.... Not sure where that will be, but it's got me pretty interested in a whole range of things right now, including: Sicily, Crete, Budapest, Croatia, Istanbul... and swooning for some great art museums right here in North America....
• Let's see, what else...
• They renovated a cute wee house behind mom's here into a monstrosity that I am sure will block the sun at some point of the year; she formerly had a very private backyard... now there is a wall of stucco beyond and above her trees; kinda sad, and I'm sure it will reduce the property value... Yuk! But rolling with the punches there too, as they are neighbors mom has had a good relationship with, and there's no sense crying over split milk...
• I spill milk quite often, when feeding the cat, but so far, I haven't cried. Neither has he. hee hee!
• I splurged and got cable and a TV in my bedroom here... can't believe it took me this long... it's very nice to have, but I am equally pleased that I seem to have gotten over any past tv addiction, as I don't seem all that interested...
• I wish my iTouch's battery could go longer than an hour without melting down
• Not really doing my art these days. Still doodling, most days, but the studio collects dust and I am no longer trying to sell stuff. May do so again, but all that fell off the radar when the caregiving amped up this fall.... I am happy to let that be for now, but I might get the Etsy thing going again. Not going to sweat that tho...
• I have pretty well decided that when the next phase of my life comes around, I'll settle in Victoria, rather than returning to Vancouver...
• The sun is shining, the blossoms are out, it snowed for 5 minutes this morning, and there is opera playing...
• And with that, I'll finish up this batch of reflections.

Hoping I might update more often, but we'll see. Happy spring!

Reflections on 2 years

First, a few photos taken on a recent trip to Vancouver:

Today, May 1st, is an anniversary of sorts. I have lived here in Sidney for a year. I arrived by ferry from Vancouver a year ago yesterday, April 30th. A full year before that, on April 30, 2009, I worked my last day at my corporate job. So much has happened in those two years, so much of it not what I would have imagined, but it's all good, life is a journey...

Some random reflections at this point:

• I never would have dreamed that I would be blogging from my art studio. Art was just a random thing then, I doodled a lot, and wanted to explore where it would take me, but it's very much taken on a life beyond what I had been doing then....


• I have my first art show this month. No. That's not quite right. I am showing my art TWICE this month.


• I have a cat, now there is a surprise.


• While I have done occassional contract work, I have not had a "job" for 2 whole years. Wow!

Gee, thought I was going to sit down and write some long and brilliant post, yet, my fingers have stilled on the keyboard. So, will post these random thoughts, and say more another time.

Oh, I do try to udpate my beepdoodles blog more frequently these days, and that's where you can see what kind of art I am doing, where I am selling and showing stuff, etc etc.

It's a new year: random pics and reflections from Sidney

So, it is a new year, and about time I posted something!
In addition to the year, what's new is that Maui the cat has finally moved in. He has adopted us, so to speak. His true owner is fine with this, as long as he is happy. I guess Maui is too free of a spirit to share a house with three other cats. And he does have it made here.... this is him when he crawls up on my chest for a chin scratch session.

Same position, differnent view. This is before his recent scuffle with some unknown creature that left a scratch on his nose (healing now). BTW, his real name is actually Meowee.... he was name that after his barely audible meow after she rescued him as a stray.

It's winter, so I am tucked in doing my light therapy (for SAD). I am cozied up here in the slippers I bought in Barcelona last January when I was staying in a flat with no heat (it doesn't usually get cold enough there for all homes to have heat, though it was cold at that time!).

Another current activity involves feeding the birds that congregate in our backyard. This was me preparing little thingees of suet to hang in the trees. They also get birdseed.... though the squirrels eat as much as the birds. No worries, as squirrels need food too :-)

This picture gives you a sense of how blustery it can get here in Sidney. This was taken down on Lockside drive (where they have finally finished the roadside parking/walking/beach access improvements, thank goodness!).... mom and I were sitting in the car watching the waves and birds and boats (she loves doing that), when these people pulled up and started hamming around taking pictures. The guy wasn't really going to blow over, but someone more slightly built might have. At our house, when the sea winds really get going, you can feel it in the yard, the wind, the ocean aromas, the misty, sometimes the fog. We are only a half a block from the ocean, a fact that the the ocean reminds us of during stormy weather.

Having said that, it doesn't get too cold or snowy here. Only two bouts of snow so far, and they disappeared in a day or two. But enough to have everyone hoping nothing like the storm of about 15 years ago, when there was a foot or two.

Now for some random reflections and thoughts on what I have been up to:

• I can't believe I haven't posted since December
• That may be a sign that there isn't really much going on in my life... or maybe a sign that there is a lot going on right now... heh heh
• Right now I am in the sunroom and I hear what sound like squirrels on the roof (either that, or mice in the ceiling - I am hoping it is the former, though we do have a good resident mouser now)
• Christmas was a quiet affair here, just me and my mom, which she appreciated, as it was calm and free of fuss; a neighbor puts up coloured lights on the tree outside mom's front door, so that was our decoration - we loved looking out at them
• New Year's Eve was a little less quiet, so to speak, as we engaged in our family tradition of banging pots and pans outside at midnight, and yelling "Happy New Year!" at the top of one's lungs.... amusing here as there was only one other neighbor doing the same, and so different for me from when I used to do the same in downtown Vancouver - here your neighbors can recognize your voice!
• Reminds me that the previous year I had celebrated New Year's in Athens - fond memories; also spent Christmas in Athens that season - there are some interesting pics if you care to follow the links
• Let's see, what else.....
• I almost cut my hair.... that brings memories of a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song... and the time when I was in Europe and cut my hair myself; this time I managed to stop at just getting rid of some annoying long locks at the back of my head (though, amusingly, just as in Rhodes, I did it before morning coffee and without a mirror, lol)
• Exciting times her, as mom just got her new lift chair... it is a lovely light green - and she has a comfy new spot by the fire, with a view out the front window, books stacked at her side, and her toes by the fire
• Oh, soon I will post something about art clocks, a wee project that emerged from a craigslist posting and a whim..... start guessing, or check out what I've said on twitter - I am @citytravelbug)

OK, that's all for now, or at least all the news that's fit to print!

High Tea at Butchart Gardens

On a recent November day, we headed off to Victoria's Butchart Gardens - now one of Canada's National Historic Sites - for High Tea.
This was a special occassion, as all four of us where there together. Here are mom and I after our repast, which is served in the Dining Room, in the original Butchart family residence.

My sister and brother and brother may look like they are sitting outside, but that's just a really clean window. Great views of the gardens from here.

For each type of tea we had at the table -- it was the only thing we had to choose -- comes with it's own teapot (we had 3 types between the 4 of us), and individual straining devices. The teas were truly lovely.

And the food, ooh la la!! High Tea is what is served here in the winter, and is more robust in it's hot foods than the Afternoon Tea served in the summer. And, how scrumptious! We began with to-die-for candied ginger scones, followed by hot delicacies (we each got a cornish pastie, quiche and vol-au-vent), then a selection of sandwiches and savouries (4 types, and 4 of each, tho there was some trading off for favourites!), and finally the sweets. Ooh la la indeed! All of this, including the tea, is served for $26.65/person.

My sister and I also ordered the Backyard Flight of 3 wines, modestly priced at $12.95. How decadent to sit there sitting champagne! If you go, keep in mind that you need to pay for admission to the gardens to get in. In our case, we were treated on this occassion by my brother, who was, in turn, invited to High Tea as guests of the owners, with whom he has recently done some work. Lucky us! But for the quality of the food, and service, and the environment, the High Tea was good value and I would definitely recommend it.

From our table, we could see this statue of Mercury in the gardens (above).... and the water of Tod Inlet beyond, near Brentwood Bay (below).

There were still lots of autumn colours in the gardens...

My sister took this awesome picture of this not-so-green greenery.

One of the chandaliers.... ... and some of the old stained glass windows in the building.We didn't spend a lot of time exploring the gardens further on this visit, but we all wanted to come back for more. My brother and sister hadn't been there before, and my mom and I were unable to remember how long ago it was that we had been there together (20 years?!?), so I am sure we will be back. People travel here from all over the world to visit the gardens, so living 20 minutes away in Sidney does make it a must see! Thanks bro :-)

Home in Sidney

This is the waterfront just a couple of blocks from where I am living in Sidney.

A funny thing happened tonight, as I was coming home from a short trip to Vancouver. As I got off the ferry on the island end, I felt like I was home. Walking across the parking lot to my car at Swartz Bay, I felt like I was home. I am home here more than I am at home in Vancouver. Intersting. I still miss Vancouver, and would love to live there again, but I no longer feel like I am visiting here. I live here. This is home. I am building a life for myself here. I am home.

Interesting that this is one of the"recent doodles" I recently posted over on my beepdoodles blog...

Sidney moments

Just a few pics and reflections and random moments from life here in Sidney.
This is what happens to a Red Bull can if you put it back into the fridge half-full with clear plastic wrap over the top. Thought it was so cool. My sis took this and the next pic.

Me as Red Bull Misty Done Girl in the backyard in the days before the plumbing saga began. Ah, the quiet before the storm....

Backyard moon.

Two birds. One economic action plan project here. Your tax dollars at work. Mine too.

This is what they are up to: an upgrade to Lochside Drive. It's one of my fav spots, where one can just park the car and sit and watch the water. Or get out and walk. It is rough and unfinished dirt now for the parking, and a sidewalk. They are apparently paving the parking, and putting in a new retaining wall, upgrading the walkway. It is good, I suppose, but it's rather a bother that it's not so enjoyable while they work on it.

A recent outside breakfast at my fav breakfast spot, Beacon and Eggs.

One of the local residents.

The local movie house, Star Cinema. I haven't been to a movie there yet myself, but it's apparently a great little theatre. Looking forward to going there in the fall.

This gives you a sense of the pace around here. My sister calls it a sleepy little town. I think that describes it well.

LOVED this sign, found on a telephone pole on a walk into town. I think it says a lot about the community here.

A few other random reflections:

• Fall here is beautiful... when the sun shines
• It can cool off quickly here, our house is just steps from the ocean - there is a nice ocean breeze
• When it rains here, it sure can RAIN!!! We are thinking it would be a good idea to get the roof on the sunroom fixed before winter....
• Our mailman wears one red sock and one blue sock

I don't have much more brilliance today. It is time to doodle....

Plumbing Saga: The Final Flush

This is the conclusion to our recent plumbing saga story. To read the previous installment, click here. To go back to the beginning, click here.

Perhaps the best part of the whole saga was that mom didn't realize that we had put in the second toilet as part of the extended project, and she did not find it until 3 days later. My sister and I had gotten all the party favours ready to celebrate yet, still, she never went into the laundry room....
Finally, on about day 10, with company coming (and we wanted them to be able to use the new guest washroom!), we had to "trick" mom into going into the laundry room to make the discovery. We thought she might be mad at this addition to the job (though at this point it was really just thrown in), but she was gloriously delighted! Note the crown for the queen and her throne.

It looks pretty boring here, but this really is the most exciting outcome of the whole thing. Three women with two toilets are much more fun to live with than three women with one toilet. Absolutely!!

The overall clean up is continuing a week along and still not complete, although it's getting better. So far we have a new gate, our neighbors have their fence back, we have new pavement leading up to the back door and some early attempts have been made to get the rest of the backyard in order.

When it all began, we had no idea what would ensue, and I gather the whole thing was the talk of the plumbing and waterworks town, as it really was a drawn out mess, but it is all done now. And I am almost qualified to project manage a plumbing site. Well, almost. For now, I am happy to get to choose where I pee without a line up, and continue sweeping off the dried mud from the stairs....

To read the whole story from the beginning, click here.