Halifax

I was in Halifax for 4 days last week to attend the Atlantic Senior's Housing Research Alliance (ASHRA) conferance. It was the culmination of 5 years of research and 1.3 million in research dollars. The results are outstanding and I hope that some of them are implemented here in the Maritimes.

I especially loved the details of how seniors are housed from around the world. I think I will need to go to Northern Europe for the best treatment. Some exciting technology was showcased that will benefit seniors who wish to stay at home longer before entering a nursing home. The company is called Tunstall from the UK...really cutting edge (in my world anyways...not of much interest to the rest of the world).

Much Music

Much Music was quite easy to find as it was in the entertainment district of Toronto. I timed my trip so that it would be "Much On Demand" when I came. They always have the doors open to the street and you can see in. They had a large screen TV on which you could see what was happening during the show. At some points during the show they come outside to talk to the crowd. No one special was there the day that I went. About 20 people were standing outside and everyone who walked by asked "Who is here today?" That must be fun if you live in that neighbourhood, you can walk by when you favourite music artist is there.

I stayed for about 10 minutes then moved on. I ate on the rooftop patio of a place across the street so that I could still watch though.

Green Cabs

These 'cabs' brought a smile to my face....no one seemed to be using them though. I think they would work well as Toronto is quite flat.

More on Toronto

The Toronto trip turned out to be fun overall. I quickly got over my 'run in' with the homeless women and made the most of the trip. The photo above is where the conferance was held (Victoria College). It was a very historic block and buildings and I soaked it all in. I took the photo from underneath a beautiful archway (hence the framing in the photo). All the photos turned out 'grainy'...time for a new camera....

I went to the top of the CN Tower and took in the view of the city. It only took about a minute to got up in the elevator. The elevator has two glass walls and a glass floor so the view is breathtaking! Some people closed their eyes, but I took it all in! However, when it came to walking on the glass floor at the top, I was a little more hesitant...it just looked unnatural for me.

I could not figure out how to rotate the picture below, but that is my view from the bottom on the tower looking up. The second photo is from the elevator as we were going down. The last picture is the view from the top. It was quite hazy that day, but I still thought the view was spectacular!

Toronto

I was sitting in the back of a cab surrounded by giantic IKEA bags and a backpack full of shopping from the Eaton Centre....I was thinking what a good day of shopping I had in Toronto. I was able to find my way to all the shops I wanted downtown and even took the subway (with a transfer) to go to North York IKEA without getting lost there and back. I had way too many bags when I got off the subway...so that is how I ended up in the back of the cab....taking it only 6 blocks to the university....when it happened. My little daydream bubble was burst when a homeless lady opened the door to the cab and started screaming at me and begging for money. The cabbie kept yelling for me to close the door but she would not move! She didn't like that I was trying to close the door on her either! She was right in my face, yelling, begging, crying, grabbing at my arm....very scary! I have not had such an forceful encounter with a homeless person. I would have given her some money if I had some in my pocket, but I figured if I went digging for my wallet in my backpack she would probably steal it. Cars behind us in the intersection where honking at us/her and she kept right at it. Finally the cabbie passed back a few dimes and I gave them to her.
The cabbie said that she begs on that corner all the time, but he has never seen her open the door to a car before. Lesson learned: Always lock the car doors!

Mud

My hands are absolutely filthy at the moment....and I love it! Grace and I had a great day playing and gardening in Siobhan's back garden. I am doing only container plants/gardending this year as we may be moving.
We potted some cucumbers, letture and tomatoes. I need some more soil to get the green peppers in as well. We also potted some phlox, which Grace quite likes as it is pink (her favourite colour). We will have to make sure that we get the phlox in the ground sometime before late fall as it is a perennial.
Grace had a bad tumble at the garden centre and has a large 'goose egg' on her forehead to show for it....ouch! She recouped quite quickly though and was back to her usual self in no time....a tough cookie.

My last post was a bit preachy...I wonder what had happened to me that day? Funny that I don't remember...early onset dementia, I think

What I know for sure....don't judge others!

My rant of the day!

Never, ever pass judgement on someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes.
You have no idea what people have been through in their life that has led to the decisions they make today.

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mother's Day! Grace made me some lovely homemade gifts and cards this year. Very precious and will be displayed proudly at work and home.

...

This quote has been on my fridge for the past several months and I thought I would share it.

'I believe that we still learn as much from our differences as we do from our similiarities.
When we only talk amongst ourselves all we get back are echoes. But when we talk with others of a different mind we are made to think. And it is in thinking that we learn and in learning that we grow.
But we only grow if we take the time to quietly and carefully listen to each other.'

Romeo LeBlanc, Governor General
February 8, 1995

Something to work on....

Lately, I seem to be more conscious of the work that needs to be done with marginalized populations. In quoting Mother Teresa
'Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work'

Weather

Grace and I went for a walk tonight and ended up staying out about 2 hours. We kept running into people we knew and stopping to chat.

Grace was asking a zillion questions as usual and kept asking me about 'weather'. Everyone we talked to mentioned the 'weather' and how nice it was outside. I had no idea that it would be so hard to explain the concept of 'weather' to her. She understands seasons quite well. She understands what it means to be sunny, cloudy, rainy, etc....but to pull that all into the general concept of weather is quite tricky

Quirks

Some of Grace's recent little quirks....

~Grace is intrigued by knowing every one's full names lately. She wants to know first, middle and last names...I have encountered some very interesting middle names amongst my friends.

~Grace wants to accessorize all of her outfits including sunglasses, hair accessories, shoes, and jewellery. She stuffs her purse with snacks, books, dolls, paper, pens and money. What more could a girl need? Today, I found my missing package of gum in her little purse.

~Grace loves the kids next door that skateboard in their driveway. She yells "Hi Boys!" to them all the time. They are quite gracious now and talk back to her. I think they have learned that if you don't answer her, she will keep shouting louder and louder until you do. She has learned all their names and gets quite concerned if they fall down (which they do a lot).

~She talks in her sleep. Not only that...she talks very politely in her sleep. She says things like "No thank you Mommy!" I wonder what she is reliving from her day...obviously something that I did that she did not care for.

House Update

Lots of 'showings' on the house this past week.
Fingers crossed.
Not sure where we will move, but will cross that bridge when we come to it. Lots of ideas in the works.

swim lessons

Grace started swim lessons this week. They are a big hit! She is so eager to swim on her own and keeps telling me to let her go! She jumps in the water fearlessly and comes up with a big smile.

Ironically, one of the other moms in the class was in my own learn-to-swim class a few years ago. We both learned to swim together and now we are teaching our little girls as well. She still remembered me jumping into the deep end for the first time! Hard to believe that I was that scared to swim at age 26!