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Put your paperwork in order; leave a legacy – not a mess!

Posted by on Mar 7, 2024 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General | 0 comments

Put your paperwork in order; leave a legacy – not a mess!

There are many financial aspects to getting your affairs in order. In addition to documenting your real and personal property, you may have business interests, outstanding debts and liabilities, monthly donations and subscriptions, and bill payments to consider.  A significant risk for an executor generally comes from mishandled income tax matters. Therefore, it is also important to document all tax-related instructions for your executor. When loans to family or friends are not documented, or there was an expectation for repayment that did not occur, bad feelings and even conflict may arise...

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Another Labour of Love

Posted by on Feb 23, 2024 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General, Lifestyles | 0 comments

Another Labour of Love

The problem is that those of us who are lucky enough to do work that we love are sometimes cursed with too damn much of it. Terry Gross, JournalistI sure don’t want to jinx us but lemme just say…I’m hoping that the cold has snapped and skedaddled away. I should know by now not to be smug thinking that I’m prepared and can relax. Such has proven true with grape vine and fruit tree pruning, weeding, harvest, mulching and especially cold snap water prep. I’ve written previously about the Honey-Do List, that roster of once-hidden wishful-thinking items that Laurie had compiled; those...

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Valentine’s Day movie picks for women

Posted by on Feb 14, 2024 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General | 0 comments

Valentine’s Day movie picks for women

This Valentine’s Day let’s treat ourselves to a romance or romantic comedy that has much to offer us: the female audience. Instead of settling for regressive narratives packaged as great love stories, let’s indulge in a truly enjoyable movie, preferably with a huge bowl of popcorn and a box of chocolates. Streaming platforms still haven’t quite got their Valentine’s Day Collections sorted out—as far as female viewers concerned. For instance, the Disney channel’s collection includes these dubious suggestions, to name just a couple: Pretty Woman (1990) and Beauty and the Beast...

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Foraging for the Beginner

Posted by on Feb 12, 2024 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, Food, General | 0 comments

Foraging for the Beginner

The definition of foraging is to go from place to place to search for food or other items, whether in the wild or an urban setting. I consider myself very fortunate to have grown up in a foraging family. We didn’t forage because we needed the wonderfully delicious wild foods we found in our local forests, beaches, and roadsides; we foraged because we loved being out in nature and for the thrill of finding, harvesting, and eating healthy, accessible, and organic wild foods. Embarking on the journey into foraging wild foods can be daunting; it’s a vast subject with lots to learn. So many...

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Making Sense of Life and Death

Posted by on Jan 22, 2024 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General | 0 comments

Making Sense of Life and Death

Making sense of life and death is the foundation for all pragmatic end-of-life planning. This learning helps people explore the reality of their mortality, refine end-of-life planning priorities, name core values and articulate hopes and fears for their inevitable death, dying and after-death care. Your end-of-life planning is an expression of who you are. This can and should reflect your essence. To help ensure that your planning choices are based on what’s important to you, take the time to discover and refine the values that shape your life and explore what they mean for your living and...

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The Connection Between Lower Back Pain and the Pelvic Floor

Posted by on Jan 9, 2024 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General, Health & Wellness | 0 comments

The Connection Between Lower Back Pain and the Pelvic Floor

Low back pain is a common ailment. It can affect people at any age, and most people will experience it at some point in their lives.  According to the World Health Organization, low back pain is the single leading cause of disability worldwide. It can lead to lost time from work, decreased participation in recreational activities, and reduced quality of life. It is considered a significant public health concern and creates a large financial burden on individuals and society. There is mounting evidence that the pelvic floor may play a key role in the management and treatment of low back pain....

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December 18, 2023

Posted by on Dec 30, 2023 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General | 0 comments

December 18, 2023

Dear Santa, Now that I have the #1 item on my list (a horse) I’ve been finding that although I want for basically nothing (except of course world peace, the end of hunger, environmental salvation, and one of those mermaid costumes) there is something at this very moment that I think I need. It would be oh-so helpful … either a third functional hand or a Dictaphone. Your big bushy white eyebrows rise I see, but please let me explain. It seems that with everything in my life there is this pattern. In a nutshell, I wait till the last moment to complete the task. Like for example having my...

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Christmas movie: Little Women (2019)

Posted by on Dec 26, 2023 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General | 0 comments

Christmas movie: Little Women (2019)

  My holiday favourites have changed over the years but there are some films I’ve seen so many times that I’ve lost track, including It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol—the 1951 adaptation starring Alastair Sim—and The Sound of Music. However, writer-director Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel, Little Women, has surpassed these classics as my new favourite because it seems tailor-made to delight the female audience. If there’s one movie that should be on every woman’s Christmas watch list, it’s Little Women. Most of us are...

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Film review: Nyad (2023)

Posted by on Nov 30, 2023 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General | 0 comments

Film review: Nyad (2023)

Nyad had a limited release in theatres at the end of October before airing on Netflix on November 3rd. I didn’t get to see it on the big screen, but it’s the type of movie that doesn’t need one to be enjoyed (I’ve watched it twice on my TV). No matter the screen size, it’s an inspiring biopic—especially for the older female audience. Nyad should appeal to most adult women but particularly to women over 60, something this film analyst rarely gets to say. Few movies are made about older women, star women over 40 or portray older women as strong and capable. Nyad does all that and...

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Remembrance

Posted by on Nov 24, 2023 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General | 0 comments

Remembrance

I stand at the cenotaph; the azure blue sky being held up by dark bare branches. The crackling falling leaves floating past at first a sprinkles, and then advances, into a torrent of golden maples, falling upon the ground so green. Replaced slowly by the red poppies seen, on the coats that grow by the minute, from a group to a crowd and then to a throng of dogs, babies, adults old and young, Paying respect to our fallen soldiers, veterans and serving armed forces. And through the service I silently weep, not in regret but a gladness so deep That my family survived, into the two wars...

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A voice of reason.

Posted by on Nov 10, 2023 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General | 0 comments

A voice of reason.

Although the original chaos and frenzied reaction in 2020 at the onset of Covid has subsided there is still a lot of confusion about it. Shots, booster shots Covid or flu shots, age differentials, how long after the last one and on and on. I recently read the excellent article below that put this whole scenario in simple, easy to read and understandable perspective in the Victoria Times Colonist by Charla Huber. I thoroughly recommend that you read it and pass it on to others. Trish Summerhayes. Publisher. Island Woman...

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COULD SHOULD WOULD

Posted by on Oct 31, 2023 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General | 0 comments

COULD SHOULD WOULD

When I was one, I knew that I could, So, I struggled, and struggled, and miraculously stood, At last, I could walk, which was to all to the good, Then I started to talk. When I was ten by manipulation, I found a way. To control my parents come what may, This unfortunately their nerves did fray, At what I would be when a teen. When I was fifteen, I was told If I worked that I might, Enjoy the rewards academical, a future bright, And for the rest of my life delight, In an interesting career. When I was twenty, I knew that I should, Change my future path for I understood, My childhood had been...

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Do I need life insurance?

Posted by on Oct 17, 2023 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, Finance, General | 0 comments

Do I need life insurance?

Life insurance can help your loved ones deal with the financial impact of your death. The death benefit paid from a life insurance policy is a tax-free, lump-sum amount that can replace your income so your family can maintain their standard of living or provide for your children or dependents. It can also be designated to pay off expenses such as funeral costs. You may have forgotten about a life insurance policy that was paid off long ago. Sometimes a policy was purchased from a company that no longer exists. Some employer life insurance policy Agreements have payouts available even after a...

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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Posted by on Oct 13, 2023 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General | 0 comments

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Movie theatres didn’t spoil the female audience in September. I’ve lost track of all the new horror and action movies currently on offer (neither genre typically has much to offer female viewers). Our best options appear to be The Miracle Club and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. The former, starring the usually highly entertaining Maggie Smith, is disappointingly mediocre. The latter, written and directed by Nia Vardalos, a Canadian, isn’t nearly as much fun as 2002’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding. For these reasons, I’ve chosen to discuss a summer release: Indiana Jones and the Dial of...

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Hay There!

Posted by on Sep 7, 2023 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General | 0 comments

Hay There!

Make Hay While The Sun Shines’ – John Heywood, English Playwright 1546  As I briefly scanned the horizon last month, while driving through Cedar or into fair Ladysmith, I noted that the field marshmallows were popping up everywhere. And who would have thought that a playwright, and sometime musician/composer would have coined the prime rule when it comes to mak’in hay? Not I. Since we ‘bought the farm’ in 2004 this time of the season has always stressed me out to the max. Harvesting the early fruits and veggies is great for the spirit, but that hay! Depending on folks is one...

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Travel in Thailand 

Posted by on Aug 11, 2023 in Current Posts, Featured Slider Posts, General, Travel | 0 comments

Travel in Thailand 

Siam changed its name to Thailand in 1939 because the word “Thai” means “Free” This colorful, ancient land was once upon a time called “Siam”.  The place where, according to some reports, my favorite cats, the Siamese, originated.  Do we remember Yule Brynner dancing his way around the world, as the king in “The King and I”, until he could no longer dance and that dreaded disease, cancer, stopped him in his tracks?  And who does not remember “ The Bridge over the River Quay”?  We walked over this famous bridge, whistling that familiar tune as we went.  We were...

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