Home Visits for Optimum Health
Why get a home visit? Have you ever finished getting a massage and felt so “floaty” you wondered how you are going to get yourself home? Have you just had surgery and been given instructions to increase activity for healing and not known where to begin? Do you have an knee, leg, hip or back injury that makes it difficult to get to clinics for therapies? Have you experienced a stroke that makes it difficult to get around? Do you have a chronic condition like diabetes or M.S. – or are you on dialysis and find you are short on energy? How Reflexology home visits help... A home...
Read More60 years of Chic
Renowned Canadian designer Joseph Ribkoff’s signature has been gracing labels of iconic women’s fashion, ever since he started his business in 1957. “I went into business when I was just 21,” laughs Joseph Ribkoff. “I must have had horseshoes around me, because I did everything right.” Don’t let his humility and casual attire fool you. The man’s understanding of what women want would put Nick Marshall (played by Mel Gibson in the movie “What Women Want”) to shame. “It all began with Marilyn,” says Ribkoff. “Is there anything more to say? Marilyn...
Read MoreOn the Horizon
Her heart swelled with gratitude as she watched the sun glint on the great expanse of blue, rolling ocean. The sand shushed beneath her toes as small pebbles rolled and bounced in the drag of the waves. With a deep breath, Ashley swept her arms above her head and took a long delicious stretch, savouring the fragrant Maui breeze. Life of late had been slammed with meetings, stressful phone calls from Corporate Suits and clients needing her attention now, now, now! When she started her small Interior Design company, she had not dared to dream that within 5 years she would have staff and be...
Read MoreRiding the All-Night Train
When my husband and I moved from Ontario to this our lovely island home in the dead of winter 2004, we came by train. Crazy, some would call it. It was on January 6th that we began our sojourn to the West. That train ride was actually three nights through the frozen North Country of Canada. Not exactly tourist season. But it was breathtakingly beautiful. The days are shorter in winter and the nights start early. We had lovely bunks. We kept the window blinds open and for much of it we lay side-by-side in the lower bunk with our heads against the outside wall looking up and out the large...
Read MoreWar of The Words
Perhaps it’s the plague of one’s former profession, or one’s devotion to a lifetime of reading, but yesterday’s front page headline in our local paper was a blow to much I hold dear. “Word removal worries” it stated in big bold letters. The accompanying story featured a local teacher and her class of 10-11 year-olds learning that one of the most revered dictionaries in the English language had removed words of our natural world to make room for those of technology and ‘newspeak’ in its school dictionary. This happened a few years ago and was protested at the time by...
Read MoreTips for Tax Retirement Income
When it comes to tax planning, it’s the little things that really add up. Here are 5 ways in which you can save big at tax time: Have a plan – it is very important that you know where your income is coming from today, tomorrow and many years down the road. At each stage of your retirement, your primary income source may change. Having more than just a vague idea of where this money is going to come from helps make better decisions now. Create income from multiple sources – the saying “don’t have all your eggs in one basket” rings true when it comes to taxation too. Some income...
Read More2019 Canadian Food Guide
The Food guide makes some recommendations specific to all life stages, including for seniors. Specific recommendations on how to meet nutrient requirements and what they are exactly stays a bit murky. To clear that up, the food guide recommends that “Individuals with specific dietary requirements may need additional guidance or specialized advice from a dietitian.” And in here lies the answer. About half of the population 65+ and older have at least one chronic disease, meaning that half of that population indeed may have very specific dietary requirements. This is why staying...
Read MoreMama Said There’d Be Days……..
Martha was having a rough morning. Mind you, it started okay. She woke up smiling. Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember her dream, but its afterglow followed her to the kitchen, where she proceeded to drop her French press on the ceramic tile floor and shatter it – the press, not the floor. Nothing would ever chip, dent, or scar those tiles. Martha suspected they were made from diamonds, or maybe Kryptonite. She dug through her cupboards and found the instant coffee her sister Harriet (she of the tone-deaf taste buds) had left when she last visited. It had hardened to a rock-like...
Read More“In a time out of time.”
Many years ago, I was in a Past Life Regression session with a client, when we came across a lifetime of hers where she had lived in a small village, deep in a tropical rainforest. When I asked her Past Life self when and where she was, her reply was, “In a time out of time.” Curious, right? Upon deeper questioning, it was revealed that her past self had no way to relate to our current concept of linear, industrial time. The jungle she lived in didn’t have seasons, life moved at a different pace and while her life’s experiences were relatable – love, children, social...
Read More“IF WINTER COMES … “
Heads up! The snowdrops are a-bloom, the daffodils’ greenery is above ground, … so most obviously Spring can not be far behind! And Seedy Saturday 2019 in Qualicum Beach is less than a month away! For this day full of curiosity, wonder, learning, and ‘dreaming in green’ (picked up that sweet phrase in Switzerland!) here’s the day to mark on your 2019 calendar: Seedy Saturday February 2nd 10:00 am until 3:30 pm, at the Qualicum Beach Civic Centre, 747 Jones Ave. in QB. Admission by donation. To quote from the Seedy website, “Seedy Saturday is an annual event that provides a...
Read More25th Operation Christmas Child
Congratulations to all those who gave so generously to make the 25th Operation Christmas Child such a resounding success. It is amazing what can be achieved when a community commits to effecting change and assistance to others. I suggest that we need to use that spirit and energy to bring relief and hope to the thousands of children right here in Canada. We may not like to recognise that so many Canadian children live in poverty and squalor. Children to whom hunger is a constant. Children without hope. Children without a chance of achieving what most of us take for granted. An ugly scenario...
Read MoreHOLIDAZE
It is that time again! Hidden Halloween wrappers finally all discovered and vacuumed up. The last of the frozen Thanksgiving turkey stewed, and now every store isle is full of Christmas. It’s here and you better hurry because one, two, three, and you are making New Year promises. I am older now, a great-gramma and Christmas is calmer. No, not anywhere near as exciting as shopping for the just right gift, or taking five small children to Eaton’s mall to visit Santa so they could tell him in person how they desperately needed the latest toys advertised on TV. I loved watching their...
Read MoreA Christmas Tail
“My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am” -Author Unknown They say if you are lucky enough to live with dogs that you can’t help but have a favourite & that you will undoubtedly have at least 1 pup who becomes the ultimate ‘million dollar dog’. Well, that would be my dog Peppy, 12 years old (with a 28 year old liver), having defied all odds of survival in dogdom, he’s actually a scabillion dollar dog. But oh so heart-meltingly adorable. I’ve also come to truly believe that with each & every health issue a dog...
Read MoreDisability Parking Permit Holders.
This is an important but mainly unknown regulation for drivers that have a disabled parking permit. It is illegal to drive around with your disabled permit hanging from your rear-view mirror as per the BC Motor Vehicle Act, section 7.05; subsection2: “The permit must be removed when the vehicle is in motion because it is considered a visual obstruction. A fine my...
Read MoreWhat is Collagen?
The ever-present buzzword that invades the minds of beauty gurus, health experts, and all who pursue the path of attaining soft and supple skin. Collagen is a protein that is key in skin’s support structure. Therefore, it plays a crucial role in skin’s integrity, firmness, elasticity, and overall functioning. Despite its vital role, the aging process triggers the progressive decline of collagen in the body which leads to the weakening of skin and the development of wrinkles. As today’s beauty standards value younger-looking skin, it is no wonder that this protein is sought after by so...
Read MoreThe Mystery of the Stone
The stone sat on the front lawn, grey and solid. Over the years, a third of the stone had sunk into the dirt but it’s overall shape was a smooth oval. The whippersnipper kept the grass around it neat and trimmed but people failed to notice it any more. It had originally been placed as a decorative element for the front garden, dragged out when the basement was being dug and dropped from the bobcat scoop where it lay to this day. It’s surface was lined now, years of exposure to the elements showed wear and tear, could it have shrunk? It seemed smaller. I was busy planting some...
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