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...
Read MoreForaging 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...
Read MoreMaking 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...
Read MoreThe 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....
Read MoreDecember 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...
Read MoreChristmas 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...
Read MoreFilm 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...
Read MoreRemembrance
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...
Read MoreA 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...
Read MoreCOULD 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...
Read MoreDo 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...
Read MoreIndiana 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...
Read MoreHay 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...
Read MoreTravel 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...
Read MoreFilm review: Barbie
The movie of the summer—or the year, it may turn out—is a great treat for the female audience. You may have stopped playing with Barbies when you were five. You may detest the unrealistic beauty ideal the iconic doll has promoted for decades with her anatomically impossible body. If so, you aren’t alone, and American writer-director Greta Gerwig has created a brilliant comedy you may just find wonderfully enjoyable. The first time I watched Barbie, on July 20, the theatre was full of groups of women and mother/daughter duos that laughed throughout the movie. The second time I saw it, on...
Read MoreMy Garden Decor
Even when your thumb is not particularly green, you can have an intriguing garden– certainly one with more personal, perhaps nostalgic, history behind it than the heirloom rose in the corner. Not to knock the roses though, because my robust and invasive Rugosa, covered with scented blooms, carries with it a story of the Alaska Highway. But back to those garden specimens that have sprouted without roots and need no pruning or fertilizing. Probably the first of these is an ancient cast iron Franklin fireplace. While directing its placement in a corner by the hedge of my present yard, my husky...
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