ROCK BALANCING
I took this photo about 10 years ago. I was on the homestretch of the Lynn Loop hike in Lynn Headwaters where the logging road runs next to Lynn Creek. I saw this and was dumbstruck! I hustled along the path and drove home to get my camera and made it back in about 30 minutes. To my relief, it was still there. I managed to take a bunch of photos before dusk and I’ve treasured them ever since.
I called it my Inukshuk, until I discovered that this isn’t Continue reading
A TASTE OF NATURE, Part 3
Looking back over the past 8 years of accidental gardening, I have managed to carve out a new niche in my retired lifestyle. The learning curve has been steep at times and very empowering and rewarding at other times. Nature is very forgiving of foolish accidental gardeners, and knowing that, helps me to take risks in the interest of future benefits. I’m so grateful that I’m healthy and able to spend hours at a time in my backyard. So I’ll bring this 3-part dissertation to a close today, with my news of 2021 (No, nothing about COVID.)
Since 2013, not only have I begun to watch the weather and pay closer attention to the quality of the Continue reading
A TASTE OF NATURE, Part 2
Last week, I gave you a bit of the history of my gardening experience. Not much to speak of, but a healthy start to my retirement lifestyle. My biggest takeaway from those years was the new experience of picking something that actually grew in my garden—wild, or intentionally planted. The first year that I planted peas and watered them religiously, they grew and gave me such a treat, picking the pods, shucking them and eating the peas, so sweet and crunchy! They never made it to the cooking pot. Of course, I saved some for the next year’s planting.
I bought a few organic potatoes from Garden Works and planted them in an Continue reading
A TASTE OF NATURE, Part 1
I can’t believe how my garden has changed my life. Heaven only knows what motivated me to build my first raised garden in 2013. Maybe I saw the Lee Valley Tools Catalogue showing raised-bed kits and I actually spent time studying their catalogue. Maybe it was linked to my purchase of a ‘push’ lawn mower, called a Reel Mower, from Lee Valley Tools a few years earlier, when my electric mower died. I can’t remember what happened but I do remember that I had Continue reading
BUSHWHACKING
As lucky kids of the Grand Boulevard neighbourhood, my younger brother and I were close to the mountains and, very luckily, the Seymour Demonstration Forest.
On a rainless weekend afternoon, we’d hop on our mountain bikes and head to the woods for an adventure. No supplies, no extra water or jackets and no plan either, except to freely explore. We were fortunate that our mother was not a worrier, and that she didn’t know our plans.
We’d reach the mouth of the woods and take off on the well-paved Demo Forest road. (Yes, after the 5km ride to the top of Lynn Valley Road and along the old logging road — a clear indication of how much energy we had to burn.) Once a long ways into the woods, tired of peddling, we’d stop and marvel at the Continue reading
Hi Neighbour,
I’m still thinking of balance—but not life balance. I’m thinking of balance on a bicycle.
I began to ride a bike 12 years ago, after many years of driving a car all over Metro Vancouver. Raising kids and taxiing them to and from after-school lessons, usually doing it in the most timely manner, meant that I couldn’t even think of riding a bike. I never even made time to exercise properly.
So when I went to China one summer, I saw how people use bicycles and tricycles and scooters (‘the family car’). I was sold on the idea of riding an electric-assist bicycle. So that’s what I bought, for about $1800. I figured that I couldn’t expect to get fit before starting to ride a bike, and I wanted to Continue reading
Hi Neighbour,
I’ve been thinking of the idea that in the next year we may not return to the same level of spending as we had pre-pandemic. I probably won’t. But, then again, I’ve never been the kind of person to keep-up-with-the-Joneses (a cliché from the 1950’s = buying things to match your more affluent neighbours’ things). I hope we’ve moved beyond these tendencies, and learned that we don’t need ‘things’ to make us happy.
As Socrates wrote: “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the Continue reading
Can you believe it? We’ve managed to reach the end of our second quarter of 12 months of TGIF articles. It’s been a good year, so far. I hope you’ve enjoyed it, too. You are always welcome to contribute an article (< 500 words) to this blog. Just write to admin@gbrra.org and we can arrange something, I'm sure. I'm happy to have reached this milestone. Recently, I've been thinking about balance: for example, in our lifestyles, in our 'new normal', or in our daily activities. We've all experienced some degree of change. How much of that will stay with us after the pandemic? How much have we learned about a different kind of Continue reading
BAMBOO
A few years ago, I learned about DRAWDOWN: The Most Comprehensive Plan ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, edited by Paul Hawken and published in 2017 (https://drawdown.org). To quote Dr. Jonathan Foley, ED of the California Academy of Sciences, who wrote Drawdown’s Foreword: “It’s important to remember that climate change stems from many sources, such as energy production, agriculture, forestry, cement and chemical manufacturing; thus, the solutions must arise from those same many sources.” There are also social and cultural solutions, including changing our Continue reading
Hi Neighbour,
This week, I’ve been thinking of Jamie MacKinnon’s book, The Day the World Stops Shopping. I can’t help thinking of my family, when we first came to Canada. My father had a job waiting for him, so that wasn’t a problem. But the cultural changes were intense. I was so young that I never felt it. As long as my family was there, my whole world was complete. But as I think back on the whole transition for my mother, taking care of 6 kids without the means to hire help (which she had had in England). It must have been so stressful. My oldest sister was a big help, I’m sure.
One thing that I remember, is that we had a home with Continue reading
