I was reading through one of my usual e-newsletters yesterday and I had one of those, “ Ohh That’s why!!!!” moments. Over the past month I have been reading articles and information on disability and travel. I have been collecting data, so to speak. One article stated that Vancouver was the most accessible/ disable friendly city in Canada. I would have to agree just from the few times I have taken public transit there. Much better than in Calgary. Sorry for any bus drivers out there. Really, I appreciate you. I would not want your job for all the massages in the world. Calgary is not an easy city to get around at the best of times let alone with any type of disability.

Well, the Olympics in Turin are wrapping up and the mayor from Vancouver is traveling there to receive the flag to bring back to Vancouver.


In reading the article in this e-newsletter, it was brought to my attention that the mayor of Vancouver is a wheelchair user. I don’t really know any mayor from other cities so it isn’t really a surprise since I didn’t even know who he was. The epiphany was that this is why Vancouver is so accessible. I am sure it started before Mr. Sullivan, but it is quite obvious that his influence is to make it accessible- period. Not just disable friendly, but also there for everyone…lets say universal design …my favorite catch phrase. He sounds like that kind of person, since he also learned Italian and speaks Cantonese to communicate with others.


By the way, the girls kicked some excellent butt over there…Yeah Canada!!!!

Today was the inaugural day of “The Illustrious Casual Book Club.” I think everyone enjoyed it. It was casual, and good conversation was had by all (I hope). There was of course some food, and for this cold and snow like day, a nice cup of tea.

We had a great backdrop for the book we were chatting about. The book was “The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis. What backdrop you may ask? I look out onto a lovely forest. Today for everyone’s pleasure the trees were white with snow icing and my resident momma deer was having lunch with us. We could have easily been walking through the wardrobe and stumbled on the lamppost. Perhaps we could be in Mr. Tumnus’s living room for our tea.

I have never had a problem with fantasy. I rather like reading it. I can easily be taken into another land or time where there is as much evil as there is in reality. Somehow it is easier to stomach when you know that good will win out. Not so, I guess, in real life. Fantasy novels allow the rejuvenation of faith, I guess. Especially, they help to keep the faith in human kind and in something good, that which is really lacking in most other parts of life.

Today is the perfect day to sit with friends and chat. Some people popped in for a short time and some stayed longer. It was all good. The next book club day is TBA and we will see what the topic will be. What a good excuse to get together.

where Oh where has the sanity gone?

I was on the phone with a friend tonight, we were discussing the pandemics, and general disruption the world is in. It came to me some of the paradoxes that exist. For example, on the market there are all the cleaners with antibacterial/ kill all but .01% living things in your house. Then on the other hand, we have people going in for pig salmonella injections right into the face. Botox is the market name. Sure! Of course! That makes sense! Let's kill off everything around us so that we can inject it right into our bodies. That can’t possibly have any effects on us, especially if it makes us look good.

How can a society be so neurotic about something that people have lived with since the dawn of time…ohhh bacteria? Hello, we need bacteria in life. No! but that does nothing for our vanity nor for the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical/ cosmetic industries. All the “bad bugs” line up over there (aka ones that don’t make money) and all the “good bugs” line up here (aka make lots of money for us. We don’t care if it kills people).


Lets not forget to talk about the disposable- everything we have now. Since we are talking about cleaning, lets look at the disposable cleaning products. Are we not supposed to be environmentally friendly nowadays? I guess that is also just when it is convenient. What happened to the old fashioned mop, or a broom? No, I guess that is just flushed down the toilet.

I think the root of it is that there is just too much money. People who have it, just don’t know what to do with it.(That isn’t me; however, I know where all my pennies end up.) Couldn’t they just build a nice building or something?

There was a time where people, who had a lot of money, at least threw it away on big parties and built ‘over the top’ chateaus. They maybe even commissioned a painter or two. At least 100’s of years later we have places to visit and museums to go to. What do we have in the 21st Century? We have faces with no expression and clean toilets with no scrub brush beside it. Ahh that is what I call advances!!

Today was the kind of day I love. I don’t have to go to work (outside the home anyway) and it is frigid outside (not as bad as yesterday but I hate the cold). It is the perfect day to pull on the house sweats, the slippers you never show guests, and the torn sweatshirt that only the cat would love. All this to sit around the house, putter, clean, have a nap, do some work, have another cat nap. Somewhere in the midst of this to look outside basking in the sun, nice , warm and quiet. That is what I call a day. All by myself… (Ok everybody sing :0)
It is a day for not looking at the clock and racing to the next appointment or obligation. It is for doing what you feel like doing not what you have to do.

These days come far to rarely because not only do you need the time to be, but you also need to stop thinking, worrying, fixating, being hurried, staying angry, being frustrated, and any other ‘rat race’ emotion that takes over our lives and forces it sharp teeth into our souls.

It is my day in the sun with a good book, a great cup of coffee, some good food and the cat. Ahhhhhh! regeneration of the mind.
I think I will go fix myself a drink…

Tonight, after what seems like a long time, I was able to do something spontaneously. I had been wondering if I had lost the art of doing something, anything, just because I felt like doing it without analyzing it to death or feeling guilty. I don’t know why tonight was the night, but there it is.

I had an interesting day being on an interview panel and realizing I am taking the world and myself way too seriously. How does this happen to a person? I pride myself on being laid back. Well, recently I have noticed a more judgmental, edgy, rigid person appearing in the mirror. Is it all the horrible world events crashing in on my psyche, or am I just getting to be that old crotchety woman with the cat? Which ever it is, today, my interviewing partner gave me a look at myself. No mirror was necessary. It was clear enough. I thought myself open minded, but maybe not as much as I had hoped. I feel that I am slipping into conventions. I am not a person to be conventional… What is happening? It is very disturbing. I think I need to think about this. Maybe I have thought too much….

If fellow bloggers have some input, that would be great.