Author: edebock

Blind date with a book

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To celebrate Valentines Day, the Killam Municipal Library, just up the road from us, decided to play matchmaker. “Going out on a blind date is a lot like opening up a new book – you never know what kind of experience you are going to have!” announced the library website.

I’ve never been on a blind date, but I decided to give this one a try. After all, it fit rather well with my New Year’s resolution. I stopped by the library during the first week of February and chose this one from a selection of similarly wrapped packages.

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Filled with anticipation, I hastened home and I quickly unwrapped my “date”. It definitely wasn’t love at first sight! In fact, my initial response was disappointment. Kind of like imagining someone tall, dark and handsome, then opening the door to find a date who, at first glance, isn’t really attractive at all.

Escape to Havana, Nick Wilkshire

The idea of escaping to an exotic locale intrigued me, of course, but a quick look at the cover told me that the book was a mystery, not a genre that I’m particularly fond of. In fairness, though, I felt that I had to give my blind date a chance and so I began to read.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but the message on the outside of my package was a clue to what was inside. “Start a new chapter in your life,” it said. Main character, Charlie Hillier, is a Canadian bureaucrat whose marriage has just fallen apart in a very public way. When the chance to start over by accepting a posting to the Canadian embassy in Havana comes up, he jumps at the opportunity to escape the embarrassment and get as far away from his ex-wife and his dead end job at Foreign Affairs headquarters in Ottawa as he can.

Originally from St. John’s, Newfoundland, Nick Wilkshire is a lawyer living in Ottawa. Escape to Havana, published in 2016 is the first book in his Foreign Affairs Mystery series.

In spite of my initial apprehension, my date turned out to be fun. Escape to Havana is a light, but entertaining read. I’m not sure that an avid mystery fan would find it very satisfying, especially the rather far-fetched ending, but I enjoyed Wilkshire’s easy writing style and his sense of humour. He did a masterful job of bringing Havana to life. From the oppressive heat and humidity to the dilapidated buildings and ancient vehicles to the wonderful food, he gives his reader a real sense of modern day Cuba.

Would I go on another “blind date with a book”? As in real life, I would prefer to know who I’m going out with, but this was a fun experience, so yes, I probably would. For those who are really keen about the idea, there’s Blind Date with a Book.com. Subscribers receive a “blind date” once a month for six months based their favourite styles and genres. Me, I’ll just wait to see if the Killam Library does this again in the future.

Along with my “date”, there was a Rate Your Date form included in my packet. Everyone who returns the form with their book before February 28 will be entered in a draw. My “date” has gone back to the library and my fingers are crossed!

 

Garbage soup

/ edebock / 5 Comments

What do you do with your vegetable scraps? If you’re a gardener, perhaps you compost them and make good use of the nutrients that way. If not, this post is for you!

Food waste is an enormous problem worldwide. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 1.3 tonnes of food is thrown out each year. Here in Canada, according to a 2014 report, $31 billion worth of food ends up in landfills or composters every year. I’m terrible at math, but if I’ve done my calculating correctly, that’s over $870 per person! Shockingly, 47% of that waste comes from private homes, not restaurants. Fruits and vegetables account for the highest amount of food wasted. Instead of adding to this global problem, why not use your vegetable scraps to make broth that can be used in a wide variety of ways. It’s really very simple:

Think potatoes, carrots, celery, cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, beets, tomatoes, cauliflower, pea pods, zucchini and other squash. The possibilities are almost endless! Since you’re going to make use of the outer layers instead of throwing them out, make sure you wash all vegetables thoroughly to get rid of dirt and/or pesticide residue. Remove the tops, bottoms, skins, and stems and toss them into a large Ziploc bag.

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Keep the bag in the freezer and add to it until it’s full. I also add bits of leftover vegetables after a meal is over. Frozen, the scraps will keep for 6 months or more, but I find that I can easily fill a bag in 2 or 3 weeks.

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Once the bag is full, dump it into a large pot and add enough water for the scraps to begin to float.

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Bring it to a boil and simmer for several hours.

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Strain the liquid off and discard rest.

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Your scraps can even do double duty if you choose to compost what remains.

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Every batch of broth is a little bit different depending on the composition of the scrap mix. Some are mild; others more robust in colour and flavour. I always do a taste test before using or freezing the broth. So far, I haven’t had to throw any away, but my daughter did have one batch that reminded her of stinky pond water!

The broth will keep for 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator or 4 to 6 months in the freezer. If I don’t plan to use it within a day or two, I freeze mine in containers of approximately 2 cups each.

Looks like I’d better defrost that freezer soon!

There are many recipes that call for vegetable broth, of course, but it has plenty of other uses as well. You can add extra flavour and nutrition to stews, curries, and even rice by using broth instead of water. Sometimes I turn a whole batch into a big pot of hearty vegetable soup by simply adding chopped onion, celery, an assortment of fresh or frozen vegetables, some barley or rice, salt, pepper, and other herbs or spices to taste. There’s something weirdly satisfying about turning your garbage into soup!

The right to bare arms

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LogoKim Campbell was Prime Minister of Canada for a little over four months in late 1993. She was was the first, and to date, the only female prime minister of this country. In addition to being a politician, she’s been a diplomat, a lawyer, a university lecturer and a writer, but when it comes to fashion, I think she’s a little out of touch!

Kim Campbell

Campbell created a furor this week when she posted this on Twitter.

Kim Campbell Twitter post

Bare arms undermine credibility and gravitas and are demeaning to women? Really? How ridiculous and archaic!

Campbell is hardly a prude, nor is this the first time she’s created a hullabaloo over bare arms. The first time, however, they were her own. In 1990, the then Minister of Justice posed for a bare shouldered photo while holding her judicial robes in front of her.

Kim Campbell

Some considered it quite scandalous, but I think the photo is rather artistic and I like what it was meant to symbolize. Ms. Campbell recently tweeted that it represented “the juxtaposition of bare shoulders (femininity) and legal robes (male dominated power structure).” Apparently it was also intended to symbolize the law as protection for women.

I’m having a hard time reconciling a woman who championed those values with one who thinks that bare arms are degrading to women! As I said, perhaps she’s just a little out of touch.

Personally, in my younger years, I was self-conscious about showing off my arms because I felt that they were too skinny. It wasn’t until I was almost 40 and started to work out with weights that I felt comfortable going sleeveless. Now it’s my favourite look for summer. In fact, I can hardly wait for our long Canadian winter to come to an end so I can begin wearing them again.

What about you? Do you go sleeveless? Do you think that sleeveless dresses are unprofessional or demeaning to women? I’d love to know your opinion.

Great news!

/ edebock / 12 Comments

Just a quick update concerning my health. As many of you know, I live with NETS, a little known and incurable cancer. I’ve been waiting all week for the phone to ring with the results of routine CT scans done early last week. I wasn’t anticipating bad news, but I do live with the reality that it could come at any time. Thankfully, today wasn’t that day!

Today, the news was good! Almost four and a half years after diagnosis, my disease continues to be stable with no sign of growth or spread.

Today I also learned that my last two 5H1AA tests have been normal! What does that mean, you ask. While the injection that a nurse comes to the house to give me once a month and the radioactive treatments that I receive twice a year aren’t expected to lead to a complete cure, the hope was that they would render my tumours inactive or dormant. Neuroendocrine tumours (NETS) produce and release excess amounts of hormones, particularly serotonin. 5HIAA is a 24 hour urine test that measures the amount of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, a product of serotonin, found in the body. The normal test results show that my tumours are no longer active; no longer producing serotonin. It’s the serotonin that can cause symptoms including abdominal pain and cramping, diarrhea, joint pain, wheezing, fatigue and flushing of the skin. Because my levels have now been normal for several months, I was told today that I probably won’t have to repeat the 5H1AA test again unless I begin to experience symptoms again! That’s great news as it involves 3 days of dietary restrictions prior to the test and then 24 hours of collecting urine which can be quite a nuisance.

I’ll have my next treatment on May 23. Until then, with the exception of my monthly injections, I can forget about having cancer and get on with the business of living!

zebra

If you’re curious about why the zebra is the symbol of neuroendocrine cancer, check here or here.

Do you really want to be FIERCE?

/ edebock / 5 Comments

LogoIt seems that my recent fashion posts have been as much about words as they have been about fashion! First, I wrote about my present style being classy casual and what I meant by that. Then there was a post about the 3Cs… classy, confident, and comfortable. I hope you’ll bear with me today as we consider one more word that is taking a place of prominence in the world of fashion.

When I wrote F is for fashion, one of my earliest Fashion Friday posts, fierce was not one of the six F words that I focused on. In fact, it didn’t even cross my mind. There is, however, a movement started by 56 year old fashion blogger, Catherine Grace O’Connell, known as Forever Fierce that is quickly catching momentum on Facebook and she has now declared February 19 Forever Fierce Day.

“Forever Fierce Day is a celebration of the vitality, power, and wisdom of the Midlife Woman. Why? Because empowered women at Midlife are cool!” writes Catherine. “Midlife isn’t an age. It’s an experience. It’s a time when a woman begins to experience her true power while the world begins to treat her as not relevant or invisible. This is why women begin to rise and rise fiercely at Midlife.”

While I agree with her sentiment, I’m not sure I want to be known as fierce. In fact, I wasn’t sure how to respond when one woman complimented me on this top by telling me that it was fierce!

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I didn’t know her well or I might have asked her what she really meant by that. I’m guessing that fierce has just become a popular catchword and that few people really think about what they mean when they use it.

I’m a self professed word nerd, so naturally I began to wonder about the word fierce, especially as it pertains to fashion. In it’s original usage, the dictionary says that it’s an adjective meaning “having or displaying an intense or ferocious aggressiveness.” Yikes! I don’t think ferocious aggressiveness fits very well with my desire to be known as a woman of grace!

Digging deeper, I discovered that fierce was a term that was commonly used by gay men in the late 1990s and early 2000s to describe anything that was of exceptional quality. In fashion, it seems to have become a positive term used to mean cool, sexy, or awesome. Even so, I’m not sure that I’m ready to jump on the Forever Fierce bandwagon. It seems to me that perhaps a woman who has to declare herself fierce is trying just a bit too hard.

I’d love to know what you think. Do you want to be known as fierce?

With script in hand

/ edebock / 9 Comments

Community theatre has been an important part of my life for a very long time. I first took to the stage in the late 1970s playing Bob Cratchit in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol followed by the Empress in a stage play of Hans Christian Anderson’s tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes. Then came many years of raising a family and being too busy to perform.

The stage called my name again in 2002. My children were grown and I was going through a low spot in my own life. I needed to do something that was just for me, so I auditioned for a part in the old Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. Returning to the stage after such a long hiatus, I expected a bit part, but instead I was cast in one of the lead roles! I played Mary Bailey, wife of the main character, George.

My love of acting returned full force and I was completely hooked! Over the ensuing years, I’ve played many and varied roles in local theatre productions. In 2003, I was Vera in a female version of The Odd Couple and in 2005, Doris in The Cemetery Club. The story of three Jewish widows in their 50s who meet once a month for tea before going to visit their husbands’ graves, this was definitely one of my favourites. The picture quality is terrible, but that’s me (aka Doris) on the left. The guy with the beard is my husband, Richard. We’ve always had difficulty finding enough men to fill the male roles, so we roped him in and he’s been in several plays with me.

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The following year, the role that I was least happy to be cast in probably became my most memorable! I was Vonga, the jungle girl, in Jack Sharkey’s hilarious comedy, One Toe in the Grave. Even though it wasn’t the role I wanted, I decided to have fun with it. I made my own costume and still have it hidden away.

Vonga - One Toe in the Grave

In 2007, I was acting as assistant director for Arsenic and Old Lace, a classic comedy, when at close to the last minute, the actress cast in one of the lead roles wasn’t able to perform. With little time to learn the lines, I stepped in and became Abby Brewster, one of the somewhat eccentric but seemingly genteel elderly sisters who made it their mission to help lonely bachelors die happy by serving them elderberry wine spiked with arsenic! Here I am sharing the stage with two of my former students. Again, that’s me on the left.

Arsenic and Old Lace

In 2009, we brought A Christmas Carol back to the local stage. This time I played a couple of small parts. Then in 2012, just before leaving to spend a semester teaching English in China, I had a bit part in W.O. Mitchell’s The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon. Again, here I am sharing the stage with two of my former students!

The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon

Acting with former students, some who I taught drama to when they were in junior high, has definitely been one of the joys of participating in small town theatre!

Over the past few years, I’ve intensely missed performing. Though I’ve helped out behind the scenes on a couple of productions, travel and health restrictions have kept me off the stage. Once again, though, I’m at a point where I feel like I need to do something just for me and this time, the timing is perfect! We’ve just begun to prepare for four performances of Auntie Mame in early April. Life has been stressful lately and it’s been a few years since I’ve had to learn a lot of lines. I’m not sure how well that would go, so I’m delighted with my role as servant, Norah Muldoon. With many entrances and exits, I appear off and on throughout the play, but I don’t have any lengthy scenes or long speeches to memorize. Even so, I’ll be spending lots of time over the coming weeks with my script in hand!

So why am I so passionate about the theatre? We thespians are an interesting breed and it’s always a privilege to work with such a creative, talented and fun group of people! It takes many people working behind the scenes to put a production together and in a small town amateur group like ours, people often fill many different roles. Actors can often be found working on set construction, sewing costumes or setting up tables and chairs for the dinner theatre performances. Putting on a play is a lot of work but it’s worth it all when the lights go up, the play begins and we feel the audience respond. What a rush! I’m essentially a very shy person but when I’m onstage, I get to be someone else and it is so much fun! After all, where else would I dare appear in a teeny tiny jungle girl costume?

Not ditching my denims!

/ edebock / 6 Comments

LogoAccording to a recent and obviously very controversial study, I should have stopped wearing jeans 12 years ago!

British courier service, CollectPlus, put together a survey that revealed that by age 53, people should stop wearing their denims. Even Catherine Woolfe, Marketing Director at CollectPlus, was startled by the results. “It’s surprising to see our research reveals that many people think jeans are the reserve of the younger generation,” she said.

My initial response to the news was astonishment! Jeans are an absolute staple of my wardrobe and I can’t ever imagine the day coming when I would stop wearing them.

I’m definitely not the only one! Here’s Susan Street from Susanafter60 in hers,

Susan Street, Susanover60

Jennifer Connolly of A Well Styled Life wearing hers,

Jennifer Connolly, A Well Styled Life

and Alyson Walsh of That’s Not My Age wearing her jeans.

Alyson Walsh, That's Not My Age

All three fashion bloggers are over the age of 53 and I think they look darn good!

So why does CollectPlus suggest that we should stop wearing jeans at 53? Apparently, the stress that people experience while shopping for jeans becomes too intense for us by that age! Really? That’s the best they could come up with? What does a parcel delivery service know about fashion anyway? Or about conducting valid research?

What do you think? Are jeans one of your wardrobe essentials? At what age would you stop wearing them?

3Cs… classy, confident, and comfortable

/ edebock / 11 Comments

LogoIn one of her most recent posts, Pam Lutrell of Over 50 Feeling 40, one of my favourite fashion blogs, presented her readers with a lengthy list of adjectives and asked us to choose the top three that we would like our wardrobes to say about us. I chose classy, confident, and comfortable.

In my mind, the first two go hand in hand. When I know I look good, I feel like I can conquer the world and to me looking good means dressing with class.

As I mentioned in last Friday’s post, now that I’m retired, I want my wardrobe to be what I would call classy casual.

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So what makes an outfit classy? There are no one size fits all rules, but here are a few tips to help:

Learn how to dress your body type  –  What looks good on some of my curvy girlfriends might do nothing at all for my boyish figure and vice versa. Look for garments that highlight your best features and don’t draw attention to the ones that you’d rather conceal.

Fit  –  In the words of Stacy London and Clinton Kelly of What Not to Wear fame, “If you don’t have fit, you don’t have style.” The key is to try things on and look in the fitting-room mirror with a critical eye. Do shoulder seams lie in the right place? Are armholes sufficiently high without cutting into your armpits? Does the garment pull across your shoulder blades? Is the length appropriate? Is there puckering or wrinkling anywhere? If you’re unsure about fit, try on another size for comparison. Then, if you’re seriously considering buying an item, leave the dressing room and head for the three-way mirror! Don’t buy anything without first checking the fit from behind!

Know which colours look best with your complexion  –  Wearing the right colours can make your hair look radiant, your eyes pop, and your skin glow. On the other hand, the wrong colours, especially worn close to your face, will make you look tired or washed out.

Modesty  –  I’m not talking about hiding under a nun’s habit or a burqa here, but there’s nothing classy about overexposure! Unless you’re at the beach or beside the pool, keep your cleavage and your belly button covered. Underwear is meant to be worn under what you’re wearing, so keep your bra straps out of sight too and please, please remember that leggings are not pants! Make sure your butt and your crotch are covered. ‘Nuff said!

Accessorize, but don’t overdo it  –  Jewelry is meant to enhance an outfit, not overpower it. In my opinion, understated is better than garish or overly ostentatious. Scarves are a great way to add colour and visual interest to an outfit and don’t forget that your shoes are also an accessory. There’s nothing like a cute shoe to add a little class!

When it comes to classy, confident dressing, learn to trust your instincts. Wear what makes you feel like your best self. Think about the outfits that you feel happiest wearing and the ones that you receive the most compliments on. Chances are, they make you look classy. And don’t forget that dressing classy doesn’t have to cost a lot. Yes, you could spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on designer clothes, but you can also find comparable looks at reasonable prices, and if you’re like me, you might even find some wonderful buys in your local thrift stores! Check here for 18 tips to help you!

Comfortable is my final C word and to me, that’s a no brainer! Regardless of how well a garment fits and whether or not the colour suits you, if you don’t find it comfortable or you don’t like the texture of the fabric, you won’t enjoy wearing it.

What words would you choose to describe what you would like your wardrobe to say about you?

 

What do you wear at home?

/ edebock / 8 Comments

LogoWhat do you wear when you’re home alone or when only family is there to see? Have you ever been embarrassed by your appearance when someone came to the door unexpectedly?

At 65, I grew up in an era when we had separate clothes for school and play. The very first thing we did when we got home was to change into play clothes. Throughout my teaching career, I continued to have a work wardrobe and at-home clothes which usually consisted of blue jeans and a t-shirt or a sweatshirt. I really didn’t pay much attention to my appearance when I was at home. 

Once I retired, however, I realized that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life looking sloppy. I didn’t need a work wardrobe anymore, but I still wanted to look like I mattered; like I cared about myself. I began to read a few fashion blogs for older women to try to figure out what I wanted my new everyday style to be. Now I try for a classy casual look even on those days when I have no plans to leave the house.

I still wear jeans. In fact, they’re an absolute staple in my wardrobe. I even wear them to church sometimes. I wear t-shirts too, but there are t-shirts and then there are t-shirts. I’ll wear one like this

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or this

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but very rarely one like this.

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I consider the first two classy, but the third one, not so much! The only reason it’s in my wardrobe at all is because it bears a very important message.

I don’t wear sweatshirts at all anymore except when I’m camping. A nice sweater is just as comfortable and it looks so much better.

One of the things that I’ve been trying to do lately has been to bring some of my dressier items into my everyday wear instead of saving them for special occasions. It hasn’t been an easy transition though. Old habits die hard. The idea of having dual wardrobes, one for going out and one for at home, is deeply ingrained!  

Obviously, I don’t wear sequins and sparkles to do the housework or to sit at my computer. Those are still saved for truly dressy occasions, but most of my wardrobe is now comprised of classy casual items that I’m comfortable wearing everyday at home or away.

I also make sure my earrings are in, I’m wearing at least a touch of make up, and my hair is done early in the day. I’m worth it and, if my husband is the only person who sees me that day, he’s worth it too! And, I’m never embarrassed to answer the door!

What do you wear at home?

Silver and gold!

/ edebock / 2 Comments

LogoWhen I was young I wore only gold jewelry. I instinctively knew that it looked better on me than silver did. Sure enough, when I had my colours done in the 1980s, the analyst draped me in a gold metallic cloth and I glowed. Not so with silver. My skin had warm undertones and I was a Spring.

With the passage of time, however, I began to notice a change. As silver streaks began to appear in my hair, I realized that I could wear colours that I hadn’t been able to before, particularly black and white. I also began to add silver jewelry to my collection.

I particularly like pieces that combine both metals. I have several pairs of earrings and a favourite necklace that are part gold and part silver. I’ve always been especially thankful that the watch I received as a retirement gift from my employer is also both gold and silver as I wear it almost all the time.

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Until this Christmas, I wore three rings that I never take off (except when I’m undergoing medical scans that require me to remove all metal).  My engagement ring, my wedding ring, and my family ring are all gold. I’ve always thought that adding a silver ring would look odd, but my Christmas gift from my husband solved that problem! It’s both silver and gold!

 

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There’s a long story behind this beautiful and very unique ring. Last summer, we were wandering the shops in Jasper, Alberta with our oldest son and his family when I spotted a ring very similar to this one in Our Native Land, a gallery featuring authentic arts and crafts by Canada’s aboriginal artists. I fell in love with the concept; a wide band of sterling silver overlaid with a narrower band of 14kt yellow gold hand carved with a Northwest Coast motif. If you read my post about The Hazeltons last summer, you might remember how much I love the art and culture of the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest.

When our summer vacation was over, I couldn’t get that ring out of my mind. I began to do some research which soon led me to the website for Vancouver’s Douglas Reynolds Gallery. There I found a wide selection of wonderful rings including a couple of the style I had in mind. The website also referred to a book entitled Understanding Northwest Coast Art by Cheryl Shearar which is a detailed guide to the crests, beings and symbols used in Northwest Coast art. I had my local library bring it in and read it from cover to cover to help me decide what motif I wanted on my ring.

A Hummingbird Ring by Haisla artist, Hollie Bear Bartlett, was one of the ones that had caught my eye on the gallery website. The Haisla Nation are a subgroup of the Kwaguilth people, the group that I had focused on during my first anthropology course many years ago at the University of Calgary. According to Shearar’s book, the hummingbird isn’t traditionally a major motif in their art, but “it’s popularity today indicates that it has become a very important symbol of love and beauty.” Perfect!

I told Richard that this was what I wanted for Christmas, but the ring that was advertised wasn’t my size. He contacted the gallery to find out if it was available in other sizes and was told that they could have the artist make one in my size in time for Christmas. Even better! A ring made especially for me by the artist! Richard arranged to pick it up at the gallery on Dec. 23, the day after we planned to arrive in Vancouver for Christmas. By the time we arrived at the gallery, I was as excited as a little child waiting for Santa! After I tried it on, however, it went back in the box to be wrapped and placed under the tree at our son’s house until Christmas morn.

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The ring wasn’t the only piece of jewelry that I received for Christmas. Santa left this silver bangle in my stocking. I think he probably had some help from my daughter-in-law though! After all, she’s the wise young mom who tied a “courage bracelet” around her timid young son’s wrist to remind him that he could be brave and face whatever challenges come his way. My bracelet says “She believed she could, so she did” and I love it!

Please note: The individual ring photos are from the Douglas Reynolds Gallery website. The other photos are my own.