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We did it!

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It may not be Awesomeday, but what an awesome weekend it’s been! Our first three performances of The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon went pretty much without a hitch and the audiences loved it.

It’s always a privilege to work with such a creative, talented and fun group of people! Flagstaff Players is a diverse group made up of school teachers, students, tradespeople, young moms, and even old retired folks like us! We also have two men of the cloth and you’d never guess what roles they’re playing. The local United Church minister, a long time member of the club, was cast as Old Cloutie, better known as the devil himself, while the new associate pastor over at the Nazarene Church plays the role of Judas Iscariot!

Perhaps it’s the teacher in me but one of the things that I enjoy most about being involved in the whole process of putting together a play is watching someone who’s never done this before blossom. We have one such gentleman in this year’s cast. He was hesitant at first, willing to give this acting thing a try but not at all sure that he could do it well. He learned his lines, listened carefully to the director’s advice and as time went by his character began to come to life. As our first audience filled the hall on Friday evening, I know that he was very nervous but when he felt the rush that an actor gets when an audience responds, he was hooked! Watching him come off-stage with newfound confidence in his step and a smile plastered across his face has been such a joy!

One of the things I enjoyed about teaching school in a small community was watching my students grow up and become involved in the life of the community. This weekend I had the privilege of sharing the stage with several of them. In fact, at one point this afternoon, Richard and I looked around the make up room and realized that between us, we’d taught everyone in the room at that moment! Sometimes the hardest part is convincing them that Mrs. DeBock was my teacher name and that they no longer have to call me that!

There's those rubber chickens again!

Some of our productions involve young children. Here’s the littlest member of this year’s cast. She only makes a brief appearance onstage but this is just the beginning. Who knows what roles she might play in the future? Apparently one of our child actors, an adorable six-year-old, was heard to say “I love being in a play” as he drifted off to sleep after opening night!

It takes many people working behind the scenes to put something like this 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. One of our cast members is a talented photographer who took head shots of all of us for the playbill. Here are the photos she took of Richard and I.

   Photography by Natalee

 

After the adrenalin rushes of a very successful weekend, we all need a good night’s sleep and a couple of days off. We’ll gather again on Wednesday evening for one more rehearsal to keep things fresh in our minds and then finish up with two more performances next weekend.

Backstage glimpses

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There hasn’t been much time for blogging this week. An hour and a half of physiotherapy every day has resulted in a knee that doesn’t crack or pop anymore which is wonderful but it’s community theatre that has really cut into my time. We’ve rehearsed every night this week and tonight is the first time we’ve been home before 10:00. Why so busy? Because tomorrow night is opening night!

The play is W.O. Mitchell’s The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon and Richard plays Wullie himself, a role that has him onstage almost the entire time. I, on the other hand, have a very small role so I spend a lot of time backstage.

Theatre looks very different from the back side so I thought I’d share a few glimpses of my backstage world with you tonight.

   


The story takes place in the 1930s. Look at some of the things we found in local barns and workshops!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t touch anything on the prop table unless it’s yours and make sure everything is back in place after each performance!

Rubber chickens and microphones! What next?

With five performances over the next two weekends, life isn’t going to settle down for awhile yet!

Sometimes I need an ocean

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When life gets stressful, as it sometimes does, what I really want to do is walk by the ocean and be soothed by the sound of the surf. That’s probably because, as a child, I could hear the rhythm of the waves from my bed as I drifted off to sleep.

The past week has been a stressful one; a week of worrying about my parents. Dad hasn’t been well. That resulted in both parents literally sleeping through one entire day… no food, no water, no medication! If my sister hadn’t phoned that evening, who knows what might have happened?

Recognizing the need for a better emergency plan, my sis and I have spent the week making phone calls, gathering information, asking questions we’d rather not have to ask. Dad is Mom‘s primary caregiver and we’re a province away. What do we do if something happens to him? Is it any wonder that I feel like I need an ocean to walk by?

Alas, there are no oceans here on the Alberta prairie but as I mentioned in my last post, whenever I have the opportunity to walk by the sea I bring home all sorts of bits and pieces… shells, driftwood, sea glass. Many favourite pieces have found their way into our main bathroom. There’s a giant pink conch shell bought for $1 on a beach road in the Bahamas in 1977. We had just found out that I was pregnant with our first child. There’s a beautiful abalone shell, given to my husband by a ranger at a campground on the California coast in 1993. Then there are all the pieces that I’ve picked up over the years. Some are quite ordinary… oyster, clam and mussel shells. Others are special… moon snails treasured since childhood, a razor clam from the PEI beach where my grandfather probably played as a child, a tiny shell from our first visit to Japan, beautiful pieces of sea glass from Saipan and most recently, a shell from Costa Rica.

   


I may not be able to walk by the ocean and let the sound of the surf wash away my troubles but at least I can retreat to the bathroom and relax in a warm tub surrounded by my seaside treasures. Occasionally, a glass of wine even goes with me!

I’m honoured!

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I’m not the winner of many awards; just a few golf prizes and one teeny, tiny trophy. Perhaps that’s why I was so thrilled when Geetanjali, who writes The Open Book blog, nominated me for The Versatile Blogger award! Thank you, Geetanjali!  Geetanjali hails from India and writes about one of my favourite things, books. When I read her post about the Sunday Book Bazaar in Delhi, I was completely hooked!

Try as I might, I haven’t been able to find out anything about the origin of The Versatile Blogger award. I do know that it’s a bit like a chain letter, passed from one blogger to another but unlike the chain letters of old, it doesn’t promise fame or fortune to those who pass it on or threaten doom to those who don’t. It is, in fact, a way to share favourite bits of the blogosphere with our readers and to show appreciation to those whose writing we appreciate.

There are four rules for those who choose to accept The Versatile Blogger award:

  1. Thank the person who nominated you for the award and include a link to their blog.
  2. Select and nominate 15 blogs that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
  3. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know that you are nominating them for the award.
  4. Share 7 things about yourself.
Sounds easy, right? I thought so too until I started thinking about who to nominate. There are a lot of blogs out there! I spent a considerable amount of time over the weekend revisiting blogs I’d stumbled upon in the past and searching out some new ones. I could nominate my daughter’s blog but she’s a very busy mother of preschoolers who simply doesn’t have time to search out 15 blogs to nominate. I doubt she’d appreciate me putting her in that spot. I eventually narrowed it down to the following 15, quite a diverse group. I could simply list the blogs that I’ve chosen but instead, I’d like to tell you a little bit about each of them.
  1. Those of you who’ve been following my blog for very long will have heard of Donloree at Bikini or Bust. I’ve been following her journey to health and fitness for over a year and look forward to every update. She is such an inspiration and I absolutely love her zany sense of humour!
  2. One blog tends to lead to another. I found Faith at The Serious Road to Fitness through Bikini or Bust and adopted her goals as my own.
  3. Nini at A Fine Balance writes about fashion, fitness and food. She calls herself a fashionista on a frugal budget and I like her style!
  4. Maggie at Living Life in Glorious Colour and I have been following one another’s blogs for almost a year and have discovered that we have a lot in common. Her photos are stunning.
  5. Grams is my high school friend, Janis, the only one of these bloggers that I’ve met in person and one of the most creative people I know. She hasn’t updated her blog in quite some time but I’m hoping that this will inspire her to start posting again. A look back at Janis’ earlier posts is well worth it, especially if you’re interested in crafting or home decor.
  6. If you like Grams, you’ll also enjoy Mimi Sue’s Cottage. I love her Sunday Sayings.
  7. I left a piece of my heart in Japan when we returned to Canada after teaching there for a year. Tokyoholic is a graphic designer living in Tokyo. I especially love her photos. She does a wonderful job of capturing the many faces of Japan.
  8. The Simple Life of a Country Man’s Wife lives in South Dakota “intentionally living life each day as it comes.” She understands life in the country and I notice that we often comment on the same blogs.
  9. The Big Sheep Blog “where imagination and business life collide” addresses a wide variety of topics with genuine wit.
  10. ihavetriedit offers lots of great money saving and do-it-yourself tips.
  11. I’ve recently started following Jen at The Scrumptious Pumpkin. Her Winter Vegetable Pasta with White Wine and Parmesan recipe is to die for and I’m looking forward to trying some of her others.
  12. Malou is a Filipina married to a Dutchman and living in the Netherlands. Her blog, Going Dutch, shares many aspects of life in the Netherlands and makes me want to visit.
  13. From a Tuscan Villa is another blog that inspires me to visit Europe soon.
  14. Elizabeth has been writing I Face the Sun for just over a year and I like her outlook on life.
  15. French Twisted Woman is a brand new blogger. She’s off to a great start and I hope this award inspires her to keep it up. Don’t miss her post about her car wash adventure!

And now for the fun part, 7 random things about me. I’ve tried to choose things that I haven’t included on my blog before.

  1. I haven’t actually written a bucket list but if I did, it would include riding in a helicopter and a hot air balloon.
  2. I don’t fit the normal oldest, middle or youngest child profile. Chronologically, I’m a second child but my older brother suffered a brain injury in infancy, before I was born, so in many ways I’m the oldest. Or am I just the most confused…?
  3. I love beachcombing; hauling home seashells, bits of driftwood and sea glass from beaches around the world. Many of them decorate our main bathroom.
  4. I love to dance, especially in my husband’s arms.
  5. I am an arctophile, a person who collects teddy bears.
  6. I am missions president at my church which includes preparing and presenting a five minute Moment for Missions each Sunday morning.
  7. I believe: God is who He says He is, God can do what he says He can do, I am who God says I am, I can do all things through Christ, and God’s word is alive and active in me. If you’ve done Beth Moore’s Bible study, Believing God, you’ll know that this didn’t originate with me but it is my “shield of faith”. Ephesians 6:16

 Happy Valentine’s Day! 

No more CRACK please!

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I clearly remember the first time my knee popped. I was visiting a museum in Sakura, Japan. The gallery was silent. I crouched down to look at something close to the floor and when I straightened up… CRACK! There was no pain but what a shock! What was going on? The year in Japan was a bit hard on our knees… lots of walking, millions of stairs to climb and then, of course, there was climbing Mt. Fuji but this was something new. That was over three years ago. Since then, the knee has popped and cracked with increasing frequency. Now it happens many times a day.

Breaking my toe on the beach in Costa Rica a couple of weeks ago threw a curve into my normal fitness regime but the timing could have been worse. I won’t be doing much walking for awhile and the treadmill is gathering dust but just before we left on our most recent trip, my doctor decided that it was time to try physiotherapy to see if that would help my knee. I saw the therapist a few days after we got back. It’s too soon to know if it’s helping my knee or not but half an hour of physio three times a day is definitely giving my legs a good workout especially since I decided to do all the exercises and stretches with both legs instead of just the affected one. After just a week, I graduated from beginner to intermediate exercises and I also continue to work my legs at the weight bench three times a week. By the time the toe is ready for hiking and treading, the legs should be in prime condition too! I just hope there’s no more loud pops from that left knee!

What a difference a year can make!

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In January of last year, our two-year-old grandson, Drew, was diagnosed with a severe phonological disorder. His speech was virtually unintelligible. Over the past year, Drew and his Mommy, our daughter Melaina, have worked very hard and Drew has had some speech therapy. The results have been astounding! By summertime, he had been upgraded from “severe” to “moderate” and at his latest speech assessment in late January, he was deemed to be within the normal range of speech development for a child of his age! Wow! What a difference a year can make!

Melaina delights in sharing some of Drew’s cutest conversations. Here’s a recent one she overheard between him and his 21-month-old sister as they headed downstairs to their bedroom:

Best Friends

Drew: Come on, Jami. We play soccer ours room.
Jami: Ok!
Drew: We best friends! Right, Jami?
Jami: Uh huh!

Doesn’t that just bless your heart? Here’s another one that tickled my funny bone:

Mommy: Drew, did you colour on your sister?
Drew: Yes.
Mommy: Why?!
Drew: Because! Her get in way of paper I colouring!

And here’s one more from yesterday:

Drew: Mommy, we go buy some new toys?
Mommy: No, we’re not going to buy new toys today.
Drew: Yes! Mine’s are old and strange!

While it warms our heart to be able to carry on a conversation with Drew and life is so much easier for him now that he can make his thoughts and feelings known, his challenges are not over yet. He still struggles with the sounds that are typically difficult for three-year-olds but, unlike his peers, these mispronunciations won’t simply correct themselves over time. Melaina and Aaron will have to continue working with him, carefully teaching him how to make each sound correctly.

They’ve also been warned that children with speech delays like Drew’s typically have difficulty learning to read. That was difficult news to digest for parents who are avid readers but Melaina isn’t one to take something like that lying down. In fact, she was already doing things that would give him a head start toward learning to read before she was even given this news; taking the children to an early literacy program at their local library and reading to them daily. She’d also started teaching Drew to recognize and print the capital letters. Now, three months short of his fourth birthday, he knows all the upper and lower case letters and is beginning to learn the sounds that each one makes. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s reading before he goes to school!

Ta da!

Photos by Melaina Graham

It’s Awesomeday today!

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Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursday’s child has far to go,
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child must work for a living,
But the child that’s born on the Sabbath day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay.

Ever wondered why Wednesday’s child has it so rough compared to everyone else? Wednesday, or hump day as it’s often called, is that day in the middle of the week when we’re farther from a weekend than on any other day, the day when we finally make it to the top of the proverbial hill and begin to descend toward the end of the work week. It’s no longer boring old woeful Wednesday though. Now it’s Awesomeday!

Awesomeday, is a movement that I predict will sweep across the pages of Facebook. It was born last spring when Sarah Engledow Brown’s friend, Kimberly, made a statement that caught Sarah’s fancy. “Today is such a good day, I want to call it Awesomeday!”

I’m sure Kimberly had no idea what a far reaching effect that simple statement would have. “I decided to make all of my Facebook posts that day things that are awesome” says Sarah, a mom, music librarian and fitness coach who lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In fact, the two friends decided to do that every Wednesday. Sarah soon created an Awesomeday Facebook page and the concept has been growing ever since.

Awesomeday first came to my attention when my former student, fellow thespian and friend, Natalee, began posting “Things that are awesome” updates on her Facebook page every Wednesday. One of the most creative people I know, Natalee is a busy young mother and a talented photographer who has been working very hard to establish her professional business. I know how hectic her life can be and how easy it would be for her to become negative when frustration builds so her positive, sunny updates throughout the day every Wednesday were a delight to me. Soon I saw others joining her and so today, I too, joined the Awesomeday movement! What amazed me most has been how great I’ve felt as I’ve gone through my pretty average day looking for things that are awesome. Truly, we are surrounded by awesomeness all the time but too often we fail to take note of it or to share it and brighten someone else’s day.

My status updates so far today have read:

Things that are awesome #1: 11 push ups this morning!

Things that are awesome #2: Alberta sunshine pouring in the window even when it’s -15C outside!

Things that are awesome #3: Becoming Facebook friends with the Awesomeday originator!

Things that are awesome #4: A husband who does housework!

I actually thought that the Awesomeday idea had originated with Natalee until I messaged her to ask for permission to blog about it and discovered that she was simply an ambassador for something much bigger, something that I’d like to pass on to you.

So what’s been awesome about your day? Why not join the Awesomeday movement and make thinking positive a part of your Wednesday every week!

What am I doing in the basement?

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According to a recent article in The Globe and Mail, one in eleven people over the age of 65 suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. The likelihood of developing the disease doubles about every five years after age 65 says the Alzheimer’s Association website. After age 85, the risk reaches nearly 50 percent. A family history of Alzheimer’s increases one’s risk of developing the disease even further.

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions but given the fact that I’ve been watching this disease gradually rob my mother of her memory and her mind, I’ve definitely been giving a lot of thought to what I can do to lead a brain-healthy lifestyle and to reduce my risk of suffering the same fate.

The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain by Barbara Strauch was a reassuring read. Impeccably researched and easy to read, the book explores the latest findings that demonstrate that the middle-aged brain like mine is actually more flexible and more capable than previously thought. Apparently standing in the basement wondering what I came down to get or failing to remember a name that I know I should know are not signs that I’m losing it after all!

Though there isn’t enough scientific evidence to prove that a healthy lifestyle can prevent Alzheimer’s, studies have shown that regular exercise, a healthy diet, managing stress, getting quality sleep, staying socially active and engaging in mentally stimulating activities may help prevent or delay symptoms. So how am I doing? The beginning of a new year seems like a good time for a bit of self examination and perhaps some goal setting.

I’d definitely give myself high marks for exercise and diet. I was working hard at maintaining physical fitness and healthy eating long before I began to think about what effect they might have on my brain. Fortunately what’s good for my heart and the rest of my body is also good for my brain. The Christmas season sabotaged my efforts in both these areas but now that I’m back home and into routine again, I’ll soon be back on track and yes, Santa did come… I met my goal of being able to do ten push ups by Christmas morning! Hopefully I’ll soon be doing even more.

Stress management and quality sleep go hand in hand for me. As long as I’m not feeling anxious about anything, I usually sleep well and when I’m well rested I handle stress better. I assume that that’s probably true for most people. Retirement has, of course, been a wonderful stress reducer! I still have crazy school dreams once in a blue moon but not like I used to. For reasons that neither my doctor nor I have been able to figure out, I’ll lay awake for hours if I eat anything sweet after about 8:30 p.m. so I’ve learned not to do that. I also sleep better in the winter time when we have longer hours of darkness. That’s one definite goal for this year; darker blinds for the bedroom before spring arrives. I plan to buy ones to match the newly painted feature wall.

Being away as much as Richard and I are, staying socially active and connected is something we need to consciously work on when we’re at home. While we wander the world, everyone else’s life goes on and if we want to be included we need to keep our connections strong. For that reason, entertaining more is another one of my goals for the coming year. I see the effects of failing to stay socially active in my mother’s life. After Dad retired, they settled into a high rise apartment in Vancouver where Mom didn’t make the effort to get out and develop new relationships. Once a very social person, she gradually became more and more reclusive. Now that she’s truly housebound, she has no friends to come and visit.

I don’t know how much failing to stay mentally active had to do with Mom’s eventual decline but I’m determined not to let that happen to me. I’m a firm believer in the importance of lifelong learning. I’m an avid reader and also a member of Lumosity, a website that offers of a series of engaging brain games and exercises each designed to improve a particular area of cognition; speed, memory, attention, flexibility or problem solving. In addition to playing individual games, participants can enrol in guided brain fitness courses that are designed to improve each of the five areas. Brain training has become as much a part of my daily life as eating and sleeping. Since Christmas, I’ve also been working on logic puzzles. Thank you to the Santa who put a whole book of them in my stocking!

So am I worrying about the possibility of succumbing to Alzheimer’s disease? Not really. When I stand in the basement trying to remember why I’m there, I’ll simply remind myself that that’s normal forgetfulness and that I’m doing everything I can to prevent something much worse.



Alzheimer’s is robbing me of my mother

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I originally started this blog to chronicle our travels when we moved to Japan to teach English for a year. For the past several years, our family has also been on a journey of a very different kind as we’ve watched my mother gradually spiral downward and disappear into the depths of Alzheimer’s disease but I haven’t felt at liberty to blog about it until now. Until recently, my father, who is a very private person and also Mom’s primary caregiver, has been one of my most faithful readers. Out of respect for him, I didn’t share our journey publicly but now that his very old computer has died and he’s discontinued his internet service, I feel free to write about it.

I still remember the summer visit several years ago when I first had an inkling that something was wrong. I mentioned one of Mom’s grandchildren and she had no idea who I was talking about. Her question, “Who’s Jessica?” was for me one of those life changing moments when my entire world seemed to shift on its axis. I lay awake at night wondering what the future would hold and experiencing for the first time a deep sense of anxiety that has become more and more familiar to me.

Over the ensuing years, the mother that I grew up with has disappeared and parent has gradually become child. It has been a fairly slow decline. Many times, Mom would seem to slip very noticeably and then plateau for a time giving us a chance to get used to the changes before more drastic ones surfaced. Unfortunately, Dad seemed to be in denial for the longest time making it impossible for us to discuss the situation with him or to be of much help. It’s only in the last year that Mom’s condition has been clearly identified as Alzheimer’s disease and that we’ve been able to talk about it openly. The situation is made worse by the fact that my sister, my younger brother and I live in Alberta while Mom and Dad are here in Vancouver. Only our older brother, mentally handicapped and himself living in care, and our oldest son Matthew are here at the coast. We really can’t saddle Matthew, in his second year of a law career, renovating a house and parenting two very young children with the responsibility of watching out for his elderly grandparents. He and Robin visit as often as they can and do their best to keep us informed of any changes or problems that they notice.

The blessing in all of this, if there is such a thing, is the fact that Mom’s decline didn’t begin until she was over 80. Dad retired at 59 and they spent the next two decades following their dreams and travelling the world. They visited over 60 countries spending more than a year in Europe and 9 months in Australia. (I come by my gypsy blood honestly!) They took their last big trip 8 years ago when they flew to the Dominican Republic to celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary.

For the past few years, it’s been a chore to get Mom to leave their apartment. Now, at 89 years old, she is incontinent, legally blind and confined to a wheelchair. Though these infirmities are fairly recent developments, in Mom’s mind she’s suffered from them for most of her life and she’s constantly coming up with fanciful explanations that are in no way grounded in reality. Last night she told us that people are trying to poison her with peanut butter which has always been a favourite of hers! Sometimes all we can do is laugh. It’s either that or cry. She’s clearly in the sixth of the seven clinical stages of Alzheimer’s and needs constant care and supervision.

After 63 years of marriage, Dad refuses to allow them to be separated and insists on caring for her himself. He’s clearly wearing out and we don’t know how much longer he’ll be able to keep this up but he’s of sound mind and has the right to live life the way he chooses. There are those who suggest that we, as a family, should try to force him to put Mom into care but we are firm believers in the fifth commandment and we know of no other way to honour our parents than to allow them to live out their final years the way they want to while being as supportive as we can given our own circumstances.

This, of course, means more frequent visits. This is our third trip to Vancouver this year and each of my siblings has also been here. When we’re here, we thoroughly clean the apartment, a job that Dad has a hard time keeping up with these days, and try to provide opportunities for him to get out and have a break. This week, he even went on a forest adventure with great grandson, Sam!

Having Matt, Robin, Sam and little Nate here in Vancouver is indeed a blessing at this time in our lives. Visits to Vancouver would be much more difficult if we didn’t have them to stay with some of the time and, of course, grandchildren provide such wonderful stress relief!

Mom with her youngest great grandchild, Nate, in March 2011

Focus, Confidence, Hi-Ya!

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Wikipedia defines writer’s block as a condition in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The writer may be greatly distracted and feel he or she may have something that needs to be done beforehand, it goes on to explain.

That would be exactly why I haven’t blogged much lately! Not only have I been busy with all the usual Christmas preparations… shopping, wrapping, baking, and decorating… but I took on a bit too much at the church finding myself responsible for three events in a ten day period! Individually, none of them was too much to handle but three coming in such a short period of time at an already busy time of year created a lot of stress. When I flipped the calendar page over to December, I suddenly found myself waking up at odd hours and lying in bed worrying about details that still needed to be taken care of. More than once, I was at the kitchen table writing lists at 3:30 in the morning! As is so often the case, things looked much better in the light of day. Others stepped in to help and everything went without a hitch. Now I’m free to relax and enjoy the Christmas season.

One of the best things about Christmas is time with family. That started this week with a pre Christmas trip to Calgary to visit our daughter, Melaina, her husband, Aaron, and our grandchildren, Drew and Jami-Lee. On our way home today, we stopped in Red Deer for lunch with Richard’s sister, Sue, and some of her family. As her five-year-old grandson, Kale, told us about his tae kwon do lessons and pantomimed breaking a board, he repeated the mantra Focus, Confidence, Hi-Ya!

I couldn’t help thinking that that’s how I should approach life’s challenges! I’d add one crucial element, however. So, in the coming year, instead of lying awake and worrying when life gets stressful I plan to face my challenges with

Focus, Prayer, Confidence and a mighty Hi-Ya!

Thanks, Kale!