Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

Sep

4

2011

What a ride!

Author: Gina

(Written the weekend after Labour Day but held back for video and images – and then we didn’t have time to sort these whilst concentrating on Paul’s parents’ visit – much more important!)

The last three weekends have overwhelmed us with their rich texture of experiences!

An encounter with Charlie, the Black Crowned Night Heron at Toronto Harbour (a great urban legend) on my way to Japanese Taiko drumming at the Toronto’s Music Garden; the incredible physicality of the drumming blew me away.

Then, on Friday with dear friends Steve and Paul,a last minute decision to take in  Buskerfest; beat-box, contortions, giant ants, music – another great Toronto street party.

Swimming at seven pm on Saturday evening after shopping and chores -  Lake Ontario is always bracing, but so beautiful to swim off a glorious beach as the sun sinks.

Then, on Sunday, brunch at the TIFF Bell Lightbox (home of the Toronto International Filmtection – Festival) before heading for Toronto Islands to try out our new hi-tech Frisbees (driver, mid-range and putter each) on the 18 hole course. Next time I will wear long sleeves and trousers for probeing very much beginners, much of our time was spent scrabbling in the bushes searching for our stray shots (hoping not to encounter poison ivy!). On the plus side, by the end of the course, we had gained two Frisbees.

Last Friday we headed north out of the city for our home from home in the Blue Mountains (a chalet owned by my ski instructor, Richard, for whom we have been doing some web consulting, creating a new website for his company, Eagle Adventures).  On Saturday evening were behind the scenes at Georgian Downs racetrack, watching a friend, Sabina,  take blood samples from a selection of the horses before climbing into the starter car for a unique view of harness (buggy) racing.

Wreck of the Mary Ward in Georgian BaySunday’s adventure was a trip on a Zodiac four kilometres out into Georgian Bay to the wreck of the Mary Ward – sadly a storm was brewing and we couldn’t snorkel as planned, but it was certainly a great taster for a future expedition. With the simple but effective tool of a glass bottomed washing-up bowl, we were still able to get a great view of the wreck.

On Monday (Labour Day) we had a lazy paddle down the Nottawasaga  river, trying out what will shortly be our own Kayaks.

This weekend the focus has been a BBQ, trying out the versatility of our Big Green Egg (everything from the cornbread, to pizza and steak) for Paul’s 50th birthday.  How amazing to be able to sit outside in shorts, with not even a cardigan, until nearly 2am (OK, we do have a patio heater)! We felt blessed in so many ways, but particularly by the beginnings of a shared sense of ‘history’ with our closest friends, something that is a potential casualty of uprooting midlife.

I can’t remember another time in my life quite like this, filled to the brim with such a range of unique experiences, some exhilarating, some poignant, many of which just seem to find us! It truly is an amazing ride . . .


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Feb

28

2011

Yorkville Ice Festival

Author: Gina

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Nov

6

2010

Passionate aging.

Author: Gina

(CARP Conference 2)

Passion is a word I hear often in Canada. It was genuinely awe inspiring to feel an un-abating  wave of passion from speakers in their 60s and 70s as they talked about their lives and work.
Tod Machover

Image via Wikipedia

Tod Machover projects the energy of a much younger man. ‘Wired composer’ that he is, his most recent opera, Death and the Powers, addresses issues of mortality amid an animated stage, musical chandelier and a chorus of robots.
He has also made the composition and scoring of music accessible as never before  with his Hyperscore, encouraging a deeply creative and exciting relationship with music. Seeing a young man, Dan Ellesy, who is profoundly affected by cerebral palsy, performing his own music on stage using this software moved me to tears. (I would urge you to catch this performance as part of a TED Talk by Tod Machover – it is at around 13 minutes into the talk, all of which is fascinating!)
This links into another area of Tod’s work, Music, Mind and Health, a project in partnership with MIT that is exploring and developing musical activities to measure and respond to a variety of medical conditions and enhance lifelong mental and physical acuity.
Similarly, Charles Pachter, one of Canada’s leading contemporary artists, seems possessed of a youthful irreverence and zest. The whole audience sat enthralled as he significantly over-ran his time slot with a presentation of his life (so far) in images. Many of his paintings are dominated by the moose, the queen of the north, which in childhood became inter-twined with the confusing existence of a Queen with dominion over Canada but who does not live here. Nearing 70, this witty, challenging man shows no signs of renouncing this strand of irreverence or of stopping questioning the social order.
I have, as yet, little knowledge of Canadian actors – we do not watch much television and have as yet to fully embrace the wonderfully rich theatre culture here. If Eric Peterson’s virtuoso performance as Crankius Farticus (his own term for himself) is anything to go by, we have much to look forward to! I was snorting with laughter at his pitch of a TV series based around a Zoomer superhero. (For those who don’t know, a Zoomer is a ‘Boomer with zip’, a term that people seem either to love or loathe!)
William Friedman offered a rather different awareness. This intelligent, thoughtful lawyer found the need in his fifties to reshape aspects of his life. Perhaps surprisingly, this took the form of competitive bodybuilding and led to his son Bryan’s film, The Bodybuilder and I (Best Canadian Feature Documentary 2007). The transformation of his body (and, believe me, there are few men of 60 plus who can boast abs like his!) seems also to have re-shaped his relationships and sense of himself . The film was at one stage described to him as being about how much his son hated him -  and has led to the odd  inappropriate smile from a judge unable to banish the image of the bodybuilder in posing pouch. I have to admit to some difficulty reconciling the reflective speaker with the polished poser, yet the fundamental message of continuing to embrace life and self-exploration with passion and in whatever way is right for you was inescapably positive and valid.

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Nov

5

2010

Live long and prosper . . .

Author: Gina

(CARP Conference 1)

If I took one message away from last week’s CARP Conference it is that aging, as with life in general, is very much what we make it.

Next time some young spark reckons you’re old, it may be worth remembering that the relationship between aging and mortality increases steadily from the age of 10, doubling every 8 years (Drs Leonid and Natalia Gavrilov). So from one point of view, by age 11 you’re on the slippery slope. Alternatively, perhaps it’s time to re-embrace our mortality and learn to live more comfortably with it.

Which brings me to another key theme; we choose how we perceive what happens to us. Dr Elizabeth Lombardo exhorted us to ‘get a smaller but’, that is, to let go of all the ‘buts’ that stop us from doing what we really want, alongside all the ‘musts, shoulds and oughts’. Her recipe for long life and happiness also includes cultivating a positive perspective, learning how to overcome obstacles, applying your strengths and focusing on what you enjoy, gratitude and appreciation and exercise. Elizabeth’s primary focus is happiness – she has a web site full of free resources and a book, A Happy You I – as well as a lovely, smiling presence that suggests she really does practice what she preaches.

Having worked in the field of dementia research, I already knew the importance of using your brain in new ways. Dr Elkhonon Goldberg brought a fresh understanding of why this is the case. The part of the brain most prone to atrophy is the pre-frontal cortex. This is the area that fires up when we are presented with the novel and unfamiliar. As we age, by definition, there is less that is new to us. Therefore, unless we seek out new experiences, the pre-frontal lobes (and linked right brain) receive less stimulus and so succumb to aging.

Interestingly, although we know that brain processing in some areas decreases with aging, there is strong evidence that, in their own specialist areas, the problem solving capacity of older people exceeds that of their younger colleagues – Dr Goldberg terms this the ‘paradox of aging’ (see his book The Wisdom Paradox).

Dog If Stanley Coren had his way, doctors would be prescribing dogs! There is good evidence that pet ownership in general and dog ownership in particular can help to keep us healthy, especially after the age of 55. The benefits include lower stress, cholesterol and blood pressure as well as improved mood. Older dog owners visit their doctor less frequently and are more likely to take regular exercise, with increased social opportunities thrown in. A number of studies have suggested that ‘pet therapy’ can provide huge savings on public health spending.

The day was neatly drawn to a close by inspirational speaker Dan Trommater, who just happens to use magic to challenge his audience’s assumptions and make the point that we choose what we perceive and how we respond to it.

Which takes me back to where I started . . .


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