Spring Renos For Seniors
Have you ever taken on DIY (do it yourself) bathroom renovations in your home? We did. We were younger and ignorant…
Seniors
The Cloak of Invisibility
Hands up those of you who have ever wished you could be invisible. Right? Right? Me too! There are all kinds of reasons it would be fun…
OMG! He’s got a gun!
A few years back, in the course of my genealogy search, I found my great-grandfather’s obituary. He joined the Toronto Naval Brigade…
‘Bratsky’ Part 2
Several months ago, I described the joys and struggles of a couple of seniors adopting a puppy. She joined our household of three seniors…
The Gift of Storytelling
In January, I turned over a new leaf … more accurately, a new page! I’m planning to spend more time on writing.
Choices
Making so many choices every day can be stressful. Sometimes it causes me to lose track of the big picture.
Becoming Age-Friendly
One of the marvelous things about knowledge is how so many people are willing to share it freely so that others can learn.
Grey Matters: Grip and gripes
I’m coming to grips with how bad my grip is. Some things that have gotten better with time, my ability to tolerate my arthritis has not.
Youth is a gift; age is an art
The phrase I want to use as a mantra is “Age is an art.” It’s part of the saying, “Youth is a gift, age is an art,” printed on a button that I gave my grandmother many years ago.
Two Exciting Yukon Lives
“I was ready to live here permanently the day I got here – the land just drew (me) in,” says Velma Hull. The day she is speaking of was 57 years ago, when she and her husband – well-known local handyman and one-time bike shop owner Red Hull – came up the Alaska Highway. Velma …
It’s Slow, but It’s So Good For You
If you really think about it, you probably can remember several key life transforming walks that you’ve taken over the years. They may have been as short as a walk down a church aisle or a month long trek along El Camino de Santiago. These strolls or treks may have confirmed life choices, fulfilled a dream …
My Favourite Word is Grandma
On December 1, 2007 at 1:32 p.m. my life changed forever. I was introduced to Darwin Orion Murray. At about 10 p.m. the evening before I received a telephone call from my son-in-law, Avery. Kirsten and Avery were on their way to the hospital. Even though they said I could wait for a bit before …
Techno Challenged
If it’s true there are seven wonders in the natural world, then surely this is the eighth. The world’s most incompetent techno-challenged is boldly composing this on a brand new, state-of-the-art iPod. It’s his first, and is called by its given name: Apple Air Pad 2 — a way-ward present Santa Claus must have left …
Cyber Seniors to screen in Whitehorse
What would your grandmother say if you asked her to be your friend on Facebook? Would your teenage daughter or granddaughter know what a typewriter looks like? Technology has changed a lot in the past few decades and although lots of seniors are tech-savvy, many more face challenges when trying to keep up . Closing …
Green Burial in the Yukon
What happens when a person dies? We don’t truly know the answer, but death does hold one certainty: a once animated body stills. We do know what happens to the bodies of the dead. The standard North American options are casket burial in a cemetery, or cremation. In most jurisdictions they are the only options …
A Family Affair
Peggy Duncan wasn’t the oldest member of Team Yukon in the recent Canada 55+ Games in Sherwood Park, Alberta. That distinction went to 90-year-old Irene Mahoney. But Duncan was the only with a son and daughter-in-law also participating in the national seniors’ event. And it wasn’t the first time she’s been to the games with …
Life Long Learning
Some say that dogs of a certain age can’t learn new tricks. Sue Starr can’t speak for the dogs, but as a community organizer, adult educator, and driving force behind the new Heart of Riverdale community centre, lifelong learning is both a joy and a necessity. Take technology, for example. As technology becomes an unavoidable …
Geezer’s Tea
One of the more frustrating aspects of getting older is the way time becomes distorted. A simple task like making the day’s first cup of tea can take as long as four hours. Really. Let me explain. You drag your wrinkled carcass out of bed and into your dressing gown, then make your bleary way …
The Young at Heart Are Growing!
One of the delights of consulting and promoting gardening is that once in a while you stumble into on oasis that you did not know existed in Whitehorse. I was asked by our editor to check out what “The Seniors” up by Yukon College were doing, and when I eagerly drove up there recently and …
Seniors Who Are Growing and Giving
The Seniors Association, up on College Drive, not only has a fabulous greenhouse going, they have a complete gardening management system all set up and the project has plans to expand. Not only is there the wonderful, productive greenhouse I wrote about last week, but there is also an extensive outdoor garden. There is a …
Christmas treat sales help seniors
Finnish sweet buns with finely ground cardamom, shortbread, chocolate-chip cookies and Finnish sugar-cinnamon cookies — Ann Dibbs’ husband Al delivers a plateful to the table and pours cups of sweet and spicy tea. “He’s my English butler,” Ann laughs. Ann Dibbs, a.k.a. the Lions Club Cake Lady, has a penchant for sweet treats and a …
Celebrating Seniors
I don’t how it happened, or when, but somewhere along the line I became a senior. And heck, before too long I’m supposed to get old. Now, I realize that “senior” is a flexible term, depending on where and how it is applied. The word “old” is even more ambiguous. My generation was the one …
A Very Active Elder
It all started when Bill Simpson went to the wrong meeting. “Went to a meeting. Paid my dues. Thought I was joining the Golden Age Society.” Instead, he found to his surprise that he had just joined the Golden Age Society.. It was the first step of a journey that recently earned him the Yukon …
The Greying of the Rainbow
In Canada, the number of people over the age of 65 has doubled since 1951. Our life expectancy has increased dramatically and now sits at an average of 80 years. Given these statistics, resources for our ageing population has become an issue of importance to the medical community and social support services. One area of …