This blog is supposed to be about my training and fund raising adventures and so it's probably about time that I get you all caught up on things!
Fund raising is clicking along, albeit a little slower than I had hoped. Personal events of the past few months have thrown me off my game, but there's nothing like a new year approaching like a freight train to get you re-focused!
I have my third Bottle Drive scheduled for the 5th of January and this has been a fun way to fund raise and train at the same time. I deliver a flier to the mailbox of about 500 homes in the little pocket of Markham that I live in, announcing the date of the bottle drive. On the day of the drive, I go door to door and pick up boxes of empty wine, liquor and beer bottles that are then sorted and returned to the local Beer Store for refund. I follow up the Bottle Drive with a second flier that gives me a chance to thank my neighbours for their contributions and to bring them up to date on my fund raising campaign. This flier also gives me the opportunity to spread the word about arthritis and the work being done by the Arthritis Society.
Delivering the fliers takes about 6 hours of steady walking which falls nicely into my training plans. I now have an amazing appreciation for Canada Post mail men/women and many new ideas for redesigning my front garden! There are some very beautifully designed gardens and front walkways in my neighbourhood.
These bottle drives have also given me a wonderful opportunity to meet many of my neighbours that I wouldn't have had the chance to in the past. We are all probably quite familiar with the people who live next door to us or within a few doors of us, but thanks to our busy lives that is just about as far as the circle goes. Thanks to walking door to door in good weather and bad, I have met a wonderful group of people who have come to know me as "that lady that's walking to Everest", or "that Bottle Lady". Several of them even joke that they are "drinking for Arthritis"! All of their comments, words of encouragement, (along with their contributions of course!) make the whole effort seem to be more of a team effort. I now feel like I am training and fund raising with the support of a great group of people that have become in a way my Everest training team.
So I'm sending out a great big "Happy New Year!" to everyone and a special thank you to all who put aside their empties in support of the Arthritis Society's Joints in Motion Training Team Everest 2010 Trek!!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas and best wishes to you all for the New Year and beyond!
In memory of my Mother and as a little gift to everyone I would like to share her Christmas cake recipe. Now, I know that in the world of Christmas fruit cakes there are basically 2 camps; those that love them and those that hate them. So even if you absolutely hate them you may have a friend who loves them and you can bake this up as a gift for them next Christmas.
A word about Christmas cake traditions ... my Mother, Mary was Welsh and it was her tradition to bake this cake in early November. We would all take a turn stirring the batter and making a wish as we stirred. The cake was then slowly baked and the warm aromatic scent of Christmas slowly filled the house. When the cake was done it was anointed with liberal doses of sherry or port and then lovingly wrapped in cheese cloth, waxed paper and then finally put in a tin and placed in the linen cupboard to await Christmas. In later years when we were scattered across Canada with our own families, Mom would bake 7 of these cakes and mail one to each of us, keeping one for my Father, herself and any lucky visitor.
So here is the recipe ... enjoy!
Cacen Nadolig (Christmas Cake)
Ingredients:
In memory of my Mother and as a little gift to everyone I would like to share her Christmas cake recipe. Now, I know that in the world of Christmas fruit cakes there are basically 2 camps; those that love them and those that hate them. So even if you absolutely hate them you may have a friend who loves them and you can bake this up as a gift for them next Christmas.
A word about Christmas cake traditions ... my Mother, Mary was Welsh and it was her tradition to bake this cake in early November. We would all take a turn stirring the batter and making a wish as we stirred. The cake was then slowly baked and the warm aromatic scent of Christmas slowly filled the house. When the cake was done it was anointed with liberal doses of sherry or port and then lovingly wrapped in cheese cloth, waxed paper and then finally put in a tin and placed in the linen cupboard to await Christmas. In later years when we were scattered across Canada with our own families, Mom would bake 7 of these cakes and mail one to each of us, keeping one for my Father, herself and any lucky visitor.
So here is the recipe ... enjoy!
Cacen Nadolig (Christmas Cake)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup sultanas
- 1 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup currants
- 1/2 cup glazed cherries (or dried cherries if you hate those nasty little green and red things!)
- 1 tsp grated lemon rind
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp milk
- brandy, port, sherry, rum or whatever your preference.
- Soak fruit in alcohol of choice for 24 hours.
- Cream butter and sugar.
- Beat eggs and add slowly, beating after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, sift all dry ingredients together and add grated lemon rind.
- Add flour mixture to soaked fruit.
- Fold the flour and fruit mixture into the creamed mixture.
- Add milk a tablespoon at a time until the batter falls easily from the spoon.
- Grease a 9" spring form cake tin and line the bottom and sides with greaseproof (parchment) paper so that the paper comes about 3" above the sides of the tin. Regrease the paper.
- Turn the cake mixture into the prepared tin, spread evenly and make a slight dip in the middle.
- Bake on the bottom shelf of a cool oven (300 deg. F) for about 3 1/2 hours, until the cake is a rich brown and firm to the touch.
- Allow to cool in the tin and then turn out.
- Prick the cake all over and pour the alcohol over the cake.
- Store in cheese cloth or greaseproof paper and then in an airtight tin.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Heading to Edmonton
My mother passed away on Monday morning from pneumonia; a common complication of late-stage Alzheimer's disease. I will be joining the rest of my family in Edmonton this weekend to celebrate my mother's life and to honour her memory.
To be quite frank, her death has left me feeling disoriented and empty hearted. She was the stabilizing force in my life and even though we lived thousands of miles apart for the past 18 years she was always there; just beyond my fears and doubts, cheering me on when I needed the support and calmly reminding me that no matter what was thrown my way, I could handle it. She had an elegance and personal strength that gently shone on anyone fortunate enough to know her. A gentle sense of humour, coupled with the patience of a saint and a blindingly bright intelligence.
I miss her and honour her with every breath I take.
I love you Mom.
To be quite frank, her death has left me feeling disoriented and empty hearted. She was the stabilizing force in my life and even though we lived thousands of miles apart for the past 18 years she was always there; just beyond my fears and doubts, cheering me on when I needed the support and calmly reminding me that no matter what was thrown my way, I could handle it. She had an elegance and personal strength that gently shone on anyone fortunate enough to know her. A gentle sense of humour, coupled with the patience of a saint and a blindingly bright intelligence.
I miss her and honour her with every breath I take.
I love you Mom.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Time to Check the Meter
I opened my day-timer this morning and saw that today was the day to check my hydro meter at the cottage and call in the reading to Hydro One. That got me thinking and worrying whether there were other meters or things that I needed to be checking and had either missed the deadline or worst still, completely forgotten about. I started flipping through my day-timer, scanning the wall calendar in the kitchen, rifling through my note book and finally searching for errant post-it notes. Nothing jumped out at me, so I did what I always do when in doubt ... I made myself a good cup of tea. Everything was fine.
But the exercise of searching got me thinking about the almost endless list of "meters" we check everyday. We check our emails (how many?); our Facebook (how many friends now?); our blogs (how many people are following?); our answering machine (did they call back?); bank accounts and credit card statements (what did I buy and how much is left?). Then we go even deeper to the height of the laundry pile, the length of the grass in the yard, the depth of the dust layer on the furniture, and even on really bad days, to the expiry date on what ever that strange thing is in the back of the fridge!
And then I remembered an adage that sprang out of the Personal Growth Seminars and self-help books of the 1980's .... "Give yourself a check-up from the neck up"! A catchy little phrase to remind us to check the most important meter of all. To take a reading of our personal meter. How are you doing ...no really; how are you doing? Not what, or when or even necessarily why, but how?
I realized at that point that the only time that I ask myself the "how" question is when I'm under a great deal of stress or in some form of crisis and I need to know how much further I think I can go, or how much longer I can last. After another good strong cup of tea I came to the conclusion that I was missing the full power and beauty of the question "how are you doing?" Taking the time and effort to answer the question should be a priority.
And so I am committed to reading my own meter once a month. I am committed to taking a deep breath and really truly and honestly answering the question. But I'm curious about the rest of you out there. Can you tell me what meters you are reading in your life and which one is the most important to you?
But the exercise of searching got me thinking about the almost endless list of "meters" we check everyday. We check our emails (how many?); our Facebook (how many friends now?); our blogs (how many people are following?); our answering machine (did they call back?); bank accounts and credit card statements (what did I buy and how much is left?). Then we go even deeper to the height of the laundry pile, the length of the grass in the yard, the depth of the dust layer on the furniture, and even on really bad days, to the expiry date on what ever that strange thing is in the back of the fridge!
And then I remembered an adage that sprang out of the Personal Growth Seminars and self-help books of the 1980's .... "Give yourself a check-up from the neck up"! A catchy little phrase to remind us to check the most important meter of all. To take a reading of our personal meter. How are you doing ...no really; how are you doing? Not what, or when or even necessarily why, but how?
I realized at that point that the only time that I ask myself the "how" question is when I'm under a great deal of stress or in some form of crisis and I need to know how much further I think I can go, or how much longer I can last. After another good strong cup of tea I came to the conclusion that I was missing the full power and beauty of the question "how are you doing?" Taking the time and effort to answer the question should be a priority.
And so I am committed to reading my own meter once a month. I am committed to taking a deep breath and really truly and honestly answering the question. But I'm curious about the rest of you out there. Can you tell me what meters you are reading in your life and which one is the most important to you?
Monday, November 9, 2009
Led by Example
Albert Schweitzer said that "example isn't the main thing in influencing others. It's the only thing."
Leading by example is in my opinion the best piece of advice that anyone can give a parent. Your children watch you like a hawk from the day that they are born. They watch your every move, your every nuance, your every reaction and response. They mimic your actions through their play and in their responses to all that life throws at them. "Oh, yeah, well my Mom says ..." rings through many a school yard or back garden. Even as teenagers, when you are convinced that they firmly believe that you were put on the earth to totally destroy their lives and any hope of ever being awesome, they are watching and learning. They watch what you do, even if they are no longer all that interested in what you have to say.
When I think back to my own childhood and think of my parents I remember my father as being larger than life; always physically fit and active; the strongest Dad on the block. I remember my Mother as a wave of calm and stability that seemed to anchor my life and the lives of my 3 sisters and 2 brothers. As we all grew up and moved across the country more than once, changed schools too often to want to think about and eventually settled and began our own families, there was always one thing that both of my parents kept doing. No matter where we lived or what challenges we were facing in our own lives as a family, both my Mother and Father gave back to the community we lived in.
Whether through teaching Sunday school, volunteering in our classrooms, being a Girl Guide Leader, or giving hours upon hours of service through her sorority, my Mother gave back. My Father being an editorial cartoonist and a local celebrity put back into the community through guest appearances at rodeos, fashion shows, poetry readings, and even once walked 50 miles from Edmonton to New Sarepta to answer a challenge.
My Father has always been an athletic man. He was a champion boxer, a mountain climber and was jogging before it was the " thing to do". He ran his first marathon in 1981 at the age of 51 and with his "partner in crime" columnist Nick Lees began combining marathon running with fund raising for the next 2 decades. Their adventures took them from Athens, to New York City, London England, Ottawa, North Wales, the Arctic Circle and even down the Jasper/Banff corridor (a marathon a day for 7 days!) Through these events they raised thousands of dollars for palliative care programs, the Ronald McDonald House, the Salvation Army, and funded a library for an inner city school, (to name a few of their projects).
Through all those years I watched and I listened to the adventures, the victories and the hard fought battles. I read and saved the newspaper columns, written by Nick and illustrated by Dad, and I learned and was led to understand the tremendous gift that lies in giving back to others.
And so you can understand how when I first heard of the Joints in Motion Program it had instant appeal to me. This was exactly what I should do. I signed on and in the fall of 2005 began to learn to run and began to train for my first marathon. I followed the training plan that I received from Gregory (our fearless leader) and would phone my Father every Saturday morning after I had completed my Long Slow Distance run. "Guess how far this week, Dad?" He encouraged me when I was doubting my very sanity in taking on the commitment and he cheered me on as my strength and endurance built through September, the rains of October and the snows of November. When I finally crossed the finish line in Honolulu on December 4th, 2005 he was the first person I called to say that "I had done it!"
He led by example and now I am doing the same.
Leading by example is in my opinion the best piece of advice that anyone can give a parent. Your children watch you like a hawk from the day that they are born. They watch your every move, your every nuance, your every reaction and response. They mimic your actions through their play and in their responses to all that life throws at them. "Oh, yeah, well my Mom says ..." rings through many a school yard or back garden. Even as teenagers, when you are convinced that they firmly believe that you were put on the earth to totally destroy their lives and any hope of ever being awesome, they are watching and learning. They watch what you do, even if they are no longer all that interested in what you have to say.
When I think back to my own childhood and think of my parents I remember my father as being larger than life; always physically fit and active; the strongest Dad on the block. I remember my Mother as a wave of calm and stability that seemed to anchor my life and the lives of my 3 sisters and 2 brothers. As we all grew up and moved across the country more than once, changed schools too often to want to think about and eventually settled and began our own families, there was always one thing that both of my parents kept doing. No matter where we lived or what challenges we were facing in our own lives as a family, both my Mother and Father gave back to the community we lived in.
Whether through teaching Sunday school, volunteering in our classrooms, being a Girl Guide Leader, or giving hours upon hours of service through her sorority, my Mother gave back. My Father being an editorial cartoonist and a local celebrity put back into the community through guest appearances at rodeos, fashion shows, poetry readings, and even once walked 50 miles from Edmonton to New Sarepta to answer a challenge.
My Father has always been an athletic man. He was a champion boxer, a mountain climber and was jogging before it was the " thing to do". He ran his first marathon in 1981 at the age of 51 and with his "partner in crime" columnist Nick Lees began combining marathon running with fund raising for the next 2 decades. Their adventures took them from Athens, to New York City, London England, Ottawa, North Wales, the Arctic Circle and even down the Jasper/Banff corridor (a marathon a day for 7 days!) Through these events they raised thousands of dollars for palliative care programs, the Ronald McDonald House, the Salvation Army, and funded a library for an inner city school, (to name a few of their projects).
Through all those years I watched and I listened to the adventures, the victories and the hard fought battles. I read and saved the newspaper columns, written by Nick and illustrated by Dad, and I learned and was led to understand the tremendous gift that lies in giving back to others.
And so you can understand how when I first heard of the Joints in Motion Program it had instant appeal to me. This was exactly what I should do. I signed on and in the fall of 2005 began to learn to run and began to train for my first marathon. I followed the training plan that I received from Gregory (our fearless leader) and would phone my Father every Saturday morning after I had completed my Long Slow Distance run. "Guess how far this week, Dad?" He encouraged me when I was doubting my very sanity in taking on the commitment and he cheered me on as my strength and endurance built through September, the rains of October and the snows of November. When I finally crossed the finish line in Honolulu on December 4th, 2005 he was the first person I called to say that "I had done it!"
He led by example and now I am doing the same.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Draft Itinerary
- Day 1 - arrive in Kathmandu (capital of Nepal)
- Day 2 - Fly to Lukla on a 20 seater Twin Otter and trek through the Dudh Koshi River valley to Phakding (elev. 8,700ft). This trail is mostly down hill which gives us a chance to acclimatise to the elevation.
- Day 3 - Trek from Phakding up to Namche Bazaar the gateway to the Khumbu Region and the major trading centre for the area (elev. 11,300ft).
- Day 4 - Trek from Namche Bazaar eastward across the slopes on the trail Khumjung/Sangnasa, across the Dudh Koshi-Imja Khola bridge and then northward to Thyangboche (elev. 12,683ft).
- Day 5 - Trek from Thyangboche up to Syangboche through evergreen forests and then into the broad valley of Dingboche (elev. 14,950ft).
- Day 6- Trek on fairly flat ground from Dingboche along the bank of Tsola Khola, and then along the western bank of the Khumbu glacier to Lobuche (elev. 16,170ft).
- Day 7 - Trek from Lobuche along the Khumbu glacier to a flat area known as Gorak Shep where we will be able to see the Khumbu Ice Fall (elev. 17,350ft).
- Day 8- Trek from Gorak Shep up a very steep ascent for about 2 and 1/2 hours to Kalapatthar where we will be able to see the southern slopes of Mount Everest and the surrounding mountains (Lhotse, Nuptse, Pumori, Makalu, Ama Dablam and Thamserkuver). Trek back down to Gorak Shep for the night.
- Day 9 - Trek for 8 hours from Gorak Shep to Everest Base Camp and then back down to Pheriche (elev. 13,000ft).
- Day 10 - Trek from Pheriche back down to Thyangboche (elev. 12,683ft).
- Day 11 - Trek from Thyangboche to Namche Bazaar (elev. 11,300ft).
- Day 12 - Trek from Namche Bazaar back down to Lukla (elev. 8,700ft).
- Day 13 - Fly back to Kathmandu.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Why would anyone do this?
Why would anyone fund raise in excess of $10,000.00 by trekking for six to eight hours a day for 14 days straight at mind numbing altitudes?
It's not because I am insane, or because I lost a bet, or because I'm suffering from a bizarre mid-life crisis, or a case of severe empty nest syndrome, or even because I have a lot of time on my hands.
I am doing this quite simply because I can.
I am just stubborn enough to spend the next year training and just stubborn enough to get it done. I love to be challenged. I love to be challenged physically, mentally and spiritually. This journey will push me beyond anything that I have ever experienced. It will take me to places that I have only imagined and it will teach me things that I have only dreamed possible. And through it all, this journey will give me the greatest gift. It will give me the opportunity to give something back so that someone else can push a little further, reach a little higher and live a little fuller.
Welcome to the journey!
It's not because I am insane, or because I lost a bet, or because I'm suffering from a bizarre mid-life crisis, or a case of severe empty nest syndrome, or even because I have a lot of time on my hands.
I am doing this quite simply because I can.
I am just stubborn enough to spend the next year training and just stubborn enough to get it done. I love to be challenged. I love to be challenged physically, mentally and spiritually. This journey will push me beyond anything that I have ever experienced. It will take me to places that I have only imagined and it will teach me things that I have only dreamed possible. And through it all, this journey will give me the greatest gift. It will give me the opportunity to give something back so that someone else can push a little further, reach a little higher and live a little fuller.
Welcome to the journey!
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