We're The Best

 

Ambleside may be the very best place to retire in Canada and possibly in the world. We have the perfect mix of urban/country living. As well, we have just about everything a retiree could want - a temperate climate, a picturesque location, an accessible, walkable village, fairly good public transportation, and an exceptional library and senior center. 

Our senior center, in addition to a wide variety of programs that can entertain and enlighten you, has a cafeteria that offers healthy, hot, delicious lunches seven days a week. The chef is outstanding and food selection is interesting and varied. Soon, special evening meals served twice a week will be available again. Through the shuttle bus service and special programs, the center is accessible to all seniors in the area. 

Our library is just as accessible and welcoming. Along with a world class book selection and wonderful tech services, it offers a variety of both free courses and free entertainment. Tonight, at 7:30 there is a free concert featuring The Slocan Ramblers. Here is the link 

https://westvanlibrary.ca/event/friday-night-concert-the-slocan-ramblers/

Where Are We Going?

First of all we had our parents and family, then possibly our teachers and later maybe mentors to guide us. Now, we have retired and all of those influences/influencers are gone; often, we have suddenly lost partners and good friends. Covid emphasized just how isolated we can become. 

Many of us will spend around thirty years in retirement. While we may have squirreled away a little money and dreamt of travel and golf and escape from winter to ready ourselves for this freedom-55 ideal, many of us find the reality quite different.

While we may be traveling a bit and playing golf occasionally, the reality is that we are often  spending more and more time with basic health and happiness concerns. Doctors and lab visits along with physiotherapy/chiropractors, massage therapists and exercise programs fill our calendars. We often do this just to maintain our current health. At the same time, our social networks are diminishing as people move on or pass away. 

It can sometimes be difficult to know the best solutions to our changing lives. Media and governments have their own agendas when they address our issues. Often they are founded in reaction to problems. Only when seniors have been scammed out of their life savings or long term care beds become too scarce, does the media and government take note. We need a plan to understand and deal with these issues before they become emergencies. 

Few of us have studied gerontology. We have some vague ideas that our senses will diminish over time and that we will eventually become frail. We become wrinkled and gray-haired or bald. Our short term memory becomes worse over time. Of course we are constantly hearing on the news and through advertisements of how we can avoid all of this or at least diminish the negative effects of aging.  However, it is difficult to know what is real from what is hype. 

To counteract this, a program is being offered at our Senior Centre called ‘Aging Gracefully”. Once a month, qualified people will speak to this group on the best ways to age happily and healthily. Hopefully, we can gain some insight on how to live our best lives.

You can't get lost in Ambleside

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/7107034637417082248 

Ambleside is not very large; you cannot get lost. It is contained within  an area that is approximately ten blocks wide and ten blocks deep. Boundaries are from Burrard Inlet on the south up to Haywood and Jefferson in the north with 13th and 23rd streets as its east/west boundary. This area has parks, a spectacular beach and many trails and pathways to discover along with soccer, baseball, lacrosse playing  fields, an 18 hole par three golf course, streams and ponds and of course our seawall which extends from Park Royal to Dundarave. 

From a feng shui perspective it is the perfect place to live. We have large mountains on our back to the north to protect us in a natural amphitheatre and to the south with have a wide expanse of water with views from Mount Baker to UBC and Vancouver Island.

On a sunny Spring day like this with temperatures above 20C for the first time this year, it is the perfect place to walk.

Weaver of Grass

     

     

Was it Mae West who first said “Old age isn’t for sissies” or  is it Bette Davis who may have first said 'Getting old ain't for sissies.’  Both were fiesty women who had many one-liners.

It is a line that pops into your head when you are struggling. The blogger who writes of “Weaver of Grass” is a woman I have been following for about ten years who has used these lines in her blog and it certainly applies to her life...

https://weaverofgrass.blogspot.com/2023/03/age.html

https://weaverofgrass.blogspot.com/2023/03/getting-old.html

She, I believe her name is Pat Thistlethwaite, is ninety years old and has been blogging since 2008. She talks about old age creeping up on her. Pat has acquired several hundred followers and gets many responses to her blogs. 

She is my inspiration for ‘Aging in Ambleside’. 

Aging In Place

No one I know wants to move into long term care - not into assisted living or a nursing home. Governments do not want us moving into these facilities whether or not they are subsidized. For individuals it often means that your life and your control over it is diminishing drastically. For governments it means increases in costs and the problems of managing regulations that are never adequate for even the present issues. The answer to both sides of this conundrum is often simply to age in place. 

However… the opportunity to age in place successfully seems to to out of reach for many individuals and couples simply because of a lack of coordination of services along with a misalignment of funding. Often a crisis occurs and decisions need to be made quickly. Individuals have no time to look at a variety of long term solutions. They need immediate help with mobility, medications or diet or a combination of the three. The solution is often to move them to the first available bed in a nearby facility.  

An Ontario group is trying to change this. Their solution appears to be both cost effective and simple.  

A group of medical statisticians while reviewing Canada census information observed that there were many clusters of people over the age of sixty-five in many parts of the province. Often these groups were found in apartment buildings in urban centers. They coined the term NORC to describe these Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities.  As the medical people began to formulate plans to take advantage of the economies of scale these groups might produce, another concept began to emerge. This idea has the potential to transform the opportunities for seniors to keep control of their own destinies and ultimately allow them to stay in their present homes. 

Any building or area where at least seventy percent of the residents are over the age of sixty-five can be identified as a NORC. These groups might be in individual condo buildings or rental buildings or town houses or even clusters of homes in close proximity. Ambleside not only has many buildings that could quality as a NORC but the village itself is one large NORC. 

If a few individuals within one of these clusters were to create a group, or a committee, to formulate plans, they could interact with the seniors within their cluster and with health agencies, stratas, local governments and other businesses to make aging-in-place much more manageable over time. Plans could be put in place to help people who may need help in the future to live comfortably in their present home. Day to day inconveniences could be minimized; information and resources could be shared. Social isolation, especially during times of ill health, could be reduced. A group like this could join with similar groups in our area to let government know how best to support people who want to stay out of long term care. 

Here is a website which will show you how this could work: 

https://norcambassadors.ca/about/

Ambling In Ambleside

 

After a few days of Spring sunshine, we have some rain today. The magnolia tree outside my bedroom window is in bud and just about to start blooming. It is hard to get movitived today to walk, even though the rain is light. I would rather stay home and check out the changes in the red leaves on the laurel bushes and the buds on the magnolia tree.

Walking at least half an hour a day, we are told, will keep us healthy and happy. I need a destination when I walk; only occasionally will I simply wander around. I do have some destinations - one day I walk east on the seawall - the next time west. Sometimes I will start my walk going up hill but most of the time I head down to Marine Drive or to the water. In fifteen to twenty-five minutes I can walk to the library or the senior centre to the west or Park Royal to the east. It is less than ten minutes to get down to the beach.

Once I am out of doors, ambling in Ambleside is quite enjoyable. There is usually something new to see, the air is fresh and people are friendly. Often I run into someone I know.

The CDC tells us that "Adults aged 65 and older need: At least 150 minutes a week (for example, 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week) of moderate-intensity activity such as brisk walking. Or they need 75 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity activity such as hiking, jogging, or running. We also need at least 2 days a week of activities that strengthen muscles". I almost have this down - I just need to change my ambling to some brisk walking.

Tides

7 a.m. Wednesday, March 21, 2023 Today is the first full day of Spring; we have a new moon. High tide at Ambleside Beach occurred at quarter to seven this morning just as daylight was making its appearance through cloudy skies. The water and air temperature at Ambleside were exactly the same - six degrees centigrade. Today the sun will be up twelve hours and fourteen minutes. For the next six months we will have more daylight than darkness.

Almost every morning, a few people from our neighbourhood walk down to our beach. I wonder if they realize how perfectly alligned the temperaturen of air and water and the alignment of the earth and sun and moon is at this time.

First Day of Spring

It makes no sense to celebrate the start of a New Year in the middle of winter just because of an old Roman calendar. The first of January can be cold and bleak and most of us are hung over from the excesses of Christmas. We have bills to pay and weight to lose. We are expected to celebrate in the dead of winter when it is dark most of the time and travel can be dangerous. Many people are tired of socializing by that time and have no money left for parties or new clothes.

Think of how much better it would be to move this celebration of the arrival of a new year to the first day of Spring. This would put us more in sync with nature. We could make new plans for success without the weight of winter depression to impede us. We have longer days and warmer weather and new growth to celebrate. By March we could have our credit cards from Christmas paid off and be ready to party again.

Happy Spring!

The Good and Bad of Ambleside

Photo courtesy of https://westvancouver.ca/media/1515

The top five things that people like best about Ambleside are beach access, parks and amenities at the waterfront; the variety of small, local and unique shops and services; the friendly, safe, and well-maintained village atmosphere; and, the accessibility and walkability of the downtown and seawall.

The things that people complain about are mostly lack of parking and sidewalks in poor shape.

At the moment there is free parking in Ambleside. One suggestion presented lately was a system where residents would have free parking stickers for your car if parking meters were installed. I wonder if each taxpayer would be allotted only one sticker. This might be better than ‘residents only’ parking which some of the Lower Mainland uses.

I understand that there is a long term plan to improve sidewalks. It would be nice if this plan worked faster, especially for the shopping areas - in particular around 15th and Marine Drive.

Choose Happiness

Monday, March 13, 2023 Choose Happiness! A friend said a few days ago that she chooses happiness. While her life may not be perfect and she may have many negatives that she could dwell upon, each day she chooses to be happy instead. How does she do this, you may ask? Well, once you know what you enjoy, how you like to spend your time and what keeps you in a good mood, then you set yourself in that direction. Make plans to do enjoyable activities in the near future. She said that most of all, she likes being able to look forward to doing these activities. Then, when her mind wonders to unpleasant thoughts, she stops for a moment and acknowledges what she is doing and then distracts herself by focusing on fun future activities that she has purposely planned for herself.

Create Positive Change

Friday, March 10, 2023

 

Globally, the world population aged 65 and over is growing faster than all other age groups according to UN population studies. Jane Fonda who was on 'The View' today promoting her latest movie quoted these statistics. She did so in the context of expressing her views that women in this age group could have a lot of power to create positive change in society.

Do we need to look at this growing group of older women as a resource in society rather than as a burden on society. We are not only healthier than we have ever been, we are living longer and often have the time and energy to make contributions. We are still living a full life.

Jane is one of my heros. At 85 years of age, she still still acting as well spending a lot of time as an activist to save our oceans and to slow climate change and to preserve some of the hard won victories for women's rights. Despite some health challenges she is still happy and active and living life to the fullest.

Spring Is Springing in Ambleside

 Thursday, March 9, 2023

Spring is Springing in Ambleside    

We had a lovely mostly sunny Spring-like day, perfect for a walk in the neighbourhood. 

Daffodils and perriwinkle are alive in the gardens today replacing the snow drops and heather and heliotrope which provided earlier colour. Even the viburnum trees and shrubs which have been in bud since January are now flowering. It won't be long until spring flowering trees will colour our world. 

Our neighbourhood used to have many flowering cherry trees but one by one they have been cut down in recent years. I wish there was a way to have them replanted. For me, they are always the first harbingers of spring. 

A Naturally Occurring Retirement Community

Wednesday Mar 8, 2023

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A Naturally Occurring Retirement Community

As Ambleside residents are predominately on the high end of the age spectrum and as many of us live in apartments, can we call all of Ambleside a “Naturally Occurring Retirement Community”?

This term was coined in Ontario probably by statisticians to describe groups of people who live in apartment buildings where the average age over time has increased to the point where the majority of the residents are seniors. Using the acronym “NORC”, planners can use this information to identify pockets of individuals who may require future government funds to sustain their ability to live-in-place and thus avoid the burden on hospitals and long term care facilities. 

Here is a TV Ontario link that describes this idea.

https://www.tvo.org/video/finding-naturally-occurring-retirement-communities

The idea of setting up NORC committees in apartment buildings with a high percentage of seniors has been evolving. There are many advantages of having your building or a neighbourhood identified as a NORC. Seniors can have a place to voice their priorities and possibly make changes happen. They can share ideas and set up ways to make their lives more enjoyable. This includes social options as well as the possibility of improved health and wellbeing. At the very least it can allow all of us to rethink how to age well in our own homes over time. 

Is there a way, maybe through the Local Area Planning Groups meeting in April, to ask the District if they could provide a Coordinator who would have the ability to help seniors living in  apartment buildings to set up their own NORC committees? Many economies of scale might become possible when these groups are able to communicate with each other.

The Future of Ambleside

 Tuesday, March 7, 2023

The Future of Ambleside

In February, our District Council unveiled the Local Area Plan for Ambleside along with an Options Booklet which offers up some interesting statistics about Ambleside.

The 2016 census lists the population of Ambleside at 7,500 with 57% of these people living in single person households. As well, 48% of the residents of Ambleside were over 58 years old. Today, these people are all senior citizens. 

 The District is looking for feedback on what we envision for our community. This plan outlines the long-range vision for Ambleside. Here is a link.

https://www.westvancouverite.ca/plan-ambleside?utm_source=ehq_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ehq-Get-ready-to-help-create-the-Ambleside-Local-Area-Plan-review-the-draft-options-and-bring-your-ideas&utm_source=ehq&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=website

As we are probably the largest identifiable group in Ambleside, this may be the best time to make wants and needs met. Besides the obvious needs like better sidewalks and 'on-demand mini buses' (promised by our new mayor before he was elected), how nice would it be to have a special department set up, in coordination with other public agencies, to allow us to age-in-place comfortably and happily.

Just think of wild possibilities for a moment - maybe with a phone call, we could have a personal assistant to help us when needs arose, or even possibly setting up a system where doctors or nurse practitioners could make house calls again. Even having a resource that could give us information and direction would be nice.

But,.... “How do we go about doing that?”

Aging In Place

Monday, March 6, 2023

Aging in Ambleside

Ambleside-By-The-Sea may be the perfect place - at least it is for me. By chance or luck or divine intervention I stumbled into this area about eight years ago. It has everything I need and want to be as happy and as healthy as possible…. except for one thing.

Like many of the over seven thousand souls in Ambleside, I live alone in an apartment in this village. This means I usually have no one to talk with on a daily basis about both important and mundane things - hence, my new web page. 

If my good luck holds out, I hope to be able to communicate with others like myself in an open and constructive way. It is always nice to share ideas and get other perspectives to consider. My goal is to age successfully in place for as long as I can. This page may be a good way to accomplish this. I hope it can become a place to share good opportunities and ideas in and around our community. 

Stay tuned. I hope to bring up my many topics of interest a few times each week.