The “green things growing” whisper me
Of many an earth-old mystery.
I look at my present life and try to visualize what my life will look like as I become less mentally and physically agile in the next few years. It brings up the question of what I can do now to make my future more palatable. Like many other older adults, I want to continue living in my present apartment for as long as possible. In order to do that I will need help from time to time.
The recent pandemic gave us all some time to think about what can go wrong without warning and how our life can change on a dime. Everyday activities became more difficult; we were socially isolated; and had to make adjustments and compromises that were often not pleasant. From small things like not being able to open a jar or a can to large things like not seeing family and friends on holidays, it was very unsettling.
Seniors who are living alone or with an aging partner in apartments can benefit by helping each other and sharing resources and ideas to make everyone's life easier. The concept of seniors empowering seniors is being promoted by the University Health Network Openlab (https://norcambassadors.ca/ideas/) in Ontario. They have many suggestions of how these apartment buildings can form a group to meet their particular needs.
Below are some things that can be organized by an Age-in-Place Group
If you would like to hear a choir...
St Stephen's Community Singers
Director Annabelle Paetsch
Presents
Music of the British Isles
With Harpist Bess Lu
And Flutist Nancy Riecken
Sunday, April 23rd at 2:00 p.m.
St Stephen's Anglican Church
885-22nd Street, West Vancouver
Admission By Donation
If you would like to see a play....
Presented by Theatre West Van
McEwen Theatre
Cost of Admission - $30.00 for Seniors
Or are you thinking ahead to Mother's Day
Sat, May 13 2023 - 10am to 5pm
Lalji Family Atrium, West Vancouver Community Centre
Just in time for Mother's Day!
Shop a curated selection of gifts and find something as special as your mom—from jewelry and art to home décor, skincare, and more!
This event is presented in partnership with Portobello
The District would like to revitalize our village to create a more vibrant high street. From this corner of 13th and Marine, the downtown core of the village would extend up to 18th and include both Bellevue and Clyde within its boundaries. To establish this walkable, exciting shopping and entertainment area, the District needs to gently increase density in Ambleside in order to create enough patronage for new downtown businesses. One way to achieve this is by re-zoning single family property so that more townhouse complexes and mid rise apartments could be built over time. This, however, may result in driving low income seniors out of the area.
Many years ago, a Vancouver Sun article presented a study of retirees based on their income. I think there were five categories from the very rich who had yachts and country clubs to entertain themselves to the other end where people barely survived on government pensions and subsidies.
In the middle were three categories, with the lower one having just a little discretionary income compared to the upper category who were those who could afford to travel extensively and live as lavishly as they did before retirement.
I fall squarely into the lower category which the piece called a Park Bench Pensioner. Often, when I am sitting on one of the many park benches in Ambleside, I think back to this article; the purpose of which was to offer suggestions of how to make the most of whatever situation applied to you.
As I was about to be laid off from my last permanent job, I took these suggestions to heart. Eighteen years later I am still applying those ideas. Basically, I need to find inexpensive ways to socialize and entertain myself so that I can save money for the odd luxury which for me often means travel. Next week, I am embarking on my first major trip in a very long time.
I know, of course, when I get back home, I will need to find inexpensive ways to keep myself amused over the summer and fall. Luckily for me, there are many options which I hope to explore in this blog over the next few months.
A few weeks ago, the computer on my car showed that my tires needed air. As I no longer have snow tires to swap out and it is not yet time to have the tires rotated, I thought I could find someone at one of our service stations in Ambleside to help me out. We have four stations within a four block radius of my apartment.
No luck with that!
Then, I spoke to the car dealership who suggested that Shell might help me. When I called to find a time convenient to them, I was told they would only help me out if I purchased a full tank of gas at the full serve pump and let me know that a good tip might be in order. When I told him my car was electric, he made it quite clear that they did not deal with electric cars in any way!
I am no longer able to sit on my haunches long enough to put air in my tires and I find it difficult to read the little air pressure gauge. I suspect there are many seniors that find this task difficult to do. Given the high number of older people in this area, you would think at least one of the service stations would see that as an opportunity to make this service available.
In any event, on the weekend I went to Costco in Vancouver. The tire shop told me to pull up parallel to their open bays where an employee cheerfully checked and filled all four tires to the correct psi in less than two minutes. It is a free service.
Then, the employee refused to accept my gratuity!
“Who looks not before finds himself behind.”
This is a quote from Pubilius Syrus in the First Century BC. I learned this from a February 8th editorial in the North Shore News about Ambleside. The author thinks that the residents of Ambleside are averse to change possibly because almost half of the residents of Ambleside are over the age of sixty-five.
However, I think we can all agree as the writer points out that our "neighbourhood is more than deserving of some rejuvenation”.
Some benefits to revitalization, as pointed out in the article, are:
Housing options to match current/future needs
Greater walkability
Public amenities
Beautiful public spaces
Lower carbon emissions
Commercial vibrancy
Renewed infrastructure
Diversified tax base
A place for our workforce to bed down at night.
You can hear this article by clicking the link below:
The third meeting of Aging Gracefully was held on Tuesday, June 6th at the Senior Activity Centre in West Vancouver, BC. Our speaker, Paul...
