July 2012 Senior Living Magazine by INSPIRED 55+ Lifestyle Magazine

JULY 2012 TM

50+ Active Living Magazine

FASHION & BEAUTY • Salon Owner Lorna Stewart • The Scoop on Scarves • If Your Feet Could Talk PLUS • Author Ron Rosewood • Travel Australia And more...

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JULY 2012

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JULY 2012

Be Your Best �� At Any Age

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FEATURES

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Author Ron Rosewood weaves his own real-life experiences into his ﬁctional stories.

6 A Good Journey

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Lorna Stewart isn’t just a pretty face with an eye for balance and style, she also believes in giving back.

22 Australia

Despite being home to more lethal creatures than anywhere else, Oz’s population and tourism continues to grow.

8 Aging Gracefully

Achieve a soft, natural look with these suggestions for make-up application and colour selections.

DEPARTMENTS

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10 What Your Feet Say to Your Shoes

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Former fashion model shares what she learned about creating illusions to achieve an effective look.

12 Ageless Fashion

14 Hair Tips for Seniors

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Scarves are a cost-effective way to add ﬂair to any outﬁt – and the choices are endless.

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Regular trimming and quality hair care products allow mature women to choose their style.

16 The Scoop on Scarves 18 Dedicated to the Arts

Gallery Associates volunteer their time raising funds and promoting cultural interest.

COLUMNS 4 The Family Caregiver by Barbara Small

25 Bygone Treasures by Michael Rice

26 Forever Young by William Thomas

30 Ask Goldie

by Goldie Carlow

31 Courageous & Outrageous by Pat Nichol

32 Reﬂections: Then & Now by Gipp Forster

Cover Photo: Hair stylist, fashion designer, fundraiser and entrepreneur Lorna Stewart in her salon in Vancouver. Story page 6. Photo: Philippe Martin-Morice

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Senior Living is published by Stratis Publishing. Publisher Barbara Risto Editor Bobbie Jo Reid editor@seniorlivingmag.com Ad Coordinator/Designer Steffany Gundling Advertising Manager Barry Risto 250-479-4705 ext 101 For advertising information, call 250-479-4705 sales@seniorlivingmag.com Ad Sales Staff Ann Lester 250-390-1805 Mathieu Powell 250-479-4705 ext 104 Barry Risto 250-479-4705 ext 101

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Editorial Oct 2011.indd 1

28 Classiﬁeds 29 BBB Scam Alert

Maintaining healthy feet, as we age, is an important component in physical well-being and independence.

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20 Leaving Something Behind

Head Ofﬁce Contact Information: Box 153, 1581-H Hillside Ave., Victoria BC V8T 2C1 Phone 250-479-4705 Fax 250-479-4808 Toll-free 1-877-479-4705 E-mail ofﬁce@seniorlivingmag.com Website www.seniorlivingmag.com Subscriptions: $32 (includes GST, postage and handling) for 12 issues. Canadian residents only. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. Senior Living is an independent publication and its articles imply no endorsement of any products or services. The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publisher. Unsolicited articles are welcome and should be e-mailed to editor@seniorlivingmag. com Senior Living is distributed free throughout British Columbia. Stratis Publishing Ltd. publishes Senior Living (12 issues per year). ISSN 17103584 (Print) ISSN 1911-6403 (Online)

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JULY 2012

THE FAMILY CAREGIVER

BY BARBARA SMALL

Are You Trying to Parent Your Parent?

s parents’ health declines, we can find ourselves providing them with increasingly more care and support. Sometimes, it can feel as though the roles have reversed and we are now parenting our parents. We may catch ourselves telling them what to do, what we think is best for them and forgetting they are still adults with a lifetime of experience capable of making choices for themselves. If your parent has dementia, Alzheimer’s or is in any other way cognitively impaired, the degree to which they can make decisions for themselves will vary based on their unique situation. Although we may be tempted to parent our parent, it isn’t helpful for many reasons. They are still your parents and you are still their child, regardless of your age. The dynamics of that relationship have been established over a lifetime. Also, with aging parents, remember you are not in the role of having to teach them how to go out and function in the world. They’ve already been there and have their own wisdom and experience. In addition, your parent may be experiencing feelings of loss and frustration around changes in their health, independence and mobility. This will impact how receptive they are to suggestions from you. The more you try to do for them, without checking with them first, the stronger these feelings of loss and frustration can be. Avoid nagging them about their habits or telling them how they should behave. Boundaries and respect are still impor-

tant. Rather than telling them what they should need, do or feel; ask how you can help them or what they need from you? Ask rather than assume. Assumptions are based on what would work best or make a situation easier for us. Clinical Counsellor Allison Reeves says the role of family caregiver is to support the person needing care in living their life as they want to, based on the current circumstances. Are you meeting resistance? Step back and examine your own behaviour. Resistance often happens when we are trying to tell someone what to do or to control their behaviour based on our own agenda. Put yourself in your parents’ shoes. Remember, you will likely one day find yourself in a similar situation. Think about how you may want to be treated, regardless of your SL physical or mental limitations. Next Month: How Home Adaptations Can Ease the Demands of Caregiving Barbara Small is the Program Development Coordinator for Family Caregivers’ Network Society located in Victoria, BC. www.familycaregiversnetwork.org

The Family Caregiver column is brought to you by the generous sponsorship of Saint Elizabeth

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JULY 2012

A Good Journey

Fashion & Beauty

BY KEVIN MCKAY

SENIOR LIVING

Photo: Kevin McKay

orna Stewart was 24 when she arrived in Canada in 1973 from her native Jamaica. While many newcomers would take some time to settle in and figure out how things work in their new surroundings, Lorna took a different approach – jumping in with both feet. “When I look back now, I wonder, what I was thinking,” she says with a smile. “I had attitude and got myself a job five days after landing. I started in a small salon in New Westminster and stayed with them for three months. I was good, I was fast and I was reliable. My employers noticed that and gave me more and more work, until I complained. They told me that was the way it was, so I packed my stuff into a garbage bag, and walked up the street to Raymond’s Salon, where I was hired a couple of days later.” Lorna grew up in a large family, the seventh child in a family of four boys and four girls. Her parents were married for nearly 60 years and emphasized the importance of family. They were incredibly important to Lorna, especially her mother. “My mother was the most stabilizing force you could imagine,” she says. “She was the one who made the wheel turn. She was the boss, and there was no doubt about that, but you could go to her and ask anything and get an answer. She always told us that she lived for her kids, not herself, which I did not really understand until much later. She always told us that we had to give back.” This was a lesson Lorna took to heart. She worked at Raymond’s for several years, launching black hair care for the studio and building up a large and loyal client base. One of her clients told Lorna she would provide the financial backing, if Lorna ever decided to open her own studio. In the early 1980s, Lorna took her up on the offer, borrowing $8,000 on a handshake, opening a small studio with a partner and paying back the loan within the first year. Not long after, Lorna relocated to the Westminster Quay, and borrowed another $14,000 from the same investor. “I paid her back again, but still she told me she was my mother in Canada, and sent me cards and muffins and [treated] me like I was her own child. Later, when she needed to move into a home, I took care of her and her husband. I set them up, visited them every day and communicated with their children in Ontario. After she passed away, I continued looking after him until his children moved out to the coast. I am so happy I did that. This was the start of my giving back.” When she was 10 years old, Lorna started doing hair for the

children in her neighbourhood and even started some clothing design. She decided, at that young age, she wanted a career making people look good through fashion and hair design. This lifelong passion inspired her to organize fashion shows as fundraising events. Her first ventures were at a New Westminster restaurant and all of them did well – one show raised more than $20,000 for the CKNW Orphan’s Fund. From that modest start, she took things one step further by staging a fashion show featuring all her own designs at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver. “I sold all 250 tickets myself because people will make excuses,” she says. “I was a bit tough, sometimes, but I got things done. It was so much work but my ideas all paid off. I have a network of really good people behind me, but I realized to succeed I had to be a force. I even found and recruited all the models myself. These were my dreams and I acted on them.” While she enjoyed designing and running fashion show

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fundraisers, Lorna still had to pay the rent. Her hairdressing business was thriving and required more and more of her time. So, in the boutique beside her salon, she started selling clothes from other designers. She travelled to New York, Toronto and Hong Kong to buy clothes, but, in the end, she feels perhaps she was ahead of her time. Now, her interest has turned to jewelry, and her clients seem to love it. Lorna treats each of her clients as an individual. She focuses on the hairstyle that works best for them, not worrying about what styles are currently popular if they do not suit that client. “If there’s one gift I have it’s an eye for balance,” she says. “At a glance, I can tell if the hair goes with the clothing and makeup. I love a complete package. Sometimes, [clients] have an idea in their head, but it’s hard for them to describe what they want. Lots of time, they just want something that looks pretty. That’s really what it’s all about. One reason people come back is that they know they can trust us to make them look good. Trust is a huge thing.” The friendships Lorna made and the relationships she established led to many of the causes she supported over the years. “I did a fashion show for cancer after one of my customers passed away from bone cancer when she was only 35. Another customer had a child who suffered from Crohn’s disease, so I put a couple of shows on in her honour.” Two causes close to Lorna’s heart are Monarch Place, a shelter for abused women and their children, and the Kidney Foundation. She has done various shows for Monarch Place, using people from the shelter as models for the hairstyles. Lorna got involved with the Kidney Foundation after a long-time employee came to her one day, “She had helped me in the store for over 20 years, and she told me her kidneys were failing and that not even her children realized how sick she was. I told her I would be her voice, and checked right away to see if I was a match, but I was not. I mentioned this to the woman in the coffee shop next door, and she offered to see if she was a match. Not only was she,

but she was the closest match the doctor had ever seen. She donated one of her kidneys nine years ago and both of them are doing fine now. We did two shows for the Foundation, and raised over $35,000. That was one of the biggest things I have ever done.” From humble beginnings, Lorna has done great things, raising well over $200,000 for charities she has championed. Along the way, she has joined the Rotarians and is a Paul Harris FelWWW.SENIORLIVINGMAG.COM

low, the highest achievement for charity work in Rotary International. The New Westminster Chamber of Commerce has given her the Celebration of Business Excellence Award. To this day, she remains determined but humble. “It has been a good journey, so far, and I hope the journey continues to be a good one. I have done a tremendous amount of good, but I always feel I could have done a little bit more.” SL JULY 2012

Fashion & Beauty

AGING GRACEFULLY with a soft natural look

BY ROSEMARIE HURST

ging doesn’t mean losing pride in one’s appearance. Seniors want to look their best and grow older gracefully. Many wear very little makeup, perhaps a little powder, blush and lipstick. A no-fuss approach to their makeup routine seems to be a priority. So, with this in mind, below are some basic suggestions for the application of cosmetics, and the appropriate colours and choices for mature women. Start with your skin. Cleanse, tone and moisturize before applying cosmetics, and before bed. Apply a day moisturizer on clean skin. Moisturizer allows makeup to be applied more easily. If you don’t like using a foundation, you can purchase tinted moisturizers. Some moisturizers contain an SPF, which is recommended year-round. Use a lighter hand when making up your face. A green colour corrector can neutralize redness caused by broken capillaries or sensitivity. A mauve colour corrector can be used for sallowness or dark spots. It’s applied before your foundation. Choose a water-based foundation to even out skin tone. It helps to protect the skin from the elements and smooths the appearance of the skin. Lightly blend it on your face with your finger tips or a dampened makeup sponge on the spots you need it. I prefer not to use latex sponges as they absorb too much product and don’t seem to blend well. (However, I do use latex sponges to clean up any residue left over from powered eye shadow that may fall on to the face). 810

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For foundation colour selection, avoid pale beige and choose a shade that has been tinted with peach or pink. Skin tone and pigment fades as we age, so a little colour enhances the complexion. Some people suggest a dewy, youthful look, but that can make your face look shiny making imperfections more noticeable. Don’t use a shade that’s too dark; a lighter shade is better. Concealer can be used to camouflage darkness under the eyes or pigmentation marks. It should be a shade or two lighter than foundation, otherwise it enhances puffiness. Choose one that’s not too dry; a creamy opaque formula or a liquid formula will blend easily. Apply concealer after you’ve applied foundation as it blends better. Dab it with your pinky or ring finger as the skin under the eye is the thinnest on your body and requires a delicate touch. Loose powder can be translucent or slightly tinted to match foundation. Apply lightly with a big fluffy brush to minimize shine to the centre of the face in downward strokes and downwards to the neck as the fine hairs on your face will lay flat when you apply powder that way. Keep all your brushes clean by periodically washing them in a gentle shampoo (e.g. baby shampoo), lay flat and let them air dry. On cheeks, smile and apply a matte powder blush with a fluffy brush to the apple of the cheeks, blending up to the hairline. Don’t apply too close to the nose. Use a light hand.

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Shades should be soft and gentle, like peach and soft pink for light skin, and cranberry and plums for darker skin. On the eyes, avoid bright colours or frosted shadows. They emphasize crepiness and can look harsh. Eye shadows are used to highlight the eyes and to add a glow to the face, so matte powdered shadow is best. Avoid strong, dark colours as they are aging. Colours should be a few shades lighter than your eye colour. For example, try melon, fern green, periwinkle, beige, pink, copper, soft charcoal or light mauve; while avoiding black, navy, purple, emerald green, fuchsia, burgundy or khaki. If you choose to use eyeliner it should be soft in colour and/or application, no hard lines. You can use a wedge shaped brush to apply a powdered shadow along the eyelash line for a smudgy look. Circling the eyes with liner will make them look smaller. An eyeliner pencil is better than a liquid liner as it’s softer. If you use eyebrow colour, choose something soft and light. Brush on in short, feathery strokes. Use soft gray or taupe, not dark brown or black. Make sure your brows are not too thin or too short. Do not shave your eyebrows. Tweeze them regularly to keep their shape. Apply brown/black or brown mascara. Jet black can look harsh. Lips: Once again, don’t wear anything that’s frosted or glossy as it emphasizes the lines around the mouth. A lip fixative helps to stop colour from feathering. Define lips with rose or coral liner. Fill in with a lipstick in soft colours, like coral, rose, soft red; or for darker skin types, plum. Use a creamy lipstick or an all-day lipstick. Wear a lip balm in the winter or if you’re out in the sun a lot. Remember to apply makeup with a light hand and blend well for a soft, natural look. And don’t forget to cleanse your skin at night and apply a night moisturizer. If you’re trying to recapture your “natural” colour in your hair, you may be in for a surprise. As your skin lightens with age, your hair will tend to look darker. So, if you choose to colour your hair, pick a colour that’s a little lighter than your former natural colour or ask your hairdresser to put in highlights for a more natural look. Stay away from frosting or brassy tones. The colour of the clothing you wear close to your face should improve your skin tone. Black can be harsh as it’s the tone of the colour that’s reflected on to your skin. Turtlenecks may be great to hide neck imperfections, but try adding your favourite scarf to soften the look and help complement skin tone. Finally, the key to aging gracefully is to enhance the attributes that you’ve already got; to take pride in yourself and appearance; and to take care of your health and wellbeing. And seniors have the inner strength and wisdom to do just that! SL

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JULY 2012

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Fashion & Beauty

What Your Feet Say to Your Shoes

BY LISA EVANS

ealthy feet are an important component of physical well-being and independence. They ground us, keep us balanced and allow us to stay active – all of which reduce risk of injury and circulation problems, and keep our bones and muscles strong. Keeping tender toes healthy requires dressing them in proper footwear. From walking shoes to high heels, finding footwear that is practical, stylish and comfortable can be a challenge. Feet, along with the rest of us, change as we get older. The shoes that fit perfectly in youth are now painful reminders of age. In addition to increased swelling, physical changes in the structure of your feet can cause changes in shoe size. Vancouver podiatrist Dr. Joseph Stern, B.Sc, D.P.M says, “The fat pad on the bottom of the foot can diminish or slide forward over time, resulting in discomfort on the bottom of the foot.” Thinning skin also causes feet to be more fragile. “The more fragile the skin, the easier to get cut and the longer it takes to heal,” he says. Arthritis or former injuries such as torn or strained tendons result in changes in the shape of the foot and typically require a change in shoe size. Weakened foot muscles cause trips and falls to be more frequent necessitating a steady, wide, low-heeled shoe, replacing fashionable, high stilettos. You may have heard the aches and pains of your joints and muscles talking to you, telling your body to slow down. It’s time to listen to what your feet have to say – to your shoes! 12 10

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“Ouch! Squished toes!”

It should come as no surprise that the most common cause of feet injuries is a result of choosing the wrong shoe size. “Most patients fit their shoes too small, too narrow or too short,” says Dr. Stern. To avoid making fitting mistakes, Dr. Stern suggests making a tracing of your foot and place the tracing beside the shoe to see if they match. “You should have about a thumb’s width from the longest toe to the end of your shoe. Otherwise, the toe will hit the end [of the shoe] and you’ll smash your toe nail so you’ll get black toe nails or toe nails will rub into your skin,” says Dr. Stern. As the size and shape of your foot changes, so should your shoe size. “You want the shoe to be fitting your foot. So, if you have hammertoes, you want the toe box to be deeper. If you have a bunion, you want the toe area to be wider,” suggests Dr. Stern. Leather and canvas are the best materials for letting feet breathe and have greater flexibility, allowing the shoe to bend with the foot. Dr. Stern suggests shopping for a shoe with flexible material such as Xsensible. Made from stretchable leather that acts like a second skin, these shoes adapt to the unique shape of the foot and stretch with its natural movements. If your shoes still require adjustment, a specialty shop can stretch them for you.

“Ouch! Swelling feet!”

Slip-on shoes may seem convenient, but foot swelling can cause a great deal of discomfort. “With a slip-on, it has to be tight over the front of the shoe, and if you have

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a problem with swelling, your foot will swell over the top of the shoe and it will be too tight,” says Dr. Stern, who suggests wearing a lace-up or Velcro closure shoe that can adjust for swelling. Elasticized laces are another great option for swelling feet. Even the time of day you shop for shoes can affect their fit. “You should buy your shoes at four o’clock in the afternoon because your foot is pretty much swollen by then,” suggests Dr. Stern.

“Ouch! Corns, Calluses and Blisters!”

Shoes that are too narrow cause rubbing, which can lead to corns and calluses – a buildup of thick, hardened or dead skin that typically forms on the bottom or sides of feet that, if left untreated, can become painful or infected.

“Ouch! Can’t these be broken in?”

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To avoid corns, calluses and blisters, Dr. Stern recommends looking for brands such as New Balance or Saucony that offer a wide size. When purchasing a jogging or walking shoe, make sure there are no prominent seams on the inside of the shoe that can cause rubbing. Despite what retailers say, shoes don’t really break in. “By the time they break in, it’s going to be time to throw them away,” says Dr. Stern. Shoes should feel comfortable when you purchase them. The bottom line? If they don’t feel good in the store, don’t buy them.

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“Ouch! Wobbly Heels!”

Dressing up your feet can be fun, but also painful and dangerous. Ideally, heels should be no higher than an inch and a half (3 cm) and should be as wide as your foot to keep ankles from twisting and your back from arching. Soles with a grip provide more stability and less risk of slips and falls. A wider heel ensures more surface contact with the ground, making your foot more stable than a stiletto. Wedges are SL also a safe option – and trendy too!

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JULY 2012

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Fashion & Beauty

AGELESS FASHION BY ALIXE WALLIS

ashion has always been fascinating to me. The first object of my affection was a white and black polka dotted creation worn by child star Shirley Temple. With its ruffled ballerina skirt and bright red-ribboned waist, her petite frame and curvy legs were showcased to perfection. How I loved that look! But from curly hair to twinkly toes, we were totally dissimilar – she cute and chubby – me tall and gangly. Obviously, a few fashion lessons concerning the rules of proportion were in order. Then, my stylish aunt gave me my first perfect outfit – cream linen full-legged overalls – very Katharine Hepburn – which lasted me for many seasons mixed and matched with different shirts. This classic styling continues to reinvent itself over the years under different names – pyjama, lounge or patio pants – the only requirement being a clever tweak to create a fresh and timeless look once again. Fashion was a simple progression in my youth. One left the school uniform and graduated to a plaid tartan skirt from Straith’s (still one of Victoria’s fashion destinations!) teamed with a twin sweater set and topped with a beautifully carved and painted brooch – a sporty little pheasant in my case! Then it was on to the Dior Look – narrow-waisted, full-skirted and ladylike, or following that the breakthrough Mary Quant mini-skirt. At that time, a handful of top designers ruled the fashion world, and their word was law. But now women are confidently taking control of their image by adopting an eclectic mixand-match philosophy. Anything goes 14 12

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in fashion, which can be a good thing, but also a trifle confusing, so here are a few guidelines to help in the quest for your most flattering look. Start with a good undergarment. Topping the list is Spanx, which is one of the hottest brands on the market today. Comfortable slimming garments that minimize figure flaws; Spanx manufactures a line of bras, bodysuits, tummy slimmers and hosiery – an investment guaranteed to reward you many times over. As a model and, later, as fashion co-ordinator for Eaton’s, I learned that creating illusions is an important key to effective dressing. It’s a trick the French term “trompe l’oeil,” which means leading the eye where you want it to go. If your neck is short don’t reduce it even more by wearing turtle necks. Opt instead for a low cut V-neck style, drawing the eye down for the appearance of length. To project the illusion of a smaller bust, try combining a pale sleeveless shell under a darker V-neck top. The contrasting shades effectively establish a lighter look. Even the simple act of buttoning your sweater halfway down and wearing it over a white blouse will have a slimming effect. The mature figure does best in pants with a relaxed fit. Search for a brand that caters to your size and shape. Information as to cut and proportion can be found on many labels. Wide leg, relaxed fit, pleated front and high waist are all good options, together with capris for casual wear. Be careful of appearing in stretch pants and high boots after age 60. Unless you’re in perfect shape, even your Spanx will find it difficult to compensate for the forces of gravity. You also WWW.SENIORLIVINGMAG.COM

run the risk of being labelled a “cougar” – a slightly sardonic term for an older woman with an eye for younger men! On the other hand, if you’re up for a challenge – go for it! Forewarned is forearmed!

The author – more Katharine Hepburn, less Shirley Temple. Another wardrobe staple is a good jacket. Classic man tailoring designed for your figure type will see you through many seasons, but be sure it fits well at the hip for a smooth line necessary for a polished look. If you’re

on the petite side, check out the short cropped styles featuring a more contoured waist. Unless your waist is small and slim, steer clear of colourful belts that are too wide – a narrower version matching the colour of your outfit will be much more flattering. Interesting dramatic buckles are also a plus – drawing the eye inward for the illusion of slimness. Belts fastened too tightly are sure to add an inch to your hips. So, a notch lower, if you please, to give that svelte look. Develop a flair for making an outfit your own by adding one important accessory – whether it’s a belt, jewelry, a dramatic scarf, pashmina or handbag. Highlighting is the key with “less is more” being the golden rule here. A technique known as colour blocking gives punch to your wardrobe. Try combining two complementary colours for a dramatic effect. Rich chocolate brown mixed with the vibrancy of purple; black teamed with electric blue; or grey

Be careful of appearing in stretch pants and high boots after age 60. Unless you’re in perfect shape, even your Spanx will ﬁnd it difﬁcult to compensate for the forces of gravity. with Tangerine Tango, the colour of a bright Seville orange. Leave the patterned prints for another time and let pure colour do the talking! Choosing colours with global appeal is one of the most important components of the fashion agenda. Pantone, a worldwide authority on colour has been surveying a myriad of sources for almost 50 years working with designers, the entertainment industry and travelling art collections all over the world. They spot the trends, the moods and influences affecting us – even psychology comes into play. The decision is in for 2012: People are feeling hopeful and on the optimistic side, so we’re seeing sunshine-y yellows, pale greens and mauves together with lots of orange, like Tangerine Tango, to maintain our cheery mood. It’s clear we’ve come a long way since those days of being told how to dress. We’ve become mature enough to laugh at our insecurities and that’s a good thing. Because that old adage still applies – the most important fashion acSL cessory is your smile!

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FREE Community Concert Series Tuesdays, 6:00-8:00pm

July 3 - Goward House with CanUs Jazz July 10 - Majestic Park with Malaika Marimba July 17 - Brydon Park with The Sutcliffes July 24 - Beckwith Park with Voyager July 31 - Rudd Park with Rusty & The Roosters Bring a picnic dinner & blanket and enjoy a free evening of music in your local park. Call 250-475-5408 or go to www.saanichsunfest.ca

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JULY 2012

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Fashion & Beauty

Hair Tips for Seniors BY KELLY HENDERSON

tylish seniors need stylish hairstyles, but it can be tough to find a look that suits. Lucy Barcelos, Master Stylist at Carreiro the Studio in Victoria has many senior clients, and she believes they can carry off any cut, short or long. “I’m definitely encouraging women not to cut their hair off simply because they feel like their age is telling them to cut it off.” “I think an older woman with a smart-looking long layered cut looks fabulous,” she adds. “Gone are the days where women chop their hair when they reach a certain age. A short, smart haircut is very attractive when it’s done right, but not on everyone, notes Barcelos. “Medium to longer lengths are beautiful on grey haired women, as long as the hair is regularly trimmed and taken care of with good products.” Senior-friendly shampoo and styling products are key. “If clients are choosing to stay grey, using a shampoo with a purple tint will ensure their hair stays true to the silver without going yellow. Also using an anti-aging or anti-thinning shampoo is a good thing,” she says. Seniors should not use shampoo that will over-strip their hair of natural oils, and using shampoo and conditioner that helps with hair loss is beneficial for women going through menopause. Anti-oxidant shampoos work well for hair that is losing its lustre. When styling, volumizing products work best for blow-drying. Mousse or root-lifting gels are also good choices. Barcelos also says some of her clients are embracing their foxy silver locks, and not bothering to cover them up. “Some women are deciding not to colour their grey hair,

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SENIOR LIVING

which is nice to see, or not doing full colours and maybe just lo-lighting their hair instead.” Those who do colour are using ash-based colour to add depth, or just adding a playful splash of colour.

Gone are the days where women chop their hair when they reach a certain age.

“Women who are colouring should always have a highlight added in as well. This will create the softness they need around the face, because solid, dark colours accentuate fine lines and wrinkles. It also helps minimize that ‘skunky’ look as the grey starts to grow in again,” Barcelos advises. What’s certain is that more and more seniors are maintainSL ing a style that suits them, not a stereotype.

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JULY 2012

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Fashion & Beauty

THE SCOOP ON SCARVES W

hat do Queen Nefertiti of Egypt, Beethoven, and Snoopy have in common? Answer: scarves. We’ll never know if Queen Nefertiti, in 1350 B.C., was having a bad hair day when she chose to be pictured wearing a finely woven scarf under her conical headdress. But we can guess why Beethoven, in 1810, adopted fashionable suits, shirts and neck scarves to pursue his new love, Therese Malfatti; and why cartoonist Charles Shultz pictured his beagle character, Snoopy, wearing the aviator scarf, along with helmet and goggles in his role as WWI flying ace. For millennia, from the time of the early Romans and through the ages, for both women and men, scarves have played an important role as a versatile clothing accessory. Historians believe that as early as 230 B.C., Chinese Emperor Cheng’s warriors donned cloth scarves to mark military rank. Officers’ scarves were made of fine silk or linen; lesser ranks of cotton. Cloth kerchiefs, popular with Emperor Nero and the ancient Romans, were worn for practical purposes, not fashion, and were called sudariums, or “sweat cloths.” Made of absorbent linen or cotton, knotted around the neck or waist by men, they were used for wiping sweat from the face and neck in hot weather. In many countries around the world, and particularly in Europe from the 17th century to WWI, much of men’s fashion was of military origin. From the “kravata,” a scarf used in the 1600s by Croatian mercenaries, evolved many versions of the cravat, including an elaborate silk or lace trimmed necktie, favoured by French King Louis XIII

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and worn with formal morning dress. King Charles II, on returning to England from exile in 1660, brought with him the latest new word in fashion: “A cravatte is another kind of adornment for the neck being nothing else but a long towel put about the Collar, and so tyed before with a Bow Knott; this is the original of all such Wearings; but now by the Art and Inventions of the seamsters, there is so many new ways of making them, that it would be a task to name, much more to describe them.” [sic] (Randle Holme, Academy of Armory and Blazon, 1688.) The cravat was the forerunner of the modern tailored necktie and bow tie. Scarf colour has long been used to demonstrate political affiliations; sports fans wear and wave them to support their team of choice. Some cultures and religions with traditions of modesty use scarves as cover-ups; in the early 1900s, Swedish actress Greta Garbo and later Grace Kelly popularized them as glamorous Hollywood accessories. But for fun and sheer versatility, scarves have never been more popular than they are today. With minimal financial outlay, they can add flair to any outfit; make a statement and add chic to an otherwise plain or unflattering garment. They can work as a summer or evening cover-up; provide warmth and colour to keep out winter chills. Made of silk, cotton, wool or blended fabrics, long or short, rectangular, square or round, scarves can add year-round pizazz to any wardrobe. I became a scarf-o-holic years ago when, as a single mom, my outgo was way larger than my income. Needing to dress well for my job, I discovered that adding a bright scarf to a tired old dress, sweater or coat, would not only give it a fresher, newer, smarter look, but lift my mood as well. Black is not my colour, but with a white/black patterned or coloured scarf knotted at the neck, I could wear it well.

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Photos: Joan W. Winter

BY JOAN W. WINTER

Joseph and the

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Scarves were practical and fun. I began my collection. I looped them, knotted them, wrapped and tied them. For a stylish look, I’d twist two together, one patterned one plain; an animal print produced a dramatic effect; soft pastels complimented my skin colouring. Sold in a huge variety of colours and patterns, priced to fit any budget, scarves run the gamut of choice. You’ll find them in thrift shops, gift shops, consignment stores, department stores and designer collections. And far from being “but a long towel put about the Collar,” manufacturers of scarves and wraps are always striving to develop fresh new innovative designs. The round or infinity scarf, which can be wrapped once or twice around the neck (cosy fabrics for winter, light for spring and summer), take top marks for popularity at a store that specializes in high-fashion accessories and carries a huge selection of scarves year round. Another favoured design is a pretty lace-edged long or square scarf. When folded into a triangle with the point at the front and ends wrapped round the neck, adds a soft feminine touch to the classic cardigan and T-shirt. “The Medallion, a jewelled scarf by Artizan, has been far and away our best seller for the winter and spring seasons,” says Linda McKinley, owner/manager of a gift shop in North Delta. Made of 100 per cent wrinkleresistant polyester, in a wide range of colours, the beaded scarves replace the need for jewelry and can be worn any number of ways – as a scarf, a wrap-around shawl, a bow or belt. Priced around $20, they make interesting and unusual gifts. Joni Light, a Ladner gift shop owner, says fine hand-knit and crochet summer scarves are popular in her store. For winter wear, unique from England, incorporating micro-encapsulation fabric technology, Aromatherapy and Ayurveda scarves are made of finest lambswool, and are scented with a sophisticated blend of pure essential oils that are released with each wear. Reversible, in strong, vibrant colours, the Ayurveda line – relaxing Vata, calming Pitta, and stimulating Kapha, are also infused with a blend of natural aromatherapy oils. Metallic scarves were hot for fall and winter; light weave and inexpensive (as low as $5), silver threaded viscose make an excellent choice for summer. Cut in 6x3 foot lengths, they can be looped once or twice around the neck for day wear, or opened up to make an ideal evening cover-up or wrap for travelling. The choice is endless. And, once the perfect scarf is chosen, you can discover a hundred elegant ways to wear it, each bringing a new beauty SL to your outfit.

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Volunteering

Dedicated to the Arts BY VERNICE SHOSTAL

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Gallery Associates (l. to r.) Joan Shimizu, Joan Huzar and June Sohuus discuss fundraising efforts.

Photo: Vernice Shostal

he Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, a historical 1889 mansion donated by Sarah Spencer in 1951, is strategically situated near Craigdarroch Castle and within walking distance of Government House or downtown Victoria. The gallery showcases a permanent collection of 14,000 objets d’art including Canada’s best Japanese collection, a range of modern Canadian art, including that of Emily Carr, and regular travel exhibits. A year after donating her mansion to art, Miss Spencer invited a group of women to her home, and a volunteer group, “The Women’s Society,” now called the “Gallery Associates,” held its first meeting with elections. Today, the volunteer organization includes both men and women. Past President Joan Shimizu, First Vice-President Joan Huzar and Art Tours Committee Chair June Sohuus are three of the groups’ enthusiastic supporters. Joan Shimizu grew up in Camrose, Alberta. She moved to Edmonton to get her RN at the University of Alberta and later to the United States, where she lived for two years while her husband did post-graduate work. The lifelong volunteer and mother of four began volunteering with her children’s preschool and figure skating. Additionally, she says, “When the children were young, I needed adult conversation and cultural stimulation,” so she joined the docent program at the Edmonton Art Gallery. Soon, she began fundraising for the Gallery and served two terms as Member of the Board of Directors. Joan’s other volunteer work includes six years with the United Way of Greater Edmonton and volunteering as Area Board and Director on the Edmonton Opera Society Board. Joan’s family appreciates the arts. “My husband and I have enjoyed attending opera in various cities around the world, as well as visiting major galleries in Canada, Europe and the US.” Having moved to Victoria, Joan was invited to a meeting of the Gallery Associates. “I thoroughly enjoyed the guest speaker and meeting other members. I joined that day,” says Joan. “I believe the arts, music and opera are the soul of a community,” says the five year Associate. “It just seemed natural that I would volunteer in this area when I moved to Victoria, and it turned out to be The Art Gallery.” Joan Huzar came to Victoria from Ontario in 2003, bringing with her a long history of volunteering. She was introduced to the Gallery Associates when “a friend who I had known from Ontario suggested I might like this group and invited me to a meeting. I liked what I saw and joined,” says Joan. Although her main contribution to the gallery has been with

the fundraising house tour events, where she has been contributing for several years, she has also supported the Associates with her computer and organizational skills in working with the Art Attire Chair to develop application forms and other work. Volunteer work has been Joan’s chosen career path. Her particular interest has been in consumer protection. Joan was a founding member of the Consumer Council of Canada, a new consumer organization started in Canada in 1994. There, she served as president and board member. In addition, she co-chaired an IODE committee that put a $1.5 million dollar addition on to the Goderich Town Library in Ontario in 2000 and volunteered as a secretary and committee member with

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the Canadian Standards Association. The fundraising events help create a strong organization and an appreciation for the volunteers within the Art Gallery, says Joan, who hopes to help the Gallery financially, as well as raise an awareness and general appreciation of art in the community. Joan’s other hobby is gardening. “I’ve died and gone to heaven living in Victoria,” she says. June Sohuus says, “Galleries, museums and libraries are important because they reflect in their different ways who we are. Such institutions couldn’t survive without volunteer help.” June has lived in London, England, Brisbane and Sydney, Australia and Copenhagen. She has volunteered for a variety of organizations. Two of the most memorable: running a summer music school for young string players aspiring to join orchestras; and serving as president of a community organization that acquired, renovated and opened a house for a community centre. Born and raised in England, June worked in administrative positions in communications, mostly in universities, helping to set up projects and liaising with students. She has fundraised for a new university in Queensland, Australia. “Perhaps the most demanding and rewarding [volunteer experience] was as a junior member of a team setting up two new university colleges at the University of Toronto.” Four years after joining the Gallery Associates and spending time on the road touring and meeting interesting people, June is now chairing the Art Tours Committee. Recently, June led a tour to The Treasures of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. With art housed in nine buildings, “we’d had 10 days, and we’d only had a glimpse of it,” says June. “It was a trip of a lifetime.” Previous tours have taken the Gallery Associates to New York, Montreal, Cuba, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and “the architecturally stunning newly-opened gallery in Edmonton.” The group routinely visits artists and galleries around Vancouver Island and the Mainland.

Dedicated to the arts, the Gallery Associates support the gallery financially with their fundraising ventures, promote cultural interest in the community through gallery activities and provide members with educational and social programs. Membership ($20 annual dues) to the gallery provides a unique opportunity to learn about the Gallery from behind the scenes and to develop a real connection with and appreciation of the Gallery WWW.SENIORLIVINGMAG.COM

staff and the arts in the community. Fundraising events include: • Annual House Tour • Art Tours • Bi-annual Lecture Series on Design • Bi-annual fashion show Art Attire “celebrating wearable art” SL • Government House coat check For more information, contact Sheila Southworth at sheilaso@telus.net, or Joan Shimizu at joanshimizu@shaw.ca JULY 2012

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Author Proﬁle

Leaving Something Behind BY ENISE OLDING

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cifically for the novel. So, Melissa will take the reader on a few cruises, through a couple of romances, a quest to find ancestors in Russia and on some daring adventures towards a surprise ending. And, she’ll do it against a familiar backdrop of names and places on Vancouver Island

ing the help of professionals with regard to editing, design, publishing and eBooks in the process. He found there is a lot to be learned about the technical side of producing a book, but emphasizes that “you can’t scare yourself into not doing anything,” because the publishing aspect requires a lot of learning.

Author Ron Rosewood in his home ofﬁce. when she’s on home ground. Ron says some of the characters in the book are based on him and others on people he knows. An avid fisherman, canoeist and hunter, Ron even reveals the location of one of his favourite quiet Vancouver Island fishing and canoeing spots. Sometimes he’ll write 3,000 words in a sitting, and it took Ron only about six months to write the book. “It’s because I have time,” he says, “and I am always thinking about the book even when not at the computer.” Not being one to wait around, Ron forged ahead to publish his book seekWWW.SENIORLIVINGMAG.COM

Photo: Enise Olding

young Ron Meszaros was raised on a farm outside Saskatoon and always described himself as “outdoorsy,” with a personal credo of “you’ll never get me behind a desk.” A year later, he was an accountant, and continued in a successful practice for 25 years. Now, the Duncan author uses the pen name Ron Rosewood, and sits behind another desk crafting tales of horror, or romance, or mystery and suspense. From two short horror stories published in New York-based Blood Moon Rising Magazine and Werewolf Magazine, which he later merged into a book, Werewolves Amongst Us, Ron moved on to tackle a romance novel. It started when he decided to join the Cowichan Writers’ Group, which meets at the local library twice a month. Assignments were set or choices made for various pieces of writing, and Ron set to with enthusiasm and drive. It wasn’t long before he’d spun a short romance story into the recently published Melissa’s Wish List – a book that focuses on a newly retired civil servant (Melissa) as she determinedly sets out to accomplish as many of the personal goals she has on her list as possible. “It started out as a short story of about 4,000 words,” says Ron, “but I thought about it some more, and it was easy to expand – it surprises me!” Ron says his mind is fluid, so whether he writes about werewolves, romance or poetry, he feels it is essential not to get sidetracked. To ensure his female protagonist was as realistic as possible, Ron secured the services of Editor Shirley Skidmore. He calls upon many of his own life experiences, which are woven into the story, along with scenarios Ron made up spe-

With Melissa’s Wish List on and off the shelves of the Vancouver Island Regional Library and with it having received a thumbs-up, he says, from guys at his local Legion and other readers, Ron has wasted no time in getting back to the computer. His next novel, Postdated Romance, is one in which a romantic dilemma tests the boundaries of time, life and death, while posing possibilities by way of reincarnation. Close on its heels and a work-in-progress is a murder mystery with the working title Murder has its Way. He never thought he’d be writing books but, on reflection, Ron recalls

with pleasure how his grandfather would gather everyone around and tell stories. An avid reader and a good student, Ron speculates that perhaps, subconsciously, he was destined to be a writer after all. Now, at 70, he’s a published author and a member of the Romance Writers of America. He says he doesn’t think he’s going to be famous, “it’s more a situation of maybe leaving something behind.” Ron will keep doing the things he loves, saying “I feel that by working at writing, it assists in keeping us more alert. I know my mind is slowly losing ground as far as memory is concerned so by writing, dancing, fishing and canoeing I will delay problems.” In the meantime, his mind might be dwelling on romances or werewolves or be in some other realm yet to be capSL tured and set in type. Melissa’s Wish List is available at local bookstores, Vancouver Island Regional Library, Amazon.com, CreateSpace. com and Smashwords.com

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23 21

Travel & Adventure

Australia:

What Doesn’t Kill You Will Make You Stronger BY JAMES ELLSWORTH

ustralia is arguably the most dangerous place on earth. According to Bill Bryson’s, In A Sunburned Country, there are more lethal creatures “Down Under” than anywhere else, whether on land with the world’s 10 most poisonous snakes, or in the ocean with great white sharks, estuarine crocodiles and box jelly fish, the most venomous marine animal known to mankind. “It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else.” However, Australia’s population and tourism keeps growing – over 21 million people and almost six million visitors in 2010. Obviously Oz’s dangerous critters are not deterring demographic growth. In fact, Australians can be a bit smug about their survival odds. Tourists can too with some discretion and care. Australia is a huge continent with several factors to consider. Summer is roughly from November to February, and Australians holiday in January. In New South Wales and Victoria where Sydney and Melbourne are situated, summer temperatures are regularly in the 30s. A decade-long drought saw fire outbreaks like Black Saturday in 2009 when 200 people were killed in Victoria. However, in the Northern Territory and Queensland, where Darwin, Cairns and Brisbane are located, the summer is known as “the Wet” with rains and sometimes flooding. If you want to include other gems like Uluru or Perth then Frommer’s Australia realistically warns the traveller that transportation must be considered wisely for time constraints. Like Canada, Australia is a vast country. To go from Sydney north to Cairns is 2,500 km and takes 4-5 days to drive, while Sydney west to Perth is over 4,000 km and takes 6-7 days. Australia by train, the Indian Pacific, is another option. It’s a four-day journey from Sydney to Perth; or the Ghan, a three-day trip from Melbourne to Darwin. Travel, alone, can gobble up a large chunk of a three-week holiday. Australia’s domestic discount air travel is an inexpensive way to hop to destinations, albeit without land-based scenery.

Let Good Research Be Your Guide

Touring Australia will require some choices. It will be difficult to see it all, unless time and cost are not issues. Most people have limited travel times and must gird themselves 24 22

SENIOR LIVING

The author’s wife, Barbara, getting ready to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef, in Lycra to avoid sunburn or stingers.

Photos: James Ellsworth

Plan Your Trip Carefully

within constraints, starting with the rigors of a 17-hour direct flight just to get there. You can see the Great Barrier Reef, the Great Dividing Range, the Great Victoria Desert and the Great Ocean Highway, but you will need to make decisions, if you want your trip to be great too.

The Urban Sidewalk & Beach Holiday

We opted for our own tailor-made, three-week itinerary from the northeast to the southeast – the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney and Melbourne. We figured there has to be a reason why 90 per cent of the population lives on less than three per cent of the continent. That would enable us to see three of the eight states – Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

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The Small Business Adver�sing Solu�on Sydney’s iconic Opera House.

We chose to sample Sydney, the 2000 Olympic city, with famous beaches and urban icons like the Opera House; Melbourne and environs since it was touted as the most livable city in the world in 2011, and Port Douglas, north of Cairns, to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. One factor we considered was getting to Queensland before the box jelly-fish season, which typically begins in November. In fact, the netted ocean “pools” and vinegar supplies to administer to stings are re-introduced the first week of November, before the first full moon and before the ocean water temperature exceeds 28 C. The Port Douglas reef tour

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Travel & Adventure operator explained that was when the “stingers” begin to migrate. Sydney is a great entry to Australia. We arrived on November 4, having lost a day of existence on the way down. But it is easy to make up for lost time. The city is lovely to explore. The downtown Circular Quay with its famous ferries is flanked by Sydney Bridge, nicknamed the Coat Hanger at Dawes Point with the original settlement called the Rocks and the iconic Opera House. There are other inlets and points but best seen from the hop on-hop off bus. It takes you to famous Bondi Beach in the Eastern Suburbs or pedestrian-friendly Darling Harbour and places in between. But walking is the best way to appreciate what 160,000 convicts wrought. The First Fleet brought convicts in 1788 and the irons-clad construction crews built the roads and bridges out of Sydney. The most common cause of death was heat stroke, followed by snake bite. Convict/architect Francis

GreatMountian summerPeakstoursof BCin B.C. July 24-28th: 5 Days. Highlights; Whistler, Sun Peaks, Kelowna, Big White, Silver Star, Osoyoos Desert Model Railroad Museum, Summerhill Pyramid Winery Tour and Manning Park. 6 Meals

Hells Gate Tram, Wells Gray Park, Kamloops Heritage Train Aug 9-11th: 3 Days. Highlights; Fraser Canyon, lunch at Hell’s Gate, tour through with stops at viewpoints and lunch in Wells Grey Park, ride the Kamloops Heritage Train. 4 Meals

Vancouver Island West Coast, MV Barclay Butchart Gardens, Chemainus Dinner Theatre Aug 23-27th:5 Days. Working ship MV Barclay from Port Alberni to Ucluelet, Pacific Rim Park, Chemainus Dinner Theatre; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, Royal photographer Cecil Beaton at BC Museum and summer blooms the Butchart Gardens. 5 Meals

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SENIOR LIVING

James and Barbara enjoy a latté in the Melbourne Arcades.

Greenway designed many buildings in Sydney, like Macquarrie Street’s St. James Church (1819 and oldest building) and Hyde Park Barracks (convict quarters 1819-1848). Our favourite walkabouts were across the Sydney Bridge to explore Kirribilli under the ubiquitous jacaranda blooms and Cockle Bay & the Fish Market. Ferry rides to Manly and Woolwich provide beach and suburban hiking too. Port Douglas is an old mining town an hour’s drive from Cairns, which is a three-hour flight from Sydney. Deserted Robinson Crusoe-like beaches include Four Mile Beach, replete with ocean pool netting and warning signs. In velvety warmth, we strolled well up on the beach and away from the river bank – crocs, you know!

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Sailing to the Low Isles’ reef is idyllic. We wore Lycra suits to safeguard from sunburn not jelly fish, although, by mid-November Lycra would be mandatory. The coral was amazing but after “harmless” black-tipped reef sharks came to the stern at lunch looking for leftover shrimp, I opted out of the optional swim. Melbourne is a wonderful sports and culture-loving city, easy to walk and with a free tram loop for tourists. Its environs from Apollo Bay to Mornington Peninsula are chock full of sights like Torquay surfers and koalas. We demurred on bush walks, though – too many stories of meeting brown snakes across pathways. But there is plenty of walking along the city’s Yarra River paths, garden walks, Federation Square and arcade strolls with café breaks. We embraced much of Australia and avoided what could kill us. Let’s say we chose discretion over valour and it made us stronger. When you can experience the feat of arriving back in Canada before you left Oz, you realize you have been someSL where unique.

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For IF YOU GO information, visit Senior Living magazine’s website at www.seniorlivingmag.com/australia

BYGONE Treasures View of Roatan from Valor

Fashionable Memories

wouldn’t put myself at the cutting edge of sartorial splendour, but I pride myself at maintaining a wardrobe that anticipates a return to the great look of decades past. Or, as my family would put it, I have a lot of old clothes. I had a tie around my neck from age 13 ‘til I packed in my government job a decade ago. Before you feel sad for me, no, it wasn’t always the same tie. I have lots. Some could double as bootlaces, and some are so wide I could cut armholes in one, add buttons and have a splendid vest. In pre-puberty days, I sang in a boys’ school glee club where, on one occasion each of us was required to wear a red tie. My folks bought me one that had a champagne glass and the word “Bubbles” printed on the front and, unbeknownst to them, on the inside had a silk photograph of “Bubbles” climbing out of her shower. I enjoyed an unprecedented brief upsurge in popularity among my peers. The tie’s in the closet, keeping company with my Irish green school sweater and my de rigueur white sports coat. I seem to have given away my turquoise polyester leisure suit and my woollen checked pants with the three-inch cuffs. The fashion clock has stopped in some places. I could name communities where middle class is defined as owning a second pair of bib overalls.

In more entrepreneurial BY MICHAEL RICE locales, clothing designs get repackaged and sold as something new. Moms in the ’50s and ’60s wore yellow- or lime-coloured tight pants cut off below the knee, called “peddle-pushers.” Now, they’re sold as “capris” and cost 30 times as much. Perhaps if we keep all our old clothes, the fashion wheel will come round, and our neighbours will wonder where we got the cash to keep up with current trends. Are old clothes saleable? Those shocking rayon Hawaiian shirts that followed you home from Maui can sell for up to $1,000. A shirt from the Disneyland “jungle cruise” with head-hunter shields on it will bring $350, and an old pair of Levis 501 jeans with a red tab rings up at $50. Your old ties? Not so much in the cash sense, but try them on again, make sure the tip hits the belt buckle and anticipate admiring glances at the supermarket. Don’t get me started on belt buckles. I’ve worn the same belt since 1980 ‘cause it looks cool with my Grateful Dead t-shirt. SL

Comments and suggestions for future columns are welcome and can be sent to Michael Rice, PO Box 86, Saanichton, BC V8M 2C3 or via email to fenian@shaw.ca

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JULY 2012

27 25 21

FOREVER BY WILLIAM THOMAS

Dots and Dots of Money

imes are tough. By now, you’ve sold off all your good jewelry, made meat a once-a-week treat and now you’re thinking of raiding your neighbour’s blue box for the wine bottles he’s too lazy to take back to the beer store. Don’t do that. I have the answer to your cash crunch. One word: dots. Okay, five words: dots, dots, dots, dots, dots. Small ones, big ones, coloured ones – dots, dots, dots. The formula is simple – paint these dots onto a large canvas, better yet pay someone to paint these dots for you, call yourself an “artist modern” and wait for collectors of the art world to knock your door down with large bags full of money. It works! At least it works for Damien Hirst, Britain’s richest living artist, estimated to be worth $330 million. Damien does dots. Lots and lots of bright round dots on a big piece of stiff cloth bordered by an undotted frame. Dots. I know what you’re thinking – “Gee, Bill, when I took art class in high school the instructor begged me to take my drawings home and leave them on the floor where it was easier for the dog to get at them.” Personally, I was so bad at art; my parents sold the refrigerator so I couldn’t tape my drawings to it. But talent is not the issue here. Remember this is 2012. Freewheeling, double-dealing, hokey, flashy, rinky and dinky

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– these are the tenets that will lead you to fame and fortune in today’s world. Will Ferrell is an undertaker disguised in comedian’s clothes. He’s not that funny. Land Of The Lost cost $100 million to make, lost $31 million and Will got paid $15 million. Quick, what does Paris Hilton do? I dunno either, but all her dogs wear diamonds. Mark Zuckerberg has admitted to stealing a social networking idea from two college buddies and last month, Facebook went public on Wall Street. Zuckerberg’s share was approximately $25 billion. Dot Dot Damien Hirst recently arranged to have 331 of his 1,400 “spot paintings” displayed in 11 prestigious art galleries around the world. Then he issued a challenge to his fans that the first one to visit each of the 11 galleries to view them would win a signed spot print. Valentine Uhovski of New York completed the global challenge across three continents in eight days. “Incredible,” he said. “It felt like Amazing Grace.” More like The Amazing Race, after which the guy who wins goes to the prize table and picks the show’s T-shirt over the painting. One art critic described it as “the contemplation of circles on a polka-dot canvas, a window onto a bigger, Platonic picture.”

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To me it looked like the easiest Rorschach test in the world. Psychiatrist: “Now putting aside your mother issues, what do you see when you look at this page of ink spots?” Patient: “Dots.” Psychiatrist: “Yes, but surely an image comes to mind.” Patient: “Rows of dots?” Psychiatrist: “If these dots formed a painting would you pay $50,000 for it?” Patient: “No.” Psychiatrist: “Well, at least we know you’re not crazy.” Now Damien Hirst’s dot painting earns him a lot of money – $50,000 for an original and $3,500 and up for a print. You can tell the print from the original because the word “print” appears beside the lower price tag. I know what you’re thinking – “Gee Bill, what if I did get into dot painting? Would my dots be as good and, therefore, as valuable as Damien Hirst’s dots?” Well, art as you know is very personal and every person is unique, so, yes, your dots will bring a distinct dottish personality to the palette and establish a singular idiosyncratic imprint on the painting like snowflakes only they’re… dots. Also, I suggest you make your dots messy instead of all in a row. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not dismissing spot painting as an entirely useless art endeavour. In fact, I much prefer Hirst’s colourful dots to his earlier works that portrayed two dead and rotting cows positioned to simulate copulation, a shark and sheep preserved in formaldehyde and maggots attacking a cow’s head. The People for the Ethereal Treatment of Animals protested in front of a London gallery showing Hirst’s “Piggy,” a pig sliced and diced from nose to tail. So, from that perspective, yes, I think dot art is really, really good. And if we can keep Damien Hirst’s focus on the world of coloured decimal points, then all of us, including farm animals, will sleep a lot better at night. Call me a philistine when it comes to art, but I look for honesty and originality in painting and if I don’t see it I ask a simple question: “What’s it supposed to be and … okay, then why isn’t it what you just said?” If I asked Damien Hirst what his spot art represented and instead of “the infinity of an inhuman universe blah, blah, blah,” he said: dots! I would buy one of his paintings … for $9.95 and hang in on the side of my fridge. I’d also put my own title at the bottom: “Dot, Dot, Dot … Morse Code Gone Mad.” Money does not grow on trees, my friend, today it bursts SL forth from dots.

Explore Together

Where to go today? Perhaps a boat trip on the Harrison River to see eagles nesting, or a scenic trip to a lavender farm in Langley? Maybe a drive to Whistler to experience the Peak to Peak gondola? So many choices... At The Summerhill we get Out and AboutTM together in our state-of-the-art, kneeling, easy access bus to explore new places, and revisit places we have not been to in years. What would you like to do today? Explore with us at The Summerhill. Call us for a personal tour. 135 West 15th Street (off Lonsdale) North Vancouver | 604.980.6525 www.the summerhill.ca Part of Paciﬁc Arbour Retirement Communities

Where good things come together.

Proof 1 Explore Together - Prepared August 2011 Seniors Living Size: (1/4 page Vertical) 3.5” w x 4.75”h, colour Faye Holland | faye@seniorlivingmag.com

William Thomas is the author of nine books of humour including Never Hitchhike on the Road Less Travelled. For comments or ideas or to purchase books, visit www.williamthomas.ca WWW.SENIORLIVINGMAG.COM

JULY 2012

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CLASSIFIEDS THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU of Vancouver Island is located at 220-1175 Cook St., Victoria BC V8V 4A1. Toll-free phone line for Up-Island 1-877-826-4222 (South Island dial 250-386-6348). www.bbbvanisland.org E-mail: info@bbbvanisland.org

WANTED: OLD POSTCARDS, stamp accumulations, and pre-1950 stamped envelopes. Also buying old coins, medals and badges. Please call Michael 250-652-9412 or email fenian@shaw.ca

SAANICH VOLUNTEER SERVICES seeks receptionist/dispatcher for Fridays 9:00 – 12:30. Book drives, greet people and enter info in database.. Call 250-595-8008.

FOOT CARE NURSE JOHN PATTERSON LPN Providing mobile footcare in Nanaimo. 18 years of nursing experience. Home, facility, and hospital visits. Qualiﬁed nursing foot care for toenails corns and calluses. Direct billing for DVA clients. 250 390 9266.

COLLECTOR SEEKING vintage/collectable cameras, binoculars and microscopes. Nikon, Leica, Contax, Rolleiﬂex, Zeiss, Canon, etc. Mike 250-383-6456 or e-mail: msymons6456@telus.net

DEBI’S MOBILE HAIR SERVICES in the comfort of your home for everyone in your family. Serving the Victoria area. Please call Debi at 250-477-7505.

SPECIAL CARE FOR YOUR SPECIAL PET(S) Peace of mind while you travel. Mature female over 15yrs experience. Excellent references. http://house-sitter.ws 250-419-2381. HEALING FOOT CARE by Nurse Foot Care Specialist Marcia Goodwin R.N.,B.Sc.N. 35 yrs. Nsg. Experience • Caring • Comprehensive • Professional • Gentle 250-686-3081. (Victoria Area)

SPACIOUS 1BDR SUITE AVAILABLE FOR RENT AUGUST, Cordova Bay Ridge Home. References and conditions apply. Please call 250-658-0246. Piano lessons also available. MOBILE FOOT CARE NURSE Nanaimo Cutting, ﬁling of thick and fungal nails. Calluses, dry skin (peeling). DVA client’s no up front cost. Katherine Evans, LPN 250-327-0749

HEALING CONSULTANT / FACILITATOR Specializing in Health Assessment in Home. Helping You To Be Well. Call 250-686-3081.

DRIVING MISS DAISY VANCOUVER ISLAND Victoria 250-588-4638 - Sidney/Peninsula 250-507-2336 - Westshore 250-813-0440 - Nanaimo/Qualicum/Parksville 250-714-5980 - Comox Valley 250-650-2010.

RUTH M.P HAIRSTYLING for Seniors in Greater Victoria. In the convenience of your own home! Certiﬁed Hairdresser. Please Call 250-893-7082.

WE COME TO YOU Earth’s Option – Cremation and Burial Services, low cost cremation and burial services. (778) 440-8500 www.earthsoption.com

Join the Senior Living Online Community

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CEDAR SENIOR FIDDLERS Serving Ladysmith, Cassidy, Cedar, Chemainus & South Nanaimo Fridays 3:15 - 4:15 for New Beginners. Fridays 4:30 -5:30 for Upper Beginners who can play 8 tunes or more. Instructor: Geoff Horrocks. $30/mo Location: Cedar United Church Register now for Sept. 2012 start. Phone Cindy 245 - 5778 PERSONALS COMOX VALLEY Vibrant, young, senior widow loves music, ﬁlm, oudoors, theatre, dancing, sports, travel, and ..adventure. seeks empathetic male with similar interests for companionship. reply to 2bcatseye@gmail.com

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING $45 for 20 words or less. $1.75 per extra word. BW only. Red spot color 10% extra. Boxed Ad - Small (2.2 x 1.2) $125. Plus tax. Ads must be paid at booking. Cheque / Credit Card accepted. Ph. 250-479-4705, Toll-free 1-877-479-4705. Email: ofﬁce@seniorlivingmag.com Deadline: 15th of the month. Make cheque payable to: Senior Living, Magazine 153, 1581-H Hillside Ave., Victoria BC V8T 2C1

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OCTOBER 2009 39

SCAM ALERT

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Beware of eBook Scams

lectronic book (ebook) sales skyrocketed in 2011 resulting in more ebooks being sold than paperback books. As usual, the growing popularity of ebooks for devices like the Amazon Kindle, the Barnes & Noble Nook and other devices has inspired scams by unrelated firms that target readers, authors and authorized ebook publishers. Some scams target consumers, offering worthless material at a low price that inspires impulse purchasing. Others target authors or authorized publishers by pirating books published legitimately elsewhere. Common scams include: • eBooks filled with useless and often poorly written information sold for a couple of dollars. Malware is sometimes attached to obtain your credit card information. • A single book is given different editorial spins and then sold under different titles or authors’ names. • Material is plagiarized from websites and blogs, then packaged into an ebook and sold. • Writing competitions that offer to publish winners’ work digitally. Although the contests include entry fees, the cost to publish digitally is minimal. • eReaders spammed with ad-laden works and hotlinks to both commercial and malware sites that load viruses onto your machine. • eBook purchases and sales used to build up credentials for bogus sellers and buyers on auction sites. To avoid ebook scams: • Take a good look at the website that offers the item. Does it have a BBB logo? If it does, click on it to see if it’s legitimate.

A BBB dynamic seal will take you to the company’s BBB Business Review. • Make sure the site is secure when you place the order: Look for https:// at the beginning of the site’s URL (website address) on the page where you enter payment information. • Stick with authors you already know or those who have an established reputation. • If you decide to buy from an unfamiliar author, see if you can download a free sample first to test the quality. Some sites allow you to preview an ebook before you buy it. • Don’t be taken in by great reviews that accompany cheap ebooks. They may be genuine or the writers may have been paid to produce them. • Do a search on the ebook name or author to see what other people say or how many other ebooks the author claims to have written. • Don’t click on links inside an ebook unless it’s by an established, reputable author and sold through a legitimate website. Even then, it’s advisable to visit the author’s website using your Internet browser rather than using the link. If you believe you’ve been scammed, seek a refund. You should also register your complaint with the seller’s customer service department. And, if all else fails, do other readers a favour by writing an SL honest review of the ebook.

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Check a company’s BBB Business Review before you make a purchase by going to vi.bbb.org (Vancouver Island) or mbc.bbb.org (Mainland).

For more information, contact BBB Mainland BC at 604-682-2711 and mbc.bbb.org or BBB Vancouver Island at 250-386-6348 and vi.bbb.org WWW.SENIORLIVINGMAG.COM

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MAGAZINE

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Photo: Jason van der Valk

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ASK Goldie BY GOLDIE CARLOW, M.ED

Dear Goldie: My wife has been away on a month’s holiday visiting family. During this time, a new neighbour moved in and we have become friends. She is a pleasant person, but my wife is inclined to be jealous. Can you suggest a way to save the friendship? –L.C. Dear L.C.: If the situation is open and honest, there should not be a serious problem. As soon as it is convenient, introduce your wife to the new neighbour. You cannot predict the outcome, but give them a little time to become acquainted and see if a friendship develops. Of course, it is your wife’s decision in developing new friendships. Dear Goldie: I have just moved here from the Prairies and feel anxious about making new friends. Other than two cousins, I really do not know anyone. What do you suggest? –D.W. Dear D.W.: Humans are social and do require friends for happiness. You will likely meet some new acquaintances when you visit your cousins. Ask them about groups you can join to find new friends. Even if you do not plan to attend regularly, churches offer a coffee hour after services where you can meet new people. Social groups that meet regularly also advertise in the daily paper. Friendships develop quickly as you meet people with common interests, so start seeking opportunities to folSL low your interests – or pursue new ones.

Goldie Carlow is a retired registered nurse, clinical counsellor and senior peer counselling trainer. Send letters to Senior Living, Box 153, 1581-H Hillside Ave., Victoria, BC V8T 2C1.

SENIOR LIVING

Senior Peer Counselling Centres – Island

Senior Peer Counselling Centres – Mainland

Campbell River 250-287-3044 Courtenay/Comox 250-890-0099 Duncan 250-748-2133 Nanaimo 250-754-3331 Port Hardy 250-949-5110 Salt Spring Island 250-537-4607 Sidney 250-656-5537 Victoria 250-382-4331

Burnaby 604-291-2258 Coquitlam – Tri-Cities 604-945-4480 New Westminster 604-519-1064 North Vancouver 604-987-8138 Richmond 604-279-7034 Vancouver West End 604-669-7339 Vancouver Westside 604-736-3588

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BY PAT NICHOL

Setting Boundaries for Happiness

ne of the things I do is teach customer service to a group of young people getting ready to enter the workforce. During that class, we talk about physical boundaries. Some people have them and some don’t. Each of us must decide where our boundaries lie. If you have been raised in a British or Northern European family, then an intimate distance is about four feet. In Korea and Japan, you can get a job shoving people on the subway. When those two cultures meet, there is a definite boundary clash. Recently, I read The Law of Happiness by Dr. Henry Cloud. In the chapter “Happy People Have Boundaries,” he talks about naming your boundaries. This is an exercise each of us needs to do often. Boundaries – physical and emotional – become more important as we mature. The following are some examples: 1. I will not allow myself to be yelled at or verbally abused. Easy to say, but if it happens to you, talk to someone. Don’t try to solve it yourself. 2. I will not allow myself to trust a liar or a cheater. Even if it is someone close to me. Don’t trust until the lying stops.

Photo: Frances Litman

COURAGEOUS and OUTRAGEOUS

3. Big One – I will not take responsibility for the irresponsible behaviour of others. 4. I will not allow toxic emotional treatment that damages me. This is either in person, by phone or by mail. 5. Guard your time – it is very precious. We tend to allow those close to us to take advantage. Sometimes, it is necessary to just say NO. A few years ago, I realized I was stressed and unhappy with whom I was. I took courses in trying to change the world, so I would be happier. One of those courses showed me that the only person who had to change in order to be happier was me. It took some work, but I did it. I set boundaries for myself and, yes, my life changed. I lost some of the emotional vampires easily; others were stronger and stuck around longer, but when they realized I didn’t want to play that way anymore, they drifted away. Life is too short to allow others to control it. Set your boundSL aries and watch your happiness factor rise incrementally. Pat Nichol is a speaker and published author. Reach her at mpatnichol@gmail.com or visit www.patnichol.com

Celebrate Victoria’s 150th Birthday with The Wellesley and local author Danda Humphries.

Friday, July 13th @ 1:30pm 2800 Blanshard Street, Victoria Danda will give a presentation of

Victoria - The Way it Was Stay for birthday cake and tea. RSVP to Margo McIntosh 250.419.6807 Tours Available Ask about our Free Trial Stay

wellesleyvictoria.com WWW.SENIORLIVINGMAG.COM

JULY 2012

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Reﬂections THEN & NOW

prohibiting bathing between November 1st and March 15th each year. Boston made bathing unlawful except when prescribed by a doctor. One state leveled a BY GIPP FORSTER $30 annual tax on every bathtub (big money in 1842!). The first bathtubs were encased in mahogany and lined with sheet be bathed by lasers. metal. They were seven feet long, four In 1870, a bishop was quoted as sayfeet wide and weighed 1,750 pounds. Wa- ing, “The millennium is almost at hand ter had to be pumped into them. and man has invented everything that can Now, that’s my kind of bathtub! Seven be invented. He has done all he can do.” feet long; four feet wide. I guess it would However, someone stood to challenge have been pretty tough to work the pump the bishop’s statement by suggesting that with your toes though. Unless, of course, a wonderful invention would make itself you had really big toes. I take showers known in the next 50 years. “I believe more than baths, now, ever since Donna, man will learn to fly,” he said. my wife, let out the shower curtain. The bishop accused the man of blasBut, at the rate things are going, it phemy, proclaiming that flight was rewon’t be long until they start to shrink the served for angels. That bishop’s name was shower stalls too. I’d hate to get stuck and Rev. Milton Wright. Yes, father of Orville spend the rest of my life in a shower stall. and Wilbur Wright. It seems the further I If you ask me (and you haven’t and look ahead, the further back I fall. probably never will) man’s ingenuity is The house we live in is pretty small, and racing at such an incredible pace that it’s the bathroom with the tub is pretty tiny. beginning to trip over itself without even Its longest wall measures about 7’4” – the apologizing. Have we invented all we same size as the first bathtub. Besides the can invent and created all we can create? tub, it has a sink and toilet as well. I guess “Not by a long shot,” shouts tomorrow! that rules out me going in search for one In fact, I wonder if tomorrow will even of the first bathtubs to luxuriate in. Where have a place for bathtubs… maybe we’ll would I put it? (Be nice!) Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to get “Reﬂections” MAIL-IN ORDER FORM Reﬂections, Rejections, used to the streamlined and its shrinkage. and Other Breakfast Foods Name_____________________________________ Much the pity! by Gipp Forster Oh, I know we have the tubs with the Address___________________________________ jets and the big hot tubs that accommoA collection of Gipp’s humorous City______________________________ Prov ____ and nostalgic columns. A wonderdate six. But that’s not the same. The jets Postal Code____________ Ph _________________ ful read for somehow nearly blow you out of the tub, Reflections, �� yourself, and a and there’s so much splashing in the hot and Other Breakfast Foods ____ BOOKS @ $14.92 each = $_______ (incl. $3.95 shipping & taxes) thoughtful gift tub, it gets the pages of my book wet. for friends and Make cheque payable to Senior Living “Grin and bear it!” my wife says. family members. MAIL TO: Well, I’ll bear it because I don’t have a 128 pages Senior Living choice. But I’m not going to grin, you can 153, 1581-H Hillside Ave., Victoria BC V8T 2C1 REDUCED PRICE SL be sure of that. $10.00 Please allow two weeks for shipping.

like bathtubs. I’ve always liked bathtubs. But I’m upset! Every year it seems everything becomes more streamlined. Buy something this year and next year it’s obsolete. It’s kind of like people. One time, you’re young or not too far past young… then, suddenly, you’re old – obsolete, so to speak. Find a quiet spot or get overrun by young stampeding feet – streamlined feet trying to get ahead of tomorrow. What’s that got to do with bathtubs? Progress is hindering the bathtub growth. They become smaller and smaller. I don’t find them as comfortable as they used to be. I could luxuriate for an hour or two in sudsy water reading my book and adding hot water by turning the tap on with my toes. But now when I get in, the water bursts over the side and a flood warning is broadcast. Smaller bathtubs! That has to be the reason. I learned from a little bit of research that the first bathtub was introduced in Cincinnati in 1842, and first exhibited at a Christmas party; it brought strong objections from doctors and politicians. The next day, local newspapers denounced it as “luxurious vanity.” Doctors warned it would be a menace to health. Politicians, in turn, drew up an ordinance

Limited Edition

MAGAZINE

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SENIOR LIVING

A Collection of Published & Unpublished Writings by Senior Living Columnist Gipp Forster

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Photo: Krystle Wiseman

BATHTUBS

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