Boulevard Magazine - September 2013 Issue

GROW IT OR GLEAN IT!

FASHION FAVOURITES // CROSS-BORDER HEALTH // AN ISLAND VET COMES HOME // SACRED TEXTS blvdmag.ca SEPTEMBER 2013

CONTENTS

September 2013 Issue 09, Volume XXIl

september 40 46 14

25 78

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

14

7

CONTRIBUTORS

8

EDITOR’S LETTER

9

LETTERS

25

FASHION Interior designer Jodi Foster shares her faves

By Lia Crowe

26

HOT PROPERTIES Empty nesters start a new life chapter

By Carolyn Heiman

A LOCAL VET COMES HOME TO SERVE HER COMMUNITY

By Alisa Gordaneer

COLUMNS 10

12

4

HAWTHORN Starting fresh in September

By Tom Hawthorn STATE OF THE ARTS Exploring the art of sacred texts

By Alisa Gordaneer

34

BEFORE & AFTER Uppdating a classic

By Sarah MacNeill

40

SOCIAL CAPITAL Corner stores go local

By Amy Mitchell

44

TRAVEL FAR A peek at the past on the Isle of Sark

By Caitlin Hedley

78

FINANCE Talking with Tess: Gwyn Morgan

By Tess van Straaten

52

HEALTH & WELLNESS Examining the surge of medical tourism

By Deborah Wilson

82

CAR CULTURE Ignoring the distractions of modern driving

By Stuart Eastwood

58

FOOD & WINE Preserve your summer harvest by canning

By Cinda Chavich

84

WRY EYE A house party gone awry

By Jan MacRae

86 66

FRONT ROW Chalk Art Festival; Rifflandia; Metchosin Days; Great Canadian Beer Fest; and more

By Robert Moyes

SECRETS & LIVES Curtis Grad, Victoria Harbour Authority

By Shannon Moneo

72

TRAVEL NEAR The stunning glass art of the Pacific Northwest

By Linda Baker

On our cover: Create a charcuterie plate with local meats, cheeses and breads.

GET CANADA’S LEADING BANKS TO COMPETE FOR YOUR MORTGAGE Jodie Kristian can help you get the

Publisher Geoff Wilcox

BEST POSSIBLE mortgage rate.

Creative Director Sarah Reid

It’s what she does best.

Editor Kate Lautens

Give her a call and find out

Production Coordinator Pip Knott

how easy a professional

Advertising Pat Brindle Vicki Clark Geoff Wilcox

mortgage broker can make your mortgage negotiations.

Contributing Writers Cinda Chavich, Lia Crowe, Darryl Gittins, Stuart Eastwood, Alisa Gordaneer, Tom Hawthorn, Carolyn Heiman, Anna Kemp, Lauren Kramer, Sarah MacNeill, Shannon Moneo, Katherine Palmer Gordon, Robert Moyes, Tess van Straaten

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Contributing Photographers Vince Klassen, Gary McKinstry, Leanna Rathkelly

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THE ORIGINAL HOME IMPROVEMENT SPECIALISTS

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LINDA BAKER, a former awardwinning interior decorator, event producer, chocolate factory manager, and labour relations practitioner, is launching her next career: published author. Raised in Victoria, but now living on the mainland, she o en visits family on the island. “Maybe one day we’ll move back,” she says, “if only for all that fresh ocean air!” Baker participated in the spring Travel Writing Seminar and won a hosted trip to Tacoma, allowing her to share her passion for colour and glass art in this month’s Travel Near.

DON DENTON, a longtime photographer with Black Press, has photographed numerous high-profile events, including the Olympics, World Hockey Championships, European Figure Skating Championships and a Royal Wedding. This month, he shoots the profile on veterinarian Melissa Eden, as well as several profile pictures for our regular departments.

GARY MCKINSTRY, one of our

contributing photographers extraordinaire, has been shooting for Boulevard for over 20 years.

In this issue, Gary shoots the beautiful Hot Properties home in the Uplands.

AMY MITCHELL is a freelance writer,

UVic marketing professional, and recent Royal Roads Professional Communications graduate. A er spending several years overseas, she brought her love of writing, community, food, and adventure home to beautiful Vancouver Island. A combination of Mitchell’s passion and experience, this month’s Social Capital piece explores a few of Victoria’s small corner stores that have a big local impact.

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EDITOR’S LETTER September always makes me think of the magic of going back to school — the time to start fresh, learn new things, and toss away bad habits. While I can recall being thrilled to start preschool, it’s the first day of kindergarten that has stuck with me.

The details are fuzzy, but I do remember one key moment of my first day. Outside our classroom was a magnificent wooden playground, the kind that doesn’t exist anymore, with a metal fire pole, massive slide, and a knobby rope ladder. I couldn’t wait to play on it when the recess bell rang.

But first, I had to eat my banana.

My mom had packed it for me in a pink(!) lunch box, and I diligently sat on the stone ledge (also non-existent these days), carefully peeled the banana, and ate it, and all the while my new classmates played behind me.

The recess bell rang before I could join them. The playground would have to wait (and I would eat my snack faster next time).

It’s a silly memory, but I’m reminded of it again as I write this letter and think about my upcoming reunion. I’ll likely see some of those same kids who were having fun on the playground while I munched away on a banana.

As Tom Hawthorn describes in his column this month, September is a great time for renewal and finding a revived purpose. It’s a time for harvesting the abundance of fruits and vegetables we’ve tended all summer long (my personal “harvest” is made for garden gnomes, consisting of a handful of miniature garlic cloves and a solitary cucumber that looks a bit like an elf shoe — but I digress). We’re so lucky to live on an island that can grow everything from carrots to kiwis and lemon trees to loganberries. If your harvest is more impressive than mine, you’ll want to check out this month’s food column on canning.

If our gardening abilities are similar, fear not: you can find some wonderful local food at your corner store — no longer the domain of cigarettes and lottery tickets. Amy Mitchell shares a delicious collection of corner stores in our Social Capital.

We also feature a story from Linda Baker, whose enthusiasm and dedication to improving her skills in last spring’s Travel Writing Seminar led us to enter her name in the draw for a hosted trip to Tacoma. She won the trip, and recounts her experiences in this month’s Travel Near on glass art in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. This issue also offers a new fashion department, a beautiful home in the Uplands, and a profile of a local veterinarian who’s serving horses and their owners in our rural communities — proving the island has an abundance of talent to share, as well.

Kate Lautens, Editor 8

YOUR LETTERS THANKS FOR SHOWCASING US Thank you for your generosity in showcasing our amazing hospital. Our vision at the hospital is excellent care for everyone, everywhere, every time. The new Patient Care Centre at the Royal Jubilee Hospital helps us achieve this.

Mary-Ann Metcalfe RN BScN, Royal Jubilee Hospital

Seeking more affordable home design I liked the house featured in August’s Hot Properties; it’s a gorgeous place with lots of cool ideas … and in about 30 years I might be able to afford something like it! Reading through it, I was wishing there was another feature focusing on more affordable home design. There are a lot of people with brilliant ideas for working with smaller spaces, organization, colour flow, and design. I know there are great, innovative ways to work with what we have (without being either cheap or way over the top), and I would love to see a story about that in Boulevard.

Gwen Hill

Block parties encourage community The block party article [Rock the Block, August] was a fun piece. I liked the sense of encouraged, immediate community.

There are boatloads of opportunities for things like that — local grants from districts to build community gardens, Solar Colwood, neighbourhood watches — and we need more around Victoria.

G. Thompson

Readers Weigh in OnLine

Modern Country Interiors Nothing beats a print copy, but we love that the magazine is available online, too!

Joanie McCorry Thank you to Boulevard magazine for featuring the 9th Annual Bowker Creek Brush-Up in the August issue of their magazine! I love Boulevard! Local and artful!!!

Scott McDonald Love [August’s] cover photo! @KateSpencer17 Cloudy, lazy afternoon — perfect to curl up with my copy of @BoulevardMag and cup of tea. Gr8 piece on “Building Care Together” @bryn_taylor26 SO impressed with @BoulevardMag’s new spread on my friend’s parent’s house. Page 22. Must see. @ourvichospitals Woo! @BoulevardMag has done a smasher of a job with their special on our Winning Hospital!

We welcome your letters: editor@blvdmag.ca or visit us on Facebook, and on Twitter @BoulevardMag. 9

PHOTO BY VINCE KLASSEN

BY TOM HAWTHORN

SEPTEMBER SIGNALS

new beginnings FOR ME, THE FIRST SIGN of the coming change in seasons was not a leaf turning crimson, nor a chevron of geese flying south, but a baseball nestling into an outfielder’s glove.

The final out on the final play of the final game of the season for the Victoria HarbourCats baseball team came in the mida ernoon of a fine Sunday in August. The team, composed of amateurs signed to play for American colleges and universities this fall, completed the season before a large crowd of enthusiasts at Royal Athletic Park.

While professional baseball at the highest level will continue to compete until the end of October, the young men who played for the HarbourCats will be well into their studies by then.

That is as it should be. Baseball, a er all, is the summer game.

On the first day of 11 months of the year, we turn a page of the calendar. On the 12th month, we throw out the calendar, make resolutions, vow to be be er people. It’s a familiar ritual, but it has always seemed false to me. January hardly seems a time of renewal other than recording the passing of another year. The weather is drearily familiar, as grey days blend into grey weeks into grey months in misty misery.

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FINDING A REVIVIED PURPOSE My times of seasonal revival come in spring, when the weather warms and baseball equipment comes out of the closet, and this time of year, when the evening air hints of the briskness of the coming autumn. The change in the evening temperatures is a reminder it is time for the welcomed lethargy of summer to be put aside for a pace of revived purpose.

As kindergarteners will learn in class this month, in a lesson as old as Aesop, it is now the time for lazing grasshoppers to

become industrious ants.

My family has spent the past months in temporary quarters while renovations are completed on our century-old house — named Fallingdowne in faux homage to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater masterpiece. Our summer home, or The Beach House, as we have been calling it, is on a short block sandwiched between Margaret Jenkins Elementary and the beach at Foul Bay. The return of the morning parade of tykes on trikes trailed by a harried parent will be a welcome sight a er Labour Day. The first day of class reminds me of baseball’s spring training, a time when all teams are equal and all wishes for success seem reasonable. (At least one can dream all marks will be A+ and all homework assignments easy as pie — the edible kind, not π.) I remember sunlight filtering into tall windows, fresh chalk sticks scratching against washed blackboards, crisp exercise books not yet defaced by doodles of boredom.

A FORTUITOUS FALL DECISION This month is when children to return to school and young adults tackle a fresh stack of textbooks. Perhaps I’m sentimental for September as marking new beginnings because I made one of the most fortuitous decisions of my life in this month.

It was my second day on an unfamiliar campus. I had not a friend within 3,500 kilometres, but I did have a burning desire in those years so soon a er Perhaps I’m Watergate to become a reporter. (Of course, a childhood spent reading the sentimental for adventures of Clark Kent, Peter Parker September as and Tintin had some effect, too.) I marking new entered the dingy editorial offices of the student newspaper to volunteer. beginnings Unfortunately, I did so on a publication because I made day and the welcoming commi ee one of the most consisted solely of a bedraggled, hungover, and foul-mouthed staffer in fortuitous a filthy raincoat who looked liked he decisions of had wandered in from Victory Square my life in this in search of discarded cigare e bu s. month.

“I’m here to volunteer,” I squeaked.

“Ghmbrrflang $%^#&!,” he replied.

I came back the next day. My life in those 36 years since has been squandered writing for newspapers and magazines. Many of the friends I made in that newsroom so long ago gravitated, like me, across Georgia Strait to Victoria, reporters being no fools in spo ing the finer things in life.

Alas, the business is undergoing a revolution whose results so far include diminishing paydays. Like many others, I feel it’s ever more unlikely I’ll be able to continue full-time as an inkedstain wretch. But it is September now and, like those fresh faces in the classroom, I’m optimistic about what’s to come.

Tom Hawthorn is a freelance author, newspaper and magazine writer who lives in Victoria.

SAINT JAMES EVENT SEPTEMBER 13, 1:00 - 5:00PM Introducing the Fall 2013 Collection. Meet Isabelle Loyer from Saint James at our downtown location. Refreshments, gifts, & fun!

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B U I L DI N G D R E A M S S I NCE 1 9 6 9

STATE of the ARTS

BY ALISA GORDANEER

RESTORING SACRED TEXTS celebrates faith and community E X PE R IE NCE ∙ H ONE STY ∙ INT EGRIT Y

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SOME OF THE EARLIEST artworks were sacred works, meant to remind people of their connection to their spiritual beliefs. This explains why images from religious stories form the backbone of art history. But sometimes, the stories and writings themselves can be the works of art.

Such is the case with two newly restored Torah scrolls belonging to Victoria’s Congregation Emanu-El synagogue.

Estimated to be more than 300 years old, the scrolls came to Victoria during the Gold Rush era, travelling from San Francisco with the Jews who founded Victoria’s congregation.

The scrolls, says Rabbi Harry Brechner, “are almost like two sisters — one’s embellished, and one’s more plain.” Both are meticulously wri en, and by their ink and calligraphic style, have been determined to originate in eastern Europe.

The thing with sacred texts, though, is that they’re sacred.

And if something happens to them — even just the wear and tear that 300 years can place on delicate parchment and ancient ink — they can become, well, less than sacred. Since these two scrolls were beginning to show their age, and since the congregation’s 150th anniversary was coming up, it was time to give the scrolls some much-needed restoration.

The focus and routine of restoration

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“If there is even only one cracked le er, the entire scroll is considered invalid and cannot be used for public prayer reading until it is repaired,” explains Avielah Barclay, the soferet, or scribe, who has spent much of the last 13 months working at her home in London, England, to repair tears in the scrolls, re-ink the le ering, and clean areas that had been soiled.

Restoring the scrolls was no small job — when unrolled, they stretch around the walls of the entire sanctuary at Victoria’s historic synagogue — and the calligraphic writing on them

is not only tiny, but must be restored under extremely special circumstances, following an exacting routine.

“According to Jewish law, a Torah scribe … must bathe, pray, eat, and get in the right frame of mind to do the work each day,” explains Barclay. “Then, keeping the approximately 4,000 rules in mind with holy intention, one sets to work. I work until I’m hungry or thirsty, or until my back or hand starts to complain.

You’re not allowed any distractions that would affect the work, and must hyper-focus. Making an error could be disastrous — you might have to bury your work and begin afresh. There is even an ancient law stating that if a scribe is working on a Torah scroll and the King of Israel rides up to him on his horse and greets the scribe, the scribe is to ignore the King, until he is finished.”

It’s serious business indeed, and work that Barclay, as the first woman to be a scribe in over 250 years, takes extremely seriously, whether she’s restoring a scroll for a congregation or for a family.

“I’m not exaggerating when I say that Torah scrolls are treated like family members, so when people hand their scrolls over to me to repair, it’s a great honour, like they’re entrusting their parents, or grandparents, or children over to a doctor,” she says.

“Very great care must be taken not only in the actual repair work — that it all be done kosher and according to Jewish Law — but also consideration for the emotions that hundreds or even thousands of people have tied up and invested, which can never be quantified.”

The tradition of preserving history Scrolls are more than just texts, though — they reflect history, explains Barclay. “Over the decade that I’ve been a soferet, I’ve learned how to tell how old a scroll is by looking at how it is stitched together, and where it was made by the kind of skin used, and what the original sofer [male scribe] believed — his philosophy — by how he formed certain le ers … this is important globally, because since the Holocaust wiped out almost all the European scribes, their tradition has largely been lost.”

Older scrolls, like the more elaborate of the two from Victoria, have particularities in how the le ers are wri en that point to their origins in the Kabbalist, or mystic, tradition, she explains.

One of the two scrolls from Victoria “preserves almost every single one of these mystical scribal oddities, so it’s very precious indeed, not just to the Victoria Jewish community, but to world religious tradition, to humanity.”

The scrolls’ return to Victoria will be celebrated on October 20, says Brechner. Because the Torah represents the Jewish people’s contract with God, he explains, it’ll be like a wedding ceremony, held under a newly quilted chuppah, with dancing, klezmer music, and a general feeling of festivity. And as a way to connect the scrolls to the community even more, Barclay, who is originally from Victoria, plans to invite congregation members to ink the last few le ers and words — giving the whole community a chance to have a hand in the sacred work of renewing the Torah’s words.

To see more of Avielah Barclay’s work, visit soferet.com.

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ďƒ¤ Veterinarian Melissa Eden shares some treats with her mare, Carona.

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RIDING FULL CIRCLE A local vet gallops home to serve the horse community that shaped her  BY ALISA GORDANEER  PHOTOGRAPHY BY DON DENTON

M

elissa Eden is good with her hands, and those slender hands hold a yellow and black DeWalt drill with an ease that would match that of a professional carpenter. But this is no ordinary power tool. Equipped with a toonie-sized burr at the end of a long pipe, the patented device, called a PowerFloat, heads straight for the horse’s mouth with its burr buzzing.

Eden wraps one Gore-Tex–jacketed arm around the long, light grey head of Carona, a six-year-old, dapple-grey, warm-blood mare. With a hug and a kiss, the 31-year-old veterinarian assures Carona, whom she calls her “own personal practice horse,” that nobody’s going to do anything to her teeth today — Eden is just demonstrating. But whenever a horse needs its teeth “floated” — a regular procedure that grinds down ever-growing molars — the PowerFloat turns a gruelling task, once the province of burly men armed with metal rasps, into a job that a slim,

energetic woman can complete in minutes.

Eden bought the half-Holsteiner, halfTrehkamer from a breeder in Alberta as a graduation present to herself when she finished veterinary school in 2011. “She’s basically the love of my life, other than my husband [Kai Meisen], and I probably spend more time with her than with him,” Eden says.

She and Carona have been working on English dressage together and hope to compete in the near future. “She’s learning,” she says of Carona.

“She’s got a young brain still.”

Carona’s also learning to be patient with Eden; whenever Eden has new veterinary equipment or techniques to try, Carona is first in line. Such treatments and tools are plentiful, explains Eden, whose practice began in July 2012, not long a er she moved back to Victoria following graduation from veterinary training in Saskatchewan.

“There’s something about a horse that you can’t find in any other animal. [A horse is] so big, so gentle … and it lets you get on its back and control it. There’s just that special bond.”

15

 A special bond exists between horse and rider, Eden says.

TAKING BUSINESS ON THE ROAD Like many horse veterinarians, Eden has a mobile practice (hers is Eden Equine); horses can’t simply be carried to the vet like a cat. Instead, she’s based out of her home, her garage and her white Ford F-150 truck, which takes her to about 10 to 12 farm calls a week, from Sooke to Sidney, and is outfi ed with everything a vet might need, including a portable digital x-ray machine.

The advantage of this technology is that Eden can see the x-rays immediately 16

on her computer instead of waiting for days for film to be developed and interpreted.

“There, that’s a splinter bone,” she says, kneeling on the stable floor in front of a laptop that displays saved x-ray images of a different horse’s leg. It’s a pin-thin bone, a vestigial finger, found just above the horse’s front hooves, which amount to a thick fingernail. Vets need to know a lot about these bones: “Those o en get problems,” she says. They can break with just a bump, leading to complicated,

costly injuries. Just the x-ray, “not including call fee, lameness exam, potentially nerve blocks, [or] sedation for a particular region on a horse — would range from $300–$400,” says Eden.

Buying a horse o en costs thousands of dollars. And then there’s the upkeep —approximately $500 a month to feed, house and care for a horse, Eden estimates, and that’s on the low end. Keeping horses healthy over their lifespan requires diligent care and regular veterinary a ention, with average annual visits

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costing $300 to $500, depending on what services are needed. And when something goes wrong, it can go really wrong, unless a competent vet is available to help.

TRAINING IS LENGTHY AND COMPLEX There are lots of horses — somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 in the CRD — and just three other equine practices in the area, plus one mixed animal practice. Training involves a four-year program a er a pre-vet undergraduate degree, followed by several residencies to train for species-specific care. (More students choose

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 Eden adjusts Carona’s bridle in Beowulf Farm’s barn.  Eden’s portable digital x-ray machine allows her to see the images immediately on her laptop.

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cat/dog; fewer select horses/big animals.) Schooling is expensive, and hard to obtain — a fact that Eden knows well. The University of Saskatchewan-based Western College of Veterinary Medicine offers the only option for Western Canadian applicants (besides moving to Ontario to be eligible for the only other school in Canada, in Guelph) — and it only accepts 20 BC students a year. On average, 150 applicants apply each time. Eden took three tries before she was accepted in 2007, thanks to persistence and upgrading with a bachelor of science at the University of Victoria.

With her education fresh in mind, Eden eagerly shares the latest information about veterinary practices and equine conditions. Riding coach Tara Prevedoros uses Eden’s services for her three horses. “She always gives me as much information as possible,” she says. “She’s so willing to share her education with her clients.”

Andrea Jones operates Forum Equestrian, a horsetraining business based at Beowulf Farm, where Eden boards Carona and tends to many of the other boarded horses. A trainer for over 15 years, Jones has worked with Eden since she began her practice.

“Melissa is an invaluable part of my farm and business,” says Jones, who explains that it’s especially handy having her on site. “She really understands the equine mind-body relationship, and understands that behavioural issues and quirks in temperament o en stem from physical issues.” Because Eden herself is an experienced rider, Jones adds, she possesses a unique understanding of what might bother a horse and how that could be addressed.

“She is also amazing at emergency situations,” Jones adds. “She is a kind and practical vet and the horses always come first.”

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SUPPORT FOR HARD CHOICES One such emergency happened when Prevedoros’ horse, Canadian Flame, caught his leg in a fence, opening up the joint in his fetlock. Prevedoros says Eden “was just there in the blink of an eye.” Eden quickly bandaged the horse’s leg and explained what might happen next. “Surgery wouldn’t have been an option,” Prevedoros says, adding that Eden shared her knowledge to help Prevedoros make the most difficult, but best, choice to euthanize the horse. “She was right by my side, completely supportive and understanding,” she says.

Eden clearly knows and loves horses. “There’s something about a horse that you can’t find in any other animal,” she says. “[A horse is] so big, so gentle … and it lets you get on its back and control it. There’s just that special bond.” She also loves the community of people who look a er them, which is why she returned to Victoria to set up her practice.

The culmination of her dream reaches back to her eightyear-old self, a girl whose love for horses grew when her dad, developer Norman Eden, bought her and her sister a mare named Shaba. Her sister developed allergies (fairly common), but Eden adored the horse and competed in three-day

eventing, a gruelling type of riding contest that proves a rider’s — and horse’s — technical abilities. Throughout that time, Eden worked at stables around Victoria, riding and learning about horses. It was a lively, supportive community, she explains, and now that she’s back in town, she says the time is right to give back to the community that shaped her. “I feel lucky every day to be doing the career that I love in the place I grew up and cherish,” she says.

For now, she’s building her practice and enjoying her spare time with Carona. She hopes one day to work with other local vets to create a hospital facility where vets can perform routine and emergency surgeries and use stalls for sick horses to recover. “A local facility,” she says. But if her current approach holds true, this could be a place where local horses, and horse owners, can benefit from all she’s learned so far.

“Moving from Calgary was a big step in itself; custom building a home as well seemed like a lot to tackle! Thankfully, we saw some of Chris’s past work, reviewed his website and knew we had found our partner for this project. Chris worked with us to fully utilize the land we had, design a house for our needs, and construct the home of our dreams.”

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250.882.1895 21

From Tree to Table: LifeCycles grows sustainability in the Capital Region

Everyone should have access to local food — this is a goal that LifeCycles Project Society takes very seriously. Barriers still exist that make it difficult for vulnerable populations to access fresh, nutritious fruit and vegetables from our community. “There is potential on this island to grow all the food we need,” says Jeanette Sheehy, director of LifeCycles, a not-for-profit society based in Victoria since 1994. “It’s not something that’s expensive, scary, or hard; it’s something the community can do together in really fun, exciting ways. Food security is an opportunity to get to know our neighbours and share our knowledge.”

 CONNECTING PEOPLE WITH BACKYARDS TO VOLUNTEERS WHO WANT TO HARVEST THEM

LifeCycles’ Fruit Tree Project perfectly demonstrates Vancouver Island’s potential, Sheehy says. Once the epicenter of fruitgrowing in BC, Victoria is now home to countless heirloom fruit trees, often growing fruit that busy owners lack time to pick themselves. Thanks to the Fruit Tree Project, 350 volunteers — and a few sturdy ladders — collected over 39,000 lbs of apples, cherries, plums and more last year. The fruit is distributed equally between the homeowners, pickers and LifeCycles, which donates some of its portion to 45 partner agencies, like the Mustard Seed, while also selling some to local

produce partners, raising funds for day-today expenses.

“Our big goal is saving this fruit from going to waste and redirecting it to people who need it,” Sheehy says. A huge local population uses food banks, which are always strapped for cash, she adds, so it’s hard for them to purchase local, organic food. “The agencies we deliver fruit to say that we’re the number one source during the fruit season,” Sheehy says. “It’s just a matter of connecting the people who have the backyards to the volunteers who want to pick them.” Volunteers are not hard to come by: “I don’t know of many other organizations that have quite the diversity of

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PARTNER AGENCIES

volunteers that we have.”

LifeCycles receives funding from the Victoria Foundation, “one of our biggest champions,” Sheehy says. The Victoria Foundation also connects the organization with resources for their projects. “They’ve seen the achievements we’ve been making as we’ve grown,” she adds.

Although there is always room to grow — a second van would help increase the numbers, Sheehy notes — feedback for the Fruit Tree Project is overwhelmingly positive.

“This project fills a need in the community,” she says. “You can’t really have a better project than one that gives away free food and connects people.”

FOR MORE STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE IN YOUR COMMUNITY MAKING A DIFFERENCE, WATCH CHEK NEWS AT 5PM EVERY SUNDAY FOR VITAL PEOPLE

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PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

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39,000 LBS

OF FRUIT HARVESTED AND REDISTRIBUTED IN THE CAPITAL REGION IN 2012

300+

VOLUNTEERS PARTICIPATED IN LIFECYCLES’ PROGRAMS, DONATING OVER

2,500 VOLUNTEER HOURS, IN 2012

YOU CAN HELP MORE ORGANIZATIONS LIKE LIFECYCLES GROW. Get your copy of the new Make it happen! grant opportunity booklet today at victoriafoundation.ca

VICTORIAFOUNDATION.CA

250.381.5532

24

FASHION

Jodi McKeown Foster REGISTERED INTERIOR DESIGNER

 BY LIA CROWE

Currently well-situated in the West, lured by love, Newfoundland native Jodi McKeown Foster lets us in on parts of the cocktail that make up her well defined and beautifully refined style. Now 46, Jodi began her design career in Toronto but honed her tastes in New York City, working deep in the design divisions of Lancôme and Estee Lauder. She likes black, but when pushed for an actual colour, she says, “happy lemon yellow.” She loves all things vintage, particularly with classic ’50s and ’60s silhoue es (read: black), cigare e pants and three-quarter-length sleeve swing coats. However, the clean, simple lines of Calvin Klein are her go-to uniform. She has tight, inspired style, and even though she is currently coveting a Saint Laurent handbag, she admits that really, her favourite things are “my daughter, my husband, my family, my friends.” *Photographed in newly renovated Beacon Hill offices, where Jodi worked with the owners to complement the vintage with modern simplicity and industrial touches.

 Current go-to footwear— Miz Mooz wedge sandals. These beauties will walk through summer, early fall and spring.

 Best vintage find— Vintage Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress in a butter-yellow print from a vintage store in Palm Springs. If you are lucky enough to find something like that in a vintage store, grab it!

If not, rest easy; the DVF wrap dress continues to be made, with new versions each season. It’s a closet staple no woman will ever regret.

 Covetting— Marc by Marc Jacobs’ Fall/Winter 2013-14 ’40s-inspired pumps and Saint Laurent’s “Sac de jour” carry-all.

 Sunglasses, now and forever— All-time favourites are the classic, black, glossy, oversized Chanel sunglasses, but ... she is currently wearing Kate Spade’s oversized square glasses with olive green detail.  Film that inspires— Jodi saw Jean Seaberg in Breathless, directed

by Jean-Luc Godard, in her 20s and it greatly inspired her style.

HOT PROPERTIES

TIME FOR PLAY Creating a space for now and the future  BY CAROLYN HEIMAN  PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY MCKINSTRY

26

 Floating millwork capitalizes on the overheight ceiling, while open shelves and glass create a feeling of lightness.

An enclosed patio space traps heat for the late afternoon while proffering privacy to the street-facing room.

A

s part of moving on to their new life in Victoria, Ted and Joy Kolsun wanted some details of their Calgary life accommodated in their new Uplands home.

For Joy, having room for grown children to visit and stay was nonnegotiable. Ted, meanwhile, had to have an air hockey room (“Doesn’t everyone need one?” teases Joy) where he and his son could continue their take-no-prisoners matches. With those terms easily se led, the two set out to build a home that comfortably fit their new life chapter that includes more fun and less work. Their agreed upon checklist included an open, roomy plan for entertaining; one-floor living; wide hallways; a master bedroom away from the street; and a study/bedroom with a powder room next to it that included a shower for those occasional guests using the dual purpose area.

“A lot of our rooms do double duty,” says Joy, adding they have a smaller number of rooms than in previous homes they have owned, but more space because of the layout. “Ninety-five per cent of the time the rooms will be used for one function, but if required, they serve can serve another way.” In this way, they kept the overall size of the house to about 2,500 sq. . on the main 27

THE CHALLENGE OF MIXING WOOD FINISHES

There’s a bit of an art to making multiple types of wood finishes work together. Designer Lorin Turner says cuts and finished colours are the key. In this featured home, the fir and walnut were consistent because of the tight, lineal grain that ran horizontally. The cherry was finished dark (near black), but the red wood undertones gave it more depth and richness than a painted surface. The contemporary grey tones were chosen for the floor so it wouldn’t compete with the natural wood tones of the kitchen cabinetry. White oak also takes stain really well compared to maple (which can be splotchy) and is more durable than fir, which is so soft.

28

floor, which is their primary living area.

The 1,100 sq. . on the second floor is used when their children are home. It’s a compromise that maintains the home’s wider appeal in a neighbourhood that trends toward larger homes.

Ted notes he wanted the home to be as small as possible. “I think that mega houses are like looking in the rear view mirror; they are a thing of the past,” he says. “People no longer want to be married to one city. If they have a second place, having a house that is 4,000-square-feet-plus isn’t practical. You have to clean it, heat it, cool it.”

A LAST-MINUTE BONUS ROOM The upstairs TV and movie watching area is another example of multifunctional space. Primarily intended as an area where their adult children can entertain friends, it can also easily be adapted into a second home office at any point in the future. The area was conjured up as an a erthought when, at the framing stage, designer/builder Christopher Walker of Christopher Designs realized that there was an opportunity to borrow from a storage area, add skylights and make “a hallway area feel like a room. It really changed that space,” he says. “Yes, it was a li le last minute, but that’s the advantage of me being on the site and being a designer. I can make changes on the fly ... without it costing any more.”

The Kolsuns’ tastes skew to contemporary, clean lines, “but not modern per se,” says Joy, adding that a sense of comfort and warmth is important to both of them. “Our home is not so edge-y. We have carpet on the stairs and in the bedrooms. I like the so ness of carpets,” she says. And carpeted areas are easier to clean: “I don’t have to chase dust bunnies around under the bed.”

29

FINISHING TOUCHES ADD THE WOW FACTOR They turned to Lorin Turner of Zebra Designs for some interior guidance.

Turner used the 11-foot ceiling height to play with wall-hung cabinetry in the living room and create a “wow factor.”

At the Kolsuns’ request, several types of wood finishes were mixed in the interior; Turner zeroed in on fir, cherry, 30

walnut and white oak to be companions in the space.

“Mixing woods can be a challenge because it can quickly become log cabin-ish,” says Turner. To avoid that, a contemporary Sahara Grey finish was chosen for the sawn white oak floor. The ebony-stained, floating cherry cabinetry also contributed a sense of “lightness,” as did open glass shelving. The result is a

space that is one of Turner’s favourites.

And it is also for the Kolsuns. “The home exceeds my expectations. There is nothing I would change,” says Joy. Ted adds that they had renovated several homes in Calgary before building this one. As a result, they were able to finally “correct” niggling things they had lived with in previous homes, he says. “It is everything we ever wanted in a home.”

 White marble in the master bathroom sets a fresh yet classic look.

Sourcing the right colour of “white” in the natural materials can be a challenge.

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“The home exceeds my expectations.

There is nothing I would change.”

32

 Set on a corner lot, this home nudges the front of the property line so the private space in the backyard is maximized.

Boulevard has been front and centre in Joy’s life, starting from when her mother, who lived in the region, regularly mailed her copies to Joy in Calgary.

When the Kolsuns looked for a builder for the property — which they purchased nine years ago, sight unseen — it was an advertisement in Boulevard showing a picture of a home designed by Christopher Developments that jumped out at them and resulted in them hiring Walker to design their new home in Victoria.

The magazine has now “come full circle” in their lives, with their new home on the pages where Joy once looked to for inspiration.

Supply List

Designer - Christopher Developments Plumbing Fixtures - Victoria Speciality Hardware + Plumbing Flooring - European Flooring Group Upholstery - Greggs Furniture & Upholstery Ltd. Interior Designer - Lorin Turner/Zebra Interiors Cabinet/Millwork - Hobson Woodworks Carpet – Hourigan’s Carpet & Linos Ltd. Tile - Madico Mobile Tile Appliances – Trail Appliances (Miele) Furniture - Only Human (Victoria), Inform Interiors (Vancouver), Murphy Wall-beds Art - Parc Modern Painting - O’Quinn’s Painting Window Coverings - Saffron Window Fashion Drapery & Blinds Lighting - Illuminations Lighting Solutions Outdoor Furniture - Vancouver Sofa Company Landscaping - Zenith Developments Water Feature - Chi Earth & Waterscape Exterior Stonework - K2 Stone

Carolyn Heiman explores beautiful Island homes each month for Boulevard. If you know of a gorgeous home you’d like to see profiled she can be contacted at cheiman@shaw.ca.

33

DESIGN MATTERS

af ter b e f or e an d

A traditional chandelier made of Czech crystal, velvety textures and polished surfaces unite the space in a well-balanced luxury.

“Stone Hearth”

by Benjamin Moore was used for the general wall colour.

A pair of wall sconces from Restoration Hardware reinforces the room’s symmetry.

The solid oak dining table is a timeless piece that didn’t need replacing in the new space.

Thin strip oak flooring matches the original throughout the house.

Jenny Martin’s

Top 3 Design Rules 34



Design and preplan everything: save yourself the stress and disappointment of poorly made and costly decisions.



Subdue your paint colours!

Colours that look good on a paint chip are going to look more intense on the walls than you think.



A dark island is a distinguished backdrop from the dining room, and provides a subtle sense of separation between the two spaces.

Take time to work through your lighting design with a professional.

Bookshelves and builtins without lighting look uninspiring; artwork without dedicated lighting falls flat.

after

Updated Charm Ditch the dated but respect the classic  BY SARAH MACNEILL

French doors replace the original single door and maximize natural light.

before

T

his 1921 Oak Bay character home possesses all the charm of its era, but a li le designer touch went a long way in bringing the interior spaces elegantly into the 21st century. The homeowners began the renovation in 2011, with hopes to open up the traditionally separated spaces of the dining room and kitchen, and also optimize the amount of natural light. Paramount in the design decision-making process was the intent to respect, and in some cases retain, the home’s original character.

Typically, an open plan suits a more contemporary design, but interior designer Jenny Martin successfully married old and new concepts by creating a formal esthetic through the use of symmetry and carefully selected finishes. “You have to respect the classic elements of the home and ditch the dated fixtures. We replicated the original baseboards and had windows made to suit the originals. Thin strip oak flooring matches the original throughout the house,” she says. “Even details like the monkey-tail window latches were kept, but dipped in a more elegant polished nickel.”

Light and earthy neutrals were chosen for the colour pale e. The original dark wood wainscoting was removed, and the coffered ceiling painted white to brighten and elevate the 9-foot space. Martin recommends looking beyond basic beige and trying so taupes, yellows and linen tones to create warm, happy and inviting spaces.

“Linen texture works well on drapery; rich textures like velvet on sofas; heavier textures on area rugs; and shiny-smooth, light-reflecting textures work well on countertops,” she says.

The result is an updated space that pays homage to its vintage roots. It’s comfortable for entertaining a modern crowd with great functionality.

Contractor: Maximilian Huxley Construction Ltd. Cabinetry: Jason Good Custom Cabinets Inc. Countertops: Stone Age Marble and Granite

DESIGNER Q&A JENNY MARTIN

Q: WHAT DESIGN STYLE DO YOU FAVOUR PERSONALLY? WHAT DOES YOUR DREAM HOUSE LOOK LIKE?

I love elegant, transitional spaces. Light and bright, classic marble, polished nickel fixtures, natural textures like linen, velvet, oil-finished hardwoods (matte), antique white cabinetry, coffered ceilings, wainscoting.

Q: HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN DESIGN? WHEN DID YOU KNOW IT WAS YOUR CAREER PATH?

My mom will attest that I repainted my room 10 times more often than the average kid. That aside, I was pretty fortunate to grow up with parents in the construction industry so I was able to get lots of hands-on experience working on displays and movie sets. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be on the side that came up with all of the inspired ideas.

Q: DO YOU HAVE ANY DIY TIPS FOR UPPING THE LUXURY AND ELEGANCE OF A SPACE?

Play with natural textures like linens, velvets. And don’t forget about wallpaper — it’s come a long way! Add some sparkle with elegant lighting, crystal if you can. Details like tall, dramatic drapery and area rugs further develop the scheme. Repeat symmetry anywhere that you can for a more refined look. Add architectural mouldings like coffered ceilings, wainscoting, heavy trim and baseboards for a more classic look.

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CAMOSUN

4440 Chatterton Way Victoria mleck@shaw.ca 250.413.7171 margaretleck.com

NE

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IN

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SHOAL POINT a place you would be proud to call home! Spectacular Harbour front residence with 9' ceilings. Floor to ceiling windows capturing a panoramic inner harbour view. Covered 240 sq. ft. balcony to enjoy outdoor living all year.

Gourmet kitchen for the chef in the family. Open plan perfect for entertaining. 2 master suites for optimum privacy. Separate room with a view for a library, office, TV/family room or dining room for whatever your individual needs are! $1,100,000 MLS #319327

BEST WATERFRONT IN MILL BAY! 205 ft. of low-bank beach front. Dramatic views west to Mt. Baker. Completely landscaped .77 acre lot.

Irreplaceable one bedroom beach house separate studio main residence walking distance to marina, village, and Brentwood College. Only 20-30 minutes from Victoria. A gardeners dream property with established landscaping and pond. Enjoy the endless possibilities! $899,900 MLS#305224

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! PIER ONE two bedroom, two bathroom spacious 1,990 sq. ft. condo in the heart of James Bay. Walking distance to downtown and Dallas road waterfront.

Breathtaking view of Inner Harbour. Building amenities include: squash court, hot tub and sauna. Small pet welcome. Underground secured parking. Immediate occupancy. Boat moorage available. $749,000 MLS#327309

PARK PLACE 2 bed, 2 full bath condo in remediated 21 unit building. This bright, main level condo with a fantastic layout provides afternoon sunlight. Enjoy outdoor living on the spacious wrap-around deck! Freshly painted & all new SS kitchen appliances. In-suite laundry. A short walk to Jubilee Hospital or downtown. Underground secure parking. $325,000 MLS #323906

Desirable townhome at PORT ROYAL ESTATE overlooking the development to views of Brentwood Bay and the marina. Adult living. Vault ceilings in the living/dining rm. 200 sq. ft. deck.

Large main bdrm & 5 pc. ensuite. Den or 2nd bdrm with private courtyard on main level. Lower level provides guest accom. Attached double garage. $549,900 MLS #321503

Short Street near Uptown shopping centre. This 1008 sq. ft. condo is perfect for the professional couple or students! The 2 bdrms & 2 bathrooms are separated by the living area, making it easy for a shared lifestyle. 9 ft. ceilings, engineered cherry wood floors, living room with electric fireplace, Master bdrm with walk-in closet & 4 pc ensuite, in-suite laundry. Secured parking & storage locker. Small pets & rentals OK. $349,900 MLS #313027

Dallas Sells Victoria/Oak Bay PERSONAL REAL ESTATE CORPORATION

“My goal is to find your dream home and ensure that the decision you make stands as a wise investment over the long term.”

OAK BAY EXCELLENCE

BRENTWOOD WATERFRONT!

MOUNT TOLMIE

FAIRFIELD EAST

MOUNT DOUG

OAK BAY FAMILY HOME

“West Coast Provencale” - stunning architecturally designed custom built (2009) home backing onto Victoria Golf Course. Vanishing Eclipse doors open to exquisite multi-level patio with hot tub. Chef’s dream kitchen with custom cherry, granite & top appliances. All 4 bdrms are ensuited. $1,750,000

Immaculate home nestled in a quiet cul-de-sac.

Gorgeous south-facing patio, stunning low maintenance back garden re-landscaped over the past 3 yrs. Master on main with renovated ensuite.

New solid oak floors in living rm, dining rm & hall. New kitchen in 2010 with maple cabinets & new appliances. $809,900

Breathtaking views of Brentwood Bay & beyond from all principal rooms in this 1995 home. 4 decks overlook this sheltered bay. Master on main with its own balcony. Serene & private, 3,750 sq. ft. fabulous kitchen, 5 bdrms, 4 baths.

105 ft. of waterfront with dock & deep water moorage! $1,750,000

Great street appeal! Great location close to Mt. Doug trails, great schools, rec centre & UVic. Beautifully renovated main bath. 4 bdrms, 3 baths, family rm, office & craft area. Large decks & professionally landscaped yard & gardens.

New roof & windows, newly painted throughout. Easily suited. $599,900

Custom built architect’s home with 18 ft. vaulted ceilings & 6 skylights. Bright and open! Kitchen with new double wall oven, granite counters & custom cherry wood cabinetry. Master with his & her closets. 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, & gorgeous walk-out private garden. Close to UVic & Camosun. $880,000

Wonderful corner lot location! 3 bedrooms on the main floor, family room downstairs. Oak floors under carpet in living rm & bedrooms.

Kitchen opens to a west-facing sundeck. New energy efficient gas furnace, 4 year old roof, new garage door. Great value for this area! $579,900

Dallas Chapple RE/MAX Camosun • Tel: 250.744.3301 • Toll Free: 1.877.652.4880 www.dallaschapple.com • Email: dallas@dallaschapple.com

SUPERB PARKER AVE. WATERFRONT. Recently refurbished Pamela Charlesworth home will impress even the most discerning buyer.

Gleaming Brazilian hardwood floors, soaring vaulted ceilings, & sweeping views of the Ocean to San Juan Island and Mt. Baker’s glowing glacier beyond. Fabulous new kitchen. 4 bedroom, master with commanding views. Private .33 acre lot with patio hot tub, to enjoy the views. Dbl car garage.

5255 Parker Ave., Cordova Bay $1,795,000.00

PRIDE IS EVIDENT IN this well-maintained 3 bedroom plus den residence.

Marble entry, gracious living room w/ gas F.P. Formal dining rm. with crystal chandelier. Family room with gas F.P. adjoining kitchen with eating bar and Oak cabinetry. Master with triple closets, & jaccuzzi ensuite, 2nd bedroom, 4 pce. family bathroom, den, and laundry on main. Lower walk out level with 3rd bedroom, 4 pce. bath plus rec. room. Loads of storage, B.I vacuum, double-car garage, security system, new 40 yr. roof, and charming garden shed. Lovely corner lot. Lochside Elementary & shoping strolling distance. 4675 McMorran Way, Saanich $709,000.00

SPECTACULAR SOUTH WEST FACING WATERFRONT PROPERTY in Ten Mile Point area. This elegant 6,500 sq. ft. home offers entertainment sized rooms, and has 180˚ views from the Olympic Mts. to the sandy shores of Cadboro Bay. Spectacular living room with vaulted ceilings, gas F.P. and feature bar/ conversation area. Spacious separate dining room, 30x13 family room (also with F.P.) adjoining kitchen. Master on the main with private lounge area. 5 bdrms, 8 bath, gorgeous sea side patio complete with dingy launch. Mins from village shopping. Sensational waterfront.

2715 Sea View Rd., Ten Mile Point $2,198,000.00

PROUDLY SERVING VICTORIA FOR 30 YEARS PHONE 250.744.3301 • EMAIL lynne@lynnesager.com WEBSITE www.lynnesager.com Get the results that you desire. Call Lynne for professional representation, when you wish to sell your home.

LITTLE STORES MAKING A BIG DIFFERENCE  BY AMY MITCHELL (WITH FILES FROM LAUREN KRAMER)  PHOTOGRAPHY BY DON DENTON

“Niagara Grocery isn’t so much an institution, it’s an ongoing experiment in connecting people with the food they eat.”

- Ken Winchester, Niagara Grocery owner

There’s a certain nostalgia that comes from walking to pick up a few things from the neighbourhood corner store. Stopping by for ice cream on a hot day and being recognized by name is reminiscent of a different time. But Victoria’s corner stores are evolving, and the neighbourly hospitality synonymous with the olden days is now being paired with fresh, local offerings to create a new kind of corner store.

Here’s a taste of a few around Greater Victoria.

NIAGARA GROCERY 579 Niagara Street, James Bay Monday–Friday 8 am–7 pm Saturday 9 am–7 pm Sunday 10 am–6 pm Niagara Grocery is dedicated to providing the James Bay community with all things local. The small but iconic grocery store on the corner of Government and Niagara Streets is o en crowded with the health conscious and environmentally concerned. Braeburn apples, Vantreight Farms baby kale, and Sun Trio heirloom tomatoes are just a few items they may have available on any given day, while Niagara’s very own fairly traded Mile Zero coffee roasts quietly in the corner.

The owners of Niagara Grocery purchased the store four years ago and transformed it from a rundown convenience store, nearing closure, to a neighbourhood institution, premised on the idea that food builds community. Replacing cigare es and lo ery with locally grown fruits and vegetables and cultivating relationships with local suppliers has resulted in more than just new offerings — it has created a local following.

Niagara Grocery offers produce from more than a dozen Saanich farms, Galloping Goose sausages, the aforementioned Mile Zero fairly traded coffee, and locally baked goods from Portofino, Frye’s, and Wildfire Bakery, just to name a few. Niagara Grocery’s relentless approach to supporting local farms and businesses has redefined the corner store.

Claim to fame: The Niagara Grocery owners, Jen McKimmie and Ken Winchester, have had a hand in the local food culture for more than a decade. They’re known for giving out recipes on the fly to help shoppers cook exciting meals with local, seasonal produce.

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FAIRFIELD MARKET 1275 Oscar Street, Cook Street Village Monday–Saturday 8 am–7 pm Sunday 9 am–6 pm Tucked at the end of Oscar Street in Cook Street Village, with pedestrian access from the corner of Moss and Fairfield, Fairfield Market is small and friendly.

With former ties to Niagara Grocery, Fairfield Market is similar in its commitment to community, fresh food, and passionate staff.

Fairfield Grocery offers fresh, seasonal produce from Saanich farms such as Vantreight and Haliburton and delicious baked goods from bakeries such as Portofino and Lone Tree. They also always have an array of veganand celiac-friendly foods on hand.

Claim to fame: Location! You can trust the bubbly staff to be up bright and early on Saturdays serving coffee and treats to the streams of Moss Street Market-goers.

CASEY’S MARKET 713 St. Patrick Street, Oak Bay Sunday–Thursday 7:30 am–9:30 pm Friday–Saturday 7:30 am–10 pm

“We’re ge ing to know our community and we get to do it by bringing them what they ask for — delicious, fresh, local food.”

- Ralph Michael Wimmer, Fairfield Market owner

“The get-togethers promote camaraderie in the community and they’re great for networking and socializing.”

- Leon Zetler, Aubergine Specialty Foods owner

Two blocks from idyllic Beach Drive, Casey’s Market has been serving the Southern Oak Bay community since 1935. The storefront, while evolving, maintains its olden day charm at the corner of Central and St. Patrick streets, making it a perfect stop on your way to the beach.

With streetside seating, generous operating hours, and movie rentals, Casey’s offers everything you would expect from a neighbourhood corner store, but with a local twist. They serve Creekmore’s organic coffee (roasted up-island in Coombs), make sandwiches in-house served on fresh-baked Portofino bread, and offer various other local specialty products such as Whimsical Preserves (packaged just like Mom’s), Rock Coast gluten-free treats that melt in your mouth, and Babe’s Honey from Saanich.

Claim to fame: Casey’s has been serving South Oak Bay families since 1935 and now knows most of its customers by name.

“Demand for local products has gone way up in the nine years we’ve been here and we’re proud to be able to give the community what they want.”

- Raymond Ilott, Casey’s Market owner 42

AUBERGINE SPECIALTY FOODS 1308 Gladstone Avenue, Fernwood Monday–Saturday 9:30 am–7 pm Sunday 10 am–6 pm Aubergine offers a precious taste of South Africa in the tiny, 500-square-foot store, a place that has become a focal point not just for South African expats, but also for the Fernwood community.

The shop and the aisles showcase myriad exotic spices, biscuits, chutney, rooibos tea, and cereals. Aubergine stocks a range of o en hard-to-find kosher items, including matzah, soup stocks, latke mixes, and kosher meat.

There's also a good selection of local produce from Saanich area farmers, much of it pesticide free and organic.

Participating in community events and supporting local fundraisers are just a few ways that Aubergine connects with the Fernwood community.

Claim to fame: Aubergine hosts monthly socials for the ex-South African community of Vancouver Island, as well as an annual South African barbecue at the store that a racts up to 120 people.

DEEP COVE MARKET 10940 West Saanich Road, North Saanich Monday–Sunday 8 am–8 pm Just north of Sidney, Deep Cove Market pairs authentic country charm with an impressive sampling of local and specialty products. Whether patrons arrive by car, horse, or tractor, the market is a stone’s throw away from the best produce the Peninsula has to offer.

Serving the close-knit community of North Saanich, the owners are committed to providing as much local product as possible, sourcing fresh, seasonal produce from Sun Wing, Michell’s, Oldfield’s, and Dan’s, just to name a few. The market also boasts a deli counter (serving breakfast and lunch), a coffee bar, and all the corner store goods you would expect. Saltspring Island Cheese, Galloping Goose sausage, local chicken and pork, antibiotic and hormone-free beef, as well as a large selection of gluten-free goods, round out the selection at this unassuming rural gem.

Claim to fame: With regular groups of runners and cyclists, coffee lovers, and lunch-goers, Deep Cove Market is a bustling, authentic country market that has become a gathering place for the community.

“North Saanich is a close-knit community and we wanted to give the community a store that they could be proud of — one that they could call their own.”

-Rosemary Scott, Deep Cove Market owner

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TRAVEL FAR

Stepping back in time on

the Isle of Sark  TEXT AND PHOTOS BY CAITLIN HEDLEY

W

e are on the early morning ferry to the island of Sark, heading east through the English Channel. As Guernsey fades into the foggy distance, Sark’s steep cliffs appear through the sea-mist. A lighthouse’s white tower guides us into Sark’s small harbour, where colourful fishing boats anchor amidst the backdrop of a town, 115 metres above the bay. A step back in time awaits us.

In search of walking trails, local island food, and history, we had flown from Gatwick to Guernsey to explore the Channel Islands. Our base was Saint Peter Port, the capital of Guernsey, a bustling scenic harbour town of some 17,000 people. With five days to explore, we decided on a daytrip to Sark, the second smallest of the Channel Islands, and one of the most unusual.

Just 5.5 kilometres by 2.5 kilometres, with a population of 600, Sark has its own parliament and laws. Prior to 2008, it was Europe’s last feudal state, tracing its roots back to Queen Elizabeth I, who granted a fief to the ruling Seigneur. Required

by European human rights laws to reform its constitution (as it is now illegal to “own” fiefs), the ruling body introduced a democratic government in 2008. The Seigneur still resides, powerless but respected on the island, acting as a “Lord of the Manor” figure.

The sea is the only link to the island. Our vessel, Sark Venture, which travels regularly throughout the day between Guernsey and Sark, is a dual 120-passenger and cargo ferry.

This autumn day, some 40 people, along with large boxes of food and manufactured goods, are making the 55-minute journey. Other days you would likely find livestock, tractors, and other essentials being transported between the two ports.

Barbara’s Boutique 2392 Beacon Ave. 250 655 0372

Baden-Baden Boutique 2384 Beacon Ave. 250 655 7118

Sidney, BC

www.badenbadenboutiques.com 45

A stroll through town Once docked in Maseline Harbour, we can either walk up the steep footpath to Harbour Hill or hitch a ride, for a small charge, on the legendary Toast Rack, a spu ering, tractor-drawn bus. Transport on the island is restricted to tractors, bicycles, and horse and cart. At the top of the hill, the Avenue offers a collection of 46

quaint, well-kept shops and businesses.

We stroll past the general store, a chemist, the post office, two banks, a visitor information centre, and the island’s two-cell jail, all reminiscent of the early 1900s. Although bicycles are available to rent, we decide to explore on foot. Signs measure distances in “minutes to walk,” rather than by

actual length. Most sights are within five minutes; the longest, 50 minutes.

Wandering south along country lanes, we pass old farmhouses and rolling pastures, well-tended vegetable patches and small, tidy farms. Hedges are neatly trimmed, front doors open, and kids play freely in the yards. We follow a trail inland through the densely wooded

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 Fields of Guernsey cows line the roads on the Isle of Sark.  Outside the doctor’s office, an “ambulance” is ready for transporting patients.

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Dixcart Valley, before coming to the Dixcart Bay Hotel, Sark’s oldest, with 19 classically appointed rooms (starting at £160/night). The hotel dates back to 1848, although the building is significantly older. Recently restored, it has kept its old-time charm and character. If we had time, the cobbled courtyard would have been an ideal spot to get lost in a good book.

We head towards the coast, following the path and the salty smell of the sea. “Danger: Sheer Drop Ahead”, warns a sign, just as the razoredged isthmus of La Coupée appears. Sark is divided into two islands, Big Sark and Li le Sark, and La Coupée is a narrow, dizzying walkway connecting the two. The sea has eroded the land from both sides of the causeway, leaving behind a ridge only three metres wide with an 80-metre drop on either side. Today, railings line the sides, but the crossing still induces vertigo.

Before 1900, islanders had to cross at their own risk, not advisable during windy weather. Below is La Grand Grêve, a popular sandy bay accessed by steep, descending steps, but the drizzling rain and our planned a ernoon tea at La Sablonnerie Hotel keep us going, passing picket fences and fields of Guernsey cows.

La Sablonnerie is a 16th century whitewashed farmhouse and garden owned by Elizabeth Perrée, whose ancestors have been on the island since 1565. The fresh scones, local bu er, strawberry jam, and tea are a perfect treat, an oasis of hospitality. We relish every crumbly, jammy mouthful. The quote “there is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be diminished by a nice cup of tea” comes to mind.

Delving into history Crossing back over La Coupée, we follow the main lanes, passing St. Peters Church, built in 1820 and the original home of the “Island Bell” given to the se lers in 1580 by Seigneur Philippe de Carteret. Nearby is a small stone school, which also acts as Sark’s House of Parliament.

The Sark Occupation and Heritage Museum showcases a collection of artifacts from World War II, when the island was occupied by German forces, and is an excellent source for island history. Further up the lane, the doctor’s office has the most unusual ambulance: a tractor with a hitched cart and a plastic chair inside!

Turning west, we glimpse the turrets of the Seigneurie. Closed to visitors, the home of the Seigneur is surrounded by formal gardens, a 49

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hedge maze, a small chapel, and a Victorian watch-tower. Along another forested track, we follow wooden signs to the “Window in the Rock,” a manmade hole in the side of the headland at Port Moulin, created in the late 1800’s by Seigneur William Thomas Collings to provide an unobstructed view of Saignie Bay and Les Autlets, narrow stacks of rock just off the northwest coast.

We admire the stunning seascape, with its hidden bays and dramatic cliff tops, as the sun creeps out from behind the clouds.

Back at the Avenue with a Sark ice cream in hand, we gaze over the rolling fields, across the ocean, towards France, 40 kilometres away. We then step back aboard the 5 pm ferry, leaving Sark’s idyllic old-world lifestyle behind.

simply inspired by nature

If you go:

Aurigny Airlines offers daily flights from London Gatwick to Guernsey. See aurigny.com The Sark Shipping Company runs a ferry service between Guernsey and Sark, a 55-minute crossing, with several sailings a day in the peak season and a reduced winter service. See sarkshippingcompany.com Accommodation is limited, especially during the summer months, so book ahead. A list of hotels, guest houses, and campsites, as well as general tourist information and places to eat, can all be found on the Sark Tourism site. See sark.co.uk

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HEALTH & WELLNESS

Going south for surgery

when medical tourism seems like the only answer ď § BY DEBORAH WILSON

H

ospital San Javier shares a building with a casino in a posh suburb a short drive north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Inside, the corridors are hushed and spotless, so new there aren’t even scuff marks on the floors. I was there to see Pa i Saure e from BC’s Shuswap area, a er her weight-loss surgery the day before. Saure e suggested I introduce myself to a mother and daughter from Vancouver Island, staying just a couple of rooms over from hers.

By coincidence, Nanci Walsh and her 21-year-old daughter Brie Puleston had travelled from their home in Sooke for the same operation as Saure e, on the same day, with the same bariatric surgeon. It was impossible to ignore the irony: Three-quarters of Dr. Alejandro Lopez’s surgical cases that day were patients from British Columbia, receiving the very same procedure that is covered under our public health insurance plan.

The vertical sleeve gastrectomy is a popular option for weight-loss surgery. About 80 per cent of the stomach is removed and the rest stapled and sutured into a small pouch that limits food intake and reduces production of the hunger-stimulating hormone Ghrelin. The “sleeve,” as it’s called, is recognized as an effective treatment for people with morbid obesity and its complications, such as diabetes and hypertension. So why are British Columbians travelling to other countries and paying out of pocket for this and other kinds of surgery?

53

A long wait Many bariatric surgery candidates despair of the years-long waiting list and the small number of surgeries performed in BC. Walsh never even made it onto the list. She didn’t feel strong enough to lose her extra 150 pounds on her own.

Her first and only meeting with a Victoria bariatric surgeon in Victoria crushed her hopes for help close to home. Her family had endured a series of crises, including her husband’s catastrophic injury in a workplace accident and her father’s death. The surgeon suggested her overeating was triggered by depression or stress. “He basically looked at me a er talking for a whole 20 minutes and said he didn’t think I was a candidate,” Walsh says.

Then Puleston’s weight increased alarmingly, by 150 pounds, due to a hormonal deficiency. Breathing became painful and climbing stairs, impossible. Puleston’s suffering spurred Walsh to act. “I couldn’t watch her go through this anymore,” she says. She would not go back to the Victoria surgeon, couldn’t get the operation privately in Canada, and the cost in the US was out of reach. In online obesity forums, she learned the popular “sleeve” procedure was widely available in Mexico for about $5,000, a fraction of the cost in Canada, including everything but the airfare. Puleston recalls, “I was scared, but I said ‘Okay, I’ll do it with you, Mom.’” Stories like Walsh and Puleston’s are familiar to Valorie

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54

Crooks. An associate professor of geography, she heads the Simon Fraser University Medical Tourism Research Group.

Although the only visible marks of these women’s sleeve procedures are a few small laparoscopic incisions, “You just described a patient going for a very invasive procedure,” Crooks says. “That’s intimidating to borderline scary.”

Motivated to seek foreign treatment Bariatric surgery is just one of the procedures that Canadians seek out at their own expense in countries around the globe.

Crooks says that no one knows the actual numbers of medical tourists worldwide, and no one is systematically tracking how many Canadians are among them.

American institutions such as the renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota have been treating Canadians for decades.

Treatments sought by Canadians now include hip and knee resurfacing in India; experimental vein angioplasty treatments for multiple sclerosis; dental implants in Costa Rica; and many more. While wait times for certain surgeries have been assumed to be the main reason for Canadians to seek treatment abroad, the SFU researchers identified other motivators, such as lower costs for services not covered by insurance, and procedures that are unavailable — or even illegal — in Canada.

According to the SFU group’s research, prospective medical tourists have a troubling lack of access to neutral, independent information about the treatments they’re seeking. In interviews

 Journalist Deborah Wilson received a journalism award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to investigate medical tourism.

55

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with 32 Canadian patients, they concluded that the market for medical tourism “is largely mediated through the Internet.”

Most medical tourists had made their decisions based on word-of-mouth, testimonials, and online forums. A significant number rely on medical tourism facilitators to advise and arrange surgical and travel packages, but the researchers found in a review of 17 Canadian facilitators’ websites that half the sites contained no discussion of surgical risks, and the rest downplayed the possibility.

Considering the dangers The risks are real. An Alberta study on medical tourism in bariatric surgery, led by Dr. Daniel Birch, documented 10 cases of serious complications among returning medical tourists during the course of a year in one Edmonton hospital. Drawing from news reports, University of Minnesota bioethicist Leigh Turner identified 26 deaths of medical tourists who received cosmetic or bariatric surgery. Half of those surgeries were in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

Rory Johnston, a geography PhD candidate and member of the SFU research group, says the big risk for medical tourists is that in an unfamiliar country, “patients can’t gauge the quality of care. There are some excellent physicians, there are some terrible physicians.” When the patients come back to Canada, unless there’s an emergency, the family physician might not have any record of the out-of-country care. When Johnston interviewed Canadian doctors whose patients participated in

medical tourism, some reported they weren’t told in advance of their patients’ plans. One doctor only learned about it upon discovering a new surgical scar during a physical examination.

Taking a supportive viewpoint When Walsh and Puleston told their family doctor they were considering surgery in Mexico, they were surprised by his support.

Dr. Greg McDougall’s nuanced view of medical tourism was shaped by his years practicing in clinics in Qatar, Vietnam and Chad. Patients needing specialized treatment were airli ed to centres such as the renowned Bumrungrad hospital in Thailand. More recently, three of his own friends went to the US for prostate surgery at their own expense to obtain a more advanced procedure with more up-to-date equipment than what’s available here.

Dr. McDougall has watched trends shi in recent years in the types of procedures patients seek outside Canada, from hip surgery, to vein angioplasty for MS, to the current appetite for weight loss surgery. “The situation at the moment is the system cannot accommodate the need,” he says.

Back home on the Island, Walsh and Puleston adjust to the diet and lifestyle changes that come with the sleeve surgery.

Before leaving Puerto Vallarta, Walsh vowed, “we both know we’re never going to ruin this. This is for life.” A er six months, Puleston tells me her mother is 75 pounds lighter. Puleston herself has lost 111 pounds. “I’m back in skinny jeans,” she says.

PE

57

FOOD & WINE

you can can it!

You could get your salsa, raspberry jam and pickles at the supermarket, but if you’re serious about local food, or knowing what’s in the food you eat, you’ll want to preserve some of the local harvest.  BY CINDA CHAVICH

58

WE HAVE MOVED!

I

t’s something our grandparents understood. We now rely heavily on imported food, but there was a time when having fruits and vegetables in your diet throughout the winter depended on the kinds of preserves you put up in your pantry during the summer and fall.

Home canning is a skill that may have skipped a generation or two, but with more people interested in sustainable living, growing their own vegetable gardens, and gleaning the fruit from trees in their neighbourhoods, it’s back in

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fashion. This summer, Sustainable Saanich joined with the LifeCycles Project Society to offer basic canning classes, and chef David Mincey stepped out of his own Circle Canning kitchen to offer courses at Cook Culture.

Home canning isn’t difficult as long as you follow some basic rules. At his classes, chef Mincey doesn’t hand out recipes — rather, he teaches a kind of freestyle, DIY canning method.

Mincey calls himself a “master canner” and says he learned preserving from his parents, then put it to good use canning everything from pickled local mushrooms and asparagus to salsify for his locally-inspired restaurant. Now, with his wife Paige, Mincey produces 45 different products and sells them at city markets, from his popular chimichurri to smoky salsa, spicy chocolate mole sauce, caponata and addictive antipasto.

CINDA’S SALSA

Make this salsa in September, when the farmers’ markets are overflowing with cheap and delicious flats of ripe tomatoes and multicoloured hot and sweet peppers. Proudly serve it on its own as an appetizer with tortilla chips, or pre y it up for Christmas gi s. From The Girl Can’t Cook by Cinda Chavich (Whitecap Books).

8 cups (2 l) chopped plum tomatoes, about 3 lbs (1.5 kg) 4 cups (1 l) chopped banana peppers (medium hot), seeds removed 1 cup (250 ml) chopped jalapeño or serrano peppers (hot), seeds removed 2 cups (500 ml) chopped onions 1 cup (250 ml) cider vinegar ½ cup (125 ml) chopped red bell pepper ½ cup (125 ml) chopped yellow bell pepper 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 5½-oz (156-ml) can tomato paste 2 tbsp (25 ml) sugar 1 tbsp (15 ml) salt 2 tsp (10 ml) Hungarian paprika 2 tsp (10 ml) dried oregano ½ cup (125 ml) chopped cilantro 2 tsp (10 ml) Asian chili paste, or to taste

60

Start with a large, stainless steel pot. Chop all ingredients into relatively uniform, ¼" (5-mm) dice. Wear surgical gloves while chopping hot peppers and don’t touch your face or eyes — these babies burn!

In the pot, combine all ingredients except cilantro and Asian chili paste. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring o en to prevent sticking. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 1–2 hours, until the salsa is thickened to your liking. You want it to be scoopable, not runny.

Remove from heat and stir in chopped cilantro. Add enough Asian chili paste to make the salsa as hot as you like it. The recipe changes from year to year, as peppers have different levels of heat, depending on how they have been grown, so be sure to taste.

When you’re satisfied with the flavour and texture, prepare the jars. Use 1-cup (250-ml) canning jars with two-part metal lids. Using a wide-mouthed funnel to guide you, ladle the salsa into the jars, leaving ¼" (5 mm) of head space at the top to allow for expansion. Wipe the top edge of the jars with a clean cloth, centre the lids on top and tighten the screw bands to “fingertip” tight.

Place the jars in a canning ke le filled with boiling water. The water must be a couple of inches above the tops of the jars. Return the water to a rolling boil and process for 20 minutes.

Remove and allow to cool. Your salsa will keep in a cool, dark place for a year or more. Refrigerate a er opening.

Makes about 8 cups (2 l) of salsa. You can easily double or triple the recipe.

1 0 1 g n i n n ca

With the right equipment, home canning is simple, but you need to follow a few basic rules to ensure your canned food is safe to consume.

INGREDIENTS: Start with fresh, unblemished, topquality fruits and vegetables for the best results. A little under-ripe is better than overripe. Use a shallow, wide preserving pan to cook your jams and chutneys — it allows for faster reduction and fresher-tasting fruits.

WATER BATH CANNER: Only fruits and acidic vegetables like tomatoes are safe to can at home in a water-bath canner — temperatures are too low to safely can meats, poultry, fish, and most vegetables. However, if you are pickling or using sufficient vinegar or lemon juice in your recipe to reduce the pH of your mixture below 4.6, it can be safely canned.

JARS: Buy new jars with two-piece metal lids. Old jars may be reused, but must be washed well and rinsed in boiling water. Keep jars hot in a low oven before filling.

Boil lids to soften sealing compound.

FILLING: Cook jams, salsas and chutneys to gel stage or preferred thickness, then ladle into jars (using a large, plastic funnel makes it easier) and leave ¼–½" head space for expansion during processing. For dill pickles or whole fruits, you can “cold pack” jars, then pour the hot, acidified pickling liquid or sugar syrup over top. Wipe the rims with a clean cloth before placing the metal lids on the jars to ensure a good seal.

PROCESSING: Fill a large canning kettle two-thirds full of water, cover, and bring to a boil. Arrange your filled jars in the basket and submerge in the boiling water. The water must be at least 1–2" above the tops of the jars.

Cover the canner and when the water comes back to a full rolling boil, start timing — 10 minutes is enough for most jams and pickles, but go longer if you’re using very large jars. Use a jar lifter to remove the jars from the canner and set on a kitchen towel to cool. You should hear the lids pop (snap down) and seal. Remove the metal bands to check that the jars have sealed before storing in a cool, dark place.

61

“Once you understand the process, there’s so much flexibility to play around with ingredients.”

GROW IT OR GLEAN IT

Keeping it safe

Sustainable Saanich and LifeCycles are commi ed to creating “a culture that supports, fosters and cultivates local food production in our region.” But even if you don’t have a backyard filled with food — or the cash to buy fresh food to preserve — you can volunteer with the LifeCycles Fruit Tree project and get some canned fruit in your pantry.

“Last year 300 volunteers picked 39,000 pounds of fruit — the weight of three full-grown orca whales — from the vast urban orchard we have here in Victoria backyards,” says Jeane e Sheehy of LifeCycles.

The non-profit began harvesting backyard fruit trees in James Bay in 1996.

Now, the full-scale fruit harvest program includes 150 backyard trees with 200 more on the waiting list. The system is simple: sign up with a fruit tree that needs picking and volunteers will come pick the fruit, with the bounty split three ways between the homeowner, the pickers, and LifeCycles. LifeCycles donates its fruit to other non-profits to feed Victoria’s less fortunate, and raises money by providing fruit for local products, from Spinnaker’s Apple Cider Vinegar to Sea Cider’s Perry.

If the product inside the jar has a pH below 4.6, it’s acidic enough to prevent botulinum bacteria if processed in a hot water bath canner, so just acidify your preserves properly and the sky’s the limit, Mincey says.

“If you’re using vinegar at all in your recipe it’s good,” he says, noting a pH test with litmus paper can quickly quell any concerns. “Once you understand the process, there’s so much flexibility to play around with ingredients.”

Canning books have strict instructions about measurements and canning times, but Mincey says most err so far on the side of caution that they lead to overly acidic and over-cooked products.

“It does not ma er how much sugar — or anything else, for that ma er — you add to a salsa; if you’ve added two cups of vinegar, it will always have basically the same pH and that is the crucial concern,” he says. “Your concern here is to mitigate the acidic flavour of the vinegar, not its pHenhancing effects. Everything else is just to adjust the taste to your liking.”

When it comes to jams and jellies, fruits have enough natural acidity to be safe.

Gelling depends on the amount of natural pectin in the fruit and the amount of sugar used: start with equal amounts and boil to gel stage, or use less sugar and add pectin.

Mincey shares his secrets A piece of advice from Mincey: don’t worry about filling hot jars with hot jam or chutney. If you let it cool first, filling jars is easier (though it will take longer to get the processing ke le back to boiling temperature). And never process your pickles or chutneys longer than 10 minutes.

Mincey also reminds canners to be patient — most pickles require several months to properly “cure” in the jar, chilies take time to “activate” and pickling spice continues to increase in flavour for 8–12 months. Some chutneys, he says, only reach their peak flavour a er two years.

Unless you have your own garden produce and fruit trees, you might not save money by home canning, but you’ll know what you’re eating, he says. You’ll have delicious homemade salsa and sunny peach jam that speaks of summer in the dead of winter.

And you’ll get that unique satisfaction that comes from lining up your jars of sweet mixed pickles in the pantry, or giving them to friends for gi s. If you’re not careful, canning can even become an obsession.

“Oh, yes, the canning geeks,” says Mincey, intimating he might fall into that category. “Once people do it, it can be unbelievably satisfying, to the point of addiction.”

6622

CLASSIC BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES Chef David Mincey offers this recipe for a family favourite. Any le over brine can be mixed with an equal part of olive oil for a tasty salad dressing.

10 lbs (4.5 kg) small English cucumbers 1 cup (250 ml) kosher salt 16 cups (4 l) white vinegar 16 cups (4 l) sugar 3 lbs (1.3 kg) red bell

pepper, finely julienned 3 lbs (1.3 kg) yellow onion, finely julienned 1 tbsp (15 ml) ground turmeric 1 tbsp (15 ml) mustard seed 1 tbsp (15 ml) celery seed

Slice cucumber in rounds ⅛" thick. A mandoline works well for this. Place in a large bowl and toss well with salt.

Let sit for 1 hour, then drain water off but do not rinse.

In a large, stainless steel stock pot, place all other ingredients and bring to a boil. Continue to boil until onions are translucent and so .

Add cucumbers and mix well. Return to boil until cucumbers have turned from bright green to olive green.

Pickles are now ready to can.

Using a slo ed spoon, fill canning jars with hot pickle, making sure each jar is well packed but not too firmly. Stir regularly to ensure the spices get distributed to each jar.

Top up each jar with hot brine to within ¼" of the rim. Wipe rims with a clean cloth and place a heated seal and ring on jar and screw down to finger-tight.

Process jars in a hot water bath for exactly 10 minutes.

Remove and allow to cool overnight.

The next day, remove ring, wash jar and ring, and dry both of them, then replace ring for storage.

Alternative: Make a “fridge pickle” — simply pack chopped vegetables in a jar, pour hot brine over top, and refrigerate for two weeks, no cooking required. The pickles need to stay in the fridge.

63

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3

FRONT ROW  BY ROBERT MOYES

VICTORIA GETS RIFF-ROCKED

 Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros will be one of the headliners at this year’s Rifflandia music festival.

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According to music promoter Nick Blasko, the “aha moment” happened nearly a decade ago when he was in Reykjavik, Iceland at a music festival that had mostly local performers but was attracting an international audience. With that and a few other events as models, Blasko and his Atomique Productions partner Dimitri Demers decided to launch their own leading-edge rock festival in Victoria.

The result, the Nordic-sounding Rifflandia, debuted six years ago on a $75,000 budget. That fledgling festival has grown into a huge success: attendance has jumped tenfold to 15,000, the budget now xxx  xxxxx tops a million dollars, and over 160 bands will perform at 17 different venues. Even sweeter, xxxxxxxx agents and promoters from all over North America are phoning Blasko, desperate to get their acts booked into what is now seen as one of Canada’s hippest festivals. Aside from the chance to hear a diverse array of emerging and established indie artists — this year’s notables include Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Stars, Waaves, and James Murphy — Rifflandia has a progressive cultural component that includes onsite showcasing of art and technology, as well as their own lively and provocative magazine.

And this year they debut Thinklandia, what Blasko calls a “festival of imagination” that will be based on crowd-sourced ideas. “We still aren’t really making a profit from Rifflandia,” admits the hard-working promoter, who says that he and several staff put a “crazy” amount of time and energy into the project.

Their dream is to leave Victoria with a unique legacy festival with international cachet. “We add to the quality of life for the many Victorians who are really into music,” adds Blasko. “That’s the reward.”

Running from September 12–15 at multiple venues. For information, see rifflandia.com.

 Lori Escalera, returning for 2013, creates an image of a young Queen Victoria as a tribute to the city’s 150th anniversary in 2012.

CHALK UP ANOTHER ONE

When it comes to making downtown Victoria an interesting and family-friendly place to visit, nobody stands as tall as John Vickers. Not content with founding the Buskers Festival, Vickers launched the Victoria International Chalk Art Festival in 2012, and is offering a much larger sophomore version for this year. “Aside from the original footprint along Government Street, which we hope to expand southwards, we’re also moving into Centennial Square,” says Vickers. “The event is now partially themed around First Nations, and includes a music stage, chalk art making for both adults and children, and a food village.” Up to 20 First Nations artists will be mentored by world-renowned 3D chalk artist Tracy Lee Stum, prior to creating their own 3D works around the Square’s fountain.

According to Vickers, up to 50 chalk artists will be in attendance, with nearly 20 of those being international stars of this approachable art form. He estimates that up to 15,000 people thronged the debut last year, and expects to double attendance this time around. “This has become Canada’s biggest chalk art event,” Vickers says. “After really transforming Government Street last year, the incredible reaction we received makes it obvious that people want a downtown they can celebrate in.”

Running September 14-15 on the “Old Town” stretch of Government Street and at Centennial Square. For information, see victoriachalkfestival.com.

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 Sheep shearing, miniature horses, and hay rides are some of the many rural sights to see at Metchosin Day.

A DAY IN THE COUNTRY

Started as a community barbecue in BC’s centennial year way back in 1967, Metchosin Day has grown into the region’s most charming — and most deliberately old-fashioned — fall fair. Attracting up to 6,000 visitors, the all-free Metchosin Day is “a real community event,” in the words of long-time coordinator Mary Gidney. “It’s like going back in time.” A showcase of local talent and all things rural, it boasts 110 vendors, all-day musical entertainment on the main stage, a pancake breakfast put on

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by local Scouts, a “pet contest” featuring everything from iguanas to miniature horses, sheep shearing, bike jumping, the hay ride, a beer garden, the everpopular dunk tank, and much more. And those friendly vendors sell everything from plants to produce and native art to honey, fudge, and flowers. “And the dinner barbecue is always a highlight,” Gidney notes. “For $15 you get lamb, salmon, corn, coleslaw, and watermelon.”

A proud Metchosinite for nearly three

decades, Gidney cherishes the heartfelt simplicity of the event, which nearly always offers warm sunshine as locals and visitors meet and mingle in a relaxed setting. “It shows what a great community this is,” adds Gidney. “As the son of a friend once said, ‘It’s better than Christmas!’”

September 8, 10 am–7 pm, on the field behind the Fire Hall at 4450 Happy Valley Road. For information, call Mary Gidney at 250-474-6145.

 Crowds fill Royal Athletic Park at last year’s Great Canadian Beer Festival, held this year from September 6–7.

SUDS IN THE SUN

Despite Victoria’s proliferation of roses and rhodos and hanging baskets, this city could just as easily be called the city of beer gardens — with none more notable than the Great Canadian Beer Festival, coming gloriously into flower this September 6–7. The GCBF has long had a far-flung reputation, with 20 per cent of its 9,000 tipplers coming from out of town — including many from as far away as Australia, England, and Germany.

Although dwarfed by some monster beer fests, the GCBF is prized internationally because it focuses exclusively on socalled craft beer: interesting versions of ales, porters, IPAs and stouts lovingly made by hand in small batches. “We’ve selected 61 breweries this year, up from 57 last year,” says GCBF chairman Gerry Hieter. “And at least 10 of those are new to the festival … mostly brand new microbreweries from all over BC.” There are also a half-dozen notable American suds merchants in the lineup. Aside from all that great beer, the GCBF is also known for providing quality music, such as party-hearty marching band Bučan Bučan. And thanks to a strong presence of police and security, the popular festival has always been a model of, if not sobriety, then civility and harmless fun. “We only threw out 20 people last year … and half of those were for smoking marijuana,” says Hieter. “Our younger attendees have grown up with craft beer and don’t come out just to get drunk,” he adds. “There are way cheaper ways to do that.”

Running September 6–7 at Royal Athletic Park. Although tickets sold out online in literally 10 minutes, the truly desperate can consult scalpers or Craigslist.

PEERS needs 800 Community Champions PEERS is the only registered charity on Vancouver Island operating a drop-in centre and street outreach program for sex workers.

On August 16 we closed our drop-in centre (hot lunches, peer counseling, doctor, nurse, trauma healing, addiction recovery, life skills, preemployment training, housing assistance, crisis response, post-assault support & liaising with police).

Do you believe in safety from violence, access to basic resources, and equal justice before the law?

We need 800 champions to commit $20/mo to operate our drop-in centre and safeguard critical services.

Please make a monthly tax deductible donation to PEERS.

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250.388.5325 champions@peers.bc.ca peers.bc.ca 69

 Take a magical trip with a young female academic when she dreams her way into two of Shakespeare’s plays.

MESSING WITH THE BARD

Acknowledged as a Canadian classic when it first appeared in 1988, Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) earned her three awards, including a Governor General’s Literary Award. “It’s one of this country’s great plays … it’s funny and witty and has this Shakespeare-meets-BugsBunny quality that is irresistible,” says actor-turned-director Ron Jenkins, who’s flying in from Edmonton to undertake his fourth directorial assignment for the Belfry. Usually described as a subconscious voyage of self-discovery, Goodnight features a protagonist, Constance Ledbelly, who is a young professor of English literature. Although convinced that the Bard’s most famous tragedies, Othello and Romeo and Juliet, were originally comedies, the timid Constance is afraid of revealing her theory to skeptics such as her supervisor at Queen’s University. Then she has a dream that changes everything. “Constance goes down this wormhole and ends up in the plays themselves,” explains Jenkins, who adds that Goodnight has a lot of situational slapstick comedy.

“Ann-Marie took her cue from Shakespeare’s own comedic style, so there is lots of plot confusion, mistaken identities, crossdressing, and other conventions,” he says. “Everything that makes Shakespeare’s writing so great, she put into her own play.”

Although best known for novels such as Fall on Your Knees and The Way the Crow Flies, MacDonald started out as a talented actor — background that, according to Jenkins, gave her useful insights when she wrote what remains her most popular play. “She was young and precocious … and wrote something that is fantastically funny and entertaining,” he says.

Running from September 16–October 20. For details, see belfry.bc.ca.

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PLANTING PEACE: Two-part evening event featuring Dr. Will Tuttle, author of World Peace Diet and recipient of the Peace Abbey “Courage of Conscience Award.” With music and light refreshments. September 1–2, 7–9 pm, Ukrainian Culture Centre, 250.721.1101.

SAMSAR A — A DANCE JOURNEY: Inspired by choreographer Nath Keo’s year as a Buddhist monk in Cambodia, this unique choreography explores the cycles of birth, love, sickness, suffering, death and rebirth. September 7, 8 pm, McPherson Playhouse, sacredcentredance.com.

2013 K AYAK FOR A CURE VICTORIA: Kayak for a Cure, in support of InspireHealth’s mission to raise funding for cancer research, launches from Willows Beach in Oak Bay. September 8, 8:30 am–2 pm, Willows Beach, kayakforacure.org/events/victoria/.

BC SPCA PAWS FOR A CAUSE: Invite your friends, family and furry friends to join you in fundraising for the nearly 29,000 animals helped by the BC SPCA each year, then come out and celebrate your hard work with us! September 8, 10 am, Clover Point, spca.bc.ca/walk.

SOFA SITTERS OF VICTORIA: Diana Durrand has created over 40 images of abandoned sofas and chairs found in the boulevards and streets of Victoria, photographed with passing dogs and beautifully hand-coloured with chalk pastel. Opening September 13, 7 pm–9 pm. September 12–September 24 , 8 am–9 pm daily, Arts Centre at Cedar Hill, 250.388.3689, dianadurrand.com.

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JAMES BAY ART WALK: Eighteen painters, potters, photographers, and crafters of wood and plant material invite you to their studios to see what they do all year. September 14–15, 11 am–5pm, James Bay neighbourhood, 250.383.7914, jamesbayartwalk.ca.

AB FAB TWO: The return of Ab Fab Show features fabulous abstracts by Corre Alice, Jan Henry, Carolyn Kowalyk and Alison Watt. Discover why these colourful and intricate paintings are so popular with art lovers. September 17–28, Red Art Gallery, 250.881.0462, redartgallery.ca.

FISHING WITH THE DUNSMUIRS: Victoria Historical Society presents historian Dr. Diana Pedersen, who will discuss a newly discovered diary that records impressions of coastal settlements and days of fishing and camping with the Dunsmuirs.

September 26, 7:30 pm, James Bay New Horizons Centre, victoriahistoricalsociety.bc.ca.

VICTORIA VINTAGE EXPO: An epic event featuring a bestdressed contest and an abundance of vendors with vintage and retro clothing, textiles, housewares, decor, and upcycled vintage.

September 27–28, 5 pm–9 pm and 11 am–5pm, Crystal Garden, 250.661.9201, victoriavintageexpo.com.

SOUL LINES: Soul Lines Wellness Retreat empowers women to be in control of their own health and wellness through purposeful nutrition, fitness, yoga, and more. A full day of education on mind, body, and beauty. September 29, 9 am–5 pm, English Inn, 250.217.0214, musclelines.com.

Visit our website, blvdmag.ca, to submit arts and culture event details online. Listings for the October issue must be received by September 8 to be considered for inclusion.

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Se BO m U LE in V ar A R W D in ne r

TRAVEL NEAR

ď § BY LINDA BAKER

Radiating colour Chihuly rules Pacific Northwest glass art

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I

f colour is my drug of choice, then the exquisite glass art of the Pacific Northwest is my all-time high. I am in awe of the partalchemists and part-artists who fashion dripping molten glass into magical shapes, colours and sizes that confound and delight.

With the inspiration and innovation of worldrenowned Tacoma-born artist Dale Chihuly, and now more glassblowing hot shops than the island of Murano itself, it’s clear some of the world’s most beautiful glass art radiates from the Puget Sound region.

  PHOTO CREDIT: TACOMA REGIONAL CONVENTION & VISITOR BUREAU

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Seattle: exploring the new Chihuly Garden and Glass To say Chihuly is a glass artist is like saying Michelangelo carves rocks.

His creations have inspired audiences around the world — at the Louvre in Paris, the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, London, the Bellagio in Las Vegas, and even the bridges in Venice, the very birthplace of glass artistry, to name a few. His mind works in wondrous ways, and just when you think the envelope of this medium has been pushed to its edge, he and his collaborators push it further.

Opened in 2012, Chihuly Garden and Glass, found beside the Space Needle at Sea le Center, is the most comprehensive collection of Chihuly’s work. Chihuly himself oversaw every 74

detail, repurposing the Sea le Centre Exhibition Hall into eight galleries and three Drawing Walls, even contributing some of his personal collections — everything from vintage radios and cameras to toys and cast-iron dogs — to theme and adorn the on-site restaurant fi ingly called Collections Café.

Each gallery is devoted to a separate series of Chihuly’s work — from Cylinders and nesting Baskets backdropped by part of his collection of American Indian trade blankets, and stellar displays of his signature Chandeliers, to his slumped glass Macchia. All his series are spectacular, full of unusual shapes and translucent colours, and carefully lit against a darkened room so every nuance reaches out and touches you.

But one gallery, his Mille Fiori — Italian for “a thousand flowers” —

installation, le me speechless and almost in tears. Each hand-blown glass planting on the pristine mirrored base was more fanciful, more colourful and more sparkling than the last. Totally unprepared for the raw energy of the exquisite saturated colours and light before me, I had to find a nearby bench to sit down before moving on.

At the galleries’ end, the artist’s lifelong fascination with glass conservatories manifests in the Chihuly-designed centerpiece, a soaring 12-metre (40 .) high Glasshouse featuring a 30-metre (100 .) long, ceiling-suspended flower and vinelike sculpture, part of his Persians series.

Vibrant reds, oranges, yellows, and ambers all overlook his glass plantings and sculptures in the surrounding gardens, which look eerily as if they’d actually emerged from the earth.

PHOTO CREDIT: LINDA BAKER

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 The vibrant Persian Ceiling at Chihuly Garden and Glass.

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Tacoma: immersed in Chihuly, from Union Station to the Hotel Murano Next stop: Tacoma, which turned out to be a great place for strolling and viewing glass art. Chihuly’s work — some commissioned, much donated by him — is the single biggest driver behind the city’s transformation into a significant cultural destination. Even the new LeMay–America’s Car Museum, displays glass car hood ornaments hand-blown in the hot shop of the nearby Museum of Glass.

The focal point of the revitalized Museum District is the restored Union Station with its huge, domed, light-filled interior housing five different Chihuly installations. I loved Lakawanna Ikebana, a twisted tangle of glass flowers reaching out of openings in a huge, circular metal grid. And the brilliant oranges of the Monarch Window’s Persian

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PHOTO CREDIT: LINDA BAKER

spinners reflect and flu er like bu erflies on the floor below every time a train rumbles past.

From there it’s an easy stroll across the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, its twin 12-metre (40 .) blue Crystal Towers visible for miles, fulfilling Chihuly’s vision for a welcoming gateway to his beloved Tacoma. In the sunlight, the quirky shapes and colours of Chihuly’s Venetian and Ikebana sculptures sparkle along the Bridge’s Venetian Wall, and overlapping Seaforms and Persians nestle in the glassceilinged portion of the bridge.

The Arthur Erickson-designed Museum of Glass sits at the other end of the Bridge. Its iconic 27-metre (90 .) tilted cone is reminiscent of the beehive burners once at mills do ing the city, and houses the museum’s hot shop, where you can sit for hours as teams of glassblowers make magic out of molten glass. Rotating displays showcase world-class glass artists, and a theatre and hands-on

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workshop bring visitors close to the glass-making action.

The Gi s from the Artist gallery at the Tacoma Art Museum is a serene and magical space full of Chihuly’s work.

It makes a relaxing place to sit and view short videos about Chihuly and glassmaking, and to listen to parts of the Museum’s free Ear for Art audio tour describing Chihuly art around the city.

The luxury boutique Hotel Murano in Tacoma is itself an international glass art showcase, displaying 45 pieces of glass art from emerging and established glass artists around the world. Full-size glass boats hang from the ceiling and a cast glass antique dress graces the lobby, while each guest floor features a different glass artist, complete with perfectly lit displays and photos of the artists working.

Even the iconic Swiss Pub, housed in a restored 1913 brick building, features eight of Chihuly’s Venetians atop its

antique bar. “Dale and his crew came here every day for lunch while doing the 1994 installation at Union Station, so we thought maybe they’d give us a small piece at the end,” says owner Jack McQuade. “But Dale offered me these.

Amazing!”

More than Chihuly Chihuly has lived in the region for years, and his influence is legendary. The Pilchuck Glass School he co-founded north of Sea le in 1971 is now the best in the world; he helped establish Hilltop Artists, providing free hot glass training and arts mentoring for youth in Tacoma aimed at violence prevention and youth intervention; and he visits Chihuly Garden and Glass every week or so, cha ing with people and enjoying lunch in the Collections Café. But he’s just the most visible of the thousands of Puget Sound artists, glassblowing studios, hot shops, museum displays and

public installations inspired by his collaborative methods, generosity, and willingness to push the boundaries of perhaps the most challenging of all art mediums.

“No other material gives you colour like glass does,” says Chihuly. “No other material has the ability to take in light and radiate out colour like glass.” No wonder I’m addicted.

Linda Baker participated in Boulevard’s travel writing seminar this spring, winning the draw for a hosted trip to the Hotel Murano in Tacoma provided by Provenance Hotels.

If You Go

chihulygardenandglass.com traveltacoma.com hotelmuranotacoma.com seattle.cbslocal.com/top-lists/bestplaces-for-glass-art-in-seattle/

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FINANCE

Talking with Tess  BY TESS VAN STRAATEN

featuring Gwyn Morgan

H

E’S HAD A 45-YEAR CAREER as one of the most powerful

businessmen in Canada. As president and CEO of energy giant EnCana, Gwyn Morgan ran the largest natural gas company in North America. The multi-millionaire pioneered fracking, served on dozens

of boards — most notably as SNC-Lavalin board chairman — was inducted into the Order of Canada and has received no less than six honourary degrees. Tess van Straaten sat down with this now semi-retired corporate kingpin and former “CEO of the Year” at his sprawling waterfront estate in Greater Victoria.

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 You’ve certainly come a long way from your rural Alberta upbringing in a house without electricity or running water. What do you attribute to your success?

When you have people that are passionate about what they do, and you select them carefully, and you make sure they align with your values, and they’re ambitious and dedicated and capable, it’s really hard to stop an organization from being successful. I’ve always sort of thought my success was fundamentally around that. That was the underlying foundation.  You were also a risk-taker, pioneering fracking decades before anyone else was even talking about it. Why did you build the business around unconventional natural gas? It became clear to me that we had no competitive advantage in our conventional oil and gas business. We were doing what everyone else was doing. But over the years, we had built a competitive advantage in the unconventional, so we started to focus mainly on that and when we did — applying all our talents and efforts to the unconventional resource base — we quickly grew into North America’s largest gas producer. Part of success is deciding what you’re really good at and doing it. If you’re just another competitor in a wide field of competitors with no sustainable competitive advantage, you’re not going to be successful.  What do you think of the BC Liberals much-hyped LNG plan?

The scale of these resources here and the ability to get them to the Asian market is a tremendous advantage. The numbers are staggering and the potential is huge in terms of resource revenues, expenditures, and spin-off jobs. It really boggles my mind. People are talking about $15 billion and that’s just one project. The numbers are hard to fathom but they’re realistic.

The big unknown right now is timing. Opportunity doesn’t knock forever and other countries are moving on this. We have to cut the red tape. We can’t have everybody opposing every pipeline and natural gas plant and we can’t get caught up in a Northern Gateway-type disaster or this will never be realized.

 To another front-page topic — the SNC-Lavalin scandal. [Gwyn stepped down as board chair after the company was rocked by bribery scandals]. What did that teach you? It emphasized the difference between being CEO and a board member. When you’re CEO, you know what’s going on and everything is at your disposal. When you’re on a board, every bit of information you get comes from the company, so you have this fundamental limitation. The most troubling thing of being a board member, or even a shareholder, is that if a small group of highly placed people set out to commit crimes deliberately, it’s very difficult to detect. We’ve seen that all over the world — banks losing billions of dollars overnight. That’s an unse ling thing but it’s a reality.

79

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 What’s been your biggest mistake? In the late ’90s, we bought a company in Ecuador. We knew it was a difficult country, but we thought it could be good for us and the country. We set out to clean up the damage that had previously been done in the rainforest, we set up a foundation, we had the only medical clinic in the area, and we were doing lots of good stuff. But the more we succeeded, the more the government took and at the end of the day, my shareholders said to me, “Gwyn, what are you doing all this for?” We had to cut our losses and we managed to get out without too big a bath, but it was a big distraction. There’s no doubt it was my biggest mistake.

 So if I gave you $100,000 right now, how would you invest it?

I’d look for property to purchase or new business opportunities along the natural gas corridors to the Pacific. A lot of people think about the pipelines, the plants, but the major opportunity in Northern BC is going to be for small- to medium-sized businesses because there’s no way these projects can go ahead without changing these li le towns into cities — and that involves infrastructure, it involves business. It’s a massive transformation and if we’re right about this, it’s going to be staggering.  And the biggest money lesson you learned in your 45year career? You never want to become overly optimistic to the point you over-leverage your business.

I always looked at our debt program as being able to be sustained even if we had dramatic price reductions, and that fundamentally means growth has to be mainly through equity rather than debt. If you can’t find enough equity to grow, then grow slower. It’s a lesson that applies to everything — it’s so fundamental.

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This interview has been condensed and edited.

Tess van Straaten is an award-winning journalist, television personality and fourth-generation Victoria native.

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DRIVING TO DISTRACTION  BY STUART EASTWOOD

“I’d just hung up my cell and picked up my coffee when I hit a moose.” The friend who told me this was fortunate to survive.

Sadly, the same cannot be said of the moose — a casualty of preoccupied and ina entive driving. Insurance Corporation of British Columbia statistics hold that distracted driving is responsible for just over a quarter of all fatal crashes.

Understanding and recognizing the most common driving distractions is the first step toward positive behaviour changes that will reduce the chances of being involved in a crash.

There are three classifications of distraction: visual — taking your eyes off the road; manual — taking your hands off the steering wheel; and cognitive — not concentrating on what you are doing. Many in-car activities compromise a ention across all three impairments — compounding the risk factor many times over.

JUST DROP IT! — CELL PHONES Despite provincial legislation prohibiting the use of handheld cellular phones, the 44,000 tickets issued in 2012 indicates the risks continue to be underestimated. A hand-held device acutely compromises all three previously noted markers of distraction.

Drivers who text while driving are 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash, according to research by the Canadian Automobile Association. Would you engage in any other activity that offered similar odds of disaster to yourself or loved ones?

There aren’t any valid reasons to use a hand-held device while driving. If you believe you must remain connected while driving, either invest in a hands-free device, or let your calls go to voicemail.

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“ARE WE THERE YET?” — CHILDREN Those four li le words are the first clue that indicates overwhelming boredom is along for the ride. Add demands for snacks and drinks, arguments between siblings, in-car sickness, and general irritability to the mix, and the driver’s a ention is

quickly compromised. A screaming child is designed to be distracting — he or she wants or needs something. Balancing a child’s needs against that of driving safely is the challenge.

The American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety research found that children are four times more distracting than adult passengers. Babies make it eight times harder to concentrate.

Whether a long journey or short, there are proven strategies to help all enjoy the experience. Allow plenty of time for the trip. Prepare children for the outing with everything they’ll need prior to se ing off. Take regular breaks from driving to stay fresh and give the kids an opportunity to run about. Carry travel games and books, and load all in-car electronic systems before entering traffic (such as CDs, DVDs, and navigation systems).

BUCKLE UP, FIDO — PETS Throughout warm weather, reminders from the police and the SPCA abound highlighting the potential disaster of leaving a loved pet in a hot car. While we recognize this risk, we rarely discuss the dangers of driving with an unsecured animal in the car. “Pets should be restrained just the same way as vehicle passengers,” believes Dr. Kirk Prince of the Central Victoria Veterinary Hospital. The use of an approved harness will prevent a pet from being thrown about in the event of an accident. All good pet stores offer a number of inexpensive and practicable ways to ensure your pet’s safety.

Why do so many people drive with animals on their laps?

Prince suggests “it’s likely an unconscious habit; the distraction not thought about.” Apart from giving you compromised control of the car, allowing a pet to travel with its head out the window is unwise, as eye and facial injuries can be sustained from the impacts of insects and road debris.

Legislation may be overdue in British Columbia.

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YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT — UNCONSIDERED DISTRACTIONS The importance of securing loose, distracting items within the car is proven by the death of Heather Story, 25, of Delta, BC. Involved in an otherwise survivable accident, Story died in 2009 as a result of being struck in the head by her unsecured laptop computer, which she’d le on the backseat.

Other unconsidered distractions include eating and drinking, personal grooming, smoking, reading, adjusting car controls, and listening to the car stereo at excessive volume. All too o en, we hear anecdotes about drivers shaving, kni ing, typing on a laptop and even playing musical instruments while operating a vehicle.

Reduce your in-car distractions and you become a be er driver. It’s challenging enough to drive a typical urban vehicle without adding unnecessary distractions. Give yourself — and the rest of us — every opportunity to conclude the journey without incident.

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TEMPORARY IDIOTS  BY JAN MACRAE  ILLUSTRATION SHELLEY DAVIES

“THAT TOOK GUTS; GOOD FOR YOU!” I blurt out to the remorseful teenager apologizing on the TV news.

When word of his party spread through social media, 100 bodies showed up (many unknown to him) and the party went wild. His parents returned to a very damaged home.

As the camera panned over to a broken window and other debris, the interviewer asked why he didn’t stop it. The reply: “Some of those guys are 23; I’m only 17! What could I do?” He ended with, “I’m so sorry. Even my grandma called me an idiot.”

At first, my grandma-self said, “Why didn’t he call the police?” Then my teenage-self answered. And I remembered.

STEPPING BACK TO 1959 A er three years in O awa — the longest my family stayed anywhere — my father, a naval officer, was transferred to Victoria. It was 1959; I was 15 (skip the math, please). Horrified to be leaving my friends and school, I became Our Lady of Perpetual Sobbing. I don’t recommend 84

this tactic in protesting a military order; it had no effect at all.

Arrival in the upscale Victoria neighbourhood was disturbing (to me). But the final assault was my new school.

On the first day I wore a long, full skirt and bobby socks, the standard for O awa’s Rideau High, to find a bevy of fashionistas in straight skirts and nylons. With seams.

Hoping to up my appearance a notch, I ripped off my glasses … then could barely stumble around. With a giggle, one girl asked about my accent. I didn’t realize there was an O awa Valley drawl, much less that I had one. Add in my being a year younger than most Grade 11s, and you have the Perfect Misfit.

In spite of myself, I made two friends. Hannah wasn’t part of the hardcore in crowd but neither was she out. My parents liked her. Then there was Carol. My mother said (imagine grimace) that she was coarse. Right. But with a Weird Alert on me, I couldn’t be picky.

One Friday night, Carol suggested we hang out at her place, but I’d been asked to look a er my 10-year-old sister while my parents went out. Negotiation wasn’t an option with my father, whose favourite words were obey and shipshape. “I’ll come to your place then,” said Carol. No seemed impossible. I didn’t tell my parents.

She arrived at 8:00; we played some records. About 8:30, the doorbell rang. Two guys and a girl I recognized from school.

Carol said, “I thought it would be okay if they came over.” One guy pulled a mickey of rum from his jacket. Soon another car arrived. Then a motorcycle. Another car. Older guys, girls, beer. More cars. About 30 bodies, most unknown to me, drinking, dancing, yelling, smoking, running upstairs and downstairs. Did I think of calling the police? Maybe. But I imagined repercussions from the kids if I did, then the wrath of my parents if I didn’t. Back and forth. One seemed as bad as the other. So … I froze and did nothing.

A CINEMATIC CONCLUSION Here, memory fades until the Grand Finale, which I still see in slow motion. In perfect synchrony, my parents pull up right behind the cops, who’d been called by a neighbour.

The two guys fighting with bo les on the front lawn don’t even notice at first. Bodies disappear like smoke out the back door. Someone’s thrown up on the carpet. Spilled beer, cigare e bu s, bo les. My li le sister hangs out her bedroom window screaming, “Help me!” And there’s idiot me, sick with apprehension, as the parent/cop tsunami rushes through the door. * * * So, young man on the TV news, your party went far wilder than mine. But some grandmas did dumb things as kids, too, even without social media. Two things I know: grandmas are pre y forgiving, and temporary idiots usually become decent adults. I hope you’re on your way.

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SECRETS & LIVES

BY SHANNON MONEO PHOTO BY DON DENTON

 Why did a Prairie boy come to rainforest Victoria from the deserts of Amman, Jordan? Two years ago, I had an offer to stay two more years in Jordan or return to Canada. After eight-and-a-half years abroad, it was time to be with family.  Where else have you worked? I started in Vancouver with Transport Canada in the early ’90s, when they were starting to divest airports, then Nanaimo and Abbotsford.

Then, I was recruited by Vancouver Airport Services to work in Montego Bay. Next was a new airport in Larnaca, Cyprus. That was a bit crazy, leaving Jamaica on a Friday and starting in Cyprus the following Tuesday.

Next was Jordan, 2008–11. Jamaica was certainly most challenging and rewarding.  How are your language skills? I’ve got the vocabulary of a Labrador: couple dozen words, in three or four languages — Spanish, Greek, Arabic — the same number of words your dog might know from being trained.  The GVHA, other agencies, and private interests control Victoria harbours. Why not consolidate? It’s a product of history. It would be easier if there was one entity, but more important is a singular plan, driven by the city, for an overall vision for the harbour.

 Is using BC Transit buses to move cruise ship passengers working? Transit provided the best solution — their low-demand season is summer. I know there’s been plenty of discussion about these buses taking away service. That’s not the case.

The double-deckers are working really well.

We’ve travelled on them as secret shoppers to listen to people; they rave about the phenomenal views.  Did you expect the whining over the plans to install Ogden Point Breakwater railings? I’m not sure I would characterize it as whining. We knew there would be vocal opposition, but the national labour board inspection told us the 12-foot drops are unsafe for workers. Our insurer said, if it’s not safe for your workers, it can’t be safe for the public. Now, detractors realize it’s done with sensitivity to esthetics and safety. The proof is you see more people there, school groups, seniors groups.  Where did you grow up? I grew up on a small farm in Vibank, Saskatchewan. The nearest neighbour was a mile away. I got a very good high school education. You don’t think of small towns as being strong in academics, but I entered university with a strong base that I didn’t appreciate till later.  Why did you earn your degree at the University of North Dakota? I was on a hockey scholarship at a junior college. I was a goaltender, which also defines you as CEO. Goaltenders and CEOs are the last

defence and the first to be blamed if things go wrong. I hung up my pads 15 years ago.  You graduated magna cum laude. Are you brainy? I earned a bachelor of business with a major in airport management. I don’t consider myself brainy, just worked hard.  What do you do for fun? My wife Sally and I love to travel, often to meet friends we’ve met abroad. At home, we’re avid gardeners.

We like to catch up with family, do a little bit of cycling and try to be more relaxed.  Your hero? As you get older, you realize you’re emulating your father, so the person I look up to most is my father, Jack. I’m more like him than I ever realized; that’s probably why we clashed when we were younger.  And, your grandmother Pauline? She’s the other person I really look up to. We lost her in January, age 94. She grew up within 20 miles of where she was born but had the most worldly perspective of anybody I’d ever met. She had a muscle car, which I bought from my niece, a ’74 Gran Torino, blue and white, the Starsky and Hutch car. She lived with my two uncles who never married. Her last wish to me: “Whatever you do, put some nice rims on it, because my boys wouldn’t let me put on nice rims.” I’m gonna keep true to her request.

CURTIS GRAD, 46 CEO OF GREATER VICTORIA HARBOUR AUTHORITY

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This interview has been condensed and edited.

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL:

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FAMILIAR FACES, FAMILIAR PLACES

THIS IS

PHOTOGRAPHED AT THE SIDNEY PIER BY GARY MCKINSTRY

SANDY BAYNTON

WITH HER

For shoe store owner Sandy Baynton, finding the right car is just like finding the right shoe — and her Lexus IS 250C fits her just right. As the owner of Waterlily Shoes in Sidney for the last four years, Baynton often goes on buying trips to the Mainland, so she sought a comfortable vehicle, but also something sporty. “My very first car was a sports car,” she says. After getting married and having kids, the SUV became the vehicle of choice. “But I’m on my own now,” she says: it was now or never. “I really wanted a convertible — that feeling the convertible gives.”

Despite her son’s attempts to sway her toward another brand, she went to Metro Lexus to see the IS 250C. “I would have signed in the first minute of getting in,” she says. This was the car she was

2013 LEXUS IS 250C

looking for, with its sleek, sports coupe look combined with the elegance of a convertible. Since Baynton purchased her last SUV with Metro Lexus, she already knew and loved their professionalism.

Baynton couldn’t be happier with her choice. “I love the sunshine, the fresh air, the freedom,” she says. The three-panel hard top takes just 21 seconds to retract. Trunk space isn’t compromised, making it ideal for Baynton’s road trips.

Living and working on the Peninsula, Baynton says “it’s an absolute joy driving to and from work on the country roads.” But she also loves opportunities to drive the highway into town because of the car’s highly responsive handling. And like a perfect shoe, she says, “it suits me to a T.”

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THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION

DOUGLAS AT FINLAYSON, VICTORIA 250-386-3516