Leaping into Pulse

Yesterday I took a major step to overcoming my fear of driving to Ottawa. I drove alone on the Quebec side - little traffic.It was slower but I got where I wanted to be in time. I still have to conquer driving on the 417 in the heavier traffic but I will get there. I titled this blog Leaping into Pulse as my reason for going into Ottawa was to attend an evening workshop that is a follow up of the Leap program I took last fall. Shawn McDonnell of Creativision was the coach for the leap program.He has started a group in Ottawa of 12 people who will get together to brainstorm solutions to common business problems. Our first meeting was last night at The Code Factory on Queen Street.

Shawn has an ability to attract people to him.His constant upbeat attitude gets everyone energized. His Passiontoaction philosophy is just what I need now.I am looking forward to getting to know the other members of the group.

Grandmothers Necklance was launched!

As a member of the Petawawa Grannies I attended the first two launches of Patricia Elfords anthology "Grandmothers' Necklace". It was a fun experience. More than 60 people crowded into the Rotary room at the Petawawa library to hear readings from most of the writers in Eastern Ontario who contributed to the book. It was a great beginning as many books were sold. On Monday 22nd there was another launch in Deep River at The Bean House coffee shop which was also well attended. Copies are available for purchase in Petawawa at Coates engraving 3584 Petawawa Bld 687-1064. cost $20. All profits will go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign.

Pillows, pjs and puppets

I have seen many productions of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream starting with the obligatory trip to Stratford's Shakespearan theatre while at Waterloo Collegiate high school in the '60s however last Friday was the first time I had seen it performed in pjs with puppets for the play within a play.
I was impressed with the enthusiasm of the high school drama students. The puppet ideas worked well. Congratulations to the school.

GRANDMOTHERS' NECKLACE LAUNCH

WATCH FOR A LAUNCH NEAR YOU!

GRANDMOTHERS’ NECKLACE
is an anthology created in honour of grandmothers. Over 60 professional, and some gifted non-professional, writers and poets of varied backgrounds from across Canada, the United States and Ireland. Joyous and wistful, hilarious and serious, the collection is too rich to be scanned all at once. Appreciate it a few gems at a time.
Through Patricia Anne Elford, one of the Petawawa Grannies , the Editor and Compiler, ALL profits go to Grandmothers to Grandmothers, a branch of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, www.stephenlewisfoundation.org , to assist the grandmothers of Africa, aged anywhere from their 40’s to their 80’s who have lost their adult children and are raising their grandchildren, alone, under unbelievably impoverished circumstances. These children were orphaned due to the death of their parents from AIDS and AIDS-related illnesses.

GRANDMOTHERS’ NECKLACE ISBN 978-1-5542-468-6 Essence Pub., Epic imprint, 200 pp $20.00 Cdn, incl. taxes
Can be bought on-line now, in many stores later.

Small town connections

I am a frequent customer at my local Shoppers drug mart.Most of my trips to the store involve getting photos printed of personal and chapel events. Today is Shrove Tuesday so we had our annual Pancake supper at the chapel.I thought I would be efficient and get the photo printed immediately. "Tina" the head cashier for the shift and the "photo expert" said the photos turned out ok but one was blurry as I was focused on the garbage can and not the man. (Actually two were blurry) Anyway "Tina" recognized "Bob" as she used to clean in building B12 on base. She also recognized Sharon Slaney and her mom.
So a lesson in living in a small town. Make sure your photos of anyone local are clear and tell a story as you never know who will be printing the photos.

VALENTINES WEEKEND 2010

This year Valentine focused event took place on Saturday and Sunday.However I started the upbeat mood by shopping at my favourite bakery in Pembroke, Barley's bakery. The owner creates decadent cookies and pastries with cream. As a Valentine theme he made small shortbread cookie decorated with butter cream and topped with coloured icing.I bought 6-two red, two white and two chocolate. That was our treat for Friday night.
On Saturday I purchased two jam cookies decorated with regular icing and red colouring that said "I love you".
On Saturday we attended a "Sweet heart" dinner at the chapel catered by Mom's Cafe- a German themed take out. Kai's "Mom" made the Black Forest Cake fresh that afternoon! Our main course was a German buffet: sauerkraut, red cabbage, spatzle, Ceasar salad, home made sausage, roladen, and wiener schnitzel. The seating area at the back of the chapel had been decorated by Doris and Paul Graves. Jill Wright had cleaned the cupboards to try to deal with the mouse problem.. Part of the decorations were carnations.
On Valentines day itself we had a valentine focused service at chapel. Robin Major who was preaching presented his wife with a red rose during the sermon!
Our final public valentine event was Sunday night in Renfrew when we attended the 50th birthday of a friend who was born on Valentines day. Sue McSheffrey also shared her birthday with two other female relatives.

Networking in Renfrew county

I belong to a variety of groups from "right wing" to "left wing" depending on the political or religious point of view of the group. I find that I blend into the culture of each group at a different level as I like to explore personalities and historical backgrounds. On a given day I can attend a "church group", a political event or a social event. Some of my friends are also part of the same groups. As women we tend to support other womens groups. One of the first groups I joined in Petawawa was WIN- Womens Initiative Network of Renfrew County. I was intrigued as a Pot luck dinner was advertised at the Petawawa Presbyterian Church in October 2001 to celebrate Womens History Month. The guest speaker was CB Pappin who talked about her mother coming from England as a child.
I met Barb Clarke at that event and heard the name JoAnne Brooks mentioned in relation to the Women's Sexual Assault Centre. To make a long story short JoAnne Brooks and I went to Waterloo Collegiate Institute school in Waterloo in the late 60's! I am still making those types of connections as I attended a meeting last night and mentioned Rainbow Heritage Garden to some attendees who were friends with the owners! This county is like a village!

"I saw your photo in the paper"

The old adage a picture is worth a thousand words is continually being reinforced as my publicity skills have more impact when I sent photos to the paper than when I just send a write up.I was away for about 10 days. When I returned several people said that their friends saw their picture in the paper. I was asked why I had not put the newspaper photos on the bulletin board... . The photo on my banner was taken by Jennifer Cummings the reporter at the Petawawa Post. She sent me the photo and gave permission for me to send it to the local daily paper the Pembroke Observer. It was published in colour at the back page so got people's attention. Our community is fortunate as we have a weekly paper that covers military community and other local events and a daily paper that also covers community events. Both papers encourage submissions from groups.
Let's celebrate community.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 6 Tips You Ought to Know About Effective Blogging (computer-realm.net)

Canada supports and hosts the Winter Olympics

Today I purchased my second pair of red Canada Olympic mitts! The first pair I bought for my daughter in Ottawa who said she could not find them at her local HBC as they were continually sold out. I thought a $10 investment in the Olympic games was a minor one but a visible one for me to make.I also donated another dollar.I plan to watch the opening and closing ceremonies and most of the events with Canada in them. I remember watching my first Olympic games on tv when we lived in England. That would have been in 1960 and we only had a black and white tv. The bobsled and the luge were the most fascinating.
I also remember going to Norway in 2004 seeing the site of the Lillehammer Olympic games. It was amazing to see how small the community of Lillehammer is yet is was still able to host the event with support from neighbouring communities. Looking forward to February 12th when the games begin

Launch of Grandmothers' Necklace!

An Anthology of poetry and prose by men and women
-by grandmothers, about grandmothers and intergenerational relationships and aging
-amusing, sentimental , surprising, thought-provoking
-by 61 professional and talented non- professional writers from across Canada and the United States and Ireland.
-Come to enjoy readings and light refreshments, meet local writers, get an autograph or two in the copies you buy, and help a very important cause at the same time.

All profits go to the STEPHEN LEWIS FOUNDATION, through the Petawawa Grannies, to help the incredible grannies of Sub-Saharan Africa who are courageouslhy raising orphaned grandchildren under extremely difficult conditions.
When: on Saturday February 20th 2010
from 1 pm to 3 pm
Where: Petawawa Public Library
16 Civic Centre Road
Petawawa,On K8H 3H5
Rotary Room 613-687-2227

How to sell Pashmina

I am a member of the Petawawa Grannies. We raise money for Grandmothers to Grandmothers part of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. 90% of the money raised goes directly to grandmothers in Africa who are raising their grandchildren because the
in between generation have died of aids.
I have been selling Pashmina shawls since last November to women in my community. I have also sold alot through the Pembroke Curves franchise. To increase visiblity I had the local newspapers take photos and promote the success. So far I have sold over
$4000 worth at $10 a shawl!

Once more with feeling

Well blogging is a new method of connecting that I am just exploring.I have created a new blog based on the Leap program theme which I intend to use to motivate me. On my recent holiday to Mexico I purchased a book at the airport store: The Element by Ken Robinson: How finding your passion changes everything. I thought it very appropriate considering the Leap Program theme. I enjoyed reframing my life.It has energized me.Now I need to clear up the "food problems from the trip"! Shawn MacDonnell or Creativision is a great guy.I am glad that my coach Shawn, and mentor Karen Brisebois want to keep us going.
So now to take the next step in developing my vision.

Whiskers an Hats what do they have in common?

What do Whiskers and Hat have in common?
They are part of the new nick names for my husband Bruce Hanna who likes to wear hats and has a mustache. The complete nick names courtesy of street hawkers in Chichen Itza “Mr. Whiskers” and in Playa del Carmen“Mr. Mexican Hat”. These were part of our memories from our visit to the Mayan Riviera last week.
. It was a real experience in contrasts as the “hotel Rivera” was protected from the “riff raff” as it was like a gated community within a gated community. In the hotel area there were security guards to protect the tourist however in the towns there were plenty of “hawkers” trying to get the attention of the ‘gullible” tourist by calling out to them in English – buy cheap. “Mr. Mexican Hat” was called out on our last day in Mexico when we were doing a last shopping spree. We ignored it but I found it amusing. The Mr. Whiskers was our last entreaty before we went to our bus as we left the tourist trap that is Chichen Ita as vendors selling all types of handicrafts offer silver, masks, clothing etc for a dollar. Our friendly hawker wanted to sell t shirts.