Editing 2018-03-11 Meeting

Topic: How We Survived Winter Moderated by: Alison Present Vernon Chishom, Lawrence Brown, Kirby, Cecil, Scott, Dan (notes), Walter, Lynn, Ann, Anita, Barend This winter perhaps wasn’t as challenging as many. Alison: me, I cross country ski - on the commons! You have to get out in the early after a new snowfall. Kirby & Vance: season ticket holders to the Mooseheads. It’s very entertaining - crowds of 8-10,000, very accessible, and is right downton. Also, we are season tickets to the Symphony. This winter, we saw Elgar’s Enigma Variations were transcendent. Halifax is not a city where you have to endure winters like you do in a lot of cities. In the 1950s and 60s lots of winters we didn’t get snow - this is not particularly global warming. There are three seasonal areas in Canada - Halifax is the third-best in the country - from here down as far as Cape Sable Island. In past years we’ve gone to Neptune — years ago we saw a play about Tennessee Williams. Travel: we took a two week Caribbean Cruise. You awaken in the morning, and you’re docking in another country. You open the drapes, and the ocean, and harbour, the best part of at country, is before your eyes. At that point my travel companion has left, so I’m nby myself int hecabin, and I catch up on the news. Then, after your shower, you go out for the day to explore the country - with no baggage. I don’t take the cruise buses, I find someone who can give me a tour for say $20, $40, or $60. On St Kitts, I stood on a mountain with a view of where the Caribbean sea meets the mountain and learned about the history of the battlie which could be viewed from there in 1680. In the evening, if you gamble, you can do that - or watch others. The meals, and the conversations at dinner are very nice. Some couples stay on a cruise ship for the entire winter months. If you order wine, and drink, your bill will add up, but otherwise it’s very economical. The days of standing in line for a buffet are gone. The website “vacations to go” is very good - you need to get to New York, of course. Cecil: I started my tomato seeds recently - mostly large tomatoes. Tomatoes come in a certain number of “days” - our growing season is roughly 65-75 days - usually after the first full moon in June. At the end of April I’m attending the Camp Hill Reunion - for people who have worked at Camp Hill over all the years. Scott: I would recommend the Youth Orchestra - at St Andrew’s United. They’re really better than Chebucto Symphony Orchestra Allison: I’ve been volunteering for the Elderberries, and for the Down’s Syndrome association. I take these responsibilities quite seriously. And now, I’m volunteering with Northwood radio. We volunteer at the Manna For Food bank. It was originally designed to help feed people who had HIV. They’re open for new volunteers - please offer to take a hamper to someone’s house. The food bank is at Uniack Street. These days it’s not just HIV+ people, there are several other . The work involves delivering food to someone’s house, or every second week you can help unload the food truck and pack the hampers. We get grants from different organizations - right now, the Windsor Grant. We do fundraising as well, and also the big annual Christmas dinner. Barend: I have a low budget, so I spend Friday nights watching Bones. It’s about an autistic forensic anthropologist, brilliant but with lousy social skills. There’s a supernatual element that keeps popping up, plus nerds doing goofy experiements, and the raw science of forensics. Plus, they’re trying to catch killers. Number Two is Dalplex - It costs under $60 a month, it includes showers and lockers. They have spin classes, exercise classes and a whole bunch of other things. The third thing is: I have a long distance gab buddy, and mine is my queer brother Fred. He lives in Vancouver and is taking Queer Studies. I would like him to finally edit the thirty hours of interviews he did with our mother about her wartime experience, being pregnant in Berlin, moving to Nova Scotia, not being able to speak English etc. He’s currently doing a language mapping of our family. Anne: I grow tomatoes too! I’ll put them up against Cecil’s any time! I like to go to the museum, and unless someone hasn’t heard, the current Exhibit, Body Works! is amazing! It’s not rotting flesh - it’s plasticized flesh. What about crafts? Yes - painting. Also on the subject of gyms, there is a gym at Northwood for $20 / month. Anita: I discovered something this year that I’m so excited about. The New York Metropolitan Opera screens in Dartmouth, Park Lane, and Bayer’s Lake. I’ve listened to the music for sixty years, and now, I can go and see La Boheme as it was being performed - live! You get to see the backstage goings-on during the intermission. Butterfly is coming, and La Traviata too. Walter: I do gardening too. I start my seeds in the beginning of may, under florsecent lights. I have orchids and aftrican violets under the lights as well. The Afican violets don’t need direct sun or much light. I gave a lot of tomatoes to neighbours and made a lot of sauce. Alison: I have a collection of Netflix movies - I just finished the first three seasons of Shitt’s Creek. Netflix binging - with a glass of wine and the cats. Lynn: This year was a bit different. Usually we have a Christmas celebration in Springhill. But this year, my brother and sister got together and decided they would be celebrating… at my place! There isn’t really enough room to have fifteen people in. People gave me books, but typically in January I re-read my old favourites, Georgette Hayre’s, and often the _Tamarare_ series, set during the Napoleonic wars including the air force - wait, air force? in the 1820s? Yes - with DRAGONS! So the story follows an officer and his dragon travelling the world. And, a few years ago, there was a program where a woman from Northwood did a program on the _Just In Case_ file - a binder in which you have all the information that if you suddenly drop dead, your executor could come in and immediately know what to do. I got a new will made. that’s not exactly fun, but it’s interesting Margo: I play bridge — three times a week. Dan: * religious tourism - with the United Nations * two weeks ago I went to Toronto to help clean out a home... One winter, my garlic came up prematurely. Dan: the NHL Old Timer’s Hockey vs. Cops & Firemen is wonderful as well

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