Open My Eyes

Last night my husband and I decided to take in the Open House of Oxford County VON's almost open Sakura House, a hospice for terminally ill people. Below is the sketch from the Sakura House website but it is a pale imitation of the real thing.We had to park on the highway, there were so many visitors coming to take a peek but we are quite able to hike a few hundred feet. For those who are not, parking onsite was available. From the moment I stepped through the massive front door into the front hall, I knew this home had been stellar. A wealthy business owner whose property was part of the huge Toyota buyout for their new plant a few years ago called this his family home. The website says it is something like ten thousand square feet. Not many homes measure that!
To the left of the main hall is a stunning library with carved wooden ceiling and rich mahogany coloured shelves. I've no doubt they are mahogany or some other real wood. No MDF here! The tour continued with the main house built on the open concept and left like that for the hospice. A new two-pronged wing with about 8 suites sits to the left of the main building and is joined to it as though it were always there.
The rooms are not like hospital rooms. Each has its entrance off the hall but also a private entrance to the yard beyond. At the back of the house the view is of the stunning sunken garden with sitting space and lots of green space for idle contemplation. We were entranced. The single hospital bed in each room has a grained wood headboard and footboard and is made up with a colourful bedspread. A comfortable chair, television, lovely wooden wardrobe complete the room. The bathroom is modern, subtly coloured with an easy access shower which ambulatory or wheelchair patients could easily use.
Everywhere I looked I saw a gorgeous view, both inside and out, reminding me of the Sun Yat Sen garden in Vancouver which we visited many years ago. Some have the front sweeping circular drive and surrounding plantings. Others have the north where a very healthy field of corn looked like it had been groomed to best advantage just for the Open House. Still others have the lovely back gardens. Everyone has peace just outside the window.
I have friends who have been way more involved in the project than I and now their selfless giving has more meaning for me. What a wonderful place for terminally ill people to spend their last days.
For those who wonder as I did about the name Sakura House it comes from the Japanese word for cherry blossom which symbolizes "an annual spring celebration of the shifting seasons. [It] evokes the bittersweet undercurrent of past seasons and the fleeting nature of human existence." Pretty fitting for a hospice, I think, and also because it has come about because of the generosity of the Toyota company--a Japanese word and a Japanese company.

I am totally in awe of the achievement that so many people have worked so hard to bring about. Thinking about it I've decided that the word sakura should mean selfless love.

Our Summer Sojourn

What is a trip to New Jersey without Atlantic City and the beaches? Walking the famed boardwalk we found this cool scene. Bikers, walkers, riders-in-bike cabs--all have a place here.

The Atlantic Ocean beckons way beyond this lovely beach. Some communities charged $5 a day to take in the beach so we just looked from afar. (We're not really beach people.)

Another carney-type attraction on Atlantic City's Boardwalk was this building, but we were too early in the day to actually get inside.

Ron is a lover of Stewart's Orange, buys it wherever he can find it here in Canada or the States. We had a great long chat with one of the weekend workers in this diner. Turns out he is a stockbroker in New York and spends his weekends waiting tables on the Boardwalk. Amazingly he knew that Canada has a very safe and secure banking system. Interesting guy.

Near our home-for-the-week, about 10 minutes out of Atlantic City there was a wonderful little historical village--Smithville, where we spent a couple of hours traipsing around and shopping. Ron bought a neat little football-themed light cover for Ben and Kevin in one of the shops. Here is the old mill but looking closer we found the mill wheel is almost totally rotted out.

I loved this little path to the pond and a quiet bench.


I'm not sure how this carousel fits into the historical theme but it was kind of cute.

Two different days we traveled to Cape May, a delightful resort town on the south part of the state. The houses wore their best dresses to welcome many visitors. All were vintage but in fine condition. We loved Cape May.


Look at the hydrangeas! Just lovely.

We probably won't be back to New Jersey but loved our week there this summer. Not sure there is anything else we need to see although this would be a great place for a family vacation with our kids and grandkids sometime. Hmm. If we do go we'll have to make sure to take lots of coin for the tolls. Every time we went anywhere we paid at the booth. In the beginning, a couple of times we had to go through without paying as we didn't have change or the machines didn't accept what we put in. Grrr!
We met this mother and daughter at a mixology course sponsored by the Marriott resort. At first the 9 of us were kind of reserved--as though we were all Canadians! As the sample sipping progressed, however, we became great friends.


We got along famously with these teachers and though we really didn't learn to make any drinks we had a ball. Needless to say we took the shuttle to the restaurant for dinner that night! The next morning we were off to see relatives and drove through New York for the first time. Took us over an hour but kind of interesting to see.

The 19th Wife

Usually my reading notes do not make it to my blog but The 19th Wife by David Evershoff has to be an exception.
Having visited Salt Lake City and the famed Mormon Tabernacle I was excited by this book. I wanted to learn more about the Latter Day Saints and Brigham Young. Well! With every page I struggled more and more with the cruelty to women and children inherent in the history of the Latter Day Saints' custom of "plural marriage." This is a convenient term for a man having as many wives as he wants. The first wife gets to accept or reject the subsequent ones but, in reality, she has no power. She owns nothing, least of all her own body, and certainly not her children. Inevitably she, in her deep belief in God's will that she do this, accepts. Brigham Young seems to be able to convince all of them that this is their role.
The book is well researched and written with present-day LDS as well as historical fact. We can only guess whether the present-day material is factual. (Certainly when I visited there last fall I found a loving, caring, nurturing and kind environment.) This book will not simply slide out of your mind as you put it aside each night. When I think of my marriage and what my husband and I have together, I know it would die if my husband were forced or wanted to take another wife. Call me selfish, Brigham, but God told Noah to take pairs of animals in the ark. He didn't say take one male and 50, 60, 125 females.
This is a great thought-provoking read. It puts a new slant on our visit to Salt Lake City last fall, for sure. And the 'saints' in that once favorite anthem of mine, Come, Come Ye Saints, are referring to each member of the LDS church. I thought saints were exceptionally good people in the Bible like Saint Peter and Saint James, but, no. Members of the LDS are called saints. I try to be a good person and I think I succeed most of the time. But I am no saint. Interesting that Brigham Young used the term for himself and all of his parishioners.
Pick up this book and give it a read for its scholarship, its organization, its historical information, but most of all because it will make you think.

Self-Cleaning Oven

Okay. It's a hot summer day and I've got to do something to take my mind off the heat. Go swimming? NO! Clean the oven. Unfortunately, the self that is going to clean it is me!

Here is the sludgy mess that has been waiting for this day. I can put this job off for years at a time, if I can evade that Mom-image over my shoulder shaming me. On the counter rests the new silicon oven liner thing that I bought in a lovely kitchen store in Victoria but I have to have a clean oven to put it into. After that it slides out and into soapy water for a slick cleanup, so I'm told.

I take the racks out and soak them in the bathtub while the oven cleaner seeps into the grease and baked brown spots. I wonder where all that comes from as I rarely have an oven spill. Just what is that crap? I've found that soaking and then scrubbing with SOS erases most of the crud.

Here is one rack done and dripping off in the sink. My pretty bathroom was never made for this job!

Two hours, many scrubbings/soakings/swishings later, I finally have the finished product and eggs on the stove for--YIKES!!!--I run to rescue the eggs for lunch. Anyhow the oven looks great, the silicone mat fits perfectly and I can only dream that my oven will stay clean longer.


Now I need to take a shower!