Flourishing in the Second Half of Life

Last weekend I was fortunate to take a course on Aging Well in Community, sponsored by Harbourside Senior Cohousing in Sooke, B.C.

What made it special was not only the setting - the beautiful campus of Royal Roads University, with its exquisite gardens and wild peacocks strutting the grounds - but the people.

They ranged in age from their 50s to their 80's, and although they came from different backgrounds and occupations, everything from a retired RCMP officer to an astrologer, they fit the classic cohousing personality profile.

They were well-travelled, adventurous, constantly seeking out new experiences and challenges - what we at Pacific Gardens would call BURPIES (as distinguished from Yuppies) - bright, under-employed real people.

The purpose of the course was to get us out of denial about aging, and into planning for a positive future by getting real about getting old, and ensuring that we will be able to thrive and flourish during our senior years.

The best way to do that, we learned, was by staying healthy through community.  Social isolation is as bad for your health as smoking, and being involved in shared activities was the key to a happy, healthy old age.

Living in cohousing, I had observed the positive effects of community life on our elderberries, as my sister cohouser Roz has dubbed us, with improvements in both physical and mental health for the elders amongst us since they moved here.

Although the course was put on by members of Harbourside Cohousing, they did not say cohousing was the only option,  but talked about such actions as retrofitting your house to stay at home, or moving in with children.

Another possibility being investigated by one group of people who attended was building an environmentally-sustainable house for themselves and their friends to live in as they aged.

No-one was keen to live in a gated condominium community, or a seniors' home.  We are from the baby boom generation, rather accustomed to making our own choices about how we want to live - and transforming society as we do it!

If all the zoning approvals go through and it gets built, Harbourside Senior Cohousing will be the first of its kind in B.C. and only the second in Canada, leading the way to a new form of aging in place for us active elderberries!

Kathryn

How Community and a Tree-Climbing Cat Cured the Post-Election Blues!

It's hard to believe that it was more than a month ago since I've posted here...but fortunately Myriam has kept everyone up-to-date with what's happening with her beautiful pics of Pacific Gardens in bloom and its newest residents!

I could tell by the number of viewers that politics is not the favourite topic of those who read this blog, so that's a cautionary note for me that not everybody shares my passion for this topic.

I will say that I was both happy and unhappy with what happened, mostly unhappy.  I spent a few days trying to avoid feeling depressed about the election results, without much success.

It didn't help that Nanaimo city council had voted five to four to destroy Colliery Dam Park, one of the jewels in this city and certainly of the Harewood neighbourhood.

So I decided to give up and just wallow in negativity and get it out of my system.The best way to do this, I thought, would be to catch up on all the housework I had neglected during the election campaign.

I tussled with the dust bunnies, tossed out the garbage, sorted the recycling, and scrubbed the ring out of the bathtub. And you know what?  I started feeling better.

It was a case of if you can't clean up the world, you can at least clean up the grunge in the kitchen sink. And while I was vacuuming the grit out of the patio doors, I noticed something.

It was a beautiful spring day, and outside my window, the kids were swinging on the hammock and playing on the lush green grass, and the flowers were starting to bloom again in Susana's garden.

Some robins had built a nest in one of the old apple trees, and their song filled the air of the early evening, fragrant with the smell of grass and blossoms.  But something even  better happened - although it didn't seem that way at first.

A few months go Mykl and Laura had acquired a little tabby kitten, who is now at the stage of prowling outside.  The cat saw those robins, and immediately made a bee-line for the tree.

Up the trunk the feline scooted, tail switching, while the robins flew about in terror trying to protect their nest. The little cat went higher and higher until it was almost at the top of the tree, and then the robins began dive-bombing it.

The cat couldn't go down, and the robins wouldn't give up.  What to do? I rushed outside and got Mykl, who with the help of Kaj, put up the long, tall ladder we use for pruning and gleaning.

Mykly quickly clambered up the tree, and stretched his arm out as far as he could to haul down the recalcitrant kitty, who, despite the dive-bombing birds, was still determined to get at that nest.

So what was it about this little tableau that heartened me?  The coming together of the community members to rescue a cat up a tree?  The determination of the robins to protect their young?

I'm not sure. But it made me happy, and banished those post-election blues.

Kathryn

New residents...

We actually had quite a few new residents this last month. It certainly seemed to be the month of transitions.

But, I am referring to our youngest, fluffiest new residents.

 

-Myriam

Our Community...in bloom!

What an understatement!

 

 

 

  

-Myriam

Provincial Politics and Pacific Gardens

In case you hadn't noticed - there's a provincial election in B.C., and of course, being the social activists we are, several Pacific Gardeners are involved.

Some are supporting the NDP, others the Greens, and those political choices fit with our social justice and environmental values.

But it also means some of us are going to very busy, and that includes me.  In fact, that's why you haven't seen any blog posts from me for more than 10 days.

I will be focusing my attention on campaigning for my local Green Party candidate until after election day, May 14th, which means you won't be hearing from me as often.

It's not that I don't think writing about cohousing and the values it embodies are not important.  It's just that right now, the election is way more important.

I feel - as do others - that we are at a crossroads in our society.  We can choose to go one way or the other, and which way we choose will have enormous consequences.

It distresses me that so many seem to think that we continue on with an economy based on over-consumption, continual growth, and destruction of our environment.

I believe we must change the way we live our lives if there is to be any future for the next generation - that's why I live in cohousing.  I want a different way.

I won't preach or hector you about this.  But I am going to do my damnedest now to elect people who care about the environment, and have the courage to fight for it.

I hope you will, too.

Kathryn

Rock-Polisher IV - How a Broken Hot Water Tank Changed My Life

I've been thinking again about the rock-polisher effect in cohousing, and how our lives can be changed by something totally ordinary.

A few weeks ago our three-year-old hot water tank fractured, flooding our recycle room and leaving us with only one tank for the entire building.

So the word went out that we should use hot water sparingly until it was replaced, which, since it was custom-made and had to be re-built, took several weeks.

This caused me a certain amount of anxiety.  I am a big fan of hot water - long, hot showers, bedding washed on the longest cycle, dishwasher on power scrub - yes!!

Sparingly and hot water were not words I would use together.  But, I experimented.  I rinsed the dishes in cold water, then put them through the dishwasher's quick cycle.  They were fine.

I did the same for the laundry - my clothes and bedding came out of washing-machine clean as clean, and it took me a lot less time, as did shorter showers.  This was good.

And when we had our new hot water tank at last, I didn't go back to my old ways.  This made me realize how many new lifestyle habits I have acquired since I moved here.

I don't just read my daily newspaper and then throw it into the recycle bin.  I deliver it to David, who, after he reads it, passes it on to Ron, who then gives it to Bill.

If I have left-overs, I give them to somebody else.  I lend my car out to anyone who needs it.  I'm willing to try unfamiliar foods at our potlucks - nettle soup, gluten-free bread.

I don't buy as many clothes, and I give more to thrift shops or put them in our freecycle cupboard.  I feel comfortable not wearing makeup, and what makeup I do wear is organic.

I don't buy as much stuff.  I considered getting a new car (my little Echo is 10 years old this summer) but didn't.  I've kept my old printer and computer - ditto with my seldom-used cellphone.

So how did this all happen?  It wasn't because someone gave me a lecture, or passed a bylaw.  It was all slow and incremental, little changes made by following the example of other people here.

And that's how the rock-polisher effect works, living in this Pacific Gardens river where we all tumble up against each other and smooth out our rough edges.

Kathryn

Living in the Land of the Big Cheese

I have been learning a whole lot about mice lately - more than I really care to know.

We thought we had solved the problem of the marauding mice at Pacific Gardens, but now they've come back.

To put this all in perspective, when I first heard that we had rodent guests who had stayed too long at the party, I checked out the internet.

When I typed in, "Mice in Nanaimo", the names of two major local hotels topped the list - so we're not the only ones!

But it hasn't been much fun. We've spent hours filling holes, cleaning, meeting, setting traps, and checking crawl spaces and duct work for entry points.

And then Chad took control of the mouse patrol. He definitely likes to use humour to get his point across.

Chad's our strata council vice president, and as the one coordinating our efforts to get rid of the pesky varmints, dubbed himself mice president (MP).

He was quick to explain that as the royal Mice President he was just a figurehead that oversees everything in this land of the Big Cheese.

He called the group tackling the problem the Rodent Response Team, or the MLA (Mouse Liberation to-the-afterlife Army).

The people responding to questions and concerns from residents were MEOWs (Mice Extermination Outreach Workers).

And if people wanted to contact the MEOWs directly, they could e-mail them at mice@pacificgardens.ca.

With the humour, however, came a detailed plan, and community members willing to carry it out. And it's working!


I just received the first report from the Rodent Response Team logger, Doris.

According to her splendid spread-sheet, 18 of our units have had no sightings of mice, and three have, but only sporadically.

That leaves four with serious problems, and these are being dealt with by having holes blocked to prevent entry, traps, cleaning, etc.

Round one in the fight against rodents!

Kathryn