Great idea for sustainability.

Love this -  saving a town with this great idea for sustainability.

Here is a sustainability idea that is also saving a small Saskatchewan town from disappearing.
View article here

Last year while working @SAIT Polytechnic I became interested in water capture technology and sustainability after arranging speakers to come in and present to my students.  Since then I have had a penchant for all things related to the subject, including Tiny houses, living off the grid and the growing trend that is happening within some new communities looking for ways to make a difference. 

Also close to my heart are some other things related to above.

SAIT Projects

Innovations

This company works with water capture and irrigation and developed Artesia, a green neighbourhood in Calgary they also developed a large outlet mall to use water capture
Cross Iron Mills

View their website here

Memories of Spain

While each mistake I make, makes me stronger
And everyone of those tears I cried washes away the sorrow
Their tracks show on my soul, engraved there by the pain
And burned into my memory,

Let me forget, let me move on, let me be brave
That old cliché, forgive and escape from the hurt
Took forever to understand, I do it now, so wisdom prevails?
Or am I just hoping and praying and waiting for change?

How can I forgive that which sneaks into my mind
with the slightest picture it encroaches and overwhelms
taking its place as if it belonged, in my thoughts
From the past, song, and perfume
Triggers a memory, a simple colour combined with a smell,
transporting me there, to where I truly can escape.

A smile remembering the first scents of Spain
acrid black tobacco, strong coffee and humidity
surrounding me like a blanket, lingering wafts of my favourite
Dama de Noche, the night flower in my mothers San Antonio garden;
In the streets Patchuli and leather bracelets; love beads and Hierbas Ibicencas;
I am back, in the 70's, Mallorca and Ibiza, Tenerife and Barcelona
What longings I feel, deep in my soul, memories of music and friends,
dancing till dawn, loving the fashions and trends
Oh islands of Spain, I will never forget you, part of my soul
Sewn like threads blowing in that beachy wind
Lost as I am today, this moment, I can escape to you
I can revisit you, I can be there again, o favourite places of my mind

Tho I can travel today, they have gone forever, as they were
So simple, uncomplicated, almost a blur
But they are as clear as now when I hear a song, or smell a perfume
I can be happy this moment, burdens away, peace today
Forgiveness and prayer, my true salvations, love and mindfulness
I can have it all, how brilliant that joy, and light is everywhere
I am free, I can dance again in the moonlight

Alberta Beauty and Diversity

Though I am from Vancouver, Beautiful British Columbia, and enjoy visiting my family there often; Alberta has been my home for the past 22 years. Over the last year I was fortunate to land a temporary contract position where I took visiting student groups to some of the highlight attractions around Calgary. Though we went to many amazing places,  just a few are depicted here.

Banff Springs Hotel

View from lookout Banff Valley

Lookout Summit Banff, Levis Vargas From Venezuela

Carburn Park

There is a lovely Bench here to sit and read and look out over the pond at Carburn Park

Took this shot again at Carburn Fall 2014, love walking here alone or with a friend

View of Downtown Calgary from Lynnview Ridge close to my House

This shot also of the river at Lynnview Ridge near my house, love our neighbourhood!

The Hoodoos, near Drumheller,  Alberta

Some of the students climbed to the top of the rocky ridge, what a thrill shouting to us below 

Some rented canoes on Lake Louise

Beautiful colours of this fantastic Lake Louise, Alberta

Johnson Canyon, Alberta

Lake Minnewanka, Alberta

My son and I love the drive from Calgary to Banff or all the way to BC on Highway 1, the scenery never fails to leave you amazed, brilliant in any season; my son even painted a picture of it.

Back of Banff Springs Hotel

This is a picture of my son in Springbank

Till next time hope you come back soon!

All of my photos are copywrited and require my permission to reuse, thank you!

Inspiring Stories

People Who Followed Their Dreams despite barriers 

Young Woman's Success despite Anxiety Disorder

Americas Got Talent Winner

Paul Potts - Britains Got Talent winner

Paul Potts Movie One Chance 

I often look for inspirational stories to keep myself in a good place, and these well documented stories are good to watch again and again to remind us that no matter how many clouds are on your horizon, the sun does break through if you keep trying.

Gathering the Harvest for this Moment Gillian R Whipp - I wrote this after a workshop I recently did

As I gather the buds of WISDOM and they turn to seeds
I plant them in my garden of SUCCESS replacing the doubtful weeds
I sharpen my rusty TOOLS of KNOWLEDGE with shiny new ones
UNDERSTANDING that the seeds are sprouting 
Making ROOTS in the garden of my soul
I water them with FAITH, CONFIDENCE, and GRATEFULNESS 
Shine some light with HOPE, CHARITY and LOVE
Till the roots attach themselves firmly in my being
Harvesting the rewards by APPLYING them to this moment right NOW

Books I am reading

Good Reads......lately some books have dropped into my path through news or other media and I always find great nuggets of wisdom in some books and that makes me want to share them.

 - Soul Survivorhttp://www.soulsurvivor-book.com/ is a neat story about a young boy who was reincarnated and from an early age dreamt, drew and spoke of a past life, through this book one relooks at the classic Many Minds Many Masters on reincarnation through a doctors experience with a patient and several sequels written afterwards by Dr Weiss. http://www.brianweiss.com/about-the-books/many-lives-many-masters/

Maya Angelou quotes 

Through Oprah shows, I have come across many of Maya Angelou's writings and quotes and they always manage to put a smile on my face or to make me think a little, what a great lady.

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3503.Maya_Angelou

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
― Maya Angelou

Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.
Maya Angelou

Whenever I want to laugh, I read a wonderful book, 'Children's Letters to God.' You can open it anywhere. One I read recently said, 'Dear God, thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.'

Maya Angelou

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

Maya Angelou

American Hustle Music Steely Dan - Dirty Work

Funny how a song can just send you there, yup back in time like a time machine.  For me it was watching American Hustle, a film based in the 1970's when I was living in Spain as a young girl and attending a private English School called Bellver College. Spain was under Franco's dictatorship, so things were actually very safe and my sister and I have amazing memories from this time as well as many other great school friends who remarkably we are still in touch with via Facebook after many years.

So when I was in the cinema last week  watching American Hustle I was transported back to Mallorca early 1970's and hearing Steely Dan's Can't Buy A Thrill Belting out from the record stores and I still recall the first time I heard it.  There was some kind of shift in my world, as happens only with amazing music, that really moves you.  To my young 10 year old head I was startled and knew that I just had to have that song...think I may have bought the 45 of "Do It Again," but the entire album seems to me to be what I got.  We bought a turn table at a bazaar, and our lives were changed as prior to that all we had was a reel to reel with Cat Stevens Teaser and the Firecat.   I recall that when my Uncle Al and his buddy Rob came to visit, he bought me Paul McCartney and Wings Band on the Run - and Get Your Yayas out by the Stones for my sister. Wow, sure changed our world!

But here is to Steely Dan and Can't Buy a Thrill ..............awesome, thanks American Hustle for stirring up the memories!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALs1ObqeB7o

Favourite things

I am going to start blogging about favourite things,   to share my likes as a way to the path of joy, by coming here and reminding myself about them!

Recently we lost our lovely 3 year old rescue dog Moose, he was only with us for a short time, less than a year, but he brought so much love, laughter and fun to our home and to all our friends that we still miss him dreadfully every day.  I found this link to a website about St Berxers, like Moose, a cross between St Bernard and Boxer. Here are many lovely pictures of them, as a side note, our baby loved to be on my bed, the couch, back seat of my car, or on a stack of blankets (as well as his bed), and in many of these pictures, the dogs are in bed too!

http://www.designermixes.org/pictures/picture.aspx?picnum=16&&srhbrd=828


Here are some pictures of our sweet baby, he brought so much joy and love, a true angel! This is him at the Pet store before we adopted him through Pets for Life.

It was love at first sight for me, and my husband too!

My son was his bestie, as he worked at the Pet Store at the time and took him for walks

There was such a bond between them

Eric played with him every day and we took turns walking him, he sure loved his walks and was well behaved.  The two of them often took naps together on the couch!

So St. Berxers will always be one of my favourite things, someday I will get another, right now our family is still in mourning for this amazing baby!

These old slippers

 A pair of old slippers could be compared to a long lasting marriage

They are familiar, you like them

Because you are so used to them

You don’t want to throw them away or replace them with new ones

Though sometimes you consider doing just that

Sometimes they rub against your toes

At times they make your feet feel hot and irritated

Mostly though, you feel content with them rubbing against your feet

These old slippers are there for you

They are loyal, usually in the same spot

Sometimes they go missing and you have to look everywhere for them

But then you realize they are exactly where you left them

They were there the entire time

Good to know you can always count on them

To keep your feet warm, cozy and content

Sometimes you wear them outside and they get wet,

So you have to wash them and fluff them up in the dryer

You see them again as if they were brand new

That is when you realize why you picked them in the first place

So you keep them around, Year after year

You take them with you on vacations

Even short weekends away

They bring you the comfort and consistency of home that you crave,

Even when you are far away on the road

Recently I stumbled across some old friends from my Ibiza days in the 1970's through the net and DigitalIbiza a webforum! Very exciting as through there I found some Facebook groups where I found photos of our group of friends from those days.  There was a group from Sweden, Liverpool, London as well as us from Canada and a number of others from Germany, Ireland etc...

Mainly people played in the bars and beach parties though my sister and I worked part time with my mother at a fashion salon where we sold leather coats through fashion shows at hotels and our salons in Ibiza over the summer season and Tenerife over the winter season.  Many of the locals also went to the Canary Islands in winter as Ibiza pretty much "shuts down" over the winter.

So it was really great to not only stumble across pictures of some of our parties and gatherings, but even better to communicate with many of these friends again, we have been sharing memories and photos since then. Combined with seeing a Fleetwood Mac concert last Friday at our Saddledome here in Calgary, I have been transported back to the 1970's! Except for the birth of my children, I have to say that these were truly the best and most crazy fun times of my life.  We even met up in London after the season ended in 1978 and had great times then too!

Here is a sample of the pictures BTW Listen to Fleetwood Mac Rumours as you watch, or The BeeGees we danced to them many a night at Nito's Club in San Antonio. I still haven't figured out how to add music............darn! The permed hair was really in,I guess we all thought it was cool..hmmm.

https://picasaweb.google.com/102114540319628119084/IbizaGang1970S#slideshow/5879728526516784018

A good read on how depression feels


 http://stayingalivemoma.wordpress.com/tag/why-my-depression-wont-go-away/


I enjoyed this blog about anxiety and depression, sometimes knowing others are out there and relating to the same issues you have makes it easier to cope.  I can relate to the feeling of being "robbed" of my life and concentration and memory issues as well as constant pain.

I know one day it will be a distant memory, but for now, today, everyday is a new experience in coping.  Hope this link will inpire others .....keep swimming my friends, eventually we will get to shore.

Spirit like a Bus ?

My spirit is like a bus.
God is the bus driver
Jesus is my tour guide
Angels are the passengers

God drives my spirit
Jesus guides my spirit
The angels whisper thoughts in my ear
The messages can be heard
through dreams or in key moments

Like intuition or gut feelings, 
Sometimes through bursts of adrenalin
advising danger is near,
or a dream or a thought or a memory

Ultimately, I choose what I do
I choose where I go
I select those around me
or let them go

My destiny is mine,
but I am thankful for the help I get
from my driver, my guide and my advisers!

An old Cherokee told his grandson, "My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, & ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, & truth." The boy thought about it, and asked, "Grandfather, which wolf wins?" The old man quietly replied, "The one you feed."

Saturday Nights are for Listening to Favourite Oldies Songs

Here are a few of my favourite songs from the 70's, sigh, doesn't seem like that long  ago really

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIK5F4zRN0Y&feature=related

I think I could get into guys with long hair again too, I mean why not? These guys were cute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn-enjcgV1o&feature=related


This was the one you cried to when you had a heart ache, do you remember watching Top of the Pops? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQCAv_YxJqo&feature=fvwrel

More 10CC- Remember Dreadlock Holiday? Teehee, brings back memories http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGLsAkeRd84&feature=related
Things we do for love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgptvsHHYK4

Favourite bands from this era?  Too many great bands to name but a few that I enjoyed are:

Fleetwood Mac, Led Zepplin, Boston, ELO, Stones, BeeGees, Queen, Beatles, Eagles, Bowie, Aerosmith, ah an endless list and all brings happy memories.........

Calgary Flames won tonight!

My husband and I went to a Flames game tonight and they won, we had a really great time.  Haven't been to a live game in a while, Thanx David!

The night started out with the seat belt being caught in the door dragging in the mud and slush, so yeah, coat covered in brown nastiness.  Oh well, the coat is brown, so not so noticeable.  Got there ok, but the height of the seats was a little daunting, me being afraid of heights and all, but we found our seats and enjoyed our hot dogs and cold beer.   More beer and more beer later, I suddenly realized, I needed the loo, and wouldn't you know it, it was clear on the other side of the world.  Dang, had to walk and walk, trying to remember where our seats were, chanting the section and row the entire way there.

Found it eventually and , you guessed it, bought some more beer.  Cause it tasted good.  Soooooooo after the Flames scored a few more goals, I was feeling great.  Date with husband (rare event), cold beer, Flames winning, hey it was a good night.   But then needed the loo again, why oh why does beer have to run through the body so fassssssssssst?

So, once again down the steep stairs, with thousands of people around, and the inevitable search for the loo.  This time David suggested going to the right as it was closer.  Yeah, very close, but there were 35 ladies lined up, argh!  As I waited in line, I noticed a crowd of blond babes, with really tight jeans, high boots and large ahem, imagination please, all hugging and kissing, I swore, they all looked identical, must have worked at Cowboys and were having a reunion.  Oh well, I waited patiently as my place in line got closer, 5, 3, then 2, then ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, my turn. Yeah!


After the game I noticed the lovely blonds in line at the loo as we left, and I thought HAH!  I don't feel so bad, at least I am not squirming anymore and they still have a long wait.

Go Flames Go!

What I am Thankful for

Reflections of Falling Leaves at Thanksgiving

I am thankful for the beauty and serenity around my neighbourhood, where I can walk alone or with my dog or with friends.

I am thankful for my many dear friends, for sharing stories, laughter and a bottle of wine with them and sometimes crying with them

I am thankful for my loving family, for the dreams we share, and the lessons we teach each other; for the clutter that reminds me we are human, and the dust that means we are busy living.

I am thankful for life, having lost two dear friends this year, it reminds me how precious it is and that we need to appreciate every day as if it were a gift.

I am thankful for good health, having family members who are recovering from illness.

Here is baby Jason so peaceful!

Older brother Justin enjoyed running through the leaves

The colours were amazing

The day was quiet and calm

We felt so glad to enjoy the scenery

The trees were like a cathedral around us

Hi Justin - he waved and said hi to each passer by and every puppydog

But he enjoyed the leaves most of all

There were very few people

Almost had the park to ourselves

The reflections in the water were stunning

The shapes the reflections formed were cool

There was also plenty of birds, grasshoppers and a few ducks

Even the clouds are reflected in this picture

It was a glorious fall day

October in Calgary so far has been better than the summer

I even turned the heat off and the air conditioning back on

This walk was so lovely we went back again today

Though there were a few more people

It was still a memorable walk

Justin brought a bucket today to collect leaves

And him and his daddy made little tree ghosts and pumpkins filled with leaves for Halloween

I bought some too and then realized I barely have any leaves in my yard

Is it stealing to take some from a neighbours yard?

I mean you'd be doing them a favour, they were just leaving them there anyway.........jejeje

I am thankful for many things, Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for stopping by.