Yme Woensdregt on "What is your Lifesong?"

By Rev Yme Woensdregt

I’ve been reading a wonderful book called Healing the Purpose of Your Life. The main theme of the book is that each of us has a unique purpose for our life, and our whole lives are a process of discerning that purpose and living it out.

They quote Agnes Sanford, the Episcopal teacher, who taught that each of us comes into the world with sealed orders from God. She means, “It is as if before we are born, each of us talks over with God our special purpose in this world.” Our “sealed orders” are not a list of tasks for us to accomplish. It is primarily a way of being for each of us. Who are we called to be?

The book tells a story about a tribe in East Africa which doesn’t count the birth date of a child from the day of birth, or even from the day of its conception as some other village cultures do.

For this tribe, the birth date is the first time a mother thinks of giving birth to a child. When she becomes aware that she intends to conceive a child, she goes off to sit alone under a tree. There she sits and listens until she can hear the song of the child that she hopes to conceive. Once she has heard the song, she returns to her village. She teaches it to the father so that they can sing it together as they make love, inviting the child to join them.

After the child is conceived, she sings it to the baby in her womb. Then she teaches it to the old women and midwives of the village so that throughout labour and at the moment of birth, the child is greeted with its song.

After the birth, all the villagers learn the song of their new member and sing it to the child when she falls or hurts herself.

The song is sung in moments of triumph, or in rituals and initiations. The song becomes part of the marriage ceremony when the child is grown. At the end of life, her loved ones gather around the deathbed and sing the song for the last time.

It’s a beautiful story about the same kind of thing Agnes Sanford described as sealed orders. You can understand why I would love this image of our LifeSong.

It’s a way of talking about our essence. This is God within us. This is the light within us. This is what gives our lives meaning and wholeness and grace and love.

The song of our lives says something about who we are. It describes our being, our beautiful, unique personhood. Before we are born, God has a loving conversation with us about who we are and how we can live out our identity.

Notice that it’s not about what we do. Our LifeSong is about who we are. The things we do, the tasks we accomplish in our lives, are only ways of living out our identity. What we do reflects who we are.

As I was reflecting on that, it occurred to me that Jesus’ Lifesong was to empower people to live in a new way marked by unconditional love. When Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, he described a way of living together marked by love, equality, sharing. It was a radical thing then. It’s a radical thing now.

And as we read the story of Jesus’ baptism, we read a story about his commitment to living that way. When he was baptized with all the other people, he was praying. A voice from heaven proclaims, “You are my Son. You are my Beloved, chosen and marked by my love.”

He spends the rest of his short life revealing God’s love. He lives it out. He encourages people to live in the way of love. He heals people as a sign of God’s love in action. His death points to the incredible and powerful love of God in the world. That is the light we see in Jesus.

I believe that the same is true of us. In our baptism, God claims us as beloved daughters and sons. God wraps us within the embrace of love and whispers into our souls the identity which
God has given us. “You are God’s work of art,” we sing in one of our baptismal hymns. You are God’s Song in the world.

A well–known theologian once confessed that he was plagued by a terrible dream. He was traveling in a distant city and ran into someone with whom he had gone to high school. The person would say, “Henri, Henri, I haven’t seen you in years. What have you done with your life?”

The question always felt like judgment. He’d done some good things, but there had also been some troubles and struggles. And he didn’t know how to answer the question, how to account for his life.
Then one night he had another dream. He dreamed that he died and went to heaven. He was waiting outside the throne room, waiting to stand before almighty God, and he was shivering with fear. He just knew that God would ask with a deep voice saying, “Henri, Henri, what have you done with your life?”

But when the door to God’s throne room opened, the room was filled with light. From the room he could hear God speaking to him in a gentle voice saying, “Henri, it’s good to see you. I hear you had a rough trip, but I’d love to see your slides.”

We begin to discern our LifeSong as we know that God’s love floods our lives. God whispers to us, “It’s so good to see you; I hear your trip has been up and down, but I’d love to see your slides.”
So many of us have grown up thinking of God as judgment. But it’s not so. God is unutterable love. God is pure grace. God is sheer delight. God always waits for us just around the bend, beckoning us on in our journey. At the same time, God walks alongside us, encouraging us to discover our own LifeSong, singing with us in harmony.

As with Jesus, so for us our baptism is the sure sign of God’s love at work in our lives. Before we can do anything other than eat or poop, we are baptized. We know ourselves to be God’s people, delighting as God’s love washes over us. We walk with Jesus, and in our unique way we show the power and delight of being loved as we are.

As we revel in belonging to God, we begin to discern our own LifeSong.

Here are some questions to help us discern our LifeSong:
* What are you most grateful for today? What are you least grateful for? If you were to ask yourself that question every day, what pattern would you see?
* When in your life have you been so absorbed in something that time flew by? What gave you such joy?
* When have you felt most alive?
* If you had time and money enough to do anything, what would you do?
* Who is the person you most wanted to grow up to be like? Whom do you most want to be like today?
* What is your special way of receiving love?
* What is it that you have to do—that you can’t not do?
* If you had only one year to live, what would you do?

Questions like this help us discern our own LifeSong. It’s not just something we do once in a while.
These are questions for our reflection in the quiet moments of each day. We seek God’s presence each day, and we begin to hear our own LifeSong, that hymn which God sang to our souls before the beginning of time, the song renewed in our baptism, the song which we can hear in our days, if only we listen.
Thanks be to God.


Rev. Dr. Yme Woensdregt us Incumbent at Christ Church Anglican in Cranbrook, British Columbia

Following the Light

By Rev Dr Yme Woensdregt
I’m going to let you in on a secret—there were actually four magi but the fourth was turned away because he brought fruit cake.

We don’t really know how many magi there were. All Matthew tells us is that magi come from the east to worship the child who has been born king of the Jews. They arrive at the house where Jesus is, open their treasure chests, and offer three gifts as they pay him homage.

These were standard gifts for a king in the ancient world: gold is a precious metal; frankincense is an essential oil; and myrrh was used to anoint. Other documents of the time record the same items as gifts for rulers. It’s astounding to think that this peasant boy was given gifts fit for a king.

Let’s notice two things in this story.

The first is to ask “Who are the magi?” We sing about “three kings”, but they’re not royal. Magi were philosophers and astrologers from the east. They’re not from here; they come from away. They’re strangers. This story is Matthew’s way of saying that this birth is good news for all people. Outsiders become insiders.

This is Emmanuel. God is with us—all of us. All the world. Everybody. The whole world is included within God’s embrace. This is a remarkable story of God’s abiding passion to welcome everyone, regardless of age, colour, creed, sexual orientation, or any other thing.

And these magi are outsiders in every sense of the word. Not only are they from away, they’re also astrologers who dabble in the occult. People like this were explicitly condemned in the Old Testament.

But Matthew tells us that all people are now included. Something new is going on here. God is crashing into our world with a whole new way of doing things. There are no more outsiders. None. Zero.

The second thing to notice is the star. Since they’re astrologers, their work is to discern what the stars are telling us. But have you ever tried to follow a star? You can’t.

A Michael Pelzer photo

The star is a symbol. It is Matthew’s way of talking about the light which shines in the darkness. We focus so much on the birth of the Christ Child at Christmas that we miss how much light is part of the story of Christmas.

John’s Gospel mentions it explicitly: “What has come into being in him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
In Luke’s story, the light is found in the wondrous glory of God which shone around that wonderful choir of angels.

In Matthew’s story, the light is found in the star. The magi follow the Light. Some people speculate that it might have been a comet or a supernova. Maybe—but honestly, that’s irrelevant.
The Light shines in the darkness.

I suspect that may be part of the reason we celebrate Christmas at this time of year, when the nights are longest. That’s why we use candles at Advent—the light grows week by week. That’s why we hold candles on Christmas Eve. The Light shines in the darkness.

It’s a story about following the Light.

The Light beckons us. The Light draws us in. The Light chases away the darkness. The Light warms us and melts the coldness that sometimes afflicts us. When we live in the Light, our fears are not so strong. They are less insistent. The Light bathes us in a sense of peace.

Following the Light also changes us. This kind of journey transforms us. As we rest in the Light, it enters our lives, our souls, and gently changes us.

I recently stumbled across a poem by Mary Oliver poem called Six Recognitions of the Lord. She describes lying in a meadow, watching the clouds, and letting the beauty of the scene wash over her. She ends the poem this way:

“Then I go back to town,
to my own house, my own life, which has
now become brighter and simpler, somewhere I have never been before.”

The poem describes an experience of something new in the midst of our ordinary lives. That experience changes us.

The same happened to the magi. They follow the Light, and they go home different people. They are made new, “and they go back … to their own life which has now become brighter and simpler, somewhere they have never been before.”

Matthew puts it this way: “They left for their country by another road.”

Following the Light changes us. We see new things. We engage in new ways of being. We set different priorities. We live in new ways.

On the outside, everything looks the same. Inside, it’s all new.

In another poem entitled The Summer Day, Mary Oliver reflects on the beauty of a summer day. She pays attention to the simple things, the little things, the beautiful things—a grasshopper, the grass.

She ends,
“I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”


Finally, Walter Brueggemann offers this prayer at Epiphany:

“On Epiphany day,
we are still the people walking.
We are still people in the dark,
and the darkness looms large around us,
beset as we are by fear,
anxiety,
brutality,
violence,
loss —
a dozen alienations that we cannot manage.

We are — we could be — people of your light.
So we pray for the light of your glorious presence
as we wait for your appearing;
we pray for the light of your wondrous grace
as we exhaust our coping capacity;
we pray for your gift of newness that
will override our weariness;
we pray that we may see and know and hear and trust
in your good rule.

That we may have energy, courage, and freedom to enact
your rule through the demands of this day.
We submit our day to you and to your rule,
with deep joy and high hope,

Follow the Light.

 Where is the light present in your life? How can you follow?

What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

We submit our day to you and to your rule with deep joy and high hope.

Thanks be to God.


Rev. Dr. Yme Woensdregt js the incumbent at Christ Church Anglican, Cranbrook, British Columbia

Friday Morning Coffee Club launches series of 'good stick' stories

Friday Morning Coffee Club, aka FMCC, launched its 'good stick' project with members bringing their own personal examples to the regular session on Feb.19.

Somehow, at least to me, it seems that the man I met on the bush road near my home in Chapleau on July 28, 1980, who commented that maybe some day I would find a good stick like he had, meant much more than I thought I did.

After receiving my own good stick recently from my lifelong friend Harry 'Butch' Pellow, of course I had to bring it to a FMCC meeting, and suddenly others were sharing their personal experiences with me. 

In fact Gerry Warner was the first to launch our 'Good Stick' series with a fascinating look at his travels with a stick he has had for 40 years. Here is the link to it: http://themainstreeter.blogspot.com/2016/02/theres-no-friend-like-good-stick-by.html

Gerry Warner

One thing leads to another, as it usually does, and we now hope to have a series of personal stories on finding your good stick, and the role it plays in our lives. Members are working on their stories now and they will be published on this blog and a Facebook page.

If you would like to participate, please just email me at mj.morris@live.ca

Good sticks on the table

Over the years I have written several stories based on my own good stick experience, and even included reference to it at an ecumenical service in which I participated at the 90th anniversary reunion of Chapleau High School in 2012. I expressed the hope that everyone would find their own good stick.

In the letter accompanying my stick Butch wrote: "As our frailties become more evident, we need to be mindful of every step going forward -- be reminded of your friend many years ago who explained the "good stick theory."  

For a guy who loves metaphor, it took me about 30 years to grasp the implied comparison between a piece of wood that was very helpful and powerful in helping me as I walked along a  bush road and my friends who have also been there with me and for me -- most particularly Harry 'Butch' Pellow. I have been most blessed. Thanks Butch for being the "good stick" so often over the past 70 years or so.

As FMCC members share their stories, it takes me back to a speech I heard by Ray Bradbury, who commented that he was born "a collector of metaphors. Metaphors are the centre of life."

Brian shows his "good stick"

Most assuredly I agree, as I look forward to the metaphors from my friends in FMCC, and any who choose to share their good stick stories.

I would just add that the man on bush road, while expressing the hope that I would find my good stick, added that maybe I would also see the auburn wolf, but not to be afraid. It would not hurt me. I will leave interpretations of that metaphor to you my friends.

Here is link to recent version of it:http://themainstreeter.blogspot.com/2016/02/discovering-meaning-behind-good-stick.html

Last but not least. thanks to Joel for making sure everyone brought their good stick, arranging and doing photography, and being a great 'good stick' to all of us in FMCC.Can't wait to hear your good stick story Joel... He tells us it comes from Maine.

Cranbrook politicians need to work together on 'big ideas' to improve city's infrastructure

by Michael J Morris
The federal election is over, and sooner rather than later I hope, Cranbrook city council will come up with 10 big ideas to fix the community's infrastructure and be ready when Justin Trudeau announces details of the infrastructure program he promised.

But before so doing, Mayor Lee Pratt and his council will need to accept the reality that Canadians elected a majority Liberal government led by Justin Trudeau. However, in Kootenay-Columbia, voters bounced David Wilks, the Conservative MP in the last Parliament, and replaced him with Wayne Stetski, of the  NDP.

Stetski, who was mayor of Cranbrook but defeated by Pratt in the last election, is now the city's voice in the new Parliament, but will be a rookie MP in the House of Commons with a steep learning curve. The NDP is also the third party in terms of members.

I would suggest that as the political times are new, all involved put aside any differences they may have, meet and get on with co-operating for the improvement of the community. Focus totally on the things bringing them together -- a better place to live, work and play -- rather than those things dividing them.

It was the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll who aroused me to comment singing "I'm late / I'm late / For a very important date. / No time to say "Hello, Goodbye". / I'm late, I'm late, I'm late."

I really don't want Cranbrook to be late for a very important date with the new government of Canada in submitting projects to improve the city.

On to 10 Big Ideas for Cranbrook. I suggest that a public consultation process be undertaken to assist in deciding the infrastructure program.

For example, a year or so ago, the Toronto Star started by asking its readers to provide 35 big ideas that would help the city became a better place for all citizens to live, work and play, and then whittled them down to the top 25. The next stage was to select the Top Ten, and hopefully city council would  act on them.

I know. I know. My example is from Toronto not the most popular city in these parts.

Wow. I must have been here a long time When I arrived here over 26 years ago, I was very careful about mentioning in the faculty lounge at College of the Rockies, then East Kootenay Community College, that I was from Ontario, never mind that I had attended school and worked in Toronto. And yes, I have written articles for the Toronto Star in the interests of full disclosure.

Anyway, I digress as usual. How about asking citizens for Big Ideas to make Cranbrook a better place to live, work and play. I have not come up with a plan to sort them all out, but that can be decided later if necessary. 

I am really just blue skying an idea.  It will have served a useful purpose. It will help establish common ground on issues that bring the community together rather than divide it. 

Let me return to Alice in Wonderland and the Walrus: "The time has come, my little friends, to talk of other things / Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings / And why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings / Calloo, Callay, come run away / With the cabbages and kings."

You figure out the metaphor(s). Thanks so much for 26 years in Cranbrook. I wish you all the very best.

 My email is mj.morris@live.ca

B.C. Boy Justin Trudeau needs to adopt no frills approach meeting, greeting and listening to folks across Canada this Summer

Justin Trudeau in Cranbrook Summer 2013

By Michael J Morris

In the Summer of 2013, Justin Trudeau, the 'B.C. boy' enjoyed celebrity status as he crossed the province on his RV tour of the Kootenays and Okanagan and arrived  in Vancouver where he was surrounded by the media and supporters in the city's West End.

The leader of the federal Liberal Party started his tour in Cranbrook on July 21 with a meet and greet at Rotary Park unusual in politics for its informality. Introduced by Mayor Wayne Stetski, Trudeau then hopped onto the stage dressed in  designer jeans and casual shirt and gave an impromptu speech - a formula that was followed at every stop of the tour with minor variations. 

Two years later, Stetski is the NDP candidate in the Kootenay-Columbia riding currently held by Harpercon David Wilks.

In Creston at Truscott Farms he was presented with a cherry pie, and in Nelson he arrived for the meet and greet  on the city's famous street car with his wife Sophie Gregoire and children Xavier and Ella-Grace.

The no frills approach continued across the province perhaps defining a new political style consistent with the kind of politics Trudeau wants to see in Canada. Based on the reaction from the crowd in Cranbrook and news reports from other communities  he visited, it worked. I just can't imagine Stephen Harper, the prime minister, trying it, although he did wear cardigans at one point.

Some of the shine has gone from Trudeau as the federal election approaches, but he can still attract a crowd and methinks his best asset is the no frills to  get out and meet folks approach across the country.

Hedy Fry, the Liberal MP for Vancouver Centre told The Province newspaper, she believes Trudeau’s popularity is rooted in his authenticity.  “I think he is not like other politicians,” she said. “When people see him there is a deep sense of trust. People just seem to naturally gravitate to him. He is a B.C. boy and British Columbians seem to be warming to him".

Yes indeed, he is a B.C. boy, and although he is the son of Pierre Trudeau, from Quebec, his mother is Margaret Sinclair, the daughter of James Sinclair, a Liberal MP representing Vancouver area ridings from 1940 to 1957, and minister of fisheries from 1952 to 1957. Trudeau also attended the University of British Columbia and taught in the province.

In Cranbrook, Trudeau talked about paddling the Kootenay River with his father and brothers more than 25 years ago, and prior to a meet and greet in Trail, Trudeau and his family hiked to Nelson’s Kokanee Lake, the site where Trudeau’s brother Michel died in 1998 during an avalanche.

Trudeau posed the question along the way: "Why has politics itself become such a dirty word?", in recent years.Answering his own question in part, Trudeau commented that it is always easier in politics to divide, to attack, go negative, calculate where most votes are and practise the politics of division. 

He even admitted elections can be won this way, but he hopes to turn it around despite many advising him that he must go negative.

In Vancouver, in a speech from atop a table at English Bay, Trudeau is reported by The Province as saying, ""What I have seen across the county is people want to reconnect – we want to be once again part of the solution,This is what people are excited about across the country. I’m just an excuse for it. It’s not really about me, it’s about all of you."

In Kelowna, Conservative Party MP Ron Cannan attended theTrudeau meet and greet and told a local newspaper he agreed with several things that the Liberal leader said. "I believe in working together, as Justin advocates.

"What he said, it's hard not to agree with—all comments about balancing the environment and the economy, working together for a stronger future for not only our children, but our grandchildren (as well)." Kelowna-Lake Country voters heavily favoured the Conservative candidate in the 2011 general election; Cannan earned about 57 per cent of the vote.

Good that this MP showed respect and common decency by attending the Trudeau function. Maybe the prime minister will get the message. So far, two years later, Harper still has not gotten it but remains totally surrounded by Steve.

As I was reflecting two years later, on Trudeau's road tour, and the positive reaction, one thing I sensed for sure, and heard it in Cranbrook, and still hear it,  folks are fed up with the present negativity and general goings on in Ottawa in the Office of the Prime Minister and the Duffy Senate affair.

I covered the "Trudeaumania" election campaign in 1968 as a reporter and editor and witnessed it first hand -- but hold on to your seats folks, in my view the son re-ignited the flame on this RV tour. Can he do it again in the Summer of 2015?

"The Chapleau Boys Go To War" presented to Cranbrook Public Library

The Chapleau Boys Go To War now has a place in the Cranbrook Public Library following  presentation of a copy to chief librarian Ursula Brigl.

Accompanied by  Ron McFarland a World War II veteran who served in the Royal Canadian Navy,  and Bill Nightingale who served 33 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force,


I presented a copy to Ursula,on behalf of my co-author Michael K McMullen and myself,

To have Ron and Bill take time to attend the presentation, made it especially meaningful, even though they are not "Chapleau Boys", officially, they represented all of them, and all who have served Canada in our nation's armed forces. Thank you so much!

Terry Burgess, treasurer of the Friends of the Cranbrook Public Library, made the arrangements for the presentation, and Ursula Boy, president of friends of the library also attended. Thanks Terry and Ursula.

Bill, Ursula Boy, MJM, Ron, Terrry (Joel Vinge photo)

Thanks to Joel Vinge for being the official photographer.

On a personal note, I have lived in Cranbrook just on 26 years now, and am so delighted that the library agreed to add The Chapleau Boys Go To War to its collection. I often visit Rotary Park here and spend time looking at the names on the Wall of Honour and the Cenotaph from Cranbrook and area who served in the armed forces. Every time is a visit home to Chapleau too.

I am reminded that it is so important to focus on those things bringing us together in this nation, rather than those dividing us. Thanks Ron and Bill.
IF YOU LIVE IN CRANBROOK AREA AND WOULD LIKE A COPY...
My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Swimming with dolphins and celebrating four years at the pool

It's time for my yearly celebration but this year it's not all about me marking four years  since I started swimming regularly at the swimming pool, aka Cranbrook Aquatic Centre.

 I had just returned from Orlando, Florida, where I spent time in the pool daily, and my friend Michael Pelzer suggested I continue to do so back here in Cranbrook. Michael has given me lots of great advice over the years, but I thank him again so much for suggesting I swim upon my return home. I have hardly missed a day for my "noodle swim".

Enough already about me. My friends Jessica Portsmouth and Dane Ries, who are also lifeguards at the aquatic centre, recently returned from a vacation in Mexico and agreed to let me share their swim with the dolphins. --- and sharks!

Jessica  related "Swimming with the dolphins was such a wonderful experience! I would love to go back and swim with them longer! Or even have one as a pet!. Honestly it has always been my dream to swim with them! And I never thought I would get to go!"

She added:  "They are such beautiful, wonderful and smart creatures! And I enjoyed every moment I couldn't wipe the smile off my face! 

Jessica also swam with the sharks! "Well.... It's me and I freak out about most things! I was super excited to get to experience swimming with sharks, but when I got there I got a little scared! In other words I screamed a lot. My favourite was to hold was the baby, because I knew he had no teeth so I felt safer!" 

Dane picks up the story.

"Swimming with the Dolphins was an experience I will never forget it was amazing to try something new. I was in awe, and have a whole new respect for the animal. I feel as if people are naturally drawn to them, because of their smile! But then again maybe that was just me hah".

"Being a lifeguard I guess I've always been drawn to water activities, so I have always been excited for the one day I got to swim with dolphins. And the experience definitely did not let me down."

"During my travels I have also been privileged enough to go cage diving with great white sharks and during our Mexico trip Jessica and I got to swim and hold a nurse shark. Although those experiences were like no other, I would choose dolphins again in a heart beat. Mostly because the sharks almost stopped my heart, but that's a whole other story in itself!"

I plan to be at the pool on National Health and Fitness Day, June 6, and although I am admittedly not in top shape as I slowly  reach "the winter of my years", I will be there with my "noodle".

 I will take advantage of the free community swim  and manage to find a small space in the "big" pool to do my laps.Dane presents rope swing video

Dane, Mj, Zach, Jessica, Louis

In 2014. Dane led the team of exceptional lifeguards who made it possible for me to relive a childhood dream and once again do a rope swing into the pool -- although as a kid it was into the cold waters of the Chapleau River or the muddy waters of the Humber River in Toronto,

I extend my sincere thanks to Dane and Jessica and all the exceptional lifeguards who from the first day I went to the pool have looked after me, and made me feel safe and comfortable. Kudos also to the staff at the leisure services desk.

Last word goes to Dane:   "I would recommend the activity to anyone/any age. It was great to learn and interact with the animals, and it's always amazing to try/learn something new!"

Who knows Dane! I am not repeating the rope swing this year, but maybe in due course, a swim with the dolphins may be in order. 

My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Bud and Friends Selected as Volunteer Group of the Year 2015

Joel (with Duffy) Caroline, Elsie, Bud, Carol, Sara, Bill

Bud and Friends have been selected as Volunteer Group of the Year for 2015 by The Canadian Mental Health Association of the Kootenays.

The announcement was made at a gala held May 29 at the Casino of the Rockies.

Bud and Friends, on a weekly basis, for the past 20 years, have been singing at nursing homes and assisted living units in Cranbrook and Kimberley.

In addition, they hold a very popular Senior Sing Along at Branch 24 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Cranbrook.

Carol, Joel, Caroline

The group provides an hour of lively singing and engaging their audiences to "sing-a-long" with them from their book of 165 familiar songs.

Bud

The group consists of Bud Abbott, Elsie Barnett, Caroline Gottinger, Sara Kershaw, Bill Nightingale and Joel Vinge and their singing is enthusiastically supported by Carol McGrath on the piano.

Sara, Elsie, Bill

Congratulations to Bud and Friends on being honoured as volunteer group of the year. Much deserved.

Ciclovia brings the "magical good" of public space to a city

By Michael J Morris

Enrique Penalosa, referencing Jan Gehl, the brilliant Danish urban planner  tells us that a great city is where people want to go out of their homes and where we all feel not excluded. 

Rhonda Winter, in an article in ecolocalizer.com in July 2009, 'What is a good city?' refers to Gehl's thinking while discussing the merits of Ciclovia, the brainchild of the former visionary mayor of Bogota, Colombia, Enrique Penalosa. Ciclovia has now become an integral part of community life in cities around the world.

Referencing Jan Gehl, Penalosa said: "A great city is one where people want to go out of their homes. Public space is a magical good and never ceases to yield pleasure: we should pay it a lot of attention. Public good prevails over private interest. A great city is where we all feel not excluded."

And he added, to my delight as one who walks everywhere I go: "The quality of sidewalks in a city is a most telling thing. Just as a bird needs to fly, fish need to swim and deer need to run, we need to walk."

When Penalosa was mayor of Bogota, a city of about seven million people, 120 km of the city's streets started to be closed to traffic every Sunday for seven hours for the hugely popular Ciclovia.

On some Sundays Ciclovia attracts1.5 million citizens who came together to walk, bike, play and socialize. They have continued for about 30 years now.

                          

In her article Winter argues that how an urban environment is planned, designed and constructed greatly influences how we live, get around and interact. Ciclovia has been a major factor in changing Bogota in a society where walking and biking are becoming more important.  

Penalosa also cautioned that doing what benefits everyone in the name of the public good requires real political leadership and risk.

"I want to emphasize the things that make people happy are not very costly, but they are politically difficult," he said.

He also noted: "I would say that the great city is not the one that has highways, but one where a child on a tricycle or bicycle can go safely anywhere."

Mom and I circa 1947 Chapleau

When I was a child, I was able to travel safely around the community on my tricycle and later my bicycle. As I walk about Cranbrook BC where I now live,, and turn back the clock, there is no way I would feel saf. As I watch vehicles roar by me on Victoria Avenue, Second Street North and The Strip for example, I get the feeling all the drivers want to be in the Indianapolis 500.

However, recently I have been delighted to see an increased RCMP presence about town, including a speed counter sign on Second Street North.

Back to Ciclovia. As I read more about it, I thought -- this is something that might work in downtown Cranbrook.

By other names some of it already occurs -- the Farmers Market, Sam Steele Days, the two major parades a year and the Children's Festival. 

I discovered that Winnipeg, Manitoba, holds a Ciclovia, in the downtown area, and looking at a map of the boundaries for the event, and having lived in the city at one time, they really do close it down for one day, for "a free eco-friendly, healthy, lifestyles festival". It is sponsored by Downtown Winnipeg BIZ with support from many stakeholders.

The activities include a wine and cheese festival, kids' activities, animal rest area, music and cardio on the stage (live music followed by a fitness class on the hour all day), a live art zone, book readings, story telling, a chill zone (Yoga, tai chi, massages), a bike show, farmers' market and the list goes on.

In Bogota, Ciclovia is held every week while in Winnipeg it is only once a year, but no matter how often, they bring people from their homes and none are excluded, which serves the public good, but in so doing, private interests, (i.e. businesses) also benefit.

Imagine if Ciclovia happened in your downtown in public space, where the "magical good" would occur as Jan Gehl suggests, and citizens would focus on those things that bring us together, rather than divide us throughout the city, in all we do.

Penalosa again:  "Children are a kind of indicator species. If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people."

Think about the possibilities. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me. My email is mj.morris@live.ca.

Friday Morning Coffee Club Holds Birthday Party for Mark

Joel, Mark, Jim

Friday Morning Coffee Club, aka FMCC, held its first celebration since relocating to Triple O White Spot on "The Strip" in Cranbrook.


The occasion was to extend most sincere birthday greetings, with the usual touches of good humour, to Mark Spence-Vinge, who has been a member since  FMCC was founded almost two years ago.

MJ and  Jim

A rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" led by his brother Joel, greeted Mark.

Bob, Antoine. Terry

It was followed by the official cake cutting ceremony with Jim Roberts assisting, and then cutting generous pieces for all of us. 

Gerry, Bill W and Bill N

The cake was made for the occasion.

Ron, Joel, Peter, Mark, Jim

When FMCC met at the Starbucks in the now closed Target store, it was customary to celebrate birthdays so the tradition has simply continued.

Gordon, Yme

FMCC has also enjoyed Breakfast at the Ranch organized by Jim and Mark, with Chef Justin in charge of the meal. A Christmas party was held at the home of Ron McFarland.

More special events are in the planning stages.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!