Month: February 2016

Today was an important step toward living in Vancouver Cohousing. Ravi Jandu, quality control supervisor for our general contractor, Noble Construction Management, walked me through my 510-sq.ft. one-bedroom to check that deficiencies noted in the first walk through on Jan. 6 had been fixed.

Nothing major had needed to be done. The missing track light in the kitchen and the shower curtain rod in the bathroom were installed, a drawer and a closet door were adjusted, all access panels were now in place, and some painting was touched up.

I still hate the splotchy hickory floors, but less passionately. I will try to learn to live with them while I see whether I’m in cohousing for the long term.

Once I signed off on the fixes, I met with Michael Birmingham from 8th Avenue Development, our development managers. He showed me my parking spot for my Honda Fit, which is right next to the two spots with electric car charging stations. Maybe there’s an electric car in my future.

And he gave me my keys. That felt like a momentous step. In the photo above with my floor plan, let me start with the front-door keys to my apartment on the right. I’ve put them on the leather keyholder we received Jan. 19, 2014, when we chose our units. Fellow member Frannie Cruise embossed the holder with “COHO”, for cohousing. Going clockwise, my three mailbox keys, the fob for entry to common areas, and the key to the 6,500-sq.ft. common house.

We don’t get to use our keys and move in until the project achieves a few more steps: approval from the City of Vancouver at our final inspection, receiving the occupancy permit and closing on the sale of our units. Normally, developers don’t hand over keys until the close, but since our community is the developer, we have them now.

Having the keys makes it all seem much more real. And motivating to fill the packing boxes I’ve brought into my current home.

My parking space on the left. My Honda Fit is saying, “Who are you calling small?”

 

 

 

 

Tonight was Movie Tuesday for Roni and me. We saw the British relationship drama “45 Years”, starring Charlotte Rampling as Kate and Tom Courtenay as Geoff. It chronicles the week leading up to Kate and Geoff’s 45th wedding anniversary party.

A letter arrives confirming that the perfectly preserved body of Geoff’s previous girlfriend Katya has been discovered in a Swiss Alps glacier 50 years after she was lost in a climbing accident. As the week progresses, Kate discovers just how much she has been living in a ménage à trois.

Roni found the characters and what they had to say uninteresting. While the movie is certainly slow-moving, I found it very moving, even emotionally gripping. Perhaps the experience of surviving two divorces has sensitized me to how fragile and toxic a long-term relationship can be when it comes off the rails.

Rampling is a fellow member of Club 69 (she turns 70 on Friday), and Courtenay is 78. Their acting is superb, with Rampling the more nuanced. Both have won two European film awards for their roles and Rampling is nominated for an Oscar.

. . . . . . .

Tonight I was very happy to see the New Democratic Party sweep the two byelections in B.C. held today. Melanie Mark won handily in Vancouver-Mt. Pleasant, which is next door to the Vancouver-Kensington riding held by the NDP, where I’ll be living in our cohousing community. Federally, our address is in the NDP stronghold of Vancouver Kingsway.

The construction site today was a beehive of activity preparing for the City’s final inspection for our occupancy permit. Siding was going up and glass canopies were getting caulked. I was particularly pleased to see the beginning of our landscape plantings. I look forward to the trees in the courtyard budding and bursting with fresh green leaves in the spring.

 

I took a quick peek at the kitchen in the common house.

 

 

 

It’s February and in Uganda that means the start of the school year. Here is a new photo of Miriam Nankwanga, one of the five Ugandan orphans whose education we are supporting through Chanting & Chocolate and the monthly Shabbat potluck dinners I host. The 18-year-old is a student at Semei Kakungulu High School, administered by the Abayudaya Jewish community in the village of Nabugoye Hill.

All five students are members of the Abayudaya, who trace their Jewish history back less than 100 years ago when Kakungulu, a powerful military chief, declared himself a Jew. More than five years after I left Uganda, it feels very gratifying to continue to be helpful.

I am very grateful to the lovers of sweet Hebrew kirtan who attend Chanting & Chocolate on the last Sunday of the month, to Or Shalom for making our charity work a project of the synagogue and providing the sanctuary as an excellent venue, and to the superb musicians who join me every month for the love of this sacred music – Charles Cohen, John Federico, Martin Gotfrit, Charles Kaplan and Wendy Rubin, plus vocalists Rabbi Hannah Dresner and Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan. Last night, we were thrilled that Rabbi Hanna Tiferet Siegel was our special guest artist.

Today was the first of February already. It marks a month of daily practice during which I missed three days. Today I added a minute for each component of chanting, meditation and yoga. Somehow that sixth minute of meditation felt deeper. My body is loving the extra yoga attention.

Today also marks 34 days since I began posting “Being 69” daily, with one day missed. I’m delighted that people are reading and some are commenting. One friend suggests I write more about feelings and less about details. Another says I’m quite vulnerable and open. Still others figure once a week would be enough – why knock myself out? I worry that it might be Too Much Information. I do feel determined to maintain the daily pace, offering whatever insights I might have into a life on the leading edge of the baby boom. Insha’allah, I’ll be able to transform a year of posts into a book.

What do you think – how am I doing so far?

 

I enjoyed all my sessions at Limmud Vancouver ’16 at Congregation Beth Israel where more than 400 people gathered Sunday morning. In the photo above, participants sing a wordless melody in the fascinating session called “Niggun as a Spiritual Practice” taught by Or Shalom’s Rabbi Hannah Dresner.

I’ll flesh out this post a little more Monday but for now I’ll share some photos from the day.

Avi Dolgin and Jackie Soicher at the opening on Sunday morning.

My day began with Annie Klein’s excellent session on “Wisdom in Later Life.”

For lunch, we picked up our pre-selected wraps and sat at tables where salad, oranges and brownies were waiting for us.

Kevin and Liorah Johnson entertain during the lunch break.

From left, Carol Ann Fried, Michael Klein and Bonnie Sherr Klein teach a session on “Dramatizing Difficult Conversations.”

Philip Dayson with his Manischewitz wine bottle organ. The bottles are filled with coloured mineral oil to prevent evaporation and loss of tuning.

Limmud is all about volunteering and participating. Irina volunteers at the table selling presenters’ books, CDs and other products.

Methinks the handiwork of Avi Dolgin.

• • • • • •

The day that kept on giving. Rabbi Hanna Tiferet Siegel rehearses with the band before Chanting & Chocolate Sunday evening at Or Shalom. (Reamick Lo photo)