Wow, 300 people walked through the new Courtyard Gallery in Enderby on this full moon evening. Take a deep breath and smile. Thank you all.

It was a long path to get to last night, from years of talk about it, to lets do it, to a lot of hard work and dedication. This is a group effort, the Gallery will be open today Friday April 26, 2013. Displayed is a variety of art, paintings in water color, acrylic, oil and mixed medium, jewelry of glass, semi precious stone and bone, sculptures of once upon a time chairs, paper  mache dragon,  flags of global and ancient water symbols, photography, felting, and more, you must go see. Hours are 11:00 to 4:00 Tuesday to Saturday. But if you can not make it on those days, let us know, we can work something out.
For more info about the artists check out Courtyard Gallery

Hope to see you there.

The Courtyard Gallery has been a busy place lately. The art is all in, the task of placement is now in order.

The grand opening is 

Thursday, April 25 7-9 PM

104-907 Belvedere Street, Enderby BC

Hope to see you there

Showcasing the original works of local artists.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 was Purple for Epilepsy Awareness Day. At nine years old Cassidy Megan founded the day five years ago. "I wanted to Have one day where everyone in the world could show support for people with epilepsy and teach people about epilepsy." Ten year old Cassidy shook hands with the Queen and last year Cassidy was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal.

I started off my day by walking the dogs, exercise, sunshine and dusty air.

With a basket of goodies I received from The Center For Epilepsy and Seizure Control in BC, I strolled down to the Tea at the "Country Coffee Shop" with possible support group participants. I walked into the Coffee shop and it was full, a table of four was set aside for us, lucky, by the time the last couple arrived another table became available for the six of us. We were noticeable allwearing purple, except for Kelly who was wearing red, in fact I noticed a lot of red. Anyone walking in wearing purple got a pencil, magnet, bracelet, bookmark, of their choosing. Three of us have epilepsy, one of us feels isolated by her epilepsy and was excited about having a support group in Enderby. After the tea I walked about the town and handed out my goodies, to eager takers, in doing so I met more people with epilepsy or who have family or friends and would also be interested in a support group.

March 26TH happened to fall on a Tuesday which is Toastmasters night, I took the position as Chair for the evening with the theme "Epilepsy". I invited the new support group and three were able to come to the meeting. Everyone had some tone of purple on, I was sure John in his fedora with squares of purple paper in his hat band would scare off the guests with his hand shake of a purple, balloon stuffed glove. For the break we had cookies and purple corn chips with purple, beet dip. Heather thought a purple dip was a good choice, if we spill, it wouldn't be as noticeable on our purple clothing, as John dropped a lump of dip from his chip, onto Heather's skirt.

I reached back into my past as I researched famous people with Epilepsy, Neil Young was one of my favorite singer song writers. I quenched my throat with water, and took a deep breath, out of my throat came "Helpless", helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless......the song felt suitable for the day, the feeling you may have at loosing your drivers license, waking in the street, not knowing where you are, with strangers yelling at you as if you are drunk, pain in all your body, confusion, doctors voices spinning in your head, pharmaceuticals, no climbing of ladders, no taking of bathes..........Helpless.

I'll get over it, who can be sad when they are wearing purple flowery Tom canvas shoes, every one wanted my shoes, at a size 3 girls they only fit me.

Love you all!

The Epilepsy I Didn't Know I Had

When I lived in Abbotsford my Doctor retired, and the clinic she was in had a hard time replacing her, I was left as a walk-in patient. For a number of years I was having a strange event that happened infrequently, I can only describe it as a whooshing sensation coming over me and the feeling of being in two places, never going unconscious; afterwards I would be confused and nauseous. I decided to see a Doctor at the walk-in clinic about this, his response was “It must be God.” None of my female friends felt they had good care from him.

In 2010 my husband and I moved to Enderby, for Steve's employment. While speaking on the phone with my daughter one day I had an event, had to hang up and call her back. She asked if I had seen a Doctor and I told her about “The Abbotsford Doctor”. She is taking nursing and wanted to ask one of her professors about this, her professor said have your mother find a Doctor that will take her seriously.

I spent hours on the phone, it could have been days. No one in Enderby was taking new patients. I ended up on a waiting list, I was told it would be six months for a doctor in Vernon. In the meantime I did the Enderby walk-in clinic. At first the Doctor also didn't take me seriously, when I explained the previous Doctors comment, he became serious. I was sent to a Neurologist, he said he may not be able to tell me anything; I had an MRI and and EEG in March of 2011. I heard nothing, continued on with my life wondering and figuring no news is good news.

I was on the waiting list for one year to get in to see the new Doctor in Vernon. I started keeping a record of when I had an event, they seemed to be more frequent and stronger.

February 1^st 2013, I went to bed and had a seizure, moaning, shaking, eye's rolled back, drooling, muscles all tight; my poor husband called 911. I didn't know what was going on, who these women were in my room, they seemed to be everywhere, wanting me to do something, and a man that was my husband would poke his head at me and say things. They managed to get me in my bathrobe and slippers, and walk me out to an Ambulance with flashing lights, and I remember saying “Where are you taking me? What are you doing? I'm scared.” I remember feeling sick, but relieved when we finally got to the hospital, and apologizing, for what I wasn't sure. I don't remember being poked with an IV, taped and plugged into a monitor which seemed to go off all night. I had another seizure two hours after the first one.

The hospital had the results of the MRI and it was good, they did more CT tests and they were all good. I appeared to be healthy. I was pumped full of drugs to the point I was in a fog, I could not see straight, or walk. One thing they did discover was that I had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome or WPW syndrome. It is the presence of an extra, abnormal electrical pathway in the heart that leads to periods of a very fast heartbeat. You are born with this, they didn't think it had anything to do with the seizures. I was sent home from emergency on February 4^th, with a walker and no more drugs. I only needed the walker for a day.

My daughter Yolanda had some time off and was able to come up and help when I got home. She took me to appointments and worked on some sewing projects she couldn't do at home, I just sat and advised her; I really wasn't me when she was here. Anytime I get to spend with Yolanda is good time.

In the meantime my doctor was getting all these reports from the hospital. “What is going on with Karen, she is a healthy patient we rarely see.” Her concern is that I might go into a seizure and never come out of it, or choke on food if I'm eating, she put me back on the drugs. I complained, the drug has many possible side effects, I would like to keep my teeth. I would rather do natural remedies, but then you are threatened with “...you will never drive again unless you take the drugs...”. She put me on 1/3 the dosage I was on in the hospital and I have to have blood tests to make sure the drug levels are okay.

I disliked the drugs so much I weened myself off of them. I feel so much better off the drugs, just scared I could have a seizure at any time.

To me February 1^st was a nightmare along with the first few days in the hospital. To Steve it is very real, he was wide awake and scared; the person on the other end of the phone at 911, was very helpful. Keep her safe, make sure she isn't choking, put her on her side, if you have a pet put them in a room out of the way.

On Monday, February the 25^th Steve took me to Kelowna were I had another EEG and a consult with Dr Adams the neurologist. I am so grateful to finally have a name for what has been going on with me. For about 15 years I have been having Focal seizures, or partial seizures. Those were easy to deal with they just slowed me down for brief periods; the Grand Mal's are another beast. I can't drive, take a bath, climb a ladder; if I don't take the drugs. I'm OK with not driving, convincing Steve to take a bath with me, could take some time. I never liked ladders anyway. Would it be possible to train Mattie to know when I was having a seizure?

The Doctors all want me to take the drugs, if one doesn't work we can try another. I don't know what to fear most, the drugs or the seizures. Knowing I have Epilepsy creates more mystery about what is happening to me. 60 to 75 % of people with seizures do not know why they have them. The drugs do not take care of the unknown cause. I have had some sensitivity to a variety of drugs in the past and the idea of trying yet another drug doesn't make me feel good, how will I react to another drug, it's not the 60's anymore.

I would love to hear from others with Epilepsy or family members and friends that are touched by Epilepsy. What do you do to control your seizures: acupuncture, medical marijuana, pharmaceuticals?

Night Of The Wolves

I once lived on an Island called Porcher, in the south West inlet called Serpentine. Population 10, if everyone was home. It was an 8 hour boat ride in our little flat bottomed river boat, from the Port of Prince Rupert.

I lived with my second husband Bill, my four year old daughter Yolanda, and his 3 ½ year old daughter Song, who visited on occasion, and a cat named Goodie. We also had an occasional dog, who stayed with us when Richard Fish was not home.

We built a two story house on a large log float, we inhabited the top floor while we intended on working on the main floor. With a gambrel style roof or barn roof it gave us more living space upstairs. With two stories the house didn't float, that would be another story.

On a fall evening, Bill was off fishing, our neighbors were all out, Yolanda, Song, the dog, Goodie the cat and I were the only ones home. As we got into bed that dark night, I could hear wolves off in the distance. The girls fell fast asleep, and the dog was in his favorite spot under the house, on one of the logs. The sound of the wolves grew closer and I felt that we were surrounded by many wolves.

I was very worried about the dog, considering wolves will eat dogs. I went downstairs to get the dog in. I was stunned after opening up the door to call the dog, there just off of the porch stood a large long legged wolf, eating the fish we had left out for the dog. I was totally freaked when the dog came running from the other side of the house and ran circles around the wolf. The wolf payed little attention and continued to chew the fish with a little shuffle of his feet. The dog wouldn't come in. I ran back upstairs to get the shot gun. I couldn't find it. The girls were waking up. I ran back down stairs and managed to get the dog in the house. I ran back up the stairs muttering under my breath “Where did Bill put that gun?” The girls were wide awake by now and said. “We know where Bill hide the gun.” I throw up my hands. At lest it didn't have bullets in it. I got the gun ready and ran down the stairs. Walked to the other side of the room to the large unfinished open window. I was high above the ground, standing over the spot that the dog loved to sit. I could see the eye's of the wolves glowed in the dark off in the distance and two of them were running very fast up to the house. I aimed the gun above their heads, it wouldn't shoot. I tried again it wouldn't shoot. I could hear them as they hit full force on the log the dog loved to sit. They kept running going back the direction they came. I fiddled with the gun and aimed again, the gun fired and shot over their heads. I only wanted to scary them away.

We all went back to sleep safe inside the float house that didn't float, as the howls of the wolves grew quieter and farther away.

The next morning the tide was out and I noticed that our little fiberglass skiff was missing. We had it tied to an anchor further out in the inlet. I made breakfast for the girls and told them to stay in the house. Grabbed the gun, the dog wouldn't come with me, he watched the girls. I walked out to were the skiff should have been. It was the distance of about one and half city blocks. The anchor was there, the rope was there with a clean cut, and in the sand all around were many wolf prints. It gave me cold chills. I looked all around and couldn't see the skiff, so I walked another what would be 3 city blocks to Richard Fish's house to barrow his wooden skiff. I pulled it off the beach and into the water and rowed until I found our skiff floating with the tide water. I tied it to Richards boat and rowed back to Richards beach, since the tide was so far out I had to tie the two boats on Richards beach and walk back home. The girls were happy making paper hats for Goodie and all was well to my relief. The mystery was the rope. The four inches that was left of the rope on the boat was also cleanly cut as if with a sharp knife, and the only suspects were the wolves, or could it have been a bullet shot over their heads?

Enchanting Night Sky

Last night I wished to lay under the beautiful night sky. Surrounded by pink river mist with a full moon waning. The trees were thick with frosted snow, majestic against the clear night sky, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and stars bright, enchanting night sky. A sky to wish upon.
A new year is approaching, I wish for the best year yet, many milestones, anniversaries, birthdays, much to celebrate in 2013. Much to prepare.

2012

2012

It has been a year of visiting with family and friends, helping others, protesting, creative and destructive accomplishments.

I started out the year with a visit to Mom in Cincinnati, leaving the boys Steve and Mattie home to fend for themselves. Jessica was also visiting so Mom had a birthday with all her kids. I think Mom was the oldest kid at the restaurant in her pink, sketchers, with the white side walls, and plastic gems that light up with every stomp, a peace sign on the tongue and no shoe laces. She wore them everywhere we went and stomped in front of anyone till they noticed and she laughed. It was a lot of fun till she tried stomping her foot on the dash board of the car as we were over taking a police car, those shoes light up just like a police cruiser.

In the spring we had a great deal of flooding in BC. Steve and I are volunteers with North Okanagan Emergency Social Services or ESS. We were called to help the team in Sicamous an hours drive north of Enderby. Whole neighborhoods were evacuated. People vacationing on rented house boats lost their cars and had no way to return home; pet’s had to be cared for. ESS gives people care for three days, hotel, food, clothing if need be. Steve filled out forms and I took care of pets as they arrived. People came in bus loads all day. We have been on call through out the year. Last week all the teams and volunteers were honored at a dinner and given certificates of recognition.

To our ever annoyance our large back deck had to go. (Destructive accomplishment) As Steve removed it in stages we saw just how bad it was and how the rot was covered up making the porch unsafe to walk on. It was a big job, now we have a much smaller but safe porch built properly , it just needs the rails . Steve works on the porch when he doesn’t have work that pays, it so happened that when the weather was beautiful for working outside Steve had work (He works in the basement using his computer to design roof trusses) but when the weather was rainy and gross he had no paying work.

Another project of Steve’s was the gate made out of branches from trimming the trees in our yard, he also built a small fence of branches. This inspired me to built a deer of branches for the front yard , it goes nicely with the fence and gate.

It took two years to repair and paint our large straw bale fences. To me they are an open canvas and it took the two years to decide on what to paint on the wall. Wanting to bring awareness to the declining wild Salmon, due to fish farms, I painted life size wild Salmon on the fences. Don’t eat farmed fish please, unless they are raised in-land and not on the ocean.

I finished my first Competent communication Manuel in Toastmasters, giving 11 speeches. I now have two advanced manuals, I chose “The Entertaining Speaker” and “Humorously Speaking” . I have now given 13 speeches.

I hope this finds you well. May the new year be happy, healthy and prosperous for you and yours.

All our best to you