One Final Post

Catherine Mitchell

September 8, 1931 – June 8, 2018

Catherine Mary Power Mitchell started her life September 8, 1931. On that day, she was born to Michael John and Mary Ann (Dillon) Power in their family home in Calgary, Alberta.
Catherine attended St. Ann’s School and St. Mary’s Girls’ High School and entered the Sisters of the Faithful Companions of Jesus at Sacred Heart Convent in 1947. Catherine graduated from the University of Toronto, St. Michael’s College in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts. She then went overseas to Broadstairs Kent, UK for further religious training.
Catherine returned to Calgary in 1957 to begin her teaching career, which continued both in and out of the classroom, including managing the St. Francis Archives, until 2016. She taught at both St. Mary’s Girls’ High School and St. Francis High School.
Catherine left the convent in 1967, and later met and married her dear, dear Theo in 1972. Together they shared a wonderful life filled with love.
Catherine is predeceased by Theo as well as by her mother and father, brother, Michael, and sister, Lil.
On June 8, 2018, Catherine died peacefully in her home in Calgary, Alberta surrounded by loved ones.
While gone from this world now, Catherine will not be forgotten by her friends and loved ones, and the thousands of students she taught, celebrated, and held dear throughout her lifetime. Teaching us all until her last breath, we have witnessed how to live life to the fullest and to turn towards death with just the right mix of enthusiasm and trepidation. We hope to join you one day, Catherine, soaring on the thermals alongside a most spectacular albatross.
Donations, in Catherine’s memory, may be made directly to a charity of your choice. To honour Catherine, teach your children well, respect nature, stand up for something you believe in, and hold your loved ones dear.
Interment will take place at St. Mary’s Cemetery.
Read Catherine Mitchell’s complete life story at Lest I Forget.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow!

Last evening when I posted my first blog in 26 days  I implied, and intended to tell you, that I would be back on my buses today and daily thereafter.  I  now must say that , as of this moment,  I am faced with a ‘man proposes and God disposes” situation in that I was unable to ride a bus today.  The weather forecast for today, tomorrow and Friday is so dire that I had to go to Safeway’s  to stock the larder lest I am snow bound for the next several days.  That mundane, easy  task robbed me of a significant amount of my bus riding time.

But, ‘it is an ill wind that blows no good’ and this allows me to share with you a CANADA 150 BUS  related item of which you may or may not be aware.

After several phone calls back and forth on Friday, December 22, 2017 at about 11 AM  Sherri Zickefoose, Calgary, Transit Public Relations Officer and Spokesperson, and Gil Tucker, Global News Photojournalist arrived in the foyer of our apartment with a letter and a beautiful gift for me from Calgary Transit in recognition of my Canada 150 BUS PROJECT.  Gil photographed the presentation which was shown on Global that same night.

I was amazed at how many of my friends saw that news clip on Global and congratulated and celebrated me on  the success of my project. On January 19th Ms. Zickefoose sent me three individual pictures for inclusion in my blog.  These I am now very proud to share with you.

I cherish my gift is two beautifully bound and boxed volumes:

Calgary Transit  A Moment in Time

Calgary Transit  A Centennial History

Prepared for the 100 Anniversary of Calgary Transit 1909 – 2009

I’m Back! I Hope!

 

I was still at the Best Western Hotel on Friday, January 12th,  2018 due to the flooding of our building on  January 2nd, when I had to go to the Reilly Park Branch of Mayfair Imaging for an ultrasound.  I got the results on Wednesday, January 17th, 2018 and was sent directly to Rockyview Hospital for three days of testing.  On Wednesday, January 31st,  2018  Janine Violini, my dear, dear ‘supportive decision maker’ (legal designation)  and I spent three and a half hours with Dr. Alghamdi and the dedicated staff at the Holy Cross Hospital site of the Tom Baker Cancer Clinic.  I have asked Janine to tell my friends what we were told.

__________

On Wednesday, January 31, we had a visit with the oncologist, Dr. Alghamdi, at the Holy Cross. Unfortunately we did not get a chance to see Dean Ruther, Catherine’s former student (and my classmate) as we had hoped. The good news is that the nurse we met works closely with Dean, and his nurse, and she promised to convey a message to him from Catherine.

 

Diagnosis

The other good news is that Dr. Alghamdi was very helpful and understanding. He explained that although we do not have an actual biopsy of cancerous tissue, they are 99.9% certain of the diagnosis based on the ultrasound, CT scan, and bloodwork. Although a biopsy would make the diagnosis 100% certain, obtaining it could put Catherine at risk for internal bleeding or infection. Catherine agreed the biopsy would not be necessary.

 

The diagnosis we have, therefore, is that the colorectal cancer diagnosed in 2015 has, in fact, metastasized. There is “advanced liver involvement” as well as probable lung involvement. The liver is the major risk known at this time.

 

Treatment

We made it known before the appointment, that aggressive treatment such as chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery would not be in keeping with Catherine’s priority for quality over quantity of life. There was one option offered for oral chemo with mild side effects, that could delay the cancer symptoms. Catherine felt that even the mild side effects sounded worse than the cancer symptoms at this time, and after discussion with the medical team, she therefore declined. If the symptoms become such that the chemo offered would provide comfort, then she always has the option to change her mind at that time.

 

The next steps are to meet with a palliative physician and dietician to help make a plan for dealing with the symptoms as they appear. These referrals should happen in the next two weeks.

 

Moving Forward

For now, Catherine experiences some level of discomfort on and off, but is able to carry on her daily routine. She can still run circles around me! Catherine deeply appreciates your love, prayers, and compassion. No special treatment outside your friendship is needed at this time.

 

On a personal note, Catherine continues to be my teacher offering lessons in life, and now expanding to include lessons on death and dying. On Wednesday, I had the privilege of bearing witness to Catherine’s willingness to face her own mortality head on. She did so with grace, good humour, and gratitude. I hope for many more lessons still to come.

 

Best regards,

Janine Violini

For Catherine Mitchell

_____________

I am ever so grateful to Janine for preparing  that update on my health for me to share with  you.  I want to add that I am fine with the medical professions finding and with my decisions on how to move on.  I am, however, disappointed with what it means to my CANADA 150 BUS.  I love my project, I love my “fans”.  I am enthusiastically committed to celebrating Canada 150, to celebrating my Irish immigrant parents, to celebrating my siblings , Michael  and Lil, and my dear, dear, husband Theo,  all now deceased.   As of this moment 2018-02-06 6:30 P.M. the weather is against me, I’m what is called “a fairweather friend”.

When I do get riding again I wont be travelling ‘by the numbers’  but by interest.   The trip I want to make first is from my home to the magnificent SHANE HOMES YMCA in ROCKY RIDGE, acclaimed to be the best such facility on the North American Continent.  I would travel by the Tuscany Red Line C-Train to the Tuscany Station, then by Bus Route #158 to 112 Ave. N.W. and Rocky Ridge Road.   Then WALK an estimated 13 minute walk to 11300 Rocky Ridge Road N.W.  I pride myself in being quite a good walker.  I walked to and from St. Francis High School for years, a walk that took me one hours and twenty minutes in each direction, but not in wind chill, humidity and black ice such as we have now! ! !  The trip is planned, I just cannot say when it will take place.

I’ve miss my busing, I’ve miss my blogging, I’ve miss you my dear, dear readers and fans.

 

 

Taking Care of Business

Although it hadn’t been part of my CANADA 150 BUS from the outset, it emerged, rather early on, as a goal of the project:   to prove, to tout le monde, but mostly to myself, that using Calgary Transit,  little 86 year old ladies can get to any place they want/need to go to ’TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS’. You  can read of my successes in earlier blogs.

This week I am playing with the ’big kids’!

Because of the flood in our apartment building home,  the displacement of all of the residents,  and my inability to open a letter I had received from INTACT our insurance agent I decided I needed face-to-face people service  — hard to get these days,  At 8:05 A.M. on Tuesday,  January 9th I took  the #2 bus from Best Western Hotel  to 7th Avenue and 8th Street,  crossed the street and took the 69th Street Blue Line west to Sirocco Drive.  I crossed the street, walked ‘mindfully’ a quarter of a block east, down a steep set of stairs, and, for all intents and purposes right into Brokerlink at 8:30 A.M.  As our broker had not yet arrived at work I was helped by the second in command.  Forty five minutes later I was on the Saddletown Blue Line heading down town assured that I had done all that I needed to do, at this time, re the accident at our apartment home.

I am going to redo this trip sometime.  When Gil Tucker interviewed me for Global TV he asked me what was my favorite bus route.  My replay just doesn’t operate that fast!  For sure NOT Foothills Industrial  that route worked havoc with my vertigo.  NOT 72/73 Circle Route—three hours long, one could read the whole of the Bible Old Testament and New.

I fixed on, and I am still sticking with, ‘a round trip on the Red Line, particularly if I can get onto one of the new red trains with the four seats at both ends of each car.  Take the seat directly behind the driver.  It is magnificent in both directions!’

It was a cold, grey day yesterday and my mood somewhat the same temperature and shade but I could see the potential for a magnificent round trip ride  on the blue line and I will, please God, take it when this chaos in my life settles down.

 

At 1:00 P.M. I took the #1 Bus to the new Canadian Legion building  at 1918 Kensington Rd. to Connection Café, a recently formed group intent on supporting Dementia Sufferers and their caregivers.  I gave serious thought to not attending the meeting this month then I thought that I had a lot to contribute in light of what we had just gone through this week.

I was lucky.  I had a 72 hour evacuation backpack (which, incidentally, each of you should have) ready at the exit from my apartment.  Thanks to the incredible David Charlesbois RIP I had a helmet type flash light to attach to my head freeing my hands (you should  have one with your 72 hour evacuation kit — try MEC,  Steve Bommer’s ‘Spirit West’. . .

Also try to read the Alberta Dementia STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN.  In a situation such as ours it would be difficult to evacuate a dementia sufferer.

 

Needing a new leather handle for one of Theo’s  fine wooden carrying cases,  I took the #1 bus to Alpine Shoe at 1225 Kensington Rd.   If you do not know about Alpine Shoe and/or have never visited the husband/wife team who operate it treat yourself and stop in.  I was surprised but not unhappy to learn that the shop is only opened Wednesday , Thursday, Friday.  We will be going back on Friday knowing that it is the only place in Calgary that we can get a handle befitting Theo’s find carrying case made by a true crafts man who had taken loving care of Theo’s hiking boots for forty years!

I was heading back to Best Western and started to walk along Kensington Road hoping a #1 bus .

Suddenly I had a feeling of ‘belonging’ and, indeed I should have had.   Theo and I spent many a happy hour in and around Kensington and Hillhurst-Sunnyside.

For more than twenty years Theo and I have used the Hillhurst Sunnyside Antique and Collectibles Sales and the HHS Fleamarkets to find good homes for our treasured possessions.  Until recently we transported our sale items from our home to the Community Center in shopping carts on City Transit  — #2 to the Red Line North, off at Sunnyside, Route #9 to the site.

Pages Books on Kensington was always a destination on a nice day.

AND. . .and . . .and . . .  The VLT’s!

You can read in  my autobiography “LEST I FORGET” (https://A Story Not to be Forgotten   OR  http://www.Capturing Legacies.com) how I introduced Theo to VLT’s, Horse Racing, Los Vegas . . . . You can read  about just how lucky Theo was!

Since Theo’s death I haven’t engaged in much gambling.  About six months after Theo’s death I bought a few Western Lottery  Tickets.  When I was getting them check the verdict came up, in BIG letters;  ‘SORRY NOT A WINNER’.  I took it as my life time condemnation.

On Tuesday,  talking to Theo all the time, I went into Theo’s favorite place to play in Kensington.  I was nervous, this is not a good time to engage in losing money.   Still talking to Theo and praying to God I put ‘a buck or a yen’, into a game called Dublin Diamonds (in memory of my Irish Family) activated the ‘one armed bandit’ and cashed out a chit for $120.  Theo and I always played “Hit and Run” a.k.a.  ‘take  your winnings and go!’  The cashier asked me why I was leaving so soon.  I thanked her for taking care of me and asked her to call me a cab.  Vertigo can show itself in many ways.

 

THANK YOU GOD!    THANK YOU THEO!     THANK  YOU CALGARY TRANSIT FOR GETTING ME AROUND SO SAFELY AND EFFICICNTLY ALL DAY LONG AS I WAS “TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS!

 

 

Another Gold for Canada

January 8th 2018    A some what different blog.

It has been one of those days.  I was up early and over to Macs across the street to get our Lotto tickets checked.  One was returned to me with a print out ***RETURN TICKET TO CUSTOMER *** TICKET CANNOT BE VALIDATED AT RETAIL   DO NOT PAY ANY PRIZE   HAVE CUSTOMER SUBMIT TICKET WITH CLAIM FORM TO WCLC FOR REVIEW ! ! ! !   (Visions of $ $ $ $ $  danced in my head).    IF YOU HAVE  A PRIZE CONCERN  CALL 1-800-665-3313  ( I have a concern so I call).  A good half hour from when I placed the call I receive a promise that “we will investigate your claim and get back to you”.  8:33 P.M. still waiting for someone to get back to me! ! !    Stayed tuned!  I will get back to you!

I received 4 comments from Pilgrim and 4 others re Epiphany/Twelfth Night and All That.  I have heard from them before.  I am able to read and respond to them but I do not know how to add their comment to the blog but Al and Liam will bring me up to pace as soon as I call for help.  Followers comments coming soon to CANADA 150 BUS.

In Epiphany/Twelfth Night and All That I said  I thought God  was in  His Heavens  . . . giving CANADA  a GOLD at the ‘World’s’.  Last night a second GOLD,  this time at the Golden Globe’s, this time for JR Studios Calgary’s Film Production Studio.  Today I heard that the Golden Globe recognition did not go unnoticed the ‘the Amazon People’.  Maybe more GOLD!

Meanwhile on the home front:

Bold Property Management.com  informed us that “We will be in touch with residents later this week with regard to rent abatements”.

I have been in contact with INTACT, our insurance carrier.  They sent me an e-mail which we have not been able to read so, early tomorrow I will be riding my buses to Sorocca Drive , hopefully to get a print out of the letter.

(I’ve been worried about the Blue Line since hearing on Global News at 6 that there was a concern at the Sunalta Station involving an unidentified package.)

Worries all over the place.  Of greatest concern to me at the moment is the lack of information on the elevators.

I am still at Best Western.   I know from my dear Theo’s  situation some years ago that EMS is reluctant to triage an elderly person from the 5th floor of an apartment to an ambulance outside the building without an elevator.

 

I’m finding the debate on the “Skinny Dip” Party at Southland Leisure Center historical and interesting.

In or about 1935 The Calgary Herald sponsored young boys for swimming lessons at the YMCA.  My Mother registered my Brother and Michael was admitted to the program.  He was thrilled.  I distinctly remember walking down to the Y with Michael and my Mother the morning the lessons were to begin.  I also remember  our Parish  Priest coming to our home that same day and telling my Mother that she must withdraw Michael from the lessons  because the boys swam in the buff.

Years later,  must have been in the 1970’s, I heard an evening news broadcast.  The commentator was the great Henry Viney,  he was expressing his regret that the YWCA has stopped the men’s 5-6 P.M. swim in the YW because — you guessed it — the men swam in the buff.  The men got their evening swim time back once they agreed to pull on their trunks!   Viney said the men were pleased to have their swim time back but that the experience was just not the same.

I just saw Jodi Hughes on Global TV.  Jodi’s Father Jimmy Hughes was the Weather Anchor when Henry Viney was the Sport’s Anchor. Our YYC!

I’M WONDERING IF TOMORROW  MY LOTTO TICKET WILL BRING A LITTLE MORE  GOLD  OUR  WAY!

 

 

 

 

Epiphany / Twelfth Night and All That!

This was to be my Canada 150 Bus ‘piece par excellence’!  Then ‘the wheels fell off’.

With all due respect I say that if I stopped ten people on the street today and asked “What is The Epiphany?”  “What is Twelfth  Night?” the response would be  “Who knows?”  and “Who cares?”

I know, and I care,  and I had planned to celebrate Epiphany 2018 as my family celebrated it over 85 years ago.  Prior to  January 6th each year my brother Michael, sister Lillian and myself collected seven pennies (this is getting more difficult . . . many of you reading this  blog  would not know what ‘a penny’ is/was).  I know that a penny does not sound like much but, believe me, in those days it was HUGH!

We started Epiphany  in ‘our Sunday go to meetings’ at Mass at St. Ann’s Church on 21st Avenue S.E.  [ Necessary historical fact: Epiphany was a ‘Holy Day of Obligation’ thus a school holiday for CSSD students.]  After Mass we would visit the Infant in the Crib/Creche usually erected at the front of the church. [Necessary historical fact: The first Crèche was set up by St. Francis of Assisi in 1223.  so I fell in love with our dear patron ‘of love of all creatures great and small’ at a very young age!]. We would kneel and pray and end our visit by putting a penny as close up to the infant’s hands as possible.  This was, of course, to commemorate the Magi’s gifts of gold, frankincense and mire to the child.  During the day we repeated this visit to the Infant in seven different churches.  If our Dad had the day off work he came with us.  [Aside.  I say God loves CANADA  because God let CANADA win GOLD on January 5th 2018!!].

I had planned to celebrate Epiphany 2018 travelling to seven Calgary Churches on City Transit.  It should have been a fine celebration.  The #6 to St. Mary’s Cathedral; then the #6 to Central United; walk or c-train to the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer; St. Francis of Assisi Church on 6th Avenue; #2 to Knox United on 4th St and 5th Avenue ( we would get some superb organ music there); to Sacred Heart on 14th Street;  walk to St. Stephen’s on 14th Avenue;  east to Grace Presbyterian on 9th and 15 Ave S.W.; and end at the First Gospel Church right beside our apartment  home.  (Maybe hot chocolate at Kawa!)

 

You can see nine churches without the least effort.  I planned my travel for Sunday January 7th 2018  because, being Sunday, the Churches would be opened to the public, at least in the morning. [Necessary historical fact. In the good old days churches were basically opened from 6:00A.M. to 9:00 or 10:00 P.M.  seven days a week.  Mind you those were the days when we didn’t lock our homes at all.  I often wonder is that is why our generation is so ’key challenged’ as in ’Where the heck are my keys?”  Yvonne and I have little Annabelle in training to say, every time she sees me leaving the apartment “Catherine, have you got your keys?”

 

I wish that I had not dropped the ball on this.  The events of the past week, our displacement from our building due to flooding. . . have taken their toll on all of us.  Fortunately , we are Canadians, we are Albertans.  This is NEXT YEAR COUNTRY!  And who knows maybe SEVEN  of us can join up for an EPIPHANY PILGRAMAGE on Calgary Transit in 2019!

 

EMBRACE THE EPIPHANY AND TWELFTH NIGHT!

 

The Morning After!

Have you ever had the experience — maybe you had been sleeping, daydreaming, reading … — and suddenly you were

hyper-alert knowing  “something,  maybe everything, is just not right? 

That is what happened to me on the morning of Tuesday, January 2, 2018.  No electric, no  water, no heat, no computer, no internet and all that is implied therein as in no flush toilet, frig  and freezing unit defrosting .  On a more global view, the underground parking was flooded to about eight feet, eight or most cars and their contents basically ‘toast’, if that is any kind of a word for this situation.

You can “READ ALL ABOUT IT! ! ! (as the paper boys of old used to shout on the street corner) by pulling up on you browser Bold Property Management Calgary.com.

As we do not have a resident property manager or security on the premises over night, weekends or holidays, in an incident such as this we call into an emergency center which alerts our property manager and assures the caller they will call back immediately (to be interpreted ‘maybe, in the near future”).  I felt I needed to put a little punch in my message so I called into play my age, sex, life-line, and  short legs . . .

Actually I never did hear back from that station, but some twenty or so minutes later as I was ‘mindfully’ descending the stairwell, sans emergency evacuation lights, I met Brent, owner-manager, on his way up.  Brent said “Control told me to get up here and  make sure that you were safely evacuated.”  THANK YOU BRENT and thank you  CONTROL.

Once Brent had got me safely down the stairs and  I saw the chaos and confusion on the main floor I climbed back upstairs! ! ! to alert my friends Yvonne and 2 & 1/2 year old Annabelle  as to “what was up.”  I hadn’t given any thought to the destruction of Yvonne’s car, new in August with  Annabelle’s car seat in it,  in the 8’ of water in the basement.

Everyone was so stunned so confused.  I went over to Best Western Hotel on the corner of 8th Street and 14th Avenue and rented a room with two double beds for five nights and got Yvonne a BIG cup of black coffee.  This girl just can’t function without her coffee.

I have a 72 hour emergency evacuation suitcase in the front hall at all time and I told Yvonne she should pack up a case for herself and one for Annabelle and I would be back to help them over to Best Western.  I had to change the items in  my suitcase into   my backpack as I can manage it better as it leaves my two hands free to grip the stair railings.  Also, and I surely was thanking our dear, dear, friend of happy memory,  the incredible David Charlesbois who years ago fitted me out with a, for want of the correct word, a flash light that straps onto one’s  head, again freeing up one’s hands and facilitating one making one’s way in what might other wise be a dangerous situation.  We weren’t being evacuated at any speed but we all know, all too well, how many have lost their lives in stairwells by just one person falling on the stairs.

When I got back down with Yvonne and Annabelle the foyer was crowded with workers  so I just said I’d buy coffee for anyone who could get us safely across to Best Western.  It only took two or three of them.  Off they went with us bring up the rear.  Yvonne was trying to keep Annabelle by the hand, it was cold and the snow was slippery.  Our Snow-Angels didn’t stay for coffee.  Just ‘deposited’ us in the lobby of the hotel.  We went to our room and quite literally flung ourselves down to regroup.

We make a good team.  Annabelle and I would stay at the hotel and watch TV and do a little yoga, or whatever.  Yvonne would take off,  make some very important phone calls, rent a car and come back.

By 2:30 P.M. we were all a little more composed.  We had a bit of lunch at Kawa and Yvonne and Annabelle took off to buy Annabelle a car seat.  Then they went on to bunk in with friends who have a young boy about Annabelle’s age.

You cannot believe what we were individually and collectively called upon to do this week and, believe me you don’t want me to spell it out now.

By Friday January 5th,  I had dug myself into such a dark hole that at 10:30 P.M. I got dressed and crossed the street to Kawa where  Prashant Michael John and Percussionist Luis Tovar were playing quite ethereal music.  I just had to get out of  my own burdened head.  Is this what people mean when they say “Think outside the box”.  I didn’t phone to Janine to tell her I was doing this, she has a lot on her plate at the moment without worrying about me.  And if anyone had ventured to call her to know if I should be out at night on my own  their name would, most certainly, not appear on next year’s Christmas Card list!

We made it though five very difficult days.  We are not out of the woods yet, but we are all pulling together  God bless us everyone!  Thank you Brent for your outstanding effort on our behalf!

 

New Year’s Day 2018

In his poem The Hollow Men  T.S. Eliot wrote: “This is the way the world ends,  this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper”. Certainly prophetic of the end of 2017 A.D.

Disappointingly 2018 didn’t get off to a better start.  Cold, cold, incredibly cold.

Norma and I had tickets to the yearly much anticipated SALUTE TO VIENNA  at the Jack Singer Theatre in the ARTS COMMON.  Normally that wouldn’t have been any great problem but, unfortunately this year Norma is significantly troubled with oesteo-arthritis in her hip.  What’s to be done?  Like myself Norma is a ‘busser’ and Norma can run circles around me when it comes to obtaining bus times.  So that fell under her department and as the concert was starting at 2:30 P.M. we fixed on meeting at Beano for a hot chocolate at 1:00 P.M. (Thank you Norma.) Norma was also in charge of getting us to the stop across the street in time for the bus but not so early as to get cold. The stop is serviced by the #2 and the #6.  The problem is that they come, for all intents and purposes, in tandem—miss one, in all likelihood you will miss both!  We got the #2 after a wait of 1-2 minutes (yeh! Norma), travelled to the c-train line on the corner of 7th and  8th, into the shelter of 1-2 minutes (the heat rods were on –thank you City of Calgary), on to the Red Line for four stops, walked two short blocks and into the Arts Common without the least problem.  Thank you City Transit for accurate scheduling and thank you Transit Drivers for being out there for us on a very cold day and a major holiday to boot.

The concert was superb.  Primarily Strauss, Iva Schell, soprano from Vienna, Michael Heim, tenor from Vienna, ballet dances from the Ukraine, and the International Champion Ballroom Dances.

Emotionally this was heavy duty for me as Norma and I were sitting in the seats that Theo and I had had for years.  Not far from us was Theo’s great friend Joe Mattias and his family who feel Theo’s loss at the event with almost the same intensity as I do myself.

Theo was a great lover of music and dance.  In 1985 Theo and I danced almost every evening from the first of December to the end of January at the Four Seasons to the outstanding little dance bands Calgary had — Barrington Perry, Warner Merton, Jack Petch . . . .

At home we listen and danced to Andre Rieu and weekly to Lawrence Welk.

And I thought of my family.  When my brother was born on August 21, 1927 our grandparents Power sent the baby a 5 pound note. On its arrival our father went downtown and bought Michael a cabinet Victrola and a small collection of, mostly, His Master’s Voice Records and a box of needles with the little terrier dog listening to a cylinder phonograph. As I remember it if we weren’t listening to our staticky little radio we were playing classical records.  Thank you to my great Family.  I surely miss you.

It was after 5P.M.  we had enjoyed over two hours of incredible music and dance.

Norma had the bus times for us.  We had a short block to walk.  We could stand inside for 15 minutes in the warm.

We left for the bus stop at 5:10 P.M.  Waiting at the bus stop with us was a young member of Calgary’s CPO with his bass violin wearing a respectably warm looking coat (the violin not the musician).  I asked the young man about the affect on the instrument of the cold temperature.  He told me that having his violin out in the cold was anything but ideal but it was his  only option.

The bus was right on time.  The driver was so careful of all us, violin included, as we got on.

The #7 bus took Norma and Catherine to the “Beano” corner 9th Street and 17th Avenue S.W.

No time to stop for hot chocolate now.  Norma walked two blocks south, Catherine two blocks north and they were home.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018

 

 

New Year’s Eve 2017

I would like to write, as Charles Dicken’s wrote in A Tale of Two Cities,  that 2017 was “the best of times, . . . the age of wisdom, . . . the epoch of belief, . . . the season of light, . . . the spring of hope. . .”, but I cannot. I believe that, in fact, people such as myself, who were born in the ‘dirty thirties’ have seen and lived through “the best of times” and 2017 was not one of those times. And, sadly, I believe that 2017 was, world-wide, very close to “the worst of times”. I didn’t fare all that well in my own little world.  On Saturday, January 28th 2017 while attending a presentation at the Delta Hotel South I collapsed!  I had gone there on my own, ‘brilliantly’ without any ID on my person.  That goes into the category of “the worst of times”. But, as the saying goes “God takes care of fools and small children”.  Well, actually, it wasn’t God per se,  it was my dear friend  Janine.  Not too impressed that I was going to the presentation on my own and not able to go with me, Janine called to one of the sponsors of the session and asked her to ‘keep an eye out for Catherine”.  That goes into the category of “the best of times” because, an hour or so later EMS actually knew who it was they were triaging to Rockyview Hospital. Things get a little ‘blurrier’ at this point. Janine was sitting beside me in the hospital which was good because she knew who I was which was certainly a step in the right direction.  Janine told me that I was in the equivalent  of a cardiac ICU.  That is somewhere between “the worst of times” and “the best of times”. From this point on, (as I wrote in my autobiography), “I am not going to tell you the story as it happened,  I am going to tell it the way I remember it.”  The Irish would say “That covers a multitude of sins”! Now I am going to cut to the short version.  Diagnosis: significant heart attack.  Prognosis: not a hope for repair.  Advise to patient: something in the order of “Call your people! Make your peace with God!”— Not exactly, but close enough. Now, that definitely looks as if it goes into “the worst of time bucket” but  not so fast. . . You see I actually have people to call.  Four incredibly great people: Janine, Jamie, Lee and Brian.  And I called them! Nine months earlier, when my dear, dear Theo  took to his bed in our Calgary home of 44 years, on what was to become his eight day ignominious death journey,  Theo didn’t want to die, and he certainly didn’t want to leave me on my own so he begged, almost demanded our friends, who watched at his death bed to “take care of Catherine”. All our married life if a person asked Theo,   “Theo, what do you do?”  Theo always answered “I take care of Catherine”.  Forty four years of “the best of times” and now the saddest, loneliest darkest of times. The five of us, Janine, Jamie, Lee, Brian and myself spent hours and hours in the summer of 2016 to work out exactly what we had to do to honour Theo’s death wish  to “take care of Catherine”.  And, when the call came we all knew exactly  what we had to do.  It wasn’t frightening to be told that I was going to die  but it was eerie being pulled back from the brink. A second cardiologist sent me to Foothills Hospital to have them look at my heart. Diagnosis: You did not have a heart attack at all i.e. you have no clots in your blood vessels.  What you have is Taosouba-cardiomyopathy.  It is difficult to react to a word that you can neither spell nor pronounce so you do the only thing one can do under the circumstances — keep very quiet and let someone else have the floor.  It is a stress condition accompanied by a sudden surge of adrenalin into the blood stream.  It has the a.k.a. ‘broken heart syndrome’.  It is  what killed Debbie Reynolds the day  after her daughter Carrie Fisher died. Treatment:  Stop Stressing!  Take your beta blockers!  Avoid emotional situations!   Easy peasy! a.k.a. easy as A B C!  a.k.a. Easy as falling off a log . . . I guess what I found “the worst of things” was being told that a doctor’s responsibility to a patient is to give the patient quantity of life, not quality of life. I read the other day, “The universe owes you nothing.  It has already given you everything after all.  It was here long before you and will go on long after you.  The only way it will remember you is to do something worth remembering.”  Amie Kaufman Illuminae.   To Celebrate Canada’s 150th Birthday, My Irish Parents who immigrated to Canada in 1927, My Brother, My Sister and Myself who lived in Calgary and served Calgarians all of our lives and My dear, dear husband Theodore Earl Mitchell who served overseas with RCAF the whole of WWII, came back to Canada and served with his regiment until retirement , then committed himself to spending as much time as he could climbing in the incredible Kananaskis Country, I undertook to ride 150 City of Calgary Buses recalling  the “good old days” and  recording those memories in a blog CANADA 150 BUS at http://canada 150bus.wordpress.com I guess that when one is 86 years of age (over half as old as Canada) one should expect daily challenges in hearing, vision, memory, and I do expect and accept such challenges but I do  wish that fewer challenges came my way from technology.  But, as I said earlier I have my support people around me.  I knew the word ‘blog’  but didn’t have a clue how to design one.  Help is just a phone call away!  I called to Al Del Degan at Capturing Legacies Inc. and Al and Liam had the blog up and running in no time and were into the house to showing me how to use it. I wish that for Canada’s sake, for my parent’s sake, for my sibling’s sake, for  my dear, dear, Theo’s sake, for my followers’ sake, for the great transit drives who cheer me on, for Al, Liam and the girls at Capturing Legacies that I had done a better job on my CANADA 150 Tribute. Time has been a challenging concept for me since I was a kid.  If I get up early,  inevitable I will miss my first bus.  I constantly try to fit a twenty minute task into  a fifteen minute slot.  Some of the bus routes are nearly three hours long!  I knew I would be slower in the winter months but I do not think anyone thought our winter would be so cold! To date I have ridden 94 buses —62.7% of my 150 bus goal! But if we consider Canada’s 150th Birthday  extending from July 1st 2017 to  June 30th 2018 I still have 181 days to reach my goal.  I can make it! Now there is another thing which some of you may  know about, some of you may not.   After several phone calls back and forth on the morning of Friday December 22, 2017 at about 11 AM Sherri Zickefoose, Calgary Transit Public Relations Officer and Spokesperson, and Gil Tucker, Global News Photojournalist arrived in the foyer of our apartment building bringing with them a congratulatory letter from Doug Morgan, Director of Calgary Transit and  a beautiful gift to me from Calgary Transit in recognition of my CANADA 150 BUS PROJECT.  Gil Tucker photographed the presentation for viewing on Global New at 5.  The gift is the two volume boxed set Calgary Transit  A Centennial History   1909—2009. For the rest of the day all I could hear in my head was Dr. Hutchison saying “Catherine you must avoid emotional situations”. For the rest of the day I could not hear my heart beating.  I was sure that it had blown asunder again. Now, as Hamlet would say “there’s the rub”.  All I want to do now is read the books, retell the great stories therein and show people the incredible pictures.  I would not want to fall into disgrace as did the artist who installed the photos  in the first street west subway without permission.  So, if you want to see my gift just e-mail me: catherinemitchell@outlook.com and set up an appointment,  I’ll bring my books.    I can get anywhere in Calgary  on Calgary Transit  and my venue of choice is a coffee shop. The best story in the book recounts two incidents of  drivers losing control of street cars on the 14th Street Hill.  I remember one of the incidents well as it occurred on January 29,  1946, the other occurred  in 1919.  These incidents were the subject of considerable conversation when the red line was being contemplated.  The gradient of both 10th street and 14th street were both considered too steep. There is one other “worst of times”/”best of time” of 2017 that I would like to share with you. Each year on Remembrance Day the Calgary Sun publishes WE REMEMBER HONOURING THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED Last year I tried to get Theo’s picture into the composite but without success.  This year I was determined not only to get Theo’s picture in but also that of his brother Pat, lost, with all hands, on the HMCS Corvette Shawinigan, on the 25th of November 1944, by enemy action (submarine U 1228), in the Cabot Strait, off Newfoundland. Although Quinn had made sure that I had the appropriate form well in advance I was nervous about the pictures so I called to my support people Wilmer and Colin who came to the house to prepare appropriate images, to check and recheck and make certain everything was right.  We requested a delivery receipt.   I didn’t sleep a wink on the November 11th,  I was up early , over to Beano and purchased the paper.  I spread it out carefully on the table and started to look for the Mitchells.  There was Pat’s picture . . . Sigh of relief . . . Where was Theo’s?. . . A second picture of Pat. . . No picture of Theo.  Tears just came rolling down.   Lisa Poole, a lovely lady whom I have just met recently and who is doing incredible work with and for dementia sufferers and their caregivers, asked me if there was anything she could do to help me.  I explained about the pictures and she said she would place a call.   Lisa  contacted Laura Linnell the coordinator of the composite.  Laura was truly sorry the error had  occurred and promised to print Theo’s picture in the Saturday paper.  I assured her that that would not be necessary but asked if she would get the galleys corrected because they carry over from year to year.  Laura assured me that she would.   On Saturday, although I was not expecting Theo’s picture to be run I looked through the paper.  I thought that if it was printed it might be in the obituaries/memorials.  It wasn’t there.  I started through the paper carefully and there at the bottom of page 2 in the Sports Section, the most scrutinized section in the Saturday paper was a dignified banner with the picture of three veterans,  Theo was in the center.   It was “the best of 2017”.   What is it the say?  It takes a village to raise  a child.  Well it takes an incredible support team to enable a little old lady to make it through life independently and with dignity.   I am so, so grateful to each one of you.  I wish each of you and each member of your families “the best  of times” in 2018  from the bottom of my Taosouba Heart.

 

Changes! Changes! Changes!

Changes ! Changes! Changes!

One thing that Virgos do not do well is cope with change.  And here am I hoping and praying for changes to come.  Oh! how  I would like  to see change in the outcome of the Vanier Cup and Grey Cup next year because,  as we used to flippantly say when we were teeny boppers  “close only counts in horseshoes, dancing and hand grenades”.    I don’t know whether the football season needs to be shortened or needs to start earlier, but I am certainly backing the proposal that would result in the Grey Cup being played earlier in the season.

While the snow had little or nothing to do with the outcome of last Sunday’s game it had a lot to do with fan enjoyment of the game.

Did you know that on December 1, 1962, when Winnipeg and Hamilton were playing in the Grey Cup in Toronto, the game was called with about 10 minutes remaining because of the thick fog from Lake Ontario.  Winnipeg was winning by one point.

The game was resumed on Dec. 2.  There was no scoring at all, so Winnipeg won.

That is not exactly how a team wants to win a Grey Cup; that is not exactly how fans want to participate in the Grey Cup Game; and, believe it or not, the weather is changing, and not for the better.

I’m not sure why but I felt that you needed to know this bit of Football History.

I didn’t know all these details, all I remembered was a Grey Cup being stopped  because of the weather so I asked Lee Hunt who was “born into football” what with her father’s and uncle’s enthusiasm for the game and cousins playing in the CFL, and I thank you, Lee, for  the details.

I also looked forward to telling you about the one and only Grey Cup Party I remember in Calgary, 1948.  The party took place on Stephen Avenue Mall and there were Calgary Transit Streetcars all along the Parade Route and the big boys keep putting the trolley off of the overhead wire!  But we are not having a Welcome Home ! Yeah Stamps! Party and we badly needed one.

Say if  you want to  “It’s only a game”.  I’ve got bad news for you  we needed that game we needed that game badly to revive  our great Calgary Spirit which has been kick about like an out of control football for a few years now.

Enough already. . . We all feel bad enough.

Then, yesterday I read in the paper of the DEMOLITION of the Shamrock Hotel.  I wanted to jump on the #24 bus and go and see for myself  but I do not do DEMOLITION well.

My understanding is that the hotel was taken down to make room for the Green Line.  I do not know the pros and cons of the green line but I do know that if  it goes through where the Shamrock Hotel  stood  last Sunday then, there is a good possibility there will be a Station there.  Now I do not know the process involved in naming stations but I am going to find out and I am going to put in ‘my two cents worth.  A C-train Station on or near that spot MUST be  named  “Burns Avenue”. That  was what our #8 Bus was named when I was growing up and going to St. Ann’s School  half a block from the demolition site.  Or it could be named Cummins Crossing after the Cummins Family who built and operated the Shamrock Hotel from the end of Prohibition in 1924 to the late 70’s early 80’s.  I knew and went to school with all of the Cummins girls, knew their spouses, taught their children.  Maybe because we are into striping names from the past off of historic buildings we should name the station between 2lst Avenue and Spiiller Road SHAMROCK STATION (and we could  find some entrepreneur to build a small pub near so we can drink green beer on St. Paddy’s Day.

Then today page A8 of the Herald  Transit service reductions proposed to save $6.8M —- Council hears of doubling wait times for buses, reducing late night trips.

We  have to wait until tomorrow to find out exactly what happened when the proposal went before council. Tomorrow I was planning to ride Bus #82 Nolan Hill but it turns out to be a morning and evening shuttle and may be one of the routes affected by the changes, so I think I’ll wait and see what happens tomorrow in council.