APPLES & BEETS

On Monday, January 16^th  at 11:30 am Ron and I were navigating the intricacies of “Spaghetti Junction” en route to Ron’s first engagement of  2017 with the Saanich Peninsula Stroke Recovery Association. Their meetings are held every Monday from 10:30am until 1:30pm in the Seventh Day Adventist Church which is located on the left side of Willingdon Road just before the roundabout leading to the Victoria Airport. The unique thing about roundabouts is that, if you miss your turn, you can keep going round about until you eventually return to the correct exit. This was particularly helpful to me as the driver on Monday morning.

Once inside the lovely church we were met by the Association’s Coordinator, Lyall Copeland, and some of the Association's many volunteers. This event was particularly special since it was the first time that Ron was speaking to an audience comprised solely of stroke survivors and their caregivers. One of the principal impetuses behind The Defiant Mind was “to write a book that provides a voice for victims,” to show that recovery is possible, and to advocate for engaging the hearts, minds and brains of stroke survivors and then utilizing their insights in their rehabilitation programs. After Ron’s reading and talk, one gentleman announced to the whole group, as he was on his way out the door to catch his ride home with a Handy Dart, “I endorse everything you’ve said here today. You’ve nailed it.”

Ron’s next rendezvous was at 2 pm at the Tim Horton’s in the Eagle Creek Centre across from the Victoria General Hospital. Dana Haydon, a speech therapist at VGH, had asked if Ron might be able to meet with one of her patients, Christina Willing. Christina had read Ron’s book and was very anxious to speak with him. Christina is a sprightly ninety year old, who had her stroke last February, (a stroke which left her unable to speak) and who, thanks to her therapists and her six children, (daughter Belle Belsky was the designated driver of the day) has been able to return to her farm house home and resume her independent life there.

Ron and I returned to our home in Nanoose Bay enriched by our encounters with new people, by a pint of home-canned beets we received from one of the volunteers in Saanich and by a bag of apples from one of Christina’s heritage apple trees, the latter gift inspired by the section on apples in The Defiant Mind on page 123:

“I imagined eating an apple, not whole, but as a warm sauce over ice cream or peeled and cut up and baked in a fine, fluffy pastry crust, served with a slice of cheddar. A yellow transparent apple picked just as it turned colour, from a deep lime green to the pale shade of the moon. Not what they used to call an eating apple but a cooking apple. Slightly tart, with a sting in its tail. Not an apple you would feed to a horse but an apple whose juices lingered like the summer sun on your tongue during a fall rain or winter snow storm. An apple that held the reach of a climb when you had scuffed a bare knee against rough bark. An apple with a short ripening season, testing your will to live another year.”

A quote from Dan Neil in response to Ron's book to share

Dan Neil 5:47pm Jan 13 Ron, I have finished your book and was sad to leave it. I would say it is a beautiful book because anything is beautiful if it comes from our honest creation. An inward-looking book, personal, but so relevant to everyone. Many times I had to stop and consider consciousness, awareness, soul, spirit and stillness. I wholeheartedly agree that somehow technology has become our master, that we have forgotten the awesome beauty and potential of the human mind. You're a wonderful writer, Ron, and what a great book. Dan.

THE WRITTEN WORD

Early last September Ron was invited to give a lecture in the Esther Birney Literature Series held every Thursday morning, from 10:30am to 11:45am in the Halpern Room at Brock House on Point Grey Road, Vancouver. The date Ron selected was December 15^th. However, this December the Lower Mainland and the Island was subject to a cold snap causing water to freeze in puddles, lakes and ponds, and snow to fall. In order to be certain of making it to the lecture Ron and I arrived the day before, staying with family in White Rock.

The drive into Vancouver on Thursday morning was spectacular. The day dawned clear and cold. The sky was ice blue and the mountains and the delta sparkled white. Around Tsawwassen the thermometer on our silver Toyota (which registers outside temperatures) dipped to minus six degrees Celsius. By the time Ron and I reached Brock House it registered a balmy minus one. Perhaps it was fear of icy sidewalks, perhaps it was the season, the Christmas shopping, baking, or holidays, but the lecture in the Halpern Room, which normally attracts an audience of thirty to forty, only saw a dozen that morning. However, the low numbers were made up by high enthusiasm, and Ron’s talk and readings were enlivened by lots of questions and audience participation, (and brisk book sales after, with one hard cover copy purchased for the Brock House Library.)

Brock House is a designated Heritage Site. It was originally completed in 1913 but not named “Brockholm” until 1922 by Mildred Brock and her husband Dean Reginald Brock, who purchased the property then. In 1952 the property was sold to the federal government and turned into offices for the RCMP. When the RCMP moved to new quarters the property was eventually turned over to the City of Vancouver as part of the transfer of the Jericho Waterfront Lands in 1975. The City then entrusted the property to the care of the Brock House Society. The Society’s Mission is “to provide for its members a social, intellectual, recreational and cultural centre, and, through a stimulating program of activities, enable members to achieve a more satisfying life.” Anyone over 55 can become a member of the society for the nominal fee of $45 (GST included).

Thanks to many, many volunteers, like Glenys Acland, who organizes Programs like the Esther Birney Lecture Series Brock House remains a thriving centre for 2,000 members–chock a block full of activities to challenge the mind, the body and the soul. If I lived in Vancouver I would definitely become a member and polish up my yoga, chess, table tennis or conversational Spanish. Perhaps I would even join a choir or take a course on Women Mystics. Or I might simply sit on a bench in the garden and enjoy the stunning views of Vancouver, the north shore mountains and English Bay, especially on a hot summer’s day, when the temperature is a comfortable 22.

STOKE AND DISTANCE

"Stroke and Distance" is the headlining caption for Mark Forsythe's review of The Defiant Mind which is the cover story in the new issue of BC BOOKLOOK (the on-line edition of BC BookWorld).

To read the review just click on the permanent link: http://bcbooklook.com/2016/11/27/stroke-and-distance/#more-29565

This headline is a particularly apt description of Ron and his book as he was, for most of his adult life, an avid golfer. Indeed, in my youth, I once penned a little story about a mythical golfer named "Don" and the life lessons I learned in The Golf Widow's Revenge.

For those of you who do not golf and are not familiar with the game, the term stroke and distance refers to Rule 27 - 1 a, which permits a golfer, when faced with an unplayable lie, to pick up his (or her, as the case may be) ball and return it to its previous resting place. If the golfer decides to invoke this rule s/he will suffer a one stroke penalty and the loss of the distance the ball travelled before landing in the unplayable lie.

NB This rule does not apply if the golfer's ball is lost or out of bounds. And it certainly cannot be invoked by the stroke survivor who initially is faced with a seemingly unplayable lie. Unfortunately, in real life, unlike golf, there is no  possibility of a "do-over." A single stroke is penalty enough. However, given enough time and distance and continuing recovery, Ron is planning his return to the links.

MARK FORSYTHE’S REVIEW

There are two new items of note: Mark Forsythe's review of The Defiant Mind has just appeared in the current issue of BC BOOKWORLD.

In addition to his review there is another interview with Ron available at:

http://worldstrokeorganization.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/stroke-survivor-stories-ron-smith.html

RAINBOW OVER GIBSON’S

On Wednesday, November 23, Ron gave a reading from The Defiant Mind at the Gibson’s Public Library. The reading started at 6 pm and was arranged by our friend and local resident, Michael Maser. Michael met us at the ferry, chauffeured us about, provided food and shelter, and the pleasure of the company of his wife, Lisa, and their dog, Chili. According to the Masers, Chili is the smartest dog in the world. When they ask him to open their front door, Chili raises one of his forepaws and pulls down the latch. When they ask him to close the door Chili simply wiggles his rump and pushes the door shut.       

One of the mysteries that I pondered during the many years that I lived on the waterfront of Nanoose Bay and looked across the strait to the Sechelt peninsula was: “why is that area called the Sunshine Coast?” While I and the residents of Nanoose Bay were soaked in sunshine, I would often observe dark rain clouds banked up against the mainland and I knew that Michael’s part of the coast was getting a soaking of a much different sort. When Michael met us at the ferry I immediately asked him about my meteorological observations. His answer was that, according to local lore, until the 1930’s, the area had been called the Rain Coast. (A logical name, I thought.) However, a prominent local realtor decided that this term was bad for business and he redubbed Sechelt the Sunshine Coast. For some perverse reason, the name has stuck.

The irony of this term is not lost on the indigenous population, many of whom, like Michael, are fungophiles. These hardy souls regularly don their waterproof gear, whistle for their dogs, and head into the forest to gather the mushrooms that abound there–chanterelles, oysters, lobsters, et al. (Yes, there really are oyster and lobster MUSHROOMS. I have tasted both kinds and they are fantastic.)

The Gibson’s Public Library is beautifully situated in the heart of downtown Gibson’s overlooking the waterfront and Molly’s Reach. The library was renovated during the summer and feels wonderfully fresh and clean. (In another life, I would like to be a librarian there.) At the moment Heather Evans-Cullen has this privilege and she welcomed Ron and me and Michael, and a small, but attentive audience of about ten people, to Ron’s reading. (The more readings that Ron does, the more confident he gets, and, by his own estimation, the Gibson’s reading was the best one he has given to date.) Normally the library closes at 7. On reading nights Heather keeps it open until 7:30 and by 7:45pm everyone has to leave before the security system engages.

The next morning Michael hosted a television interview with Ron. The interview took place in The MaryanneWest television studio at the Elphinstone Secondary School. The three cameras in the studio were “manned” by three of the students (Taylor, Lucas and Enriqua) who are taking the CPTV (cable production television) course at the school. The interview went “live to tape” at the control of Steve Sleep, the Producer of Coast Cable Community Television, who was outside in the Coast Cable truck. Unlike many BC communities, Sechelt still has a local broadcasting station and Ron and Michael’s interview will be shown on it a number of times over the coming weeks.

N.B. For those of you who might still be wondering about the origin of the title for this post, the rainbow (which I observed over Gibson’s from the Queen of Oak Bay on the day of Ron’s reading) was caused by the sunshine coming from Nanoose Bay. 

SUCCESSFUL BOOK LAUNCH IN VANCOUVER

On Wednesday evening, November 16 Ron returned to the scene of one of his boyhood haunts, the Dunbar Community Centre. Ron grew up in a house his Dad built near the intersection of 36^th Avenue and Crown Street, close to the University Endowment Lands–a magical place, filled with frog ponds, virgin forest, and the sound of tugboats on the Fraser River.

There were about forty people in the audience, some long-time friends, (I hesitate to say old) my brother, Bill, and my sister-in-law, Linda, some stroke survivors and many friends and family of people currently struggling to recover from a brain attack. A number of people who were in the audience had heard about the launch on the radio, on North by Northwest.

Ron Hatch of Ronsdale Press introduced Ron, who proceeded to read sections from The Defiant Mind interspersed with questions from the audience. At 8:30 pm the formal part of the evening ended. While Ron signed copies of his book, the majority of the group enjoyed the refreshments provided by Veronica Hatch, courtesy of Ronsdale Press.

At the end of the evening, Alan Twigg, founder and publisher of BC BookWorld took photos of the two Ronnies. These photos will NOT appear in the current issue of BC BookWord, which has just come out, but a wonderful review of The Defiant Mind written by Mark Forsythe DOES.

Thank you to all who participated, and to Meagan of Ronsdale Press for her continuing assistance.