Current News

Lynn Valley students carry Terry’s torch

If you see students running from their schools en masse this week, don’t worry, it isn’t a fire – they’re just taking part in the annual Terry Fox School Run.

Janet Dunkin, French teacher and organizer of Argyle’s run on Thursday, Sept. 27th, says the high school has been participating in the event for at least 25 years. The whole school will run in the blocks around Argyle at about 12:40 that day, with traffic-directing support from the RCMP and Parent Advisory Council, and the senior PE classes acting as race marshalls.

Ms. Dunkin is a driving force behind the school’s involvement, due in part, she says, to her own family’s experiences with the merciless disease. Both of her daughters, Colleen and Katharine, had malignant brain tumours as infants. While they both survived that harsh beginning, Katharine passed away in 2003 when she was a 16-year-old Argyle student, from a cancer that was linked to her earlier treatment.

Many of us know people both within and without the school community who are currently battling the illness; there are no shortage of reasons to show your support this week. Argyle is hoping to raise $3,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation, and students will be collecting pledges until early October. If you don’t know a local elementary or secondary student who can collect your donation, please consider pledging to one of our local schools’ campaigns via the Terry Fox Foundation School Run website.

And if you’re out driving on Thursday, watch out for kids running where and when you least expect them!

 

September 24, 2012 in Blog, Community Events, Current News, Getting Involved, School News

Caring clown classes commence

Like to laugh? Meet people? Put more fun in your life? Put fun in others’ lives? Maybe try some vol-FUN-teering? Then a new course starting at Mollie Nye House may just be what you’re looking for.

Unlike most classes, this program not only allows, but encourages, students to clown around.  Instructor Amanda O’Leary combines magic, performance, humour, skits, balloon twisting and painting to teach participants how to be a Caring Clown – then she sends them out into the community to put their new skills to good use.

“Everyone has talents to offer to their society,” says Amanda, who is the Caring Clown Director of the World Clowning Association. “Yet most people don’t know they have them, or have the opportunity to practise them. But imagine spreading joy, creating smiles, or sharing a moment with a person you don’t know – that is the joy of being a Caring Clown.”

Amanda explains that clowning doesn’t have to be “loud and in your face.” Especially when you are visiting people in hospitals, seniors’ homes and preschools, you need to learn how to do “the clowning small, with lots of love and fun.”

 “Being loud and obnoxious isn’t an art form; creating a connection is,” says Amanda. “People think clowning is loud costumes and make-up and a big nose and shoes. I believe that you don’t need all of that. The clown needs to be in your heart, looking for the fun, connecting with people and letting them shine.”

The three-part course has never been taught in the Lower Mainland. Beginning with Basic Clowning, which begins Oct. 19 and runs to Nov. 23, it helps people find a way to unlock the fun inside of you. “Just like at Halloween, people find it easier to assume a persona when they have a costume and outside trappings,” Amanda says.

The second part, beginning in January, teaches the subtler aspects of being a Caring Clowning, and the final component in the spring offers you the chance to practice your new skills out in the community.

Amanda is an experienced teacher, and brings to the table an extensive acting background along with years of clowning and performing magic for crowds of all sizes and ages.

To meet Amanda and learn more about the Caring Clown program, come out to a free information session at Mollie Nye House on Oct. 5 at 2 p.m. Please call Mollie Nye House at 604-987-5820 to reserve a spot.

September 21, 2012 in Blog, Current News, Getting Involved

How did your Lynn Valley garden grow?

From the garden of Lynn O’Malley: 

Nature is all swings and roundabouts, isn’t it?

Just when one is ready to despair over the constant mildewing of the zucchini leaves, a bumper crop of sweet peas gives one cause to celebrate. Non-productive clematis vines are overshadowed by an abundance of black-eyed Susans.

At least that’s how it was in my upper Lynn Valley garden this year, which seems always to be unpredictable in its yearly showing – largely a result, no doubt, of the inconsistent care and attention it gets from its owner. But whether it is nature or nurture that makes one year’s bounty so different from the next, the kaleidescope tableau that results is never the same twice.

My garden highlight this year has been my sweet pea teepee, which is still covered with blooms. In years past, I’ve strung up sweet peas against a backyard wall under the eaves and then constantly forgetten to water them. This year, I plunked them front and centre in my raised veggie bed by the street, along with the Swiss chard and green onions, where they were assured of some life-sustaining attention from the automatic sprinkler.

The biggest benefit I’ve reaped from the resulting healthy crop hasn’t been aesthetic, though the flowers’ incredible scent is a lovely addition to the vegetable garden. No, the very best part about the prolific sweet peas is the number of excuses they have given me to visit friends and neighbours, bouquet in hand.

When your sweet peas need to be picked, they need to be picked. So what better time is there to drop in on someone you’ve been meaning to visit for ages? It’s been a pleasure to use the sweet peas as my calling card in a number of homes and workplaces this summer. Pretty and amazingly fragrant, they are always well received (I should aspire to be so popular!)

Fortunately the memory of my happy sweet pea moments will serve to blot out any other agricultural disappointments from Summer 2012; the above-mentioned zucchini issue (everyone complains about their overabundant zucchini harvest, while I sadly ruminate upon my three small green accomplishments), the Shasta Daisies overcome with aphids and something else that caused their heads to wither; the pot of flowers that was supposed to be a riot of pink and blue, but the pink bloomed and died back in early July, while the blue is just now opening from bud.

All is forgiven, all is forgotten! Summer 2012 was the Sweet Pea Summer.

Do you want to keep the floral fun going this fall? Posy Florist in Lynn Valley Village is offering a series of workshops, from basic floral design (mandatory for newbies) to ones that will teach you to create your own Thanksgiving centrepiece or Christmas wreath. Have a look at the Posy site for more information – first class is on Wednesday, Sept. 26th!) 

September 21, 2012 in Blog, Current News, Eco-Awareness & The Great Outdoors, O'Malley's Musings

Black Bear Pub hosts weekly trivia nights

From the pen of Jeffry Huyghebaert, Assistant Manager, Black Bear Neighbourhood Pub

Every Monday night at the Black Bear we run a trivia game for our guests, with questions running the gamut of general knowledge and obscure facts.  There is no cost to play, and teams are encouraged; best to bring a few people with different interests and knowledge than yourself! The only real rule is that Google cannot be one of your teammates.

The game starts at 7:30 p.m., and usually runs until around 9:30 p.m. There are two rounds of fifteen questions per round, and the team with the highest score at the end of two rounds claims the victory, and has a choice between a plate of 24 hot wings or a pitcher of Molson Canadian to celebrate their win.

Besides general knowledge and obscure facts, we occasionally choose to run with a certain theme, which is usually based around a certain event; on Canada Day the theme was Canadiana, during the Olympics the questions were all about Olympic events and history, and around the time of the Oscars we did a night of Movie Quotes.

Next week will mark the 20th week of Black Bear Trivia, which means that our guests will have answered 800 questions since we started playing. The questions themselves come from the staff and managers of the Black Bear, rather than simply being pulled down from a website or lifted from Trivial Pursuit. It’s been a lot of research, a lot of fun, and a lot of being impressed by just how much our guests actually know about really, really random things.

 

 

 

 

September 18, 2012 in Blog, Community Events, Current News, Guest Voices, Merchant Mentions

Book, play to feature Lynn Valley mothers and daughters

About a year ago, North Vancouver women were invited to write a 2,000-word biography of their mother as part of a new project launched by the Mothership Stories Society. In October, a book launch and theatre production will give you the chance to be captivated by the stories that resulted.

Since 2004, the non-profit organization organization founded by Marilyn Norry has solicited, promoted, performed and published the stories of ordinary women written by ordinary daughters. But as participants in the various “My Mother’s Story” projects always discover, there is no such thing as ‘ordinary’ when it comes to talking about mothers and their varied lives – what’s astonishing in one family is commonplace in another.

You can read two hundred or so of these collected stories on the website archive, but next month you’ll have the chance to see several of the stories from the most recent North Vancouver project co-mingled in a dramatic presentation at Presentation House.

Of the 60 stories submitted by North Vancouver women, eight will be featured in My Mother’s Story: North Vancouver, and 41 will be published, along with photos, in an anthology that will also be launched next month.

The play is sure to evoke a variety of emotions, and provide the audience with many conversation-starters as they see a picture of North Vancouver’s social history emerge from the stories of some of its residents.

Happily, Lynn Valley daughters and mothers are well-represented. Pat Ceraldi writes of her mother, Dorothy McMillan, who lived the life of a diamond driller’s wife, moving from the dust bowl of the prairies to the wild outposts of northern Manitoba; to the glamour of Toronto and finally west to her Vancouver family.

Aranka Lukacs, client services representative at the Lynn Valley RBC, tells of her mother wanting the freedom that was denied people in Hungary during the 1940s and 5os and up to the 1956 Revolution, and how her search for that freedom brought her to Canada and a whole new world.

Maria Torres writes of her mother, who came here from Portugal at sixty years of age with two requests: the chance to learn English, and to get a job.

Other Lynn Valley writers include Suzanne Rayment, Jean Redpath, Sandy Crawford, Patricia Young, Janet Dysart, Peggy Trendell-Jensen, Suzanne Ristic (who is also performing in the play), and Grace Gordon-Collins. Each story is as unique as the woman who inspired it.

My Mother’s Story: North Vancouver runs from October 17 to 28; more information and ticket sales are to be found on the Presentation House website. For a sneak preview of some of the North Vancouver mother’s stories (or to learn how to write your own!) check out the My Mother’s Story website and have a look through its archives.

September 18, 2012 in Blog, Community Events, Current News, Notable Neighbours

An update from the Harris family

Many people in Lynn Valley and beyond were moved to empathy and action by the plight of local mom Erica Harris, who has spent the summer battling an aggressive leukemia that was not responding to treatment. People and agencies moved heaven and earth to find her a bone marrow donor, but when one was finally found, it was determined that her leukemic cell load was still too high to enable a transplant. At that point, Erica was sent home to spend as much time as possible with her husband, Harley, and their two sons. It gives us much pleasure to share with you this update from Harley:

(Please continue to scroll down for a further update, dated Nov. 9, 2012)

Hello to our entire Circle of Love,

We have some very exciting and joyous news to share with you!!!

Firstly, thank you, thank you all for your dedicated and ongoing support of Team Harris – your prayers, thoughts, strength, encouragement and support have been truly uplifting and inspirational.  You are a circle of love for all of us.  

 

Since Erica’s discharge from VGH in-patient care on August 1st, we have spent most of our time exclusively on the homefront enjoying beautiful moments with the boys….with many backyard splash adventures, games of hide and go seek, puzzles, reading, sing alongs etc.. and the simple pleasures Erica loves most of all – being the first smile the boys see each morning and the last to kiss their cheeks as she tucks them in each night.  When the boys sleep/nap, Erica has dedicated herself to creating amazing mementos for our boys – making beautiful scrapbooks, photos, writing letters, making CDs , videos and other many other special memories. 

 

We have also been busy seeking as many wellness options as possible – from our amazing circle of love that surrounds us, we have been introduced to the world of meditation, visualization and healing hands practitioners.  We have become connected with top naturopaths and pharmacists and are following their advice and supplements diligently.  We have been blessed with multiple prayer groups/circles and have even been gifted a beautiful wooden hand held cross of Saint Mary MacKillop (who was credited with curing someone’s leukemia) brought to us from Australia. So many of you have done such extensive research on our behalf for treatments and forwarded us pivotal tips that we have pursued…we apologize if we have not responded to you, but all of the insights and suggestions have been put to great use and we feel so fortunate to have accessed so many healing paths because of your assistance. 

 

The boys have been incredible.   Hudson puts his hands on Erica’s cheeks each night to help heal her and has created a little lego “machine” to help pull the bad weeds (as we have explained the cancer to him) from her body… he massages her back every day and these healing hands are truly miraculous.   He said to Erica the other night all on his own “Mama, you have to believe!”   Hugh loves to rest with mama – giving her the longest snuggles, humming together so beautifully.

Thanks to all of you, the fire within Team Harris to find a cure for Erica and Erica’s unfailing strength, courage, determination, love and faith, she has done much better than the original prognosis given to us on July 31st.  Indeed, our doctors at VGH were so pleased with Erica’s weekly blood test results and recovering “counts”, they ordered a bone marrow biopsy to find out what was happening in Erica’s bone marrow.  The biopsy was yesterday.  We received the results this afternoon.

 

Erica’s July 30th biopsy indicated that there were approximately 25%-30% leukemic (bad) cells in her marrow.

 

To be considered in remission, VGH advised us that patients need to have 5% or less leukemic cells in their marrow. 

 

At VGH they will only do a stem cell/bone marrow transplant if a patient is in remission.

 

Today we learned that the biopsy from yesterday shows that Erica now has less than 3% leukemic cell in her marrow. 

 

This means she is in FULL REMISSION!! 

 

This is the best possible outcome from the biopsy that we all prayed and hoped for.

 

Our doctor had no explanation for this amazing result and said that they had not seen anything like it before.  He asked if Erica had received any treatments in August that we had not informed them of…

 

A miracle.  That is the explanation.  A true, blessed and God-given miracle.

 

In conjunction with our dedicated BMT Coordinator, One Match and all of your support, a 10/10 unrelated stem cell/bone marrow match was found for Erica at the end of July.  This donor is now in the process of being “activated”.   Another donor’s blood is also being tested as a “back up” and we are hopeful that this donor will also be a match for Erica, if necessary. 

 

They are trying to fast track the donor process as much as possible and our doctor is hopeful Erica may be able to start the stem cell/bone marrow transplant process at VGH in October.   The transplant process usually takes approximately 3 months in hospital.

 

We have been truly blessed.   You are all witness to a spectacular and glorious miracle. 

 

Thank you to each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts.

 

Faith, Hope and Love Always,

Team Harris

Nov. 9, 2012

Status Update
By Harley Harris
Erica Harris – Stem Cell/Bone Marrow Transplant UpdateHello to our Circle of Love,

It has been quite a turbulent ride over the last few weeks. Apologies for not being in touch sooner….

As many of you know, Erica was admitted to VGH Leukemia/BMT ward exactly 3 weeks ago today (October 19th) to start her stem cell/bone marrow transplant – in typical determined Erica fashion, she insisted that we climb the 15  flights of stairs on the way to being admitted…always great to start with a bang… she was blessed with an amazing room, with a panoramic view of downtown Vancouver, False Creek, the North Shore Mountains and all the beauty our city has to offer, and, of course, she was blessed with an incredible and dedicated team at VGH by her side.

The transplant process starts with three days of chemotherapy (using one of the aggressive salvage chemo drugs), three days of TBI (total body radiation – 2 sessions each day) and then the transplant. We were told going in by Erica’s attending doctor that the entire process after the transplant takes many weeks in hospital, with the fastest discharge being 4 weeks after the transplant – but sometimes it can be 3 months or longer in hospital.

Erica persevered well through the chemo, however, she found the twice daily TBI very difficult.

Erica had her transplant 2 weeks ago yesterday (on October 25th) soon after her last TBI treatment. The team at VGH calls it your new birthday. The transplant itself (using the donor’s stem cells) was relatively short in duration (under an hour). All progressed well until the very end when she developed a severe acute allergic reaction…close call.

Through it all, Erica was truly amazing and tenacious – she fought hard every step of the way, keeping as active as possible, using her stepper and crazy heavy medicine ball whenever she could muster up just enough strength. She did laps around the 15th floor tossing her med ball in the air. She endured the usual nausea, retching and lack of appetite with mucositis and ulcers covering her inner mouth and throat yet she was determined to stay off of the IV feeding that caused many problems to her liver in the summer. This meant she needed to eat and keep what she ate down. We were told that transplant patients rarely avoid the IV feeding due to all of the mutiple side effects of the process (including the post transplant immunosuppressant drugs) that cause the very painful mucositis. Yes, you guessed it, Erica was able to keep down enough nutrients on her own to keep the IV feeding away. My incredible wife.

Thanks to the super donor’s super marrow, Erica’s blood counts (white blood cells/hemoglobins/platelets etc.) recovered quickly – as has Erica. Indeed, her condition improved so quickly, we are pleased to share with you that she was officially discharged from VGH this morning (November 9th) on Day +15 post transplant. We were told by VGH team members that this is the fastest discharge they had seen following an unrelated stem cell/bone marrow transplant.

All that said, Erica is still very weak, very tired and her immune system is still incredibly vulnerable. In turn, we will be spending a few weeks at a place we secured near VGH as she gets stronger and more stable. She has a busy day care regimen ahead at the VGH outpatient clinic and she is certainly not out of the woods. A long road lies ahead with many potentials bumps as her new marrow takes hold. The entire engraftment process lasts many months – including daily immunosuppressant and multiple other medications. Her lead doctor indicated that it may take up to 9 months before engraftment is fully confirmed.

We are taking today’s fabulous news and discharge from hospital as a blessed gift from above.

As you know, Erica is happiest in the great outdoors as fresh air means so much to her… she soaked it all in as we left VGH. She had not been outside since she was admited. Today we walked a few blocks, we may try to walk a a few more tomorrow. One day at a time. Together, hand in hand.

Our plan is to surprise the boys tomorrow with a short surprise visit – at Hudson’s soccer game. Erica can’t wait to surprise them and hold them tightly in her arms.

Thank you all for your kind and generous support of Erica and our entire family during this challenging journey. We have cherished your thoughts, prayers and strength and everything that you have done for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you,

May God bless each of you and all of your loved ones.

Faith, Hope and Love Always.

xoxo

September 11, 2012 in Blog, Current News, Guest Voices, Notable Neighbours

Suspension bridge spans 100 years

Once again Lynn Valley is celebrating an important centennial. Having already marked the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the L.V. Community Association and the first-ever Lynn Valley Day, everyone can pull out their party shoes again in order to honour 100 years of swinging good times on the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge.

On Saturday, Sept. 15th, between 10 a.m. and noon, North Vancouver District is inviting locals and friends to come to the park for music, cake, antique fire trucks and more. The Lynn Valley suspension bridge and canyon gained worldwide exposure when uber-volunteer Bob McCormack passed the Olympic torch mid-span, but those of us here in Lynn Valley are lucky to have this wilderness adventure playground in our own backyard, free of charge, all year round.

Here’s what the LynnValleyLife history section has to say about the origins of the park. After you read it, we hope you’ll be inspired to come out on Sept. 15 to start a whole new century worth of memories!

Lynn Canyon Park was the brainchild of one J.P. Crawford, a Lynn Valley land agent who convinced Vancouver’s McTavish Brothers to donate 12 acres of property to serve as an attraction that would bring more settlers to the area.

It was the first park in Lynn Valley, which was still heavily treed in most areas.  Before a landslide changed the topography of the area dramatically, the park had playing fields, a bandstand, picnic shelters and outdoor cooking facilities. It hosted the first-ever Lynn Valley Day in 1912, a grand occasion attended by thousands of people from all over Greater Vancouver, who arrived via decorated ferry boats and a new B.C. Electric streetcar line.

Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge, circa 1915

That day also marked the opening of the suspension bridge that crosses high over the roaring waters below. When first opened, it cost ten cents to cross –whether or not you were brave enough to make it all the way to the other side! It eventually fell into disrepair and was closed, but has for some decades now been well-maintained by the District of North Vancouver, which provides this free attraction to local residents and the thousands of tourists who flock there every year.

For a historical look at the park on the occasion of its 100th anniversary, click here.

September 7, 2012 in Blog, Community Events, Current News, Eco-Awareness & The Great Outdoors, Looking Back

Fall program guides at your fingertips

We’ve been spreading the word about new fall programs as they’ve crossed our desk, but now we think it would be useful for our LynnValleyLife readers to have them all in one spot.

So here are the community program offerings from three major Lynn Valley organizations – let us know if you’d like to see your event or workshop added to the list!

Lynn Valley Services Society: This newly formed non-profit organization operates Mollie Nye House, which houses a variety of community programming and is home to the Lynn Valley Community Association and the Lynn Valley Seniors Association. Here’s the LVSS guide of programs running from September through December, 2012.

Lynn Valley Community Room programs: Have a look at these programs offered by the North Vancouver Recreation Commission right in Lynn Valley Village. For all the North Van Rec programs on offer at the various local facilities, visit their website.

Lynn Valley United Church: The church is offering a broad range of community programs this fall. Some are physical, some are artistic, some are spiritual, and some are pure entertainment value! Have a look at their guide to see where you might fit in (and note that they are forming two community choirs in September; including one for young adults who might be missing their high school or university musical experiences!)

 

 

 

 

September 3, 2012 in Blog, Community Events, Current News, Getting Involved

Compost coaches offer free, at-home instruction

Waste-reducers and gardeners can learn more about one of their favourite pastimes without spending a cent, thanks to the Compost Coaching program offered by the North Shore Recycling Program.

Now that colder weather is on the horizon, you might want an experienced composter to visit your home and show you how to manage your compost pile over the winter. You’ll also want to ensure it isn’t acting as an attractant for bears who should be making hibernation plans, not noshing on your chucked-out apple cores.

Click here to learn more about this free offer – after all, how often do you get the chance to have some one-on-one instruction from an expert, in the comfort of your own backyard? You’ll also find info on how to obtain a subsidized bin, if you’d like your Compost Coach to help you set it up and start it going.

The new Green Can program is an easy and effective way to get rid of our organic waste, but backyard composting is still the most eco-friendly and economical way to use up our leftover fruit and veggie scraps. And you can’t beat the finished compost for building up the health of your garden soil!

August 31, 2012 in Blog, Current News, Eco-Awareness & The Great Outdoors, Governance and Services

Lynn Valley kids blessed with natural playscape

FROM LYNN O’MALLEY: We talk a lot about our children having lost the ability to ‘play.’ Between busy work schedules, programmed after-school activities, and parental anxieties about kids being allowed to wander on their own, we have apparently turned into a nation whose offspring are dependent on screens or adult intervention for leisure-time entertainment.

But perhaps it’s not all bad news, especially here in Lynn Valley where we are blessed with (relatively) quiet streets, lots of green space, and climbing trees aplenty. You just have to look at schools such as Grandview Elementary in Vancouver, which are putting out huge bucks ($250,000, in their case!) to install ‘natural playgrounds’ that emulate the woodland features we take for granted.

I know a variety of local teens who bike the Fromme Mountain trails, arrange great (supervised!) airgun battles deep in the forest, are often heading out to play road hockey, used Upper Lynn School as their meeting place this summer because “it’s got the best playground for playing Grounders,” and love to top off a summer day with a dip in the creek.

Not so long ago, I remember them as primary kids spending a year’s worth of recess and lunchtimes playing in the school woods, building forts and stockpiling bits of rotted wood they called “Chunky Cheese” – the currency they hoarded, guarded, traded for sticks, and no doubt hurled at each other when things got slow.

Schools sometimes put on assemblies to teach playground games. If you want to learn (or be reminded of!) a few yourself, you might want to have a look at this list of traditional children’s games compiled on Wikipedia. Or just ask your kids and their friends what they play at recess – chances are there is a whole playground subculture that keeps them busy.

As adults we often ask ourselves what we can do to foster more of this kind of play. Perhaps our job is to stand back and do less. Less driving to school. Fewer scheduled activities. Less worrying about whether the kids are being entertained, and more trust that they are capable of creating their own fun, if given the independence to do so.

It takes adjustment on all sides, of course. Children used to being constantly ‘plugged in’ will no doubt feel at a loose end when they are first sent outside to the backyard and left to their own devices. But my own mother had the answer to that one – any time I said “I’m bored,” I was presented with a list of chores to do. I soon learned how to keep myself busy without help!

So let’s be grateful for Lynn Valley’s many play possibilities, and encourage our kids to get out and use them – even if it’s a game of ‘Don’t Step on the Sidewalk Crack’ or ‘I Spy’ when they’re walking to school instead of being driven. (Parents nervous about young kids starting to walk to school on their own might want to bridge the gap with a healthy and social Walking School Bus arrangement.)

Hopefully we’ll have a lovely Indian Summer in which to enjoy the sunshine, but when the wet weather comes, keep the fun going with some low-tech indoor play – or a pair of wellies and a puddle!

 

 

 

August 30, 2012 in Blog, Current News, Eco-Awareness & The Great Outdoors, School News