Bridging the Social Distance

For this episode I interview Betty Pimmett. Betty is a recent addition to The Village of Riverside Glen , having moved in just a few months ago during the pandemic. Today we talk about this shift in pace, and her attempts to slow down after a life of working, having started her first job at fifteen to support her family, and working constantly for all the years that have followed, "earning and lea...

Continuing in the theme of "Sustainability Month", for this episode I interview Crystal Bradford and Liam Kijewski of Wildlife Gardening , a native-plant nursery and landscaping service. Crystal and Liam celebrate their 15th anniversary of this work this year, and today we talk about what that path has looked like, navigating ageism, celebrating the growing interest in native plants, managing the...

This episode sees the return of Katherine Finlay at the Village of Riverside Glen. Katherine came on the radio last year to talk about the Java Music Club - today she returns to share her experiences being diagnosed with (and recovering from) Covid while living at Riverside Glen. This has included struggles - being quarantined, worrying about her diagnosis and the deterioration of her physical hea...

My guest for this episode is Anita Cazzola. Anita just launched a beautiful textile repair service called "Mani D'Oro Mending", and with March being "Sustainability Month" she was a perfect guest! We talk about Anita's path to mending and teaching, the many layers of value in learning this work, and how we should resist the temptation to always buy new and to replace, when we can instead put in th...

For this episode I reconnect with Lloyd Hetherington at the Village of Riverside Glen. Lloyd was my first pandemic-era guest at Riverside Glen, and he was the person who initiated our collaboration with Riverside Glen for this radio/podcast project. When they first connected, Lloyd had only just moved into Riverside Glen. We chat now, after a year of him living there, to talk about his transition,...

For this episode my guest is AbdulRazaq Aljazaerli, a Syrian refugee living in Cambridge Ontario. Originally from Damascus Syria, AbdulRazaq immigrated here to Canada with his mother, to Cambridge five years ago, after four years as a refugee in Jordan. He has been attending school to learn English, and like the rest of the world, has had many of his plans delayed and put on hold during this pande...

For this episode I interview Sarah Harris, of St. John's Newfoundland band " Property ” We talk about the band's brand new EP "Think Electric", about Sarah's experiences attending university remotely and playing in a band during a pandemic, the "Atlantic bubble", the end of the Atlantic bubble, and what life on the island has been like during this pandemic. You can check out their album at propert...

For this episode I interview Katherine Akey and Annie Carpenter. Katherine lives in the US, Annie lives in the UK, both are artists and both had their first babies shortly before the world shut down for Covid. The two first met when they were roommates on a boat in the Arctic during an Artist-in-residency in 2015, and they reunited virtually this past summer for "Call Centre", a blogging project c...

For this episode I interview Thirza Armstrong and John Dennis of the  Guelph Tool Library . We talk about the philosophy behind sharing vs owning, waste vs re-use, and what our wonderful Tool Library shifts to look like during a pandemic. Some projects have had to pause, lots have had to shift-gears, and other totally new projects have emerged, including their new "Pin a Smile On" campaign, where...

For this episode I interview Kaye Brown, a resident at  The Village at St. Clair  in Windsor ON. Kaye is a recent survivor of Covid - Today Kaye shares what it is like to be sick, and to start to recover. She also shares the very heavy reality of losing a best friend and fellow resident to the same disease at the same time. Kaye, like many others, has been frustrated by the portrayal of Senior-Car...

For this episode I interview Scott Palmer, a resident a  The Village of Riverside Glen . We talk about Scott's move within the building during Covid, and life in a retirement facility during a pandemic, and we have an in-depth conversation about Scott's career in the Traffic Department at the City of Guelph. You can learn so much about how the traffic systems work by listening to this interview! S...

For this episode I interview Jean McKenzie, a resident at  The Village of Riverside Glen . Jean was born in Guelph and has lived here nearly her entire life aside from a small stretch of retirement in Kincardine. Much of that time was spent living out in the country, and farm-life has passed down through several generations, still being carried on by her grandchildren. We talk about farm-life thro...

For this episode I interview Joyce Auger, a new resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . The past two months have meant a lot of significant changes for Joyce - a move to a retirement residence, her first time living in Guelph after spending her entire life in Acton, her first time being separated from her husband (who is now in a different facility for Long-Term Care), and it has meant an adju...

For this episode I interview Brian Kwok, owner/operator of Guelph Market . Guelph Market was created to provide a platform for small businesses and independent makers to connect with, and sell their handmade goods to the Guelph Community. The result is like an "Online General Store", selling an assortment of wares with a broad appeal, and items changing and adding as the vendors and seasons change...

For this episode I interview Wilma Ensing, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Wilma and I talk about her life, her journey over from Holland as a young child, and her transition to life here in Canada including the long, country-walk to school in wooden shoes, and working at her aunt and uncle's Dutch Store. Wilma is strong and she has endured a lot, raising four children as a single mo...

For this episode I interview Joyce Sharp, a resident at The Village of Riverside Gle n retirement residence. So many incredible stories from Joyce today, she tells us of her journey to Canada, family life with her children and husband in Fergus, working in real estate while her husband did architecture. She speaks openly of her thoughts on this pandemic, and delves into her memories from WWII back...

For this episode I interview John Potter, and his daughter Catherine. John is a WWII veteran who lives at The Village of Riverside Glen . I was lucky enough to speak with him on Remembrance Day, and today's conversation follows John through his experiences in the war as a Navy wireless operator on the HMCS Regina - a Royal Canadian Navy revised Flower-class corvette which took part in convoy escor...

For this episode I interview John Van Esch, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . John's history and work experience is so interesting and unique, and subsequently this interview ventures into so many fascinating topics not previously explored on this show. Having come to Canada from Holland at the age of 18, John started at Biltmore Hats in Guelph, and went on to become a scientist/chemis...

For this episode I interview Ann Weeks, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen Ann moved to Canada about fifty years ago from Ireland. She's a dedicated gardener, and knits, crochets, and does jigsaw and word puzzles to pass the time. Today she shares stories of work-life in Ireland, where she worked in a tobacco factory, and the girls pooled their pennies each week to buy the latest records...

For this episode I interview Lois Wilson, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Lois is an Ontario resident by birth growing up near Mississauga and Brampton in Churchville. She worked for a time at the Churchville General Store before studying to be a secretary, and later becoming a teacher. Her life has been surrounded by close extended family - growing up her family's farm was right nex...

For this episode I interview Madeline Wenman, a resident in Long-Term Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . Madeline was born and raised in Bristol England. At 98 and a quarter years old, she has many stories to share, that span many significant historic events. She worked in nursing her whole adult life, and met her husband (who fought in the war) when she was treating his sister. She contribut...

For this episode I interview Alice McNutt, a resident at  The Village of Riverside Glen  . Alice grew up in Nova Scotia (outside of Truro) where she lived one house over from her future her husband, her brother’s best friend, and after they married they moved to Toronto to seek work, and lived there for 60 years. Today Alice and I bond over our love of East Coast, and our love of the trip between...

For this episode I interview Betty Green, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Betty shares wonderful stories, of growing up in Dromore, a town founded by her Grandfather, who started a farm, post office and general store, which her family went on to run afterwards. Betty has endured a lot of loss and hardship at different points in her life, but she has a wonderful extended family that s...

For this episode I interview Mike Lesperance, a resident in Long-Term Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . Mike's life has spanned three pretty distinct and different Canadian cities: born and raised in Montreal, Mike moved his family to Mississauga in the 80s following his import-export job, and then moved them family to Fergus, where he went on to own and operate a coffee shop. Today we talk...

For this episode I interview Eileen Webb, a resident at  The Village of Riverside Glen . We talk about her life - growing up in Burlington when it was just a small town, her family's "Lakeside Dairy", the fun of pouring over the Eaton's Catalogue and gathering around the family radio for the Lone Ranger, and later raising a family on a 100-acre farm in Badenoch (including a period of time with no...