#YYCRocksforRecovery – A Huge Success!

Tags

#yycrocksforrecovery, addiction, Alberta, believe, Calgary, community, compassion, courage, dancing, Diana Schwenk, Events, Fundraising, generosity, giving, Hump Day Chronicles, joy, kindness, Kings Head Pub, music, non-profit, passion, Purpose, recovery, Relationships, TLB Group

Wow – YYC Rocks for recovery raised $4,300!

Enough to provide a safe and sober Oxford home for two individuals for more than a year!

The energy and support at King’s Head Pub on Sunday, October 16^th for YYC Rocks for Recovery was palpable. 

Personally, and as a representative of Oxford House, I am so grateful to the TLB Group and its many volunteers who manned the door, sold wares, ran the auction, emceed the event, and who knows what else; King’s Head Pub, who provided all the food for volunteers; the Twenty-eight super talented bands who rocked the house down all afternoon and into the early hours of the morning; the amazing sponsors, the silent auction donors, and those who attended.

What a night!

I mean, how often can you get to see such high quality talent from so many musicians for $10 at the door these days? And each and every band played for free, played for Oxford House, played for the love of their craft – many sticking around after their set to support their fellow musicians.

Tracey, my coworker and I volunteered for a shift at the door early in the afternoon. The TLB volunteers were so welcoming and took the time to explain what we needed to do. It didn’t take me long to hand over the cover-charge-taking and tracking duties to Tracey who is the Financial Coordinator at Oxford House and way more proficient at these things than I am. That left me free to do the hand stamping, free haircut coupon distribution and the directing of musicians and volunteers to where they needed to go. The volunteer door shift was a blast.  One could feel the good vibes that came in with attendees.

Much to my pleasant surprise, my long-time friend Carmen whom I ran into by chance the day before on 17^th Avenue, showed up with her niece Stephanie to support the event. Carmen bid on several auction items, the last of which lit her face up like a Christmas tree when she won it. She can’t wait to take her friend from Montana on a guided fly fishing tour on the Bow River.

Mike Robertson, who donated the package for the auction stopped by to chat with us and was thrilled that Carmen was so happy about her upcoming fishing adventure. “I’ve been in recovery for thirteen years,” Mike told us. “And when I heard about YYC Rocks for Recovery I just had to do my little part.”

And that same spirit of generosity permeated the entire event. I was so blown away by everyone involved – it was ‘community in action’, coming together as one to rock the world of individuals in recovery.

Enjoy the photo gallery below

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And now a little taste of the stage and people thoroughly enjoying themselves on the dance floor…

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

For more information on the TLB Group

For WAY more photos and videos: YYC Rocks for Recovery Event Page

For more information about Oxford House

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We Did It Together – Thank You!

Tags

Alberta, Calgary, community, compassion, Diana Schwenk, Edmonton, Events, Fundraising, Hump Day Chronicles, Oxford House, recovery, Ride for Refuge, thank you

Here are all the people who rode and walked for Oxford House on Saturday, October 1, 2016. That’s me, second from the left!

It was a great day. It was raining and I was soaked to the bone, but they told me that last year there were some pretty strong winds which made the hills all the much harder.

Let’s ride!

Some of the hills were a challenge for me, but I pushed through one push of the pedal at a time. I just kept thinking about the residents we would be helping and those of you who supported my ride.

And at the eleventh hour, a final donation came in that helped me reach my personal goal of $2,000 which will provide 1 resident in recovery with a safe and supported home for an entire year – thanks to you and all the others who supported me!

At an organizational level, Oxford House raised in excess of $13,000 which will provide an entire house of 5 residents, and then some, a safe and sober home for an entire year!

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

Thanks again to everybody who supported me and all the Oxford House riders and Walkers!

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Come Hell or High Water

Tags

Alberta Strong, Calgary, Calgary Stampede, Canadian, Chris Hadfield, community, Diana Schwenk, Events, Hump Day Chronicles, living in the moment, memories, Southern Alberta Floods 2013, Stampede 101

Y A H O O!

A Stampede selfie for your amusement

Well we did it folks!

Stampede 101 went off seemingly without a hitch, although I’ve heard it said that it’s sort of like when your in-laws visit – we kind of had to sweep some stuff under the rug and hope they don’t look too closely.

But from my vantage point the Calgary Stampede and Exhibition 2013 was a great success in spite of recent floods!

Not only did the show go on, but the Stampede raised over $2,000,000 through the sale of ‘Come Hell or High Water’  T-shirts in support of flood relief!

My BFF and I checked out the Stampede grounds on Thursday (Sneak A Peek night).  Admission was half price so a mere $8 got us in.

Sure the Saddledome was closed (with water levels still sitting at about the 8th row of seats)  and the lower level of the Big Four was closed, but other than that, it was business as usual.

My first stop was Lammle’s  to get a new Cowboy hat – featured in the selfie  above. (Last year’s hat grew bigger or my head shrank – I’m not sure which) 🙂

Then we checked out the midway where you can get anything you can imagine deep-fried including butter!  I didn’t try it but was super curious about how one would go about doing this, so this roving reporter (that be me)  had to check it out knowing you would want to know as well.

Deep-fried butter is made by coating frozen cubed butter with batter and deep-frying it. Mmmmm 🙂 not for this cowgirl!

The midway also housed all the rides. As a chicken (I’m not ashamed to say so)  I watched as others rode the incredibly frightful rides.

When it came time to eat, my BFF opted for deep-fried Mac -n- Cheese from one of the food trucks and I went for Poutine the food of my province of birth.

After a good {A-hem}  meal, it was time to check out the booths in the BMO Centre (Perfect timing as it had started to rain)

Always the question-asker –  I really can’t help it, I swear – I managed to (unintentionally)  piss off a few of the folks doing demonstrations of their products.

Like the guy who was selling mats to wipe your feet off on thus preventing people from dragging mud through the house; to which I asked why don’t you just take your shoes off? [insert chirping cricket here]

And the lady who was selling a 3-step jewelry cleaner and demonstrated it to us. I told her I had been looking for jewelry cleaner recently and when I couldn’t find any I googled it and came up with this 1-step baking soda, tin foil, boiling water thing, how cool is that? [Apparently it wasn’t that cool.]

I hadn’t noticed at the time, but they weren’t impressed with my helpful tips, or so my BFF gleefully told me later. I’m glad I’ve been able to be a constant source of entertainment for her over the years. [Can you see me roll my eyes?]

~

On Friday, the official start of Stampede 101, the Stampede parade took its usual route starting on 6th Ave. and finishing on 9th Ave. I think there were over 700 horses in the parade and lots of floats.

But here’s the exciting thing.

Guess who was this year’s Parade Marshall??

Give up???

It was Col. Chris Hadfield!!

You know?

The super cool Canadian Space Commander who tweeted from space!?!!

I gotta tell ya, between this and the brilliant organization of flood relief from the Mayor’s office and the selflessness of volunteers trudging through mud and water to help out, I was just brimming over with that ‘Wild west Calgarian pioneer, Alberta Strong, Canadian spirit that says two World Wars and the Great Depression never caused us to cancel a Stampede so why should we let this flood do that’  pride!

Can’t you just see me with my hand on my chest, (IN A PATRIOTIC WAY!!!)  standing tall and proud?

Well there you have it – those are the two official events I took part in. The Stampede runs for 10 days in July every year and has been doing so since the first one in 1912.

This year over a million people came through the turnstiles. If you think of the Stampede grounds as a city, that would make it the 3rd largest city in Alberta.

One of my absolute favourite things about these 10 glorious days is how freakin’ good looking everybody becomes in cowboy gear. I’m thinking we outta seriously consider dressing this way every day of the year!

Well the Stampede ended on Sunday. Calgary is a bit quieter now. I have to admit I’m a bit sad about that. Many are back to wearing their fruit of the looms high up and their pants down low with the crotch somewhere around knee level. Alas, life is back to normal.

~

There is still a lot of work to be done to pick ourselves up after the flood. The true cost of all the damage may not be understood for years to come but I have no doubt our western pioneer spirit will triumph and together, just as in the days of old, we will come out stronger than before!

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Col. Chris Hadfield’s version [performed in space]  of Space Oddity below.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

What’s your favourite event in your city?

50 ain’t so Bad…

Tags

Birthday, Calgary, dancing, Deanne House, Diana Schwenk, Events, family, friends, Ranchmans, The Big 5-0

Some of you had asked me to share how I spent my birthday; OK one of you asked me. (Thanks B!)This is the last post about my birthday – I promise!

~

Because it was my birthday on Valentine’s Day I decided to take Thursday and Friday off and Monday was Family Day here in Alberta. I ended up with 5 days off for my birthday.

Thursday, the day of my birthday, I had a dentist appointment because I’d lost a filling. It turns out I need to get a crown so after the dentist smoothed the sharp edges I booked another appointment for March. Happy Birthday to me!!!

~

Later I enjoyed a lovely lunch  at the lovely Deanne House in Inglewood with Kathleen, a friend who used to be my EA at a previous job.

The one thing I really miss about my old job is the group of people who used to make up what I called my ‘Dream Team.’ Kathleen had spoiled me rotten; she really took care of me in those days. Thanks so much for a lovely lunch Kathleen!

~

I got home around 1:30 and within a few moments my doorbell rang. I opened the door and there was this 6’4” cowboy looking guy with a box.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a box,” he said.

“For me?”

“Yup, can you print your name here?”

“Yeah…sure”

“You know,” he said observing my excitement, “they always act surprised, but if you don’t get them flowers, there’s hell to pay!”

I chuckled to myself thinking he probably had forgotten to give his girlfriend flowers for Valentine’s Day, said goodbye and shut the door.

I couldn’t believe someone sent me flowers and couldn’t imagine who they could be from. I opened the box to discover they were from my friends Annie and George who live in Scotland. The flowers were accompanied by such a beautiful note! It made me cry – you made my day A & G – thank you so much!

~

Friday was my day to rest and get ready for the visit from my daughter and her tribe (her friends). They arrived late Friday night (I was already sleeping) and I awoke to find them all safely here Saturday morning.

We hung out for the day and got ready for the big night out. I had reserved the loft, overlooking the stage and dance floor at the Ranchman’s Bar and Dance Hall. (I highly recommend booking your event here) There were 15 of us there and we enjoyed a night of dancing and celebrating.

Many of you already know that I love dancing.

I like letting the music move me.

It was Michaela though who wowed us with her dancing prowess, having learned two-stepping and other ‘dance moves’ in high school – wish they’d done that when I went to school!

I had an awesome time!

Thank you Adele, Carmen, Julie, Sandra, Norm, Helga, Tammi, Derek, Paula, Del, Cherie, Michaela, Jayden and Katrina for helping me celebrate my milestone birthday – the big 5-0!

Also a special thank you to Jason, our bartender who took care of us for the night.

I wish I had more photos to share with you!

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~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

Turning 50 ain’t so bad when you’re blessed with dear family and friends 😉

How did you/do you plan to spend your ‘half a century’ birthday?

In 1973 God blew a Big Bazooka Bubble

Tags

angels, Art, caring, children, Christmas, creativity, Diana Schwenk, Eric Schachter, Events, generosity, God, growing up, imagination, joy, kindness, memories, music, parents, teacher

He helped me spread out my wings and taught me to fly..

For me the 1973/74 school year is one I will always remember fondly.

I was incredibly shy back then – painfully so. Up until the 5^th grade my only wish was to blend in, to be invisible.

But Grade 5 would change all that. Grade 5 would give me an opportunity to spread my wings.

Enter Mr. Schachter – a 28 year-old, long and curly-haired, brilliant and unconventional teacher.

Eric, as he insisted we call him, brought me out of my shell and taught me to love the Arts.

While all the other teachers focussed on the 3 R’s (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic), Eric inspired us to write long and imaginative compositions.

He taught us to play musical instruments like the autoharp and guitar.

Other times we would sit and listen to records with our eyes closed and once we had a dancing contest, in which I won a 45 – Smokin’ in the Boys Room.

I also joined the after school video club where we created animated films by shooting a few frames, changing the position of paper cut-out characters or clay figures, and then shooting a few more frames and so on.

Or we would make people appear or disappear using the same method. These shorts films were magical and so satisfying to create!

My favourite memory though, has to be the Christmas play we produced.

We had been divided into groups of 4 -6 kids and each group was tasked with the responsibility of creating a short skit that portrayed what Christmas meant to us.

My group did a family scene. I was the mother and Mr. Schachter was thrilled with my costume, saying he knew he could count on me to come up with something excellent.

I had stuffed one of Mom’s bras and wore a turtleneck, skirt and low-heeled shoes – that’s what Moms in the 70s looked like, right?

All the groups had practiced our skits but none of us knew how the play would come together. All we knew was our own skit and that we would all sing a song we’d practiced in class at the end.

When the stage curtains opened on the night of the play, the audience was greeted by none other than God (a football player-sized black boy who blew a big Bazooka Gum bubble)

I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that Vance, who played God, improvised his entire part.

One-by-one our little groups went out onto the stage and performed our skits and Vance, a-hem – I mean God, would share his thoughts about the goings-on after each group was done.

In the end, the theme that had threaded itself throughout the play was love.

When you strip away everything else – love remains.

Then we sang our finale – All you need is love by the Beatles.

It wasn’t a traditional Christmas play. It wasn’t what our parents were expecting, I’m sure.

Later I’d learned that Dad had turned to Mom and asked who that guitar-playing hippy was.

“That’s Diana’s teacher,” Mom said.

To which Dad just raised his eyebrows in bewildered amusement.

Many times since then I’ve searched for Eric Schachter.

You see, he left before the year ended. I’m guessing he was a little too unconventional for some folks at that time.

I can still remember the Monday morning that we showed up to find the Vice Principal was our substitute teacher.

He didn’t tell us why…

only that Mr. Schachter was gone and that he had left a little something for each of us in our desks.

I reached into my desk and found a Neil Diamond Album. It came with a card.

Dearest Diana,

I was thrilled to find that I’d kept this card!

I’d send you a horse for Christmas but I can’t find a big enough envelope. I’m sure that you have had a good year, you are a person who is strong and able to make the best of life. I often see your warm and smiling face in my imagination. Even if we never meet again I shall always feel for you and be wishing God to smile down on you. You are probably as tall as me by now, and a lot prettier!

All my best wishes for the new year and the changing seasons.

All my love, Eric

I still google his name every now and then but remain unsuccessful in my search.

Eric Schachter, if you’re out there somewhere and happen to read this post…

I just want to say THANK YOU for helping me spread out my wings and teaching me to fly.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

There are people who like angels come into your life for a brief time yet manage to colour your world beautiful and change your life forever.

I’d love to hear about your angels in the comment section.

Ghost of Christmas Present Part Two

Tags

Calgary, Christmas, daughters, Diana Schwenk, Events, Fairview Shopping Centre, family, friends, Gangnam Style, generosity, Good byes, Hockey, joy, La Vieux Chateau, laughter, living in the moment, love, memories, Montreal, parents, Relationships, Storm

I don’t care how poor a man is; if he has family, he’s rich ~ Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford

Following are some Christmas snippets for your reading pleasure. Unfortunately, I was negligent in taking the quality of photos I intended to take and I hope my family will send me the ones they took!

Family

Here’s the thing about family. It’s difficult at times – all those personalities. All those quirks and preferences. And for the most part they never tell you what you want to hear. They’re too busy telling you what they really think! Isn’t that the value of family though? There’s an old saying that goes, “…you can pick your friends but you can’t pick your family…” I’ve heard it said with negative connotations … like you’re stuck with them or something. But I think that’s a good thing – through thick and thin they’re in it with you – they’re not going anywhere.

Hockey

I was a proud Aunty at my nephew’s hockey game. His skating and skill have greatly improved in just one year. They didn’t win but the Ref missed an important call and that affected the morale of a team of 8-10 years old. They played with heart though and even have two girls on their team!

Fairview Shopping Centre

If you’re a last-minute shopper like me and Michaela you already know that malls a few days before Christmas are a zoo! But we asked my sister-in-law to drop us off at Fairview so we could do some last-minute shopping. Well we got it done and thank God they fill them malls with chairs so you can sit down with all your packages and rub your temples while you tell yourself it will be different next year! FYI, it’s never different…

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Eve at my parent’s place and enjoyed a meal of Rouladen, rote kohl and potatoes. My mom asked me to make a toast before the meal to remember those in our family who aren’t with us anymore. We raised our glasses and thought about those no longer living and those too far away to join us. I looked around the table at my brother, Michael, his wife, Heather, their son Spencer, Heather’s parents, Alice and Horace, my daughter, Michaela and my parents and said, “… you know some people think Christmas is about presents, but I think the best gifts are right around this table, family is better than any gift and I am so glad we’re all together…” Clink, clink…

Christmas Day was hosted by Michael and Heather and we enjoyed turkey with all the trimmings.  It’s amazing how hot a house gets when there are 9 people in there and the oven has been on all day! I tell ya, the whole holiday vacation, there was no shortage of food! Michael said a heart-felt toast (almost as good as mine on the previous day wink wink)

Breakfast at La Vieux Chateau

La Vieux Chateau is the favourite, hands-down restaurant in Hawkesbury, Ontario. It’s owned and operated by a local family (awesome people) and Dad likes to treat us to breakfast there. Almost every morning we went into town to have breakfast as a family and I really enjoyed meeting the locals.

The Storm

We weren’t sure if we would make it back to Calgary on the morning of our scheduled flight. Montreal saw a record 48 cm of snow and morning flights had been canceled. But my brother braved the 55 km to my parent’s house to pick us up and bring us to the airport. Our flight was scheduled for 6:45pm but we didn’t board until 8:30 and then it was too slippery for the fuel truck to come fill the plane! Ahh eventually we took off and landed 3 hours later than our original landing time. What the heck if we’d left on time I would not have met the coolest 87 year-old lady from Barbados and I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of sitting in the bar with my daughter!

Driving Michaela Home

On the 29th, I drove Michaela back home to Camrose ( a 3 1/2 hour drive) and along the way, as we had become accustomed to eating breakfast out, we stopped at Smitty’s for a breakfast brunch in Red Deer. It’s always hard to take her home and it was wierd the next day how quiet it was at my place. Still I’m grateful for the time we spent together and as I type these words, a smile is tugging at the corners of my mouth as I remember Oma dancing to Gangnam Style in the dining room inspiring Michaela and I to invent very odd and new dance moves to this song.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too and remember it doesn’t matter how little you have, if you have family you are rich.

Deer just walk through the backyard

A dozen long-stemmed roses for my Mom’s Birthday on the 22nd

Nice suspenders Dad!

Good Morning!

Say cheese!

Watch for Spencer in the NHL ~ that is if they ever start playing again!

Horace, Alice and Heather (Mom in background with gravy)

Getting ready for Christmas

~ THE HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

I’d love to hear some of your Christmas snippets, please share them below and Mom the link below is for you!

A Special Saturday Post

Tags

Banff Alberta, Canada, Canada Day, Diana Schwenk, Events, Maple Syrup, Molson, Quebec, Toronto

Oh? Canada? Eh?

The true north, strong and free

How I love thee!

Aurora at Banff, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Canada is the 2nd largest country (land mass) in the world.

Canada has one of the largest, if not the largest National park (Banff, Alberta) in the world.

Canada’s people are diverse, bringing delicious foods and beautiful customs from all over the world for me to discover and enjoy.

Canada’s population is only about 34 million and about 90% of its people live within 100 miles of the US border.

You may have to travel great distances to reach the next town.

The Maritime provinces have some of the friendliest people in the world.

Cirque de Soleil got its start on the streets of Vieux (Old) Montreal.

We all know that Molson sells beer. But did you know that when they first incorporated they also ran a bank?

The bank didn’t last but the beer and the legend endure.

Canada has Maple Syrup, Poutine, Tourtiere, and sells things like lacquered moose turds and chocolates that look like the turds of various animals as souvenirs.

Yeah that’s weird but people buy it and that’s weirder!

If you’re Canadian, what do you like about Canada?

If you’re not Canadian, watch the following video…

…because I know that you want to be Canadian, eh?

Happy Canada Day!!

Canada, the first country to be created by legislation, came into being on July  1, 1867, through the British North America Act (now the Constitution  Act). The process has come to be known as “Confederation.”

The Calgary Stampede 100 Day Kick Off

Tags

Calgary, Calgary Stampede, Cowboy, Cowgirl, Dave Kelly, David Chalack, Events, Naheed Nenshi, Paul Brandt, Stampede100

I love Calgary’s Stampede. Everybody just looks better in Cowboy/girl outfits

Originally from Montreal, I now consider myself a Calgarian. When I first got here in 1990, Calgary’s population was around 625,000. As of 2011, the City of Calgary had a population of 1,096,833 and a metropolitan population of 1,214,839. Calgary has seen a lot of growth! What really makes Calgary unique is its Stampede which is held every year in July.  It attracts visitors from all over the world. The Calgary Stampede was started in 1912 and that makes this year even more exciting as we will be celebrating our 100th year!

On March 29, 2012, Calgary’s mayor, Naheed Nenshi declared it to be Dress Western Day. For those who don’t live in Calgary, or for those who do but couldn’t attend the March 29^th 100-day countdown to the Calgary Stampede, here’s my take of the day’s events. First things first though. When attending such an event one must give careful consideration to the way one dresses. Cowboy boots – check. Cowboy hat – check. Western snap shirt – check. Yes, now I was ready to go down to the event!

I headed down from 17^th Avenue SW to Stephen Avenue Mall, where to my delight, I saw the official Stampede band performing and marching toward Olympic Plaza. It was the perfect day for this event; the sun was shining and it was warm. Dave Kelly, a brilliant choice for emcee, remarked that the volunteer committee who had planned this event hoped for a good turn out but weren’t sure how many people would attend. As you can see, Olympic Plaza was filled to the brim with thousands of people! I was told that this event was put on by 2500 volunteers. Congratulations!!

Calgarians love the Stampede which was evident by the sheer size of the crowd and the goodwill of those attending. Everyone was just so friendly and happy to be there. There were Square Dancers. First Nations people performed a traditional dance. And oh my (fanning myself) Alberta’s very own Paul Brandt graced the stage! I’m not even a Country music fan but when Paul hits those low notes….well ladies you know what I mean…

Big Screen Photo of Paul Brandt

People in attendance also included Stampede volunteers, Calgary Police Services, Calgary Fire Department, Canadian Armed forces personnel, Stampede mascots and cowboys and cowgirls of all sizes and ages! I even ran into a few clowns.

This year’s Calgary Stampede will run from July 6-15, 2012. Highlights of the Calgary Stampede Centennial will include:

• Equine Show in the Stampede Corral
• Outlaw Roller Coaster,Bell Centennial Plaza
  

  Volunteers

• Agriculture Celebration Zone in the Victoria Pavilion
• TransAlta Grandstand Show “Century” featuring (fanning myself again!) Paul Brandt and starring the Young Canadians of the Calgary Stampede.

If ever there was a year to come to Calgary for the Stampede, this is the one. Let’s turn 100 together!

Photos

This is the uniform that the CPS wore in the '30's and 40's

 When I asked to take their picture, these kind officers invited me to be in the photo with them!

I call him the ZZ Top Cowboy

Me an' the guys from Stampede Board

Thanks for snapping this photo for me Dr. David Chalack, immediate past president of the Calgary Stampede!

These two looked so beautiful together, I asked permission to take their photo.

Thank you for your service to our country!

Have you ever been to the Calgary Stampede? Plan on checking it out this year?