So on the summer woes front, I’m also seeing lots of pictures of Newfoundland these days. People are on the water fishing, folks are enjoying Newfoundland food, and family are enjoying being with each other. My dad just turned 80, and I was the only sibling who couldn’t be there to celebrate with him. There …
There is accessible. And then there’s truly accessible. And almost nothing for my needs is truly accessible. When I was in the shelter world, working amongst folks who are homeless, we talked a lot about ‘affordable’ versus ‘truly affordable‘ housing. Affordable housing was calculated based 30% of a person’s income. So if you made $48,000 …
Well, it was a long winter. Not so much because there was a ton of snow that made me housebound, but because there was just simply no place to go due to this Covid thing. On top of that, my elevator broke. For those of you who do not know my current situation, our basement …
On Elevators, Covid, Rhythms, MS, God, and TV (Part 1 of 2) Read More »
Well I finally did it. After three years of using this thing, I capsized my wheelchair; with me in it. I was coming home from a routine trip to the store. The roads have still not been cleared very well from the snow and I have to take a run for it up onto the …
So far this winter the weather gods in Toronto have been smiling on us. That is unless you wanted snow. For me, who gets housebound in snow, I have been so thankful that the sidewalks and roads have not been impossible to navigate in my wheelchair thus far. But I’ve always known that the weather …
So many stories. So many real people with real blood running through their veins. Homelessness is not the entire CV/resume of the folks we see on the street. My life has been so enriched by the privilege of being able to hang out with very real, caring, compassionate, intelligent, broken people.
Now that I’m learning myself what it’s like to be in a wheelchair, I too have a different view of things. Not only a different view on life, but actually a different view of the things that I see in front of me. I’ve taken some photographs of how things look for me from this perspective and thought I would share them.
One of the things we wanted to do was to elevate the yard so that I could actually reach the soil and pull out a weed or two along the way. It’s kind of an accessible yard now which is kind of cool. But before that could happen things had to be turned upside down.
With Erinn being on holidays these past few weeks, we’ve been taking longer walks together. It’s been quite lovely to check out different parts of the city.
One thing I love to do is go through cemeteries. There’s something about them that grounds me I guess. And in the city, a cemetery is like an oasis in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life.
The first time we went to see Cate at camp, she had it all set up so that I could possibly go swimming that day. I was incredibly excited and a little scared as I haven’t been in a lake or a pool since I’ve been in this wheelchair, which has been 2 1/2 years. The guys that are working there were willing to put me on the lifeguard board and haul me down the hill to the lake. I’ve done this many times before when I was using the mobility scooter but it’s been a few years since doing that and my body is not quite the same as it was then.