Vancouver convention Toastmasters

Posted on August 31, 2017 by dfolstad58

 

First Timers Gathering
Opening Ceremonies
All the 142 countries flags
My friend D’arcy and a new friend J J from China
One of many presentations
Kindra Hall – The Power of Storytelling
Just me
Kinda Hall
John Andrews from Toronto – Semifinals 1 Winner
Shailee Basnett – Together We Reach Higher
Me and 2015 Champion Mohammed Qahtani
Convention Centre plaza
walking along Coal Harbour

The 86th Annual International Toastmasters Convention was August 22-26, 2017. I have been looking forward to attending for years.

Why? I have attended District conferences in spring and fall and they are fun.  This is a much bigger event, more people, more speakers, toastmasters attend not only from this district but from all over the world.

5000 attendees from Jordan, Singapore, United States, China, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Australia and on and on.

I am fortunate my very good friend D’arcy joins me from Seattle and shares the experiences with me at Toastmaster conference/conventions.

Why do I go? What would you experience if you had been there with us?

Everyone at these events have paid to be there and they are happy to have the opportunity to meet you and find out about your Toastmasters experiences, and your club.  The speakers I heard were all excellent speakers, and they all had nuggets of wisdom to share to inspire, entertain and benefit all of us. The atmosphere is friendly and relaxing. While standing in line for the final speaking contest I struck up conversations with people from Taiwan and it was great. When I found a seat I had a little talk with a husband and wife sitting beside me who were from Sri Lanka and they shared their contact card. After the event I had a nice visit with a man from Kuwait. This happened all three days, friendly people who all had Toastmasters in common with me.

It was three days I had anticipated for two years and I’m glad I said “yes” to the experience.

That is my thought for today, please don’t leave yourself out of your bucket list. Say YES to yourself. Take care of yourself in big and small ways, in health especially – body and mind.  A funny truth of life is that one of the best ways to take care of your loved ones, is to take care of yourself, first. 

Thanks for reading! I really appreciate the encouraging comments.

 

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Starting every day successfully

Posted on August 15, 2017 by dfolstad58

How I start my day with respect to breakfast.

Is breakfast is the most important way to start your day so it is successful?

A dietary presentation I attended talked about breakfast and how sugary cereals or other breakfast sandwiches etc can start you off every day in ongoing blood sugar cycles.  Those highs and crashes cause us mortals to be ravenous earlier in the morning and eat other than what we should. Eating cereal usually means I am growly hungry by 10 a.m.

I need to lose some weight.  Eating healthy and avoiding sugar crashes is important to me so I can control my eating.

 

eggshells

Keeping it simple, I have started cooking myself a single egg for breakfast, and surprisingly, I feel full all morning. Hot sauce, and some tomato chopped up are all I add to the scrambled egg.

Over the weeks that’s a lot of eggs and mostly I manage to keep the eggshell out of my little scrambled egg.

egg wrap cookerI bought this little cooker which does the eggs one at a time, and if I want I can add a wrap which I just add for 30 seconds to warm up the wrap. If you cook the wrap too long it gets stiff.

It comes apart and is simple to wash for you practical types.

The egg comes out about an inch tall and really fluffy, takes 5 minutes. The hot sauce gives it a nice zing, and the chopped cherry tomato from my garden makes it sweet.

But my blog isn’t about cooking, or health tips.

brainI do often share my thoughts about life and use analogies. This is another situation where I am sharing my thoughts.

For weeks now I have been thinking about these cracked open eggs and how sometimes I have to scoop out some egg shells before I cook them or I’m going to be surprised by a crunchy scrambled egg.

I realize though that my breakfast is delicious and nutritious but one of these days I am going to accidentally leave in a small piece of eggshell.  If one day I have a crunchy breakfast I wouldn’t throw it away or spit it out.  Maybe eggshell has some dietary benefit I don’t know.

rima-hassan-3I wondered if there was an analogy for me, my life is pretty swell too. It’s not a 5 star breakfast in Michelin rated restaurant but I enjoy it, and am contented. It suits me and it benefits me.

My breakfast and my life, eggshells and all whenever I get them is still one to be grateful for, to be appreciated, and enjoyed.

 

 

Definitely the best part of my start to the day is not the breakfast at all, but being thankful to be alive, being content, and for the people in my life.  I will endeavour to grateful for my breakfast and my life, eggshells or not.

Perhaps that is the most successful way to start the day, being thankful, and breakfast comes second.

Thank you for reading, do you have a formula for a successful day? or a healthy breakfast Idea? I’d love to hear your comments to this post. 

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Hippo Highways: Day 2 of our Walking Safari

Posted on August 11, 2017 by dfolstad58

Africa, hippos, folk lore, pictures made this a special post to reblog. No plans to do a walk about in African heat? Then see here to find what we missed.

Ann's avatarAnn Cavitt Fisher

Hippo in the Luangwa River Yawns In the late afternoons, hippos yawn A LOT. After spending most of the day in the water, they’re having a little oxygen deprivation issue. Photograph, Cat Gassiot.

Sausage tree on the banks of a lagoon in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia A sausage tree on the banks of a lagoon. It won’t be long before this lagoon dries out. Photograph, Ann Fisher

The first night in Luangwa Bush Camp (LBC), a camp that moves location each evening, our tents had been on the banks of the Luangwa river.

After a light breakfast and some coffee, we left for our second day of walking. Before long, we were skirting a lagoon. In South Luangwa, these come and go with the rainy season — and this lagoon was ribboning down to a slender line of green.

By the time August comes around, it will be completely gone until the rains return. At this point though, we still needed the makeshift log bridge Braston had laid across…

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Gate A-4

Posted on July 31, 2017 by dfolstad58

My heart was warmed by this blog post, please enjoy the optimism you feel thanks to the author (not me)

Live & Learn's avatarLive & Learn

naomi_shihab_nye

Gate A-4 By Naomi Shihab Nye:

Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: “If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.” Well— one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.

An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing. “Help,” said the flight agent. “Talk to her . What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this.”

I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke haltingly. “Shu-dow-a, shu-bid-uck, habibti? Stani schway, min fadlick, shu-bit-se-wee?” The minute she heard any words she knew, however poorly used, she stopped crying. She thought the flight had been cancelled entirely. She needed to be…

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I protested too much

Posted on July 20, 2017 by dfolstad58

Another disadvantage of getting a little seasoned every day, as in being a grizzled veteran of life, is that you are honest with yourself.

Okay, that honesty is a good idea, isn’t it? If you expect a certain result, then be clear, be precise on what you are wanting or needing otherwise learn telepathy, because they can’t read your mind. That applies to business, and relationships.

winnie 8About two weeks ago, I had, for me, a very special day. I reached the 30 year milestone of my 2nd kidney transplant. I really started to look forward to crossing this “finish line” of sorts about two years ago when I received some bad news at a medical appointment.

During the day,  on July 7,  I thought back of the gadzillion visits I’ve had at hospitals, and laboratories since 1978 when I met a renal specialist downtown alone in Vancouver.  It was likely a shock to the specialist that I was alone, and 18 years old getting this news but no one saw it coming. It was a lot to absorb for a teenager.

joshua-earle-234740.jpgNow  it is nearly 40 years later, years of dialysis, peritonitis, one failed kidney transplant and one kidney transplant successful were behind me. I felt a bit like I reached my own Mount Everest summit. Still, the journey continues, but it was a summit worth celebrating.

Back to the title of this post – In my life I protested too much about parties to celebrate milestones because I realize that I do really like making a fuss once a year, and I can see that it is fun for my inner circle of special friends and family also.

The days march on, and if we don’t take the time, with our circle – the days will march on regardless.

memory 2In the last two weeks I have reflected that those celebratory parties are the whipping cream that comes free with the special cake that is life.

My takeaway thought for you reader and myself is  – take the cream on your cake, throw on the icing character, put the flamingos on your lawn and not only that, don’t wait for someone else to plan it for you, make sure you get what you want or need from life, by planning for it yourself.  

No regrets, please.

Thanks for reading, following along, sharing, commenting and have a wonderful day. 🙂 

 

 

 

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July 1 was extra special this year

Posted on July 4, 2017 by dfolstad58

July 1 is Canada Day, ironically I am writing this on July 4 which is USA’s national day.

Allow me to say that over the years of travels to the United States, and interactions with some fellow bloggers in the USA, my fondness for their nation keeps improving.  I know that my family tree is on both sides of the Canada/USA border as two brothers immigrated to New York in the early 1900’s, one brother stayed in the US, and the other went to and stayed in Canada. As a result, it seems natural that I like the USA, but my heart is Canadian as this is my home that I love and am proud of.

This Canada Day was especially memorable as my yard is flourishing with flowers, and we added a Canadian flag to hang from our front deck at our home. It looked grand!

Later in the day, we took it to the beach and my wife, son and I took turns posing with the flag with Skaha lake in the background. We have never done that before and we enjoyed it.

My home city, Penticton, I am informed, is one of only two cities in the world that is located between two different lakes.  Canada Day here is celebrated with much public fanfare.  In a park downtown there is bandshell and all day long the bandshell hosts different types of music and entertainment from belly dancing to scottish highland dancing. Of course there are food trucks everywhere and after the grand opening there is free cake!

During the opening ceremony, we citizens stand and sing O Canada, and recognize the indigenous people and their culture.  At night the boats and beaches are full as the light is lit up with fireworks, as I know it will be tonight all over in the USA.

Many years we enjoy aerial displays from the Snowbirds but not every year.  They put on a dazzling show that is always exhilarating to watch. Click here to see what I mean.

In Ottawa, the national capital for Canada, there is a huge party on July 1 – click here to hear The Nylons sing O Canada

Every country has it’s national day, and hopefully you will enjoy yours especially this year, as I did mine.

2014-06-21 12.04.08

Nice day to sit on lakeshore bench

Thank you for visiting,  and big thanks if you follow and add helpful suggestions/comments or ask questions, 🙂

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