Innovative Barkerville Exhibit Travels to Mainland China
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- Published: 09 May 2013
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This article is from the May 2013 Issue of Forever Young
Barkerville Historic Town, the largest historic site in Western North America, attracts visitors annually from the world over. This year, Barkerville is bringing the site to other parts of the world.
In an effort to bridge a lingering historic gap and foster greater cultural understanding, Barkerville has sent a travelling exhibit to China. Who Am I? Bridging the Pacific: from Guandong to Barkerville and back is an innovative exhibit that marries cutting edge technology and history to further understanding of the experience of the overseas Chinese who came to Barkerville. The Chinese who came during the gold rush were significant contributors to the historic town, and at one time comprised the single largest ethnic group in Barkerville.
“The timing of the exhibit is especially significant for Barkerville,” according to Manager of Visitor Services James Douglas, “as it coincides with the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Chee Kung Tong, the Chinese equivalent of the Freemasons in Barkerville.”
The Tong is the oldest ethnic Chinese structure in Canada, and was declared a National Historic Site in 2009.
It’s never too late to tee it up
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- Published: 10 April 2013
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| Lisa Vlooswyk recommends maintaining flexibility and utilizing a good hip turn to hit the ball long. |
This article is from the April 2013 Issue of Forever Young
by Don Wall
Non-golfing boomers who think the chance to play the game has forever passed them by – think again.
That is the message sent by Canadian golf pro Lisa Vlooswyk, a long-drive specialist who took up the game late but now schools women 20 years younger than herself in professional competitions. A tall, sculpted brunette from Calgary, she can drive the ball up to 350 yards. Nicknamed Lisa Longball professionally, she is a seven-time Canadian female long-hitting champion and also an energetic lecturer and inspirational speaker. Here are some excerpts from a recent interview:
Don Wall: You say golf is a game for all ages. How so?
Lisa Longball: Golf is that beautiful game that you can pick up later in life and you can play into your 80s, so I highly recommend, give it a try. And you know, it is just about being out there and having a relaxed attitude. If you want to be competitive, you can still compete (at all ages), there are competitions across the country, even if you aren’t breaking 100, there are corporate tournaments, charity tournaments, there are lots of ways to test your skills or to just go out with your buddies on the weekend.
Fundraising, Bollywood style
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- Published: 11 February 2013
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This article is from the February 2013 Issue of Forever Young
by Jennifer Smith
Dalvir Nahal is 36 years old and claims, in a voice so bubbly one might believe it was a teenager on the phone, that she can never remember what her type of breast cancer is called.
Her friends do, apparently. The last time someone asked her this question, she turned to her girlfriend and got the answer.
“It’s something with a bunch of big words,” she says with a dismissive giggle.
Ten minutes with this infectious soul and one can see why she’s the type of person one might want on a hospital foundation board. Anyone who can take a trip to the coast for a six minute radio interview and come back with $26,000 in one day to help a hospital well outside the region of the audience she’s pitching is a valuable commodity.
“I was so nervous, I was almost sick to my stomach,” she says.
Of course, there was no need to worry. She had her first offer of a $5,000 cheque the second she stepped out of the studio—provided she picked it up in person.
While she might get nervous from time to time, “infectious” is likely a more apropos descriptor for the young civil servant. Nahal just has a certain je ne sais quoi that allows her to knock on your door and ask for money or introduce her adopted Interior hometown to Bollywood in the name of raising funds.
“Varied Yet Vulnerable” - Joshua Tree National Park, USA
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- Published: 11 March 2013
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| Photo by Terry Tuck |
This article is from the March 2013 Issue of Forever Young
by Steven Tuck
Joshua Tree National Park overlooks Palm Springs, California, and is a unique experience.
We drove in from the South entrance, off highway 10, at the Cottonwood Visitor Center, which is 25 miles east of Indio. A great starting point, where you can not only pay the $15 entrance fee and get some brochures about the Park, but also browse through the boutique which has lots of interesting books about the desert area you are about to enter.
Joshua Tree National Park is uniquely located between the Mojave and Colorado deserts and accounts for the great abundance of plant species. Among these is the Joshua Tree and it stands out as an oddity as it is not really a tree but is closely related to the century plant. It has short, pointed sharp leaves and its botanical name is Yucca brevifolia. We visited in March and this is when the flowering season is just beginning. By May the branch tips will be heavily laden with creamy white blossoms and these become the seed pods. The plant also provides food and shelter to many animals, birds, and reptiles.
The well paved highway through the Park takes you by spectacular rock formations, like those along the trail to Mastodon Park in the Cottonwood Spring area. Mojave yuccas (Yucca schidigera) grow near these eroded monzogranite boulders.
Nice and the French Riviera
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- Published: 09 January 2013
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| Harbour: The harbour at Nice is frequented by many luxurious yachts, often owned by the rich and famous. |
This article is from the January 2013 Issue of Forever Young
by Steven Tuck. Photos by Terry Tuck
Although we usually take just day trips from our beautiful “Mas” (our rented, private house) in the quaint town of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (in Provence, France), this trip we decided to explore some of the French Riviera, and get a hotel for a few days “holiday” away.
The autoroute is mostly 3 lanes and although the speed posted is 130 km/hr a lot of the way, be prepared to have headlights flashed at you from behind if you’re driving in the passing lanes, as the traffic moves very well, and most do speeds considerably higher! The scenery is breath taking with everything from deep valleys to high mountain ranges.
Nice is just half an hour from Monaco and less than an hour from the Italian border. The area known as the Alpes-Maritimes, is the southwestern most province of France. The Alps plunge into the blue Mediterranean here. It’s just an hour by car from ski slopes to beaches! The area boasts 320 days of sunshine annually.
With weather like that it is no wonder Nice has the largest Orthodox Cathedral in Western Europe. This is where the Czars built their Church to attend while escaping the Russian winters. St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral opened in 1912, thanks to the generosity of Tsar Nicholas II. It is only open to the public certain days and times.
We had been attracted to the area not only for its beautiful beaches and coastline, but also the cultural side, particularly the artistic community. This was the home of many of the great names in both past and modern painters.
