Last month, my husband and I went to Vancouver Island to attend my mother’s 90th birthday celebrations. We had a lovely time at an outdoor garden party in the community garden where she volunteers. We teased her that she is tracking Queen Elizabeth, since they are now the same age. We had greetings sent out from the Prime Minister of Canada, the premier of British Columbia, and my mother's provincial representative (member of the legislative assembly).

The following day, we drove down to Parksville Beach to see a sandcastle competition. The sculptures …

A few years ago, I thought of retire­ment as an un­burdened time where I would be spend­ing a lot of time on beaches, read­ing, travel­ing the world, and watch­ing nature. To that end, my husband and I purchased a tract of land on Vancouver Island about 20 years ago with the in­tention of building a retire­ment home there.

Somehow that plan just did not work out. We still like to visit the island, but no longer have plans of living there. In fact, we are both still not retired, even though …

As early summer is upon us here in the north, the wildflowers are in bloom, and the Canada geese and their goslings walk proudly along the Bow River. In our home garden, many lilac shrubs are in full bloom, and a hawthorn tree is flow­er­ing. Soon we will have mock orange and saskatoon shrubs in bloom too. I think that June is the most beautiful month here.

As the days are getting longer, it is great to be outdoors every day for some time. My husband and I frequently walk along the …

As many of you may remember, I re-started treatment with Revlimid (lena­lido­mide) and dexa­metha­sone (Decadron) a year and a half ago because I relapsed.

Luckily, I’m responding well to the treatment. My M-spike has decreased to an almost undetectable level, and my light chains are in the normal range.

However, the treatment leaves me somewhat immuno­com­pro­mised, which means that I am at an increased risk of infection. I have noticed, for example, that I frequently pick up respiratory infections when traveling by air.

My goal, of course, is to stay healthy, …

As I mentioned in one of my previous columns, my husband and I like to travel, and we have continued to do so, at different levels, despite my multiple myeloma diagnosis.

As you can imagine, travel was easier when I was in remission. However, we nevertheless traveled when I relapsed and started treatment with Revlimid (lenalidomide) and dexamethasone (Decadron) in the fall of 2014. I just took extra precautions when we went to Hawaii a couple of months later.

I am still on medication and I still go places. In March, we …

This month’s edition of ‘Northern Lights’ marks the 50th column I have written for The Beacon.

Becoming a column writer at the age of 60 more than four years ago makes me a ‘late bloomer’, and it has been a source of great satisfaction to me.

Over the last four years of reading and writing at the Beacon, I have gained a lot of insight and knowledge from the comments left on my columns and from the columns of the other contributors.

To me, writing a column is a window on the …

Late last month, my husband Dilip and I went to the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra along with our older daughter and her husband. On the pro­gram were Sibelius’s powerful Violin Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, the "Pathétique."

All the music was wonderfully played, but I was particularly moved by the "Pathétique," Tchaikovsky’s last work as a musician and composer. He died only nine days after the premiere performance.

It was the fourth part, with its sombre tones and low strings vibrating throughout the hall, that seemed to have foreshadowed the end of the …