Arrived

In the last post I wrote that I had arrived back in the UK. This post is about truly arriving.

My purpose in coming to the UK was to speak at the Second International Conference on Weight Stigma in Canterbury.

This is not the first time I’ve presented research at an International Conference, in fact I’ve previously spoken at conferences in Canada, the US, Australia, Japan, Finland, and Italy. What is different this time is that I am presenting research where I am the principal investigator, not someone else.

For me this is the real reward for the journey I undertook, beginning in 2011, to get my doctorate. Doctoral research requires the researcher investigate a unique area of study, one that no one else in the world has undertaken. As I narrowed my study area to weight stigma in health care it was my supervisor, Darlene McNaughton, who having published in this area, challenged me to go further. She suggested I look specifically at whether weight is seen to be a risk factor for diabetes and if so to investigate the implications. 

Her brilliance was confirmed at the conference (and earlier)! Although people from all over Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand spoke about finding weight stigma in their research no one else was looking into the implications of weight bias in health care, specifically in the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes.
So I am an ‘expert’ in this area, so to speak, I have a niche. But now I need to get writing to publish my findings so no one beats me to it! 

So much for sightseeing!

Returning (to a former) home

I'm in the UK!  I arrived yesterday or was it earlier today? I’m a little jet lagged.

Some of you know I lived in London 34 years ago! It’s hard to believe it, where has the time gone? Yet, I have a few ‘things’ to show for it that I never fathomed back then... namely wonderful adult children who too have taken this trek!

In the intervening years, spurred on by the Olympics in 2012, some parts of London have changed. Heathrow, for example, was unrecognizable, now a modern, efficient airport that whisked me out the door in minutes. I hopped on the new, purple luxury express train to Paddington station and in no time was near my old haunts of Bayswater and Queensway. 

Sitting at an outdoor café I enjoyed tea like I haven’t tasted in years and breakfast, since Air Canada now only provides a muffin and margarine!  I sat and people watched and harkened back to the days of my youth, remembering friends who had lived nearby and all the adventures, good and not so good we experienced together.  Some had experienced enormous sadness and challenges at their young age and I wondered if they were even still alive.  I realize those relationships grounded my memories of Britain. Sadly, I have lost touch with them all.

The neighbourhood is more upscale now, having transitioned from poor student hostels to high end hotels, not surprising given the quick access to Kensington Park and Oxford Street.

When I went to pay my bill my money was declined! Apparently the (unrecognizable to me) pound notes I bought in Canada were replaced last month!  I would have to go to a bank and change them, but none were open on a Sunday.   

With luggage in tow and little energy left I took the tube to Kings Cross then a train to Canterbury, my destination for the next few days. It was a relief to get out of the city and into the serene, verdant, pastures of rural England with their tidy hedge bordered fields. Some were dotted with cows, horses, sheep and lambs.

Arriving with throngs of other tourists in Canterbury I found my hotel behind the with adjoining pub and carvery and checked in to my teeny room, yet with all amenities. 

Time to catch some zzzs. I’m sure there is more adventure to come!

    

On the move again...permanently!

Since I arrived in Victoria last July I've been living in temporary digs in three different locations.
Since September I've been renting an 815 sq. ft apartment condo. I've actually enjoyed the small space! I rarely lose anything and it takes only an hour to scrub the whole place from top to bottom. I have a lovely sunny patio to sit on and the neighbour's dog often comes over and joins me. I can walk to work in 15 minutes.
But the time came for Keith and I to seek the help of a real estate agent to find us something permanent. The Victoria market is about 25% higher than Edmonton to our chagrin.  Like Edmonton, we were interested in older homes in central areas.  Only three days after we started working with a Realtor he sent me a listing. I walked by the house and knew instantly this would be our home, without even stepping inside. When we finally gained entry the decor reminded me of my grandmother's place. We could see the potential beyond the furnishings.  We made an offer which was accepted a couple of days later. We got possession on Friday the 13th of June.

This weekend we took down curtains and rods, tore up rug to find beautiful hardwood underneath, and painted.  It is looking like our home, in fact Keith's and my first home together!
Besides the decor there were other things in common.  It was built in 1967, the same year as my previous house and has the very same chandelier in the dining room!

The house is located on a quiet crescent as few blocks from my work and it has reasonably sized yard full of beautiful perennials and trees. The neighbours are very friendly, many young families, who told us that the previous owner, an older woman had recently moved out.
Throughout the house are handles such as this to support someone with mobility issues.  We took them all off but, given this will be out retirement home, maybe we should have kept some?!

Nearly Stepping Off the Edge!!

As you know I love to hike. One of the benefits of living in Victoria is being close to lots of good hiking trails.

Mt. Finlayson is in Goldstream Provincial Park and with Stefanie here for a week we decided to hike the highly recommended trail on Saturday. 

The start of the trail has stairs, then the path wanders through the trees up and up with maps showing where you are every half kilometre or so.

It was a beautiful afternoon and we were surprised that we only encountered one other couple. 

We came to a map that showed a loop off the trail with a lookout and decided to check it out. The vistas were lovely looking over to other hilltops. We continued on through a temperate rainforest with huge ferns and a stream then hiked high to more vistas of the ocean. We hiked through forests of arbutus and golden Genista in bloom contrasted with purple fireweed. We saw an owl, a turkey buzzard, a snake and many beautiful songbirds.
At 4 o'clock I decided we should head back down the mountain. We retraced out steps and then found ourselves on new terrain. We figured that it was the spot we went off the main path but suddenly there was no trail!  We went back and forth for about an hour looking for the path to now avail. Getting panicky I decided we should go back to an opening we had seen. We found our way back there and low and behold there was a golf course!
Approaching some people we found out that somehow we had left Mt. Finlayson and were now on Bear Mountain!!  They seemed surprised at where we had come from and pointed to the rocky summit of the mountain where we should have been. We told them we were not going back in the woods so they
directed us down a gravel road to the highway and the parking lot. As we marched down the road we heard a rustling in the trees beside us which sounded like a large animal. I prayed it was a deer and not a cougar, known in these parts.
Three hours later and with sore feet we were back at the car. After showers and dinner we were relaxing and reading when I felt a sharp pain in my side. I looked down and there was a black tick burrowing in my skin...also known in these parts. What an adventure!

Hummingbirds

For those of you in Australia and other parts of the globe who are not familiar with the Hummingbird, they are petite birds with iridescent feathers found in the Americas. Their name comes from the fact that they flap their wings so fast (about 80 times per second) that they make a humming noise. Apparently they can even fly backwards and upside down.
I have always been fascinated with these tiny creatures, enjoying them at friend's feeders on the Canadian Prairie and Okanagan. Recently Keith and I had the pleasure of experiencing a variety of them in Costa Rica where about 50 species live.
I have learned that there is both a local and migrating hummingbird species on Vancouver Island. I had noticed one enjoying my patio flowers last fall but had not seen any this spring.
The day I sent off my final dissertation one fluttered at my office window. I took it as a good omen.
In celebration of the completion of the dissertation Keith bought me a feeder which is attached to that window and today I have had regular visits from the shy but sweet bird. Who, as a matter of fact is enjoying the sugar water as I write. I would have to pull up the blind to take a photo and probably scare him or her off so here are a couple of photos of the birds we saw in Costa Rica.

A Significant Birthday

My Mother turned 75 on Monday.

This is the first time since 1982 we’ve lived in the same vicinity. For most of my life we’ve lived in different provinces and in some cases different countries. The last time I was with my Mum on her birthday was 10 years ago when her children and grandchildren surprised her for her 65^th.   

We had a lovely day. We were inspired listening to Elizabeth May who is an MP in Sidney. We had lunch overlooking the harbour with my Mother’s niece. We soaked in Emily Carr, Carol Sabiston and other BC artists at the Art Gallery and we shopped.  

I found out things about each of us I had never known.

I feel grateful that my mother is still alive and well and we can spend time together and get to know one another...again. 

Not done yet!

I think some of my friends and family are scared to ask me about my doctorate.

Many of you are probably wondering 'how' or maybe 'if'  I am still working on it.

The answer is yes! I'm still writing and it's going strong.

A fellow student asked me to give him one piece of advice on completing the doctorate.  I wasn't sure I was in a situation to offer a suggestion since I was struggling too. But I said to him: "Keep at it, do something every day to work on your dissertation".

Hardly a day has gone by in the past 14 months when I have not done even a little bit of work on my thesis.  It's come a long way from clumsy draft chapters, put together without any thread or compelling argument.

Now, seven stronger chapters and 200 references form a 170 page document that is about to go to the editor before it gets one last review by my supervisors, and then the ultimate test...

the Expert Panel.

Yikes!

And no, unfortunately I don't have to go back to Australia to defend it.  

But to be honest, I think I have been dragging it out a bit as I will miss my daily connection to the wonderful land 'down under'.