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Poem written by my great-grandfather, William Hunter: to commemorate Queen Victoria’s 81st Birthday.

When morning’s sun with golden beams
First streaks the eastern sky
We hear the beating of the drum
And there a flag floats high
And as the orb of day ascends
We hear that same loved lay
“God Save the Queen” is sung by friends
Upon the Queen’s birthday
It’s three and sixty years ago
A youthful maiden fair
Came to the throne, received a crown
And still she’s sitting there
This earth has never seen the like
Go search where’er you may
Of all these three and sixty years
This is the greatest day
She had gained a place in every heart
Throughout her vast domain
Not only o’er her people rules
But in their hearts she reigns
All rulers sure can learn of her
Why – she’s a great success
A faithful wife, a mother true
But queenly none the less
One thing has helped our noble Queen
With home and nations cares
And that one thing we all have seen
Is a nation’s stream of prayers

And prayers ascend from Afric’s shores
Where lances flash and gleam
Midst battles rush, and cannons’ roar
Arise, “God Save our Queen”

________________________________

I sent this poem to Queen Elizabeth II in 1993 to lend support when all heck was breaking loose with Charles & Diana and there was a fire at Windsor Castle. Here is her reply:

The BC Liberals have created a poor province through the reckless mismanagement of OUR previous tax dollars – and now they want more. You don’t need to be a psychic to see where our financial future is headed – and I don’t want to find out what other even more desperate liberties they will take when they have mismanaged all of the money they get from the HST heist.

On my storage unit alone I am paying an additional $88 per year and that’s just a start – and that’s only on $105.00/month outlay.  Do the Liberals seriously think that a paltry $120 per year extra is going make a dent in compensating for my outrageous new monetary outlay – or anyone else’s?

Here is a list of items and services that were previously PST exempt and we now pay an additional 7% on. Where are you losing your 7% dollar force?

• Accounting
• Admission Fees
• Advertising
• Airline tickets
• Animal feeds (hay is exempt)
• Appliance repair & maintenance
• Architects
• Art Galleries Admission
• Attractions / Events
• Ballet Lessons
• Basic Cable TV
• Bicycles
• Campgrounds
• Cigarettes / Cigars
• Catering
• Chinese medicine
• Clothing –adult sized children
• Clothing – used adult (less than $100)
• Coffee shops
• Commercial Leases
• Compost
• Computer servicing
• Concert Tickets
• Condo management fees
• Consulting services
• Conveyance fees
• Delivery Services
• Dietary supplements
• Dry cleaning
• Driving Range fees
• Electronics repair
• Energy equipment
• Esthetician Services
• Fast food – Beverages
• Fire extinguishers
• First aid kits
• Fishing charters
• Fitness Club memberships
• Fitness Trainers
• Food producing trees and plants
• Freight (in BC)
• Funeral services
• Golf fees
• Grass Cutting
• Hair cuts
• Hall rental
• Health equipment
• Helmets
• Hockey tickets
• Hockey rink rentals
• Home appraisals
• Home inspections
• Home maintenance
• Home renovations (Labour)
• Horse Boarding
• Horse Shows
• Horse riding lessons
• House Cleaning services
• Insulation
• Interior design services
• Investment Counseling fees
• Landscaping
• Life jackets
• Limousine rentals
• Magazines/ newspapers
• Marketing services
• Massage therapy
• Membership fees
• Moorage
• Museum admissions
• Movies / Theatre
• Moving Costs
• Music MP3 downloads
• Naturopathy
• New Homes (some rebates applicable)
• Nicotine replacements
• Non-prescription meds
• Painting
• Parking
• Photography
• Postage
• Private Bus fares
• Printing
• Rail travel (originating in BC)
• Real estate fees
• Reflexology
• Rentals for Weddings, Canopy, Tuxedo etc.
• Reroofing House
• Restaurant meals
• RV parks
• Safety equipment (Not all safety and Energy Equipment is affected)
• School supplies
• Shoe repairs
• Skiing
• Smoke detectors
• Snow removal
• Solar power
• Some groceries
• Spa services
• Sports Training / Lessons
• Storage lockers
• Tailoring
• Taxi fares
• Telephone (Basic Charge for landlines will be affected)
• Theatre admissions
• Veterinarian
• Video downloads
• Vitamins
• Wedding Planner
• Windows (energy star)
• Rentals / Strata fees (Though they are HST exempt, most people will notice increases brought on by an increase in maintenance costs and other costs associated with owning Rental and Strata properties)
• Used cars / trucks / boats / non-turbine aircraft (Private Sale will have an additional 5% tax, it is not called HST)

Believe me…there really is a better way.

But, first we need a government who knows how to manage any tax dollars we have.

Vote YES to Kill The HST!

I had never been to a resort spa before in my life and now I am incredibly aware of what I’ve been missing for all those stress-riddled years. Sure, I’ve had the odd body wrap and facial, plus my esthetician girlfriend gives me manicures and pedicures when I visit– and that is so pampering. But, those are just teasers compared to the real thing!

After two years of back pain, subsequent surgery, my battle for compensation and final win, I decided I needed a real break – and last week I finally got the chance. I have been wanting to go to the Kingfisher Resort in Courtenay ever since they opened about 11 years ago and I finally did it. I did a bunch of research on their packages and found a great deal – and it was the best thing I ever did for myself.

Just look at that view! (I had to Photoshop 3 photos together to make this)

Kingfisher Resort Spa

2-Night Spring Celebration Package

For two people and about $350 night includes 2 nights accommodation in an ocean view room where you each get:

• $75 restaurant credit
• $100 spa credit
• One visit to the Pacific Mist Hydropath
• $25 gift card
• One fitness class

My Hydropath Experience

The first day we did the Hydropath in a private grotto-like atmosphere where the decor is entirely carved sandstone with a driftwood-matted ceiling.  The Hydropath has eight unique water features and I never knew you could do so many different therapeutic things with water – it was a truly awesome experience.

1. Starting at the Swiss shower jet Massage Rinse, every feature is timed and your water glass is constantly being refilled with refreshing lemonized water.
2. Then you soak in a Mineral Massage Pool for a bit, which is similar to a jacuzzi, only the jets are set around the perimeter progressively from the lumbar to the top of the shoulders – plus, one for your feet.
3. Next is the Waterfall Massage, which is like a little cave with closets where you sit and let four different flow types of showering water fall all over your head and body.
4. Now it’s time for the Steam Cave where can just sit with your chilled ‘lemon-eau’ and let the steam and eucalyptus draw toxins out of your tissues and down the drain.
5. Here’s where you get to show your true brave form – or not. To get the whole benefit from the Hydropath experience, a douse from the Glacial Waterfall will help boost your immune system.
6. For something totally different it’s the River Walk, which is extremely beneficial for circulation and lymph glands.  It’s two side-by-side path-like pools where the water is about hip deep. The first path is warm water and the second is cool water and there are jets along each side at levels progressing fromthe ankles to the upper thigh. You walk kind of straddled to each set of jets and stand for a count  of 30 seconds before moving forward to the next.
7. One of my favourites is the Sea Mineral Soak, which is a pool full of water that is at a perfect temperature and has 104 trace elements.  You can do a ‘float and soak’ while your buoyant body soaks up all those elements as they bubble all around you and a warm ‘rain’ falls down through the ceiling at the center.
8. The last feature is a neato Tidal Bath where you cover your skin with a salt-type paste and lay in a warm pool of water carved like a tub to fit one. It’s good to have a partner to do your back.

Once you’ve gone through all the features of the Hydropath, you will be totally oblivious to anything other than how really good you are feeling. You’ll find that along with your body floating on cloud nine your mind is, too and you will just want to savor that sensation.

All you have to do now is shower, moisturize, put on your fresh robe and sandals and head for the lounge where you can lie down and just ‘be’.

What a wonderful experience!

Seriouly…if I had known how therapeutic and rejuvenating the resort spa experience was I would have done it long time ago. I also believe adopting that as a habit long time ago may have prevented my back problems, too.

Now, I still have a long way to go if I’m ever going to heal from my back injury, but I’m off to a good start now that I’ve gotten past the worst of it.

I’ve cleared a lot of stress toxins out of my system and renewed my life focus – my health.

To your health.

I know what I say about other deceased at funerals, as I know the protocol of reminiscing about their virtues, so I imagine it will be the same at my own funeral. At funerals, you don’t want to upset anyone by saying something bad about the deceased person, especially to family members, as they are grieving enough.

Anyway, a funeral these days is a ‘celebration of life’, so even though you are aware they were a miserable old fart or cranky old hag, you refrain from expressing those particular sentiments for this one day only. And even though they were abusive, selfish, demanding and a waste of oxygen on the planet in your mind, their wife, co-workers, church and/or drinking buddies only want to have rapport with you about their generosity and good times had by all.

For myself, I want to know the truth about what people say about me today and I think I’ve got that covered in that I’ve burned many a bridge to find sincere and loving friends. Anyone that doesn’t relate to me on an intellectual and emotional level and doesn’t know how to see the good in life really has no business or pleasure with me – and won’t be invited to my funeral.

Most people tell me to my face what they think of me and I reciprocate with my own compliments for them. I only want my friends at my funeral anyways and they will say things like “She really had a zest for life and never let anything get her down for too long before she found a way back up.” “She adored her son and always tried to make a good life for him” is what they will say, too. A favourite of mine will be, “It’s great that she found a wonderful man, even though it was later on, and lived long enough to share many wonderful adventures with him.”

It will be said, too, that “It was good that she make her own funeral arrangements and picked out her own plot, because that will be one less stressor for the family” and “By the way, did you see the bench that she had installed under the tree by her plot? Anyone can sit and visit comfortably – and the plot is right by the road, so you don’t have to walk far.”

I’m hoping that when my funeral time comes around they will be able to say “What a great writer she got to be and soldier for the greater good in the world. She really made a difference just by sharing her thoughts and speaking her mind.”

When I am a fly on the wall at my own funeral, I will be the one with the big huge smile as I watch and admire the greatest loves of my life gather in one place to remember me – a best friend for life.

“Actions speak louder than words” is one of the clearest and direct and is immediately recalled when someone promises me something. Another one that helped me when I was going through a lot of guilt during my divorce is “Marriage was made for people…people were not made for marriage”. One that my son told me is “Reality is a crutch for people who can’t handle drugs.” And then there’s the timeless Goethe with “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness had genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.” Of course one should never forget, “Thoughts are things, think the good ones” and “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

Quotes I hate and will never repeat are “Damned if you do and damned if you don’t”, “Nice guys finish last”, “No pain…no gain”, “Only the good die young”, and my all time least favourite, Want in one hand, shit in the other, and see which fills up the fastest.” These are really heavy, hard to unlearn and basically tell you to put up and shut up, because there ain’t nothin’ you can do about it. Whoever thought them up was probably miserable and didn’t want others to be happy if they couldn’t – that’s my theory.

Some of my own quotes that I wrote that appeared in my consciousness to help me on a personal level are “It’s not so much what you need to learn to make a good life…it’s more what you need to unlearn” and “Never be a prisoner of some else’s bad decisions” and ”You can never believe in nothing, because you can always believe in yourself.”

One thing I always made sure of when my son left the house was to say, “Have fun” rather than “Be careful” and I still say it whenever anyone leaves my house. I guess I never want anyone to leave my home feeling afraid that something bad might happen to them once they’ve left.