Total Solar Eclipse

It's two weeks until the total solar eclipse on Monday April 8th. Have you made plans yet? 

It will be the last total solar eclipse that I will see in my lifetime (unless I travel).

Alberta will have one in 2044. 

USA (California to Florida to Caribbean) in 2045. 

Mexico to North Florida in 2052. 

Maritimes in 2079.

There will be others in other parts of the world, but these are the only ones in North America until 2079.

There will be partial solar eclipses (when you see a crescent sun) and annular solar eclipses (the moon is smaller than the sun) and lunar eclipses, but this is the only time in Ontario that we can see the moon fully cover the sun. It will go dark in the middle of the day.

This will not happen in Toronto where it will be a 99.6% eclipse. Click here to check the timing and details of your town or city. All of Canada, Mexico and the US (except Alaska) will at least experience a partial eclipse. 

Although partial eclipses are exciting, they say that witnessing a total eclipse is unforgettable. 

You don't just see a total eclipse, you experience it!

Daylight turns into dusk then night when the sun becomes a black circle surrounded by a halo. Some planets and stars can become visible. The temperature drops by ten degrees or more. 

The colours of sunset will be visible all around you. I can't imagine a 360 degree sunset!!

The total eclipse will end with a sunburst along one edge which is called the "diamond ring effect" because it looks like an engagement ring. This is what the 99% eclipse will look like in Toronto.

Eclipse Glasses

I bought eclipse glasses from Telescopes Canada. I preferred to order from a reputable source even if they charged shipping.  If you live near me, I bought extra ones to save friends from ordering unsafe ones or paying more on shipping than on the glasses themselves. Contact me if you're interested.

If you're purchasing your own, you want to ensure they are from a reputable source and that they meet the international ISO 12312-2 standard. You should not be able to see anything when you look through them. Ensure they cover your whole eyes, that they don't have scratches or holes and that you put them on before looking up at the sun (and to look down before taking them off). If you can see a lamp or light, they are possibly counterfeit. The Toronto Star reported that there were unsafe and counterfeit glasses sold on Amazon in 2017. Click here for a list of suppliers of safe glasses and click here for an article about warnings and reassurances about glasses by the American Astronomical Society.

I also ordered a camera filter that will hopefully give us better photography and protection than it did for the partial eclipse in 2017. We were lucky that we didn't damage the camera. I have since learned that cameras and phone cameras can get damaged if exposed to the sun's rays during an eclipse without eclipse glasses or filters protecting them (sunglasses are not enough). 

It would still be cool to see the partial eclipse if I stayed home, but I'll get other chances for that in the future. I plan on driving to experience the total eclipse.

Here's the map of the general path (not completely accurate as this seems to show Toronto in the path):

Golden Horseshoe and Northern New York State:

The closer we are to the blue line, the longer the moon will cover the sun. In Buffalo, it will be for 3 minutes 45 seconds. In Brantford it will be one minute 15 seconds.

Other times of darkness to give perspective:

Burlington: 44 seconds

Hamilton: 1min 47sec

Beamsville: 2m59s

Smithville: 3m6s

Cayuga: 3m10

Niagara Falls: 3m32s

Welland: 3m34s

Fort Erie: 3m43s

In the Golden Horseshoe, the partial eclipse will start at around 2:05pm. The total eclipse will be at around 3:18pm and the partial will end at 4:30pm.

In 2017, traffic congestion in the path of the total eclipse in the U.S. lasted for 13 hours after the eclipse. Hopefully our road systems will better handle the traffic here.

I may try to avoid the QEW from Hamilton to Niagara. 

Seeing all the open space on the map below, I may go as far as possible on the QEW and then exit and drive into open space to find a spot.

In 2017, Toronto experienced a 70% partial eclipse. I was super excited and remember the craziness of the crowds at the Science Centre when I went to get eclipse glasses that morning. Thousands of people lined up in organized chaos to get a pair of eclipse glasses before they ran out.

We went to our local park to view the partial eclipse. We had a camera set up on a tripod, but we didn't get a good photo of the eclipse. At least we could see it with our eyes while wearing the protective glasses.

We also prepared a simple viewer with two pieces of white cardboard. We punched a pinhole in one piece of cardboard and let the sunlight fall through that hole onto the second piece of cardboard held below it to see an inverted image of the sun. You can use a colander for a similar experiment. 

I was luckier last fall for the annular eclipse and got a photo of the 39% partial eclipse when I put my purple tinged sunglasses in front of the lens. I didn't look at it with my eyes this time because I didn't have eclipse glasses.

It surprised me how happy I was to have captured this one and how close I got to say: "maybe next time". It was a last second decision for me to go outside to "see" it. It's so easy to make excuses to not do things. I try to remind myself that it's normally worth the effort. I wrote a blog post last fall with more detail about these past events and synchronicities that occurred (including a Coldplay concert). Click here to read it.

I hope you enjoy this rare event. I'd love to hear about your experience.

Leap Day CN Tower Memories

Leap Day 2024 was more memorable than I could have imagined. In a previous post, I wrote I wanted to experience my second memorable Leap Day after only having memories of Leap Day 2020. You can read it here.

I made plans to celebrate with a CN Tower theme, since I wouldn't be travelling like I did on Leap Day 2020. Sometimes, we can make plans for something special that doesn't work out like we hoped.

I booked dinner at the Writers Room Bar at the Park Hyatt Hotel which completely exceeded my expectations. I had a seat with a view of the CN Tower and the sunset. The food and the service were exceptional. A woman sitting a couple of tables from us shared a photo she took of me taking a photo of my husband with the CN Tower in the background.

It surprised me that the patio doors were open in the winter so we could go outside and take better photos.

I especially love this Toronto Skyline photo with the beautiful sunset coloured clouds.

This was a perfect prelude to our evening painting of the Toronto skyline at Pinot's Palette. I didn't think I'd be able to paint anything that resembled the Toronto skyline, but the instructor was amazing in walking us through and showing each step. We were in a roomful of beautiful Toronto skylines. Every painting I saw looked beautiful, whether a beginner or an experienced artist made it.

Earlier in the day, I completed the CN Tower gingerbread "house" that I had purchased at Christmas time and had frozen when we didn't do it during the holidays. Unfortunately, I should have trimmed two of the cookies for the base of the tower since one was shorter, but I only thought of it once I saw the challenge of putting it together. It ended up a little lopsided, but I still enjoyed doing it. I took a time-lapse of the process. I started by melting sugar to make the glue that would hold things together.

A few days before Leap Day, I started a Toronto Skyline 4D puzzle. I hoped to complete it by Leap Day, but it took a lot longer than I expected. 

This is a time-lapse of the puzzle making up to Toronto in 1989. 

I paused at this point to enjoy seeing Toronto as it was when we first moved here. I especially loved adding the condo building we lived in then. It's all by itself on The Esplanade near Front and Yonge. 

It no longer has the view it did and is now surrounded by many buildings I still need to add to the puzzle. I'll continue the puzzle in the next few weeks to complete it by April 16 or 4/16 to reflect Toronto's original area code (416). I'll also finish the photo book I started that was focusing on the CN Tower, but recognizing that the view from the CN Tower is Toronto, so it will be a perfect time to finish the album.

I love looking at the changes over the years which goes along with the 4D puzzle of placing the buildings in chronological order. I like looking at the same view from different times. This photo on the left is the building I lived in when I first moved here. It's one of my favourite buildings in Toronto being flat-ironed shape. I could see our unit window from the CN Tower when we took this photo in 2005. I can't imagine living there now; having lost the view of the CN Tower and Lake Ontario.

Other comparisons make for happier memories, like seeing a parking lot in the 1970s become the Roy Thompson Hall in later photos. It's interesting to see how much Toronto has changed in the last few decades, especially in comparison with the CN Tower and its views. My photo book will include photos I have taken from 1978 to Leap Day 2024 adding to my Leap Day memories.

If you read my original post about planning a special Leap Day, I hope I inspired you to experience a memorable Leap Day. If you're reading this at another time, I hope I inspire you to make what could be an ordinary day, like April 16th, into one that is a little more extraordinary.

Leap Day Memories

Leap day was just an extra day until coincidentally I travelled to Hawaii on Leap Day 2020. Now I want to celebrate every Leap Day! I’m not travelling this time. Since I LOVE the CN Tower, I am having a CN Tower theme celebration to better remember Leap Day 2024. 

Do you have memories from past Leap Days? Special days give us the opportunity to make memories. TimeHop is a phone app that shows you past photos and social media posts from today's date. I opened my TimeHop app on February 29th 2020 and had no memories. No photos and no social media posts. I had never made a point of doing something or capturing something on Leap Day before (that I can remember).

The title on my calendar page in 2020 gave me the idea to make Leap Day amazing! I wrote a blog post in 2020 that you can read by clicking here.

Celebrating a day makes it more memorable. We want to involve all our senses and add uniqueness to better remember the moments. I also ensured that I captured unique moments by taking photos of ways I could recreate later. Something as simple, yet unusual, were the mini gold sparkling wine bottles we had on the plane. I recently saw these at LCBO and bought some to celebrate this year.

When we arrived at the resort, instead of my regular glass of wine, I had my first ever Mai Tai on the beach. I think of Leap Day whenever I hear or think of Mai Tais.

This year, I'll be staying in Toronto for Leap Day but I am planning on making it a memorable day. I imagine being a tourist coming to Toronto. What would be on my list of things to do if I didn't live here?

Luckily or gratefully, I have done most of the big tourist attractions that I'm interested in. I went up the CN Tower as recently as last summer and have had meals in the revolving restaurant on a few special occasions. Going again would not make Leap Day memorable. I wanted to find something I hadn't done before.

I searched for Hawaiian restaurants in Toronto and learned that there's a poke place just down the road from me. I had seen the word Poke in a couple of places and figured that they were restaurants who also served Poke, but this one is actually a Hawaiian Poke restaurant. My husband had a few pokes while in Hawaii but it's not really my favourite, so I kept searching. I found a Tiki bar that could be fun to have a drink at. 

But then I wondered if I wanted to make Leap Day have a Hawaiian theme or if I wanted to do something different. I celebrate Lei Day on May 1st with a Hawaiian theme. Wouldn't going to a Tiki Bar be more fun when it's hot? I let go of recreating Leap Day Hawaiian memories but made a mental note to go to the Tiki Bar this summer.

I love a view so I researched restaurants and bars that have a view of the CN Tower. Being up the CN Tower is amazing, but you don't actually get to see the Tower; except for its shadow. My husband took this incredible photo in 2019.

I have been to a few places with a view of the CN Tower, but I wanted to go somewhere different. I booked a table for a before-dinner drink (or early dinner) at The Writers Room Bar at the Park Hyatt (Avenue Road and Bloor) just in time for the sunset (hopefully we end up with a table with a view of the CN Tower and the sunset). I am writing a book, so I liked the writing theme.

"Writers Room is a reimagined interpretation of the revered rooftop bar's 50 years storied past, paying homage to the history of literary legends who shared moments in the space."

I wish my palette wasn't so picky or I'd order a drink from the "curated selection of stirred cocktails, inspired by renowned Canadian literary icons." We'll see if I am adventurous like I was in Hawaii when I ordered a Mai Tai (not as adventurous as the cocktails at The Writers Room Bar); or settle for a glass of wine.

I kept searching for other unusual things to do in Toronto and saw a few ideas, but nothing that seemed special enough. I then googled "bucket list" Toronto and came across an Instagram account called Toronto Bucket List (@torbucketlist).

They had a recent post with 8 Date Ideas for Valentine's Day that included "Paint & Sip at Pinot's Palette". Intrigued, I went to their website and saw the class they offered that night (a couple of days after Valentine's Day) was "Monet's Lily Pond - Date Night". I LOVE Monet and I LOVE hearts! 

It was perfect for me, but it was the last night they were offering it. I scrolled down through their schedule. In a few days, there would be a Monet bridge class and a tropical one (great if I hadn't seen the Monet heart). As I continued to scroll, I thought, we'll see what the Leap Day class is, and whether it's meant to be.

I couldn't believe that it was this:

I LOVE the CN Tower AND sunsets!! How serendipitously perfect!! I had tears in my eyes realizing I had a reservation at a place with a CN Tower view and the sunset! The timing would be tight (I changed the restaurant reservation for earlier) but will still need to rush over to the painting place after the sunset.

I took an acrylic painting course once. We learned very basic paintings like this one I painted:

I don't know if I could paint the CN Tower scene well enough, but it will be a memorable way to celebrate Leap Day. When I wrote a list of dreams in 1996, I wrote "to write a song I like". Perhaps I will paint the Toronto Skyline in a way that I like by the next Leap Day (no pressure for this Leap Day). I'll keep trying until I can take it out to enjoy on February 29, 2028.

This gives me another idea for Leap Day. At Christmas, I bought a CN Tower-themed gingerbread house.

It ended up not working out for us to make it, so I put it in the freezer. How perfect, that I could make a CN Tower gingerbread house and then go (try to) paint the CN Tower at night!!

I may be ridiculously overdoing it, but I also have a CN Tower 4-D puzzle I haven't completed.

This is sounding like I will celebrate Leap WEEK...😂. I can't complete this puzzle in one day, so will start it and hope to complete it by Leap Day.

The 4th dimension of a 4D puzzle is time. The puzzle includes a time poster that will lead me through time as I rebuild Toronto’s skyline history. I have been up the CN Tower many times over its 48 years. The first time being for a Grade 7 school trip. When I first moved to Toronto, I lived on The Esplanade and would see the CN Tower when I walked to Union Station every work day. I wish I carried a camera with me in those days. I love to take a photo of the CN Tower, especially when I see it from a different view.

I'm also happy to complete projects I had plans to do "someday". Someday is now. I love connecting moments from the past while creating new memories to make it more meaningful.

I have wanted to make a CN Tower photo album for years. I am going to take this celebration as the nudge I need to get it done. The Toronto skyline has changed so much in the last few decades. It will be interesting to revive those memories by looking back at my photos while making the puzzle. 

How do we do a theme album or project that doesn't have an end date? Create an artificial deadline, so I will make a CN Tower album that will end with the photos I take on Leap Day 2024.

Love Memories

It's one week until Valentine's Day. Although sometimes I let celebratory days come and go without celebrating; I find I'm happiest when I make an ordinary day a little more extraordinary.

Sometimes, we're busy with life and then, at the last minute, we settle for an okay celebration. We can make Valentine's Day or a love anniversary more memorable with a little planning. We can also look at Valentine's Day, which may not be as important to us, as a stepping stone towards a bigger anniversary celebration.

I'd like to share some ideas on how to use our memories for more meaningful celebrations. We can then capture memories we make in the present that we'll enjoy in the future. 

Photos

Many of us feel overwhelmed by our photo collection. A great way to take a small bite out of the overwhelming project of organizing our photos is to focus on a theme when these opportunities to celebrate come up. We can use these special days as nudges to take a small step forward in preserving our memories.

Although I love looking back at memories; our happiness occurs in the present, so we want to focus on memories that enhance our present. We can start by looking back at past celebrations. 

• What have we loved in the past and may want to recreate? 
• What are our favourite activities and foods? 
• What do we care the most about? 

We have tools to help make looking back easier. We can look at 

• our photos from past Valentine's Days
• calendars (do we have restaurant reservations or travel plans?)
• old bills or budgets (what stores or places did we spend in February?)

On an iPhone (and possibly other phones), if you search Valentine and then scroll down, past categories like "Photos", "Text Found in Photos", "Moments" or "Albums"; it shows "Dates". By clicking on "Valentine's Day", we can see photos taken on February 14th over the years.

When looking at these photos, we can put hearts or stars to rate our favourites or copy our favourites into a specialized folder or album.

On Valentine's Day, we can see memories using the TimeHop app that shows all photos and social media posts from that day when we link it to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

To see Facebook posts at any time, we can search our profile for keywords like Valentine; or by date (year and month), but this is more time consuming that doing it on Valentine's Day using the TimeHop app. I used to take screen captures of my favourite TimeHop memories so that they would be in my photos to look at any time.

Celebrations

When looking back at past celebrations:

• Which ones make you feel the happiest? 
• Do you prefer celebrations out or at home? 
• Do you prefer to splurge or spend mindfully?

We can recreate experiences or "recycle" them by returning to a restaurant or place we've been; or we can upcycle by adding something more extravagant or meaningful. Perhaps when we were younger, we didn't have the money for the full experience but now we could do it properly. For example, we used to go to fancy restaurants for a cheaper lunch rather than dinner or we would find a local place or cook foods from a place we've travelled to. Perhaps we've rushed a celebration in the past that we can upcycle by making it more meaningful with more thought and planning.

Cards

I love using photos to make greeting cards. Sometimes I print them and give paper copies and other times, I email or text a digital copy. I enjoy the creativity in creating my own cards, but the more important bonus is that I am spending time with my memories to find the photo(s) I want to use. By scrolling or searching through my photos, I am reminded of the stories and memories which helps me to remember. 

I love the BeCasso app that offers artistic filters to edit photos to make them look like a watercolour, a cartoon, pencil drawing or in the style of famous artists. I use the edited photos to make cards. I also use Creative Memories digital paper and decorations to create digital and printed cards using Pages or Canva. 

Food

Food and decorations are also important to me. I enjoy making heart-shaped cookies, cakes and pizzas. I love using love-themed dishes, mugs and glasses on Valentine's Day. It helps that I looove hearts. 

I store my heart-themed and past Valentine's cards (inside a box decorated with hearts) in a storage box that I open in February. When I open it, I'm surprised and excited to see my special items again and it reminds me of how happy I am when I celebrate! I love staying in on Valentine's Day to enjoy my memorabilia, but it's also special to go out.

We were on a family holiday one year and we enjoyed a special meal at the French restaurant of the resort.

We've been lucky to have had a few amazing trips that included Valentine's Day; looking back at these memories brings me happiness and hope that we'll plan future holidays in mid-February.

My husband and I have surprisingly, also been apart quite a few times on Valentine's Day. I would joke that it's Valentine's Day every day; so it's not a problem if we're not together celebrating on the actual day. Even when he's away, I enjoy celebrating with heart-shaped ravioli with lobster, a heart napkin and heart confetti. 

Many specialty grocery stores sell heart-shaped ravioli in February and this is a favourite tradition for me. The local shop in midtown Toronto I used to get it closed a few years ago. Last year, I bought some at Continental Noodles on Valentine's Day (feeling very lucky they still had stock). I searched early this year to compare and found some at Pusateri's, Summerhill Market and Pascale's Gourmet. 

I normally try to find special wine, whether it's a quality one that we love or finding a heart on a label or the word love that makes me purchase it for the label appreciation.

Most of these are not available now, but sometimes it's the search and then the find that is exciting; rather than just buying one I've had before. Sometimes, I see one in the summer or fall that I save for Valentine's Day. I haven't found my Valentine wine for this year yet. I'm looking forward to the search and if I don't find one, we have some special wines with meaningful stories we've been saving for a special occasion.

Music & Entertainment

Music is a big part of my life. On Valentine's Day, I enjoy listening to a smart playlist I created in iTunes/Apple Music of songs that contain the word love or heart (it's a fast and easy although imperfect playlist that also includes breakup or irrelevant songs). 

• Send my love (to your new lover) by Adele
• Horseshoe in my glove by Embrace
• Every Day I Love You Less and Less by Kaiser Chiefs
• Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2

My playlist is almost 24 hours long so I can't listen to it all, but I put it on shuffle and see what comes up. I also have a favourite love songs playlist that is more curated than a smart playlist. It takes more time to create it, but it's a work in progress. I add to it when I hear a song I feel belongs in it.

Sometimes we enjoy watching a Valentine-themed movie like Valentine's Day, An Affair To Remember, Sleepless in Seattle or shows like A Charlie Brown Valentine. Back in the day, our favourite shows would have holiday themes. Now that seasons are on streaming services, my daughter would find these episodes to watch on Thanksgiving or Christmas. This Valentine's Day, I'll watch one of these episodes:

• Friends “The One With the Candy Hearts” (Season 1, Episode 14)
• Grey's Anatomy "All You Need Is Love" (2012)
• Downton Abbey (Season 4, Episode 1)

Check out this Wikipedia page that lists all kinds of Valentine's Day television specials to find your favourite family, drama, horror, reality or sitcom episode.

Most importantly, on Valentine's Day, I love looking back at our photos and videos; reading old Valentine's cards; baking and cooking special treats and enjoying making new memories while enjoying the older ones.

Embrace Technology

I believe that technology will fail at least once for the majority of people in the next decade or two. It has failed three times for me in the last decade. Through these challenges, I have learned a lot and want to share so that if or when it happens to you, you can protect the memories you care most about.

Digital files are a lot easier to lose than a printed photo or album. We'll still be able to see a printed photo in 50 years, but what about a digital photo? Digital files rely on technology for us to see them. I still have paper copies of old photos, resumes, pay stubs or letters; but I lost old digital copies that are not compatible with today's technology. Will today's files be compatible in 20 years?

So what do I mean when I say to embrace technology? The obvious answer is to understand how our devices work and update our memories when technology changes and becomes discontinued. It's understanding how to preserve our data when our devices change.

Embracing technology is also learning the difference between syncing and backing up. It's understanding the difference between a manual backup and Time Machine backup (for Apple computers or equivalent for PCs).

The brief explanation of the difference is that syncing means that the data is the same on all devices that are connected, whether that is a phone, a computer, cloud or an external drive. Syncing is ONE live copy. If you delete or add something in one place, it gets deleted or added at the other place. It's not a real backup. It can act as a backup if one device breaks and we replace it and sync it to the cloud or other device. But if photos get deleted from a device by mistake or if a cloud service gets corrupted and corrupts our devices; our ONE copy is gone. 

During a server migration, the music social media website, MySpace, lost all the music and posts its users uploaded between 2003 and 2015. Who knows what could happen to a cloud service in the future. What happens if a cloud service has a cyber security event? Syncing isn't a true back-up.

A Time Machine backup (or iPhone backup) is a picture in time of your computer (or iPhone). If you do a Time Machine backup on December 31st and upload it to a new computer on May 1st, your computer will revert to how it was on December 31st. You will lose any changes made since that last backup. If you regularly backup using Time Machine (or iPhone backup), replacing your devices can be seamless.

A manual backup is when you copy files to an external hard drive. If you need to replace your computer, you can reload those files, but your settings, apps and other valuable information will be lost. I lost a valuable file backing up this way when I forgot to backup my desktop folder. This can also be confusing to keep it accurate and up to date, if we don't have an efficient workflow.

We can embrace technology by updating our memories before old technology is discontinued. Many of us have memories on Hi8 or miniDV cassettes; DVDs, CDs or VHS. We have negatives for photos we may no longer have (or have cut or cropped for scrapbooks). 

During my scrapbooking days, I cropped photos and taped them into albums. I had doubles of the best ones and the negatives organized chronologically if I ever wanted a copy. 

Digital cameras didn't exist when I started scrapbooking. I had no idea that eventually, I could want my physical photos digitized. I couldn't imagine that photo stores would disappear and only a handful would still print from negatives. 

The first step to preserving our memories is understanding where they are, in what format and what is most at risk of being lost. Since it can feel overwhelming, we need to prioritize what is most important and the technology most at risk of being obsolete.

Are you ready to make preserving your memories a priority? I'd love to hear from you and inspire you to preserve the memories that matter the most to you.

Christmas Memories

Part 6 of my 60T🖤60 Project began on November 19th and ended on December 23rd. (For more information about my 60T🖤60 project, go to my other blog My Life Is Like A Song) Seeing that end date, and knowing that sometimes, I sprint to a deadline to complete a mini-project; making Part 6 have a Christmas theme seemed the smartest thing to do. I didn't want to be focusing on a different theme the week before Christmas.

When our kids were young, I often felt rushed when Christmas came around. I procrastinate naturally, but with a family birthday in mid December, I would wait to get a tree or decorate until after we had celebrated the birthday. I had read or heard from parenting experts to ensure that a child gets to celebrate their birthday separately from the Christmas celebrations, and I accepted this advice by not letting our house become too Christmassy until after the birthday. 

I have to admit that in mid-November this year, I was not feeling cheerful or excited about Christmas coming. I was already feeling stressed, overwhelmed and not in a celebratory mood. 

Focusing my project on Christmas would force me to look at the positives and help to make Christmas more festive. Coincidentally, on the day that my project started, I attended a "Spill The Tea" event by Tea With Tracie where Brenda Jasmin was speaking about infusing more joy and less stress during the holidays. One of the activities was for us to determine what made us happy; our "Ho Ho Ho list" and what drained us or things we wanted to let go of; our "Ho Ho Heck No" list. It was perfect timing to start Part 6 of my 60T🖤60 Project. I wanted to focus on what I loved the most and let go of what I didn't.

Photos

My first activity was to gather past Christmas memories and create a Christmas-themed photobook. Looking back at happy times lifted my mood. I didn't complete it in time to order for Blurb's Black Friday sale so I decided to show it digitally to my family at Christmas before completing it, in case they had extra photos or memories they wanted to share to improve it. (That was the plan but it dien't work out the way I hoped).

Looking back at all our Christmas cards gave me the idea to display them on our "living frame". A few years ago, my husband took an old frame, removed the broken glass, and added wire with clips to hold photos. We rotate photos depending on seasons or celebrations. Normally at Christmas, we add photos taken at Christmas time, but I liked focusing on our Christmas cards or photos we sent with Christmas cards when I didn't order actual photo cards.

Last year I ordered snowball garlands. I thought the balls would be bigger than they ended up being when I received them. I was happy that one of them fit perfectly around our living frame to make it more festive.

Christmas Card

I wasn't sure whether to send Christmas cards this year, especially as more and more people are choosing to end the tradition. We didn't have a recent family photo; and we lost our dog this year. 

Working on my Christmas photobook and seeing our past Christmas cards, gave me the idea to have Christmas memories as a theme for the card. We had festive family photos over the years that we had never shared because they were taken at Christmas or New Year's; when our Christmas cards would have already been sent. I included a photo with our dog; a photo with the kids' partners. I included the new card in the living frame (top middle).  I wanted to let people know the news about our dog, so added the sad news in a fun rhyme.

Getting together and telling stories
Looking back at Christmas memories
Excited as we anticipate making more
Before we reach 2024

(couple of more private lines)
This year was sad saying goodbye to our pup
The house is sadly quieter but needs less cleanup

Festive decorating is coming along
We’ll enjoy our favourite Christmas movie or song
A dusting of snow sets the mood
Menus will mix classics with new found food

May your Christmas be spent with friends and family
On New Year’s Eve, pop the Bublé or bubbly
While making a wish upon a star
“Joy for our loved ones near and far”

Music

I love Christmas music and especially love new Christmas songs over traditional ones. I used to have CDs of our favourite Christmas songs, but with technology changes, when we switched from iTunes to Apple Music, I lost those playlists. This project encouraged me to search and add old and new Christmas songs in a playlist (almost 500 songs!) in order to create a top 20 favourite songs playlist.

I really enjoyed listening to my favourite songs during the holiday season. My in-laws arrived at Christmas with a CD we made for them in the late 1990's or early 2000's.

I found it interesting how different this list was to my current one.

Every year, I love playing Christmas songs on the piano. This year was extra fun trying to learn songs on the ukulele. I initially thought I'd learn the Hawaiian Song Mele Kalikimaka; but it ended up being too difficult for me, so I found a couple of easier ones to learn.

Last year I tried to compose a Christmas melody. I wondered what made a melody sound Christmassy if it didn't have Christmas lyrics. I found some chord progressions that are popular in Christmas songs but didn't compose anything I liked. I enjoyed trying again this year, but still no success. One of these years, I'll compose a Christmas melody I will love. I'm adding that to my wishlist like I did in 1996 when I added "to write a song I like" on my list of dreams.

Movies

Last year, our daughter wrote a list of movies and shows to watch and put it on the fridge. I stored it with the Christmas decorations to continue the tradition. With a little research, I created a new list that we kept on the fridge this eyar. This helped in the decision-making process. We didn't need to keep searching streaming apps to figure out what to watch since I already did that to compile the list. When we watched one, we'd colour the bullet. I stored the list with the decorations again this year to be reminded to continue to complete watching it; or to re-print an updated list.

Gifts

Shopping for me is often stressful because I don't like buying something for the sake of buying something, but this year, I found meaningful gifts and had lots of help from my daughter that made me happy with the gifts I was giving.

Sometimes I also feel that if we are feeling happier, we are open to seeing clues for what we are looking for. In contrast, if we are feeling negative, clues pass us by without us noticing. I like to think that my improved mentality helped for me to find great ideas for gifts.

For many years, our kids decorated a gingerbread house during the holidays. 

I serendipitously found a gingerbread house that included the CN Tower, Rogers Centre, and downtown Toronto. I thought it would be a fun Christmas time activity for us to build it.

Food

While making the photobook, seeing photos of treats and foods we love at Christmas time helped me plan better and get the ingredients I needed early. I made favourites like tourtière (French Canadian meatpie) and sweetheart cookies (jam thumbprint cookies sometimes with marshmallows). 

Instead of my traditional shortbread recipe, I tried a new sugar cookie recipe cut in hearts and snowflakes  that turned out great (forgot to take a photo). A newer tradition is to make scones with cream. This year, our daughter found a bakery that sold homemade scones and traditional British clotted cream with homemade butter.

My French-Canadian heritage, mixed with my husband's British heritage, adds up to delicious treats.

When I first spent Christmas with my husband's family, they introduced me to a British tradition called Christmas crackers. Two people hold a cracker until it pops to reveal a paper crown/hat, a toy and a joke. When I popped mine, I felt a little disappointed at first by the yellow crown (instead of my favorite purple), but I was thrilled to find a heart keychain, just like the one I got last year. What a coincidence! (I love hearts in case you haven't been a regular reader of my blog)

Looking back at photos reminded me how much I love seeing Christmas lights around the city. I had hoped to visit the Eaton Centre, Nathan Phillips Square, the Distillery District or Inglewood "Kringlewood" Drive lined with giant inflatable Santas; like we had in the past or the new Illumi light festival in Mississauga, but I ended up not in the mood with the rainy weather. 

Even if I focused on Christmas Memories to help make Christmas more festive and meaningful, plans don't always go as we hope. With COVID visiting our family, and us not being all together, the gingerbread pieces and royal icing ended up in the freezer. My Christmas-themed photobook was saved for next year.

It's a good reminder that life is filled with ups and downs. Everything isn't always perfect, but we can make the best of what is presented to us.

This reminds me of a great quote: "Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out." 

Present Memories

 I deserve a thank-you note

For giving you my presence all year long

I deserve a thank you note

That's the only present that I want

(Thank You Note by Salem Ilese)

I focused on "Present Memories" during part 4 of my 60T🖤60 Project (for more information about my 60T🖤60 project, go to my other blog My Life Is Like A Song). Present Memories is the subject of the book I want to complete by the end of my project. It also worked out well because I was invited to speak at a mothers' group during this period.

The deadline of my presentation added extra motivation to work on my book. I wrote, and wrote and wrote until I realized that it would take me all day to present it. It was still really useful to gain clarity and better organize the topics. The reason I called Part 4 "Present Memories" is that I believe we should focus on memories that improve our present. Our happiness happens in the present. 

It's helpful to travel back in time to understand what matters most and then travel forward in time to where we want to be and the memories we want to create. Once we’ve looked back and forward, we want to capture what matters most and enjoy the memories in the present. 

During the presentation, I covered strategies that research has shown to explain what and why we remember some things rather than others. I gave ideas on how to better remember what matters most. Being able to remember meaningful moments in our lives provides us and our kids a sense of self and identity. It helps us grow and connect with each other. Our memories are the story of our lives.

By enjoying our memories, we can make ordinary days into happier days because every day can’t be extraordinary, otherwise they would become ordinary.

We remember what we pay attention to.

To remember, we need to notice and this requires our attention and our perception - what we see, what we hear, what we smell and what we feel - physically and emotionally.

In the present moment, our memory is limited and short-lived. We remember what we experience only long enough to use it or not. If we don’t make a point of remembering what we experienced, we will forget it in 15-30 seconds and those memories will be replaced by the next information. Life keeps happening.

We remember moments that are significant to us. We could all go on an outing together and remember it differently. We would remember what we pay attention to; what gives us an emotional reaction and what adds meaning for us.

If we want to forget an event or an unpleasant moment; it's best to not think about it. By paying attention to that unpleasant moment, we are helping to remember it.

The other way that memories become meaningful is when we connect them together. We can’t remember everything. We want to be selective and relate what matters to other moments and how they relate to our life story and how we see the world.

Spatial Repetition

Research has found that spaced repetition helps us to remember. It’s like when we were in school, we remember better by reviewing after periods of time that become larger. So when something amazing happens that we want to remember, it will help to review it the next day, then a week later, a month later, three months later and a year later.

We also remember what we think about. We remember the stories we tell, the photos or videos we look at and we remember what we write. Journaling, blogging or sharing on social media helps us remember by writing and then by re-reading the details that may fade over time.

Focus on what we want to remember. 

The key to preserving memories for the future is to recognize what is worth capturing and letting go of the rest. Optimists pay attention to positive experiences, and so these events are remembered. Struggles are good to remember if they are relevant to the journey or they’re important lessons, but dwelling on negative experiences can lead to unhappiness and sometimes depression.

Bliss Point

I began my Revive55 Project in 2019 in order to preserve my memories and hopefully remember more but are more memories better? Is there a bliss point when it comes to memories? What is the perfect balance of enough memories so that they are optimally enjoyed but not too many so that they are lost in the clutter?

When we don’t curate our lives as we live them, eventually we will drown in the memories. One memory box becomes two becomes four becomes eight. 1000 photos becomes 5000 becomes 25000, etc.

It’s easier to keep up than to catch up.

This project was necessary for me because I had let things accumulate. As the years passed, I kept collecting more and more sentimental items without letting go of old ones. I wish I had been more proactive and found a better way sooner. 

Catching up is a project. Keeping up is a process. By putting a process in place to keep up with our memory keeping, we don’t need to do a big catch up project later and we also enjoy our memories along the way. 

That is one of the key things for memory keeping. Keep up the workflow and process of our memories so we don’t have to tackle it all at once later.

Hedonic Adaptation refers to the tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness after experiencing positive or negative events or life changes. 

It’s when we experience an identical stimulus that provides less pleasure the more it’s consumed. For example, a new car feels amazing at first, but eventually, it’s just a car. People who get a big bonus or a pay raise may be happier for a short period of time, but then will settle back to their original level of happiness. People may lose their job and be sadder for a short period of time, but then will settle back to their original level of happiness. 

Our favourite treat or our favourite song may get an emotional response when we haven’t tasted it or heard it in a long time, but if we have it every day or listen to it over and over again, the emotional response diminishes.

We can prevent hedonic adaptation by not enjoying our memories too often, but we also have to enjoy our memories to ensure we remember them.  It’s a fine line. Not too often, not too rarely.

There is also something magical about finding something we haven’t seen in 10 or 20 years, like a time capsule taking us back. This is great for things that are more factual, like report cards or things that we’ll be amazed how much things have changed.

Revive From Archive

Chronological photo albums or digital collections are a great resource like a library, but we don't necessarily want to read every book or look back at every photo. The meaningful moments can become lost in the clutter or what I call: the archive.

Art galleries and museums own much more than they show on display. Much of their collection is in storage.

I want to encourage you to Revive From Your Archive. Rather than organizing all your photos, revive your most meaningful ones. 

Curating exhibitions by theme is a more interesting way to enjoy our memories.

I love going to the art gallery when they have exhibitions where they display pieces of art from various places in the world and connect them in a meaningful way. 

Art galleries will also curate special exhibitions by connecting pieces by artist, by theme or by time period. These exhibitions highlight the art in a way that makes us appreciate it even more than a single painting. Sometimes in the exhibits, they showcase mementos, letters, or timelines, not just pieces of art.

It helps to tell the artist’s story or a story of a time period. Our special exhibition can tell a more meaningful story than just one photo. 

Our permanent collection should be what is most important to us and our family. They are our milestones and our peak moments. They are the people we love. They may have mementos connected to them and stories. They are the photos and mementos that we display in our house or screensavers. They are the first things we see when we enter our home or the last things we see when we go to bed at night. It showcases who we are and what is important to us.

When we first put photos in frames for our permanent collection, we notice them and they made us feel happy, but eventually, we stop noticing them. Taking something out that has been put away for months, brings back the magic. It's best to not let our permanent collection become too permanent.

Our special exhibitions are the interesting stories that will link some things to others. They could focus on one family member, like an art gallery may have a special exhibition on one artist. It  could focus on places weu’ve been; on activities we love to do; on our traditions; then and now comparisons; changes over the years; etc. We can also use mementos or household items to enhance the theme.

They don’t have to be big projects either. Sometimes I make a card with old photos of the person. I’ve used a cartoon app to alter the image for special moments. I have made collages on an 8.5x11 page or photobooks for really special birthdays. Using iMovie or Final Cut Pro, I’ve also made highlight videos with little snippets over the years.

By using our photos to make these gifts or cards, we are spending time with our memories instead of time going shopping for gifts and cards.  This helps us to remember.

The first special exhibition that I recommend you create is about you. Who were you? What did you love to do when you were young? As we grow up, other people influence us whether that is well-meaning parents and teachers or mean or envious classmates. As Charles Bukowski wrote: “Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?” If you have childhood photos and mementos that you haven’t sorted through, this is a great time to look to recognize what is most meaningful for you. Being a new parent can be a way to reconnect with your younger self.

1. By looking back, we can see who we were. 
2. By being present and noticing our current life, we can see who we are. 
3. By looking forward, we can be proactive in being who we want to be. 

I printed three pages with photo memories I created with these 3 themes to remind me at times when life gets busy of who I intend to be so that I choose better actions today to get me there.

Present Memories

Studies show that remembering happy times from the past helps us be happy in the present and gives us a hopeful vision for the future. As long as they bring back happy memories, it will boost our happiness.

Look back to connect meaningful moments. Look forward to create more and capture them and savour them in the present.

The end goal is a workflow that works - it’s that feeling of the moments that matter being captured and preserved. We connect the dots through our life to figure out what we love, what we connect with and what matters to us. 

We can extend that happy moment, by anticipating it - for example anticipating a vacation or an outing - and then reflecting by enjoying the photos or stories afterwards. Studies show that we can boost our happiness by keeping happy memories in our mind. So taking the time like organizing our photos, taking videos, keeping mementos around is a happiness strategy.

In the present, remember happy times from the past and plan for future memories.

Embrace technology

While preparing this presentation, my MacBook crashed. If I hadn't backed up and synced my photos and memories; I would have been forced to spend almost as much repairing an older computer that wouldn't end up lasting as long as a new one. I had learned how to ensure that technology failures did not impact my memory keeping so the only pain I got from my computer crashing was financial. I spoke about technology in my presentation, but it's too lengthy for this post. The most important thing is to embrace technology, learn how your devices work and what would happen if they broke. Would your memories still be preserved?

Conclusion

Our memories are inside us. They are not the photos, videos and mementos. Floods, fires and technology losses happen. 

The photos and mementos help us to remember. We can keep the memories alive by spending time enjoying our photos, mementos and memories; not too often and not too rarely.

The key to preserving future memories is to recognize what is worth capturing.

Chasing dreams...capturing memories.