Erin's Journals

Well, here it is – last day of February. Spring is next month, spring training is already almost a week old and we have all turned a collective corner towards longer days, warmer temperatures and (hopefully) sunnier skies.
 
Now, not to go all “Debbie Downer” on you, but it’s also the time when we start hunkering down and thinking about doing our taxes. It’s not as big a deal in our house as it used to be (like when I had an income!), when I’d watch Rob hunched over piles of receipts, working late into the night trying to make everything work out just right and hopefully, HOPEFULLY get us a bit of our money back from the federal government. Now, of course, we do everything online and since we have a company, things are filed quarterly. And there are computer programs. It’s much less of a hassle – which, of course, is easy for me to say. 
 
But I got something the other day that made me think, Uh-oh…I sure hope this doesn’t catch anyone. It was a scam email (all you have to do is hover your cursor over the return address and look in the bottom left corner of your screen to see from whom this email is actually coming). It was some guy with a New Zealand suffix in his address – Alan Miles or some bogus name – and it was just official enough to look legit if someone you know tends to be instantly alarmed or excited by emails that look as if they’re coming from the government. 
 

 
As CRA tells us again and again, they will not send email with a link and ask you to divulge personal or financial information. They won’t ask for personal information of ANY kind by email or text message and they don’t ask for payments by prepaid credit cards. And they remind us never to provide personal information through the internet or via email. Here’s a link to the CRA page about scams.
 
I know you’re savvy enough not to get taken in by these crooks, but if there’s someone in your life who might not be as sharp as you are and who has access to the internet (I’m thinking especially of elderly parents, or friends who repeatedly post or send you the bogus warnings that say “send this to everyone you know”) then please make them aware that these CRA wannabes are at it again. Actually, it never ends. But with the tax season just about upon us, it never hurts to remind those you love to save them a lot of heartache later on.
 
Take care. Tomorrow, we’re starting March on an uplifting note with a beautiful new website you’re going to want to check out.
 

Now that I’m done my nine-month stay with Ocean 98.5 here in Victoria, I am so happy to say that an experience Rob and I shared has turned into something that Ocean has been able to use as something special for listeners. Let me explain.
 
A few months ago, we were out having dinner at a restaurant that is right next to the Victoria Airport called the Spitfire Grill. As we sat quietly and enjoyed our meal, I couldn’t help noticing a mom with her three little children seated near a window that looked out on a runway. One little boy had his face (and fingers, of course) stuck to the window as he watched planes taxi by. Meantime, Mom was busy feeding a little one in a high chair and a slightly older child in a booster. No one was making a disturbance or anything; they were just out having dinner and the mother was juggling three children while trying to have a few bites of her own meal.
 
I wasn’t going to tell you this part (or share it with anyone, actually) but it leads into the Ocean story. Before the little family packed up to go, I went to the cashier/server and told her I’d like to pick up their meal. So I paid and returned to our table to finish our dinner. 
 
The mother gathered up her children, put on coats and made sure they’d all gotten the things they’d come with, and headed for the door and cash register, both of which were out of the sightlines of our table by a wall. A few moments later, she came around the corner, her eyes wide and just a little teary and said, “Uh…thank you?”
 
Her hands were outstretched as if to say “what the heck…?” and we said, “You’re welcome. We just saw you out with your family and thought how nice that was…that’s all.” (Of course, we were thinking of another little family in Ottawa.) She explained that her husband was at home doing a deep clean as they prepared to list it for sale and she had to get the children out of the house. She thanked us again, and we felt so good, I almost cried when she was out of sight.
 
That’s when Rob said, “Imagine if you could have said, ‘That’s a gift to you from Ocean 98.5’ and how she’d tell everyone what the radio station had done for her!” All just good will and happy feelings. 
 
I agreed and we thought on it. I shared the idea with Program Director Susan Knight: what if a server at a restaurant could choose a random table and tell them that Ocean 98.5 had taken care of their bill? She mulled it over; you have to know that a station in a city the size of Victoria doesn’t have the budget or connections to give away a trip a day or make dreams come true like, say, CHFI. But Susan aims high; she embraced the idea and made it happen!
 
Thanks to an existing relationship with a lovely restaurant Rob and I were already very familiar with, the idea of the Secret Server became a reality. So now, every week, some family or couple dining at the Beach House restaurant in Cordova Bay is surprised with $100 towards their dinner. The first winners were a couple out celebrating Lunar New Year, whose daughter was dressed head to foot in traditional garb. The next winners were a mother and dad and two teens who were celebrating the birthday of “hardest working dad, ever.” They were delighted as well.
 
Isn’t this neat? How a little idea like “pay it forward” can be turned into something so special and so touching? We’re grateful, Rob and I, that if there’s just a tiny legacy we’ve left behind, it’s the Secret Server (thanks again, Susan!) and we hope it’s going to spread to other restaurants and affect other families for months and years to come! I love radio….
 
Tomorrow: uh-oh, there’s another scam in your inbox.
 

 
Welcome into a new week – how nice you’ve come to share a few minutes and perhaps even listen to the audio version of this blog, which we put together lovingly every week day. I have a few treats for you today: a few days ago I went to the world famous Butchart Gardens – not a place you’d consider visiting in the last third of February, except that they’ve put together an amazing indoor display.
 
Now, I know it’s not as if you’re going to hop on a plane and come to see it before it closes March 15, when the focus returns to the outdoor magic of this sprawling estate just about fifteen minutes’ drive from our home, but I thought, why not? I’ll share some pictures of the transformation of a cafeteria into an indoor paradise. 
 
Interestingly, this is also the only time of year that The Butchart Gardens welcomes wedding ceremonies; they take place in this space late in the day when guests of the bride and groom can gather and celebrate their dear ones’ nuptials, rather than have the visiting public milling about. As perfect as the grounds of the Gardens are during the spring and summer months, it would be simply impossible to have weddings without hundreds of strangers crashing your photos – inadvertently or otherwise, right?
 
By the way, before we get to the photos, I have some important news on the river cruises Mike and I are hosting with AMA and New Wave Travel which I mentioned here two weeks ago. Having gauged interest through phone calls and emails, our friend Gerry Koolhof and the folks with whom he coordinates these group trips have decided to concentrate on one cruise: the Tulip Time journey in April 0f 2019.
 
The other cruise was, from what people  were telling Gerry, just a little too close to Christmas and the busy times that come with it here at home, plus folks who’d never been to Europe said they’d rather experience it in the spring. We all get that, so, together at Tulip Time it is!
 
This cruise, carefully picked by Gerry and his partners at the luxurious AMA Waterways, takes place aboard the one-year-old AmaKristina and celebrates the joy of spring on a special charter through Amsterdam, Bruges, Middelburg and Ghent. Chocolate, Belgian waffles, history and…tulips! Of course, Mike and I will guarantee you have a good time while we’re together, too, and we’re excited that a number of couples have already booked! Make sure you’re not left behind. Details are below:
 

 
A reminder that there are special offers if you book by this Wednesday, February 28th. This trip is an exclusive offer through New Wave and you can contact Gerry at the number or email above.
 
And now, because you shouldn’t have to wait to see blossoms, here are a few highlights from The Butchart Gardens, a must-see destination for all visitors to Vancouver Island (and residents like us, too). Even when there’s been an unusual snowfall, the place looks magical. Enjoy the pictures. Tomorrow: a random act of kindness that turned into so much more.
 

Well, here we go again – another grateful goodbye to radio, but this time with a little more peace in my heart. You see, this was a gift that just happened to come when I needed it most. As I’ve often said, radio has saved me more times than I can count. And today I close another chapter.
 
Last May, just before we were to mark the second anniversary of Lauren’s passing (always a heavy, heavy time) I was approached by my friends at Rogers radio in Toronto and asked if I might, by any chance, be interested in doing some work with the CHFI-type station here in Victoria, BC, this beautiful island city that we had called home for just about five months at the time.
 
I was a little reluctant: we were in the midst of trying to get my book started (a daunting task on its own) and also wanted the freedom to travel and do what we wanted, Rob and I. But Wendy Duff in Toronto and Rob Michaels here in BC made it as easy as it could be: I could do my show from home in that little wine room that we turned into a studio, in which I do this audio journal every day as well as various freelance ventures. I came to really look forward to every day’s show and a chance just to go into a little room and laugh and talk to myself (and our listeners, of course) and “play radio,” my favourite pastime. 
 

 
A few months’ work filling in on middays turned into a couple more, until I was told last month that the tweaking was finished and the new system that was being put into place would be ready by this coming Monday. It means that Rob Michaels, who loves Victoria and knows it well, will be on Ocean 98.5‘s airwaves again, but this time in middays. I am so happy that the station continues to look at a bright future and, under new Program Director Susan Knight, as well as with a great new morning team as of last fall, big things are in store.
 
So, what does this mean for us? Honestly, I’m not quite sure. Monday is the deadline for the 2.0 version of my book manuscript to be sent off to HarperCollins, so we’re on track for that. That date, February 26, is also the planned release date in 2019. We’ve planned a 10-day trip in March and another 10-day venture to Ontario for business in April. So travel is definitely in the works, as you read here on Wednesday with our trip to California on the horizon. We’ve got the river cruise with Mike and Debbie that we’re hosting in April and who knows what else is in store.
 
I don’t know what I am going to do when I’m no longer part of the Rogers family, but I haven’t cut any ties and certainly am not planning on burning any bridges! I’m going to miss preparing and doing a daily radio show but, honestly, this gentle and fun midday adventure here at Ocean 98.5 has been such a lovely way to ease my way out of the pace and pressure of a morning show. It’s just what my soul (and mind) needed; I was feeling after the shock of moving and leaving Toronto set in, I was sort of rudderless and wondering what the heck we’d done.
 
I’m sorry to be leaving the fellow former Torontonians who’ve reached out to say they’ve heard me on Ocean and it’s felt a bit like their former homes, and to those who say they’ve been listening online; I can only hope we’ll stay in touch here. But in the meantime, here we go – closing one door and stepping through the next open door we find. That’s what life is all about, right?
 
Have a lovely weekend and we’ll be back with you here on Monday.
 

Ever since humans began putting thoughts down in words, whether carved in stone, scratched onto papyrus or even swabbed onto cave walls, adults have lamented the future in the hands of the so-called “younger generation.” I don’t know if there could possibly be more proof that those concerns are unfounded than the events of the last two weeks in Florida and in Korea.
 
Every day we see the bright, determined faces of snowboarders, skiers, and hockey players (to name just some): competitors from far flung nations who give every ounce of what they’ve got to make their countries proud and to meet their own personal goals. No matter what sport you tune in during these winter games, no matter for whom you cheer, there’s always someone to put a lump in your throat.
 
Their enthusiasm, dedication and willingness to push beyond their own bodies’ limits are all, not only breathtaking, but inspiring. What an incredible couple of weeks it’s been! I don’t think I’ll ever forget the tears and gasps as Rob and I – and millions upon millions of others – watched Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue etch their names into ice dancing and figure skating history. My favourite tweet may well have come from actor Ryan Reynolds, who thanked the golden duo in advance for raising his children as their own!
 
And then there are the survivors of last week’s horrific school shooting in Parkland, Florida, named recently the safest city in the state. What a cruel bit of irony that is. Seeing these young 16- and 17-year-old students stand up with strength, determination and admirable poise, and demand a change, has been nothing short of amazing. Of course, the day of the shooting, I turned to Rob and told him there will be those absolute loons who will say it never happened and will run to their local gun stores to stock up before the boogeyman comes to take away their beloved firearms. Gun stocks soar. Happens every time. And no one has come for them yet, have they?
 
But there’s room for hope this time. These articulate and mature young women and men are not going to just let this latest tragedy fade into history. As hard as parents in Newtown, Connecticut worked – even in their deepest, darkest grief – to make their children’s deaths a catalyst for stricter gun laws, they were thwarted federally by a Republican congress hell bent on pleasing NRA sponsors with their deep, dank pockets. 
 
But we’re feeling something changing here as every politician who has tweeted their flaccid “thoughts and prayers,” or said it’s just not the right time to talk about gun law reform, is being called out: the amount of NRA money each has taken is being attached to their names to underline their blatant hypocrisy. And now that reputable publications and journalists are showing links between the National Rifle Association and Russian donations, the dots are getting connected with ink instead of pencil. 
 
Change is coming and we’ll see the starkest example of that on March 24th when thousands of students march on Washington demanding reform. I join in the chorus of adults who raise our voices in praise of the youth who are saying “enough!” and could not agree more.
 
Tomorrow – saying goodbye to radio once again. Sigh.