In the current political climate Canadian identity has been front and centre in this country. We have a lively conversation about some of the things that make us Canadian and what we love about Canada. Canada is multicultural, welcoming immigrants and their cultures as well as the knowledge that they contribute to the growth of Canadian culture. We are a peacekeeping nation and value that role in the world. We share our own stories of being/becoming Canadian. We speak to the matter that not all have felt welcome to be part of Canada. We also explored the tension we experience between thinking globally and particularly trying to balance world issues with our local and provincial lives. Climate change, for example, takes a world effort and is being challenged in that effort by nationalistic boundaries, although the scientific community is one that cooperates beyond those boundaries. Listen as we touch on Justice Murray Sinclair's four identity questions: Where do I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? Who am I?

A mantra that we hear a lot today is that everything is broken. How do we respond when we hear that Canada is broken, or the climate is broken, or the relationship is broken and the only way to fix it is to throw everything out and start over? The notion that despair generalizes, and hope particularizes can be applied as a fundamental truth to help us look beyond the ‘everything is broken’ mentality to what is true about a situation. Looking at all sides of an issue in all its complexity helps to break it down into smaller components identifying those things that aren’t working and revealing those things that are working just fine. Listen as we share our thoughts and experiences on the topic that goes from fixing things, to complexity, to hope and despair and finally to being human.

How important is hope in our lives? How do we maintain hope as we grow older? What supports hope day to day? Through our conversation, we grapple with what hope means to us in our daily lives. As we share our stories, it becomes evident that having a community is crucial to having hope. From immigrants hoping for a new life in freedom, to moving forward together after the death of parents, hope is nurtured in the presence of others and is stronger when shared with others. Caring for others is a hopeful act, listening, sharing food, or sitting with someone can instill hope. Corporate and institutional worlds can and do build in hopeful strategies to support community and connection. To continue to hope in the face of world events or personal challenges takes courage and it is as essential to us as air, food and water.

What does it mean to be human in today’s world? Philosophy and Religious writings through the ages have addressed this, but we wanted to talk about it from our perspectives. And perspectives we had! Humans are complex beings and out of this comes the range of emotions, thoughts, beliefs and values. How do we maintain human rights for all and offer respect and dignity to even those we oppose. How do we teach the value of human emotions and grow empathy and compassion in the world? What happens when we have bullies controlling information? How do we stand up against the loss of rights and freedoms that we see happening in the world? These matters emerge in our conversation on being human.

Making a podcast is fraught with all kinds of crazy things that can happen, like our false start for this one that we didn’t edit out. It also takes on a life of its own as we talk through our topic, moving in lots of directions. We do eventually cover the reasons why we started it in the first place, why we are still doing it, and how we hope to shape it in the future, acknowledging that conversations with friends and expanding horizons are at the core. Secondary to that is the notion that we might have something to share that others can identify with. Listening to podcasts is a way to engage with other people, learn about their lives and take a break from the heavy things happening in the world right now, helping us to feel more connected and to gain a different worldview. Listen to this somewhat behind the scenes conversation about podcasting.

Active Living Week is coming up in our province which prompted this lively podcast about our relationships with exercise. We share our exercise stories, whether it has been part of our life or not and how we view it now. How does exercise affect our physical health and mental health? How do we make it a habit? Our conversation explores the benefits of exercise, the difficulty of keeping it up, how to get motivated and the new things we have learned lately about exercise i.e how to keep healthy bones and feet. We share the adaptations we have had to make as we have gotten older. In the end finding the best way to exercise that works for us is the most important thing.

Rick and Elaine celebrated 50 years of marriage this year and honoured that, in part, by embarking on a month-long trip to Great Britain. Hear about their adventures tillering a long boat on the canals, visiting Wrexham in Wales, touring Scotland, glamping and even a trip to the A&E (emergency room). Throughout the discussion, we talk about the changes we have made in travelling as older adults now. Taking more time, locating hospitals, washrooms and other amenities, planning in greater detail and other strategies are discussed as the we share our travel adventures.

“Good aging” - Words of wisdom from Signe’s mother!

This was a fun episode to share with all of you. Ninety-two year old Joan (pronounced Joanne) has experienced much in her life and she is willing to share some of the wisdom she has gained in her own aging process. She speaks to what we face today in our political and social world, that we need to be grateful for having a life, for sharing life with others, and making the most of the life we have been given. Gratitude can help handle situations one might face and certainly relieves resentment and hate. Growing older is a "plus". Not everyone gets to grow old.

Her list of “good aging” might not fit precisely into our own situation, but it gives us pause and inspiration to appreciate what we do have as we age.