Here’s a bit of info that came my way about a presentation that will resonate with lots of people.
Janet Dunnett, author of a memoir about a decade of caregiving for her two parents at the end of their lives, says, “Caregiving, was the hardest job I ever loved.”
“Most of us who have been caregivers, or who are doing it now, would agree with this,” Dunnett said in a press release. “It is the paradox. A reality in which there is so much grit to be endured also has so much bliss to be savoured and remembered long after the caregiving journey is over.
“Family members who help their spouses or aging parents are becoming an ever bigger part of our society.”
Family Caregiver’s Week (May 5-11) is a time to take special note of the labour of love that is the caregiving, and how it is the glue holding our health care system together, Dunnett says.
During Family Caregivers week Dunnett is visiting Island bookstores for Meet the Author events. On May 7 from 2 to 4 p.m., she will be at the Volume One Bookstore in downtown Duncan, eager to chat.
Sharing stories is a way we can support each other on the caregiving journey. “I call it being a peer with an ear,” she says.
***
B.C. Women’s collective, White Hot Jet, will make a return to the live stage this Friday, April 27 at Brentwood College in Mill Bay, five years after the collective’s last live performance, during which time they rebuilt the group and recorded their debut EP YYJ.
White Hot Jet is primarily a recording project, and its mandate is to empower and guide emerging female recording artists in B.C., many of whom are simultaneously pursuing a solo career in music. The project is one of many artist development initiatives directed by B.C. community record label, Mighty Speck Records.
The April 27 performance is part of the 48th Annual Brentwood Regatta, at which many other bands like Victoria’s Elli Hart & Dirty Mountain, Vancouver’s Cakewalk, and Cobble Hill-based Montgomery County will perform the same weekend. The event is open to the public of all ages, and admission is free.
Guitarist Rhea George (also from Victoria) and bassist Mylle Fournier (from Vancouver) complete the line-up for the April 27 performance, which will feature 95 per cent original material over the course of an unusually long 75 minute set at Brentwood College, located at 2735 Mount Baker Rd. in Mill Bay. White Hot Jet hits the stage at 5:30 Friday afternoon.
***
Bernice Ramsdin-Firth has passed along a note that her children’s book, The Extraordinary Tale of Sammy Snail and Other Silly Stories, is now published under her Haresend imprint.
Check it out at https://www.amazon.ca/Extraordinary-Sammy-Snail-Other-Stories/dp/0995819424.
***
Also slipped between the fenceposts by the Chemainus Valley Cultural Arts Society is this note about Pat’s House of Jazz lineup at the Osborne Bay Pub.
“A saxophone master from Washington State, a Southern-born boogie-woogie piano player, and a Montreal guitarist whose star is on the rise, are all heading to Pat’s House of Jazz in May. That means Mark Lewis with the Tom Vickery Trio, the David Vest Quartet, and the Sam Kirmayer Quarter. Get your jazz fix every Sunday by May 20 at 2 p.m. with your host, Preston Davies.”
Go get ’em.