Oh wow! What a rollercoaster the year 2021 has been for me! The COVID-19 pandemic was still heavily restraining international travel and those who dared to go overseas often felt like rolling the dice with all those ever-changing pandemic rules and regulations. After getting both shots of an mRNA vaccine, I personally felt quite safe moving around, however, I understand the pandemic is not over so things can change at any time. If I were to choose a single most important lesson this year 2021 has taught me, I would definitely pick "live in the moment". It means letting go of the past and not having high expectations for the future. Living in the moment also means living your life consciously, aware that each moment you breathe is a gift. I am very much thankful to my son Roman for encouraging me to live in the moment and leaving my camera at home while spending quality time together. Mainly, for this reason, my best memories of this past year will always remain memories, not captured on digital film.  

I read somewhere that a city's transportation system is like a network of blood vessels in a human body. And much like a body suffers from clogged arteries that may lead to a heart attack, a city can be deeply buried or even fully paralyzed in never-ending traffic. Having said so, Vancouver is blessed with its fast and reliable SkyTrain system. I haven't yet met any Vancouverite who would not love their trains. P.S. Do me a favour - ask a Torontonian or a Ottawan the same question.

I bet you think the largest francophone community outside of Quebec is located in New Brunswick. The truth is, almost three times more francophones, over 600,000 people, reside in the province of Ontario. Expectedly, the majority of them live along the Ontario-Quebec border, with the highest concentration - in towns and villages east of Ottawa. I happened to recently visit one of those typical Franco-Ontarians towns, called Casselman, where most people speak French in their daily lives. I hope to give you a sense of it, although you can't expect much from a small town during a province-wide lockdown in the middle of a brutally cold winter. Definitely give it another try in the summer.