Mary Partington, 93: Taught that a love of books, music and a strong will are qualities to be revered

Mary Partington’s life took shape in Montreal where she was born to Elisabeth and Thomas Walls. Mary and her 10 siblings shared a walk-up on St. Catharine’s Street, in downtown Montreal, for much of their youth. The family attracted a large grouping of close friends, both Anglophone and Francophone.

As a young woman, Mary was quite ill for a time with rheumatic fever. She convalesced in a hospice run by nuns, and completed her schooling there. During that time, she developed a great love of reading, in part, due to her restrictions on athletic activities. Mary continued to be a voracious reader throughout her adult life, often reading through the entire night when a particular story captured her imagination. 

Mary met her late husband Alan, during WWII at a the Army/Navy club  she was convinced to attend by her popular and social brothers. Mary and Alan fell in love, but had to soon part when Alan was deployed serve in Italy as Sergeant Major with the Canadian Army.

Mary regaled family and friends with many stories from her time working  Canadian Air Force base at Dorval during the War. One such story she told was of pilots who calmed their nerves by knitting endless scarves, which they would work on in between ferrying aircraft through the dangerous North Atlantic skies to Britain.

When Alan returned following the War, he accepted a job as a machinist at Supreme Aluminum Industries in Toronto, which effectively brought the couple to “Scarborough Junction,” where they started their family in 1947. Mary and Alan  brought seven children into the world between 1947 and 1958.

Following the busy years of child rearing, and entering into her senior years, Mary extended her foray into her more artistic side, continuing to knit and crochet but also mastering crafts such a rug hooking and decoupage. She was an excellent tutor of sewing and knitting, teaching several of her daughters the fine points of the crafts. Mary was an excellent cook, when time afforded, and was famous for her apple pies and Christmas cakes and puddings. 

Some of the most vivid images the family has of Mary involve her fishing from “her rock” on Tea Lake in Muskoka. The family purchased a cottage on the lake in the 1964. Fishermen from all around the lake soon learned of Mom’s legendary catches of pickerel, pike and bass and motored by to meet the legend.   Mary would spend the entire summer at the cottage with the children, with Alan coming up on weekends.

It wasn’t easy doing laundry and fending for everyone at a boat-access only cottage without a car or means to pick up supplies, but Mary made the best of it with an ample supply of Readers’ Digest and National Geographics to keep the kids occupied. She’d make sure she would stash away some treats such as Peak Frean shortbreads, so that we could have something sweet during the week. Blueberry picking was a favourite outing for Mom and the younger children.

Another aspect of her life that conjures up wonderful memories of Mary, is her enduring love of music. She was a fabulous singer and sang robustly to all her favourites . Soundtracks from the South Pacific, Kismet were among her favourites, as were Nana Mouskouri and Frank Sinatra. Adding to her talents, Mary had a wonderful, uninhibited draw the dance floor. When the right tune would play, Mary was among the first to rise to the dance floor whether it was the “Black-bottomed Boogie” or the Beatles.  She would often do a short ‘tap dance’ or the Mashed Potato – a passion that has indeed been passed along to her offspring.

Perhaps the best testament to Mary’s character was her strong will. Even in her failing state with dementia and rheumatoid-arthritis over the past few years, those attending her at Seven Oaks Nursing home understood that they weren’t to approach Mary without a proper introduction to ask for permission to attend to her. She insisted, to the end, that she was running the show.

Mary’s greatest achievement was her loving family, and grandchildren, for whom she provided an unwavering example of commitment to ethics and values, hard work and a love of creative endeavours.

 She will be sadly missed by her children: Vicki, Alan, Janice, Elizabeth, Roger, Patricia, Adele and their partners, along with her loving grandchildren Sheila, Jenny, Liz, Steven, Lauren, Kari, Andrew, Melanie, Julia, Alan, Eric, Carl, Colin, Danny, Rachel, Jake, Hayley; and great-grandchildren: Crystal, Megan, Cheyene, Anjali, and; great, great-grandchildren: Abby and Paige.

I have a confession to make

I really haven’t been at a loss for words. It’s just that I know so many people at both my former workplace and my current one, which is problematic. We’re talkin’ leaving the publishing company #1 after unmentionable number of years, and then starting at publishing company #2 in July. So when work and career occupy a large part of your life, and many of your connections are poeple at both workplaces, it makes it un-cool to blog about what’s going on in two-thirds of your life.

I can tell you this much. Things have been interesting. It’s been great getting to know folks at publishing company #2. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Stuart, whom I now report to. We’ve connected over a similar sense of humour. I find him very funny. We had a laugh today over “binder envy.” He has an extremely large one. Mine is quite small. That’s all I am saying right now about the binders — for reasons of confidentiality. If I tell you what’s in them, I will need to kill you.

Janette, Tanya, Dean and Mary are different lights in my daily work life. Janette and I talk a often about teenagers. Tanya likes to end the day with comments like “it has been an extreme pleasure to spend this day with all of you, but I must go now.”  I want to mentor Dean. He’s a videographer. I want to teach him how to write. The combo would be unstopable.  

Mary is helping me get skinny at  the localfitness club. She’s adorable. I’m crazy for the gym right now.  This week, I did a full our back bend — with some fabulous coaching and assistance from the instructor. I haven’t done a backbend like that since I was 11 years old! I’m also doing my own program and  lots of weight classes. Then I do Bikram out every Sunday near home.

So it’s work and fitness right now. The teenage criters are taking up the rest of my time with a variety of challenges, punctuated by laughs.

I miss my publishing company #1 friends. Though, admittedly, I’m mad at them. I’m not going to call and make plans for lunch. I’m going to find out if they read my blog first.

I have sinned; I have not blogged

I have committed the cardinal sin of blogging. That is, not blogging. Pundits say, once you start, you shouldn’t stop. Readers will forget about you and it will be difficult to get them back.

So here is my first post, in a very long time.

Today, I am preparing an entry for the International Association of Business Communicators’ (IABC/Toronto) Ovations awards. I have entered this particular project previously in the IABC Gold Quill awards, which is the International version. It didn’t win, although I received some great feedback, which is proving helpful in preparing the entry I am working on today. Also, this time, I am spending a lot of time looking at past winning entries  — something I should have done the first time around.

A quick blog entry and and a couple of hours finishing up my awards entry should serve to get me outside to enjoy this balmy Sunday in February in Toronto. Good time management should also ensure I have the opportunity this evening  to watch Canada take on the U.S. in men’s Olympic hockey action.

I’ll let you know how the entry does when I hear back sometime in March or April. I don’t think I’ll need to let you know how Canada does against the U.S., unless of course, you’re living under a rock.

“So…how’s your job hunt going?”

Well, it’s going. There seems to be a few more jobs posted out there. In fact, it’s almost difficult to keep up with the letter-writing-and-webform-filling-out that’s necessary when applying to these new jobs. That being said, I haven’t been called for any interviews lately. Other job seekers I’m in contact with have said the same. It could be that firms are waiting for staff to finish summer vacations to before they begin interviewing. Or, it could be time to review my marketing materials.

The good news is, I’m well prepared for the next interview, thanks to some feedback from one particularly  helpful person who interviewed me recently for a government job. (Most don’t want to offer feedback, I’ve discovered. Not sure why.)

I was told, that although I did well on some aspects of the interview — the written portion and several of the six questions – I fell short, in comparison to other candidates, on some questions.  

The feedback I got was this: Write down the questions when asked, and make sure you answer each one thoroughly. Most of us don’t want to be caught rambling, or repeating ourselves, so we  tend to cut  our answers short. That’s not good, particularly in government-style interviews. In these circumstances, you’re being scored on the points you make with each answer. So the more you say, apparently the better. Even if you have to repeat your thoughts.

My interviewer told me that he could tell I probably had the answer they were looking for, but there’s not much prodding they can do. I got the sense that they are looking for one person to walk in and blow them all away with detailed answers that hit the mark for each one of the panel interviewers.

So for now, it’s back to the drawing board to make sure I have the best possible examples of my work experience to bring forth at my next interview and to get some feedback on my resume and covering letters.

In the meantime, I’m working on my tan.

Everyone wants a handyman, except me.

 The problem is, I have one. My dear spouse is an electrician. He works his day job, then labours between two older homes — ours and my mother-in-law’s. He’s ripping out bathrooms, re-building fences, tiling, painting and attending to a countless list of  problems in both homes.

My handyman comes by his handiness naturally —  from his late father who was a carpenter and bricklayer. That means, there’s nothing hubby hasn’t been exposed to, and apparently, nothing he can’t do. That’s why everybody wants him.

You might expect that our house is in great shape. Not so. For every step forward, there seems to be several back. We recently experienced a carpenter ant infestation in one of our bathrooms. We may have killed the bastards but it’s been a long process. We finally discovered the ant nest when we ripped out the bathroom to the bare walls. The nest was under the toilet. Gag! Add to that, my handyman mounted a fire extinguisher in the laundry room. Good idea. Except, he drilled through the wall and hit the sewage pipe leading from the toilet on the second level. He thought he had the stud, but got a poop pipe instead. Double gag!

When we renovated our main bathroom, a vapour barrier was installed in the attic over top of the bathroom. Somehow, this enhancement has added to our woes as the moisture between the insulation and the ceiling has become trapped. We’ve learned that there’s more to a moisture barrier than we originally thought. Now, we have to backtrack on work that was already done.

We need masonry work on our front steps; to replace the deck in the backyard; a new furnace and air conditioner; a new driveway; replace and update carpeting with hardwood; basement re-finished; painting is several rooms and patching of holes related to other renovations. There’s nothing in that list that my handyman hasn’t insisted he do himself. A driveway? Yes, that’s right. He says we can save a lot of money since he can do a patterned concrete driveway himself.  Easy, just mix and pour the concrete and buy the rubber presses used to make the pattern. A furnance? Yep, just need to go to the wholesaler and purchase everything and install it yourself (he “knows a guy” who does gas. Handymen always know “a guy.”)

Someone, please come to my rescue!

When you hear people complain that they can’t find a handyman, my story may give you a clue of why they are so hard to come by.

Bad economy takes the pressure off

Lately, I’ve run into several people I know from my working life, whom are now without job. Each time I meet up with someone in this share predicament, I notice, they are happy. The have a look of health and contentment.  And a few say they have no intention of looking for work right now. The idea is it’s better to start when the economy picks up.

They may have a point. I’ve checked my stats and since I’ve been out of work — from February to now — I’ve sent out 97 resumes and cover letters. Of that, I’ve landed seven interviews. In addition, I’ve had about seven telephone and networking interviews. I don’t know how good or bad my results are, but I feel pretty satisfied in the response, given that I have a little time before my “Star Bucks” run out.

One nice thing about being among the unemployed at this time, everyone knows it’s tough out there. You don’t have the usual self-doubt that you may experience if you were jobless in a booming economy. Taking time to relax and enjoy it might be what the doctor ordered. However, if you’re left without a safety net, like a severance, it would be quite a bit more worrisome.

Tips to employers on a good “kiss off” letter

Lately,  I’ve received a few “thanks, but no thanks” letters from prospective employers. Nothing out of the ordinary, considering the economy, my rustiness at interviewing, and my relatively short time in the job market. But, one thing stands out — many employers don’t know how to tell candidates they didn’t get the job.

This week, I received a “kiss off” form letter. A form letter for this purpose is probably necessary, but what galled me was that my name and the position I applied for were pasted into the letter in a different font and size than the rest of  the text. Come on! A little effort here, guys! The letter went on to say how much they enjoyed meeting with me …. bla, bla, bla, but the copy and paste job turned me off.  The letter ended with a line promising to keep my resume on file. Whose file? Where? Will it be top-of-mind a couple of years from now when the incumbent leaves the job? Not likely. That’s probably why you don’t often hear of a candidate called back to a company for a job they didn’t get in the first place. Why bother including that tired old cliche in every candidate rejection letter?

Another would-be employer called me and left a long and rambling message on my voice mail. I came home to see my voice mail indicator light flashing and then had to endure listening to her ramble on in a cheerful voice about why I wasn’t chosen. She would have been far better to leave me a message to call her back. At that time, we could have had a short dialogue rather than the one-way monologue she delivered. If you’re going to tell someone they didn’t get the job by phone,  don’t tell them by voice mail. That’s just not professional.

I suppose the desired outcome from the employer’s perspective is to avoid any contentious issues about the hiring process. And perhaps, avoid extended dialogue with the candidate about why they weren’t chosen. With that in mind, perhaps something like this would leave a better impression:

 ”Thank you for attending the interview for [title of position] at [company name]. Based on scoring against the key qualifications outlined in the job description, and explored with you by our interview panel,  your bid for [title of position] was not successful. However, we encourage you to visit our job board regularly and submit your resume for suitable positions posted in the future. We wish you well in your job search and appreciate your interest in [name of company].”

Consider that a freebie! My gift to myself.

I’ve discovered a lovely new form of torture

Recently, I discovered a new fitness activity — hot yoga. Previously, I had the benefit of yoga at the gym at my former workplace. Since I don’t have that luxury any longer, I’ve sought out a yoga class to keep my body from falling apart.

There’s a Bikram yoga place near my home, so I signed up for the introductory offer, which includes 10 days of unlimited classes.  After seven days, I’ve made it to five 90-minute classes. After the first class, my face was beet red for about 14 hours. I woke up the next morning, and my face was still puffy and bright red. The curse of my English complexion.

Lately, the classes are becoming more predictable and my ability to do some of the difficult poses is improving. That being said, Bikram yoga is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I run, spin, and dragonboat, but nothing I’ve ever done before is as difficult as these classes.

The big benefit though, is the result on this pesky shoulder injury I’ve had since October. Now that the bursitis is settled, the hot yoga is having a dramatic effect. My shoulder mobility is improving rapidly. Within just one week, my range of motion has improved about 10 per cent. I’ve also shed a pound or two, which is even more encouraging.

I think I’ll continue with the torture for a few more weeks, just to see what happens.

But honestly, I’d rather…

have a spike hammered through my eye than have to line up at Costco. That being said, I’ve discovered a great all natural laundry detergent sold there called ECOS. It works better than any other detergents, period. So it may be worth a visit.

I’m not uber-green or health conscience. I just do the basics, maybe a bit more. Recently, I spent some time with someone who is way more health conscience and green-focused than me. To my mind, some folks spend more personal energy on those issues than necessary, or perhaps, healthy.  Too much obsessing in any one direction can’t be good for your health!

I do, however, believe that there are plenty of  good green and natural health products out there. Ecos is one that I’ve found.

Excuse my tardiness

Whew! That was a few weeks I’m glad to have behind me! Although this time away from blogging included a lovely visit to Arizona, where I had the pleasure of visiting the Grand Canyon and the breathtaking Sedona area, I had some intense job interview preparation for two interviews I attended this past week.

One of those interviews was a real pressure cooker. I was required to produce a full communications plan in advance. I had 15 minutes to present my plan to the panel at the interview. There was no feedback to my presentation as the panel had their heads down, feverishly writing notes. Disconcerting, to say the least, but I understand that is how these things work. Next, the panel proposed six questions to me. I was required to answer without consulting notes. Again, no feedback allowed — just tops of heads alternating with blank stares. Here’s an example of one of the questions I was asked:

“Internal communications are paramount to the success of any organization. Outline three reasons why this is so and provide examples of how you personally have contributed to these outcomes in your past experience.”

Finally, I was sent to a computer in separate office and monitored while I completed at 30-minute timed writing project. I felt at home with this portion of the interview, but wished for a few extra minutes to polish it up. I should hear one way or the other in about two weeks. I really want this job. I’ll lay on the floor and pound my fists and feet if I don’t get it. I hope they know that.

The other interview was much more comfortable. It’s within the health care industry, which is a target area for me. It would be great to be called for a second interview here.

In other developments, I signed up for a Twitter account and I’m venturing off into that new world as I write. So far, I have one faithful follower and one tweet under my belt. I’m following two people and trying to figure out how I find more. Next, I’m starting a Flickr account and I’ll post some of my photographs from Arizona here. I have some erotic cactus pics so stay tuned!