Leejay's Guide to the Library 2016

While preparing for an #Architecture #JanesWalk in May,

I met an incredible woman, on twitter,

with a fundraiser benefiting youth.
Since I'm currently working closely with youth in my church,
I felt that this was a perfect community fundraiser to support.

André had just announced that this Janes Walk would be dedicated to
the late Leejay Levene, an aspiring architect.
Shirley is sharing Leejay's story before the walk begins.

I even wrote about it in my May blogpost about #Architecture 

and our family's experience living in Rome.

Since then, I've had the privilege of getting to know

Shirley Levene,

K-W Oktoberfest Rogers Women of the Year 2014 Award Recipient.

From left: Regional Chair, Ken Seiling, Regional radio personality Mike Farwell,
Fundraiser extrodinaire Shirley Levene and Waterloo Region Chief of Police, Bryan Larkin
at the Leejay Levene 2016 calendar launch
Photo courtesy of the Levene Family

 Out of the grief of losing her son,

Leejay Levene,

 in a tragic accident,

 comes an opportunity to provide hope to many more lives.

Shirley, with the loving support of her family
(husband Ron, sons Casey & Elli Levene)

 has spent the past 8 years selling her late son's artwork and 

donating all raised funds to many special local causes.

I'm inspired.

Mother's pizza nourished the calendar launch attendees with their delicious pizza.
(I found André & Melaia in the Levene photos!)
Photo courtesy of the Levene family.

This year, 

the Kitchener Public Library

will benefit from a

Leejay Levene calendar.

Each gorgeous month of the 2016 Leejay Levene calendar on display at the launch.
Each month is sponsored by one of your favourite local businesses.

Proceeds from the sales of this calendar will help build

a Teen Tech Livingroom

at the Kitchener Public Library.

Simply Awesome!

Tech literacy is a significant industry of our 
Waterloo Region 
past, present and future.

I'm excited that so many youth will have the opportunity to explore

technology in a safe environment within the stunning 
Kitchener Public Library.

When I attended the launch, which included a gallery of
Leejay's artwork, 

May 2015 Kitchener Public Library gallery was lined with the works of Leejay Levene.

I discovered a painting 
by Leejay 
that gripped the most tender depths of my heart.

I'd like to introduce you to
Leejay's
"Footprints".

Apparently the original painting is of life size 
Leejay footprints
but the print, with the miniature size footprints,
spoke to me.

You see, they reminded me of some very special little footprints that
walked into my life almost seven years ago.

Our fourth baby,
Isoefa Alofa,
was stillborn and the kind nurses at McMaster hospital
made footprints of my lost son.

Measurement in inches

Not long after we lost him, I found this meaningful quote:

"There is no foot so small 

that it cannot leave an imprint on this earth."

- unknown

Truth.

Thank you to my new friends, 

Leejay & Shirley Levene 

for adding some colour to my grief through
"Footprints".

No words, just feelings.

It's an honour to have this painting in my home.
It gently hugs & warms the tender depths of my heart.

For now, "Footprints" is displayed above my piano.
Interesting note: Leejay adopted an almost identical cat as the cat that we just adopted
in January and is pictured here.
This one's for Leejay's Lola, from our Katara.

Everyone would benefit from the thoughtful & moving art by
Leejay Levene.

When you purchase his calendar, 
you have months of inspiration through his artwork,
in combination with inspiring quotes 
from local and national citizens and celebrities.

Leejay's 2016 calendar can be purchased for 
$10.00 
at 
any Kitchener Public Library location,
Westmount Pharmacy
or
directly from
Shirley Levene.
Just tweet her!

I would also be more than willing to hook you up with your 
2016 Leejay Levene calendar.
Comment below or tweet me.

These calendars bring personal reflection and inspiration,
make meaningful gifts
and contribute to an incredible 
#community cause.

Go grab your calendar and I look forward to meeting you at the new
Teen Tech Livingroom
at the Kitchener Public Library.

Thank you Levene family,

with Love,
Daisy

Architecture Throwback & Forward Again

In 2004 we had two kids, boys, 2yrs. old & a 1yr. old.

André was in his 4th year of Architecture at the 

University of Waterloo, School of Architecture.

There's a Rome term during the 4th year of studying architecture.

We were barely scraping by as students, with two children, while in school but André's professors encouraged André to go to Rome. This incredible school supported us every step of the way. Professors advised André to gather money from all possible resources - savings, loans, family, etc. They encouraged us to make the sacrifices needed to go and partake of the 
invaluable education that was the Rome term.

We begged our families to support us. 

Our families helped us get to Rome. 

They were hesitant, as it was a significant sacrifice on their part but they did it.

We made it to Rome because of our incredibly supportive and trusting family.

Rome changed our lives forever.

History came alive. Ruins told stories of people, their lives and their communities. Layers of life lessons, both individual and collective, gushed out through the study of architecture within the layers of new buildings growing out of the old. 

Rome was a cultural feast.

We drank deeply from it's historical waters.

We played where the Romans played,

We walked where the Romans walked.

Our family changed forever in this historical playground.

Today, we reap the rewards of such a rich education and personal sacrifice. André has completed his architectural exams and as of February, has successfully passed each of the intensive exams.

He has achieved his goal of becoming an architect but we know that it didn't happen without the support and sacrifice of many people along the way.

This is part of why we love community.

We know what community has done for our family 

and we're determined to pay it forward.

This weekend André will be hosting another Jane's Walk in Uptown Waterloo.

This year's Jane's Walk will be dedicated to Leejay Levene, an aspiring architect, who tragically lost his life during a routine wisdom teeth extraction. Leejay was only 18 yrs. old and was on his way to the 

University of Toronto school of architecture. 

I have no doubt that he would've been a successful student and architect.

How do I know?

You can see it in his art - 

which will be on display at the Central Library Art Gallery 

from May 7th to May 27th, 2015.

All proceeds from sales of Leejay's Art & $10.00 calendar will benefit the Kitchener Public Library's future "Teen Tech Livingroom" at the Central library.

How else do I know that Leejay would've been a successful architect?

Look at his incredibly supportive family & friends.  

Like Rome, they continue to build on the successes & tragedies of the past.

Polski

These are *not* doughnut holes. Not even close! Read on!

People used to ask me if "Daisy" was my nickname. Nope. That's my true blue, through and through bona fide birth-given name. My Mum's highschool friend was named Daisy and she looooooved her friend's name and wanted this name for me. 

I've had few nicknames throughout my life but a good friend, who wanted to highlight my Polish heritage, would call me "Polski".

"Polski" made sense.

My last name (at the time) was Podeszwa (pronounced POh-dEz-wAh in English. pronounced POh-dEsh-vAh in Polish). 

I loved my last name. It took me awhile to love it. Growing up, on the first day of school, I would sit with my head down on my desk, filled with anxiety, while the teacher went down the class list:

Sarah Adams? "here!"....Karen Brown? "here!" Jason MacDonald? "here!"....Daisy Po...Po...Po-desk...Po-zed...Po-zzzzwah (in my younger years, roars of laughter would erupt from the class depending on the phoenetic acrobatics that would come out of the teacher's jumbled mouth) "PODESZWA!" I would call to help out. The teacher would stick to "Daisy" and quickly move on.

Growing up I was told that "Podeszwa" meant "heel of the shoe". Our close teenage friends would bug us saying that's why my brother's and my teenage feet stunk so bad. Hahahaha! Good times!

I wasn't sure if the translation to English of Podeszwa was really true, so, I just googled "Podeszwa" to see what I would find. I cried from laughing SO hard! In "google images", there's a seemingly endless supply of pictures of the bottom of shoes or heels of fancy shoes/boots. So. Many. Different. Kinds. Of. Shoes. Once again, I literally "LOL"! Try it! What images come up for your last name?

I have SO many pictures of my brothers and I working in a garden & Dad's stories of his trips to Poland, 
visiting all the farms, that this picture perfectly defines being Polish to me.
Here are the Podeszwa kids, with Dad Podeszwa, soles of our feet covered in a garden, working. 
I bet my younger brother "watered" the plants after this pic!

I also found an "English translation" on the net for "Podeszwa". Here it is: 

sole {noun} [sports]
So there were no longer shoe makers, but now there are people slapping soles on people's shoes.
sole (of the foot and of shoe) {noun}

So there you go! "Podeszwa" is the "Smith" of Poland! Funny short story: my brother married a Smith. Yup! True short story!

On Feb.12th, 2015, I popped onto Facebook. Two interesting things happened:

1. A friend of mine, who served her Mormon mission in Poland, began posting "Fat Thursday" (in Polish, Tłusty Czwartek) pictures. She smothered her Facebook page full of Pączki (Polish pastries, very much like doughnuts) pictures. My mouth was certainly watering by now and with every picture, this treat was looking very familiar. I thought I never tried this treat before but my watering mouth told me that this treat was familiar.

2. My brother's Mother-in-law, yup, the "Smith", posted a website to my brother with a photo of my Dad's older brother's gravestone on it. My brother has been gathering his family history and his Mother-in-law found the gravestone, of my Uncle that died as an infant, online. Weird! How could it be "Fat Thursday" and my Uncle's discovery day in one? I was particularly excited because I had just recently gathered information about my Uncle Charles from my Dad. I could confirm the identity of this grave stone because I had just written down my Uncle Charles' birth & death years and the cemetery that he was buried in. Everything on the site was correct. 

I then shared with my bro's Mother-in-law the story behind that stone. You see, my Dad had recently replaced his older brother's stone. I thought he replaced it because it was worn down. My Dad is 75, so that would make his brother 77. I called my Dad again and my Dad shared that he replaced the stone because "Podeszwa" was not spelled correctly (no surprise there!). Also, My Uncle's first name, Charles, was not included on the stone. My Dad did this for his older brother, the brother he had not even met. This story had always touched me. After hearing about it again recently, I was even more determined to get back to my home-town, in London, ON, to see my Uncle's new stone but here I was seeing it for the first time on the internet. A stranger had taken a picture of it and uploaded it online for this exact purpose. So that people looking for their lost loved ones, can find them online. I told my Dad that the stone for his brother was now online. I wasn't sure what he would think of that. He simply said that it was amazing. Just amazing. At the time that my Dad put this stone together, I was busy with little ones and did not have time to support him in this worthy cause. His efforts seemed to go unnoticed and unheralded. That bothered him. In fact, he wanted to be there when that stone was laid but the nuns at the cemetery had neglected to notify him of the stone's replacement. This never sat well with him but all seemed to wash away when his efforts were validated by a volunteer who took time to take that picture, upload it online and now his son, who lives on the other side of the country, and his daughter, have viewed the stone.

Many of you know that I lost my fourth baby, Isoefa Alofa. It has been six years since we lost him and I have not yet had the heart to put his stone together and placed at his grave site. I felt like the time was getting closer and this would probably be the year. When I saw my Uncle Charles' stone, I knew for sure this would be the year. I want my baby's stone to reflect my Uncle Charles' stone. I'm ready and I now look forward to this special moment. 

Through my baby's loss and the loss of my Uncle Charles, I feel closer to my Nana, my Dad's Mother. She died when I was little but I remember her very well. I feel her loss. I feel for her loss and now I feel that much closer to her.

I Love this picture of my Nana. She looks SO Polish to me.
The dress, the hat, her strong body.
Nice legs Nana!

So, when I jumped on twitter later in the day and saw this tweet from one of my favourite local European bakeries, Nougat Bakery,

Nougat Bakery @Nougat_Bakery · Feb 12

Paczki - all day long #FatThursday #delicious

 

View more photos and videos

0 replies0 retweets0 favorites

I couldn't take it any more! I called the bakery, made sure they still had Paczki (they did!), and then called my husband to pick them up on his way home from work.

My husband arrived soon after and our family sat around the table learning about Paczki (pronounced pawnch-ki). This Polish delicacy is traditionally served on Fat Thursday, the last Thursday before the Catholic Ash Wednesday, where Lent begins along with the ban of lard, sugar, eggs and fruit, until Easter. These beautifully simple ingredients are used up together to create this brilliant fruit-filled bun. I must learn how to make them. I carry all these ingredients in my home. All-the-time. Why wouldn't I? I'm Polish!

Paczki!

We tried 3 different kinds of Paczki; Rose (rose-hip jam.lovely!), Raspberry and Advocat (like a boston cream but better).

The table favourite? Without a doubt, it was the raspberry. Each Paczki was beautiful and delicious and would win my dessert heart. However, the raspberry seemed to burst in our mouths with depths of flavour that perfectly complimented the fluffy pastry. It made us all wish there was more raspberry!

Raspberry Paczki.
Heaven!

For me personally, it was a rich taste of something familiar. I think my Dad has bought a cheaper version in the past or I had them as a young child with my staunchly Catholic Nana. Either way, the taste was a taste of home and on Fat Thursday, I felt closer to my Nana and my Uncle Charles. It was a special day and I thank my friend for honouring her time in Poland by posting those pictures and I thank my adopted Mother-in-law for finding Uncle Charles on Fat Thursday. It truly was a Fat Thursday - fat with the spirit of loved ones and cultural heritage. 

My Valentines Day is dedicated to my Nana Podeszwa, 

who suffered the loss of a child, 

on her own, in a strange new country where she began building 

her new home and future. My Valentines Day is also dedicated to my Uncle Charles, who I know enjoys eternal glory 

with his humble Mother and Father. 

Much Love,

your little,

Polski

 

Old Acquaintance

There's a saying,

"Yesterday is history, 

tomorrow is a mystery

but today is a gift. 

That is why it's called

"the present.""

I try to live by these words of wisdom. I have embraced my present. Two wonderful boys. One darling daughter. That's five of us in our present family. I wanted more of us. At least two more but it wasn't meant to be. So, the five of us carry on quite happily.

Then subtle reminders stop me in my tracks. Like the sweet neighbour boy who seemed about the age of my lost boy, our fourth baby, that died at 24 weeks gestation. My daughter would come home from school and tell me how our little neighbour hugs her every time he see's her in school. I immediately think of what could have been. She could've had a little brother relying on his big sister for comfort and assurance at school. But this is not our life. That's history.

Then the same sweet little boy has his sixth birthday at the beginning of the same month that we will honour our little lost boy's sixth birth-day.

History collides with the present. 

Is it still a gift? It is! I can assure you that it is! Our neighbour's little boy has a sweet little brother and two wonderful parents that come with him. They have entered our lives unexpectedly and have enriched our present. They are a gift! In fact, that sweet little boy's Mother provided a Christmas miracle for me this year. In a very personal and weak moment this month, I felt overwhelmed with sadness and longed to be thought of and cared for in the midst of caring for so many others. The Mother of this sweet boy, not knowing the depth of my feelings, was an answer to that prayer and provided a literal "present" for me that was both unexpected and deeply meaningful. A gift that represented her past and was now blessing my present. A true Christmas gift and like my lost little boy, a Christmas miracle.

My little boy will never be forgotten. Isoefa Alofa Arseneault. Samoan for "Joseph Love". Joseph because he is a Christmas baby. We discovered his death via ultrasound on Christmas day 2008. I wanted to honour the incredible man that is the earthly father of the baby Jesus, Joseph. I have such deep respect for Joseph and the gentle ways he seemed to have with both Mary and Jesus as a baby and then as a growing child. Such an exemplary Father and parent. This is how I imagine my Isoefa. Gentle, strong and loving.

Alofa, meaning love, because of all the love we feel for him and all the love we imagine he feels for us. My younger brother suggested Alofa for a middle name and it is most appropriate. Honouring our Samoan heritage and the love that is abundant there.

What I didn't expect from his birth is the Love that would surround our family then and continues today.

Thank you! Thank you friends, family, strangers, angels and especially my Father in Heaven for all the Love that you have delivered to our family in so many different ways since that historical day. Small or big, it matters not. You were and are a gift to us. 

One such gift was given to me by my friend, Meaghan Smith, who kept up with my story & viewed my photos of the sad events of that day on Facebook. She comforted me in my grief at the time through the words that she reached out to me with. I was then floored to receive an email from this busy Canadian singer/songwriter right before the year anniversary of my baby's death. She had written a song about my Isoefa and did a rough recording of it with her husband, Jason Mingo. This music soothed my broken soul & heart and captured all the emotions of my experience that I could not capture for myself. Just like any gift that was received at that time or since, it continues to bring divine comfort to my aching Mother heart. Grab another tissue and have a listen:

Guess what Meags? After a very green & dry Christmas, a dusting of snow drifted down on our roof & ground today. I was so pleased for snow while listening again to your song. :)

I'm humbly grateful for the gift that is my present life.

As for my history, it shall never be forgotten. 

**This post is dedicated to all who have 

experienced the pains of loss. 

I wish you peace as you 

walk this difficult journey and find your new life 

carrying your loved one in your heart.**

"Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight" (Gibran, 1923).