December 2023

Dear Vibeke,

Two Reasons

I am always so happy to reconnect with our wonderful donors, especially at this time of year. We wrote about Susanne and her partner Elisabeth in the August 2021 newsletter when she told us, “I believe in what you are doing in providing a home for elders and I believe in the whole campus”. I recently spoke with Susanne, (who lives on Vancouver Island), and asked her why she gives us a generous donation every December. She responds quite simply and honestly, “I like to have the tax deduction, I do not want to give extra money to the government and Hesperus does not have to wait until I die, you probably need money now.” I love her directness and she is right...all good points! Susanne shared that we are one of only two bequests in her will. To read more from the 2021 newsletter, click here

Linda Thomas is an expert professional cleaner who was head of the Cleaning Team at the Goetheanum from 1993 to 2012. Many of us who saw Linda speak at a Gateways conference at the Toronto Waldorf School over twenty years ago were very excited to hear she would be coming from Switzerland to work with a few Waldorf schools in southern Ontario this fall.

On November 2nd in the afternoon, Linda spent time with the Hesperus staff talking about the importance of 'presence' in caring for spaces and she shared some of her tricks of the trade. In the evening she spoke to a community group and shared many stories. Linda spoke about how Cleaning Spaces is Another Way of Caring for Human Beings. We hope to have her back in our community in the future. Photo above: Linda speaks with residents after her talk. Left to right Linda Thomas, Elisabeth Yetman, Renate Krause and Inga Khan

To learn more about her knowledge & insights, visit her website. www.lindathomas.org

Awe and Wonder

It was interesting to read in the Mayo Clinic newsletter that as well as the feelings of warmth and positivity that we experience during moments of awe, there are healthy physiological benefits. In fact, according to recent research, experiencing awe my carry significant mental as well as physical health benefits.

Doctors still don’t fully understand the reasons behind these benefits, but studies show positve effects in people who regularly feel wonder or awe. These include:

Reduced Inflammation

Lower Stress

Improved heart rate

Improved diastolic blood pressure

This time of year can inspire awe and wonder in our hearts. What will you do to keep the wonder in your life all year long?

Photos above: Left...Decorating the Christmas tree, Regine is reaching for the star while Debbie holds the ladder. Middle...thank you to Vladislav and Ludmila for setting up the Hannukah menorah. Right...this photo from our archives with both the Christmas tree and the Hannukah menorah taken a few years ago shows past resident Les Kagan sharing the tradition with many Hesperus residents.

The Man Who Invented Christmas In keeping with the upcoming season of Christmas, I want to tell you a little bit about the movie The Man Who Invented Christmas, a Christmas biographical comedy-drama film that follows Charles Dickens as he conceives and writes his 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. This is the one about Scrooge who is played by Christopher Plummer. His friends and publishers tell Charles that the book will be a failure as Christmas (at the time) was considered irrelevant and few people celebrated it. In a review, Time magazine mentioned that "some major plot points are the product of dramatic license" but concluded that the film "does provide viewers with a fairly accurate sense of how Dickens successfully changed the way Christmas is celebrated”. I don’t think I am giving too much away by writing the text epilogue that appeared at the end of the movie. Blessings… Vibeke

Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol on December 19th, 1843.      

By Christmas Eve every copy had been sold.                      

Overnight charitable giving soared.                                   

It has become one of the best selling books of all time,                 

forever changing the way we celebrate Christmas,                    

reminding us of the joy to be found in friendship, kindness and generosity.

Annual Fundraiser and Walk

2023 saw twenty team members participate in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Ten of these were Hesperus residents who participated virtually.

Team members walked and worked hard at getting sponsors. They sponsored each other, and so many Hesperus residents sponsored the residents on the team.... so heart warming.

Of the 156 charities, we ranked 24th in fundraising! Thank you to everyone who

participated so whole heartedly in this community endeavour.

This event is part of our annual fundraising campaign. The funds are used by our Cultural Circle to organize activities and events for residents on a yearly basis. We also use the funds to provide subsidized meals, eurythmy programs.........

Vibeke for the

Resource Development Committee

Vibeke Ball (Chair),Catherine Daugherty

Pina Corigliano, Debbie Marckulis

Colour Space.....Food for the Soul

Rudolf Steiner encouraged artists to paint walls with transparent radiant colour. He used the word “lasur” to describe this new way of colouring walls…where colour would feel as though it were in the space and not just on the wall. This provided a pure experience of colour… as though one could “spiritually pass through the walls.”

Many of our residents have been wondering over the years where the colour in our lobby has gone and looking forward to a possible renewal. The last time the lobby was lazure painted was 12 years ago in 2011 as residents were moving into the expansion. At that time, plant pigments were used which faded very quickly, so we opted for a different type of paint pigments that will hopefully be with us for many years. 

Charles Andrade, a master in the art of lazuring, came from his home studio in Colorado to bring new life to our beautiful lobby. Lazure painted walls have an enlivening quality, creating soul nourishing interior environments.

Our lobby has many dynamic architectural features that we had started to take for granted. The new colour in this space emphasizes the architecture and enlivens the experience we can have in such an environment. Through the flowing colours Charles brought out the dynamic architectural elements making the space even more beautiful.

According to Rudolf Steiner ‘living’ architecture, can affect individual behaviours, and in addition to form, the colour adds another level to our experience. In colour, we breathe differently and our entire life experience can be renewed. If you haven’t already, we invite you to come and sit in the lobby. Just, relax and enjoy the space… you may even have an experience of wonder and awe.

I was reminded of a 2014 article on beauty...excerpt below.

Thank you to residents Victoria Gillen and others who made donations toward the cost of this project. Photo of Regine (Chair of Aesthetics Circle) and Charles Andrade

Why Beauty is an essential topic for us in Hesperus by Regine Kurek: .....we can develop a new and different SEEING by consciously developing a sense for a higher Beauty, or a wider definition of it: Beauty around us in even the insignificant details of our surroundings, as well as Beauty in the soul of another person when we meet them in the hallway in passing or for a conversation, and, Beauty in what we create that others can enjoy as much as we do. For this we must look with new eyes and sometimes see the world through the eyes of another. Our own sympathy may lead us, but in the end we must really walk through the gate of sympathy (of what I like) and antipathy (of what I dislike) into the garden of Empathy and towards an objective Beauty that is the “Beauty of the Gods shining through,” bringing well-being and joy to everyone.

May Beauty shine through us

May Love penetrate us

May strength enliven us

That we may arise as helpers for humanity

Selfless and true

To read the full three page article click here

In Closing: Hesperus Village is a charity. The spaces that we create and maintain, the programs and activities that we provide and the community life that we strive to create depend on donations. Please make a year end contribution by clicking here.