Change and Renewal

In his interview with Jeff Rollings, Trevor Cole says, “If I feel like I’m mastering something, then it means it’s time to challenge myself again and do something new.” And so the novelist became a playwright with the adaptation for stage of his own novel, Norman Bray in the Performance of His Life, which opens at Theatre Orangeville in April.

The theme of change and renewal exemplified by Trevor Cole runs throughout this issue – not only in the re-greening of our gardens and landscapes, but in other spheres of our lives as well.

Because it’s spring, we start outdoors. Tralee Pearce takes us to a particularly splendid garden in Mono that has been a two-decade passion for Misha Dubbeld. She is now broadening her concept to create nothing less than a new kind of garden vernacular for southern Ontario. Then we go on to visit Sant greenhouses, a verdant and expansive universe unto itself that evolved with a classic family story of struggle and triumph.

In the broader landscape, Don Scallen reviews exciting initiatives to restore populations of bobolinks and meadowlarks that have declined sharply with the loss of grasslands. And on a wider canvas still, Gail Grant interviews Caledon resident Greg Gubitz who heads a Canadian foundation that is taking tough practical measures to save African elephants from poachers.

The theme of renewal becomes a personal journey for Nicola Ross as she investigates the yin and yang of conventional and naturopathic healthcare to discover a balance in the array of options that makes sense to her overall well-being. And Laura LaRocca talks to two young women at Shed The Light for whom renewal has been an intensely intimate experience. Nevertheless, they and other members of their group have found the courage and confidence to share the stories of their personal struggles with mental health in order to foster understanding and reassure other sufferers they are not alone on their road to recovery.

For other high school students, the annual spring production provides the happier challenges that open the way to personal transformation. Liz Beatty visits them backstage to discuss the life lessons they’re learning behind the footlights.

And finally, in her new column, “Over The (Next) Hill,” Gail Grant offers some practical advice for seniors contemplating one of life’s biggest changes – selling the family home and downsizing. She discovers that even in our later years such change can be a source of positive renewal.

With winter’s dark days behind us, we hope you’ll find much in these pages to inspire you to fresh new beginnings.