Author: Mandi

My husband’s illness

Mandi

I’ve been quiet this fall and this is why. I’m a quite private person in many ways, and I haven’t said much publicly about my husband’s illness. In mid-February, our lives were turned upside down and I’m posting 2 notes that my husband, Geoffrey Holmes, posted on his Facebook wall.

October 4th, 2012

Friends and family:Birthday 2012 with my hubby

About a month ago I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. This is known as the “best” type of cancer a man can get. Actually, it’ most occurs in men 15-35 (so I guess I’m really that age!). Anyways, I underwent a surgery to remove the cancer and the procedure went smoothly.

Unfortunately, I recently had a follow up scan and the doctor has told me that my lower lymph nodes are swollen up. This is most likely a result of the cancer spreading upwards as this is “normal”. It’s know as “type 2” cancer now.

But the news isn’t all bad. This type of illness as I understand it is highly treatable. I will be starting a cycle of chemo on monday that has a very good chance of putting the cancer in remission. The success rate with this type of treatment is VERY high.

I’m in good spirits and raring to go with becoming a human pincushion for two months but the side effects can include nausea and fatigue. Needless to say, I’m going to be off work for a while and enjoying an extended hairless vacation.

Please don’t worry too much about me as I’m a fighter and feel okay. On the other hand, I DO value your support and prayers at this difficult time for Mandi and I. I’ll be in good hands as Mandi shows me a lot of love and that’s what’s best at a time like this.

I won’t be taking visitors for a while as I can’t really risk getting a cold or flu at this point. If you’d like to communicate, Facebook and email are the best way for me.

Thank you all for your support and God bless!!!

Geoff

sick bearJanuary 3rd, 2013

Friends and family: Mandi and are are getting closer to the end of my chemo treatments. I have one more full “cycle” consisting of three weeks beginning this Monday. The last week we were sidetracked with an infection that had to be treated before I could finish the chemo.
It’s been a lonnnng time since I’ve felt healthy (I was diagnosed in September) and Mandi and I have had a lots of ups and down. Mainly downs! Chemo is very hard to deal with as anyone who’s had it can attest. But my faith in the almighty, my martial spirit, and certainly your support and prayers have seen me through. Most of all, Mandi has provided the support and love to make the fight worthwhile. I can’t imagine tackling this without her.

After my chemo is finished, I will go through a battery of tests to see what’s happened with the cancer. If necessary, I may have to face some radiation or surgery to continue the process. That’ll seem like a cake walk compared to what I’ve already been through. I’m determined to get this over with, finish my antique car, and get out dancing. Who wants to take a spin with cancer-kickin’ man?

Anyways, thanks again for all your support, have a prosperous New Year and for Pete’s sake, stay healthy!!!

Your friend, Geoff

Health Nut Raw Foods – SOLD!

Mandi

It’s been a very overwhelming time. I was in Herrang, Sweden when I learned that I’d need to move the studio. I still had Rawstock to run at the end of August too… and that was without the usual Bees’ Knees and Health Nut workload. Then, my husband became ill in mid-September and I had to re-evaluate a lot of things going on in my life.

The result? I decided that it would be best for me to sell Health Nut Raw Foods and lighten my work load. I need to spend more time with my husband right now and just take care of Bees’ Knees Dance as best that I can.

This Saturday will be the closing date for Health Nut. I’m pleased to be passing it on to Sharon of Happy Vegan Kitchen. She’s wonderful and I know that she’ll do a fabulous job.

New Studio!

Mandi

Well it’s been a while since I’ve posted!

I’ve been swamped with the good, the bad and the ugly.

  1. Last minute decision to open a new studio for Bees’ Knees Dance.
  2. Mad hunt to find said studio.
  3. Renovations to open studio.
  4. Husband, Geoff, gets called in for last minute surgery part way during renovation process.
  5. Amazing friends step in to rescue renovation project.
  6. I finally realize I’m completely overwhelmed and put my other business, Health Nut Raw Foods, up for sale.
  7. Studio opens October 1st.

Additional craziness before, during and since but we have indeed opened and life is moving on.

I think that things might start to settle down in the next couple of weeks. Let’s hope so!

Herräng Dance Camp 2012 – my 9th year!

Mandi


It’s hard to believe that I hadn’t been to Herräng in 5 years. Time sure does fly when you’re leaving your day job, getting married, moving to a new city, etc. But I finally got back to the Herräng Dance Camp for a little more than 2 weeks this year and was able to catch the 30 year anniversary of the camp. 


Admittedly, one of the reasons why I hadn’t been back to the camp in so long is that I really enjoy having some sort of a role there, and the right role hadn’t come up in a few years. After my first couple of years at the camp in ’99 and 2000, I started to take on working roles at the camp and by 2004 I was living in Sweden throughout the winter and spring helping with the camp’s administration. That year sort of killed me though, and I suffered from some pretty major travel burnout so I made my way back to Canada after various other nomadic adventures and took a year off in 2005. I did go back as a regular camper in 2006 and 2007 but it felt like something was missing.

Now, since getting involved in the Frankie Manning Foundation about a year and a half ago, I’ve found my true purpose. It feels so wonderful to visit the camp to help with something that’s so close to my heart. Since I started working closely with Judy Pritchett on the Frankie Manning Foundation Ambassador program, I feel like I’ve really found a way to apply my skill set to a worthy cause. So this year, I attended the camp as the representative for the FMF to oversee the scholarship recipients and it couldn’t have been more rewarding.

Our four Ambassadors came from widely different situations and geographical situations. Velo joined us from Taiwan where he is the organizer of a relatively new group of about 30 Lindy Hoppers. Adamas joined us from Korea where he’s been teaching Lindy Hop for 10 years but would like very much to introduce more of the history and Frankie’s spirit and touch to the dance there. Andrea is from Southern California and aspires to teach Lindy Hop to foster children with a particular focus on the Black community. And Nando is from Mozambique and is probably the very first Lindy Hopper to come out of Africa. They were such an amazing group and I felt so honoured to be there with them and to do my best to make their camp experience as rewarding and worthwhile as possible.

Unfortunately, we had pretty miserable weather over week 2 of the camp and I fell ill with the usual Herräng flu by the beginning of week 3. Cold, rainy… it even hailed twice. The sad thing was that I didn’t really shake my cold and was sick right up until the time I came home. Major bummer! This really interfered with some of my own social dancing and participation at the camp and I just didn’t dance the night away the way that I used to. I did have a few really nice dance nights though, so not all was lost.

I was thrilled to have my friend Laura come up from the UK where she’s currently living. She spent an extended weekend with us and it was so great to see her. We were particularly lucky to have one nice sunny day in Stockholm, along with my friend and student Heather. It was so nice to warm up for a day and it was nice to visit my old stomping grounds in Stockholm. I even popped in to my old gym, Friskis och Svetis, where I used to workout when the Herräng office was still on Vatagatan.

The camp is still going on and 3 of the Ambassadors are actually still there. My pals Krister, Kevin, Shannon, Clara, Riz, Terri and others are still there too for the 5th and final week of the camp. It was really nice to get back to Herräng, see lots of old friends, and watch newcomers fall under the magic spell that the camp can often emit. I know how intoxicating that first time can be and it was great to relive it through some of my friends eyes.

Toronto Raw Vegan Festival 2012

Mandi

There are days when I wonder what in the world I was thinking starting a second business (Health Nut) but weekends like this help me to feel like it was all a good idea after all. I’m very tired but so happy after feeding the people and receiving such a warm response at the Toronto Raw Vegan Festival. This was my first festival where I had my own independent booth. Rather than sharing with my pals at Truly Organic Foods, I had a table of my own right beside them. It was a great weekend! The cheese was a hit and a fascination with everyone there, and everyone was crazy for the nut butters. Success!

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Big day for Health Nut at Niagara VegFest!

Mandi

I’m still recovering from last week’s Frankie Tribute Weekend but there’s no time to rest yet! Today was Niagara VegFest

and I was sharing a half table with my pals Lee & Kent. I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from St. Catharines but boy was I proved wrong. WOW! The festival was absolutely slammed from the moment that the doors opened at 10am. There was a lineup outside and the crowds just kept on coming until well after 2pm! I couldn’t believe it.

I had my line of the 7 primary nut butters and 4 nut cheeses for sale and was giving out samples of Cinnamon Bun Butter, Havarti Style cashew cheese and Cheddar Style cashew cheese. Everything was a huge hit! I made a mistake by only taking a half table. Next year I’ll definitely need a full one. And they’re going to have to find a bigger space for next year because it was a CRAZY ZOO! Major kudos to the organizers for the incredible promotion that they did for the event.

Next week it’ll be a double wammy at the Toronto Raw Vegan Festival both Saturday and Sunday. In addition to having a full table for Health Nut in the grand hall, the Bees’ Knees crew will also be performing at 4pm. Check it out!

Frankie Tribute Weekend 2012 blew my mind!

Mandi

Last week was the incredible Frankie Tribute Weekend in Toronto. I summarized a lot of my feelings about the weekend in this post on FrankieTributeWeekend.com.

We’re still collecting the final funds for the silent auction and then we’ll be able to announce a final fundraising total. It was such a gratifying experience and I’m really excited to make next year’s event even bigger and better. We learned a lot this year and we’ll use those lessons to help us with next year’s event which will mark Frankie99, ie. Frankie Manning’s 99th birthday. Next year’s dates are May 24, 25, 26 2013!

Geoff’s birthday weekend in Buffalo 2012

Mandi


We have a habit of spending Geoff’s birthday, April 21st, out of the country. Last year at this time we were in New York. This year we just hopped over the border for a little weekend excursion. 

Unfortunately, his birthday gift hadn’t arrived yet when we left, but it will be in this week. I ordered him this very cool jacket from My Baby Jo.

We left yesterday morning and made our first stop at the Lakeside Diner which is a spot we’ve been to before a few times. In fact, I think that we went there for Geoff’s birthday 2 or 3 years ago with Dean. Then we went to poke around the antique area that we’re fond of. Geoff found two pair of really nice cuff links, one set with an “H” on it for Holmes and the other with little Jitterbuggers on it! That was a pretty neat find. We also spied a great men’s vintage 50s bike in red and excellent condition that Geoff was very attracted to, but at $450 he’d have to want to ride a lot more often than he does to make it really worth while.

Then we headed over to Miss Josie’s Antiques. This is a great store where I bought a few hats a couple of years ago and they didn’t let me down this time either. I have a bit of a hat radar and immediately found two fantastic hats. One is bright orange with flowers on it, very vibrant and extreme, and the other is a little dark green day number that I’ll call my Peter Pan Hat. Photos forthcoming. There was also a nice black hat that I don’t particularly need since I have so many but it has a neat little art deco accessory on it so I grabbed it to resell since the price was right.

After that we went to the vintage car Museum; The Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum. It’s not a big museum but they have a few really exquisite cars. Some day when Ginger, our 1929 Graham Paige, is done we’ll be able to drive her down there for one of their car shows.

I had wanted to go see some jazz on Saturday but we were really pooped and took an epic nap. By the time we went out for dinner it was 8:30pm and we weren’t done until about 10:30. We went back to watch a bit of TV instead which is a novelty for us since we aren’t TV people. At 2:30am there was a big fire alarm at the hotel which was really disruptive. After the evacuation, I couldn’t get to bed until 5am and then we slept in. In the morning we went to Bertha’s Diner, another place that we like back in the antique area.  We had some time to kill so we did a bit of shopping, and then it was time for the main event of the weekend.

Experience Shea’s as it originally was – a grand movie palace with a live orchestra, when the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra performs LIVE to the 1925 black and white silent film “The Phantom of the Opera” starring Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin April 22, 2:30pm. Touted as being one of the greatest horror films of all time, this cinematic classic with its score performed live by the BPO is a very special event not to be missed!

Well that was a really neat idea! Seeing a silent film as it was meant to be seen, with live musical accompaniment and in a big beautiful theatre with an appreciative audience. A++ It was so compelling! My only regret was that I got a little sleepy in the second act since Geoff and I had some champagne on the intermission. Still, it was a really neat experience seeing it on the big screen. I would definitely like to do something like that again.

Also, the Shea’s Theater is really beautiful. I’d like to see some more things there.

So I guess that’s a wrap for the weekend. We didn’t take many photos but I’ll upload some when we get a chance, including the cuff links and hats.

Happy birthday, my wonderful husband! XO