What makes people happy?
For three loosely related women in Parksville, B.C., playing cribbage each day keeps the blues away.
“It keeps us out of mischief, keeps our brains going- what we have left,” said Henny de Windt. And despite a smoking habit – today she’s puffing on Matinees – she’s a spry and bright-eyed 86. “I was born in 1922, lady,” she says with a grin. “I made it this far with smoking.”
So what brings her to the outdoor patio of Pacific Brim café with friends Gael Dixon and her adopted daughter Priscilla Dixon?
“Just friendship. And getting out. I usually walk downtown and she usually brings me back because that’s too much for me to walk 2 kilometres,” she says.
The secret to de Windt’s longevity?
“Working hard all my life, did a lot of outdoor gardening,” she says.
Not that life has been a bed of roses for de Windt, who remembers life as a 17 year old, full of life, in repressed Occupied Holland.
“It was horrible – we had no chance to do any young things. And we always had to be in early because of the curfew and the Germans,” she says.
She married a Dutchman at 22, just as the war ended, and they came to Canada 46 years ago at age 40, with three kids.
Every day, rain or shine – and it’s Vancouver Island, so there’s definitely rain – these three friends play crib, somewhere. Every day.
“We’re friends but we’re adoptive family – I call her Grandma,”says Priscilla Dickson, 24, who is a Special Olympian, competing in bowling (her mother is her bowling coach), swimming, track and field and ball. She has been chosen to go to Abbotsford for the Summer Olympic Games.
She loves her daily cribbage match.
“We’re like family, it’s like I’m hanging out with my mom and my grandma – it’s like hanging out with family.”
Email J. Louise at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com.
For three loosely related women in Parksville, B.C., playing cribbage each day keeps the blues away.
“It keeps us out of mischief, keeps our brains going- what we have left,” said Henny de Windt. And despite a smoking habit – today she’s puffing on Matinees – she’s a spry and bright-eyed 86. “I was born in 1922, lady,” she says with a grin. “I made it this far with smoking.”
So what brings her to the outdoor patio of Pacific Brim café with friends Gael Dixon and her adopted daughter Priscilla Dixon?
“Just friendship. And getting out. I usually walk downtown and she usually brings me back because that’s too much for me to walk 2 kilometres,” she says.
The secret to de Windt’s longevity?
“Working hard all my life, did a lot of outdoor gardening,” she says.
Not that life has been a bed of roses for de Windt, who remembers life as a 17 year old, full of life, in repressed Occupied Holland.
“It was horrible – we had no chance to do any young things. And we always had to be in early because of the curfew and the Germans,” she says.
She married a Dutchman at 22, just as the war ended, and they came to Canada 46 years ago at age 40, with three kids.
Every day, rain or shine – and it’s Vancouver Island, so there’s definitely rain – these three friends play crib, somewhere. Every day.
“We’re friends but we’re adoptive family – I call her Grandma,”says Priscilla Dickson, 24, who is a Special Olympian, competing in bowling (her mother is her bowling coach), swimming, track and field and ball. She has been chosen to go to Abbotsford for the Summer Olympic Games.
She loves her daily cribbage match.
“We’re like family, it’s like I’m hanging out with my mom and my grandma – it’s like hanging out with family.”
Email J. Louise at jackielarsonwrites (at) gmail (dot) com.
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