It All Begins At The Office!

I call the two park benches outside the Metro Grocery Store on Somerled at Walkley my 'office!'  I am present there 7 days/week from 8-9am.  My great friend, Andy 'Coolman' Eickhoff is a daily presence there as well.

My reasons for being present in the community for a period every day are several:

• To greet all the people who come by and to start their day off on the right foot - with a friendly hello and well wishes for the day.
• To give everyone in the neighbourhood the opportunity to come and meet/speak with Andy and myself - about whatever is on their mind.
• To greet all the young children who pass by on their way to school and daycare.  This is a very important component of my mission - as I believe fully that children are the future of our world and I want to do my part to ensure they are well adjusted and happy.

In a very telling recent conversation with a long time friend, Pascale Annoual, she mentioned that while I am very active in doing many things for the community, I do not have a strong 'root structure.'  What she meant was that the vast majority of the activities I mediate, I do so by myself.  I took this to heart and in recent past have developed several strong ties to my community:

• In addition to my time at the office daily, I also take 1.5 hour walks around the community, encompassing Fielding, Somerled, Monkland and Sherbrooke Streets from Coronation to Girouard.  I do this only partly for the exercise it affords - more important to me is the people these walks bring me up to - invariably people i have not seen for extended periods often!
• The Depot NDG has a fantastic service they call Resto-Depot, which serves a great, chef-prepared meal 4 days out of every week.  The space is lively and generally quite full and the atmosphere is electric - especially on Tuesday afternoons from 2-7pm when they feature live music!  The Resto-Depot is open Tuesdays from 2-7pm and Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10am-3pm.  Suggested donation for their very amazing meals is $2.
• If you are looking for a spiritual experience and a great community, St. Ignatius Loyola Parish on West Broadway is the place!  Every Sunday from 10-11:15am, upwards of 300 congregants converge on the parish.  The vast majority of these people are young families, with what must be close to 100 young children - all running and playing and laughing and smiling!  While it is a catholic mass, all people are welcome.
• Two restaurants I patronize regularly are NDG Luncheonette on Fielding at King Edward and Geez RestoBar Café on St. Jacques just west of Cavendish.  Both of these are great local hubs with great food and even better people!  If you have never been to either, please give them a try - tell them Ross sent you!

So - it all begins every morning at the 'office' - and continues through the day!  I'd love to have your thoughts and suggestions as to how we can make NDG the greatest community in the world - and truly grow 'Heaven on Earth' here in our borough.  You can easily reach me by following the link below...

Wishing you peace, love and joy, always...

RossG3.ca