Tag: #canada

The Teeth

Helen Polishuk

I won’t tell you how important our teeth are for us. They are our healthy body, our mood, and our peaceful life.

Today I had my tooth treated. Nothing special, except that I’m a dentist and I used to work there and treat others’ teeth. Now I’m a bit old and can write and talk about it. In my practice, they used different filling materials and anesthesia, and the approach to treatment was different. There are many other innovations and inventions now, but the main thing remains: a healthy tooth is always better than a dead one.

Yesterday, I just bit into a piece of meat and felt the tooth with the filling crack. It cracked so badly that the filling was still in place, but half the tooth was loose. And a real burning sensation started around it—pressing it became painful. I skipped dinner and decided to fast because chewing was so difficult. And it wasn’t a molar, not a front tooth. It was a lateral tooth. Such a tooth has its own characteristics. It always consists of two roots and two nerves. All night I imagined it, trying to guess where and how it cracked.

If it’s cracked in the middle, treatment may involve its removal, as the two roots will separate. If it’s cracked laterally and deeply, the nerves need to be removed and the canals filled. And when there’s inflammation, like mine, this procedure isn’t very gentle, as the inflamed nerve prevents treatment and will react. In those days, when I was practicing, arsenic was used. It helped quickly kill the nerve and give the dentist access to the cavity. Arsenic is no longer used.
Therefore, the procedure itself isn’t very gentle.
I slept peacefully and didn’t feel any pain, although I need special treatment—I have a low pain threshold, I’m very patient, and I tolerate pain, even if it’s very severe, like renal colic or appendicitis. So don’t ask me if it hurts. I won’t answer this question very well. I’ll probably say, “It’s bearable.” And that would mean, “It hurts, damn, what are you even asking?”
This morning, I was already bracing myself for a trip to the dentist, as you shouldn’t wait more than 24 hours for a broken crown—it’s an emergency procedure.
And I agreed with myself that the tooth needs to be depulped, which will significantly accelerate its decay and quickly lead to its loss. The filling will be large, and a depulped tooth lasts a maximum of five years, after which it begins to decay, since a dead tooth has no calcification.

Just like that, a tooth gets lost out of nowhere.
It cracked. I’m over 60.
What does this mean?
It means that if we, those born between 1950 and 1980, start losing our teeth in our 20s, then by the time I’m 60, almost 50% of our teeth will be gone, especially those lateral ones. And then the worst thing will happen: to have a beautiful smile, people will start filing down and destroying adjacent teeth to put in cosmetic bridges, which in 5-10 years will take away more teeth. By my age and a little older—70—a person will end up with full dentures or, at best, implants.
The later fillings are placed on lateral teeth, the healthier the body and the longer a person’s natural teeth will last, and that means health. But if they crumble—and I’ve had two cases recently where my teeth simply crumbled. One sadly lost its nerves and now sits like a stump, awkward to bite on, but it stays in my mouth. And the second—just today. Suddenly, not from hard food, without any prior symptoms, healthy, and then suddenly it crumbled.
Does this mean there’s a problem with my system and a calcium deficiency?
Perhaps.
And not only that, in my region there’s a vitamin D deficiency, not enough sun, and my eyes are going blind—we live in the north and in a snowy country, where even perfectly healthy people begin to suffer from a lack of vital elements in the body.
And no matter how much scientists study this, no matter how many vitamin supplements they recommend, it doesn’t help us. I actually thought yesterday, driving back to Toronto at 4 PM, sitting in the car, that we’re unlucky with the sun, when I had to turn on the car lights because it was dark. The sun’s already gone at 4 PM. If it wants to shine in winter, it’ll come out for two or three hours and that’s it. Anyone who doesn’t get to enjoy it is unlucky. And it’s like that for six months a year. There are many winter days when there’s no light at all, it’s dark in the morning. And then there’s snow, blizzards, poor visibility, snowdrifts, and all that other stuff that’s so typical of Canada.
So, about teeth.

Take care of your teeth. Keep them healthy as long as possible – this is the key to your good health and your good mood.

Remembrance day

Helen Polishuk

Remembrance Day is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in the line of duty. The day is also marked by war remembrances in several other non-Commonwealth countries

Remembrance Day in Canada is on November 11, World War I hostilities and honoring all who have served and sacrificed in Canada’s military. At 11 a.m., Canadians observe two minutes of silence to remember the soldiers and civilians who have fought and died in wartime, conflict, and peace. The day is marked by ceremonies across the country and is also symbolized by the red poppy, inspired by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields”.


Honors all who have served and continue to serve Canada in times of war, conflict, and peace. 

The red poppy, which became a symbol of remembrance after John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields” described the flowers growing on the battlefields. 

The day serves to remember the more than 2.3 million Canadians who have served and the over 118,000 who have died in service. 

This year this day was held jointly with the Ukrainian community on November 8 in the park near the school on La Rose.Participants of the event, the patriarchs of all Ukrainian churches, the Ukrainian ambassador to Toronto, representatives of Ukrainian organizations, soldiers, the mayor of Toronto, and members of the public held a joint memorial service for the soldiers who died during the war.

It was a joint event organized by the Canadian and Ukrainian communities.

This event brought together representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora, and it was touching to see our oldest representatives, our glorious warriors, and our famous people, representatives of the diaspora, at this event.

I was especially moved to tears when the soloist of the Royal Ensemble ser MCpl Oliver sang the famous Ukrainian partisan song from the Second World War ,,Пливе кача”.This underscored the Canadians’ support for our diaspora and solidarity in Ukraine’s war against Russia. During the resistance, partisans sang this song when burying their fallen. It has remained a symbol of remembrance for the Ukrainians who perished in the war and has become a song that brings tears to our eyes.

I’ll digress and tell you a little about this day and the events associated with it.

Many people wear artificial poppies on their clothes in the weeks before Remembrance Day. Red poppies symbolize the memory of those who died and white poppies campaigns for non-military interventions in conflict situations. On November 11, special church services are organized. These often include the playing of “The Last Post”, a reading of the fourth verse of the ‘Ode of Remembrance’ and two minutes silence at 11:00 (or 11am). After the service, wreaths are laid at local war memorials.

The official Canadian national ceremonies are held at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario, according to a strict protocol. A service is held and wreaths are laid by armed services representatives. In May 2000 the remains of a Canadian soldier who died in France in World War I, but was never been identified, were laid in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial.

Since then, members of the public have laid poppies, letters and photographs on the tomb. Similar services and events are held throughout Canada. Some schools that are open on Remembrance Day hold special assemblies, lessons and presentations on armed conflicts and those who died in them.

Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the official end of the World War I hostilities on November 11, 1918. World War I was a massive conflict was played out over the whole globe, but particularly in Europe, where troops from Canada supported the Allied forces.

World War I resulted in the loss of huge numbers of lives amongst both civilians and military personnel. Many more people were badly injured. The war left great emotional scars in the servicemen, who had experienced it, and in the communities, whose sons, brothers, fathers, uncles and even grandfathers had died. Remembrance Day commemorates those who died in armed conflicts, particularly in and since World War I.

In Canada, November 11 is officially called Remembrance Day, but it is also known as Armistice Day and Poppy Day. Remembrance Day is commemorated in many countries, particularly members of the Commonwealth, including Australia and New Zealand (where it is also referred to as Armistice Day). In the United States, Veterans Day falls on the same date. In the United Kingdom, the Sunday closest to November 11 is known as Remembrance Sunday.

Five Remembrance Day Facts

  • Remembrance Sunday always falls on the second Sunday of November. …
  • 11th November symbolises The Armistice. …
  • Poppies are associated with Remembrance Day. …
  • Over 1.2 million British soldiers have lost their lives since the start of WW1. …
  • Remembrance Day isn’t just to remember the fallen of WW1.

On Remembrance Day, you can say or do things like observing the two minutes of silence, reciting”Lest We Forget” or the ” Act of Remembrance ” ,and thanking veterans for their service. It’s important to avoid saying “Happy Remembrance Day” because it is a solemn occasion, not a holiday. 

Huronia was waiting for us.

Helen Polishuk

A trip always leads to new discoveries and wonderful impressions and long memories. And now a week has passed, the road dust has settled, my thoughts are already cold and I return to those days with memories.And everything was cool.Just a trip to Huronia. For you this is something, then I will reveal a secret. This is a peninsula adjacent to the large Lake Huron (by the way, the name of the lake comes from the same name as the peninsula). The lake is divided by the borders of America and Canada. On the other side is Michigan, and from here we, the residents of Ontario.

Previously, and this was 400-500 years ago, this neighborhood was intense. Then somehow the activity died down, then in the 1900s everything was actively revived again and looking at the photographs – there were huge ships with tourists, grain and wood were transported on ferries, cars and equipment were brought here. Ladies with lace parasols from the sun walked along the shore, cars with mustachioed men in tailcoats with canes drove. And a railway went to the main desks.
Interesting?
That’s great.
It all started with the fact that I looked in one word in Wikipedia. And word for word, and off we went. I could not sleep and when we went to the peninsula, I wanted to see everything with my own eyes.

We decided to visit two cities, namely Penetanguishene and Midland.

Penetanguishene is town in Simcoe Country first appears in records in 1882, but probably has an older history due to the terrain. The city’s buildings descend from the mountain to Lake Huron and has a beautiful harbor, where I already wrote above, at the end of the 18th-19th centuries life was booming. Most of the residents were from Quebec and French, so even now the main part of the city has French or French-named streets. Very little remains of the former city now, since its inhabitants are less than 10,000. Once this city received its name from the Wyandot Indians and means a place where the sand quickly grinds or land of the while rolling sands.

I didn’t see it there, as well as the lake itself, since in mid-January there are huge mountains of snow and the lake freezes. It turns into a road for snowmobiles. And the snowmobile traffic is active. Apparently, the snowfalls are heavy and people get tired of removing snow near their houses. The snow falls constantly and sometimes in waves, forming blizzards. The time I was there – gray clouds of snow, snow sometimes in flakes, sometimes in a solid wall. Then the locals leave their cars near their houses, dig out a small path from their house to the main road, where the snow is removed perfectly. And they go using snowmobiles. Reliable, fast and cheap. So these are the routes and lively skating I found on the lake and on the pier, a frozen boat crashed into the ice, which was waiting for spring and warmth to ride tourists around the lake.

The city was famous and popular precisely when in 1793 the governor of Upper Canada visited it and saw that the place was strategic and decided to build a military base here. It was built and in 1813-1814 a railway was built there. Life in this area was very active in those years. It was a stronghold against attack by the Americans and was connected to another important city in this region – Berry.

It is difficult to even imagine now that there were powerful defensive structures, as history says, along the entire coast and even on the Wasaga beaches, where there are now a huge number of beaches and hotels.

The same story also writes that these defensive structures along with the ships did not stand for long and sank several years later.

Gradually, from the middle of the 19th century, this place ceased to be military, at the beginning of the 20th century it turned into a commercial and industrial one. Well, now it is dying, since the main income comes from tourists who come for a short Canadian summer and settle in hotels, relax, enjoy local parks and fishing.
It is necessary to mention one more attraction – there are three islands near the city. Ferries go to these islands even today (though not now, everything is frozen). Indian families still live on the islands. I think that the movement of snowmobiles that I saw when I arrived at the harbor is the movement to the islands. I did not see a boat, and in such winter temperatures a ship cannot sail on ice. I read that there are ferries to the islands. One of the islands is the largest and it is closest to the city. We decided to go and see a tourist place called Discovery Harbour.

This place is located at the mouth of the harbor and has many restaurants and a famous local theater. But unfortunately they were closed. Apparently we chose the wrong time.
However, there is a certain charm in this, when you arrive at such a time. This is that there are no tourists, few people and in the hotel a hot tub awaits you, in which you sit and watch the snow fall. The feeling is indescribable. The ratio of temperatures, the magic of water and the play of water with temperature.
How can you forget this? And then just hot tea.

For further information see other post

From begining of 2025

Helen Polishuk

2022.Open Reception

Creating a new project with the onset of the new year, these are very significant changes in my career and in my life. What influences the final result and how all the work changes in connection with the new project, it is very difficult to talk about it a lot, and even more difficult to explain.

In previous years, I got used to keeping silent and doing my job, showing you the result of the work. And this always hid the colossal expenditure of time on the production of the product. The final result came out as something easy to do, not requiring large expenses and time. But with the complication of my tasks, I have to abstract myself from life, close myself off in order to produce more and more, create and implement my plans. That is why today I am simply telling you that I am alive, healthy and very busy.

All my free time, which is very little, I devote to my family, children and walks. This helps to distract myself and, conversely, creates an atmosphere of community and comfort.

a small drop from future projects I am posting for you now.
Please use all iso-images that are published on this site as original works and repost only with the mention of my name. Any attempts to use images otherwise will be considered a violation of copyright.

@ALLRIGHTRESERVED

@helenpolishuk

@2025

Let’s move on

Helen Polishuk
new works by the artist Helen Polishuk in her favorite style

I really want these warm sunny days already.
No matter how warm this winter was, it was not sunny and the lack of energy and warmth affects the mood of people in Toronto. However, I always repeat that everything passes. And after the cloudy days, warm days will come. And the seeds planted will break through the cold ground into the ground. And the gardens will bloom and the ringing singing of birds will flow, which notify about their offspring.
And we can live. After all, a new day is wonderful. A new video with the latest Petrykivka for you, my dears.

If you don’t already know my most active page, here it is. It contains all the latest news from the world of my creativity and painting.
Let’s move on

TIME TO JOY

Helen Polishuk

January 28,2024 in Toronto at Huculak Centre the most active volunteers and participants of Etobicoke organizations were awarded YVAN BAKER,MP for Etobicoke Centre,former MPP&BCG consultant.

I had the honor of being selected and awarded as an active member of the organization IOUC FOURTH WAVE .It is pride to stand among the awarded and receive an Awards from the hands of YVAN BAKER.

My awards for the Annual Community Recognation Awards nomination include not only scripts and the creation of video content, but also the popularization of the Ukrainian community beyond its borders, among Canadians and the organization and holding of an exhibition that united the Ukrainian community with other Canadian communities.

The past year was multifaceted in this regard, there were many events, I got to know our Ukrainian diaspora better, I spent all my time organizing events to make them as interesting and useful as possible for the diaspora.

Of course, this is volunteer work, which takes a lot of time from my main job and from my family. And I will never give it away time ago.
But the year has passed, it is closed, awards have been received and I hope, having received a great experience, there will be new events this year.
After all, I got to know an enormous number of people and we became closer and already have many new plans for new events.


Photo:during award ceremony

CHANGE

Helen Polishuk
Modern drawing made in the style of Petrykivka painting by Natalia Stasiv-Garko

It may seem that time is unchanged. More than six months have passed since the last publication. During this time, many events have passed that can be packaged in one word – change.
The Chinese, when they want to wish something bad, say that you should live during changes. They make sense because this is the most uncertain time, which slows down any planning, postpones things indefinitely, interferes with meetings and postpones events. But what to do, when this happened to you.
Therefore, I will briefly summarize my post.

I’m sure many people have found themselves in this state.
Today I am only talking about the present tense.
The large collection of wood paintings I created in the traditional Ukrainian style was shown in August and had both positive and negative responses. I may return to the positive ones, but I’ll dwell on the negative ones in more detail.
This is my first time painting on wood. I have not done this before. If we approach the creation of the project technically, then its goal was to create mutually complementary objects that together would create the same composition.

Composition of the drawing, completed in Petrykivka style and presented for teaching drawing techniques in a book about Petrykivka painting

The critics felt that I did not perform the traditional Ukrainian Petrikovsky painting correctly, or to put it differently, in an original way. Well, although these critics do not know how to draw and have a superficial understanding, they decided to consider me a failure.
I am not defending myself and I am not going to argue. But thanks to the first women (Petrikovsky painting is known for the fact that the first women who mastered it were women who painted the walls of their houses) who painted cockerels, birds and flowers in an absolutely free style and decorated their houses with them, we now have a whole galaxy of artists of this style. If you look at the works of each of them, they are very different and they have in common the creation of a composition around several symbols.

One of the founders of Petrykivka painting in Ukraine Maria Prymachenko

Years have passed and this style, thanks to modern graphic programs, has reached absolute perfection. Moreover, many schools and courses have appeared that are ready to teach you this skill for your money.
And yet, based on primary sources, I would advise you to remain tied to the three fundamentals of this painting – creativity, composition around symbols and image technique.

One of the famous paintings created by Maria Primachenko


That’s why I wished and wish today to everyone who is fighting for something, look at the primary sources and add your creativity – you will succeed.

Another painting by Maria Prymachenko, the founder of Petrykivka painting


The most interesting thing in learning any folk painting is mastering the principles.
Although I will now be criticized again, the founders of this type of painting did not interconnect the composition; many objects of the composition were, as it were, separated. If you look at photographs of one of the first creators of this type of painting, you can see how stamping, the creation of separate drawings, which are located one next to the other.

Modern apartment decor in Petrykivka style

Two centuries ago, the goal for artists was to create a drawing that would create coziness in the room, protect it and harmonize with everyday life. Therefore, cheerful roosters and hens, wonderful bright princes with colorful plumage and long multi-colored tails, flowers of unusual shapes and color harmony appeared on the walls.

It was rural folklore, the art of the country people who decorated their homes.
And today, Ukrainian artists have supplemented and improved it and created masterpiece collections of paintings, introducing this type of art into the traditional Ukrainian folk art.
I’ll return to my collection. Drawing on wood requires its own skill. Technically, this is a more long-term work, and I was also required to create compositions on two chests, several kitchen boards, kitchen wooden shelves, souvenir wooden houses, Christmas tree decorations and sections of wood. I also tried painting on bags.

Photo from exhibition where was present my new collection.


I liked the combination of animals with modern elements. I took the cat as a symbol on the bag. That’s why I received criticism.

Another part of the collection among the exhibits on display


I’ll wait until the passion to ruin someone subsides and all this settles down and still, I’ll remain silent.
Someone else criticized that I was too confident in myself.
Friends, no. I hid, broke all my brushes, threw away the paints and am sitting waiting for something else to come to me.
I would like your problems.
Today I have donated several works to auctions and I believe that they will be useful.
Tomorrow is not predictable for me, I will say one thing – only those who do not do and do not create are not mistaken.
And I am again full of news and ideas, which I will tell you about in the next post.
All the best

Exhibition in Neilson Park Creative Centre

Helen Polishuk
Today I was invited to the exhibition in Neilson  Park Creative Centre by my friend Barbara Urbanchyk.
It is a joint exhibition of several artists in which she participates.
I admire her work, her tenderness.
She is a very delicate artist and very tender.
I leave this film here as a memory of this day

I really love everything what is connected with art and I am very friendly with artists.

I understand how difficult it is for an artist to create some art.
It’s even harder to present it at exhibitions.
Huge work is being done before the exhibition.
Starting from picture frames and ending with invitation cards.
The artist’s success is very fragile.
It happens that a lot has been done, but people come just to see.
We are faced with the problem of integrating art into the Internet.

Now more often began to show painting of artists on the Internet.
Exhibitions often remained as part of the artist’s performance, but sales at exhibitions decreased significantly.
Huge halls and art galleys also suffer.
Artists are looking for any way to advertise themselves.
A very difficult time for creative people.
But I hope that the transfer of our work to the Internet galleries will help us acquaint with art lovers and connoisseurs around the world
Yours,
Helen
Toronto
December 5, 2019