Favourites
Blossum had many things she loved. This is an evolving list of some of those things – so we can all remember her quirks and style. Please send in suggestions to add here. We will keep adding to this over time to keep building our memo§ties of Blossum.
The list of favourite things below includes: Ted; Cats; Reading; Running; Travelling; Diving; Coffee; Wine; The Vinyl Cafe; Volunteering; Being Canadian; Equality & Justice; Kick-Ass Women; Cooking; Yoga; All Other Sports; Photography; Art; Fashion.
Blossum also had some quotes she liked from other people. When she still lived in Canada she had even written many of them down in a book. Below are some of these quotes, that help show what inspired Blossum, as well as something for us all to think about.
TED
Without a doubt, Blossum’s teddybear, Ted, was her most Favourite Thing. it feels a little disrespectful to categorise Ted as a thing, but also disrespectful to add him as “Family’. So here he is.
Blossum received Ted when she was less than five years old, somewhere around 1977 (?) (sorry I need to check the details). She slept with Ted almost every single night until he was retired in 2024. She would use him as a prop for her book to read in bed at night, which Ted seemed happy with. While people are sometimes surprised at a grown adult sleeping with her teddybear, it was very normal for Blossum (and later David), and Ted was apologised to if he ever got squashed under a pillow. “Sorry Ted” was said every few nights.
Ted travelled to every country the Blossum lived in. So he has lived in eight countries too. He has also travelled on holidays to many countries with Blossum. Whenever he travelled on a plane, he was ALWAYS in carry-on. Never check-in. Ted travelled to many countries in Africa, including Kenya, Sudan and Egypt. In Egypt, Ted had an entire picture book made of his adventures. He travelled around half of Australia on a road trip, including to Sydney, Cairns, Ayres Rock and Alice Springs. He has been to Europe, including Spain and Turkey. He of course has travelled around Canada. What an exciting life he has led.
Ted was only retired because he had been accidentally put through the washing machine for the second time, and his fur was coming off and his stitching tearing. So in 2024 Blossum took him to a teddy hospital in Vancouver, where he was repaired and re-stuffed. However, he was still old, and had a long way to go, so Blossum kept him retired to the bedroom shelf, where he could still be involved, but out of danger of getting swept up in the bedsheets and washed again. However, in 2024, Cavid got Blossum a new ‘stuffie’, Bun the rabbit, who took pride of place. A third teddybear, who may not have been named, was received free during a hotel stay in Bangkok (Blossum literally booked the hotel because it came with a free teddybear). So there were some back-ups for Ted, and a bigger family for him to hang out with.
CATS
Blossum liked many types of animals, but cats were her favourite pet. She had multiple cats as pets during her life.
In Timor-Leste, Blossum was coerced by her friend Rose to adopt one of Rose’s cats when Rose was leaving Timor. ‘Princess Cleo’ was a ginger tabby. She wasn’t super friendly, but did love to get pats – for a while. Once she wanted you to stop, she would bite you a little to tell you to stop. Cleo would also hide under the couch and swipe at your bare ankles, for fun I think (it wasn’t fun). However Cleo would sit on Blossum when Blossum lay on the couch, and since that was sort of one of Blossum’s happy places, Cleo got to stay. In fact, when we left Timor, we told the next tenants that the house came with Cleo, so that Cleo had an on-going home.
In Laos, after 3-years, a cat turned up on our doorstep on the first week of COVID lockdowns. Not so much a cat as a two-month-old kitten, meowing like she had never been fed before. Perhaps she had been left behind our house, in the field. Perhaps she had gone exploring and got lost. Either way, she meowed her heart out, and despite David prophesised ‘the cat you feed is the cat you own’, it only took a few hours before David went to the shops to buy tuna. So Nok Noi (the Lao word for little bird) joined the family and was fawned over like only a pet in a childfree home could be. She was named little bird because of her size, and because she liked to call to the birds in the trees, hoping they would mistake her for a friend, and come down to play with her. They never did. Nok Noi was an almost perfect pet for Blossum – she liked to sleep and relax for hours at a time – except she rarely sat ON Blossum. Always at her feet or next to her in bed, but rarely on her. Whenever Nok Noi got on Blossum, Blossum’s face would light up and she would calmly pat her. The sense of being ‘chosen’ would always be a joy for Blossum.
READING
Close behind Ted for regular comfort in an adventurous life, Blossum LOVED to read books. She has read voraciously since she was a small girl and never stopped.
Blossum always had a book with her somewhere. In later years, once she had a Kindle, she was able to read everywhere. In airports, during lunch, in cars, cafes and of course at home. Hours over the weekend were spent reading and drinking coffee. Blossum read over 100 books a year (I will look for more details and add it here.
Blossum loved all types of books, but enjoyed reading non-fiction and police/murder mysteries the most. Female detective novels were her jam – from Nancy Drew mysteries as a young girl to The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency in her 40s and 50s.. In time we will post a list of some of Blossum’s favourite books. If you are really interested before it is posted, please contact David directly.
RUNNING
If you knew Blossum, you knew she LOVED running. It was her sport. The thing that made her sane, made her feel good. She ran weekly, usually multiple times a week. She ran in EVERY country she visited, one year achieving runs in 12 countries. She ran in events in many countries including many ultra marathons, including: the Surf Coast Century (100km) in Australia; the Tarawera Ultra (50km) in New Zealand; the AnkorWat Trail Marathon (21km) in Cambodia; the Most Beautiful Thing Ultra (30kms) in Malaysia; the Addo Elephant Ultra (44km) in South Africa, the Dili Half marathon in Timor, the Zion Ultra (30km) in the US, and the Fat Dog Ultra (50km) in Canada. Blossum also ran multiple half marathons in Laos, organised by her friends at Events For Good. Blossum even organised the Goroka Marathon and Highlands Half-Marathon for about 20 of her friends in PNG – the first of its kind!
There is a whole section of running photos in the Photos of Blossum page.
TRAVELLING
Blossum had an adventurous spirit. Despite being an introvert, she also had a curiosity to see the world and experience cultures she didn’t know, and see places she hadn’t been. She once said she remembers watching David Attenborough documentaries and had a dream to see the Galapagos – something she did just after her 52nd birthday, and months before she passed.
Blossum travelled to over 30 countries in her lifetime. She lived for 22 years outside of Canada, mostly in developing countries where she worked. She travelled widely in these places, including Indonesia, the Sudan, Australia, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, and Laos.
Blossum also loved to travel and adventure in Canada. Her and David travelled to Haida Gwaii, the remote island off the north east coast of Canada. One time David wanted to go sky diving, which Blossum did NOT want to do, since she was scared and didn’t see the point of jumping from a perfectly good aeroplane. Makes sense. But her Adventure FOMO meant that she was also not willing to be left behind. So she agreed to skydive with David when he arranged to do it while they were in South Africa. They had suited up and got into the plane and the plane had started to taxi down the runway, when the engine sputtered. It didn’t stop, but the pilot decided it was a potential mechanical issue and aborted the takeoff. As we were the last dive of the day, and couldn’t postpone as we were driving on the next day, we missed the chance. But when in Canada the next year, David said again that he wanted to do it, and again Blossum followed him. It was fun and exciting, but they both agreed that they both liked the blue of underwater diving more than the blue of the sky.
SCUBA DIVING
Since Blossum first learnt to scuba dive in Belize around 2000, she has been an avid diver. As she lived in the tropics, and earned more than a volunteer stipend, Blossum was able to dive more. In the end, she had more than 280 dives under her belt in 12 countries. Blossum had been lucky enough to dive many of the best dives sites in the world. This included in countries she lived, all across Indonesia, Australia, Timor-Leste, and Papua New Guinea (~Laos is, sadly, landlocked). Blossum has also scuba dived in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador (the best by far), Belize, Fiji (love those bull sharks), Vietnam (sadly), the Maldives (two trips it was so awesome), Mauritius, Thailand (many times) and Malaysia.
YOGA
Not a big deal, but Blossum liked yoga – she liked the exercise, the peacefulness and the grounding. It seemed to calm her down and give her focus. It was something she could do anywhere she travelled and was only limited by her own time.
She liked to lead yoga classes, when there were people who wanted to join. She lead classes in Canada, Japan, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, PNG and the Sudan.
ALL THE OTHER SPORTS
And when we say all other sports, we mean solo individual sports, like cycling, kayaking, hiking and swimming. We do not mean team sports, or ball sports. Blossum did not like these. But exercise she could do on her own recognisance, with or without others, these were sports for her.
Oh, and women’s curling, but mostly for the shouting!
COFFEE
OK, so everyone loves coffee. Blossum was not a coffee snob, but ok, yes she was. She didn’t drink instant – unless she was in the most backwoods village and her personal supply of ground plunger coffee had run out. (the horror). She would drink black over milk, but didn’t mind soy or oat milk. She enjoyed collecting coffee mugs, including her last one, the Blue Footed Boobie mug from the Galapagos.
She also gave David a #1 Spouse mug for his birthday in 2025. It was a running joke/compliment to be given morning coffee in this mug to each other, if they had done something nice for the other person recently. David had given the #1 Spouse mug to Blossum in bed on the morning of 5th November. Blossum asked why she was getting the mug, and David told her she had been very diligent with her rehab, and was stoic in not complaining and strong to ask for help when she didn’t want to. So she had earned the mug that morning.
WINE
It’s not unusual to like wine, but Blossum did, so it gets a mention. She didn’t drink much, and thought two glasses in an evening was a wild night. But that’s why we loved her. ‘Light-weight Gimour’, we called her. But she did light up a little when she had a glass.
COOKING & EATING
Blossum was a vegetarian – since she was born according to her. Her story was that, at the time, her parents were going to the SDA church, and were eating vegetarian. Later, when they stopped going to the church and started eating met, she didn’t like it so continued to be vegetarian.
So eating vegetarian was normal for Blossum, and cooking was something she loved to do. She loved dinner parties, because she was able to cook great food and talk in depth with people, something she thought couldn’t be done at a noisy nightclub. So she cooked regularly from her uni days onwards. As she travelled the world, she also got to taste all the vegetarian dishes from different cultures. Spanish gazpacho soup, Japanese udon noodles (although not the stinky natto, which she disliked with a passion), Indian curries, Indonesian tempeh and gado-gado, Ethiopian lentils with injera, Lao tofu laap, Vietnamese pho, Papuan greens and coconut milk in bamboo. She loved to learn how to cook these and eat such a variety of cuisine. She also loved to go home to Lumby, where her mum and Todd would cook her comfort food, including mac n cheese, roasted veggies and Nanimo bars.
THE VINYL CAFE WITH STAURT MCLEAN
Of all the Canadian things Blossum loved, it may have been that she loved the Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean the most. This was a weekly radio show, and then a podcast, played on the BBC, Blossum always listened to it, every week, and together with David they would re-listen to it for years and years. They had a Christmas tradition to listen to a special show, the one titled “Dave Cooks the Turkey”. That one, along with several other Christmas themed shows, were the soundtrack of Christmas for David and Blossum.
It is heart warming, and a little folksy, and about good people doing their best. They had a segment where Stuart would read out listeners letters on the show. It had been David’s plan to write in about the time he met Blossum. Sadly, Stuart McLean died suddenly from cancer before David wrote in. It was one of the only times David and Blossum shed tears over the passing of a ‘celebrity’.
You can find the Vinyl Cafe podcasts here. It might be something you like. Or not. But Blossum liked it.
VOLUNTEERING
It needs to be said, that Blossum was by far the best person.
She wouldn’t say it, but she was.
Blossum spent all of her life doing what she could to help others. She started what turned into a successful career by volunteering. Her volunteering would turn into paid work sometimes, but even if it didn’t, she volunteered anyway.
Blossum volunteered for over a year with PBI in 2003-4 – helping human-rights workers and community groups in Indonesia. Then she kept volunteering for PBI in her spare time after she moved on to paid work with the Red Cross and other non-profit organisations during the massive tsunami humanitarian response in Aceh, Indonesia. In 2008, while waiting for several weeks in Kenya, Nairobi, to get a new work visa to return to Sudan, Blossum arranged to go to the informal settlements in Nairobi and give sexual reproductive health training to youth from a community group.
Even on a personal level, Blossum volunteered to lead yoga classes in almost every place she lived. She liked to attend yoga classes, so she lead classes.
One day in 2024, David asked what she was working on, and Blossum said she had found a group in Palestine that was connecting people in need with food distribution and health appointments. She said that she decided to help volunteer her time online to do this, because although she was working full-time to support gender equality and inclusion of disabled people in Laos, she could spare some hours before and after her paid work, and she hated to see the level of suffering everyday on the news. Blossum didn’t just shake her head, like David did. She volunteered.
She was the best person.
BEING CANADIAN
Blossum was proud to be Canadian and celebrated the values and strengths of her country. It seemed that her openness to others and her willingness to volunteer was connected to being Canadian. She spoke about Terry Fox as someone whose courage and commitment to making a change inspired her. Blossum was proud of Canada’s diversity and their openness to welcoming refugees.
She loved the Canadian outdoors, and always made sure to go hiking, kayaking and running in Canada whenever she could. Blossum loved Canadian culture. She loved musicians like k.d Lang, Peaches, Nelly Ferraro, and The Tragically Hip.
Blossum loved eating stone fruit from the Okanagan valley in the summer and drinking Okanagan wine. It was something she always told David she was looking forward to doing.
EQUALITY & JUSTICE
Blossum had a driving passion to make the world a better place – for everyone to have equal access to services, to a better life. Her entire career was dedicated to helping others. People who were vulnerable in society. People who wanted to improve their lives but lacked the resources to do so. She worked with people living with HIV/AIDS in Vancouver and Timor-Leste. She worked to improve maternal health services for women in remote villages of PNG. She worked to protect humanitarian and human-rights workers in the Papua and Aceh provinces of Indonesia and in genocide-affected areas of Darfur in the Sudan. Blossum had a sensitive heart, one that hurt when she saw suffering. She didn’t talk about herself in this way, but she acted this way. Blossum would be embarrassed to have this written about her. It was never about her.
KICK ASS WOMEN
Blossum loved strong women. She liked to celebrate them, befriend them and mentor them. Blossum worked with many women who worked hard to make positive changes and improve their communities, their families and their lives. She got strength from other women and it was a driving force in her life to be one herself. To be a strong woman like her sisters, her mother and her friends.
A feminist from her youth, Blossum wasn’t afraid to be different and to be a role model for defiance. From her shaved headed youth, her female symbol tattoo, to her years of work as a gender and inclusion advisor, Blossum lived her life on her own terms and never lost the anger or drive to change injustice or gender inequality when she saw it. It has to be said: Blossum was a kick ass woman!
PHOTOGRAPHY
Blossum was an avid photographer. She liked to carefully take photos and was less pleased with David’s slap-dash, machine gun style, although she was pleased he would act as family photographer – which just meant he took lots of photos of what they were up to. But Blossum took her fair share too. In 2017, Blossum took a photo per day, based on a theme for the month. She took lots of interesting shots, a selection of the below.
ART
While not being into art as much as David, Blossum did like to go to galleries, look at street art, and collect some items. Blossum and David also liked dance, music and live performances. Below are some of her collected art and adventures in the art wold.
FASHION
Although not into high fashion, Blossum did like to dress with some style. Fashion wasn’t a hobby, but she liked to look good when working or going out. So in that vein, here are a few of her more fashionable looks.
QUOTES
When Blossum lived in Canada, she had written down quotes that she came across that resonated with her. Some of them are copied below as a window to her rebellious spirit and as food-for-thought for us.
“We’re not fast, but we’re slow”
Motto of Dave’s record store from The Vinyl Café with Stuart Mclean, CBC Radio Show and podcast. (One of Blossum’s Favourite Things.
“Be the change you want to see in the world”
A para-phrase from a quote by Ghandi.
“We work in the dark– we do what we can– we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.”
Henry James, author, The Middle Years, 1893. This quote was Blossum’s email sign-off for many years.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead, anthropologist, recipient of the Planetary Citizen of the Year Award in 1978