PROBUS Club of Port Perry
Learning & Entertainment
Since we can't meet in person right now, and all of our activities at the club are temporarily suspended due to the coronavirus (Covid 19), we have put together information and links to lots of different sources for your educational and entertainment enjoyment. As with any internet activity, please be extremely cautious in providing personal or financial information when accessing these sites.
Please don't hesitate to let us know of you have more interesting sites to add by contacting portperryprobus@gmail.com
Holiday Cheer
Scheduled Events
Time to Think About Gardens
It’s so cold and snow covers the ground. Do you miss your garden? The Toronto Botanical Gardens has online workshops and lectures that will make you feel like it’s summertime. Try out one or more of the following:
Irish Gardens-Prehistoric, Historic and Modern – Tue Jan 18 7:00-8:30PM $15 (plus fees & HST)
Garden Disasters-Prepare, Survive, Thrive – Wed Jan 19 7:00-8:00 pm $25 (plus fees & HST)
Bark in the Heart of Winter – Thu Feb 17 7:00-8:30PM $15 (plus fees &HST)
Winter Watercolour Paint Nights – Wednesdays Feb 16-Mar 9 7:30-8:30PM
Full program $100/Individual Sessions $30 (plus fees & HST)
Ahhhhhh, Beethoven....
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is making available a pay-as-you-wish live stream of "Gimeno Conducts Beethoven." See website for concert and live stream information. Fri Jan 28 7:30PM
"Hot Docs” is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing and celebrating the art of documentary and creating production opportunities for documentary filmmakers.” They have a wide variety of fascinating documentaries available for both online streaming and in-person viewing from some of the premier movie producers in the world. Some current titles include “The Lost Leonardo”, “The Truffle Hunters” and “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road”. Most of the films have a cost attached although a number of subscription options are available. Definitely worth a look.
Celebrate the Holidays in Durham Region
Here’s some wonderful Holiday things to do this season in our little corner of Ontario. And remember there are Holiday light shows throughout December in parks, along shopping districts and at residences in many communities (including Port Perry, Uxbridge, Bowmanville, Oshawa, Pickering, Toronto, etc.):
Christmas and Holiday Events in Durham Region
Durham Radio News Holiday Events
Tourism Event Calendar - Durham Region
Museums and Galleries
Enjoy these on line tours of local and international art galleries and museums. Click on the links below.
Visit the Vancouver Art Gallery website to view images and summaries of their past, current and upcoming exhibitions
The Charles Dickens Museum in London has a collection of about 100,000 pieces (including letters, furniture, clothing and illustrations) which relate to Dickens and his work
Art for Seniors - Art Gallery of Ontario has a virtual Seniors Social Program - Free
Van Gogh is Back - The Van Gogh immersive exhibit in Toronto
Art as Fun - Daily Art Magazine's podcasts, slides, webinars - expand your knowledge of art.
British National Trust - Writing an historical novel? Check this out.
Scotland Treasures - Dig It - A Scottish Archaeology Hub
Museum Adventures - Natural History Museum - Museum of South Kensington (near London, UK)
Modern Day Paint by Numbers - Have fun painting your own famous painting!
Movies & TV Shows
Listed below are some of the websites that list free movies and TV shows for streaming to your device or TV.
Free Movies on Kanopy - e - membership is free through your local Durham public library
My Octopus Teacher - A Netflix documentary capturing a year spent with an octopus
Online Streaming Options in Canada
To learn how to stream movies and other shows to your TV, click here.
On Line Courses
New! Origami - The art of paper-folding has roots in China, Japan and Europe. Here are two sites to help get you started in this ancient art:
New! Improving Your Memory - Harvard University
New! McMaster University’s Learning for 55+ courses will be available beginning Feb 2 with “Be Your Own Life Coach.”
Due to COVID restrictions, Carleton University’s Lifelong Learning Program is only offered online through the Fall season. Their lecture series have no required readings, tests or assignments and allow for interaction with the lecturer and other students.
Acrylic Wildflowers and Honey Bee Workshop - An on-line course offered by Trent University - Fee required
How to Paint Outdoors in Watercolor Workshop - On-line course offered by Trent University - Fee required
Acrylic Jack Pine Painting Workshop - One-line course offered by Trent University - Fee required
Watercolour Bouquet in a Vase Workshop - On line course offered by Trent University - Fee required
The Khan Academy provides courses from algebra to computer science, physics to grammar, history to calculus, filmmaking, and more for all age groups.
CS50 course at Harvard - free introductory course to Computer Science
MOOCs (Massive Open On Line Courses) are free on line courses on a wide variety of subjects offered by major universities and colleges locally and throughout the world.
The Beginner's Guide to MOOCs offers a good introduction to MOOCs.
Other MOOC providers not listed in the above site are:
Interesting Historical Sites
Did you know that housed on the top floor of the Toronto Reference Library is the Arthur Conan Doyle room? The room is decorated as though it’s Sherlock Holmes’ Victorian-era study.
Check out the events calendar on the Ontario Historical Society website for online presentations hosted by various Ontario museums and historical societies.
Scugog Shores Museum Village and Archives is presenting their next event that will be “Adventures at the Boo-seum” from 11am – 3pm on Sunday, October 24th.
Historic Environment Scotland has a series of online exhibitions which provide a glimpse into various aspects of the Scottish historical environment
The Museum of Nova Scotia has put together a series of short YouTube videos by Roger Lewis, Mi’Kmaq Cultural Heritage Curator. Through these talks, Mr. Lewis gives us a greater understanding of the history and culture of the Mi”kmaq people
A Road Trip with Yvette Rogers – nine short videos highlighting specific areas in Cape Breton, and, “Special Presentations” - ten short YouTube videos detailing the history and culture of Nova Scotia.
The Library and Archives Canada website provides information and resources for research on the various ethno-cultural groups who have immigrated to Canada.
Historical Background on Niagara-on-the-Lake - The Niagara on the Lake Museum has a number of You-Tube videos available which detail the history of that area.
The Museum of Ontario Archaeology has several online exhibits that may be of interest
Triskele Heritage - focused primarily on the archaeology aspect of Britain
The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library houses the rare and special collections of the University of Toronto
Anne of Green Gables - The Pickering Museum has a series of 3 podcasts about author Lucy Maud Montgomery
History Extra - Great site for history buffs
History of Port Perry - Scugog Townshhip Heritage Gallery
Parkwood Estates in Oshawa - Online events at the Parkwood National Historic Site
The Pickering Museum Village has a series of YouTube presentations on historic fashion
Canadian Archives - a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more
Culture in Oshawa - The Robert McLaughlin Gallery
Canadian Astronomy Website - Discussions on the stars for all levels of expertise
Quarantine Concerts in Canada - Listing a number of online musical concerts from one end of Canada to the other and over the next few months.
Recipes / Food / Gardening
Eat History is a company founded by food historian Manon Henzen. On her website she offers historical cooking trips and online courses.
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins A healthy and delicious breakfast muffin or snack
Check out these very unusual flowers
A listing of Farmers Markets in Durham Region
Commune with Nature - High Park Nature Centre in Toronto offers the following Online Adult Naturalist Courses - Fee required
Chicken Tikka Masala - from our Foodies Group
Homemade Naan for your Chicken Tikka Masala
Cooking with the Best - Website of renowned French chef Daniel Boulud
The Keukenhof gardens of Holland
North Durham Nature - Useful information and access to speakers on a variety of nature subjects that impact Durham Region and beyond
Wildlife Friendly Gardens - Free online
course
Guinness Chocolate Cake - Enjoy on St. Patrick's Day or anytime
Fun Video of French restaurant - augmented reality
Making Goodies for Two - Try this site for recipes for two (no need to subscribe to newsletter)
Start the Day Off Right - With a healthy breakfast
Recipes from our very own Foodies Group -
TED Talks and Other Interesting Courses and Lectures
There are thousands of TED talks, so visit the site at:
https://www.ted.com/talks Take a look at their library and try one – maybe daily.
The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre (OTCC) presented a webinar giving a behind-the-scenes tour of the Centre and showcasing their hospital which “treats, rehabilitates and releases injured turtles”.
Free Online Mindfulness Classes for Older Adults
Volcanoes - where we came from and why we don't want to return - The Earth 4 billion years ago
Beauty on Earth Now - Tulip Fields in the Netherlands
On line workshops for writing memoirs - with Anne Bokma - cost involved
Writing for Fun or Profit - Writers' Community of Durham Region
Ottawa History Online - January 20 lecture on Zoom
Historic Sites of England, Wales and Northern Ireland - The Royal Oak Historical Society
Gratitude by Louie Schwartzberg, an award winning photographer, who specializes in time lapse photography.
Scottish Story Telling - Interesting stories about Scotland
Get to Know your Cousins - a great lecture on anthropology
The Great Courses offers college-level courses on CD, DVD & digitally, most in the $30 - $60 range
For the History buff, try these great sites:
Time Travel - walk back time in segments of tens of millions of years to see where our home was in the world
EDTechTeacher - Best of History Websites
Arch 20 - free on-line virtual tours of historical sites
Mediation & Relaxation - a variety of scheduled virutal seminars - free and open to everyone - from the University of Virginia's Contemplative Sciences Center
Tree Companions - Learn about the largest and oldest living things
Fun Websites and Videos
New! High Park Nature Center’s Blog – “Word of the Week” defines and gives examples of these words and many more.
If you love a great ghost story, Virtual Haunted Campfires is for you.
Here’s a wonderful inspiring short video from CNN’s Don Lemon about a competitive synchronized swim team that also donates their time to teach black youth how to swim.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Bird Academy has a wealth of information on their website.
Birds Canada's Project FeederWatch program is about to get underway. FeederWatch is a November to April survey of birds in North America
James Thurber author and cartoonist, was known for his quirky subjects and characters. A visit to the website will teach you about the museum and the author.
Swedish Christmas Fair - Now here’s a Christmas shopping opportunity you’ve probably never heard of.
Birds Canada is in the process of developing a new program of courses called OpenBirds. In the meantime, they have made available, for free, several of their beta test courses.
Take a look at the monster birdhouses on this website for a Belgrave, ON (near Goderich) vendor
What's that Fungi? An app to identify wildlife, plants and fungi you come across
What's that Bird? A cell phone app that can help you easily identify a bird by snapping a photo of it or recording its voice on the phone
Fly with the Eagles - This is an interesting website about an eagle family over time
The Ultimate Screen Saver - Very calming screen saver from Ripley’s Aquarium Canada
Walk on the Wild Side - Free Access to Safaris
Penguin saves himself from Killer Whale - from the The Science Times
Video of Lambs by the Irish Tourist Board
Time Can Be Deceiving - Interesting tidbits about the time we live in
Understanding the Gravity of the Situation
Discover the World with Google Maps
Parking Fines - British humour
San Diego Zoo website - including a zoo live cam
The Onion - Satirical news site
Think You Can Park a Car Well? - On line simulator used by NASA
Games On Line
New! Would you like to learn to play a game that dates from the time of the Roman Empire? The board game, Nine Man Morris, may date from as far back as 1400 BCE, was likely well known by Romans and was very popular in Medieval England.
This website contains a list of free memory games that will test your recall ability.
Get Back at Google - Have some fun with a fake Google Homepage
Don't Connect the Dots - Brain / eye / hand coordination game
Another test for your Brain / hand coordination - Got Rhythm
Hardwood Games - Euchre, Hearts and Spades - play with the computer or your friends
Bridge Base Online - Practice with the computer at various levels or play on line with your own foursome
Words with Friends II - Free on line scrabble game - play with real people around the world
Jigsaw Planet - Fun, free jigsaw puzzles
Trickster - Euchre, Bridge, Hearts, Spades and more - free and fun. Has a video chat feature so you can see and hear each other!
Music & Theatre
New! The Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, AB has made video recordings of several of their plays available for streaming for up to 48 hours after purchase. The streaming pass costs $25-$30.
The Durham Region’s Theatre on the Ridge supports “the creation of meaningful theatre experiences for the whole community.” Visit their website for information on the Fall program – both live and virtual.
The Royal Conservatory of Music is one of the largest and most respected music institutions in the world. Their website is really worth browsing.
The Regent Theatre in Oshawa has a number of performances scheduled through May 2022. Most are in person events, a few are online
Cirque du Soleil - a wonderful website full of YouTube videos of Cirque performances
U.K. Theatre - Here’s a way to see videos of productions from a variety of UK live theatres - subscription required
Symphony Nova Scotia is presenting online a series of The Fusion Sessions
Ontario Philharmonic is presenting a special virtual concert series Oshawa
Ottawa Grassroots Festival - Music and other activities
On Line Theatre Performances:
How to Get to Carnegie Hall - Practice! - Free concerts and activities
Relax with Soothing Background Sounds
Tina Turner is back in a ReMix of What's Love Got to Do With It
Sherry's Pick - Canadian Country Music - Marshall Dane
Andrew Lloyd Weber - Free on line streaming of many his musicals.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra - Weekly Musical Moments
Anna Mouskouri - In concert
Canadian Doctors - Singing Rise Again
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Spotify - Every genre, all the time
Apple Music - 60 million songs
Web Conferencing
Zoom - Good for up to 100 attendees.
FaceBook Messenger - You can create a group with your Facebook friends and then video call each other for free
WhatsApp - An encrypted chat feed with notifications - iPad and iPhones only
Skype - Communication tool for free calls and chat - owned by Microsoft
Google Hang Outs - Video calls for free
How to Look Good on camera when video conferencing
Travel
Here are some websites that have a host of virtual tours and photos of fascinating places in the province.
The AuroraMax website you can view the northern lights broadcast live from Yellowknife
A video tour of Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire
Jonathan van Bilsen - Amazing photos and stories from around world
Explore Hamilton Ontario - Virtual Tours online
Time Travel - walk back time in segments of tens of millions of years to see where our home was in the world
Or try Biking Without Training Wheels - A bike trek on the Isle of Skye in Scotland with Danny MacAskill
Experience the Wonder of U.S. Parks
The Broonfords - Informal travelogue of things to see in and around Edinburgh
Port Perry PROBUS Facebook Group
Join our Facebook group to see interesting and fun posts from our members.
1. Click on the following link or enter it into your browser:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProPP/
2. Sign in to Facebook account if prompted or if you’re not a member of Facebook, open n account.
3. Press ‘join group’
4. Answer the entry question
Once you have been verified as a member, you will receive a notification on Facebook of entry to the group. You are then free to participate as much or as little as you would like, whether it be just reading posts or contributing, the choice is yours. The only rules are that posts must not be political, religious, or offensive. No fundraising except as approved by the management committee.
Any issues feel free to email Judith.spring@outlook.com.