the perfect round circle sits in my mouth as i roll my tongue around it, feeling each little tiny hair growing on it. it's firm, but a little squishy, just waiting to be bitten.
my front teeth hold it as i try to pierce the skin, but i move it to the back in between my molars and bite down. warm, tart juice pops into my mouth, then turns sweet, vaguely familiar of garden earth and sunshine. the first bite of the first ripe tomato of the season. is there anything sweeter?
Monday, July 30, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Hairy Feet
Can someone please explain to me why God made me have hairy feet? I mean, hairy feet on their own are not very attractive, including rockstar hubby's, but why me? I'm not an incredibly hairy person, I get dark arm hair in the winter and I do have to do some shaving and I get sugared every couple of months when I can't stand it anymore, but why on earth, my feet?
When I was sixteen, I was unwisely encouraged to shave them. Now I know now how awful that is, as when you shave, the hairs come back thicker and more plenty. But I didn't know that at 16. And now, I suffer.
I have used Nair (works in a pinch), I've asked the sugarar (?) to sugar my feet, and tonight, I succumbed to plucking.
One day, I will no longer suffer with hairy feet. Or maybe I'll be too old to see them.
Either way, there was absolutely no point in this blog except to say that, please, don't look at my feet.
When I was sixteen, I was unwisely encouraged to shave them. Now I know now how awful that is, as when you shave, the hairs come back thicker and more plenty. But I didn't know that at 16. And now, I suffer.
I have used Nair (works in a pinch), I've asked the sugarar (?) to sugar my feet, and tonight, I succumbed to plucking.
One day, I will no longer suffer with hairy feet. Or maybe I'll be too old to see them.
Either way, there was absolutely no point in this blog except to say that, please, don't look at my feet.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
speaking of spiders
now, when we moved in, rockstar hubby accidentally backed into our light on our front lawn. no one around our neighbourhood uses their front porch light. they use the light on their lawn. it looks quite pretty actually. anyway, the light...broke. well, it hangs askew. it was working for awhile if you lifted the lid, and turned the light bulb inside it. and in the morning, you unscrewed it. this worked for a few days, but i have issues with sparks flying at my fingers when i'm turning it. so i turned on the porch light.
it gives a lovely glow. it makes me feel safe. it's a little bright from my bedroom window so i just face the other when i sleep. my front porch has inherited a few (read: 6)big juicy brown spiders. however, they retreat during the daylight and leave me alone, so i don't mind at all.
however...
i think they either gave birth to a bunch of babies, or a condo went up because my front porch is COVERED in spiders. and they don't go away in the daylight. oh no, because now they are fighting over space. over who belongs to which cobweb. you know the property line issues, the 'why aren't you cutting your grass' issue. the same issues neighbours have. (except for us. we almost had one but i had hubby move the trailer off their property) now, i can live with...many spiders. i'd rather have spiders than creepy bugs. except...except now i can't step on my porch without walking through webs. and that's just not acceptable. it's bad enough you can feel the wisps on your arms, that you just can't seem to get off, but you can't tell if there really is a big juicy brown spider on your back or not. so you freak out a little. (read: a lot)
so now, i need a new plan. do i leave the lights off for a few nights and hope they go away, but lose the security of having a light on outside to possible deter burglars? or do i toss and turn at night and wonder whether the light fixture on my lawn will catch fire and spread to my very dry crunchy grass and then to our house? or do i just leave them there?
it gives a lovely glow. it makes me feel safe. it's a little bright from my bedroom window so i just face the other when i sleep. my front porch has inherited a few (read: 6)big juicy brown spiders. however, they retreat during the daylight and leave me alone, so i don't mind at all.
however...
i think they either gave birth to a bunch of babies, or a condo went up because my front porch is COVERED in spiders. and they don't go away in the daylight. oh no, because now they are fighting over space. over who belongs to which cobweb. you know the property line issues, the 'why aren't you cutting your grass' issue. the same issues neighbours have. (except for us. we almost had one but i had hubby move the trailer off their property) now, i can live with...many spiders. i'd rather have spiders than creepy bugs. except...except now i can't step on my porch without walking through webs. and that's just not acceptable. it's bad enough you can feel the wisps on your arms, that you just can't seem to get off, but you can't tell if there really is a big juicy brown spider on your back or not. so you freak out a little. (read: a lot)
so now, i need a new plan. do i leave the lights off for a few nights and hope they go away, but lose the security of having a light on outside to possible deter burglars? or do i toss and turn at night and wonder whether the light fixture on my lawn will catch fire and spread to my very dry crunchy grass and then to our house? or do i just leave them there?
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Ottawa CityChase Adventure Race
The lowdown of race day: which will be in point form as it is so freakin long.
8:30: got to sparks street block 2, went to bathroom
8:45: signed up, went to bathroom
9:00: got coffee, went to bathroom (nerves were really going here)
9:30: preliminaries. Wrote down useless information, hugged strangers, listened to history of city chase. Blahbidy blah.
9:55: we are told that there are clue sheets for us to follow. There will be 19 clues and we need to do 10 and then get to the finish line. Due to the amount of teams, 276, the clue sheets are at 4 different chase points (areas of importance and task). They will be read 45 seconds apart from each other. And there are only 100 clue sheets per chase point. First place was read, but it was 2km away, so we waited. Second place was read, then we started to run, but stopped because a lot of people were going there. Third place was read, we took off. Starbucks at o’connor and laurier. We ran like fools. Got our clue sheet from volunteer and immediately sat down to figure it out.
I will write out the clues in the order that we followed them. It took us about 5 minutes to figure out most of them, and which areas of town to go. We had four choices, westboro, glebe, downtown and vanier. We took a risk and decided to go westboro, glebe then downtown to finish as that was closest to the finish line. We ran like fools to the bus stop, caught the 97 and got off at westboro. We managed to beat everyone to the first chase point.
1. Rapids too big? Start your walk at the ‘head’ of the ‘trail’ in the West end.
Answer: Trailhead.
We had to don lifejackets and portage a canoe down Scott Street, turn at Island Park, down Richmond Road, down the road and back to Trailhead. On the way, we saw teams at Bushtaka so we knew we had to go there next. I must mention that hubby carried the canoe by himself and I just touched the side and we jogged most of it. We were first to finish there.
2. Good with your hands? Go to Westboro to the stop which is named for Austrailian terminology for the huge variety of herbs, and other such gourmet delights down under, to see if you are good wit wheels too.
Answer: Bushtaka. We ran back up the road to there, and we had to fix and inflate a bike tire. Then deflate it. Then we left.
3. Go to LuLu in Westboro where you can breathe deeply in yoga and appreciate the moment.
Answer: LuLu Lemon. We had to get a stranger off the street and pull them into the store and they had to look at a yoga position and then tell us how to get into that position. We snagged a pregnant lady who had no problem helping us.
4. Head to Westboro to find Posh necessities for Tinkerbell, the little canine.
Answer: Head to some pet store down the street. So we ran. There was a line up of teams, so I went to the front to check it out. You had to eat dog food and you rolled for wet or dry. A girl was taking forever to eat her wet stuff (she kept puking) so we took off. Ran up to loblaws (2km), and waited for the bus. Snagged the 2 and were on our way.
5. Purpx va jvgu gur fgnss ng cybhssr cnex.
Answer: Check in with staff at Plouffe Park. Had to call Will on that one. It was at somerset and preston behind laplante pool. Got there and found we had to throw bagels onto a pole. Impossible to do. We only had 3 chances each and then we had to leave. We didn’t make it. So we left. (note: you could have cheated. It said you only had to put your feet behind the line. People figured it out and laid down on the grass with feet behind the line and put bagel on. Grrrr)
6. ‘Head’ into the direction of the centretown purveyor of organic coffee, located on bank street for a challenge of urban proportions.
Answer: Bridgehead at bank and Gilmour. We got off the 2 at queen? Albert? And ran to Gilmour. We had to do a scavenger hunt, 8 out of 12 things. Luckily, a good friend of mine’s store was across the street so I borrowed her for ‘switching shirts with me’ and ‘smashing a tomato on my forehead’ and ‘3 recycled bottles’ (we had to buy one bottle, and one tomato), ‘called will for info on best selling bike’, traded a man a hint for license plate number for facebook page person creator and asked bridgehead info on most languages in coffee country (papau new guinea)
7. So you think you got style in the beads you wear, head to this sassy store on bank.
Answer: Sassy bead on bank and second. Had to either thread a long string with noodles or do a move called ‘thread the needle’ where you cross your leg in front, while standing, and holding your foot, jump other leg through. Hubby had it in two tries, I got it in 4. we took off.
8. (note here: we ran all the way down bank to the glebe)
.emit doog gnirrup a rof ‘mooR’ siht ot teertS knaB ot nwod ‘nuR’. Woem uoy ekam lliw tnioPesahC sihT.
Answer: This ChasePoint will make you meow. Run down to Bank Street to this Room for a purring good time. Running Room on bank and holmwood.
Ran down, drew two cards, a seven and an ace. Then ran to brown’s inlet, and discovered that hubby had to eat ½ cup of wet cat food and I got out of it with my ace. Ran back to running room, he ate it. Yuck. He drank a lot of water after.
9. It’s sad when a city loses it’s football team…twice…but at least we have the old stadium. Visit the B ball court at the park where the boys used to play and be prepared to sink it…or lose it.
Answer: basket ball court behind landsdowne park. We ran. Got to the court. It was busy. You had to sink two baskets from the line. Every time you missed, you had to take off an article of clothing. I did the first basket in four, then on the other side, I was almost out, down to my skivvies, and I sank it. Hubby only lost bag and socks and shoes. We ran away to the bus stop at bank again to catch the 7.
10.In the south Glebe, is a ‘city’ park named for the city across from ‘Motor City. Check in here for a wet and wild challenge.
Answer: Windsor Park (hubby figured this one out, I didn’t. Caught bus to Cameron and Bank, then ran to park. Had to do an obstacle course, with inside legs tied together. First had to run around pylons, kick a soccer ball into the net, jump rope 10 times properly, shoot a basket, go over and around a play structure. Then I had to lock him to a bike stand and go into the kiddie pool, with blacked out goggles and find the key to unlock him. It took 8 keys. But we did it. Then ran back to bank to catch the bus to go downtown. (note: i got crabby at hubby a few times as the running tied together didn't work well, we had no coordination and it hurt. i apologized profusely)
Now if we had managed to get the other two, we’d be done. But we still had two more to do. And it was now 12:15.
11. Gather under Shelobs belly, use your eye for detail to create a piece worthy of the Louvre.
Answer: creepy spider at art gallery. We ran from bank and Wellington to the art gallery. Yes it took forever and I was getting quite exhausted at this time. I had already pulled a hamstring at preston and had snagged some advil to feel better. We were throwing back the water, but there was never enough and eating power bars. Too sweet. Felt gross. But we kept running.
Got to the art gallery. Hubby had to go inside and find a painting by it’s name and painter. He had to memorize it, then come out and tell me how to draw it on the ground with chalk. He took about 10 minutes. He said it was in the last room he came to. We drew it.
12. Across the river, you can study the history of mankidg…or take pictures of it today.
Answer: Museum of Civilization. We ran from the art gallery all the way to the bridge, over the bridge towards the entrance. (long run. Walked half of it. It’s now 1:50)
Had to take palm pilot, learn how to use it, then ‘get 5 strangers to lie down in star formation and take a pic, ‘get 2 strangers to sing with me on video for 10 seconds, we sang le clune samuel’, ‘took video of hubby and I spelling out ‘treo’, took pic of hubby doing handstand on bridge.
Had to run back to sparks street. Do you know how long it is from the other side of the bridge to sparks street? Pretty freakin long! I was done like toast. No water left, no food left, we ran for 20 seconds, then walked for 30 seconds all the way back. It was brutal.
Then we hit the finish line.
Found out we were 5th…I was so proud of me, of hubby. It was amazing. Found out first place got in 59 minutes before us, then 2nd was 40 minutes, 3rd was 30, 4th was 3. and the four teams were marathon runners, and they had done it before….
I was thrilled. Only 1/3 of the teams finished within 6 hours. We did it in 4 and a half.
Yes, I’m exhausted still and I can barely move now. But what an experience. I loved it. I felt so close to hubby, I felt invincible and the best thing was, I never gave up…
8:30: got to sparks street block 2, went to bathroom
8:45: signed up, went to bathroom
9:00: got coffee, went to bathroom (nerves were really going here)
9:30: preliminaries. Wrote down useless information, hugged strangers, listened to history of city chase. Blahbidy blah.
9:55: we are told that there are clue sheets for us to follow. There will be 19 clues and we need to do 10 and then get to the finish line. Due to the amount of teams, 276, the clue sheets are at 4 different chase points (areas of importance and task). They will be read 45 seconds apart from each other. And there are only 100 clue sheets per chase point. First place was read, but it was 2km away, so we waited. Second place was read, then we started to run, but stopped because a lot of people were going there. Third place was read, we took off. Starbucks at o’connor and laurier. We ran like fools. Got our clue sheet from volunteer and immediately sat down to figure it out.
I will write out the clues in the order that we followed them. It took us about 5 minutes to figure out most of them, and which areas of town to go. We had four choices, westboro, glebe, downtown and vanier. We took a risk and decided to go westboro, glebe then downtown to finish as that was closest to the finish line. We ran like fools to the bus stop, caught the 97 and got off at westboro. We managed to beat everyone to the first chase point.
1. Rapids too big? Start your walk at the ‘head’ of the ‘trail’ in the West end.
Answer: Trailhead.
We had to don lifejackets and portage a canoe down Scott Street, turn at Island Park, down Richmond Road, down the road and back to Trailhead. On the way, we saw teams at Bushtaka so we knew we had to go there next. I must mention that hubby carried the canoe by himself and I just touched the side and we jogged most of it. We were first to finish there.
2. Good with your hands? Go to Westboro to the stop which is named for Austrailian terminology for the huge variety of herbs, and other such gourmet delights down under, to see if you are good wit wheels too.
Answer: Bushtaka. We ran back up the road to there, and we had to fix and inflate a bike tire. Then deflate it. Then we left.
3. Go to LuLu in Westboro where you can breathe deeply in yoga and appreciate the moment.
Answer: LuLu Lemon. We had to get a stranger off the street and pull them into the store and they had to look at a yoga position and then tell us how to get into that position. We snagged a pregnant lady who had no problem helping us.
4. Head to Westboro to find Posh necessities for Tinkerbell, the little canine.
Answer: Head to some pet store down the street. So we ran. There was a line up of teams, so I went to the front to check it out. You had to eat dog food and you rolled for wet or dry. A girl was taking forever to eat her wet stuff (she kept puking) so we took off. Ran up to loblaws (2km), and waited for the bus. Snagged the 2 and were on our way.
5. Purpx va jvgu gur fgnss ng cybhssr cnex.
Answer: Check in with staff at Plouffe Park. Had to call Will on that one. It was at somerset and preston behind laplante pool. Got there and found we had to throw bagels onto a pole. Impossible to do. We only had 3 chances each and then we had to leave. We didn’t make it. So we left. (note: you could have cheated. It said you only had to put your feet behind the line. People figured it out and laid down on the grass with feet behind the line and put bagel on. Grrrr)
6. ‘Head’ into the direction of the centretown purveyor of organic coffee, located on bank street for a challenge of urban proportions.
Answer: Bridgehead at bank and Gilmour. We got off the 2 at queen? Albert? And ran to Gilmour. We had to do a scavenger hunt, 8 out of 12 things. Luckily, a good friend of mine’s store was across the street so I borrowed her for ‘switching shirts with me’ and ‘smashing a tomato on my forehead’ and ‘3 recycled bottles’ (we had to buy one bottle, and one tomato), ‘called will for info on best selling bike’, traded a man a hint for license plate number for facebook page person creator and asked bridgehead info on most languages in coffee country (papau new guinea)
7. So you think you got style in the beads you wear, head to this sassy store on bank.
Answer: Sassy bead on bank and second. Had to either thread a long string with noodles or do a move called ‘thread the needle’ where you cross your leg in front, while standing, and holding your foot, jump other leg through. Hubby had it in two tries, I got it in 4. we took off.
8. (note here: we ran all the way down bank to the glebe)
.emit doog gnirrup a rof ‘mooR’ siht ot teertS knaB ot nwod ‘nuR’. Woem uoy ekam lliw tnioPesahC sihT.
Answer: This ChasePoint will make you meow. Run down to Bank Street to this Room for a purring good time. Running Room on bank and holmwood.
Ran down, drew two cards, a seven and an ace. Then ran to brown’s inlet, and discovered that hubby had to eat ½ cup of wet cat food and I got out of it with my ace. Ran back to running room, he ate it. Yuck. He drank a lot of water after.
9. It’s sad when a city loses it’s football team…twice…but at least we have the old stadium. Visit the B ball court at the park where the boys used to play and be prepared to sink it…or lose it.
Answer: basket ball court behind landsdowne park. We ran. Got to the court. It was busy. You had to sink two baskets from the line. Every time you missed, you had to take off an article of clothing. I did the first basket in four, then on the other side, I was almost out, down to my skivvies, and I sank it. Hubby only lost bag and socks and shoes. We ran away to the bus stop at bank again to catch the 7.
10.In the south Glebe, is a ‘city’ park named for the city across from ‘Motor City. Check in here for a wet and wild challenge.
Answer: Windsor Park (hubby figured this one out, I didn’t. Caught bus to Cameron and Bank, then ran to park. Had to do an obstacle course, with inside legs tied together. First had to run around pylons, kick a soccer ball into the net, jump rope 10 times properly, shoot a basket, go over and around a play structure. Then I had to lock him to a bike stand and go into the kiddie pool, with blacked out goggles and find the key to unlock him. It took 8 keys. But we did it. Then ran back to bank to catch the bus to go downtown. (note: i got crabby at hubby a few times as the running tied together didn't work well, we had no coordination and it hurt. i apologized profusely)
Now if we had managed to get the other two, we’d be done. But we still had two more to do. And it was now 12:15.
11. Gather under Shelobs belly, use your eye for detail to create a piece worthy of the Louvre.
Answer: creepy spider at art gallery. We ran from bank and Wellington to the art gallery. Yes it took forever and I was getting quite exhausted at this time. I had already pulled a hamstring at preston and had snagged some advil to feel better. We were throwing back the water, but there was never enough and eating power bars. Too sweet. Felt gross. But we kept running.
Got to the art gallery. Hubby had to go inside and find a painting by it’s name and painter. He had to memorize it, then come out and tell me how to draw it on the ground with chalk. He took about 10 minutes. He said it was in the last room he came to. We drew it.
12. Across the river, you can study the history of mankidg…or take pictures of it today.
Answer: Museum of Civilization. We ran from the art gallery all the way to the bridge, over the bridge towards the entrance. (long run. Walked half of it. It’s now 1:50)
Had to take palm pilot, learn how to use it, then ‘get 5 strangers to lie down in star formation and take a pic, ‘get 2 strangers to sing with me on video for 10 seconds, we sang le clune samuel’, ‘took video of hubby and I spelling out ‘treo’, took pic of hubby doing handstand on bridge.
Had to run back to sparks street. Do you know how long it is from the other side of the bridge to sparks street? Pretty freakin long! I was done like toast. No water left, no food left, we ran for 20 seconds, then walked for 30 seconds all the way back. It was brutal.
Then we hit the finish line.
Found out we were 5th…I was so proud of me, of hubby. It was amazing. Found out first place got in 59 minutes before us, then 2nd was 40 minutes, 3rd was 30, 4th was 3. and the four teams were marathon runners, and they had done it before….
I was thrilled. Only 1/3 of the teams finished within 6 hours. We did it in 4 and a half.
Yes, I’m exhausted still and I can barely move now. But what an experience. I loved it. I felt so close to hubby, I felt invincible and the best thing was, I never gave up…
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
tuesday
yesterday was a pretty darn good day.
dropped the gaffer off, went to my favourite coffee shop, wrote some cards, did my quiet time, wrote a little...maybe 4 pages. then a friend came in, C. talked to her for awhile. talked about God and i got to pray with her.
then went to the library, to wallack's for more painting supplies, and then to colleen's for help on how to finish the paintings. and i did! i finished two of them! and they look amazing! but, now i have to sell them...so hard to part with them. i like them so much!sigh.
am looking forward to date night tonight with hubby as we go see harry potter and then have some nachos.
am really looking forward to race day.
i have nothing else to say that could possibly be remotely interesting.
dropped the gaffer off, went to my favourite coffee shop, wrote some cards, did my quiet time, wrote a little...maybe 4 pages. then a friend came in, C. talked to her for awhile. talked about God and i got to pray with her.
then went to the library, to wallack's for more painting supplies, and then to colleen's for help on how to finish the paintings. and i did! i finished two of them! and they look amazing! but, now i have to sell them...so hard to part with them. i like them so much!sigh.
am looking forward to date night tonight with hubby as we go see harry potter and then have some nachos.
am really looking forward to race day.
i have nothing else to say that could possibly be remotely interesting.
Monday, July 16, 2007
too much to think about.
i'd like to say i've been thinking of things, but i've been putting off (oops, interruption..gaffer told me he peed in the potty, and he did. good job) thinking about them.
1) planning landscape plan for friend's mom. fun work, but a lot of work, and the money will definitely help. have to pull out old gardening books. am very excited. feeling professional and important again. careerwise. i'm very happy being at home.
2) attempting to plan a camping trip, girls only, through our church. when? how much?
how many? can i do it on my own? do i have time to plan it? will anyone come?
3) 'amazing race' in Ottawa this saturday. will i fail my rockstar hubby if we have to run a lot? will we win?
4) novel i'm working on. what's the next chapter? when do i stop writing it, and work on editing to bring it together? is it too long?
5) art show coming up over thanksgiving...will i sell anything? should i still do thanksgiving dinner?
6) contemplating buying a tree company, so we can expand our own. is it viable? is it too much work? can we afford it? will the profits exceed the debts? what if we screw it up? what if hubby works too much? will i have to work? what about gaffer? what if we fail? but what if we do well?
7) potting training. when?
8) selling the cottage...huh. where i grew up. how hard will it be to let go?
yah, head is reeling as i need to think about these things, but i need some time to think. does that make sense? it's like i need my big notebook to make notes, and i need quiet to do it. perhaps i should skip nap today to do it. but then i want to work on another painting. and i have to plan this week's dinner menu. and my veggies need to be fertilized. sigh.
i'm not complaining of too much to do. it's too much thinking to do.
1) planning landscape plan for friend's mom. fun work, but a lot of work, and the money will definitely help. have to pull out old gardening books. am very excited. feeling professional and important again. careerwise. i'm very happy being at home.
2) attempting to plan a camping trip, girls only, through our church. when? how much?
how many? can i do it on my own? do i have time to plan it? will anyone come?
3) 'amazing race' in Ottawa this saturday. will i fail my rockstar hubby if we have to run a lot? will we win?
4) novel i'm working on. what's the next chapter? when do i stop writing it, and work on editing to bring it together? is it too long?
5) art show coming up over thanksgiving...will i sell anything? should i still do thanksgiving dinner?
6) contemplating buying a tree company, so we can expand our own. is it viable? is it too much work? can we afford it? will the profits exceed the debts? what if we screw it up? what if hubby works too much? will i have to work? what about gaffer? what if we fail? but what if we do well?
7) potting training. when?
8) selling the cottage...huh. where i grew up. how hard will it be to let go?
yah, head is reeling as i need to think about these things, but i need some time to think. does that make sense? it's like i need my big notebook to make notes, and i need quiet to do it. perhaps i should skip nap today to do it. but then i want to work on another painting. and i have to plan this week's dinner menu. and my veggies need to be fertilized. sigh.
i'm not complaining of too much to do. it's too much thinking to do.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
paddling
this blog is in response to B's blog on the romance of paddling.
this past weekend, a bunch of couples from church went for a white water canoe camping trip on the Petawawa. now, we were on the lower pet, not the upper. and it's a lovely river. i've been there 12 times now. (it's getting a tad predictable) and i have to tell you, paddling is not romantic to me.
i can understand how B thinks that watching the lovely trees go by, hearing the loons, watching the sunshine sprinkle little diamonds all over the river and your paddle, is fun. romantic. i think it's boring.
i don't like loons. i think they are idiots. i read something once where the writer was complaining about loons. they are actually rather stupid animals. they do stupid things. they are not a smart bird. and yet, people have put loons as a Canadian treat. i think their howling is irritating. it kills me to see people putting out their freshly painted adirondack chairs and just listen to the loons and then spend a roll of film trying to catch it. "oh look, you can see his foot. and if you look very close you can make out the babies". blah.
and then there's the trees. yes i like trees. i like trees a lot. they are one of my favourite things. however, there are zillions of trees on this river. most of them are ugly. sparse, uncared for, wild things that are being eaten by beavers, and were damaged from a severe storm so many years ago. i don't care about the trees. if you've seen one white pine you've seen a zillion.
and the water. yah, ok, i can appreciate the calmness of water. the stillness of the lake. when it's as clear as glass. but then it gets boring. i can appreciate the water if i'm paddling and i can see the bottom.
so while we're doing our trip, we start off with an hour flat paddle and then another and then we hit the rapids!!!
now the rapids, i can enjoy. is there a chance of dying? of course. is that the excitement of it? no. it's the unpredictability of it. many times have the rockstar hubby and i fallen out of our canoe when we smashed a rock we didn't see. we even lost all of our gear down the river when we tipped over. i thought it was hilarious. my only thoughts were, how are we going to paddle 25km in 4 hours, and would we float past any of it? (there happened to be two men at the end and they snagged our gear for us)
i like unpredictability. but then again i don't. i plan my day fully. i don't like change. i like routine. it makes sense to me.
but the thrill of seeing the churning water, the splashing of waves and getting drenched when it hits us. bailing out the insane amount of water that came in as you battle the rapids. it's fun. it gets my heart racing. but then again, so does climbing a tall ladder to hang up Christmas lights.
so keep your boring flat water. i think the fast crazy stuff is romantic. i love my heart pounding with a bit of fear. i think that my rockstar hubby getting us safely through another rapid is romantic. almost DYING in the waves and rocks is romantic.
but so is walking holding hands and drinking lattes...
this past weekend, a bunch of couples from church went for a white water canoe camping trip on the Petawawa. now, we were on the lower pet, not the upper. and it's a lovely river. i've been there 12 times now. (it's getting a tad predictable) and i have to tell you, paddling is not romantic to me.
i can understand how B thinks that watching the lovely trees go by, hearing the loons, watching the sunshine sprinkle little diamonds all over the river and your paddle, is fun. romantic. i think it's boring.
i don't like loons. i think they are idiots. i read something once where the writer was complaining about loons. they are actually rather stupid animals. they do stupid things. they are not a smart bird. and yet, people have put loons as a Canadian treat. i think their howling is irritating. it kills me to see people putting out their freshly painted adirondack chairs and just listen to the loons and then spend a roll of film trying to catch it. "oh look, you can see his foot. and if you look very close you can make out the babies". blah.
and then there's the trees. yes i like trees. i like trees a lot. they are one of my favourite things. however, there are zillions of trees on this river. most of them are ugly. sparse, uncared for, wild things that are being eaten by beavers, and were damaged from a severe storm so many years ago. i don't care about the trees. if you've seen one white pine you've seen a zillion.
and the water. yah, ok, i can appreciate the calmness of water. the stillness of the lake. when it's as clear as glass. but then it gets boring. i can appreciate the water if i'm paddling and i can see the bottom.
so while we're doing our trip, we start off with an hour flat paddle and then another and then we hit the rapids!!!
now the rapids, i can enjoy. is there a chance of dying? of course. is that the excitement of it? no. it's the unpredictability of it. many times have the rockstar hubby and i fallen out of our canoe when we smashed a rock we didn't see. we even lost all of our gear down the river when we tipped over. i thought it was hilarious. my only thoughts were, how are we going to paddle 25km in 4 hours, and would we float past any of it? (there happened to be two men at the end and they snagged our gear for us)
i like unpredictability. but then again i don't. i plan my day fully. i don't like change. i like routine. it makes sense to me.
but the thrill of seeing the churning water, the splashing of waves and getting drenched when it hits us. bailing out the insane amount of water that came in as you battle the rapids. it's fun. it gets my heart racing. but then again, so does climbing a tall ladder to hang up Christmas lights.
so keep your boring flat water. i think the fast crazy stuff is romantic. i love my heart pounding with a bit of fear. i think that my rockstar hubby getting us safely through another rapid is romantic. almost DYING in the waves and rocks is romantic.
but so is walking holding hands and drinking lattes...
Monday, July 9, 2007
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
babies...
always in the corner of my mind,
multi-coloured, different sized bayyyybies.
so three nights ago, i dream that the test said, yes, you are having a baby.
two nights ago, i dream that i am not pregnant, but yes, yes you are. you are having a baby.
yesterday i spotted. which means, no baby.
last night i dreamt i had a 12 pound baby boy. granted, then i started yelling at hubby because he had brought me home from the hospital the same day, and i wanted my four day in a private room with some sleep. (gotta love firefighter insurance)
so...what to think?
multi-coloured, different sized bayyyybies.
so three nights ago, i dream that the test said, yes, you are having a baby.
two nights ago, i dream that i am not pregnant, but yes, yes you are. you are having a baby.
yesterday i spotted. which means, no baby.
last night i dreamt i had a 12 pound baby boy. granted, then i started yelling at hubby because he had brought me home from the hospital the same day, and i wanted my four day in a private room with some sleep. (gotta love firefighter insurance)
so...what to think?
Monday, July 2, 2007
Yawn
oh yes, i'm sleepy. why am i always sleepy? i think it's because it's close to nap time.
yesterday's canada day was quite lovely actually. having spent the weekend with hubby and gaffer, gaffer was in wonderful spirits. after waking up and snuggling with gaffer and his 5 'guys' (ie. smedley, smedley, patches, murray and horsie) we went to church. enjoyed an amazing message. came home. napped blissfully. got up, went to the G's for din-din. blew bubbles in the grass to which B took pics. i hope they turned out. the entire Sh family seems to be quite photogenicists. (is that a word?) drank wine, ate meat, laughed much. could that be a quote? 'drink wine, eat meat, laugh much'? i like it. maybe i'll make a sign and put it in the kitchen. we got to bed quite late as the fireworks were quite loud. wouldn't have minded so much if we could see them from our room, but the trees were kind of in the way, so you could only see little colour sprites flitting about. fell asleep around midnight. expected gaffer to sleep in. no such luck. however, we will be napping soon.
spent the morning re-arranging things, putting away laundry, vaguely planning what i'll be bringing on the weekend's camping trip.
i have absolutely nothing interesting to say today....
yesterday's canada day was quite lovely actually. having spent the weekend with hubby and gaffer, gaffer was in wonderful spirits. after waking up and snuggling with gaffer and his 5 'guys' (ie. smedley, smedley, patches, murray and horsie) we went to church. enjoyed an amazing message. came home. napped blissfully. got up, went to the G's for din-din. blew bubbles in the grass to which B took pics. i hope they turned out. the entire Sh family seems to be quite photogenicists. (is that a word?) drank wine, ate meat, laughed much. could that be a quote? 'drink wine, eat meat, laugh much'? i like it. maybe i'll make a sign and put it in the kitchen. we got to bed quite late as the fireworks were quite loud. wouldn't have minded so much if we could see them from our room, but the trees were kind of in the way, so you could only see little colour sprites flitting about. fell asleep around midnight. expected gaffer to sleep in. no such luck. however, we will be napping soon.
spent the morning re-arranging things, putting away laundry, vaguely planning what i'll be bringing on the weekend's camping trip.
i have absolutely nothing interesting to say today....
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