Bicycle!

I moved to the Comox Valley in September 2009, and from that point in time I have been considering buying a bicycle. I had considered it for a few reasons – health, transportation and fun being my top three.  When I got Jasmine I added a fourth reason – to run her. 

This past week I was out walking with my friend Linden and one of the things that we meandered around to in our conversation was bike riding.  She and her husband have hired a personal trainer; she’s bought a bicycle, and is making wonderful progress with fitness goals.

Knowing I want a bike, Linden challenged me to have one before the end of the month.  In retrospect, I’m not certain if that was supposed to be before a month went by (so 30 days, give or take) or before the end of this month, which is actually coming to an end on Tuesday of this coming week.

Thursday was my day off this week and I set a couple of goals for myself.

• Change books at the second hand bookstore in Comox
• Go to Black’s Cycle in Comox and get more information

Second hand bookshop was fun – I never seem to have enough time or money when I am in a book store, but I have now got a nice healthy credit to use with them next time I am in.  I’m going to try and get in again this week and pick up a few more books for light and fluffy reading while at the cabin on vacation.

Next up was Black’s Cycle.  I identified myself at the counter by telling the lovely salesman that I know NOTHING about bikes and haven’t actually been ON one since about 1987.

He was very gentle with me and didn’t laugh - I appreciated that!

Ok… so first up we talked about good starter bikes and he suggested I start with the Norco Pinnacle – and for me the 17.5” frame was the size needed.  Next up we discussed helmets.  Yup – excellent helmet acquired as well – a Bell Vela (in pink.) And the once I had test ridden the bike up and down the street a couple of times, I discussed & acquired a bike rack for my car – a Stealth F2, 2 bike carrier.

Ok.  So all of this paid for (gulp) I headed home, loaded Jasmine into the car and headed up to the Pipeline to try it all out.

AWESOME!

Except… did you note that there was something VERY important that I might need that I totally forgot to acquire…? 

That night, I managed about 1.5 KM in total and post ride I was a teensy bit sore.  Ok, really, I was in a vast sea of sore and my underneath parts (I am informed that it is NOT correct for me to refer to it as my Lady Parts since if THOSE actually hurt I had bigger problems riding a bicycle that I thought.  I was duly educated that it was actually the flesh covering my sit bones that was bruised and sore.

Whatever.  I hurt when I sat down. I hurt when I stood up.  I was moving stiffly for the next day.

Ok… so yesterday being Friday, I worked until 5 and Black's Cycle was closed when I finished my shift.  I needed the day off anyhow for recovery purposes… so tonight after work (I finished at 3:30 this afternoon) I headed BACK over to Black’s Cycle and bought myself a pair of ladies bicycle shorts – Pearl Izumis.

AWESOME!

In the trying-on phase of this particular purchase I noted that the material is actually cut so that they rest at a nice location around your waist while you are riding.  This is something the makers of panty hose could learn because, damn it all, I HATE when panty hose slide back down over my ass when I sit.

Anyhow, they have a really strange feel, especially if never having been worn before.  Sort of like having a gimungous half-diaper on.  VERY strange feeling indeed.

Following the purchase (at which time I was told, by the wonderful salesman who helped me yesterday, that inside bike shorts “skin is in” and that undies are a bad idea) I came home, got changed, loaded Jasmine into the car and the rack and bike ONTO the car and headed back up to the Pipeline for another try.

Yes, things are still tender but holy SMOKES did the bike shorts ever make a difference! And coolest of cool, I managed about 7 KM tonight and Miss Jasmine RAN the whole time!  It was brilliant!

Next ride will now be either Monday or Tuesday – tomorrow is a long walk morning.  I know my sit bones are still there – I can feel them tonight again, but it’s nowhere NEAR as sore as the other night – thank GOD for bike shorts – I’ll be getting a few more pairs of those babies. Let me tell you!!!

Ok, it’s time for this woman to have a hot bath and head for sleep!

With love across the waters,

An Explosion in the Garden!

Spring never ceases to amaze me.  Mother Earth, waking from her winter sleep seems, sometimes, to move only a little tiny bit at a time – and then all of the sudden she just explodes.  Flowers bloom – starting slowly with snowdrops and crocuses then leaping into daffodils and finally into the gorgeous heady scents of hyacinths and lilacs. Grass goes from not needing to be cut at all, to needing to be cut a couple of times a week.

One thing I always appreciated, while living in Ontario, was how quickly the process seemed to happen. It seemed that over the space of a short week or two all of spring was crammed into the world.  Riding on the Go Train, I recall looking out the windows along the lake shore and seeing the trees go from the pale yellow-green fuzz that heralds the beginning, to being covered (seemingly within days) with full, lush and green leaves. Then the heat would start.

Last year I wasn’t especially focused on spring.  This year, with the advent of a back yard that I have worked diligently to improve with plants, arrangement and Feng Shui principles in mind, I am very focused on what has been happening.

The potted shrubs I installed in late April have burst forth with loads of new growth – pale green and sharply scented & having that very soft feel of newness to it.  The flower baskets have filled out gloriously (and, I admit, I need to do some dead-heading in them) and on Monday when I returned from the cabin, I was THRILLED to see just how much the peonies have grown.  They went from this:

To this:

In five short (but very sunny) days!

So the million dollar question: Are all of the changes, including all of the Feng Shui modifications, making any difference to my life yet? The answer is yes, I think so.  This past week I have had two different people offer to set me up with someone they know.  This is a positive step for me. I am starting to see movement in the work sector – and though nothing has happened for me just yet, I am feeling a LOT more positive about it that I have in QUITE some time.

(From the Abraham-Hicks Daily Quotes) “First there is thought, then there is thought form, and then there is matter. Matter is only thought that has been thought upon by more.”

So I ask you: What will you choose to think about today?

With love across the waters,

A Wedding

As many of you know, my younger brother (who I love and am so proud of I could bust) got married a couple of weeks ago.  There isn’t much I can say about the day – it was wonderful and sensitive and emotional - and I am so blessed to have been allowed to attend such a wonderful and intimate wedding.

So instead of words and thoughts, I will share some of my favourite pictures of their VERY special day.

With love across the waters,

May Long Weekend Joy!

I am in the final throes of a long long-weekend (today being the last day of six off) and will spend the day in pursuit of clean laundry, a long dog walk, groceries and some catching-up on various mini-projects around the house.

Wednesday (the 18^th of May) after work I headed down to the cabin for my first weekend of the year.  It was GLORIOUS! Off work at 5 PM, I blasted home, loaded the cooler, changed, put the dog and cooler into the car and headed down the highway.  The ride was bright and sunny and the roads were clear & free of delays.

Into Nanaimo, I stopped at my brother’s place and picked up the oars and then headed straight for the beach.  7:25 on the dot was when we arrived and I was over, shutters off and into the cabin before 8:30 PM that night – so well before sundown!

The next morning was when the fun started.  Before 8:00 Thursday morning I had confiscated 3 or 4 ikky dead things from her – bits of fish and parts of a Canada goose that had died and started to fall apart on the beach as it rotted.

YUK!

This in mind, and once I had my coffee, I decided that a walk about was in order – partly to get her away from the ikkies on my beach and partly to scope out any OTHER ikkies that may be “brought home” over the course of our 5 days down. So we wandered freely around the cabins and up the bluff for a look-see of the flowers and sunshine.

Jasmine in the Camas Lilies

Camas Lilies up close

A patch of Buttercups

And even some Daisies!

Growth on the Gary Oak trees

Springtime!

 Family started arriving at their various cabins later that evening and the first official cabin-long-weekend got under way.

Aside from being on “dead thing” watch (the total included parts of about six dead and dried out fish, dead seal bones, a dead and VERY gross Canada Goose and one mostly rotted out Canada Goose chick) I was able to finally catch up on some long missed reading.  I finished four books this weekend!  To be fair, two of them had been started, but two others hadn’t yet been cracked – time to hit the second hand bookshop and find new reading material!

Jasmine and I headed home yesterday.  I had planned not to come home until today, but I miscalculated with her food and ran out of the last little bit of it yesterday morning and so opted to come home and start the “clean-up” process yesterday.  Clean up started with Jasmine having a bath – she had been in swimming a few times and was a very salty pooch.  Next was me into the shower and after that started the laundry. 

My Salty Dog!

The last load is in the washer right now and I’m just about ready to take Jasmine out for a long walk in the bush and then do some grocery shopping.

With love across the waters,