Brandon

As many of you faithful readers of this blog know, we are going on a European trip of a life time in a little more than one month. Part of that trip includes a 7 day biking excursion.

Every time I tell anyone about biking in Tuscany, they look at me and say, "Tuscany's pretty hilly." I've been doing a fair bit of biking here in Winnipeg but hills are virtually non existent in this city-although I can successfully bike up the Chief Peguis trail bridge now, without stopping.


So, knowing that we really needed some hill training, Wes and I put the bikes on the bike carrier and drove west.


Our first stop was Spruce Hills Provincial park. The map showed a biking/hiking trail which was 13 km long. It seemed like a great place to start. As we were getting ready to start, we saw a couple of young women who were just finishing up. I asked them how the trail was and they said it was pretty good, a little hilly and took them about 2 hours. I should have questioned the fact that it took 2 young, athletic looking women 2 hours to bike 13 kilometres but for some reason I didn't. That was my first mistake.


The next mistake was deciding that I could continue onto the third loop of the trail after doing the first and second. My third mistake was forgetting that I had to get back to the starting point. Getting there was tough enough. Going back was hell. I stopped counting my mistakes after the third one.


It was hot. It was bumpy. My butt started hurting. I ran out of water. We went up hill more than we went down hill. There was one spot where there was a sign stating that you had to walk your bike down into the gully. It was as steep as a flight of stairs only it was sandy. It took all of my might to keep from sliding all the way down on my already painful petunia. As I was slipping and sliding down, I tried to keep thoughts of the fact that somehow, I had to get back up, out of my head.


If I had been in a better frame of mind (or perhaps in better shape, like a 20 year old), I might have enjoyed the wild flowers, the babbling brook and the lovely prairie landscape. However, I was not in a good frame of mind and swore to myself that I would never, ever do such a crazy thing again. My legs were killing me, my heart was pounding out of my chest and I was thirsty. Wes, who was usually ahead of me could hear my grunting, groaning and cursing

But, finish it I did. Good thing I took these pictures because I was in no mood to appreciate the beauty of anything that day. It does look like a lovely trail, doesn't it?

Ha Ha Surprised you!

I haven't been posting much lately. It's not that I have been busy or anything. I just don't think I have all that much to say.

Kristen called from work on Saturday and told Tim to ask me to call her. She had a 24 hour flu thing last week so I thought that maybe she just wanted to tell me that she still wasn't feeling good. Her request actually was that I buy the new Harry Potter book so that she could read it.

Her loving father went out to buy it and she spent 2 days reading it. I could let Tim read it now-he'll have it done in a day or two as well. I haven't started reading it yet because I know that I will not be able to put it down and everything else that I am responsible for will slide. While the hype about this book is a little extreme, I'm glad to see that a book of all things is getting the kind of attention that it is.

We have a beautiful backyard pool. I am so grateful for it. It really helps to make this hot, humid weather not only bearable, but enjoyable. We see the pool as our alternative to owning a cottage; less upkeep and not nearly as expensive. I do love Winnipeg in the summer and I think I would miss all that happens here if we were "at the lake" all summer.

Last week I enjoyed an evening out with Frank, Alisha, George, Yvonne and Wes at the Fringe Festival. It was my first time and I really had a good time. I'd like to go to some more shows this week before it's all over. The Fringe is something that I love about living in the city. It's neat walking downtown at 10:00 PM with the streets full of people having a good time.

The 2 shows we watched were at the same venue. While we were watching the first show, tickets for the 2nd show were being sold. That left us with a bit of a dilema. So Frank, resourceful man that he is, gave someone $60.00 (cash) to buy tickets for us. I was so impressed! This person worked at the pub where the shows were being held but it was a little risky to hand over that cash. The guy came through for us and we ended up with great seats. Yay Frank!

This hot weather is making it tough for us to do a lot of training for our bike trip. Next weekend we'll head out to Brandon for a couple of days in search of hills. While I know that training will make our trip in the fall more fun, I definitely am a "fair weather biker."

I would now like to write a paragraph that will fit all these random thoughts together into a concise, cohesive little piece but I can't.

The end.

Folk Festival Highlights

There are so many memories floating around in my head. I'm just going to write some of them down.

Crooked Still

Cat Empire

Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir
Chirgilchin

Randy Newman

Michael Franti and Spearhead

Ndidi Onukwulu

Ollabelle

That 1 Guy

There are a lot of unique clothes walking around at the Folk Festival. I noticed an amazing skirt, made out of ties and pointed it out to my sisters. As we were looking at the skirt, we realized that we knew the body, inside the skirt. It was non other than Joyce. She is a famous person and it seems that people recognize her wherever she goes.

The pasties. Ugh. I know someone who called them t** stickers. Crude yes. But they were ugly. I hope they don't come back next year.

Finding a great spot to watch a show.

The workshop with Crooked Still, Cat Empire, That 1 Guy and the Dhuks was the most incredible event ever. Words cannot describe what happened there. That alone was worth the price of admission. And seeing my daughter, son and nephews flushed with the pleasure of watching that show was unforgettable.

The food was great! No crappy fast food at this festival. I had a samosa, roti, roasted vegetable pannini, vegetarian wrap and a whale tale (not all at the same time).

Just laying around on a blanket, and when we got tired of that, moving onto a chair, and back to the blanket. You get the picture.

The music. Every band and individual had something interesting and unique to offer.

Every single one.