11

Tags

cycling, diet, exercise, family, fitness, hockey, spinning

I was all ready to go this morning, just like I always am. An almond-milk-and-fruit concoction in the fridge and my day’s clothes hanging in the mudroom to minimize disruption to those I love most as I exit home at 530a.

Which is a bit of a canard. In the universe that is our home I am the most disruptive force, a belt of careening asteroids at the best of times, colliding gracelessly with objects both inanimate and organic regardless of proximity to my path. And at 520a, brace for impact.

Anyway, to get to the point, they had to get by without me this morning at the gym and I am confident they did just fine.

Today is my first down day in the last 27 – the sprint run to the end of the challenge motivated me to forego a couple of dates that normally would have been rest days, but the nasty weather and a couple creaky joints made it an easy call this morning. Me and the asteroid belt called an inaudible audible and I slept (sort of) for an extra hour.

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Call it democracy

Tags

diet, family, fitness, general, hockey, journalism, politics

Kiss the ladies shake hands with the fellows
Open for business like a cheap bordello

— Bruce Cockburn, They Call it Democracy

In almost exactly a calendar month from today, election-weary Canadians will vote to elect a new government.

If it feels like the election has been going on forever, that’s because effectively, it has. Partisan politics have evolved into something in Canada that is akin to a 24-7 election cycle — the advertising never stops; the bombardment of commentary on social media — informed and otherwise — is ceaseless, often mean spirited, generally anonymous and frequently without redeeming value.

Against that backdrop we have the longest federal election in Canadian history — 11 weeks. In an age where communication is instantaneous and video and images can be relayed and shared in real time, many wonder what’s the purpose of such a long campaign.

The cynical will say the well-fund Conservatives want to make the other parties spend money they don’t have, accumulating huge debt and crippling them for subsequent elections, that may come sooner than we think if this vote spits out a minority.

The less cynical might argue that a longer election gives the masses more time to sift through the noise of social media and learn an understanding of issues at a more comfortable pace, especially in summer.

The return of short snapper

With the cold snap still in full grip of most of the country — and that’s an impressive reach — most Canadians I think find this time of year the most challenging to get through.

Long, cold, dark nights and short cold days. The post-Christmas/New Year figurative hangover remains. And it is a soul-sucking distance until March break, or more realistically, Victoria Day weekend.

I’m going to make every effort to get back on this blog horse and ride every day, even when most days — like this one — I have no clue where to start. But the blog of a 1,000 words begins with a single sentence.

And today’s sentence is to tell you time for the latest installment of short snappers:

Rain = guilt-free TV watching (or, how I spent my summer vacation )

A sodden Friday to lead us into a wet weekend, or so we are told.

No grumbling! The summer has been incredible so far and a little rain will be good for the farmers and forests and parks. And it will allow us to all feel a little less guilty about sitting in front of a TV watching the wrap up to the games this weekend.

Not to mention the PGA championship, the final major on the golf calendar and as sure a sign that there is that the warm weather will be ending soon.

I have no idea what the weekend holds for me but it would be nice to have the weather cooperate a little late in the afternoon and into the evenings for BBQs and patio time.

I’m not really here. Shsssh.

There are days when I don’t post here — sometimes even consecutive days — and you may well wonder if I feel bad about that reality. And the answer is no.

No, I don’t feel bad at all. It’s true I am enjoying a few days off — back to work tomorrow for a day before resuming holiday mode Friday — and I thought it best to assure you all I haven’t fallen down a rabbit hole or anything like that. I just have been too busy doing almost nothing to get inspired to entertain. So please excuse the absence. Regular programming will resume eventually. But here’s some light reading.

Happy Canada Day. Enjoy the “trip”

Happy Canada Day weekend loyal readers.

I am getting a little bit of an early start on the weekend – actually, my early start began Thursday. I took the day off to participate in a fundraising golf tournament for a midget AAA hockey team and Pad and I baked in the sun in lovely Stouffville.

The lost zen of caddying

Laura is on a golf course today in this stupid heat.

It put me in mind of years and years ago — when as a kid, I was a caddy.

If I am ever to apply my twisted view of the world to a book, caddying may be the outlet. I’m not sure all my recollections of those years are true and accurate any more, but the stories I can tell have entertained more than one dinner party and happily, most of the people in those stories are dead now so no one can say for sure if I’m making it up.

Rain, rain and unlearning a decade of brain lock and muscle memory

No complaining about the rain today. After the weather we’ve had this spring, this one is for the parched farmlands that ring the populated areas of southern Ontario and keep us in fruit and veggies.

The long weekend was perfect. It was 21 degrees for two weeks in March.

Stop complaining.

If you go into the woods today . . .

I saw this item on Inside Halton the other morning while riding into Toronto about bear sightings in the Milton area. Bear sightings in people’s back yards.

I don’t think it’s all that unusual for bears to be seen in Escarpment country, but I’m not all that interested in having any in my yard. We have enough wildlife as it is. I practically trip over rabbits in the morning when I go out for the paper and that’s not much of an exaggeration. And the infestation of coyotes around Oakville is well documented. Perhaps they are following the rabbits, which I would imagine are a good food supply. And then of course there are the racoons, skunks and sundry other varmints.

But bears?

No Tigers or Sharks or Bears, but a great Masters anyway

Tags

Bubba, hockey, masters, OHL priority selection

If you’ve ever been on a summer vacation and received a phone call from work telling you that you needed to come back to Toronto from wherever you were, it’s not a fun moment.

If you’re on an isolated beach in Cape Breton, you will pause for a moment to sit on a rock and reconsider the wisdom of that bright idea you had to tell an assistant “here’s where you can reach me if there’s an emergency.”

The (somewhat) silver lining to that — let’s call it “silver-ish” — is that unused vacation days start to pile up fast than the bodies on CSI: Miami, making it both tempting and practical to add a day to something like the Easter long weekend.