Today, after we biked our daughter to a sleepover we decided that we were going to head out and enjoy the lovely sunshine and perfect temperatures. We use a Wike Woody Wanoe to pull our canoe around town. If we go canoeing farther a stream we will place it on top of our car. We have a local area annual season’s pass and that allows us to go canoeing all over our local area for free.
We love to go canoeing and live literally a 5 minute bike ride from two major rivers. They actually join near a covered bridge right by our house. So we have loads of options right here in the centre of our city.
In fact, allow me to show you. The bridge, with my son getting ready to cross.
The view from the bridge, the Speed is on the lower left, the Eramosa on the upper left and on the right they are the new and enlarged Speed River.
And here is the improved Speed River from the view of the canoe:
[the bridge is the Gordon Street bridge in Guelph]
Today we decided to put in (the river) farther down stream than normal. We hoped to go quite a ways downriver but learned very quickly that there is a drop and so after a short 20 minutes we pulled out and headed back upstream to our normal launch spot.
Momma Duck and Babies:
An Inuit Directional marker made by University Students this winter when the waters were low, my husband and kids saw them making this. I don’t know the spelling but something like “Inukshuk.”
It was truly an amazing day!
[all of the picture will live link to my Flickr account so you can see them at their various sizes 
]
This is what you would have seen today as we came home from the grocery store. We had numerous supplies to fill and so the poor Wike was loaded to capacity.
I must say it is a pleasure navigating around the store with the new third wheel!
Hanging off the back of the Wike were our breads and my purse (double bagged in a reusable shopping bag. Total cost of our trip was $133, which does not include a % amount for the cost of the bike and trailer as my accountant brother might suggest I add! Nor does it include the calories I spent pulling it and it was heavy.
Take a look inside:
As you can see there is need to think when packing. At the very bottom, which you can’t see was 10kg of flour, 10 lbs of potatoes, 9 lbs of apples, 5 lbs of onions, 4kg of white and 4 kg of brown sugar. Strategically placed upon them was a full stocking of canned goods. Most of them seen here:
Now we didn’t buy anything on the top shelf but you can see a large portion of goods that were all brought home by bike. No, I didn’t take pictures of all the vegetables, meats and dairy we bought, that would just be silly now wouldn’t it? Although… we did really clean out the fridge just lovely when we came home.
The best part of owning this system? Unlike when you car grocery shop, you don’t have to unpack everything out of the trunk and make multiple trips back and forth from the trunk once you get home. You don’t even have to unload the grocery cart into the trunk at the store. Nope…
just…
back the Wike up and pull it into the house , down the hall and… into your kitchen where you can unpack the entire lot just one time. Talk about economy of effort! 
Meet ZigZag the Monkey. She’s my daughter’s stuffy. I gave this toy to her for Valentine’s Day when she was three. As much as I vowed that there would be no toy that we had to turn around to pick up… unbeknown to me ZigZag became that toy. By the time I was aware of the fact there was no chance of buying a second spare ZigZag to swap around with the first and hopefully avoid those long distance return trips to pick up ZigZag.
Anyhow, ZigZag had a pressing need to be dressed. I crocheted her up a cute white and pink dress with ruffles and what have you. But I was informed that it went out of style.
I informed ZigZag that I was no longer in the clothing for monkeys business and she had to find another clothier.
Luckily my daughter learned to knit. These are the product of her 7 year old knitting. She designed the winter coat/poncho. I approximated the ‘perfect’ number of stitches to cast on for the scarf a.k.a. head propping up device. The Sundress is a product of… well… It was a swatch that got appropriated. Then some how the rows kept mushrooming. I pointed out to the knitter that this made it a perfect dress and she came out of her room this morning having cast it off and proudly sewn in the seams. She did all her own casting off and seaming.
The Coat and Scarf:
The Sundress:
So in short, I have to take exactly 4 courses to graduate with my Bachelor of General Arts with a major in Psychology and a double minor in history and english. Now here is the cool part. I’ve done all of the ‘core’ courses and all I have to do is 4 more 200 or 300 or 400 level courses. Electives are the University-speak for those courses.
I’m taking three courses via Athabasca University. These are self-taught/driven courses. Kind of like homeschooling!
The book with the salad on it (and I agree, its yummy looking) is the Study Guide. It tells me that I have to do this, that and the last thing and get this, that, and the last thing minimum marks to get my credits. I have a course tutor who I have to e-mail things to for marking and credit. I have two exams, mid-term and final that will be taken at a host site. That will likely be the University of Guelph.
So, for my electives, I’m taking two courses in Nutrition because, quite simply it is something by which I am fascinated. I’m also taking a Physiological Neural Psychology. That is through the university that I will obtain my degree. I am taking that course because it is the last course that my favourite professor will ever teach at this university because he is retiring to California. So this will all be on-line. I realize, its a hard life and I wish him the best!
I have to take this Nutrition course in order to qualify to take the second.
For my last course I was going to take Family Sociology but today, in speaking with the President of the Student Union at Athabasca University, she recommended three other courses 2 of which she has taken and found rather interesting and the third taken by her friend and also intersting.
They are, in order:
ethnobiology
medical anthropology
health and healing administration
She also recommended a course in “issues in women’s health.”
Which would you pick? My original selection or one of the new ones?
And for the record, today I completed the first section of the first chapter and the first quiz of the first section of the first chapter, 
.
My textbooks arrived! Wahoo!
So, last weekend I went for a hair cut, something along the usual lines. Well, it went wrong, quite wrong!
I tried and tried to live with it, but when I went back the stylist who gave me this cut in an attempt to even out the first cut exclaimed that the cut was akin to 3 different cuts! I looked, not to say its a bad look, like a Jewish Boy with the side locks. Which is not how I prefer to look!
From these pictures, the very back and the front haven’t changed from that bad haircut. But its drastically different from my normal cut. I’m thinking I’ll learn to appreciate this cut but it is hard looking in the mirror and seeing this when I’m used to my shoulder length wedge!
For the record, I’m not complaining about this cut as I think it looks very nice. Its just… quite different!
We’ve been doing well on our plan to avoid driving the car as much as is ‘reasonable’ this summer. Basically, within the city and for daily use we use bikes. Outside of the city, we’ll take the car if we don’t have the time. Over 1 hour of biking and we’ll consider if we could bike or we’ll just use the car.
Our puppy comes with us. He used to ride on a basket at the front of my bike. This has limitations. Namely if Dad and the kids went out, the puppy stayed home. The puppy is full grown now. The basket was straining under his 15 lbs.
So we explored other options. Wike, the company who made our grocery shopping trailer, the city shopper, happens to be located in Guelph. We stopped by their ‘factory’ and talked with Anna and Bob and they helped us come up with a way to continue to take our puppy with us. We have plans to further modify this basic trailer so that it will have some storage capacity and a place for the puppy, kind of a trailer inbetween the city shopper and the use of the pannier bags. One day, I’ll post how we doctored up the trailer, but for now, enjoy these pictures. It has been a great day weather-wise here!
More pictures at Flickr, use the link on the right if you are interested!
Just when the kids get tired of trying to help me sew and are long past the point of interested, the Pets decided that they too want to help!
Here is Kibbles who wanted so dearly to wait on top of the cutting table while I was working on a curtain to cover our bedroom Skylight. The Hubby is now working the odd night shift again and so extra darkness is needed! Plus a Skylight really heats up a room!
And here, in a more passive aggressive move, is Nick… Naturally he is warming my seat and not… attempting to force me to let him outside!
There are times when we get so absorbed into everything that we forget to take the time to do the easy, little things that mean the world.
Today, my son was so thrilled at how he made his bed. He had to show me, repeatedly. Yesterday, the kids worked really hard a folding and sorting and putting away laundry. Our daughter worked really hard at setting a beautiful table outside for us so what we could have dinner outside. She got me to make Lemonade, pulled out the picnic/outside dishes, place mats, washed the tables and chairs and so forth!
I had not really taken the time to really tell them how much I appreciated it.
They’re out for a long bike ride with Daddy right now and as I looked at their rooms I was reminded that my mother sometimes left me little notes. Hopefully I can give them a piece of that pleasure today!
It was my birthday yesterday and I must say it was a wonderful day. In the morning I managed to get the soups for the Supper Social ready in record time. Which is something because we had French Onion Soup. That is a labour intensive soup, and I’d say about 150 large double fist sized onions cooked down into a large 6 qt amount of soup. We also had a Tomato Garden Vegetable soup. Then there was Spinach Salad, Cheese Tostadas (for on the Onion Soup) and Individual sized Sponge Cakes with a Fruit Sauce and Whipping Cream for dessert. There were the obligatory crackers as well.
I’d like to invite you, if you live within driving distance to feel free to attend. It is in the Tytler School basement, in the Two River’s rooms. Bring your own bowl and spoon between 5:30 and 8:00 p.m. on the Thursday after Garden Fresh. Come for a bowl, take a bowl, whatever! We had a lot of fun yesterday and I’d say there was about 3 new families and individuals. I’m glad they came! I’d be glad if you came too!
While there I managed to dip ice cream cones into chocolate and after 8 p.m. my brother and his wife and my niece and nephews, my other brother, and my Aunt came and we had a yummy Ice cream party. My father and mother called on Skype so it was great fun .
Now for the draw! I have results :
For my Internet friends, Linda!
And for those friends whom I’ve had the privilege to meet in real life, Sarah!
So I’m going to try and send you e-mails asking for details . Expect one soon, or you can comment here saying which pattern you choose, and what colours you prefer.
Please know that I honestly considered knitting something for all of you, but then my reason (a.k.a. my husband) said that I’d better just stick with the draw for now and perhaps hold another one in the Fall!
Yay!
