First big ride of the year

Self portrait with Lake Simcoe in the background 

Went on a adventure today, all the way to Egypt and beyond !! ( well thats Egypt , Ontario ) The plan was to head out early while it was still cool, but that got scraped as the bike needed a bit of tender love and care , so after some cleaning and adjustments and a shower as I was already sweating buckets I headed out just after 8 AM . 

Once on the road it was rather pleasant as there was a breeze, so as long as I didn't stop all was good. I headed east through Aurora to Musselman Lake for the first stop of the day to replenish provisions, there I ran into my fellow cyclist Darryl who was out with his group ride. 

After downing a bottle of Gatorade I was off again heading north through Mt Albert, Zepher ( another water stop ) and Egypt all the way up to Lake Simcoe were I stopped at Willow Beach for lunch, the beaches were packed with vacationers out relishing the fantastic hot summer weather , I don't think I have ever seen so many people out in the water enjoying themselves .

With a full belly I headed home through Queensville and the Marsh , the last 30 Km were very hot as the wind had stopped and I had to stop myself a couple of times in the shade of some friendly trees to cool down a bit, finally after 124 hot km I arrived back home at 2.30 pooped !!!, but feeling good to finally have gotten out for a long ride !!

Narrow bridge on Lake Drive East

Lake Simcoe's inviting waters

 On an interesting note just last Wednesday I  finally top the 1,000 km mark on the bike , today was my 21st outing of the year for a total of 1,145 km, compare that to 73 outings and 5,728 km from last last year by this date and you can see I am way behind last years totals! 

Our visit to Sandbanks Provincial Park

The Dunes

This past weekend Evelyn and I managed to get away and visit one of my favorite parks in Ontario, Sandbanks Provincial Park, it was a short visit just an overnighter but it was full of adventures with  swimming , hiking dunes, canoeing , sunset walk on the beach , and a evening sitting around the fire pit roasting marshmallows !!.

The weather was sunny and HOT just perfect for spending the day by the water . The dunes spectacular as usual once again defeated our attempt of walking to the end of them , not because of the usual child that didn't want to walk anymore and thus had to be carried or dragged up and down the dunes , no this time Evelyn , Josh and I set out to give it a try but the HOT sand turned us back , I had never experienced it that hot that it actually was burning your feet sandals and all . We ended up heading for water and walked in it all the way back to the car . 

Sandbanks is a smallish park on the south east coast of Prince Edward County a good three hour car ride from home, it’s beaches are probably the best in Ontario and the whole area is very picturesque and quaint , one can easily spend a week relaxing and exploring the region. 

I have been visiting the park off and on for about twenty years now , my good friend Gill always books a campsite and takes the kids and whenever I can I’ll pop in for a visit , this year was special as all the kids where there and it was the first time I was able to introduce Evelyn to the wonders of this beautiful place, we had a great time and I mush extend a special thanks to Gill for her hospitality !!!

The turn back point in our hike

Sunset on the beach

We rented two canoes and a kayak and had a lot of fun on the river !

The rocky shore line by the ruins of Lakeshore Lodge

The gang : Evelyn, Gill, Megan, Tiffany, Josh, Wiggy and me.

Nostalgia

With moving day nearing we have started going through our possessions the priceless artifacts hidden away in the darker corners of the household , although "JUNK" is the word that more readily comes to mind . Pack rats is what we have become , mad hoarders of every magazine, X-mas card, tin can, stuffed bear, shoe box, never uses glasses, flower pot , hand held vacuum ( 3 !!! ) , computer parts, bike components, horse paraphernalia etc, etc, etc, all priceless and quite useless at the same time . 

But the real treasure is in the papers, bags and boxes full of old recites, letters , bank books, old driver licences , menus from special events , pay stubs , pictures , trinkets , diaries , school pictures, books, etc, etc, etc , all instantly brining back a memory, causing one to pause and relive .

And then the painful business begins , to toss or not to toss . Our dilemma is probably not to unfamiliar to some of you , we joined two household quite late in life , we brought together a lifetime of junk and joined it under one roof, we were lucky or perhaps unlucky that there was room , lots of storage available a whole empty apartment attached to the first house we lived in and then here well what can I say , I never thought we would fill it , ahhhh we did !!!

And now faced with moving into a smaller house the time has come to sort and toss the redundant , but it's hard to decide what goes what stays, a strong dispossession is needed !!.  I have found a peculiar rhythm to this task develops, as one starts the daily choir most items are fondly thought of and reluctantly put in the toss pile, two or three hours into the task, hot, sweaty and dusty one can't find enough garbage bag to fill , one is so fed up with the process that just about everything is tossed !. And so the task painfully goes on, slowly but surely our junk is shrinking !!

But the memories abound and one sighs with nostalgia of the days gone by. 

On a footnote, part of the reason that I personally started this task was that I wanted to find my old resume, something that has been packed away for more then twenty years , yes I know its a bit obsolete but at the same time it has dates and references I wanted to use in my search for new employment . Well I have been through this house twice now and so far lots of junk but no resume. Today we started with the garage so there is still hope , I'll let you know if it turns up .