Jan 26 - too quiet on the southern front

After the kids visit, north or south, it takes a couple of days to recover ... recover our spirits that is. Things are so busy when our children and grandchildren are around that once they leave we fall into a kind of funk. If we are doing the visiting there isn't the same effect, because we're the ones on the move and being on the move keeps us occupied. Yesterday was no different. David et al pulled out a little after 9:30, heading to Orlando. We stayed busy for the day but not the same kind of busy as when they're around.

We've seen a lot of David lately. Quality Time is such an overworked term, but I don't know what else to call it. If/when they move to Ontario, we are looking forward to seeing more of our northwestern children. Of course David's comment in his late-night email after they arrived in Edmonton was that it would be worth moving east just to avoid all the air travel hassles. Travels over for now, they will have a stressful year if they manage to move back east.

I went for a bike ride, leaving around 11am. It was quite windy, WNW, so I did my usual northern route. There was such a westerly component to the wind that it was never smooth sailing; it always affected the ride. I did my 70 miles in about 4:40, perhaps 15 minutes slower than the other day, due to the wind. My legs felt better ... but not good. I'm going to have to find a way to stay in shape tween times ... a month off the bike is getting harder and harder to recover from. I don't really want to grow old ... I'd like to plateau ! please !

Speaking of growing old, Jason's just got easier. We heard from Bonnie, who heard from Cathy, that Jason had won some "cash for life" something or other. This came from Bonnie when Sandy called her to wish her a happy birthday and enquire about their travels. They are still waiting for Pauline to have her baby; sitting tight until then. We were just leaving Peter's Wine Shop at the time, our late afternoon venture out of the house, so when we got home I googled and found the article in The Brantford Expositor ... and called Jason to congratulate him. He now has a nice retirement fund ... something that's hard to accumulate when you're working for yourself and have four children to put through university. We are delighted for them. Now, when Lorraine retires, Jason won't have to work until he's 90 :). We are delighted for them.

Of course, having said that, if he and I live to 90 we'll probably still be working. In fact, if we live until 90 it will largely be because we're still working ... working at what we want to do, that is. I need activity ... my biking and other things, to keep me occupied. There's a time for rest -- early morning and late afternoon and evening -- but I like to keep busy for the bulk of the daylight hours. My "project" over the next month, where we're largely by ourselves other than a couple of days with Arlene, is to get back in shape for this year's riding calendar.

Sandy has a similar project ... yesterday she went to the fitness club to talk to them. She joined the club when Angelika was here in November. She found out that the best time to come and talk to the instructor is around 10:30 a.m. She's going to go over today and map out a programme. I'm going to get her to check on "family memberships" since I really need some sort of cross training. I don't have tiles to lay or dirt to haul ... and should really do something on the off days even if it's simply an hour doing something that's weight bearing. Having said that, perhaps it would be cheaper to have a couple of cubic yards of gravel delivered with which I could build up the back. I need to borrow Bonifacio from Wayne ...

Sandy cleaned house yesterday ... laundering bedclothes, washing, vacuuming ... but of course there was still Abby hair blowing around at the end of the day. The only bad thing about being able to see the sunsets through the palms in the back is that the low angled sun streams in the back windows and highlights all the dog hair on the tiled floor.

I think that I'm going to do a 200k tomorrow. I need one for January. I'll double check the weather a little later though and might make that Friday instead, in which case I should go out again today for a 70 miler. Two days in a row will let my body know that I'm serious. Two days in a row will provide a chance for my body to tell me how out of shape it's in ! Groan. It's cool now -- 43F -- but will be roughly the same as yesterday later on -- 65F. Today, however, the wind will be more from the north which will make the return trip easier. With an easy return ahead of me I can fool myself into thinking that I'm simply doing a tough 35 mile ride ... followed by a wind-down period.

Ok, enough blathering ... I'm typing without a lot to say ... without a lot on which to report ... and see, I can make a sentence (albeit without a lot of structure) even on that topic. It's not my fault, it's my fingers that are out of control !

Oh yes, one more thing ... Jason said that he cracked up when he read about my bike misfortune. Sympathy from friends ? not from that quarter ! Ha ! Of course I knew what his reaction would be. We laugh at minor foibles, at our stupidity, and only provide sympathy when it's serious.

Onward ... enough catharsis for one day. Once I remove all this drivel from my head I feel much better !