A long, hot weekend

The boardwalk at Risser's Beach

It's been an especially hot long weekend on the south shore (30+ degrees with high humidity making it feel even warmer), which made it hard to accomplish much. I did manage a short run into town and back early yesterday when it was cloudy but I was dripping with sweat by the time I got home so didn't attempt the same feat today in full sun. We also got some sorting and unpacking done yesterday while it rained. We've spent the rest of the weekend resting at the beach or on the back deck, cooking, reading, watching Netflix and playing with Jackie Blue.

I'd hoped to spend a few hours playing with my camera this weekend but ended up taking just a few shots when we took Jackie to the beach for a long walk Saturday morning. The rest of the time, it's been either too hot and sunny to be outside for long, or I was busy doing other things. The great thing about our walk on Saturday morning was that we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. Apparently, other people don't like the fog as much as we do.

The old wharf at the end of the beach is a favourite spot for stalking snails

The remnants of the wharf

Petite Riviere from the back beach at Risser's

I had a really hard time taking good photos of Jackie in the foggy conditions. She moves so quickly, most were out of focus, and she looked far too serious in many others. It made me realize just how difficult it is to capture her joy when she's doing something she loves. Here are few that almost do it. In the last two, she's waiting for Husband to throw her favourite toy (a rubber ring) so she can chase it down the beach.

After our walk, we popped up the road for a bite of lunch at the Ploughman's Lunch, before returning to the beach for a couple of hours of reading (Husband and me) and snoozing (Jackie Blue). The fog never lifted entirely but that was okay because it helped moderate the air temperature.

We spent most of yesterday at home but did a quick run to Mahone Bay for a bit of shopping in the afternoon. En route back, we popped in for a pint of excellent micro-brew and some live Celtic music (including a bagpipe) on the patio at Saltbox Brewery. It's a puppy-friendly place, so we took Jackie along and, as you can tell, she loved it!

Today, we headed back to the beach in an effort to escape the stifling temperatures at the house. Unfortunately, it was nearly as warm there and the beach was packed so we didn't enjoy it as much as we hoped to. On the upside, Jackie got some exercise, we squeezed in a short visit with my folks (who were camping nearby), and I got to take Patti for a spin. I have to admit it felt good to be back on my motorcycle - so long as I didn't think about too hard. I'm far too aware of my mortality to enjoy riding as much as I once did - especially in the heat!

I mentioned we watched Netflix this weekend. That's new for us. We're not big TV watchers and gave up cable years ago so have had limited options since. Very occasionally, we'd rent a movie on iTunes, break out an old DVD, or watch a TV show online, but mostly we just read books instead. Now that we have a Netflix account, that may change. There are heaps of movies and TV programs I've been wanting to see, and, as part of our big move, we've just set up a cozy den that will make watching them a lot more comfortable.

Speaking of our move, I have to say I've been a bit horrified to realize just how much stuff we've accumulated over the past decade. For much of that time, we had two or more "homes" and our belongings were spread out amongst them so we didn't really notice how much stuff we had. Consolidating everything to one house has been eye-opening, to say the least. We'll be months disposing of things we no longer need, and it will be challenging to find good homes for some of it, but we're determined to be ruthless so we can return to living in a relatively uncluttered space.

And that was our long weekend. It's back to the coalface for me tomorrow. Hope your long weekend was good, wherever you are! 

Creative November Challenge Day #4: Puppy love

You didn't really expect me to go more than a few days without mentioning Jackie Blue, did you? This wee bundle of puppy love occupies considerable real estate in my heart and mind - not least because she's so darn cute. But, truthfully, it's more than that. I also love her for her energy, curiosity, and sense of fun.

Not to mention the fact that there are few things nicer than puppy snuggles in the morning.

My affection for Jackie (aka Sausage) and our other four-legged companion, Nemmie the cat (aka Her Highness), has me thinking about relationships between humans and their critters.

In my view, we owe our pets a lot and should value their companionship more than we sometimes do. It's no exaggeration to say our elder cat, Ranee, saved my life more than once, and Jackie's arrival earlier this year helped ease the heaviness in Husband's heart brought on by the loss of his Mum, Dad and big sister a few years ago.

My favourite thing about our critter companions is that they encourage us to spend time hanging out with them - not accomplishing much, just communing. They also seem to understand basic truths that many of us have forgotten - that we can only ever live in the present and that it is our relationships with one another that make life worth living - and are able to forgive better than most. Best of all, they inspire us to be the people they think we are - loyal, caring and brave.

So here's to puppy love. And here's hoping Her Highness and Sausage are with us for many years to come.

Why ain’t it always summer?

It’s been a good few weeks at our house. I took several long weekends and we did our best to make the most of them – heading for the beach whenever the weather cooperated. Unfortunately, it seems fall has decided to arrive early so we had to dress warmly whenever we ventured out this weekend. I’m still hoping for one last warm day on the beach but I’m not counting on it. The upside is that the cooler temperatures are better for running, walking and hiking – and we’ve done lots of all three in the past two weeks.

There were our usual outings to Risser’s Beach to take Jackie for walks and swims...

...but we also spent a very pleasant afternoon hiking along Hirtle's Beach and around Gaff Point...

...and another at the Kejimkujik Seaside Park.

 

Kejimkujik was particularly lovely because we took a yummy picnic lunch and had the whole beach to ourselves for a couple of hours. I could have stayed there forever.

My running’s been going reasonably well too – well enough that I've signed up for a second race this fall – a half marathon at 9RunRun in Stittsville, Ontario, near Ottawa. It should be a fun event, and I’m looking forward to the trip since it will be a chance to spend quality time with close friends who live nearby. Between now and then, I'll tackle a 15k event at Maritime Race Weekend along with my usual training runs. I don’t have firm time goals for either event – though I'd like to run the half marathon in 2:15 or less. To this point, I've completed a couple of 17k training runs, as well as a strong 8k at race pace, so 2:15 should be do-able if my training continues to go well.

As summer draws to a close, I’m reading the Anne of Green Gables series again – which is why I'm humming “Why Ain’t it Always Summer” (from the musical) as I write this. I loved the books the first time I read them as a child in PEI and am enjoying them even more the second time around. In challenging and uncertain times - which these most certainly are - Anne’s joyful optimism is good for the soul.

Assuming Trump doesn’t get us all blown up, I’ll write again soon. Until then, happy running and writing!

P.S. I've resisted the urge to include umpteen photos of Jackie in this post, but you can see plenty of recent photos of her on my Instagram account if you're interested.  

Vacation again!

I haven't posted much lately because life's simply been too busy. However, I recently got an iPhone and, not only does it take great pictures, but it enables me to dictate messages and comments - so, I thought, why not dictate a post as well?

I'm nearing the end of a week's vacation. It's been good to have a few days to hang out on local beaches (including Cherry Hill pictured above) and read a fair bit. I'm just over halfway through Annie Proulx's "Barkskins" -- an awesome read. However, it would have been nice to have another week off since I'm not sure I'll make it through all 700 pages before I head back to the office on Monday.

As I dictate this, I'm admiring the beautiful day lilies overhanging our back deck. Nature really is extraordinary.

It's a shame she did such a poor job creating human beings. The news coming out of the US at the moment makes me to despair for our species. What on earth are we doing leaving men like Trump in charge?

Actually, given the grim news, maybe "Barkskins" is the perfect book to be reading since it brilliantly chronicles the way humans have misused the forests of North America and elsewhere -- not to mention one another. It's a sobering reflection on our history and it doesn't bode especially well for our future.

On a more positive note, husband and I ate fabulously well this week -- lots of barbecue, fresh greens from our garden, and homemade breads and pastries. There's been some running too, which is a good thing since I've signed up to run a 15k race in September. I'm still hoping to tackle a half marathon in the fall as well, but haven't settled on which yet.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I've been rather discouraged about my running lately. However, when I was out for 5k around the lake last week, I was hailed by a woman who told me that she follow my blog and wanted to say hello. Apparently, she's enjoyed reading about my running exploits over the years - in part because she's just a few years younger than me. Suzanne, thanks so much for taking the time to say hi. Knowing there are people like you reading has inspired me to try a little harder to recover my running mojo. Yesterday, I had my first really good run in a long time and it was largely because of your kind and encouraging words. Hope to see you on the road again one day soon!

The other thing I'm hoping will inspire me to train more regularly is our puppy, Jackie. I've started taking her for short runs. She too young to go far but she's already catching on and seems to enjoy our outings. This week Husband and I have taken her for plenty of long walks on the beach, and naturally I've taken dozens of pictures of her. My friends and family are getting tired of seeing her face pop up so often in their newsfeeds but, seriously, how can I resist this face?

Fortunately, she seems to love the beach as much as her mama does.

As I mentioned, I'm headed back to work on Monday and I have to confess I'm not looking forward to it. I've had a fantastic week off, but I still feel quite tired and the autumn promises to be busy. However, I remind myself that I have much to be grateful for -- including my health and a good job -- so there's no reason to complain. I just have to pull up my big girl pants and get at it.

I hope summer's going well wherever you are. With luck, I'll have more runs to write about in the coming months, as well as more photos from my adventures. Until then, happy running and writing!

PS Here are a few more snapshots of Jackie on the beach, taken with a better camera.

On vacation and in love

It's a bit embarrassing but the truth is both Husband and I are completely in love with Jackie, which means our days are a good deal less productive than they used to be. Training and caring for her eats up huge chunks of the time we used to spend reading, writing, doing chores, etc. On the upside, taking her for walks, playing with her, snuggling her, and laughing at her antics give us heaps of joy.

The proof is in the grin on my face in the photo at the top of this post, which Husband took when we visited Cherry Hill Beach a couple of days ago. Also in the fact that I don't mind being woken by her at 6:30 am - even when I'm on vacation, which I am this week. Her excitement and happiness upon rediscovering her people each morning makes it totally worth it.

Of course, it helps that she's stupidly photogenic.

It's been a good vacation so far - with plenty of glorious weather, running, time at the beach and delicious food. Since Monday, we've spent time at Broad Cove, Risser's Beach and Cherry Hill Beach. I'm headed back to Risser's on my own this afternoon because Jackie and Husband need a break from the sun but we plan to go walking at Hirtle's Beach tomorrow to round out the week.

Here are a few pics from our meanderings this week. I haven't gotten as many shots as I hoped - you know, because puppy - but hopefully they'll give you some sense of how beautiful it is in our little corner of the world.

Fortunately, I have managed to do a fair bit of running this week - not to mention heaps of walking with Jackie. On Sunday, I ran an easy 12k up the river and back, which felt mostly fine, despite warm temperatures and plenty of humidity. Tuesday and today, I ran a shorter 8.5k route to the pedestrian bridge and back, stopping occasionally to take phone pics and chat with folks I met en route. Both outings felt comfy, despite the warm weather - which should mean my fitness level's improving.

My current plan is to increase the length of my weekend runs by no more than a km or two a week and gradually add hills to my Thursday runs in preparation for tackling a half marathon at the end of August. However, much depends on how busy things are at work and at home as the summer progresses, and whether training feels like a chore rather than something I want to do. If all goes well, perhaps I'll go for the gusto and register for a full marathon later in the fall as well.

This week, a couple of things made me feel more positive about training. The first was this article about four things neuroscience suggests have a tendency to make us happy. It was a great reminder of the importance of gratitude and the ability to make choices.

The second was news that an old friend is to undergo a bone marrow transplant next week to treat the blood cancer he's been fighting for several years. He wouldn't like me saying he's "fighting" cancer. You see, he's a scientist and, in his view, it's the treatments that fight the cancer, not him, but I can't say I agree. Yes, the treatments are necessary to deal with the cancer - courage and determination on their aren't enough - but without his ongoing efforts to remain positive and persevere, the treatments wouldn't possible. Though he rarely complains, it's clear the many rounds of chemo he's had since his diagnosis have taken a heavy physical and emotional toll, and next week's treatments will be just as tough.  I admire him tremendously for dealing with it all as he has and, knowing what he's up against, makes me even more grateful I can run.

With that, it's time to get moving. I want to squeeze in a little time by the ocean this afternoon before we head out for dinner and jazz by the river this evening. Happy running! I'll try to be back with further running updates and more beach and puppy photos soon.

Spring has sprung...but I still ain't feeling it

Old white pines in Miller's Head Peace Park

It's been six weeks since my last running-related post. There's a reason for that. My preparation for this year's Cabot Trail Relay hasn't gone well. I trained consistently through March despite lousy weather and a hectic schedule but it didn't have the desired effect. Maybe I wasn't getting enough rests between workouts, or maybe menopause was having a bigger impact than I realized, or maybe I just don't want to run the race badly enough. Whatever...last weekend I finally decided to give it a pass and let someone else tackle the damned mountain this year.

Of course, that doesn't mean I won't be running a race or two this spring/summer. I've no intention of letting all that hard work go to waste. I ran 17k on Monday, for goodness sake! Husband and I had already been chatting about a half marathon in Quebec City in August, but it would be fun to do another one or two before then. And of course I'm still pondering a last full marathon (my 10th) sometime this fall. Stay tuned!

In other news, work hasn't been going especially well lately either. The short version is I'm a "silly servant" and an election call is expected to come any minute. 'Nuff said. I'll just be glad when it's over so my colleagues and I can get back to accomplishing something once and awhile.

On the upside, we're getting a kick out of Jackie Blue, our new puppy, who's coming along nicely. I confess I was worried I would quickly lose patience with her, but it's hard to be annoyed with such an adorable critter. Even Nemmie the cat's being slowly won over. The amazing thing is how quickly Jackie's grown. Seriously, compare these two pictures taken just three weeks apart!

The weather on the weekend was warmer than expected so we spent much of it outside - walking at Peace Park and Risser's Beach, hanging out on our back deck, and wandering around our the yard making plans for this year's garden.

There aren't many flowers in our yard yet - but it won't be long until the shrubs are doing their thing. In the meantime, I have to be content with the odd crocus bravely fighting its way through fallen leaves.

So that's the news from our wee corner of the world. Hope spring has sprung where you are!

Happy running and writing!