Take The Long Way Home

I wonder how many people, upon seeing the title of this post, will automatically have the Supertramp song playing in their head?

I had a meeting downtown and when I left the building a strong gust of wind almost took my helmet off my head-and I had done up the straps. I decided to avoid Portage and Main, reportedly Canada's windiest intersection, in favour of a route through St. Boniface.

My ride took me past the construction site of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. I am all for human rights. Building a museum dedicated to the cause is fine by me too. What I object to is the monstrosity of a white elephant that is going up here. (You can see the artists conception of its exterior on the main page of the link provided.) It is supposedly going to cost millions of taxpayer dollars every year for upkeep alone. The idea makes my blood boil. I can't help but think about how much housing you can provide for homeless people for that amount. How about providing meal programs at schools and drop-in programs for disadvantaged and at-risk children? Improved access to care for those with mental health issues? The list goes on, but I shan't, since this is supposed to be celebrating Summer Games. (Deep cleansing breath.)
On to the Esplanade Riel. When the Provencher Bridge was re-built, the city had a contest to name the pedestrain portion and someone came up with Esplanade. It was adopted, amazingly enough, with very little fuss from the populace at large. Quite an amazing feat for this city. I think it is a cool name and it suits it well.After I left the bridge I turned onto Tache and cycled past St. Boniface Cathedral. Many people remember the night it caught fire and burned to the stone walls, and are still saddened by it.
The rest of my ride meandered through old neighbourhoods, down streets with names like Eugenie, DesMeurons, and Vivian before connecting again with St Mary's Road for the last leg home. And mosquitoes can't land you when you are creating your own breeze!

No Jacket Required

This morning was lovely and warm and I left home, for the first time this year, without a jacket.
I went out at lunch to run some errands and a lovely girl on a very pretty white cruiser with apple-green fenders stopped at the light. I complimented her on her bicycle (she seemed very surprised). I then remembered that Trisha and Dottie's Summer Games have started, but between the bicycle lock and keys in my hands, I couldn't get my camera out in time, so no shot of that gorgeous machine.
I was a little more alert on the way home.
This fellow is one of the few people I have seen riding in regular clothes. We chatted about the weather, as Winnipeggers do, before the light changed and he zoomed off.

I love summer! Especially when it arrives in May.

Kissing Worms

Spring is in the air.
Warm breezes carry the smell of blossoming trees.










And then, too small to see, are the wretched canker worms. Later in the summer they have grown large from forging themselves on the the leaves from the trees. One can see them dangling from the branches by their silken cords, and dodge around them.

But not now. Tiny little horrors. I ride along and suddenly feel something against my lips. I sputter and ride down the street (phffttt, phfft) and no doubt people I pass wonder why I am riding a bike and making sounds like a motor.
I can only hope for a good frost.

A Vintage Raleigh Mixte

This well preserved bicycle belongs to Cait, a lovely young nurse who works in the clinic on the main floor of my office building. She bought it at a second hand shop in Ottawa and appears to enjoy it immensely.

I meant to cover the saddle for her when I arrived at work today as it was starting to drizzle, but I have the attention span of an elderly gnat, and totally forgot by the time I had locked up Eselin and crossed the street. I hope it isn't damaged.

I am used to our fall being clear and crisp, not damp and murky.

Luckily only my jacket and helmet were wet and I wasn't soaked after my ride, unlike poor Dottie.

It Doesn't Feel Like Fall

It was a cool ride to work this morning but I knew I wouldn't need my sweater later. And since it was such a lovely afternoon, I dawdled all the way home attempting to capture myself on camera.

Here I have a lovely shot of my bell and my wrist and the river, oh, and kind of my shadow along the rail.
My camera bag. I am trying to find something small and cute, but that means I would have to go shopping, or sew something, and the weather is too nice to be inside. (I blog while I am cooking supper.) A winter project to be sure.

A slightly better shadow panda.

Wow, does it ever look like I am going fast; the ground is a blur!

According to the forecast, we should still have a few more above normal days. Hooray!

Hellooooo Summer

Last week was absolutely wonderful. The only day without sun was Friday, when we had an inch of rain.
Maybe we have finally beaten our bout with unseasonably low temperatures. We have been sitting below normal, temperature wise, since November.
This coming week looks highly promising as well, which makes everyone happy.

I took this picture as I rode to work yesterday. This is the first time this summer I have seem hot-air balloons.I just hope it lasts a long time. A nice autumn would be great after the chilly summer we just had.

The Quest in the Bois-des-Esprit

After the thunderstorm last night the air was much cooler. I decided to ride to the Bois-des-Esprit in the Royalwood area of Winnipeg in an attempt to find the three-metre tall "Mhtik" (wood spirit) who protects the woodst.

I started on the Niakwa trail and then across Fermor at Archibald and through Willowdale Park to Bishop Grandin.
After crossing Bishop Grandin at Lakewood, I rode again down the Bishop Grandin Greenway and turned south down Shorehill Drive.
Royalwood is a fairly new development; construction is rampant and bicycles and pedestrians are thin on the ground.

I found a trailhead off of East Oak Drive and decided to try the right fork first.

It was lovely and cool in the trees, but after riding around for about 45 minutes, I still had found no trace of the carving.


I asked directions of a fellow who was out for a stroll. He said to look for a dirt path eight feet wide and the spirit would be a way in. Suspecting that the width of the path and the distance to the figure would be subjective, I turned down the first dirt trail I came to.

Eselin was slightly out of her element with the twisty paths and muddy patches, but she soldiered on gallantly.

I found the foot prints of people on mountain bikes at the point where I dismounted because of very soft ground. That made me feel better, especially since other people on mountain bikes behind us had turned around.


The path meandered around the equally meandering Seine River.


A doe, well conditioned by the people on the paths, hardly moved as I rode by. She was so still, in fact, that I initially thought she was a statue.

It was as I was zipping through this dip, avoiding the tree, and noting the bench and the fire pit, that I missed my objective and had to come back.This is Woody, a three meter tall wood spirit. Walter Mirosh and Robert Leclair, members of Les Gens de Bois Woodcarving club, are the men who carved him. The tree from which Woody emerged from was scheduled to be cut down due to Dutch Elm disease.

Our mission accomplished, Eselin and I continued west along Bishop Grandin to River Road, and then home.

Eseiln even managed to bring a souvenir of her journey.


The only downside of this lovely little trip? I had such a sore derriere that the last hour in the saddle were ...tricky.
The Geek is in Calgary right now. Maybe I'll ask her to see if anyone there sells Brooks saddles. I have heard so many good things about them, the price would be worth it.

One Day on My Stay-cation

I have been thoroughly enjoying my time away from work. Eselin and I did some errants today that got us out on one of the warmest days we've had yet this summer.

This morning we went to water the flowers for some friends who are visiting family in Europe.

Then this afternoon, I went to mail a package to our Dutch friends but found the closest post office to our house had been closed. So I continued down St. Anne's Road to Sobeys, the next available outlet.

After I mailed the letter I travelled for the first time in about three years down the Bishop Grandin Greenway to Dakota so I could connect with St. Mary's Road. I was pleasantly surprised to find a community garden as well as

some art work along this section of the trail. I may have to ride the whole length to see what else is new.
After a few more errands along St Mary's, I stopped by the BDI where Eselin chatted with some cruisers while I picked up my ice cream.
I then enjoyed a leisurely ride home admiring the pretty gardens.



I love summer.

Garage Sales by Bike

We rode the bikes to garage sales today. Bikes are actually the preferred method of transportation for these outings as you can park really close and therefore cover more ground.

One of the three vices the Geek bought for her workshop came home clamped to the rack of the Giant. The handlebars on the Giant have been raised about three inches, which makes it better to ride, even tho' it is not as yet optimal.
We went to six garage sales and found a vice at three of them.

The Geek pulls the cart with the rest of the useful loot, including one instrument of mayhem.
The trick to riding your bike to garage sales is to park your bike close enough that no one helps themselves to your stuff, but far enough away that the bikes aren't considered a part of the offerings.
And one more funny sign. The Geek wants to make one that says Stop Smoking!

A Bright Spot on a Gloomy Day

While she was dressed entirely in black, her red floral shoes, and her (mother's) spring-green bicycle, provided some lovely colour.

But Does it Still Mean 'STOP'?

I am fairly certain these were regular stop signs yesterday because they definitely caught my attention this afternoon.
Now they are either comical, or thought provoking, depending on your point of view.

A Passel? A Posse? A Pod?

What would you call the group of children who ride these bikes?