Back to Yoga

It felt so good to go to yoga today.  Thanks to Katelyn for being such a fine teacher!   I have been neglecting yoga for the past several months and I've been concentrating on running and cardio stuff for the past 4 months.  When the Olympics started, I found myself watching TV and doing some stretching - my body really needs it!  It's even more important now that I'm becoming a runner; yoga offers so much to the body!

A Few Days at Kokanee Cabin

 Dave was in charge of finding volunteers for "hut painting" at the Kokanee Cabin this past week and I went as part of the crew as chef and sous chef.  It was fun.  A couple of volunteers didn't show up so we had TONS of food and I ate too much.  I continue to feel guilty about buying too much food.  My friend Anne came in to help with cooking and her husband helped with painting.  Our "paid" painter was a young guy from Nelson and is our new poster child for doing hard work.  He had absolutely no fear of heights.  Anne and I did manage to paint some railings and a few benches and chairs, but most of the time we either worked in the kitchen or went out on hikes.  It was a lovely few days and I even managed to find 3 other bridge players with one group of alpine hut clients so got in a few hands!  Hike out on Friday was spectacular. So was the helicopter flight in!

State of the Garden

 The garden is now growing well, although we've got a few problems with daylily gall midge - it distorts the blooms and the flower is less appealing.  I've been busy taking all the buds off that seem to be affected but it does come back year after year.  The daylilies are now putting on a great show and I'd say we're over the worst of the gall midge for this year.

It's weird to be picking strawberries, raspberries and blueberries at the same time, but I guess those strawberries had to wait for the warmth to arrive and this year that didn't happen until July 4th.  Happy Gardening Season, all!

The Matrix

 Got myself a "new" car today and feel that it was meant to be.  I saw an ad in the paper about 2 weeks ago when the RDCK (Regional District of Central Kootenay) was selling off a couple of vehicles by silent auction.  We happened to be in Nelson last week and I took it for a test drive.  I also learned that there hadn't been much interest in the car.  I sent in a minimum bid and I was the only bidder!  Today, I picked up the car.  We'll have to see how it works out with gas mileage and being an automatic, but I like the ride!  And yes, I do plan to continue to use my bike a good deal of the time in the summer months but I haven't managed to save a tank of gas yet from that method of travel.  But I sure like the bike!

Out Bikin'

There's still too much snow for high hiking so we spent a part of yesterday morning out on the bikes.  Our original intention had been to canoe over on Slocan Lake but the forecast was for thunderstorms with high winds.  Slocan Lake is one of the most dangerous lakes around here under the wrong conditions.  Instead, we took the camper and the bikes and headed over the Little Slocan Creek Forest Service Road and camped at Little Slocan Lake for a night.  The next day we biked from Passmore to Winlaw along the Slocan River - very nice with high water levels, of course! The trail is well-maintained and called the Spirit of 2010.  It's about a 48 km trail from Slocan City to highway 6 and I'd like to ride it all one of these days.

July 1st Run

Just completed Kaslo's Canada Day Run and managed to do the 10 km.  My time was better than Spokane, but had an easier trail and one that I know because we run it pretty regularly.  Time today was 65:51 and I felt pretty good on it except for about 2 km.  Had a session with our coach yesterday and I just might be starting to figure out this posture thing.  It feels so much better if I actually stand up.  I thought I was arching my back; I hear that I'm standing up straight!  We'll see how that goes.  Happy Canada Day, everyone!