Did my walking at Capital Ex today. And by walking, I mean waddling from food kiosk to food kiosk. Long way to go for a donut, but man, those are some good donuts. Also, a veggie falafel, two lemonades, and some kind of exceptionally tasty caramel cashew nut bar thing from the fudge guy in the Expo Centre. Oh, and a deep-fried mars bar. Turns out deep-fried mars bars aren’t that exciting. I was expecting something crispy and gooey, but it was more like a greazy, nougat sandwich. Or…at four hours into this lard fest, maybe I was just past the point of enjoying anything, other than a cool facecloth and a handful of ibuprofen (not deep-fried.)
Fun day, but I foresee an awful lot of walking in the near future to counter all that sugar and grease. Delicious, delicious sugar and grease.
My favourite scene from the movie Fargo, which takes a spin on my DVD player everytime the temperature creeps above 28C, is when Marge Gunderson, the local police chief, is driving to the station with the murderer in the back seat of her car. It’s the dead of winter. It’s a complete white-out, and snow is pummeling the window. She says:
“So that was Mrs. Lundegaard on the floor in there. And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper. And those three people in Brainerd. And for what? For a little bit of money. There’s more to life than a little money, you know. Don’t you know that? And here ya are, and it’s a beautiful day. Well, I just don’t understand.”
And it’s a beautiful day. That line never fails to crack me up. It’s so blatantly untrue, and yet Marge says it without a shred of irony. To her, it is a beautiful day.
It’s not that I love blizzards, or frigid temperatures, well, I do a bit…but my brain functions better when it’s cool. Right now, it feels like big bowl of warm goo, and my goo brain is having a hard time getting my goo body off the couch, which means the popsicles in the freezer will have to lick themselves. Oddly enough, as I was walking from 124St to 100St this afternoon, it started to spit rain. Big drops. Nothing substantial. No alleviation from the heat. Just blister-size spots of water on sweaty skin. Couldn’t help my goo brain from thinking snow thoughts.
Note to self: do not take shortcuts through grassy areas, like the Muttart, and especially Kinsmen. There may be a mosquito or two, or a thousand, waiting patiently in the grass for the next bag of blood to come walking by, which today, happened to be me. I was literally swarmed. At certain points my entire body looked like the ‘before’ arm in that OFF commercial. Almost immediately, the air was full of dragonflies, but they were only interested in the mosquitoes flying around me, not the ones on me.
Took a short route home today, made even shorter by my unfortunate stroll through Mosquito Flats, otherwise known as Kinsmen. Very, very humid but not as warm as predicted. Good thing. I was in a weakened state from loss of blood. Extra heat would have killed me.
A ninety minute walk today, mostly in the sun, mostly by the water. The temperature is still reasonable. Didn’t feel like I had to shorten my walk to avoid stroking out on the trail. Of course, I’m exaggerating, but I much prefer to walk in cooler temperatures…like -5C.
As I was busy taking pictures of thistles alongside the pier at Louise McKinney Park, a boat pulling a guy on water skis raced by at a very great speed. Couldn’t believe it. I heard the boat, but didn’t bother looking up, and by the time I did, the boat was too far away to take a picture. I can honestly say, until this moment, I had never seen skis on the North Saskatchewan River. Ducks, yes. A pirate’s ship, yes. Hovercraft, yes. Skis, no. And the guy appeared to be having a great time, weaving in an out of the waves, detonating flocks of screaming seagulls into the air. In comparison, taking pictures of thistles seems dull. Correction, is dull.
It will surprise no one to learn that I have never donned a pair of water skis, or really any sort of ski (a nightmare trip to Rabbit Hill in 10th grade doesn’t count), so I can’t comment on the suitability, or appeal, of the North Saskatchewan River for water sport enthusiasts. I can say, with some authority, I wouldn’t want a mouthful of it. At least, not before the water has gone through several de-chunkifying cycles of Epcor’s purification process.
However fleetingly, the water-skier gave the sleepy North Saskatchewan River a recreational bump it normally lacks. Thank god he left as quickly as he came.
Really. Does it have to get any warmer than 21C? Such a nice, relaxed walk home. A bit windy, but didn’t feel my life force ebbing away, unlike yesterday for instance. Not a fan of the heat, but I love summer, so these cool reprieves are most welcome. From what I hear, the next few days will be brutal.
Aside from nearly getting run over on River Road (thanks old guy in truck), the walk was uneventful. It’s almost the middle of summer, and everything is just kind of status quo. It probably won’t get any greener, or lusher. The flowers have bloomed, with the exception of the sunflowers which are just starting to reveal their bright faces. Animals and birds who were born just weeks ago are now teenagers. Soon, the river will turn aquamarine, and the Poplar leaves, always the first to go, will begin to turn yellow. But for now, it’s summertime, and the livin’ is easy. It’s the sleepin’ that’s hard.
I’m not sure if it’s wise to walk at noon when the temperature is 26C and rising, and there is not a single cloud in the sky, but having recently pooched my iPod Touch in the rain, I doubt I’m the best person to consult on issues related to weather, or judgement, for that matter. So, I walked, at noon, in the bright sunshine, and it was spectacular.
Started at Laurier off leash, which is considerably more lush than the last time I was down that way. The trails I took were mostly in shade, and in the areas where the sun was intense, wandering bands of wet doggage provided sprinkler-like relief.
Where dogs go to get that 'wet dog' smell...
Headed over to Hawrelak, but straight to the path that runs along the river, not the actual park. I did pop out briefly to take some shots of the geese (ducks, seagulls, etc.,) by the lake, but the lure of cool shade drew me back into the bush. The park, as one would expect, was packed with semi-naked people and the sweet, sweet smell of BBQ weenies.
The river-adjacent trail at Hawrelak leads directly to Emily Murphy Park. Lot’s of smoking weenies here too, but not as much exposed flesh. It’s a much shadier park, and not a lot of places to prostrate yourself. Surprisingly, the path was not mucky at all. I was expected lingering pools of water from the rains, but it was clear and cool. The really hot part of the walk started at Kinsmen. As far as I know, there isn’t a river trail…just road. Could’ve taken the trail on the far south end of Kinsmen but it was out of my way, and at 90 minutes and counting, I was not interested in adding any extra minutes to my walk. Tried taking the bike path east of the Walterdale Bridge, but it was definitely too wet, and so narrow that if a bike came along, I would’ve had to take a dive into the brush, and I’m not really a dive-taking kind of gal. Found a hill of least resistance and pulled my way up to the main path, taking out some clumps of grass along the way. Rest of the walk through Skunk Hollow was uneventful, other than my rising body temperature. I did spot a falcon, maybe a Peregrine, flying over the field.
Fly Like a Peregrine, to the sea
Pocket digital cameras are great for carrying around on my walks, but they are definitely lacking when it comes to photographing falcons.
