Morning moment

That moment when you pick up your coffee cup half expecting it to be empty and there's one mouthful left - even if it's cold.

No dog bed in this room now

This is the dog making sure I don't forget to take her when we move. So sweet :)

As if we would forget her, she's so awesome.

It's the little things

Having been a programmer in a past life, I fully and truly appreciate the sentiment of this error message.

Random note

I don't know how often this happens for the rest of the general population of flyers, but I consistently get at least one "Z" (Zed) in my airline confirmation codes down here. Its like there's a secret flag on my name because I'm Canadian. Despite being down here for more than a year now, my conversation at the check-in desk still goes something like this:

Airline agent: "May I have your confirmation code please?"

me: "K. L. M. X. Y. Zed..."

Airline agent: *looking slightly concerned* "I'm sorry could you repeat that? KLMXY...?"

me: "Sorry, K. L. M. X. Y. *Zee*"

Airline agent: *relieved* "Ah yes, there it is"

I'm not sure what letter they type in when I say Zed, it's not like it sounds like anything else... but shockingly enough it never seems to bring up my reservation.

Super-Sam!

I love playing against ball teams that don't know that I can hit *grinch smile*

It means that I can hit the ball and run really fast, and even if it isn't out of the park... sometimes I can still get a home run ;)

Running so fast!

Riding bikes, always better with a friend!

Fast forward a few weeks from our nocturnal laps, and we went from the relative safety of an empty complex loop... to the bustling narrow albeit paved, bike path that overlooks Huntington Beach!

I would like to say that you did an amazing job successfully navigating through wandering pedestrians, other bikers who weren't paying attention, untrained dogs on leashes, more pedestrians, and a hill larger than anything we have at home...

There might have been some white knuckle moments, and perhaps even one or two moments of panic but you did it dude! You didn't run into anything, or even frighten anyone... you didn't crash, or add any battle scars to your bike or your body. As far as I'm concerned that's a pretty good scale to measure against, and classify it as a successful ride.

You're tired and out of breath but we rode a whole lot further than anything we've ever done before, so that's exactly as it should be.  Tomorrow, and possibly even the next few days you may be sore in places you didn't even know had muscles, but the secret is that's what means you're still alive.

It will get easier, and it will come to be more enjoyable. I promise.  When it doesn't take every ounce of concentration to ride, you'll be able to appreciate the places that we're riding and the beautiful views there are to see.

What I'm trying to say, is In the end it will be worth it.

The power of imagination

I'm afraid I don't have a picture for you, so we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way.  You're going to have to use your imagination.

Picture this... one of those old dark blue milk crates, securely fastened to the front of the handlebars on my "new" BMX bike, which is juuuuuust about the right size for a chihuahua.

Are you with me so far? No? Hmmmm...

Think back, waaaay back, remember E.T.? Yeah that's right *head nod* you got it, that's how awesome it looks in my head too *grins*

Anyways we went for a little bike ride today, and despite ending up on the wrong side of the road for like 30 seconds, during which we were passed by the Sheriffs police cruiser?!? *gulp* we managed not to get pulled over...

We did however garner many well deserved double-takes and other such looks... ranging from "Awwww" through "OMG there's a DOG in that basket!!!" and "WTF?!?" to the *huge reminiscent smiles* of "That. is. awesome." which totally made it all worth it.

I think today we did Kermit proud, and made people smile.

Time of death: 10:29am Friday May 9th, 2014...

Four years ago a wonderful friend of mine Shazam gave me a set of pens (red, green, blue and black) and a little black book with skulls all over it to document my sailing adventures with my father.

The green pen died today.

That's not to say that I didn't use the green pen as much as the other pens... it just lasted a really really REALLY long time... and somehow despite my trip and multiple moves since returning I managed not to lose it.

It's just a pen, but it's been there through a lot with me.

I've drawn and doodled with it, twirled it around my fingers, and kept it tucked close at hand for notes... but most importantly I've written about moments that changed my life, things I saw that touched me in some way.

Things I want to remember.

Thank you green pen, I hope you are content knowing you served your purpose to the utmost and will always be remembered fondly when I flip back through my own pages of memories.

If everyone did things, just because they could...

Last night I was coming out of Home Depot, walking across the parking lot when I saw a lady  balancing a large unwieldy item, she paused... and I called out to ask if she needed a hand with it (it really looked a little awkward).  She told me she had it, as she stuffed it into the back seat of a laden down 4-door car.

Then she stopped.

She looked up, and said "Thank you. I don't usually meet such nice people when I'm shopping. You just made my evening."

I walked away wishing her a nice evening too... and realized on the way home that I was so shocked by what she'd said, that I'd forgotten to tell her I'm Canadian.

It breaks my little heart, that when people see someone struggling with something they don't stop and offer to help. If she had accepted my offer, it would have taken less than five minutes out of my evening... but even as it was, we both left the parking lot smiling.

Beware the dark side!

Dark in there it is, take one of these you should...

Brush your teeth you must, or lose them all you will. 

I don't want to grow up, but this is how I want to grow old...

When my Granny was 80 she went down the big water-slide at West Ed "The Sky Screamer" which is located 83 feet above the rest of the water park (it's the red one down there, on the left). 

I've mentioned this before, but it's lost in my other ramblings. It really deserves to be told on it's own, so here's the whole story.

She looked up at it and said "I think I want to do *that* one" I'm sure my Aunt looked at her like she was crazy, but said "Okay Mom, I'll be waiting for you at the bottom" and as Granny started up, my Aunt grabbed the nearest lifeguard and muttered "You're coming with me..."

Granny took her time and hiked up the stairs, and waited patiently in line at the top.  While she was up there she watched to see how "everybody else" was doing the big waterslide, and of course modeled herself after the 30-something hunk who crossed his legs, lay down flat and tucked his arms in.

Little did Granny know at the time, that this is the position you assume when you're trying to model a human torpedo... and accordingly torpedoed out the bottom of the Screamer!

My Aunt rushed in, to check her pulse and when the lifeguard asked how Granny was doing, she muttered "better than I am..." *grins* that's *my* Granny.

Later when anyone asked her about the big waterslide and how she liked it she would say "Oh it was fine!" and grin like a school-girl.

Why I love gmail...

For anyone who cares to look, there are little morsels of the human element behind the machine scattered amongst the detritus of automated feedback... things like this that make me smile, because someone just like me put them there.

I'm the luckiest girl ever!

Thank you so much for sending me flowers on my birthday. They were such a wonderful surprise considering I had just moved to the new country, and nobody really knew where I was yet.  It never even occurred to me that you could send them to my hotel room...

Between the love and well wishes and texts and phone calls I never really felt that alone, its amazing how you can be hundreds of miles away from everyone and still feel so loved!

Thank you soooo much, they make me smile every single day now :)

You light up my kitchen with your smile

To the Cheerios employee who thought of this... it's true, and having just moved into a new place I really appreciated the reminder.

Thank you

A simple kindness is sweet like honey

I was at the corner store during lunch today when this older black lady with awesome crazy Einstein hair gave a service guy the last piece of pizza she'd just purchased, and then bought a couple of hot dogs for her lunch...

I found out after they had both left that she'd come in craving pizza...

How sweet is that? :)

A good day to ride

It was hard to believe it was the first day of December, and that I was up and ready to go relatively early... the weather was perfect, it felt like an early spring day.  Cool, but no frost... with the sun shining through gently warming everything.

I could feel the stiffness of unused muscles shaking the dust off, the wind on my face... and that feeling of being completely and absolutely free. I put on a burst of speed with reckless abandon, tearing down the street like a kid seeing how fast they can go down the hill without even considering how tired they're going to be after... or how they're going to stop.

It felt amazing.

With my wisdom of the ages I avoided the loose gravel, and started to slow down long before I hit stop signs and sharp corners... but I *did* hit every puddle I found *grins*

Absolutely nothing of note, or story-worthy happened... it was just a good day to ride :)

SssssssUPER SAM!!!

Shhhh it's supposed to be a secret, but I think I just did something amazing and I'm pretty sure it's because I'm wearing a lucky shirt ;)

The little things

I could see a BC Parks Ranger checking out my canoe as I was leaving the store, she was just hopping into her truck as I climbed into my car... I looked over and she gave me the biggest smile with a thumbs up, then pointed up at the roof and a mouthed "I love it!!!"

*beaming*

That totally just made my day!! :D

Sent... While running around ;)

Explain to me why they don't come in adult sizes?

"We don't stop playing because we grow old... We grow old because we stop playing."

My toothbrush of saber light with a +10 to awesome ;)

Just stop for a moment... and smile

Wanna go ride bikes?