I'm Back!

Well, I've enjoyed a nice relaxing break away from the pressure of a daily blog posting.  Let me tell you a little about the thinking I've done and the decisions I've made.  

It started with recognizing for myself the pandemic rut I was in.  As I've written and told people several times, staying at home during lockdown hasn't been that different from normal life for me, and I expect the same would be said by many of the mobility-limited.  But I've got comfortably used to it; in particular I haven't stayed in touch with my coffee buddies.  I'm just too comfortable!

I also need to remember that I simply don't have the hours in a day that all of you do, as I'm only out of bed and upright for about 11 or 12 hours a day.  And out of that comes time for meals, exercise, going for a ride and anything else I do.  Finding time for organizing photos and writing a blog post is difficult at the best of times, especially in the summer.

So I've made several decisions.

- I will write two blog posts a week, one an update on the garden and such, and one a post on some other featured story I want to tackle.

- I have organized the two projects I need to finish, and got some ideas for future projects,

- I have decided to also focus on writing a Blurb book on some our past travels; some of this work may find its way into the blog as well.

- I have found a new route to ride that is both all smooth pavement and has interesting things to see.

- And I need to find a way to re-organize my coffee group.

And for those of you who come to the blog looking for pictures, here are a few.

It starts right outside my front window, which looks like this at the moment.

I've got downtown for a ride a couple of times recently.  Now that we're through the winter and bug seasons, it's construction season here in Meaford.  The main street is closed at one end of downtown, Nelson Street near me is a mess as they put in a new watermain, and east of town they're paving, with enormous delays for traffic.

We did get out for a ride on Saturday, driving down in a somewhat new direction to the tiny hamlet of Massie where we stopped by the village millpond.

This intriguing historic house is on my new smooth riding route, along Thompson and Trowbridge Streets in the older part of town - a smooth ride and interesting too!

To forecast one of the featured stories I want to write about, this is the Bighead River along the Trout Hollow Trail.  There has been a big land donation here which includes both the 150 year old site where John Muir lived and worked in 1864-65, and the old Georgian Bay Power Plant.  I'll tell you a lot more soon.

And finally, my favourite new flower in the garden this year, a Cleome.  Scientists disagree on the botanical classification of this plant, but this is probably Cleome hassleriana.  It is native to southern south America and is also known as Spider Flower or Grandfather's Whiskers.  I can relate to that!

Thanks for allowing me this break and these changes, and hope you enjoy the results.