Summer is Coming

Summer is Coming

What are the 3 things you look forward to the most in the summer?

Whether it’s travel, the weather, family cookouts or another activity,

share with your readers why you’re excited for summer! #HAWMC

 

 

Oh Summer!

What do I look forward to?

What good is the warmth of summer,
without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.
~John Steinbeck

Not freezing

 

In summer we do not have to dress in layers, put on boots, or worry about where our hats and mitts are hiding. This is probably saying more about what I dislike about winter than what I like about summer. Really weather affects your moods so much. Longer days, with increased sunshine and warmth make for pleasant easy days. You can walk safely outside with less chance of slipping. Life is just so much ... umm warmer!

 

Spending time in our yard and parks



Jasper smiling in our backyard.



container gardens in the yard

 

 

Time at our beloved little island cottage

Watching ducklings by the dock

Basking on the boat with the wind in our hair.

Peaceful evenings in front of our Cottage

 

Spring Camp

Dawn reflecting off the frozen surface of Lake Winnipeg

I went camping with my Girl Guides of Canada - Pathfinder Unit last weekend. We went to a district camping event with about 70 girls and women at a beautiful camp about an hour and a half north of our city. It has terrific grounds and indoor facilities including a pool, meeting spaces, and dining hall. The food was wonderful and we really appreciated having the staff prepare it for us instead of us cooking over a camp-stove! Camp was not exactly roughing it. 

Our small cabin for the weekend

This was supposed to be a winter camp but the unusual warm weather we had this past week made a lot of the cold weather activities we  planned  impossible.   

Snow shoeing and spraying colored food dye on snow won’t work without a reasonable amount of snow. The ground was "crusty-icy" and "slushy-muck" with several areas deeper than our rubber boots.  It was by far the worst walking conditions I have experienced in many years, and of course my little cabin was the furthest from the parking lot and the mess hall.  I stayed in a small cabin with my daughter who is also a leader, another leader, a parent volunteer and 6 teenage girls.

Solar S'mores and yucky wet slippery ground

The theme for the camp was environmental awareness.  We did activities about water filtration and keeping our waterways clean and we planted little seedlings into containers.  Our girls helped run a couple of sessions such as making s’mores (graham crackers with melted marshmallows and chocolate) in the snow using a solar oven and wide games and a scavenger hunt about recycling.  Some of my girls are still very young 12 year olds and these were huge task for them but the pride in their accomplishments was undeniable. The younger girls, ages 5 up, looked up to the BIG girls and that encouraged the big girls to try all that much harder. The 12 to 17 year old participants ran an amazing campfire for the whole group on Saturday night. They led an hour of songs by memory and the 12 to 13 year olds even made up the cutest little skit about what the animals want us to do to take care of the environment.

The main activity hall in the early morning light

I had a really hard time moving around in that miserable snow. Sleeping on a strange, squeaky bottom bunk - with a wiggly young lady on top was pretty tough too. I did have fun though. I visited with the other adults, I played in the pool and I sang my little heart out even when I had trouble remembering the lyrics. My unit made adorable no-sew, green fleece hats. I walked back and forth to see all the girls who were dispersed all over the campgrounds doing their volunteer jobs. I spent a lot of time helping the girls prep for the activities they were leading, debriefing them afterward and I even helped work on some extra program materials that were appropriate learning for the older girls. 

I got around wonderfully this year in comparison to last spring at camp. Last year I needed a walker and could barely move, but this year I was in the thick of things despite the tricky conditions!

 I must admit that Sunday morning did not go well. It was enough strain over the weekend that my affected side started to spasm and I was in a tremendous amount of pain for the last few hours at camp. The muscles in the left side of my back contracted from shoulder blade to hip and I was pulled right over to the left side and unable to straighten. Every time I moved it triggered a whole new wave but I was too uncomfortable to sit or lay down and eventually my hip and left leg started to spasm as well. The car ride home was pretty long and miserable too.  It was a bit scary for the girls to see me in that much pain and I feel pretty bad about that.  I am feeling better today, but the episode was long and severe enough to leave me feeling pretty beat up.

I was feeling pretty happy with how I am moving lately and I have become pretty lax about doing my exercises. This incident was just proof that I still need to do a LOT of work on strengthening my whole body.

Our next camp will be tenting in May. I am not sure if I should go or not. I don’t want to miss anything, but I also don’t want to risk a repeat of last Sunday. 

We are Home

I had a very good time on our vacation in Hawaii, but I must admit I don't feel rested----- I feel exhausted. I need to take it easier when I go on these adventures.

I strained my back on our trip home but fortunately my back is already getting better. I think it was just helping with my carry-on luggage or perhaps it was just sitting in the plane that long but I am sure not ready to jump straight into Christmas decorating and shopping. Life does go on and I do need to get back to all of my regular activities.

I had a guitar lesson last Tuesday --- after 3 weeks without practice. Wow it was bad. (My teacher is the most patient person you ever met!) I guess two little ukulele lessons don't make up for weeks without touching the guitar. I have been getting better at the guitar and the difference it had made to my weak hand is phenomenal, but it does take me a long time to get the hang of any of the mental or physical skills involved in playing. It seems that I forget what I learn much faster than the amount of time it takes me to learn it in the first place. Practice, practice,  practice.  Maybe I should start practicing the ukulele too.


Winnipeggers usually wind up talking about the weather, so maybe that is a good fall back topic to ease me back into the blogging world. When we left it was pretty darn cool in Manitoba, but we didn't have any snow on the ground. We flew off to Hawaii and despite the fact that it was 80 degrees and warm at night I wanted to carry my jacket around like a security blanket. By the end of the two weeks I was just starting to trust the easy weather conditions and then it was time to come home.

People .. it is darn cold here and it is just going to get colder!

There isn't a lot of deep snow, but the sidewalks are icy and slippery and I need to have a metal spike gripper thing on the bottom of my cane to keep me from slipping. My winter parka from last year is having zipper problems.

I have switched from pretty glasses of fruity beverages decorated with pineapple slices and fresh flowers to mugs of tea or hot cocoa decorated with Santa and reindeer.

I must admit that I do sleep better curled up in my own bed under 2 fluffy quilts.

Ahhhh ----  Home Sweet Home.