Making the Most of the Weekend

In our climate, the coming Fall season means shorter, cooler days with more cloud cover.  So yesterday was a glorious sunny and somewhat warm day.  This was forecasted so on Friday night my husband suggested that we go for a day long motorcycle ride on his 1980 Honda Goldwing and take advantage of the few remaining days of Summer.  The last time I was on his bike, my back paid for the trip with major pain.  My husband is fairly new to owning a larger bike, so he was unaware that the shocks in the back needed to be filled up with compressed air.  Now that he knows this, he decided to take me out for the day which included a picnic lunch.  I made egg salad early yesterday morning (Sat.) and my hubby made sandwiches and packed us some snacks and water.  We climbed on the bike and took off for the day.  What a fantastic day it was!!  As we went over bumps, I didn't feel them like before.  Hubby obviously figured out the rear shock thing.  I love the feel of the wind in my face!  I love travelling in the open air and smelling the various odors that assail my nostrils as we travel through the countryside.  We ended up visiting Wolfe Island for the day.  We've driven around the island a couple of times since we've lived in the area but always with our van.  Yesterday's experience was totally different especially with the big wind turbines spinning lazily around overhead.  I loved seeing Lake Ontario to our right and farmland on our left.  Deep within, I am not really a city girl.  I love the peacefulness and silence of the countryside.  We meandered our way along the various roads and ended up at Sandy Bay Nature Area.  Off came our helmets and leather jackets.  On went our hats, out came my camera as well as the lunch bag that my husband hefted over his shoulder.

We followed a gravel and woodchip combination path as it gently twisted and turned through the area.  It started off with forest and meadow like terrain.  As we kept walking along through the dappled shade, we realized that we must be in a more wetland environment as we saw numerous frogs leap from under a feet into the foliage at the side of the path.  We also startled several garter snakes ranging from long, thick adult snakes to small, thin young snakes.  I was very pleased to capture some of these with my camera which is only a digital point and shoot variety.  We met young couples and playful families along the trail as we walked along.  This trail was very easy to navigate.  What a surprise it was to walk around a curve in the trail to find our feet in the soft white sand of a sand dune.  I stopped to take a picture because there ahead of us, through the foliage of the trees and sand grass, winked the sparkling water of Lake Ontario.  This view took my breath away!  After taking my picture, we continued on the trail over the sand dune and down onto the beach.  There are signs all over warning people to stay off the sand dunes as the supervising body is trying to re-establish the grass that is native to sand dunes.  There was also a sign pointing to a nature viewing platform.  This caught our interest and on we continued.  The platform ended up being a wooden bench placed at the base of a sand dune.  We sat down and enjoyed a quiet lunch.  We were the only people on the beach!  As we ate, we looked out over the water and enjoyed the waves rolling rhythmically onto the beach.  Way off on the horizon we saw a lake freighter making its way out into the deep water of the channel.  Then I noticed a driftwood tree on the beach.  It was on its side as if it had tumbled down off the sand dune or else maybe it had been washed ashore at some point.  What was interesting about this tree was that the roots were up in the air.  Obviously a couple of roots had re-rooted themselves into the sand because there was bright, healthy foliage in various places of the tree.  This tree was a combination of living branches and dead, bleached driftwood.  After our lunch, we continued walking further along the beach.  It was cool and windy but what a wonderfully exhilarating way to spend our afternoon.  Eventually we turned around and returned to the path.  It was time to leave and go back to the bike.  On we hopped and we returned to the roads.  We finished our time on Wolfe Island with travelling along the various roads, arriving at dead ends and eventually making our way to the ferry to return home.

As we waited for the ferry on the dock, we met up with one of my daughter's old teachers.  What a nice chat we had as we travelled across Lake Ontario on the ferry.  When we reached home, my husband and I sat out on our patio and enjoyed a beer together.  I was chilled from being on the bike, but it was a relaxing and serene ending to a glorious day.  This was a beautiful gift from my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the day.  We also enjoyed a wonderful impromptu evening with our friends as we were all at "loose ends".

I awoke this morning to the beginnings of a nasty sinus cold.  My daughter has had it for a few days and I had been nursing her through it the last part of the week.   I had wanted to attend church this morning but that didn't happen.  I was very lethargic as I tried to get up.  I ended up drifting off to sleep again.  My plans for today had been to get my laundry done, clean the bathroom and start trimming the hedge.  Some of the laundry has been done but the rest of my "to do list" is being put off.  I am spending my day quietly on the patio listening to the breeze blowing through my grape vines and the various birds chirping away in the neighbourhood.  I'm drinking lots of tea with lemon and honey as I sit quietly and rest.  I had hoped that I would not catch the virus as I constantly washed my hands with hot soapy water and used hand sanitizer throughout the week.  I have even been wiping down the various surfaces with rubbing alcohol in an effort to avoid the bug.  Oh well, now it is time to enjoy resting.  This has allowed me to work on this post for my blog today so there is always "a silver lining" in our days.

It has been a wonderful weekend and as I end my post, I can smell the ham and split pea soup that my husband has been cooking since this morning.