Slow Down Baby

Autumn 2008, Marathon

I rush a lot at work. Sometimes I like to rush through tasks in life. There are times when I wish I could rush through the rest of this contract and dash back into the swing of civilization and something of the life I had before moving here. I need to remind myself to slow down, to take my time, smell the decaying forest (so to speak). 

I miss summer already, even as I remember how much I love the season we're moving into. Fall moves me and it also changes my pace in a way. I like to hike and walk a lot during this time of the year but I don't feel like rushing, I want to stop and look at everything. I want to take my time, stoop to rifle through the leaves and peak underneath rotting logs. 

I found some crow feathers today and part of bone. My first thought was that it belonged to a moose but other people believe it belongs to a deer. I will need to do some further investigating. Pictures to follow. Right now it's time to be slow: to put the photos on the computer tomorrow, to ruminate over my found  objects and to walk in to work in a few minutes with the peace of mind I gathered while I walked in the forest today. 

Be slow today. 

Forest Foray

    

Rysio and I hiked the Moose Trail today. We didn't see any Alces Alces but we saw plenty of their "evidence." It was a perfect day for a walk in the woods: no bugs, moderate temperature, new things to look at as the season begins to change. The fungi were out in full force. There was plenty of Labrador Tea to harvest. The forest was thriving, even as the deciduous trees were shedding their leaves. Autumn is my favourite time of year for hiking, I can't wait to explore more trails in the coming months.

In case you are curious, the above fungi is a Ramariopsis kunzei that we accidentally found under an overturned rock. It is a common form of coral fungi that is: widespread, "attractive," easily identified and is also edible. (Source: Lone Pine Field Guide: Mushrooms of Ontario and Eastern Canada by George Barron). But you won't catch me cooking up any fruiting bodies anytime soon. I keep my mycological love to photography and identification. I like to play it safe and buy my mushrooms from the store.  

Forgotten Moments

I don't have any news or adventures to recount today. Last night I opted out of a paddle under the stars with the boys in favour of a few extra hours of sleep. My pillow time is very precious to me.

Instead I will keep this brief and share some 3-6 year old photographs that I altered with Poladroid. Although it looks like I spent barely any time gathering these together and uploading them, you have no idea how much I have wrestled with the internet and Blogger today. I like to look at these and think about what I was doing on that day, how I was feeling, who I was with, what I was wearing, where I was living and so on. They evoke so much more than what is pictured.

    

 I hope you have some memorable moments today. 

Mini-Vacation: Ottawa

This week Rysio and I went on a whirlwind tour of Ottawa. We arrived at my godparents' house late on Sunday evening. We were pretty tired but after a quick visit, we decided to go out on a magical adventure. My cousin had a sweet connection, a security guard at the tallest building in town. We quietly snaked through parking garages, hallways, up elevators and terrifying maintenance ladders. When we arrived on the top of the building it was dark, windy and there were thousands of warm yellow and orange lights twinkling around below us. We saw parliament, the national gallery, a chateau and tiny cars and people. The heights were dizzying but it was so amazing to be higher than anyone else in the city. Afterwards we fixed our craving for Pho at a small place in Chinatown, it was so delicious!

On Monday we got up relatively early to fresh and yummy homemade muffins that my godmother had baked that morning. We decided to go downtown and soak up as much of the city as we could during our short time there. The most obvious choice was a tandem bike ride along the Rideau Canal! Neither of us had ridden a tandem bike before so we were obviously grinning like fools the entire time and talking about how jealous everyone surely was (we totally didn't look like tourists at all, not even a little bit).

We walked over to look at Parliament and went inside for a while. I'm sure the security guard at the metal detectors and x-ray scanners was mildly amused by Rysio's wallet, it reads: Not Fooled by the Government. We decided not to take a tour even though that gained us access to about one stairway, one hallway and two foyers. Rysio decided to write a strongly worded letter to Mr. Harper about our lack of access to the building while I opted to ask the government to continue supporting Parks Canada, the Arts and First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities in Canada.

Unfortunately, Rysio's camera was out of batteries so there are no pictures of this trip. I like to think that this little mishap allowed us to experience our mini vacation much more fully because we weren't busy taking pictures. Instead, I will share this old photo of my sister and I when we last visited Parliament together.

Rysio managed to survive a bit of shoe shopping that I needed to do for work, then we headed back to my godparent's house for a delicious rib dinner. We had an awesome time and we can't wait to go back and do more. I had my eye on the National Gallery and Rysio was pretty excited to hear that there is a Museum of Space and Aviation.

Sidenote: I was promoted to Dining Room Manager yesterday! I'm fairly honoured to be appointed to this position, hopefully things will go well for the next two months. I know this will be a great experience and it will test my organizational skills. 

IronJoe

Today I have my father on my mind. It's funny how things can change over the years. When I was a little kid, my parents were the God and Goddess of my small universe. They knew the answers to every question I could dream up, they could read chapter books and do pretty much anything. Like most families with teenagers we hit a rough patch for a while but it's funny how things cycle around and my parents are once again the most amazing and capable people I know. 

As I type this my father is racing the Ironman in Louisville, Kentucky. He's cycling his heart out, rocking the road and repeating a little mantra he picked up from some pro-athletes: chop wood, carry water. He has already completed the swimming leg of the race beating his time last year by just under a minute. I hope he is having a fabulous day and that he isn't dying in the southern heat. He's a pretty fantastic Dad and I can't wait to congratulate him on the phone tonight.