5 things

Thinking quietly this morning, or trying to, as Curtis is firmly 'helping' me write. His food bowl is not empty, so that's not it. Found the first photo below, and that triggered the rest of the blog.

It's from a walk near Repsol in mid-April this year. Peering in to say hello to the lonely pool. Missing the swims, the hot tub, chatting with buddies there. Missing the vibe. Last year when I renewed, I thought about it first. In the end I liked the vibe, and there was the possibility of a contract downtown, and I still dreamed of doing another triathlon. Being around other such people was nice.

When we went to New Zealand in 2019 I didn't swim for two months and it killed me when I got into the pool again. My arms had essentially forgotten how to swim. This trip I made a point of swimming several times, once even with my buddy Katie who happened to be in Auckland at the same time as me and Linda. We had a nice swim and coffee/treats after, then dropped her at the airport.

The coronavirus was big in the news then, and there was some concern about Canadians coming home. We kept our original flight, and arrived home to 2 weeks self isolation. Somewhere in there the pools closed. Now it's July 7 and Repsol opened yesterday.

Except things have changed. I get why they've put these new procedures in place. I really do. But I'm not keen on booking a swim a week out; my life has complications sometimes. When I was working downtown Repsol was right on the way. Now it's about a 40 minute round trip at best, is often 50 minutes, and has been more than an hour. There is another pool that is a 10 minute round trip if I catch the lights, 15 tops. It doesn't have the same vibe, but that's an intangible. The nice lady at Repsol says my refund should hit the credit card within a week. Yes, I'm a bit sad about that.

No, this isn't an excuse to sneak in another shot of the white peony, though there is that. It's really putting on a show this year. One of my neighbours in the cup-de-sac stopped in their drive to work, and mentioned they have been walking out just to take a close look at it.

I was watching this ant waving it's antenna at the gap, and eventually scrambling across. That's what we do all the time, scramble across gaps. There was nobody there to encourage the ant, or help it, but we can be there for each other. A thought for your day.

As you may recall, I built a pergola thingie for Linda a little while ago. She patiently re-draped the existing clematis to take advantage and planted a new one on the other side. I think it likes it there.

Yes, I'm missing the beach. One of my buddies recently moved to NS and has been posting beach photos on Facebook. Another couple buddies have lived there for year, periodically posting beach photos. I am wondering now why I live so far from a beach. Sunscreen is cheap.

From a Fish Creek walk several years ago, actually one of the first photos I took with my then new camera.  I'm not sure if I've blogged it or not; this was before my system of tracking what photos I've blogged so you don't see actual duplicates, as opposed to near duplicates.

Just a reminder that when we make a change, there are ripples going out in all directions. You don't know who or what is going to be affected.

Of the Day
Michelle

Curtis
He has often 'helped' me edit photos and text. Now I think he's contemplating his new duties as SQL supervisor.

Flowers
This was the first of the day lilies this year, coming out late June. More are on their way. We've been guarding the other lilies from the dread and evil lily beetle, and seem to be on top of them so far. Knock wood.

Driftwood

Ribbon Creek

Me