Lisa Stokes

Great Summer Day

My friend Victoria and her children from St. Thomas are visiting us this week. One of the activities we always do when they visit is go for a bike ride. Here we are about to head out. It always surprises me how long it takes us to get going. Sunscreen needs to be applied. Shoes and helmets found and put on. Bike seat levels adjusted. Tires pumped up. Finally we are ready to go.

After returning home for lunch we headed to Professors Lake for a beach afternoon. It is a filled in quarry with a man made beach, water slide and boat rentals.

Beaches just bring out the inner kid.

Beach selfie.

Good thing we brought an umbrella. We didn’t need to for the sun, though.

Best picture of the day.

My nephews were are summer camp at the Lake today and we invited them to join us to play with their cousins at the beach after camp.

Day Out At Wild Water Kingdom

Today Trystan and his friends Edmund and Zack, Owen and I went to Wild Water Kingdom for the day. It was the warmest day we have had lately, although I wouldn’t call it hot. The kids were fine, but I wore my short wetsuit to keep me warm in the breeze when I was wet.

My sister gave us season passes for Christmas. This is the third or fourth year she has done so. Wild Water Kingdom offers a reduced rate for pass holders to bring a friend. We usually go with my sister and her family on Sunday mornings. It hasn’t been very busy this year. Each year it seems to become a little more rundown and the weather has been cooler than normal this summer. So I was surprised to see how full the wave pool was when we arrived, particularly given the number of cars in the parking lot. It soon became apparent that there were many, many daycare and camp groups that had arrived by bus. Fortunately, most of them were young and didn’t cause large line-ups on the slides.

Trystan, Edmund and Zack headed off to the slides and Owen to the Lazy River. I read a book at the Caribbean Cove until they arrived back for lunch. After lunch we all had a round of mini-golf. Owen is playing much better than last year, but not nearly as well as he is likely to be playing in a couple of weeks since he is off to golf camp next week.

It was a fun day. Zack and Edmund are both polite, talkative teens and it was a pleasure to have them join us.

We headed home in time to pick up Megan from work and have a quick dinner before I loaded my bike into the car and headed off to Cyclepath to have the tube replaced in the front tire. The mechanic thought it has been pierced by a small piece of glass not by my fall. He charge $7 for a new tube and $9 to install it. He did it while I waited. Next month I am going to take a course to learn to do some basic maintenance on my bike by myself including how to change a tire. In nine years I never had a flat on my hybrid. On day two I have had a flat on my new road bike. I know that flats are much more likely with the narrow, high-pressure tires of road bikes, but I didn’t expect to have one quite so quickly.

On the way home I stopped at two grocery stores and spent $300 on groceries. Our friends from St. Thomas, another family of six, are joining us for the rest of the week. Sometimes when they visit it seems we barely finish clearing up from one meal before we have to start serving the next.

My leg still has a lump under the knee and the colour gets worse by the day. I hope to ride my rode bike in the morning without my knee being problematic.

Day Out in Brampton

Today, I ventured out after a few days of resting my injured leg. Owen and I decided to go to the relatively new Mount Pleasant library branch and to run some errands.

We drove to the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood in northwest Brampton which is a planned neighbourhood which includes: a transit hub for GO Transit and Brampton Transit, a library, community rooms and elementary school sharing a building, a public square between the transit hub and library containing a large fountain/skating rink, playground and public art, live-work buildings (retail on the main floor with living area above) facing the square, streets with on-street parking around the square, but no large parking lots within the community, some bike lanes and a mix of low-rise apartments, townhomes and single family homes. It is quite well thought-out and pleasant.

Our first errand was to tap Megan’s Presto card to activate the contract we have set up on it. Unfortunately, the first post we came to and tapped was for fares, not activation, so we purchased a GO Train ticket inadvertently. This evening I called GO Train to have it reversed and was told we could have just pressed the cancel button. Oh well, live and learn. Michael, Megan and Alun have Presto cards and it has proved frustrating getting them set up and working properly due to the way the system has been designed. Updates take 24 hours. One has to go to the terminal to buy a card, go home to register it, go back to the terminal to have it set up as a student card, go home to load money onto it, go back to the terminal to activate it. Each time a change it made it takes 24 hours to take effect.

We took pictures of ourselves using the Presto card to submit to this months Let Your Green Show contest. We could win a $100 Presto card.

After that we explored the square and then headed to the library. It turns out it doesn’t open until 2pm so we ran a couple other errands nearby. We had lunch at Pizza Pizza, got some groceries at Fortinos then returned to Mount Pleasant where we had a coffee and cheesecake at the R&R Cafe. I think we will go back in the winter to skate followed by a hot chocolate at the cafe.

By then the library had opened and we were able to explore the bright, airy, two level space. At the front of the library is a reconstructed Brampton train station (the former downtown CPR station) which has been beautifully incorporated into the building. Owen picked and read a book, I read the paper. It was enjoyable.

On the way home we signed Owen up for golf camp the last week of the summer at Turnberry Golf Club where Alun enjoyed a week last year.

This evening I decided to give my road bike another try but after getting my shoes on discovered that I had a flat front tire. I was unable to pump it up so rode my old bike. When I got home I did a little research and found out the tires have a Presta valve which needs to be unscrewed to allow the air to enter. I’ve now pumped the tire, which was challenging. The range is 87 to 116 PSI. I couldn’t get it past about 90 pounds with my hand pump. Hopefully it will still be full in the morning and I can try out the shoes again and NOT fall over.

Boring Recovery Weekend

My knee swelled up alarmingly as the evening progressed on Thursday after my fall from my bike. I had a physiotherapy appointment for my wrist on Friday morning and consulted about my knee. The therapist suggested I rest, elevate and ice it for 48 hours. I was also advised to use a tensor bandage when I had to walk around.

The swelling had somewhat subsided when I awoke Friday but came back within minutes of getting out of bed.

Today, I have one large hard swelling below the knee cap and a large bruise reaching most of the way down my shin. It really didn’t hurt much when it happened, but it has put me out of commission for days.

Megan and Alun have been telling me I should watch Parks and Recreation so I used this time to start watching it. I’ve gotten through three seasons. I didn’t find it very funny to begin, but it is improving with time. I can identify with the character Chris who shows up at the end of season 2 who runs every day, has a resting heart rate of 28 and believes he will be the first human to live to be 150.

Trystan returned today after a week at the cottage with family friends. They had cold wet weather, but managed to have fun anyway. All of his clothes smell like wood smoke as they had a lot of fires to keep warm. The Williams’ stayed for dinner before heading home to St. Thomas. They are coming back to stay with us for a few days on Wednesday.

Owen and I played the Game of Life this evening.

“Be prepared to fall. Everyone one does.”

“Be prepared to fall. Everyone one does.”, Elaine told me in a comment on my Cars and Bikes post two days ago. Last night I practiced getting my new cycling shoes into and out of the pedals, in the house against a wall. This morning Owen and I called on his friend Emma and we went for a bike ride with me on my new bike, clipped in. While we were waiting for Emma to have a bite to eat before the ride I rode up her driveway and then down an adjacent interlock pathway with shallow steps in it. After the first shallow drop I slowed, unclipped my shoes and put my feet down. I did this several times. We then rode for 10 km stopping and starting frequently. By the time we returned I was feeling pretty confident.

We rode up Emma’s driveway. I turned down the adjacent path and slowed. Just then my phone started vibrating in my backpack. It distracted me. I came to a stop. I hadn’t unclipped. I tipped over. It seemed to happen quite slowly. I knew exactly what was happening, but could not get my feet free. I landed on my left side, down a step from the path, on my left knee, left hand and left side of my helmet. I felt pretty silly, mildly shaken, but otherwise fine.

We went home and had a snack. Then I showered, creamed my legs and dressed. My left knee had a small abrasion. I walked downstairs to the kitchen for lunch. As I walked into the kitchen my knee started to feel odd. I rolled up my pant leg and I had a bulge under my knee the size of an extra large egg.

This wasn’t the first time I fell this summer. On June 9 I was out riding after a rain storm. It was cool so fortunately I was wearing long sleeves and below-the-knee capri pants, rather than my usual cycling attire of bike shorts and short sleeve t-shirt. I took a corner too fast and my bike went out from under me to my left. I carried on straight in a Superman-like pose. The first thing to hit the ground was my helmet visor. That saved my face. I had some scrapes on both palms, my right baby finger, wrist and elbow and my right knee. When I went to bed that evening I was surprised to find an egg sized swelling on my knee. Prior to that fall I cannot remember the last time I fell off my bike. It was probably back in my childhood. Now I have fallen twice in the space of three months and both times had a delayed, large swelling on the damaged knee.

This afternoon Owen and I went to Gore Meadows Recreation Centre and Library for a Mad Science hour, but it was full when we got there so I sat down with my cold compress and a paper and he found a graphic novel. We had a little walk around before leaving and saw this board showing the features of the expansion to the centre which will be complete in Spring 2016.

We stopped at Tims for an afternoon coffee.

This afternoon I picked up my prize from the Let Your Green Show. The prize is “the “Experience Nature Package” that includes a treetop trekking experience for 2 at Heartlake Conservation Area and a guided tour at Island Lake Conservation Area for you and up to 5 guests . The approximate retail value of this package is $250 CAD.”. I wrote about the contest a few days ago.

Doctor, Movie and Pick Ups

The day started with a trip to the ophthalmologist for Alun who has had a teary eye for months. Turns out the tear duct is blocked. We got some new eye drops to reduce inflammation and he is to massage the inside corner of his eyes. We go back in four weeks to see if that has worked and he has been able to avoid a more invasive surgical procedure to unblock the tear duct. The doctor determined the blockage by inserting a very thin syringe into the tear duct and squirting water. She started with the eye that hasn’t been teary and the water trickled down the back of his throat. With the teary eye, it didn’t. Alun said he couldn’t even feel the syringe in his tear duct. She had given him a local freezing eye drop prior to the procedure.

Afterwards we went to Williams Coffee Pub for Alun’s breakfast and my morning coffee.

In the afternoon Owen and I used coupons from General Mills cereal to see the movie Lucy for free. Owen, who is not very critical, quite enjoyed the movie. I found it lacking in logic and character development although Scarlett Johansson was pretty entertaining and Morgan Freeman’s voice is always pleasant to hear.

This evening I went out to Cyclepath to pick up my bikes then killed an hour at Second Cup until it was time to pick up Megan from Rogers where she volunteers in their studios.

When I arrived home I leaned my bike up against the wall and practiced clipping in and out of the pedals. I’ve been warned everyone falls over at least once, by Elaine, who fell over in Montreal last year after riding all the way from Victoria without incident. I hope not to, as I fear jarring my wrist, which I broke while skating in January, which is still not right or my shoulder which was also affected by “guarding” my broken wrist.

Cars and Bikes

My day started at the garage today. The radio in our van was replaced after it stopped recognizing ipods and phones that were plugged into it. A few months after that it stopped working altogether and made a popping noise every few seconds whether or not the van was turned on. A computer reset fixed that. The radio stopped working again recently and started popping again and then ceased to do anything at all. So this morning I took it in to be repaired again. I told them I would wait as I needed to drive my bikes to the bike shop this afternoon for repair and fitting.

It was a humid, overcast morning so I took my umbrella and walked about 30 minutes to the nearest Starbucks where I had a coffee and read the paper for an hour. News of Robin Williams’ suicide took up pages of the news and entertainment sections.

I returned to the garage a couple of hours after setting off to discover they still had not figured out the problem. Just as I was reaching the point where I had to leave in order to get lunch and get to the bike shop they finished. It turns out it was a loose wire. Hopefully, that will be the end of the problem as the van won’t be under warranty much longer.

My bike fitting took a couple of hours for measurements, adjustments, installation of a new stem and seat and purchases. I bought shoes and clip-in pedals, socks, a seat, a new stem to raise the handlebars, a bag (for the seat post rack that I have ordered), gloves and non-polarized sunglasses as I couldn’t read the display on the bike computer with my polarized ones. I also left the bike for a tune-up. I can’t wait to get it back tomorrow evening to practice clipping the shoes in and out and get out for a ride.

Alun is having a sleepover at a friend’s house and Trystan is still away at the cottage so we went out for dinner as a family of four at Lone Star.

Running Around Again

Owen had two baby teeth, one on each side on the top, that should have been pushed out by the adult teeth but were instead clinging in and pushing his adult teeth out of line. So today the dentist pulled them. Owen appeared quite calm and replied that he wasn’t nervous when asked by the dentist. He was quite brave throughout the procedure. The dentist gave Owen laughing gas, then needles into the gum by each tooth to be pulled and into his soft palette. The one into his palette hurt. Once the freezing took hold the two teeth were pulled in a matter of a few seconds. Gauze was popped in and the gas turned off. Once the freezing wore off a couple of hours later he was just fine.

This was Owen’s second encounter with tooth pulling. A few years ago a baby tooth that had been filled developed an abscess. The options were leave it and treat with antibiotics (possibly repeatedly), a root canal (with a 50% chance of working) or an extraction. Since it was a baby tooth we decided on the extraction. The dentist asked me not to tell Owen that the tooth was to be pulled but that we had to come back for another check. He followed the same procedure: laughing gas, freezing and pulling. As we left the office I asked Owen if he realized what had just happened. He didn’t. Until he looked in the mirror he didn’t believe me that the tooth had been pulled.

Next we returned home so Owen could eat breakfast. He hadn’t been allowed to eat before the appointment. Then we headed down to Mississauga to have lunch with my dad and his girlfriend at Panera Bread.

Owen just had a cinnamon roll since he had eaten a big breakfast just before leaving home. I had the Strawberry Poppyseed and Chicken Salad. It was delicious.

Then we went to Tech City, a store where we sourced a set of headphones used at the Art Gallery of Ontario, that Owen used and liked. Turned out the store wasn’t officially open yet but the proprietor dug through a box and found what Owen was looking for.

We went home for coffee for me and then it was time to do some back-to-school shoe shopping for Megan and Alun. They each chose hi-top Converse, but the Brampton store had Megan’s size and colour choice but not Alun’s.

So after dinner we headed to Mississauga to get the red ones Alun wanted. On the way home we stopped at Menchie’s frozen yogurt. Megan and I had never been there before. I didn’t realize it was a serve yourself place. They only had one size of serving cup and it was huge. It was priced at $2.19/100 grams. It would be really easy to spend a fortune. It was alright, but I prefer Marble Slab.

Small World

Today I rode my new bike to Caledon East for a coffee at Gabe’s Bake Shop.

I’ve been using Mapmyride to track my rides. My best average speed for this 35 km round trip on my hybrid bike was 20.2 kph on a day with 8 kph winds. Today, on my new bike my average speed was 24 kph with winds of 17 kph. I am pleased. On Tuesday, I will go for a bike fitting and get new pedals and clip-in shoes which should make me even more efficient. I will also get a more comfortable seat as the one that came with the bike is quite uncomfortable even with bike shorts.

There were several other cyclists at the bake shop. I started chatting with another Lisa who also has a new bike and an uncomfortable seat. She mentioned knowing someone who rode across Canada last summer and who swears by Brooks saddles. I said, “So do I”.

“With the Tour du Canada?”, she said.

“Yes. What’s her name?”, I replied.

“Elaine Theriault”, she said.

“I know Elaine”, I said. “How do you know her?”.

“Through my mom, Elaine Stammers”, she replied.

“I know your mom”, I said, “through the Brampton Quilt Guild”.

Sometimes the world is very small.

I generally find cyclists to be very friendly and easy to talk to. Two were just leaving as I arrived. They had come up from Mississauga and were riding 100 km today. Lisa and her husband were riding the rail trail from Terra Cotta to Palgrave and back. A couple of other men from Mississauga and Guelph were also taking a break from the rail trail.

After I returned I had a shower and lunch. Then Trystan, Owen and I drove to the Tim’s at Weston Road and Rutherford Road to meet Kevin and Victoria and their four children. Trystan is going to a cottage with them for the week. We had a quick snack with them and they continued on their five hour journey from St. Thomas to cottage country.

Alun and I have been going on 20 minute bike rides some evenings. It’s not because Alun likes riding. He doesn’t. It’s because I told him he had to walk 30 minutes each day or cycle 20 minutes. He’s been doing the cycling so that he can get back to lying on his bed doing nothing sooner than if he had walked. Distressingly, even though it has been a couple years since he has ridden a bike regularly, he was able to ride up the hills easier than I could even though I have ridden 1600 km in the past three months.

This evening after dinner Alun rode my hybrid bike and I rode my new road bike. I left him in my dust on the hills. I was thrilled. His ego was crushed. I enjoyed it immensely. He told me I am a terrible mother who is ruining him for life. I told him I could live with that.

Why I Decided to Start Blogging

One word: forgetfulness.

Yesterday, just before I started writing my blog for the day I thought, ” I must remember to write about winning the Let Your Green Show contest”. Then I began writing about my day beginning with the morning. I progressed through the day, proofed what I had written and then published. Moments later I realized I had forgotten to write about the contest.

I am hoping that by reviewing my day and writing about it the details will stick in my mind better. Failing that, I’ll be able to refer back to the blog!

So back to the contest.

The Region of Peel is running a contest called Let Your Green Show.

From their website: Let Your Green Show is back and, this summer, we are asking you to give your car a break. Use your car less by walking, carpooling, taking a bus, or riding a bike. Each month from June to September residents are invited to submit a selfie showing a green action. In July one of the actions one could take was to explore a local trail. I submitted this picture and won.

Yesterday I received an email telling me the following:

Congratulations! You are the winner from Brampton of our “Give Your Car a break! Use Local Trails to Get Where You Need to Go” contest that ran from July 7, 2014 to August 1, 2014. As the winner of this contest, you will receive the “Experience Nature Package” that includes a treetop trekking experience for 2 at Heartlake Conservation Area and a guided tour at Island Lake Conservation Area for you and up to 5 guests . The approximate retail value of this package is $250 CAD.

Normally I do not win things, but this is the second prize I have won this year. In June the Brampton Bicycle Advisory Committe ran the first annual Bike The Creek event with over 200 cyclists riding the Etobicoke Creek Trail on June 21. There were eight stations set up along the trail to collect passport stamps. At the end of the ride each stamp earned the rider a raffle ticket. I had eight. My number was called and I was able to choose from a number of different prizes including two rounds of golf at the city course, a rain barrel, an annual fitness pass and a few other prizes. I chose the annual fitness pass which has a value of over $400. Here I am accepting the prize.

Today my day began as usual for a Saturday. I met Patti in the parking lot at Second Cup for our weekly run. In April 2005 we joined a Learn to Run club at my children’s dojo. It was a eight week course that taught us how to run five kilometres. At the end of the course we decided to continue getting together every Saturday morning. Nine years later we still do. After a run in the Etobicoke Creek valley we return to Second Cup for refreshments and chat.

This afternoon we did some much needed weeding in our backyard. I am wearing my new Monster ADIDAS In-Ear Sound Isolating Headphones. They sound pretty good.

Tonight we are watching a movie called Snow Piercer about a small group of survivors on a train after the world has frozen due to a global warming solution gone awry. It’s very violent. It was well reviewed on Rotten Tomatoes, but I can’t say that I would recommend it.