Lisa Stokes

“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.

How Do They Do that?

This morning I headed out to Georgetown to test again the second-hand road bike that I tested on Sunday night. On Wednesday I went to Cyclepath and talked to Christie about the used bike and also tried two new ones. They felt good but I was really unsure about spending the kind of money required for new. After half an hour of riding a hilly road in Georgetown this morning I decided that the used one would be a reasonably good fit once I change the stem and have it fitted. I will also buy the clip in pedals and shoes.

Here I am with the new bike. I always wondered how people held their bikes above their heads like that. Now I know. The bikes in those pictures only weigh about 20 pounds.

On the way back from Georgetown I met Gail for lunch at Kelsey’s. I had the Asian Grilled Steak Salad. It was delicious.

This afternoon Trystan’s friend Edmund came over and we played Rumoli. Edmund and I both had to borrow from the bank to keep playing against Trystan until I had a run of good hands and paid back the bank and had enough left over to keep playing.

For dinner we went out to Five Guys. We went once before over a year ago and the kids have been asking to go back ever since. We ordered three large fries between the six of us and it was way too much. I had the vegetable sandwich which was quite good and not nearly as filling as the burgers.

Typical teens.

A Day out at the AGO

Today Trystan, Owen and I decided to use one of the coupons in the 2014 Fun Pass that the Ontario government provides to schoolchildren in their report cards each year. I don’t think we have ever used one of the coupons before.

We drove to Kipling subway station where the north lot was already full. It took a while to find the south lot (I’ve never parked there before) and it had a Lot Full sign up but there was an attendant allowing a few cars in and directing them to empty spots. The TTC is a better deal than Brampton Transit for occasional users and children. Cash fares were $3 for adults, $2 for teens and $0.75 for children. In Brampton cash fare is $3.75 regardless of age. If one uses Presto the student fare is $2.50 and the adult fare is $2.80.

It has been a while since Owen has been on the subway. He didn’t really remember the last time. We sat right at the front so we could see where we were going.

As we emerged from the subway at Dundas and University both boys were struck by how noisy it is downtown compared to places we generally frequent. After a quick stop at Tim’s we arrived at the Art Gallery. Entry was $30 for the three of us with one child free.

One of the themes on display throughout the gallery was Art as Therapy (#artastherapy).

After visiting the restrooms in the basement we climbed Frank Ghery’s 2008 staircase addition to the fifth floor tower where the Contemporary Art exhibit was housed. The first exhibit we saw was entitled Gustav’s Wing by Dahn Vo which consisted six bronze fragments cast from the artist’s nephew scattered about a large room. Owen found it rather creepy.

Here is Owen admiring a large work of art sitting in front of multi storey windows covered in giant wooden louvers.

One of the stranger exhibits was The Index by David Altmejd.

When we bought our tickets we were provided with five trading cards describing pieces of art which we were to try to find during our visit.

We found three.

There was a great view of the Ontario College of Art and Design from the top of the south staircase.

We had a good lunch at The Village Idiot Pub across the street from the gallery. We sat inside but there were huge garage door-style windows which were open and made for a lovely atmosphere on a sunny summer day. Trystan had pizza, Owen a cheeseburger and I had a club wrap.

On the way back to the gallery after lunch we discover two huge Henry Moore sculptures which have been climbed on for years smoothing and shining the bronze.

I love the rooms with paintings framed and hung floor to ceiling and wall to wall.

After visiting a few more galleries we had coffee and gelato at the Espresso Bar in the Frank Ghery galleria on the second floor extending the length of the building along Dundas Street. It is an amazing space and caused Owen to comment, “The building is a work of art”.

We had a terrific day and agreed that we must return on another day to see the galleries we missed. The subway was very crowded on the way home. I stood all the way back to Kipling.

We arrived back at Kipling to a cool van thanks to parking under the Kipling Avenue bridge.

Traffic on the 427 was terrible and we arrived home too late to drive Megan to work at Rogers for 6 causing her to have to use Brampton Transit to get to work. It took almost two hours to get home. I can’t imagine doing that commute every day, but it was a fun adventure for the three of us today.

Running Around

Today was a day of running around not accomplishing much.

I began by driving Megan to Mississauga Secondary School. She was told to be there from 8:30 to 10:30. It was her final day of her summer 2 credit co-op program. It is a 25 minute drive at that time of day. When we arrived there were lots of parents sitting in cars so I asked Megan to speak to the teacher to determine how long she would need to stay. Turns out it was only a few minutes to pick up her portfolio and certificate of completion.

So we arrived back home much earlier than expected to find Trystan and Owen in their usual place in front of the TV shooting people. I insisted they breakfast and dress for a ride to their cousins. My nephews weren’t thrilled to be invited outside from their screens however they agreed to 20 minutes of exercise in exchange for some screen time with the cousins afterwards.

Here we are on our way to Professors Lake.

My boys are on the left, my nephews on the right. The two cousins on the outside are ten years old and four days apart in age. The two on the inside are thirteen years old and twelve days apart in age.

Here they are waiting to cross the road on the way back.

Next we returned home so I could take Alun to the doctor. Ever have one of those middle aged moments where you get something wrong for no apparent reason? I made the appointment yesterday. I wrote the time on the calendar: 11:40.

Last night I wrote out the day’s schedule on a white board easel which we use to try to keep track of when and where the six of us need to be for the day. On the board I wrote the appointment time as 11:40.

Somehow, as I rode to the cousins’ house, I managed to mis-remember the appointment time as 11:50. I worked back from there how long the cousins could play, when we needed to ride home and when Alun and I needed to leave to drive to the doctors.

When we checked in we were told we were down as “no show”. I said, “Your clock must be fast”. It wasn’t. The receptionist showed me her cell phone. Then it came back to me that the appointment time was 11:40. Duh. Fortunately, we were called in just as we sat down.

The doctor could see nothing wrong with Alun’s eye, which has been weeping for months despite prescribed eye drops which initially improved the situation, but recently it has worsened again. So we are off to the ophthalmologist next week.

In the afternoon I went to Cyclepath to try out a couple of bikes. I want to get a road bike as my hybrid is just too hard to ride for the longer distances I want to do. I tried the $1900 carbon frame Giant Defy Composite 2.

I also tried the $1200 aluminum frame Giant Defy 2.

They were both very nice bikes. I think the carbon had a nicer ride, but am not certain that I could tell if I didn’t know.

On top of the bike I would have to buy pedals, shoes, a more comfortable seat, a carrier and lock. I just don’t know if I can justify that kind of money on a bike.

I tried a second hand one on Sunday night. I am going to go try it again on Friday not that I have tried a couple new ones.

Seven Repairs in Five Years

My day started with the seventh dishwasher repair in five years on my seven year old dishwasher. I think I have now spent more repairing it than I paid for it in the first place.

I have used the same repairman for over a decade. He has repaired my current dishwasher and the one it replaced, my dryer (twice) and my fridge (twice). He has probably been to my house at least 15 times. Every time I call and every time I answer the door when he arrives, it is like he is encountering me for the first time. Why do I use him? Well, he always comes within a couple of hours after I call. His rates are reasonable. He doesn’t charge extra to come on weekends or holidays. Today, for the first time in over ten years, he acknowledged that he knew who I was. When I called and told him the address he replied, “You, again?!”.

To provide Trystan and Owen with something to do on a rainy day other than the one thing they want to do (play video games), we baked some cookies from the Mrs. Fields cookie book. I hate that recipe book. Everything looks so good, but so many of the recipes have too many steps (mix, wrap, refrigerate,roll, cut, bake, ice), too little flour (so end up a sticky mess) and overly optimistic yields. Today’s recipe was par for the course. The elapsed time was hours. It stuck to everything when we rolled it out. We ended up with 13 cookies compared to a predicted yield of 36. They did taste good though and it kept the boys away from the TV for a while.

Waiting for the cookies.

Eating the cookies.

Today was Michael’s father’s last day with us so we took some pictures of him with his grandkids.

Finally, here is a great picture I took of Owen just to test my camera settings while waiting for the other kids to arrive.