Lots of ups, and some downs...

In general life is really, really good to us. But sometimes, there are some downs as well. That doesn't mean things are not going well, but when it's a little tough, it's even more important to focus on the good and fun things.

So what is going really well? First of all, we had a somewhat surprised visit by my mom! She called out of the blue if we had plans for the following weekend, and after some minor scheduling, she arrived last Thursday for a weeklong visit.  We pretty much kept living our lives, which included Nolan being away at a conference for the weekend, but it was a really nice, low-key and comfortable. The weather in The Netherlands has been less than summer-like, and one of my mom's wishes was to have hot weather. Well, she got her wish. The day she arrived it was 34 degrees :) It wasn't that hot during the rest of her stay, but still very reasonable!

We didn't do too much while she was here, but went for a nice long walk on Saturday, and had Nolan's parents over for dinner on the Sunday. Nolan and I had to work some days as well, but still found time to relax, chat and catch up.

During our walk on Saturday, we saw four deer, all in different spots. Most of them were close enough for pictures, but I only captured one:

The last Wednesday morning we went out for breakfast, which was a real feast! It's also nice to see how Nolan and my mom get along so well :)

Another thing that makes me happy and proud, is our garden. Our hanging baskets are doing really well and are expanding nicely.

Our planters are also filling in nicely. Especially our roses are doing well!

The purple dahlia below is actually from last year. We dug up the roots, store them over winter, and then put them back in this spring. And it worked!

And then one of our other prides, our vegetable garden! All our vegetables are doing really well, and I think we'll be harvesting a surplus of tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers and strawberries. Nothing wrong with that though, we like our veggies!

Tomorrow is Canada Day, which we'll celebrate with our annual pool party with our running group. The weather is still nice and warm, so the pool should be nicely warmed up by now.

There might be some interesting times coming up, but we also have a vacation in our near future, which will hopefully allow us to relax and get away for a bit. But that being said, we are both doing well, and we stay strong!

A visitor and an update on the marathon training

This past week we had a visitor! It turned out that my brother was in our neck of the woods! He was in Boston to attend a wedding, and the weekend prior to the wedding, they had decided to plan a bachelor's party in Montreal, of all places... But it worked out well, since he was able to come and visit us for a bit!

Gijsbert (aka Max) arrived on Sunday afternoon, and was slightly tired from a fun weekend in Montreal. This was actually a really good thing, since both Nolan and I were somewhat tired as well from our long run that morning (more about that later on...). We took it easy, and just chatted and caught up. I took Monday off, which was spent mainly around the house and running some errands (including a visit to the dentist...). Tuesday we had to go to work, and Max went to visit the National Art Gallery. I was able to leave work a bit early, and we ended up in a pub chatting about anything and everything, which was great! We continued the conversation with Nolan over dinner that night. Of course, with another beer...
Nolan and I both took Wednesday off, and it was a beautiful day, albeit a bit chilly. We decided to spend the day in the Gatineau's and hiked the Wolf Trail, an 8 k loop that was somewhat difficult (or at least according to the map). It turned out to be a great day, lots of blue skies and very few people. The way we like it! Both Max and Nolan engaged in some photography during our hike:

The last picture is of a pileated woodpecker :) They are just amazing birds. We actually saw another one on our run today!

After our long walk on Wednesday, we took it easy that evening, and simply at ate home, and played games. Good times!

Max had to catch an early bus the next morning, heading back to Boston, so Nolan dropped him at the bus station off, before dropping me off at work. And then life was pretty much back to normal.

We're in the height of our marathon training, and I have to admit it comes with its ups and downs. Last weekend's long run was a bit of a disaster. We were scheduled to run 32 km, but I started to crash only 12km in. Not a good thing. I managed to get up to 25, but at that point the tank was absolutely empty, and I just could not go any further. I walked home, while Nolan finished the 32km. I was mad, disappointed, but also worried. How am I supposed to run a marathon, if I can't even get up to 30km? We had run 29km the two previous weeks, so I knew I could do something. It might have been that I didn't eat enough for breakfast, who knows... We didn't run much the rest of the week. Partly because Gijsbert was here, but both Nolan and I also had some (hopefully minor) injuries. Nolan fell during a trail run about a week and a half ago and hurt his hip. It's a nice purple, still! It didn't bother him too much during the 32 km run, but it definitely felt tight during the week. I've had some nagging pain in my left knee, which just doesn't feel great. We managed to get a 8km run in on Thursday, but when we wanted to go out on Friday, but knee just didn't feel good, and we decided to skip that run. Maybe some rest was the right thing to do, because our run this morning felt much better. I also made sure I had a good breakfast! We were supposed to do 23km, but felt good, and I needed to confidence, so we decided on a 26km run. However, by the time we were close to home, I still had some energy left, and added another 6km, to make up for the 32km run that I missed last week. I'm a little sore now, and my knees are not too happy, but I'm glad I did it. We ran in the Greenbelt, and it's so much easier on the legs, that I'm a little worried about running the marathon on pavement only...

And now Nolan is off to Waterloo for a conference, so it's extra quiet at home, and it's just me vegging on the couch, getting ready for another week at work, with apparently SNOW on the way. Not sure what to think of that. Well, I do know what to think of that, but it's not to be repeated on this blog.

Have a great week!

Just an update

Not sure what to write about, or what to update about.
One thing is for sure, the weather is back to normal. Summer weather is over, and we're back to normal with real March weather!
This morning we had a 29k run to complete, which we did so in the snow and rain! It's definitely been a while since we rain in either snow or rain. We made sure we kept a comfortable pace, and it paid off: we had a good run and felt strong until the end. Good news after a so-so week of running.
Work has also been busy and challenging at times, but I also finished a large project last Friday which felt really good. And I still really like what I do! On Tuesday, we had an hour long meeting while walking in the woods. How can you complain about that?!

On other news, the Ontario Woodlot Association had their Annual General Meeting last week, and I got re-elected to the Provincial Board of directors (I'm still on the executive committee as well; new members for the exec will elected at the next meeting). So that was good news.
We also went to the Ottawa Auto Show last week, where we tried to get an idea for a new vehicle. Well we did. Some of the cars that we thought would be a good fit, turned out to be not so great at all. And then some others were better than we thought they would be. The bonus of the auto show is that we don't have to visit several dealers. We now narrowed it down to a couple, and hopefully we can go for a test drive soon!

And that's pretty much it for us. Not much to tell. We're busy with work, running, our house, and just enjoying our lives in general!

Without downs, you have no ups...

It's been a week now since we returned from the Netherlands, and in some ways, we were hoping for an uneventful few weeks to come. Well, it was not to be, and perhaps we brought it on ourselves?

Early this week, I was checking the humane society website, as I do often, to see if they had any dogs available for adoption that would fit into our household. And low and behold, there was a 9-yr old lab mix, friendly and playful, up for adoption. On paper, she looked like the perfect dog for us. Since Nolan did not grow up with dogs, we wanted to be sure that the dog was friendly without any aggression. We went to see April on Tuesday, and indeed, she was a sweetheart, and we decided to pick her up on Thursday (she had a vet appointment that day, since she needed some additional medical care due to an amputated tail). When we picked April up on Thursday, it was decided we would foster her for a few days, and if all would go well, we'd finalize the adoption later this week.
We brought April home, and as soon as we got home, the cats went into hiding. It wasn't fun to see them stressed out, especially Muprhy was quite upset, but we also figured it would need some time. She was a great dog in the house, wouldn't leave your side, and slept through the night no problem.
The next day, when we tried to introduce the cats to her, it just didn't go well.  April reacted quite strongly to them, and the cats did not like her at all. Long story short, we have always said that the cats come first, and perhaps they would have gotten used to each other over time, but we did not quite trust her in the beginning. We also had some issues with Murphy about two years ago, and the last thing we wanted is him peeing all over the house again.
And the truth is that we are away during the day, and April is a total people dog! I would trust her with a baby! She loves everyone and like the attention, another reason that we thought she is better of in a family with kids, no cats, where she gets lots of attention. So sadly, we decided to bring her back to the humane society, before we would get too attached to her.

Needless to say I was heartbroken. I wish we could have kept her, and provided her with a good home, but having her around did not make me happy either. I was worried about the cats, and they mean a lot to us as well. We brought her back on Saturday morning, after taking her for a long walk in the Greenbelt. I was quite upset bringing her back, but she was happy to go back, and they were very understanding at the humane society as well. They promised they'd find her another good home (it's a no-kill shelter!!), and I believe they will. When we walked by April on the way out, she didn't even really look up to us; she was focussed on everything else going on. In a way hard to see, but I'm also happy she wasn't too attached to us, because that would only have made it so much harder.  Another reason I'm glad we brought her back soon, because the longer we waited, the harder it would be, for both her and us.

It was hard, but it was good to see the cats completely back to normal as soon as we got home Saturday afternoon. I already miss not going for walks, but who knows if and when we get a new dog, and Nolan has offered to take him for a walk, so maybe I should start doing that...

I guess it was another blow after some roller-coaster weeks, and on top of that, I tripped and fell at the end of my run on Wednesday. Right in front of my office building, very embarrassing! My knee is all bruised and was completely swollen, my left wrist is bruised and my shoulder was sore, but it all feels better now, and besides a badly bruised knee, I'm pretty much back to normal. I even managed to have a great 16k run yesterday morning! The footing was so much better, temperatures were bearable (only -8 when we started) and with the sun out it was just a gorgeous morning! My knee was a bit sore at the end, but nothing too crazy. I guess I needed a good run to clear my head and reset my body. Hopefully I was able to do that.

So for the next few weeks, no more big decisions, no major (self-inflicted) changes, and just focus on us and enjoy life!

Oh, and one other, last news-worthy (at least Nolan thinks!) item, we had our eyes tested on Friday, and soon you'll see Nolan wearing glasses! For now only when he needs to read far away (presentations, etc), and when driving at night. We picked up a pair, and I'm not sure I love them, but then, Nolan with glasses is just weird... Hopefully I get used to them :)

Busy but satisfying Thanksgiving weekend!

For the Canadians among us, do you remember the last time you spent Thanksgiving shovelling snow?? I bet it wasn't that long ago... This year was definitely a little different. Records were broken left, right and centre with a high in Ottawa on Saturday of 27.6 degrees. In case you didn't realize, it's October... In one word: awesome!!

We had a fairly low-key Thanksgiving weekend without any real commitments. We didn't go down to Brockville since we'll all be together in a couple of weeks for Carrie's wedding. Since the weather was so gorgeous, and we had so much time, we decided to spend the time well... outside!! We painted the front porch, front door, garage door and around the garage. We cleaned up the deck (it looks so empty now!) and we cleaned all the windows! We also went running Sunday morning (my legs were killing me though, never thought that painting could be so hard on the legs, but I guess I was bending and crouching down more than I realized), and we went for a beautiful bike ride Monday afternoon. The colours are just amazing right now, and with these temperature and blue skies, you really don't want to spend any more time inside than absolutely necessary. We took some pictures during our bike ride; I'll upload them later.  Admittedly, we were pretty tired at the end of the bike ride, and were somewhat cursing ourselves for going so far. But it was so worth it, despite my soar derrière today...

The weekend wasn't totally un-social. We had Debby over for dinner on Friday, which was great as usual, and Ann and Tom invited us over for a left-over-Thanksgiving-dinner on Sunday, which was also very tasty and social. Nolan was able to teach us all some new expressions as well. Not sure if it was him or the Scotch being creative...

So overall a great weekend, that came after a very inspirational and interesting week of training. The course was very good, and I learned a lot about working for the Government; especially at a higher level. Time well spent!

This week is back at the office, but only for a few days. Next week is booked off (for the most part), and we're hoping to tackle the upstairs and splash some paint on some bedroom walls!

Life is busy!

Busy but good that is! Maybe the getting up at 3:15 on Sunday was not that great, and the fact I wouldn't see Nolan for five days wasn't fun either, but everything else is great! We actually had some rain this week, which I normally would not have been happy about, but this time it was quite welcome. Two nights in a row where I didn't have to water the plants! Have I mentioned before that I really like our garden?! The tomatoes are about to come out of our ying-yang, even with just four plants. But we pick three or four every day. Since it's just me this week, I'm falling slightly behind on the tomato consumption... With the rain, it also looks like I'll have to cut the lawn tomorrow. It's greener than it has been in a long time! Funny thing is that the four little oak trees we have dotting the lawn are all surrounded by taller and greener grass! The grass obviously benefited from my loyal watering practices!

The cats have found their spots on the bed again. Maybe because it has cooled down a bit, or maybe because they know it's just me?
Oh, and just because I felt like sharing... I made the most amazing hummus this week? Not sure what it was so bowl-licking good, but I have a feeling that the addition of basil from our own garden might have had something to do with that!! Now the challenge is to reproduce it :)

Just some random photos

That's what happens when you get a new camera, you want to show the moments it captured! Which of course also allows for a very rare glimpse of our lives :)
They are reduced in size, otherwise it would take days to upload them, so the quality is not as great as the original photos.
First set of photos is from our visit to the Experimental Farm and Agriculture Museum in Ottawa. Lots of animals!

To be clear, I do understand English.

Calves were only a couple of weeks old

A cross between a goat and a poodle, or in other words a goodle. Ok, we made that up but it sure looked like it.

Taken through the glass, a cuddly bunch of piglets!

Just like Annigje, a goat we used to have growing up.

Murphy!

My mom looking cold, despite the 30+ weather (and we keep our A/C at a comfy 25C when it gets too hot)

Look at all the tomatoes!

Our basil plants completely grown out of control

Our little wildlife corner. The birds love the bath.

A reminder of the fire from a few weeks ago. You can see it from our deck...

Our colourful deck!

Nolan took this picture at Horserama in Brockville

A regular guest in our backyard. It's taken through the window, so the colour is not great.

During our walk around the pond, a blue heron

Birthday and time off

I really should write my blog more often, because now I risk writing too much, generating too much text and becoming boring...
Remember that freak storm we had last week? Here is a picture of it rolling in:

So last Thursday was my birthday. It was also by far the hottest day of the year! We got up to 37 degrees, and just under 50 with the humidex. Pretty hot indeed. So what do you do on a day to celebrate but where you also want to stay cool? Indeed, you go to the Diefenbunker! The Diefenbunker was built during the cold war to create a safe haven in case a nuclear bomb would be dropped on Ottawa. It was actually quite interesting, also since everything was left in the state of the late eighties, when they left the building.

The rest of my birthday was special as well. Of course my parents were still here, and I got spoiled rotten by both Nolan and my parents. Nolan bought me a new office chair, and my parents gave us money for a new digital camera!! (The rest of the pictures below are all taken with our new camera.) All very nice. And to top it off, East Sides Mario's for dinner! Maybe not the most exciting place, but the food was good, and the beer was even better!

Mom and Dad at East Sides

Nolan and I at East Sides (after a beer or so...)

On Friday Nolan and I went for a long bike ride, which was really nice. It had cooled down a bit, but it was still pretty warm to go for a run. A bike ride proved to be a great alternative!

Nolan 

Me adjusting my helmet

On Saturday we dropped the parents off down town, and Nolan and I went on a date and saw The Lion King! It was very, very impressive and very well done. We both really enjoyed it. Afterwards we met up with the parents again and first went to Darcy McGee's for a beer (really, we're not alcoholics...), and then went to Royal Thai for dinner. It was delicious. Good thing I had the vegetarian pad thai; all the other dishes (with meat) were a tad to spicy for me.

Sunday was pretty quiet with a visit to the Agriculture Museum in the morning, and Nolan and I went for a nice run in the Greenbelt in the afternoon.
Monday we had planned to go to breakfast, but when we woke up we found out that my parents had been rebooked onto another flight after their original flight had been cancelled. First we thought they were booked onto an earlier flight, but it turned out to be an earlier flight the next day! So I made some phone calls, trying to get the airline pay for a hotel, since we couldn't really drop them off on Tuesday due to work commitments. After talking to several people, I was able to get them on a direct KLM flight that same evening! So it took a bit of determination, but it all turned out for the better!

Now our lives are back to normal. Work is still busy and interesting and the weather is still gorgeous. So really, we are very happy and lucky people!!

To end, here are some photos taken with our new camera!

Fertile (I will dedicate a post to her soon, also to explain her name...)

Yellow rose

Nolan's reflection

An EMPTY wine glass ;) 

(If you click on the picture, you can really see the reflection; photo credit: my dad)