Cars, Katrine, and Canucks

Saturday started ominously with cold winds, heavy cloud and with the forecast of rain, but as we have been lucky with the weather I headed with confidence towards the Gravenhurst Car Show http://www.muskokatodaily.com/?p=6460 . There was added interest for me as one of the guys from my exercise class had his ute (not what he'd call it) in the show. Now that's a Ute, Jeff!!! 

There were about 250 cars in the show which was a apparently a little down on previous years but it sure looked impressive to my untrained eye.

And since the event was at Gull Lake they even had cars that used the lake.........

Although the Car Show was good I had other things to do today so where was the next stop and was the 100km (60 mile) drive in pouring rain worth it? Well the destination was Katrine and the reason for going there was another Community Country Jamboree. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Katrine-Community-Centre/179697905403475 .Julie and I had attended the May jamboree and were overwhelmed with the friendliness of the people we met. And the music was pretty good as well.

That reception and the quality of the music had not changed. It was nice to be around friendly folk. We had sat near and spoken at length with Richard and Darlene who live in the area and I was pleased that the friendliness had not altered. They were disappointed not to see Julie and were keen to pass on their best wishes to Julie and her Mum and Dad. They gave me an invitation to their Bonyun Bash in August, something to look forward to.

Whilst all the music was entertaining I was very impressed with Honeygrass http://www.honeygrass.com/ Good voices, songs and musicians and was great to hear the banjo played so well. I was still buzzing as the CuRVy made it back to 460 Sarah St Nth.....

A long day and a successful solo drive in trying conditions. Slept very well indeed!!!

Sunday was pretty slow as the day wasn't exacly brilliant but I guess to have all the green grass you need a little rain. The incliment weather did give an opportunity for such exciting things as tidying and updating blogs and reading and replying to emails. An unfortunate part of the world we live in.

Monday saw me start with calls on SKYPE to kids. This newish addition has made living a long way from loved ones just that little bit easier. The news from Australia is that both Julie's Mum and Dad will be out of action for some time and this in turn will mean that Julie will be in Australia until the end of August. I'll need to keep improving my driving! Exercises were good and I am always amazed at how enthusiastic the group are.

Went to the local MS and Parkinsons support group which is informative as well as entertaining. A nice group of people who are on the whole fairly positive of where they are in their life. Most of the talk from the people with MS was about Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_cerebrospinal_venous_insufficiency . Whilst I have not had the treatment I have heard mixed reports ranging from wonderful to no effect. Maybe in the future, but currently my diet (thanks Roy and George), exercise, Copaxone and with my family and friends all helping things are OK.

On the way home I called into look at and then buy a set of hiking sticks. I had borrowed a set and used them with success on Manitoulin Island and found that I was able to not only walk about 50% further, i.e 30 minutes instead of 20, but I was able to walk with much more safety. All good!!!

Home to watch the Canucks v Bruins. Not good for the Canadian team although Julie did consolidate 2nd spot in the school hockey competition thanks to the efforts of the 43year old Mark Recchi  http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=4478 . Hopefully the Vancouver ice will be more friendly for game 7.

Tuesday morning saw weights and stretches at home before a ride to Julie's school and back. It has been amazing that my balance is good enough to ride a bike. I think it is due to the balance work started by Jaimie at Bay Street and followed up by Kirsten's exercises at the Senior's Centre. Gravenhurst does have fairly flat roads as well and that helps!!! I can't help noticing is how leafy the town is now that spring is truly here and that includes Sarah St. Unfortunately it isn't only the trees that are green and growing it's the grass too!

Had my first day as a volunteer guide at Grace and Speed http://segwun.com/pub/grace-and-speed-boathouse.html which was essentially a day where I gained much more information than what I gave out. Met some nice people during the afternoon and spending a day making people feel welcome is a good thing to do. Came home to the unfortunate news that our friend Pete wasn't well and was in hospital. Hope he is OK. He and Lesley are good friends!

Wednesday - longest ride yet - even up a fairly big hill! Maybe not quite the L'Alpe-d'Huez but I was puffing and panting when I got up it. My hanging of the washing was interupted by our friendly neighbour Hank with Duke who asked whether I was going down to Grace and Speed to help. As I wasn't doing a lot I headed down for what was a longish day of making a new display. Luckily there were some people who knew what they were doing..

The night was given over to Game Seven of the Stanley Cup and if I thought I was a bit disappointed with the result. My disappointment was nothing compared to some of the Canucks supporters http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/06/15/bc-stanley-cup-fans-post-game-7.html . Not very gracious!!!  

 

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