WHEN IT CAN GET THE HAIR ON MY HEAD BLOWING BACKWARDS:))

TWO OF THREE CONCRETE RAILWAY ABUTEMENTS CROSSING THE MAITLAND RIVER SOUTHWEST OF AUBURN ONTARIO

After Saturday's bike ride, I was too tired to put a Saturday post together, but I'm back up to speed today.  Well, sorta kinda.

 SATURDAY MORNING GETTING READY TO LOAD THE EBIKES ONTO THE BACK OF THE CAR

Late Friday afternoon, under sunny skies, and some confusing arrival times, Lorraine and I quickly headed for London's airport.  Monica's plane was landing at 6:13.  Wearing an orangy red top, Monica wasn't hard to spot, and we soon had her in the car and headed back to Bayfield.  When driving for the Stratford Airporter years ago, I would often hear returning passengers say, "The best part of going away was coming home".  Monica was in full agreement with that.

 AREA CORN CROPS ARE A-POPPIN OUT OF THE GROUND

Saturday:: With temps at 65F, sunshine overhead, and the dreaded humidity factor greatly lessened, after my morning walk, we loaded up the E-bikes on the back of the Subaru, and off we went heading for a small trailhead alongside the road a mile or so south of Auburn, Ontario.  This once again is the G2G Trail, which we hade been on a couple of weeks ago at the Goderich end.  This morning we pedaled and powered westward on the trail in the direction of Goderich to see if we could reach our turnaround point from our last trip on the trail.  Well, we  hadonly gone about a mile or so when after seeing a huge concrete wall ahead, we found our way blocked by the Maitland River with no visible means of crossing to the other side.  The big concrete wall turned out to be one of three old bridge abutments whose railroad tracks once carried train passengers and freight to and from Goderich many years ago. That rail line was completed in 1907 and officially decommissioned in 1988.  With no way across the river, we turned around and headed back east from whence we had come. Reaching the highway, near where we left the car in a Park, we crossed the road, and continued heading east towards Guelph.

 WE WERE SOON PEDALING THROUGH A FORESTED CANOPY OF GREENERY

ABOUT A MILE OR SO INTO OUR RIDE THIS LARGE CONCRETE STRUCTURE CAME INTO VIEW

WE HAD REACHED THE END OF OUR RIDABLE TRAIL

 WE COULD SEE OTHER BIKERS STOPPED ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE RIVER

TURNING AROUND WE HEADED BACK EAST AND HERE YOU CAN SEE HOW HIGH THE RAILBED HAS BEEN RAISED  THROUGH THIS SWAMPY SECTION OF FOREST

HEADING BACK TOWARDS WHERE WE HAD STARTED OUT FROM

 WHAT A PICTURE PERFECT DAY IT TURNED OUT TO BE

As it turns out, there was some kind of a bike rally going on Saturday, so we encountered groups of riders pedaling fast on the trail.  No lazy E-bikes for these dedicated riders on the storm all decked out in their racing and cross country gear.  Whenever we are out riding, I am always in the rear gunner's seat so I had to keep a sharp eye out in my two rear mirrors for those fast-approaching breathing hard riders.  When anything approaches from behind, whether it be vehicles or other riders, I always give a ding on my bike's bell to alert Woodsy up ahead.  We then always keep well to the right side to let the traffic go rocketing by.

 WE SPOTTED SOMETHING ODD AHEAD ON THE TRAIL

 IT WAS A GROUP OF PINK LADIES HEADING WEST ON THE TRAIL AND PEDALING HARD

 AND THE OTHER ODDITY WAS A GROUP OF THREE GALS WITH THEIR HORSES

AN 'OOOPSIE' HERE FOR ME WHEN I FORGET TO RETRACT MY TELEPHOTO LENS

 CROSSING A NARROW WOODEN FOOT BRIDGE OVER A CREEK, I SNAPPED TWO PICS WITH ONE LOOKING SOUTH AND ONE LOOKING NORTH

I THINK SHE JUST GOT PULLED OVER FOR SPEEDING ON THE TRAIL

 

 NO SPEEDING OUT OF THIS QUIET FELLOW

 ONE OF SEVERAL REST AND REFRESHMENT STOPS FOR THE BIKING GROUPS

 HEADING BACK TO THE CAR

 BIKES ARE ALL LOADED UP AND WE'RE READY TO HEAD FOR HOME

The weather for biking today was absolutely gorgeous, with deep blue skies and big white puffy clouds.  Winds really picked up and the warm air rushing by felt fabulous.  We reached a point somewhere not too far west of Blyth, Ontario where we made the decision to finally stop and turn around.  Woodsy's smart watch kept track of the calories she had been burning and by the time we finally made it back to the car, her watch also told her we had been on the trail for two and a half hours and pedalled thirteen and a half miles.  I was sure glad to be back at the car and sitting in a nice, soft, big seat again.  And I stayed in that seat too, despite making a couple of additional stops on the way home.  

After we loaded the bikes back onto the car we slipped up the road into Auburn and out the other side in the direction of Blythe, Ontario.  Did I mention what a beautiful weather day it was.  In Blyth, we drove around the town a bit, stopped at Tim Hortons for two coffees to go and headed south out into the countryside.  Lorraine wanted to stop at The Olde Mill just south of Blyth and I was okay with that just as long as I didn't have to go in and get dragged around on the end of a shopping leash.  We reached a deal, and Woodsy went in while I waited outside in the car under a nice shady tree.  I had my coffee, my music, and my Instagram/YouTube stuff to watch.  Our next stop was west of Londesborough at Greyhaven Gardens where the same deal was still in effect, and I didn't have to go in.  I blogged about this place back in late April or early May when I was out looking for shrubs, flowers, and small trees for Spring planting.  They have a lot of really unique things here, and I loved seeing all the colorful stuff inside when I was previously here.  From Greyhaven, we headed home with no further stops.  I was sure glad to get my sorry old sack of bicycling bones into my recliner.  Not, that I pedaled all those 13.6 miles.  I didn't.  I am a frequent user of my bike's power assist, and sometimes having stopped to take a photo, I had my power cranked up to 27 mph to catch up to Woodsy, sometimes far ahead.  I like my power assist when it can get the hair on my head blowing backwards:))

Sunday:: Rain came in the night leaving us with a cloudy day, and that was okay.  Feeling a little stiff from Saturday's bike ride, a physically relaxing day was quite fine with me.  Clouds broke mid-afternoon and temps came up giving me the energy to go out and take the E-bikes off the car.  The carrier stays on.  Woodsy headed back to Stratford shortly after seven and I had planned on heading out to my walking spot for a stroll, and then over to my night sky place.  However, those plans were thwarted when the cloud cover moved back into the area and blotted out the starry night sky.  Maybe tomorrow night....

Al's Music Box:: A Summer Song by Chad and Jeremy.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A man realized he needed to purchase a hearing aid, but didn't want to spend a lot of money. "How much do they cost?" he asked the salesman. "Anywhere from $2 to $2,000."  "Can I see the $2 model?" said the customer.  The salesman put the device around the man's neck and said, "You just stick this button in your ear and run this little string down into your pocket.  "How does it work?" asked the customer."For $2, it doesn't work," said the salesman. "But when people see it on you, they'll talk louder."

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I was out last Sunday -- I didn't see any signs, nobody to ask, so I lit a cigarette. This woman started screaming. Put it out, please, put it out. I turned around -- she was three pews away!

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A man who worked at a fire hydrant factory was always late for work.  When confronted by his boss the man explained, "You can't park anywhere near this place!"

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Two little Morons were going on a trip to Florida. A neighbor told them that they'd be fine as long as they paid attention to the road signs along the way.  They'd driven just 30 miles when they saw one that read "Clean Restrooms Ahead."  Two months later they arrived in Florida exhausted, having used up 86 bottles of Windex, 267 rolls of paper towels, and three cases of toilet-bowl cleaner. Total restrooms cleaned: 450.

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A blind man walks into a store and grabs his guide dog by the tail and lifts it into the air, then spins it around his head.  The store clerk, alarmed by this strange behavior, said, "can I help you?"…. "Nope, I'm just looking around."

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings:: We are called "the elderly," but that quiet label hides something most people rarely stop to consider. We are the last living witnesses of a world that no longer exists.  Look at us and you might see grey hair, slower steps, and the patience that time teaches. But listen to our story — really listen — and you'll realize something extraordinary.  We are the only generation in human history to have lived a fully analog childhood and a fully digital adulthood.  That's not a small thing. That's one of the most breathtaking journeys a human being has ever been asked to make.  We were born in the 1940s, 50s, and early 60s, into a world still rebuilding from the rubble of World War II.  Our toys were marbles, hopscotch, and card games at kitchen tables. When the streetlights flickered on, that was it — childhood adventures were over, and it was time to go home. No smartphones. No streaming. No endless scroll.  We built our memories in the real world. With scraped knees and laughter echoing down streets and friendships formed face to face.  In 1969, we sat in living rooms staring at black-and-white televisions as Neil Armstrong took humanity's first steps on the Moon. Hundreds of thousands of us stood in muddy fields at Woodstock ’99 believing — really believing — that music and community could reshape the future.  We fell in love to vinyl records spinning on turntables. We waited days, sometimes weeks, for handwritten letters to arrive. We learned patience because information didn't come instantly. Mistakes were fixed with erasers — not a delete button.  Then the world transformed.  Machines that once filled entire rooms shrank to devices lighter than a paperback. We went from rotary phones and party lines to seeing the face of someone we love on the other side of the ocean — instantly, on something that fits in a pocket.  We watched the birth of the personal computer. The arrival of the internet. The smartphone. Artificial intelligence.  And through every single shift, we adapted.  Not because it was easy. Because that's what our generation does.  We also carry the weight of history in our bodies.  We grew up afraid of polio and tuberculosis. We watched science defeat them. We witnessed the discovery of the structure of DNA, the decoding of the human genome, and the transformation of medicine itself. We survived pandemics across decades — and kept going.  Few generations have been asked to absorb so much change in a single lifetime.  And through all of it, certain things never changed.  We still know the joy of a cold glass of lemonade (or maybe a cold beer) on a hot afternoon. The taste of vegetables picked straight from a garden. The value of a long conversation that unfolds slowly, without a screen interrupting it.  We have celebrated births and mourned losses. Carried the stories of friends who are gone. Watched the world become something our younger selves couldn't have imagined, and found ways to belong in it anyway.  We are not relics.  We are living bridges between two entirely different worlds.  Our memory carries something the modern world needs — proof that progress doesn't have to erase wisdom. That speed doesn't have to replace patience, kindness, or reflection.  So when someone calls us elderly, we can smile.  Because behind that word is something remarkable.  We crossed two centuries. Witnessed eight decades of transformation. Walked from handwritten letters to artificial intelligence and never lost our sense of what actually matters.   We are called "the elderly." (Author Unknown)

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Al's Art Gallery

HEY WAS THAT A BIG SIGH OF RELIEF I JUST HEARD

 THURSDAY NIGHT'S SUNSET FROM BAYFIELD'S PIONEER PARK AND THE BEACH AREA

Well, I got to see my Planets last night.  They weren't as close together as they were a couple of cloudy nights ago, but at least they were closer than the last time I saw them a week or so ago.  And, I managed an evening country road walk too.  Lorraine rolled in early this afternoon, and we'll be off to the London airport to pick up our good neighbor, Monica somewhere around 7:15.  So, a shorter post tonight.  Hey, was that a big sigh of relief I just heard from readers out there..................:))

Lorraine rolled in early this afternoon, and we'll be off to the London airport to pick up our good neighbor, Monica somewhere around 7:15.  So, a shorter post tonight.  Hey, was that a big sigh of relief I just heard from readers out there..................:))

 THURSDAY NIGHT'S SUNSET FROM MY WALKING ROAD

 PLANETS VENUS AND JUPITER CAN BE SEEN AT THE LOWER RIGHT SIDE OF THE TOWER AND VENUS IS THE BRIGHTER ONE

 THE SINGLE STAR AT THE TOP RIGHT CORNER IS EITHER CASTOR OR POLLUX (THE GEMINI TWINS) FROM THE CONSTELLATION GEMINI

 EVENING STARS ARE BEGINNING TO APPEAR.....THESE LAST FIVE NIGHT SHOTS ARE FROM MY iPHONE

Al's Music Box:: Sealed With A Kiss by Brian Hyland.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( When the gambler wakes up from dreaming about a huge glowing number 5 made of gold and diamonds, he knows it's an omen. So he grabs a racing form and looks up that day's fifth race. Sure enough, the number 5 horse in the fifth race is Fifth Element. So for the rest of the day he does everything in fives: He eats five bowls of cereal for breakfast, goes for a five-mile run, takes a five-minute shower, and wears the fifth jacket he finds in his closet.  At the racetrack, he buys five programs, bets $555 on the fifth horse in the fifth race, and sits in the fifth seat of the fifth row of the bleachers in section five.  And when the gun goes off, he settles in and watches his horse come in fifth.

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- I gave away all my batteries today ... free of charge.

- I had a joke about construction, but I'm still working on it.

- Did you get a haircut? No, I got them all cut.

- Dracula doesn't have many friends because he's a pain in the neck.

- I stayed up all night wondering where the Sun had gone. Then it dawned on me.

- Mountain aren't just funny, they're hill areas.

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When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver's side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. “Hey,” I announced to the technician, “it's open!” To which he replied, “I know — I already got that side.”

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Al's Art Gallery