ONE VIEW OF METADATA OF A PERFECT DAY

Enough sleep and enough exercise!  My daughter's new PR running record!

MY IDEAL DAY

I wake up without an alarm, rested.
I have time to move my bowels!
I have a nice breakfast (excludes toast and cereal).
I have time to enjoy a cafe latte.
I bathe or shower at leisure.
I go with a friend or daughter hiking.
No mosquitos.
I eat a nice vegetarian lunch (harder than it sounds, to have protein, without relying on milk or eggs).
I get a foot massage and a cuddle.
I finish a project, around the house or making memories.
I make someone's day by doing something for them.
I get paid.
My friend sends me a nice note.
My house is clean.
I watch a clever show, ballet or movie or theatre, even on my own tv.
I go to bed with my daughter in the house.

BUCKET LIST 2017

Asteroid shower in august -Done! August, 16 shooting stars, moonrise, Solar eclipse- Saskatchewan
4th of July in USA 2018?
Medieval feast/castle in TO 2018?
Organize cooking - menu and recipes WOP (work in progress)
Apple picking in Rougement planned Oct 2018?
Uncles and cousins Done! August
Dinosaur museums and Badlands Alberta Done! August
Cypress Hills Done! August
Run marathon ?2018 Done - 5 k fun run! May, Ran 10 k on the street July!
NYC Central Park, National hx museum 2018?
ACEP DC Booked Oct-Nov Done!
Hike Hautes Gorges and Grand-Jardins 2018?
Stewart hall camp - Done! Book 2018

QUICK SMOOTHIE TO CHEW

One Paula Red apple, chilled
One banana
1 cm thick peeled ginger
1 cup soya milk
1 T OJ concentrate

Blend. Drink. Chew. Unless you have a better blender than me. Then just drink!

CHICK PEA TAGINE ON COUSCOUS

FOOD’s Jan 2003 Moroccan “Chick pea” Chicken Couscous #1 pp 134,136
I used another serving of chick peas instead of chicken, and sweet potato in place of zucchini. It’s a lot of onions. I liked it, but one probably would have been enough.

CHEDDAR POTATO PEROGIES WITH THE PERFECT SIDES

I splurged on the $4 perogies from Pelmans, instead of the usual no name because the crimped edges looked homemade. A little melted margarine, fried onions and sliced button mushrooms with protein bearing barely cooked frozen peas. A perfect simple supper with leftovers for lunch and a plain version (with peas still frozen) for my daughter.

POTATO SALAD AND MODIFIED WALDORF

Apple celery Pecan salad FOOD March 2006. 2T Mayo/sour cream, 2T vinegar, 1t sugar.
 Enough mayo to cover-boiled potatoes, hard boiled eggs (10 minutes, heat off once boiling, ice bath to cool), and garden chives.

THE SUMMER YOU WERE ELEVEN

Tiger tattoo from school that lasted through baths and swimming!

Calico's new favourite spot

Inspired by le Princesse Masquée, you found your Princess Pirate costume.

Elk herd in Saskatchewan

Yearbook signing day. My girlie girl.

The bank gave us a free flag to celebrate Canada Day. The exhibit was on Expo 67.

The best white pizza, at Amelia's.

May be the last year for the Jazzfest playground.

Nicole and the turtle at Beaconsfield Yacht Club.

Painting pencils at Jazzfest.

Le Monstre Poilu, and Erable Vanille (right) and Caramel Salee dipped cones.

Circus girl at Place Des Arts. It was a hot day!

Birthday party food

Homemade crackers

Party planning

Loot bags to give away

Summer birthday table

Cracker jokes and activities

Special request Mint Chocolate Chip Cool Whip Oreo Chocolate Chip cookie cake!

Practicing "Disc"

Dorval Lachine bike trip with Nabila and Asmaa

Sebastian sleeping, listening to your lullaby, "Rose, rose, belle, rose" at Bercer le temps, after Stewart Hall camp.

Fairy house making with Romy and Luka at Stewart Hall

The Riders live with Grandma and Grandpa, beating BC Lions.

Trampolining!

Try to slide down the Great Sandhill(s) in Saskatchewan

Silly fun at the Eastend Dinosaur Museum with our new friend Madelyne.

Frenchman River Valley in the summer.

Trecking through the Hoodoos and looking for Petroglyphs in Alberta's Writing-On-Stone Park, with views of  Milk River and the Sweetgrass Hills of Montana.

A cold dip in Manitou Beach's bouyant salt Lake, and then playtime in the sand.

Tiny clay food you made with your cousin Kate. Pizzas, nachos, hotdogs, hamburgers and green peas.

GERMAN ALPHABET

EDIBLE FLOWERS

Garden box nasturtium

MISTAKES TO MAKE

A friend and I have different points of view on failure (échec en Français), but in discussing our perspectives on a recent trail run, I had a lot to think about. Most of what I took away is that it is clear that I am motivated by past failures, and that my language doesn't reflect as much of my successes (reussites en Français) as is maybe fair.

Here are the summaries of our points of view:

ME: "Hi! I've been thinking about my vocabulary and I realize that I value humility so much that talking about failure is how I explain my successes, but I literally never say the word success. Thanks for sensitizing me to how I sound. If I don't say success, than I shouldn't talk so much about failure! But also know that is my story starts with how I am failing, it's just the beginning of the story! I might actually be admitting a success, lol! 😃"

FRIEND: "I was also thinking about how I don't use the word failure, neither success 🤔But I never associate either [sic:both] with or without humility? 🐣

I thought that those thoughts (failure or success) were an observation of our self for what we are in our own route but with no comparaison with others...and that when you compare yourself with others, [this] is when the ego take place and then the humility would take place (or not)
The other day you taught [sic:made me learned] a new perspective on the terms and appreciate it more in what they could potentially mean depending in which context and who's using it!"

So, to soften the word, and play to the fairest middle, I will talk less about failure, but keep striving to learn from my mistakes, and celebrating my successes!

CHINESE GARDEN LANTERN FESTIVAL: THIS YEAR, THE DRAGON (SYMBOLIZING CHINA) AND HIS NINE SONS

Crescent moon over the Dream Lake

Amazing mosaics

More mosaics

A crane eating a blossom

The waterfall, with a little cool breeze

Ground cherries and ladybirds

Before dusk, from west to east

Looking south after sun set. Love the cranes!

SHEN LONG (PAPA DRAGON), on Dream Lake, chasing its precious pearl (the meaning of my name!)

THE NINE SONS
JIAOTU The debonair son. (Door knockers)
PULAO The sensitive son. (Bells)
SUAN'NI The elegant son. (Incense burners)
CHE...NG The fearless son. ()
CHIWEN The fishtailed son
BI XI The strongest son (Engraved pillars, or Montreal urban bikes!)
GONGFU The favourite son (Bridges)

RUNNING UPDATE

It's been a long time since I updated my running timeline. Last November I was dreaming of running a marathon today. I didn't make it. Strangely, no one ran a marathon today. It's been unseasonably hot, and they cancelled it, substituting the half marathon as the longest race, and starting an hour early, and giving the maximum time at 3 hours after, to avoid heat exhaustion.

I didn't run any of the events I had planned, but I did run a 5 k with my daughter in the spring, and I am up to running the 6.5 km three times a week. This has allowed me to run a 3 k today with my daughter to add to her mileage to earn her rainbow feet, and run a 10 k in St Bruno with a friend on a whim, and another 10 k along the Lachine canal.

I have learned a lot this year. How to run on snow with traction devices. How to run in rain with a hat. How to run trails with small steps. How hard it is to run in heat! How running at 9:30 at night feels great in the heat, but without a hat, the sweat really burns the eyes, and it's hard to sleep after. How stiff you are when you go straight to bed! Like water and tea, running too close to bedtime has a price to pay, sometimes for a couple of days!

Post run legs and my new compression stockings

I always thought of myself as a runner, but I am really just learning. I need to put on more mileage and be more consistent, to be more confident to run with others, which I have really loved. I need to be more careful about nutrition. Leave less gaps that seem to come up on vacation and workweeks. And hit more trails. Running in the forest is exercise and therapy!

My legs are stronger, but I am feeling weak in the arms, what with the pool closed and climbing out with a finger injury. I'll have to work in some swimming soon. But until then, I'll just go out and run!