This and That and Travel Plans!

Ok, I have been slacking off in my blogging. Lots of reasons.  At the end of every week I feel like I have run a mental marathon.  Some weeks I feel lucky to get across the finish line, other weeks I feel like I didn't manage to even get to the finish line, but the odd week - and this was one of those - I feel like I crossed the finish line and am in the Winner's Circle!  Last night I scooched up to my Collingwood Shangri-La for a weekend of well earned rest and relaxation.  Just 'cuz I felt on the plus side at week's end doesn't mean that I am not exhausted from the week.  I need my weekend R&R for sure.  Though the weather isn't perfect and it promises to pour rain tomorrow,  I am happily cocooned into my nest and busy planning a bathroom renovation!  The work will start on Monday!  Yeah!

I am also starting to gear up and plan for my 6 month sabbatical next year.  This summer I am training for my 5 week walk through Spain (which is part 2 of my 6 month travel escapade) - my 1,000 km walk on the Vía De la Plata or Camino Mozarabe route of the Camino Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim's trail. The trip is in the early planning stages but not too early to start training.  I am going with my friend Barb (of Gopher Broke Farm) and  we have set up a dozen dates to do Bruce Trail hikes to get in shape and see how our knees hold up.  The Bruce Trail follows the edge of the Niagara Escarpment, one of the thirteen UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves in Canada, for almost 900 km (560 mi). The land the trail traverses is owned by the Government of Ontario, private landowners and the Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC). Gopher Broke Farm is in the Niagara Escarpment area and Blue Mountain, which rises above Collingwood is also part of that geographic area.  In short, we are in hiking country!

This week I bought my hiking boots.  It has been some years since I owned a pair of hiking boots.  I am going to make sure that they (and I)  will be well broken in by next spring!   We are lucky to be in the middle of Ontario's Bruce Trail, not so lucky as to be in an unseasonably wet spring.  I guess that is something else we need to get used to.  As I recall "the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain".  At least 500 km of the journey will be through the Spanish Plain - which as the saying goes, has a tendency toward rain.   I also bought a GoreTex hiking jacket this week.  That should guarantee that the rain in Ontario lets up.

I noticed a nest on the balcony rail.

Momma Robin was sitting on an egg!

As I said I have been really busy - lots of things, but one other exciting thing is that I have been planning my trip to Iceland!  I will be leaving on the evening of June 27th  and spending just 4 days there but the 4 days and nights are jam packed with activities.  There will be 24 hours of sunlight each day so I will be able to get 8 days of sight seeing in!

Highlights of my Itinerary:

• 4 hour excusion to Geysir ad Gullfoss
• 8 hour midnight sailing trip to watch whales and see the sun set and rise immediately thereafter and have a midnight fish bbq with fresh caught fish!  (The other reason for the Gore-Tex jacket!)
• a 3 hour Reykjavik city bicycle tour
• a day at the Blue Lagoon Hot Spring
• a night out clubbing!

Whale Watching and Sea Angling under the Midnight Sun

The famous Blue Lagoon

Geysir is a must see when in Iceland

The last reason for me being so busy is that I have caught up (and nearly completed) all of my organizing for my new condo. I am now waiting on contractors who will be installing window coverings and a mirror closet door and then I will be just about done. I am one bookcase away from finishing my guest room and unpacking the rest of my moving boxes. The last (and most exciting) finale of to my Condo decorating adventure will be when I receive the art which my dear friend Michael Golland is creating for my living room wall. I can't wait!

Michael Golland is Liberty Village's Artist in Residence and as I recall I have mentioned him in my blogs a few times.

I have already one Golland work - the Heart which is shown in my blog profile. I just love his work and I am so happy that he has agreed to do something for me.