Daughters I Never Had

OK so this is next time.

Well back a few weeks the first of my two visitors this year showed up from the UK with need to be entertained. This involved scouting what could be done in one week within driving distance. The thing that appealed to me most turned out to be “White Water Rafting” but since I was not in possession of a waterproof camera, there are very few pictures.

The fun thing was to figure out how to put pictures on for this blog then.
I thought about how my niece was a bit on the underweight side and how my wife had resolved to Fatten her up a bit, then pictures of that process came to mind.
Although other outings were accomplished during her stay with us, this one has the more amusing evidence.

So to the evidence then,

The day before the outing
Breakfast on the day looking all pristine, but not for long!
Here I go then, what is this ? Maple Syrup on Sausages !
The Bus to the start of the days fun
Well I did not say there weren’t any pictures of the rafting
So next time the second visit results, a bit more complex than this as there were three visitors.

Captain Solo

Well I did not expect to get a bike ride like this before winter.
But then it turned out Sunny and great if you could take the cold.
Could not resist posting about it either.
So here goes:
10.45 start as I was hoping to avoid frost on the roads and about zero Celsius.
Arrived in Almonte for a quick cuppa tea and see if any one else would show up.
In a word, NO!
Ok get on the bike and go to Perth and Me & Mrs Jones for lunch.

Now I was getting more comfortable with the cool temperature and it was going up just a couple of degrees by the afternoon with the wonderful sunshine.

Out of Perth and west on #7 to Harper Road and turn into my afternoon ride direction.Next on Keays Rd to concession road 7 to stay on asphalt.

Now right at T Jct. onto cr12
left on Ashby Rd to Sheridan Rapids Rd onto cr16

Left on cr16 South Lavant rd
Rt on Black Creek Rd to Joes Lake Rd
Keep rt on Black Creek Rd to Flower Station
continue on into Lavant Darling Rd which turns into French line Rd
Arrive at 511 and Turn Left to Calabogie and up to Munfords for afternoon tea, well hot chocolate as it turned out.
Met a couple with a very nice 100S ds Ducati and time to get home before dark.
On the way home I stopped at White Lake for some afternoon photo's and proof of how cold it was,

And reflect on the day :-))

see the ice!

Well that would appear to be it for the season as we are expecting more than inclement weather from now on.
That does not mean I wont be referring to Motorcycles during the next few months you understand.

Did you notice how the camera keeps sneaking in, well more on that later as well as the promised antics with the two nieces.

"Missing in Action"

Well since my last entry things have been quite busy, there have been motorcycle rides of course.
However I did mention kites last time and this is where I shall start.

I finally put my Kite Powered Catamaran away for the winter but not before one last outing in late October. Since I was in the Cat and flying the kite, I have no pictures but in order for you to know how this all works I shall start at the beginning.
My sixtieth birthday, a couple of years ago now, was a good excuse to go visit a friend in New Zealand as he is the designer of both my KiteCat and the kites I use to power it. On a whim when my wife said what would I like to do to celebrate turning sixty I mention New Zealand, not thinking she would take me seriously, of course.
Well to my pleasant surprise she just said "OK". It did not take me long to get up off the floor and book a ticket.
Well that was a fun trip and so here are a few pictures of my first attempts to sail a boat with a kite.

Loaded up and ready to roll.

The very first time on the water, Brighton Beach near Christchurch.

getting the hang of it, almost out past the surf.Well this is easier, second time out in the estuary near Christchurch.

Never did look good in a closeup.

Lake Mead up in the mountains, a tricky place for wind direction.

All done for another day.

The following year in Pamlico Sound, Cape Hatteras waiting for wind!Ah, found it and got going.

Earlier this year in the river near where I live which is mostly where I sail.Thats it folks pack up and time for a cool one.

Hope you like the pictures, just enough to give you a taste of an unusual pastime.

Well I said I have been busy and in the last month or so, we have had two visitations from the old country.
Both from nieces on my wife’s side of the family, now I have a dubious reputation to uphold as far as "The Recycled Teenager" is concerned, other stuff shall be left unsaid at this time !

So the first niece who is in her late 30's I took whitwater rafting.
The second visiting niece in her early 30's I took to the tops of the trees locally, Zip lining and generally doing scary stuff, no I am not comfortable with any heights where I do not have both feet on the ground.
The resulting pictures and story line from these two escapades I shall leave till next time so as to keep you coming back.

Now remember today’s title and do stop for two minutes at least on Sunday the eleventh.

The Perfect Line

The Perfect Line
A metaphor for how to look at anything.
Well Its getting close to putting the Bike away for the winter so with the possibility of a dry day and
maybe up to 10 Celsius as a high I got the bike out.
Pretty cold first hour or so but breakfast was waiting in a nice warm restaurant  in Perth (Ontario)
with some great company to boot.
The club I belong to "BMW Motorcycle Club of Ottawa" and the "Loonie-Tic BMW Riders of Quinte West"
had planned on a ride around our new Race Track in the area.
www.calabogiemotorsports.com
Also a much loved member of the ManyPause Club, a Past President of the BMW Motorcycle Club
of Ottawa along with his spouse rounded out the group.
The track day was held under the auspices of the BMW Car Club of Ottawa, under the umbrella of
BMW Club Canada.
It was mostly to show people what the track is like up close and a pretty good way to promote track time.
Well we all had two nice laps at a controlled speed by following a club member in his car who is also
a BMW car club member and is connected at the track.
Lap one was nice but by lap two I was seeing how learning about the perfect line would help my
road driving skills.
Then after the track and a lunch break at a favourite location A good friend and I headed home
via a route chosen with some off road sections.

OK who's up first then?

A cloudy but dry day, not bad for track riding.

The picture above and below are my camera but not my finger on the button, if you know you will see I am in them both.If I have to have four wheels, this would be a nice choice
This almost says it all

At the end or beginning of "New Road", another metaphor, who knows?

While on this journey I got to thinking about how a similar an approach was needed to
navigate whatever kind of terrain I was on, back to that perfect line again.
Whether going through a corner at the track or picking my way between some bumpy and
rough conditions it came to the same thing.
And so at the end of "New Road" while taking the last picture here I decided this was
a nice subject to scribe about since again when taking photo's its always about the
perfect line or in this case frame.

You may begin to realize through my blog that photography is another passion of mine,
more about that in later postings.

Four wheels four feet

Well here we are another fun week just flown by.
So much and yet ! what to write this week that will get the minds of readers tingling for another glimpse of "Age not being a barrier"

So its Thanksgiving here in Canada this weekend and I am a day late with my entry this week.
The following pictures will explain why yesterday was occupied.

The Fall colours are well worth another visit and in order to do this my good wife should be included in another of my jaunts into the countryside.
However she does not ride on the back of my motorcycle so the car was dragged into service for this occasion.
The car is not in bad shape and I would like to keep it that way so in order to share a particular location with my wife we left the car at the start of one of my favourite GS rides and walked a fair way down the California Road ( not in California ).

So to the pictures, enjoy !












It was noticeable when walking with my wife just how much I miss even going slowly on my motorcycle.
Ah yes my Camera is a Sony 828 for those who are interested, a great value for money and as I am limited in that department I try to make the most of what I have.

Till the next time then.

This is a Farm !

No surprise today to see so many people having fun in the sun but quite how you might expect.
I went to observe something I used to do when much younger and am looking at getting back into.
As I have never given up motorcycling since my first bike in 1959 I think its doable.
This is about a little known (in North a America) but traditional form of motorcycling."Trial Riding"and is perpetuated by a group of older guys generally on older machines.
Not the modern trials you may see in arenas and sometimes shown in large shopping malls.
Bikes hopping over barrels and up a multitude of over sized Lego type blocks etc.

This style of trial is partaken of in the open countryside and contrary to what you may think is not necessarily noisy to a point of annoyance.

However I do not want to spend this time with a diatribe about the sport just an intro leading to my theme about how age is not a barrier and what is going on in society to show this.

Although a few of the participants today were young and some very young most were over 40 and some over 60.

Now for the pictures taken on what used to be a farm in the good old days!
Enjoy as I did the Fall weather and some serious adrenalin, old style.

A bike similar to the one I rode in the early sixties as an apprentice going to work in London UK.

Looking good so far

OOPS

What a nice day in the country.

One of the youger entries.

Smile for the camera.OK then.Ah so this is next, maybe I should walk through first.

Section 10 and its all over for the day, time for a brew maybe.

All loaded up and ready for the drive home.

Not before one last look at the much cared for old farm house on the hill.

Thanks for the hospitality David.

I hope this gives a little picture of this sport now and maybe want to investigate further just what else "The Recycled Teenager" gets up to when not at home.

Oh yes retirement is not an issue since I retired at birth :-))

Promise it will not be motorcycles next week, OK.