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Last month I organized a ride to Cultus Lake and the Columbia Valley. We went via Fort Langley for the requisite coffee stop and then via Harris road (mostly farmland) to Aggasiz.

Here we are at Wendel's in Fort Langley.





Wendel's is a popular place and it is not uncommon to see many motorcycles parked outside during the summer.

We rode through the farmlands and made our way through Yarrow, and then to Cultus lake for a lunch stop. Unfortunately the place we had planned to have lunch did not open until much later.



So, we carried on around the lake and did the Columbia Valley loop and then stopped in at the golf course for lunch. Yummmmyyy.

The day that started out as a short jaunt was about to get much longer. Bruce was obviously in a mood toride more, so we changed leaders so he could lead us on the next portion.

Bruce led us for a ride over Sumas Mountain and into Clayburn Village. If you're ever looking for a fun ride, then head to Sumas Mountain. Up and down and all around....

The road eventually leads into Clayburn historic village. We stopped in the candy store. It's an old fashioned kind of place. You use tongs to pick all the different kinds of candies and then they counted into bag. Sometimes the kid in us just never goes away.

Here we are parked in Clayburn.



and...just to prove to Bruce that the legs he had seen in my profile ....



were really mine.

blues2cruise wrote:
and...just to prove to Bruce that the legs he had seen in my profile ....



were really mine.

Just for future reference......

You can show me all kinds of pics of various areas of women, but you show me a picture of a set of legs like that, and it flips all kinds of switches in my head.
Switches you may not want to be flipping.....

Fair warning.....

Today.
I got up early to drive a neighbour to the hospital.
As I was driving home and near where I was going to get a cup of coffee, my other neighbour's husband (who recently got taken out of the household by the police) phoned me. I pulled over to chat. He was asking about his daughter. They have a no contact order. I told him she was ok and yes her cold had gone away and that she misses him. All that is true. He loves his daughter and would never harm her. It's the issues between the parents....anyway..he finally got off the phone and then his wife, my neighbour phoned...crisis call again...(I brought the daughter to my place for a while last night to let her talk and cry and help her through this very confusing time)
Anyway, the mom asked if I could help...the daughter would not get out of bed, and of course the usual struggles ensued....I drove home to get the daughter.
I was driving her to school and asked a few pertinent questions....
The kid had been kept awake by her Mom playing a video game...sheesh..
The kid had not had breakfast. The kid did not have a lunch with her. And she forgot to put lunch money in her pack.
And she was more or less crying.
So. I went into the school and explained that I was taking this girl for breakfast and would bring her back after.
We went to the IHOP so she could order what she wanted (and I could finally get my coffee). She talked to me about a lot of things. She also told me about a group of girls at the school who have been bullying.
This girl is 12. No kid at 12 should have to be dealing with so many crummy things all at once. (Her mom sometimes behaves like a spoiled kid instead of the mom)
I drove her back to school and gave her lunch money and then wrote a note for the teachers so they would know that there was a valid reason for her being late.

I let the school know about the crisis at home, but did not give details. I also let the school know that there has been bullying going on.
Sigh...I know it should be the parents who deal with this, but if the Mom won't make the effort, (so she can save face), then someone has to intervene on behalf of the child.
The school now knows that ths kid is under tremendous strain and will now have some more compassion.

Well, that was my morning shot.
I went downtown to meet a friend for a vist and late lunch. Then on the way home, the train got stuck for a while.

I finally made it to my station and decided to take the bus the few blocks to home because of the horrible weather. Well...the bus driver did not stop at the stop. I guess he was not paying attention. A few of had to wait until he drove around to the other end of the hill to walk home. So much for trying to stay out of the weather.

I did not manage to get anything done that I had originally planned
(except for the late lunch). I'll try again tomorrow.

I had wanted to bake a cake to take for the break time at camera club tonight, but there was no time to bake a cake. Hmmm....brain storm....cinnamon buns.
I got out my cook book and quickly mixed the ingredients to make a double batch of dough and the brown sugar/cinnamon mix....rolled the dough out, spread the filling on, rolled the dough up, marked it and cut each log into 12 pieces. Quickly got them into paper cups and into muffin pans and into the oven. They only take 15 minutes to bake once in the oven.

I took them with me to camera club to share. They were most appreciative.

Now at home, I feel like this is the first time today to sit and relax. (I'm supposed to be resting). hardy har....I've had a bad cold and then it turned into something worse (suspected mild case of H1N1) and then it eased off and am in recovery mode.)

Anyway...what has all this got to do with motorcycling? Nothing.
However, the topic of my motorcycle came up this morning so I can make this entry qualify.

When my neighbour and I went out to the garage so I could take her to the hospital, she told me she was worried I would be taking her on my motorcycle.
She did not realize I still had a car. She was somewhat relieved.

The insurance on my motorcycle has expired now, but if we ever get another good day, I can buy a day permit.
So far, we are having high wind warnings and heavy rain warnings and the weather pattern does not show any signs of abating.

Last night there was 90kmh winds. The ferry service had to cancel some sailings because of the winds and choppy sea. The wave action would have made it dangerous to dock.
A lot of households were without power last night, but most were restored by this morning.
The hydro crews were sure working hard.

And...our workplace strike still continues.

I did not see any motorcyclists out today, but there was a scooter rider out. They are either very brave or very dumb to have been out on 2 wheels the way it was today. Heck, I didn't even drive my car downtown it was so bad. I took transit. I can't imagine riding a little scooter and trying to keep it in a straight line or even upright with the conditions out there today.

Oh well....it takes all kinds.

Modern parenting..... let someone else do it.

That poor kid is lucky to have a neighbor like you.....
Or she would be, except your new avatar pic clearly proves you are crazy.

Actually, I am still trying to decide if you are a mean tease, stupid, or nutz....




...Oh well.... I did tell you not to wave those things around in front of me....
Jezbus, wait.... don't wave them around!!!

Bzzzttt... ...... oh oh, I hope that wasn't a switch flipping.....

Blues- words fail me to express how fine a thing that was you did yesterday morning. You think it was perhaps no big deal? Let me tell you - around where I live, 8 out of every 10 people would have turned their back on the situation. What you did will have positive effect on this young girl out of all proportion to the time it took. You proved to her she is not disconnected - that someone's got her back.

Yes, I know there are pockets of civility left in North America - my attitude is shaped by living in the semi-urban northeast of the USA, where most people are out for themselves, and material affluence masks the fact that the social fabric binding us together is unraveling.....

Now.... about that avatar!!!!

BuzZz wrote: Or she would be, except your new avatar pic clearly proves you are crazy.

Actually, I am still trying to decide if you are a mean tease, stupid, or nutz....

Maybe all of the above?

BuzZz wrote:...Oh well.... I did tell you not to wave those things around in front of me....
Jezbus, wait.... don't wave them around!!!

Bzzzttt... ...... oh oh, I hope that wasn't a switch flipping.....

It was Gummi who provoked it. Ya...blame him...

jstark...regarding your smiley response....

My interference got the school into some action. They called the Mom. However, the Mom and the girl started fighting again this morning and I got another wake up call from the Mom.
So....I got dressed and went with them to the school. Kudos to the school counsellor. She had them in her office for almost an hour. That means they are taking the situation seriously.

I also got a chance to tell the Mom that being a few hours late for work was not as important as dealing with her child. She was complaining because she was going to have to use up a 1/2 vacation day from her Christmas vacation....I told her to stop it. I told her she was acting like a 13 year old. I told her that her # 1 priority right now is her child. (It's easy for me to say that because #1, she dragged me into this. #2. I am not emotionally involved and not tied by any familial status)
She thanked me. I think she is having a wake up call.

I let her know that although her daughter is mature in a lot of ways, she is still only 12. She is emotionally like every other girl at that age who is about to go into puberty. I think the Mom is so caught up in her own struggles regarding the marriage, that she doesn't see just how devastating this is for the child. I think she is beginning to find out.

I lost most of my day again, but it was for a good cause. There are enough messed up kids around. We don't need any more.

Now....in order to keep with the motorcycle theme.....
I saw a man on a big cruiser riding today. And then when I went to the bank, there was another couple of guys leaving on an old Yamaha....It was not raining today and the winds had died down, but they were bundled up to keep warm.
We actually saw sunshine for about 3 minutes today.

blues2cruise wrote:
It was Gummi who provoked it. Ya...blame him...

Who to blame is unimportant.

You are they one who is going to have to deal with it.

Further to the story of my neighbour's child.....
At first there was a "no contact" order. I convinced the Mom to call the police and crown to see if it was ok for the child to phone her Dad.
OK, got that done. The child has been phoning her Dad to keep in touch with him.
The child and the Mom...yikes....Like cats and dogs...the child has been saying she wants to swallow a whole bottle of pain relievers.....I was over there last night for an hour trying to console the kid. I walked the kid to school this morning and then went to talk to the school counselor. If the Mom is too self absorbed to see that the threat of the pills is possible suicide threat, then I will let someone know. Yes, it could simply be a plea for attention, but it could also be serious. If nothing got done, that child would fall through the cracks, get overlooked...I hate to think what the consequences would be.

The child really needs to see her Dad...so...I convinced the Mom to phone the police and crown to ask if I could take the child to meet her Dad for an hour or so....Mom spent her coffee breaks and lunch hour today on the phone with the authorities to see if it would be ok.
OK, we got the ok for me to take the child out to meet with her Dad.....

So...tonight I phoned the Dad's brother's place where the Dad had been staying. I talked to the Dad to let him know that I got approval to bring his daughter to meet him for a visit.
I could not believe what he said

He said he appreciated my offer and did not want to offend me, but he'd rather his brother be the go-between.
so far, the brother has not made any effort whatsoever to help this kid.
The Dad said that his brother missed seeing her also and would rather his brother..Dad said he needed to check things out....he hadn't heard anything about this yet.....his daughter told him on the phone....
I told him that this was not about him....it was about the child....man oh man...he then went on to talk about seeing her more often and defintiely wanted to see her at Christmas...I finally cut him off.....I told hm I was not talking about future trips...I was talking about now.....maybe tomorrow night..he then went onto make excuses about school nights., etc.
I told him he was on his own then....so, I let the Mom know what transpired....she was as disgusted as I was....I called the brother back and told him the Mom would talk to him and he should call her.....

I am also not going to be the one to disappoint that kid.... someone else can tell her that her Dad turned down an opportunity for her to go see him.

I looked at my motorcycle sitting forlorn in the garage....If the weather keeps on doing what it's been doing, I may need an ark.

Winter.
I find it interesting how some places in Canada and the USA can get so pummelled by snow in December and then other places like where I live have it relativley mild.
So far December 2009 has given us frosty mornings, several days of rain, an hour or two of snow, cool temperatures and lots and lots of sunshine.

Although it is sunny and mild for a short time in the afternoon, the rest of the time the roads are too slick for riding. We get a lot of black ice around here, so at times it can also be treacherous in a car.

It amazes me when I hear people talking about how fast they can go in the snow. It's a shame that they think that other people who are going slower should not be on the roads.

Common sense would tell you to slow down, but unfortunately, not everyone is so blessed. Every driving school; every insurance company; every bus, truck, car,and bike trainer will tell you to slow down in adverse conditions.

Anyone can go fast on a highway with several inches of snow. 4-wheel drive and good tread....
The real test comes when they have to stop suddenly. Snow is slippery. Frost is slippery. Slush is slippery. Ice is slippery. Regardless of whether you have 4-wheel drive or not; if you are going too fast, you will not be able to stop.
So the next time you are passing everyone in sight and disparaging them for going a bit slow, remember, they would have a better chance of survival.

Slow down for your own sake and the sake of others on the road. The life you save may be your own or your child's.