The Perfect Wasaga Beach Weekend

I wish it had been 10 degrees hotter and humid (more on that later) but it was a perfect weekend.

It began with a celebration on Friday afternoon. Earlier that day I earned my first $ as a entrepreneur. It felt good. Sally and I celebrated with a drink on a patio on the main area of Wasaga Beach. Cheap red wine in a plastic glass for her; 'Tall Boy' light beer for me. Crap beverages, but it tasted great to be paid for out our our first earnings. More to come...:)

On Saturday morning I went out for my weekly long run as a build up the the Reggae Marathon in Negril on December 5. Weather conditions: sunny, humid and 35 degrees Celsius...oops, sorry, that was in Negril http://reggaemarathon.com/blog/. In Wasaga it was sunny, dry and 22 degrees. I put on a fleece pullover over my regular running top and headed out for a 80 minute run. Desperately trying to simulate the tougher conditions in Jamaica. Toque next. Great run. Knee felt fine. Massage, ice and hydrotherapy working along with the regular visits to Dr. Greg, my chiropractor.

I didn't stop after the run. Sally and I had purchased some plants (we never stop working in the garden) and we put them in on Saturday afternoon. Of course, we had to lift sod (our hidden agenda is to remove as much grass as possible). Our next door neighbours couldn't stand it ... they went out for the afternoon. We had a heck of a time with the second plant. We spent about an hour digging up a huge submerged tree stump. I practiced my swearing and came up with a few new combinations. Thanks Mike for the help. The downside was the time and effort to get it out; the up side was that we incorporated it as a design element in the garden.

Hydro therapy after that. Code for a long soak in mineral salts in the Jacuzzi. Ahhh....

Saturday was not over yet. I was delighted when I checked in on my son, Holden and his university football team at Acadia University in Wolfville http://www.acadiau.ca/sports/football/index.html. Holden is in his fourth year and this year became a starter in his position of Full Back. The young man is built like a truck yet has the speed and agility of a gazelle. Unfortunately we can't watch his games on TV here, but his team handily defeated their arch rivals in the first game of the season. Yaaaaay!

Saturday finally ended with a splendid gluten and dairy pasta supper eaten al fresco on our back deck porch prepared entirely by Sally. OK, I helped with the home-made salad dressing, but she told me what to do.

"I hate 6 am" were the first words out of Sally's mouth on Sunday. We had committed to volunteer in the Wasaga Beach 1/2 Marathon and we had to be at Beach Area 1 by 8 am. The Tim Horton's coffee was already brewed in our genuine Tim Horton's Bunn machine http://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/ so calmness prevailed by 6:15.

We had a blast at the 1/2 Marathon. Lots of members of the Wasaga Beach Road Runners http://sites.google.com/site/wasagabeachroadrunners/ ran in the event. Sally and I along with Mike and Mary McCluskey along with their friend worked at the finish line. I got to pre-announce the finishers so their names could be called out as they crossed the finish line. I took a good, hard look at the final 100 metres...I SAW Negril December 5.

And just when we needed to finally put our feet up, Mike, Sally, Tia and I packed up and headed to Orangeville to attend a tree planting dedication service in Orangeville to commemorate my Dad's passing last year. It was fabulous. My other son's, Andrew and Court were there along with my sister and her family and some other family friends. The singing of 'Amazing Grace' was a stopper along with the release of the doves. Extremely memorable way to celebrate the life a very good man. We went back to Mom's for a truly tasty supper of Jamaican treats (the curry goat stew was a keeper). And I got another donation, this one from my cousin, for the Canadian Diabetes Association! A couple of weeks into fund raising and we are on the board. Thank you if you have already given; please donate if you have not. Let's educate more people on how to deal more effectively with Diabetes so it doesn't cause future health issues. The link to the donation form is here: http://mykalsreport.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-donate-to-reggae-marathon-run.html. In the next few months I will be speaking to local groups and will let you know the dates/times.

Exhausted drive back up to Wasaga at sunset yesterday topped off a truly perfect weekend at the Beach.

Until next time...