Summer Berry

My Strawberries have arrived.

After all our work...we have fruit.

I happen to think strawberries are one of the

nicest things about summer.

~~~

Strawberries have an awful lot of potential.

They can be so many things....

strawberry shortcake, strawberry pie, strawberry salad, strawberry jam, strawberry yogurt, strawberries and cream, strawberry cheesecake, strawberry smoothies, strawberry muffins, strawberry mousse, strawberry tea, strawberry custard....

and of course, just a simple little strawberry on its own has great potential.

~~~~~~~~~~

[More information on The Strawberry

can be found here: strawberry blog  ]

final results

We did it!

After all the months of planning and training, our Triathlon has come and gone.

It has been a crazy 2 days of racing, and as each day began at 4 am...we all are pretty tired.

 I did have to show a few pictures...so bare with me on the "photo album" to follow:)

Before the race we had to get Body Markings.

Ben and Corben are still "wearing" theirs.

They told me permanent marker doesn't come off in the shower.

I don't know how hard they tried to wash the numbers off:)

My 3 are in that gong-show somewhere.

Everyone had to find their appropriate Heat for the swim.

There were hundreds of kids, and with 4 to a Heat, it made for quite the show.

Ben is in the yellow swim cap;)

I finally found him sitting in the middle of it all.

He was in Heat 24, so his wait was about a half hour.

I kept wondering what was going through all their minds:)

Ben, running from the pool after his swim to the Transition Area.

Corben- getting ready to bike after his swim.

Molly- going out on her bike after her 500m swim.

She then had 10km to go.....

Her 1st lap...5km left to go!

Ben- coming in to the finish after

100m Swim

5km Bike

1km Run

BEN~ FINISH LINE!

Corben- heading off on his last leg of the race.

Swim- 150m

Bike- 5km

Run- 2km

CORBEN~ FINISH LINE

Molly on her last segment of the race...

Swim 500m

Bike 10km

Run 4km

MOLLY~ FINISH LINE!

All 3 finished and were still smiling at the end.

They're talking of doing it again next year:)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SUNDAY....

was race day for the "older" people.

Adam and I left at 5am and got to the race location, unloaded our bikes, got our body markings (which HAVE come off already:),  and then waited.

I kept thinking it was crazy for Adam to race today. He had spent all of Saturday in Calgary at a Rowing Regatta....had raced a couple times there, had hardly slept and hadn't eaten because it was so hot the day before.

Not only that, a week before the Triathlon, the organizer called me and mentioned he had been put in too young of a group, and would now be bumped up to race with the adults. That meant that the distances he had been training for were all wrong. He had much farther to go in each part of the race.

But nothing seemed to bother him.

Of course. He's 15.

I didn't get to see him race as I was out there too, but everyone told me he was grinning through the whole thing.

He's coming back in from his 20km bike here, after swimming 750m- something he had only done once before.

Then he was on to the 5km run...

....and sprinted through the FINISH LINE!

He was still smiling at the end.

Then there was my Team:

My sister doing the Swim....

and then running to transition to tag me for the Bike.

Me heading out on the bike....

and coming back in.

Our runner:

And our FINISH!:

Mel  ~  Jodie  ~   Me

We placed 2nd in all female teams.

(My sister placed 1st overall in the Swim~ WAY TO GO SIS!)

~~

Phew! If you made it through that album- YOU deserve a medal!

It was a great, tiring, nerve-wracking, fun-filled weekend.

And yes- we will all do it again.

The End...

(until next time.)

-looking beyond-

i'm tired.
of everything.
of working. of always feeling needed by everyone. i'm so very tired of worrying about what everyone else around me thinks. i'm tired of worrying if a person is mad at me because we never talk or haven't stayed in touch. i'm tired of analyzing relationships.
i'm just so tired of worrying, wondering, wishing, analyzing....EVERYTHING in my life.
my brain hurts. it is very exhausting.

another thing that tires me....
training as much as i do and never being able to beat my time on the 5km run.
as much as i try, and for all the ways i try to speed up my time on this distance....i cannot. 
i can never seem to beat my time i have held for 2 years.

and then, yesterday morning i went for my typical run down the same stretch of country road. of course i set the stopwatch and started it the minute my feet began to move.
TODAY was the day i would beat my time.

it turned out i forgot about the stopwatch.
i forgot about how tired i was and all the jumbled thoughts that have been attacking my brain lately.
this run was tireless for me.

being that early, the sun was just making it's way through a haze of clouds. it had rained the night before, and the fog hung low across the roads, making everything look misty and dreamy.
i saw things on this run i hadn't seen before.

i saw a tired looking  fence i hadn't seen in the 4 years i've trekked down this same stretch of road. i saw an unusual kind of bird.
3 deer ran right in front of me and even stopped a moment to wonder who and what i was before they jumped through the ditch and out into a field.
the old abandoned house sitting at the corner looked a little younger, and the trees around it looked alot larger and full.
there was no wind.
just me and all this, running through clouds so low it looked as though i was on top of them all.
and i ran.
and i even forgot i was running.
i forgot to be tired. i forgot to check my time.
i forgot it all. all i did was take it in and breathe.

and then it hit me.
this is what it would feel like to let all that bothers me- go.
i have been so wrapped up in myself. my own feelings and hurts. my worries and analyzing.
self-absorbed i think is what you call it.
i have been so wrapped up in me. i have forgotten to look around and view everything else.
it isn't all about me.

{removing the focus off of myself- and looking outward...changed it all for me.
not dwelling on racing the clock, and looking at my surroundings-- easy!}

yes- everything is still the same. the same issues are sitting right here.
but when i don't dwell on the issues and am able to look out and beyond and realize that it isn't all about me and my worries and pondering....the issue just isn't quite the same issue anymore.
just like my time to beat wasn't a concern.
looking outward made me forget self.
and it felt wonderful.

i don't want to forget my hazy, breath-taking, eye-opening, morning run.
it pops back into my head every time i wonder why something has/hasn't happened.
that morning sneaks into my mind every time i worry about a friend or relationship.

trying to shift my focus to what is truly around me, out and beyond- seems to help lose the self-absorbed person i have become lately.

(side note:  as i ran up to the house and looked at the time, i noticed that- yet again-i had not set a new record for myself.
but this time it didn't matter.
i simply logged a memorable run, and for a change- noticed i wasn't tired anymore.
it feels good.)

~~~~~~~~~

Happy Weekend to you all!
[We're off to the races.....our long -awaited TRIATHLON is here!]

Eleven years ago....

....we welcomed Corben into the world. Another wonderful person to be part of our family.

He was a perfect baby.....always smiling, keeping us on our toes, and keeping us smiling while being his own little juggling act and circus all of his own!!!

He never stopped moving from the moment he awoke.

He has always been creative and comes up with quite the ideas.

He is thoughtful.

(mother's day dessert with candles and a flowerbed-marker...

he brought out to me while i was sitting on the deck:)

He's giving and compassionate.

He loves nature and taking pictures...making his own movies and writing stories.

(his bird watching captured on camera)

He leaves me handmade cards with homemade heart envelopes beside my bed.

He can imitate voices off of movies and CD's....leaving us all gasping for air because we can't quit laughing.

He loves to skateboard, read, play basketball. and bakes amazing peanut butter chip cookies.

He is all this and so much more!

We hope you have a wonderful day Corben.

Happy Birthday, buddy!
We love you tons!!

Afternoon Walk

Yesterday,

on my first summer afternoon walk.....

"Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those

have always been the two most beautiful words in the

English language."

~ Henry James

Summer

Happy Summer!

It's here....and the fact that we had snow only a few weeks ago doesn't even upset me now.

It's beautiful today.

Summer came at 5:28am and I am going to enjoy every single minute of it!

Plans for the summer.....

hiking, biking, canoeing and kayaking, camping, visiting, road trips, races, walks with friends, BBQ'ing, quiet time, play time at the beach, eating tons of strawberries, jam making, picnics,camp for kids, lots of reading, wine on my swing as the sun goes down, and sleeping out on the hill in my front yard watching stars come out.

That said- they are only plans, and as we know all plans can change in a blink.

But those are my hopeful plans.

Wishing you all a happy first day of summer!

Things That made me SMILE~~

Well...that was a long week! I truly can't even remember Monday....
 To make it a wee bit longer, I have now been up for 24 hours and am so wired I can't sleep. (No, not insomnia. Just had to work the "night shift":)
My silly, over-tired brain won't shut off, so~~~ here I sit. 
I think I may just share the things that made me smile over the past 4/5 days.
As the week is still not quite over, I may be able to add to this list- but the top 5 so far, in no paricular order, are as follows:

~1~

The following conversation between my oldest son(15) and my youngest(8)....

"15"(My factual son):
"Did you know that 5 years ago was the year 10's of millions of Painted Butterflies migrated over our province? It was the largest  Painted Butterfly migration recorded yet."
"8"(My thinker and absorber):
"Wow. "(pause) "Really?"(longer pause...then chin rests on hand and he looks a little puzzled.)
"I wonder who painted them?"

~2~

Waking up at 5am to a choir of birds and an entire rainbow.....instead of the usual woodpecker on the metal siding outside my window.

~3~

Driving through town and seeing a couple in their 70's (at least), doing a paper route together. She was holding the handle of the wagon which held the stacks of papers to be delivered, waiting for him to cut the tie on the next bundle of papers.
{They might have been covering the route for the grandkids- I like to think the route is theirs and they decided to do it for something 'out of the ordinary' and fun to do together.}
I hope that is me and my hubby one day!

~4~

Hearing this comment from Ben:
"Hey Molly, did you see the fridge this morning? I thought we were leaving on a holiday it was so empty."
(I DID "re-stock"it later that day after a trip to Costco- really.)

~5~

Seeing this front door on a house which was painted like this:

I know- it's all very simple. But it made me smile:)

Hoping you had lots to smile at this week.

Happy weekend!

~

Enjoy What is Today

~~

Plant

~

Water and

Watch and

Wait

~

Appreciate

~

Enjoy Today

~

I came upon this quote today, and had to share it.

{I know the above pictures aren't roses.....but

 am Enjoying whatever beauty I can when it happens}

"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon~instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside of our window today."

~Dale Carnegie (1888-1955)