Cycling – Page 3 – Skelton Sketches

Sweet Summer Sun-Day [amplified*]

Posted on July 12, 2010 by lindaskelton

I cycled with ‘the boys’ today and pulled my weight on the tandem with Jim as we flew down the hills and fought up the rises. (We hit 48MPH–exhilirating!)

We opted for the abbreviated ride (28miles) and a dip in Eagle River where the water flows cool over great slabs of rock before falling to continue down the canyon–refreshing!

Rejoining the guys on their return we finished well, rejoicing to be strong together.

MacDonald’s provided our lunchette of Iced Tea and burgers–the tea especially welcome rehydration on a day growing rapidly hot.

Then we headed down to the sailboat waiting at the wharf for a chance to celebrate the sunshine and try out its newly barnacle/slim/seaweed-free keel. (Thanks to Jim’s diving work earlier in the week). We gained a knot of speed for the hard work of cleaning! Our jaunt took us out to get an up-close look at "The Hulks"–a row of WWII vintage freighters made of concrete and rebar, an experiment gone amuck but great for floating breakwaters for the Mill. We didn’t have our camera along but the scoop is here at: http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.concreteships.org/ships/powellriver/quartz_perlata.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.concreteships.org/

and I’ve borrowed their picture ( :

It’s 7/11 at 7-Eleven so Slurpees are free–the little ones. We were ready for a Jumbo and happily shared a grapefruit-MountainDew-grape combo. What could be better on a gloriously hot day?!

A cat nap following our return home was just the thing, being Sunday and all, followed by a roast chicken and watermelon picnic with the girls.

Then a cozy read from a new poetry book as the day cooled set me dreaming in free verse of this sweet summer Sun-day, which I have now shared with you ( ;

*This has been the long version. The read-between-the-lines version is at my alternate blog: www.dawnskelton.blogspot.com

Trust you are finding sweetness in the heat and glory of your summer days too.

–Linda

Life as we know it…

Posted on August 5, 2009April 27, 2017 by lindaskelton

My trails of late have mostly ended with water. We’ve had a record breakingly wonderful hot summer– the likes of which we have never known here in Powell River. It has brought back memories of summers growing up when days were hot and corn grew tall…
So, we’ve been heading to the water a lot to brave its chill and celebrate its getting warmer with each successive week of sunshine. The day I want to highlight here was an all-girl adventure. We set out with our bikes to fetch a friend’s boat out of Okeover Inlet… The tide was w-a-y low so the ramp to the dock was rather precipitous…
But we got the bikes all tucked in at last and donned our ill-fitting life jackets for the cruise out to sea…

We picked our way along slowly, sharing the job of deciphering the charts and determining which rock was which! We missed them all (whew!) and here’s the view–the gateway to Desolation Sound.

But we were headed the other direction–towards Savary Island, fabled land of white sandy hot beaches, home to summer cottages for people from far and near…

But first a stop at the Copelands–designated a ‘marine park’ and more affectionately known as the Ragged Islands. We tucked into a little cove there for a picnic lunch and swim in the brisk ocean water! (brrr! good thing the sun was hot at least). This cove was the first one we discovered as a family in our sailboat so it’s full of happy memories…

(in the cove…)

(looking out to sea)

Then we were off to Savary Island…dropping our bikes off at the dock, anchoring off shore, waiting for our ‘captain’ to swim in, and then setting off for the little wee church to have some focused time to pray… (this was in fact the purpose of our trip)

Next notion was to pedal to the end of the Island; not sure how far that was going to be we took our cue from signs (and passersby) along the way. The island was all set up for a triathlon on the coming weekend so we had the bonus of mileage signs to count down our distance. It was about 8 km. to Indian Point, the island’s westernmost tip. And it was all adventure, esp. the running out of water and the prospect of no stores on the island– but surely someone would give us some water?…

Had to pause for a photo of this whimsical knight adding decor to someone’s private drive…

And then there was Indian Point–snack time with what we could scrounge. It was now actually supper time and time to get going home but first one last dip in a very cold ocean…

Oh, and we did find water at last–a tiny house store with a shingle out– the price? $2.00 a bottle. But what’s a little money when you’re going to die of dehydration otherwise?! And somehow the pedaling back seemed shorter than the coming and the hills not as foreboding as we’d thought. We arrived safe and sound at the dock and after fetching the boat and loading the bikes we headed off across the sea to the dock at Lund just down the highway from home. We were met by our gracious escort with not only the boat trailer but watermelon and Sesame snaps besides–sweet pleasure to end a sweet adventure.

“In [His] presence is fullness of joy; In [His] right hand there are pleasures forever…” (Ps.16:11) and to think we haven’t seen anything yet!!

Down by the Sea: the sequel

Posted on March 17, 2009April 28, 2017 by lindaskelton

I didn’t get the chance to follow that trail to its end last time, as I had a car to return to. So today I jolted down to the sea by bike and picked up the trail from a different spot, following it on foot ‘backwards’ till I got to last time’s stopping spot.

Meanwhile sun and cloud played peek-a-boo. My world smelled of fir sap and cedar from fresh-cut logs
along the trail…

A stiff westerly ruffled the glinting ocean’s surface … and Louie and I had another delightful trek.

What a spot for a picnic. All that’s missing is the table–and the food! Next time I’ll bring company of the two-legged sort ( :

At this point it was time to turn back and the weather did the same. The sun vanished. The wind picked up. The ocean turned an angry gray and I heard faint pattering of drops. Long way to go, better hurry. No more pictures!

We got home only slightly wet, just ahead of the rain. Tired, chilled, and happy.

But Louie, well, he had found something aromatic to roll in along the way and had to have a bath out back, rain notwithstanding, before he was presentable. After that I really was chilled. So I had one too–but not with the garden hose!

Later, all warm and dry, I watched out the window as the sun slipping below the cloud cover to its setting
place in the West, cast a golden glow on the day’s close.

This is the view across the street. I love to watch the trees at this time of year. The willow turns yellow with its growing buds. The alders take on a red hue. And the evergreens supply the green backdrop.

“Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.” Ps.108:5