Mmmm.... Watermelon

Nothing satisfies this dog like watermelon after a long Sunday run (okay, so maybe this was a couple of weeks ago, a dog's got important business to attend to).

A Funny Thing...

Yesterday was one of those magic days...no real schedule and lots of time for fun! Gooser dragged us over to the s-c-h-o-o-l to play with the f-r-i-s-b-e-e for a while (we have to spell. She even knows if we're typing the words and gets excited, I swear!) We followed that excursion up with a "seasonal" breakfast of apples, old sharp cheddar, honey, and walnuts on yummy Montreal bagels that Andrew brought back with him from his trip. Delish!

Then off to Stratford for a bit of poking around, coffee at Balzack's...


...and to watch "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," one of the tragedies (kidding...most definitely a comedy!) in the Stratford Festival this year. It was SO well done! We spent 2.5 hours laughing and would definitely suggest to anyone in the area that they go see it. As a sample, the main character Pseudolus, a Roman slave in 200 BC, delivers this line..."My uncle Simo, the noted Carthaginian elephant breeder, came to an untimely end. He was crushed to death on the last day of the mating season." Tee hee. Everyone in Stratford is in festival spirit right now...even the stuffed bear at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory!

We found some cute little shops that we'd not seen before including an artisan who makes prints from wood blocks (and has a cute little dog named Smudge) and a great natural food shop called "A Gentle Rain" where we discovered some black beluga lentils that we can't wait to cook up. There was, of course, a chocolate stop at Rheo Thompson. Mint smoothies...mmmm...those should help to fuel a few runs this week :)


Home for a swim and dinner...and a very strange dream about elephant reproduction...

Choosing Joy...and Barefoot Running!

A few weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to see our friend David (the pastor who married us!) give a dramatic presentation of Paul's letter to the Phillipians. It was incredible to watch...he had that entire book of the Bible memorized, and presented it in period costume. He titled his presentation "Choose Joy," which fits the nature of Paul's message perfectly. Paul lived at the time of Christ and has a pretty amazing story...going from persecuting the early Christians to becoming one of the most important figures in early teaching and spreading of the gospel...and in sharing that gospel for all time throug the bible. His life was full of challenge and reasons NOT to "choose joy"...he suffered from a "thorn in his flesh" (though we aren't told what exactly this was), was shipwrecked, and spent considerable time in prison for his beliefs to name a few. But in his writing, the joy that he feels in his mission for Christ is evident. In the past few months, too, we have witnessed Dave "choosing joy" as he has faced a recurring battle with cancer but remained always cheerful, always positive.

It's been a bit of a rough week for me (H) in the professional area of my life (fortunately the personal is awesome!) I work with wonderful people and for the most part like my job, but in the past several weeks the number of sad cases I've seen has been almost overwhelming, and some personal conflict that is out of my control has reared its head (which it does periodically). My initial reaction is almost always to be upset, worry, and dwell on the issue to the point where I feel almost physically unwell. It took a while for me to put the pieces together and understand how much my brain controls well being! The cool thing about this week is that by focussing on the right things....which for me means prayer, reflecting on the truths of the Bible, and choosing to "choose joy," I've been able to turn the negative around and truly feel peace and joy. That feeling is so cool. Now if only I can get to the point where my initial reactions of worry and upset wouldn't even happen! Work in progress :)

I often find that running in nature helps me to reflect, pray, and be joyful...I guess being out in creation can do that :) Lucy and I had a great week of barefoot running up at Pinery (Andrew was in Montreal so he missed out. Next week!) 1:15 on Tuesday and 2 hours this morning left us both grinning, Lucy panting, and me with sore but happy feet. This morning was incredible! There were thousands of ladybugs clustered along driftwood and the higher shoreline (mating? dying? just hanging out? Must consult Wikipedia for that one!) One very saucy seagull kept pace with us but just ahead, causing lots of flat out chasing by Goosey. Tee hee :) It's pretty hard to not be inspired to choose joy watching Lucy and her love of life and the simple things!

Happy weekend, all :)

A Long Weekend Lucy-Style!

I always get super-woofy excited for long weekends...it means an extra day with Dad and Mom home! They know that a tired doggie is a happy doggie, so they spend lots of weekend time attempting to tire me out :) I pretend that they have somtimes, just to make them feel good! Actually, they did a pretty good job of keeping me busy this weekend...

Friday: Pack the car; head off for canoe shopping and camping. Turns out they found the canoe of their dreams in Toronto and nixed the camping in Huntsville as they didn't need to go up there to canoe shop anyway. Road trips always make me sleepy, especially when we get back home late...

Saturday: Early morning frisbee session! Ran into my buddy Goliath at the school and chased the spinny thing around the field for 45 minutes. Yay! Breakfast followed by a morning nap. Just a day "off" today, so I could catch up on my beauty rest for the next couple days. A visit from Rosie (Mike and Andrea's 12 week old chocolate lab...all the humans keep saying how cute she is, but she always jumps on my head and tries to steal all my toys...) in the afternoon. Country walk in the evening. Not tired yet....come on people!

Sunday: Okay, getting a bit more tired :) 23.5 km run with Mom and Dad in the morning, including a mid-run swim. Sent the humans off to church while I had a dance party with Pumpkin and Gooberette (the stuffed bear comes alive when no one is home!). The humans thought I was sleeping the whole time they were away...yeah, right! Off to try out the new canoe in the afternoon, followed by more swimming. I look like such a dork in my life jacket...

Mom and Dad had another 8.5 km of running to do in the evening...I really wanted to go, but my fur coat doesn't work so well in the heat. Maybe if I had an ice vest? Dragged the humans around the neighborhood for a walk later in the evening.

Monday: A bit of long-run tiredness, but still up for frisbee at 7:15 am! 45 minutes of frisbee to take the edge off, then sent the humans for a 3.5 hour bike ride. Dance party #2 of the weekend while they were away :) Then...oh boy oh boy...a walk up to the apple orchard to pick the first apples of the fall! A 2 hour round trip...with something REALLY yummy to roll in at the orchard!



Another hour walk in the country with Rosie to end the day....officially tired doggle :) Life is sooo tough...

Wedding Photos!

Hi all! Some fun news...our wedding photo gallery is online! The photographers (HRM Photography) were an absolute pleasure to work with (right down to putting doggie treats on the camera lens to get Lucy's attention)...we'd definitely recommend them to anyone!

You can look through the gallery (all 500 photos! Yikes!) by going to http://clients.hrmphotography.com/ and scrolling through the wedding galleries to "Heather and Andrew." It's all alphabetical. Actually, our engagement gallery is still there too, further down the page. The username is your e-mail address; the password is "Hanik."

Hope all is well with everyone! Happy Wednesday to all :)