What the Heck Day is it Today?

I just love waking up with a migraine:(  I've completed Round One of my migraine cure but will have to follow up with Round Two shortly as although it's a bit improved it's not gone. And if it's not gone it will get worse. Bleh...

Part of my headache I'm sure was caused by my "fun times" at the Bell store and Apple store yesterday as I tried to figure out the best option to replace my caffeinated iPhone. Apparently it can handle being rained on all night in the parking lot but draws the line at hot coffee topped with hot soy milk foam! I'm very disappointed.

To make a very long story short the cheapest way to move forward was to purchase the same OLDer model iPhone I had been using (and am used to) and maintain my current contract so that I can get a free iPhone upgrade next year. The Bell guy tried to sell me on the latest iPhone (better camera blah blah blah) but when he topped off his spiel by saying "and then you probably won't need to upgrade next year (thereby saving Bell several hundreds of dollars) I thought I'd go see what Apple could do for me.

They sold me on "recycling" my java phone and replacing it with the same much cheaper and older model which I'd been using for a whole 10 months. Personally I liked the fact that I'd have the same phone which I knew mostly how to use rather than getting a newer one with more bells and whistles that I'd somehow have to integrate with my current level of expertise. It was a no-brainer! Instead of shelling out $800 I spent under $400 which I hope to recoup in next week's yard sale - I am now very motivated to sell sell sell!!

Yesterday was spent reloading all my apps etc and after 48 hours life continues on as before.

Oh yes, it's Foto Friday! Let's see what was going on one year ago...

I caught Lily watching me from the stairs.

I made my healthy version of nachos on a bed of romaine and asparagus.

It was Gathering on the Green  and my brother, Gord,
was selling his birdhouses. (He's the bearded guy
wearing a hat and shades.

The dunk tank was popular!

Musical entertainment

Learning tai chi!

Free and supervised parking for bikes - yup,
mine's there! Look at that sky!

My friend Julie worked with kids
creating crafts :)

Happy weekend my friends - don't drink and text!!

Blah Day, No, Really

This is insane. I actually put the heat on for awhile today because I was shivering. I had sweat pants on and socks and a hoodie...in the house! We had the hottest May on record and what; now it's winter again??

So, I'm sitting on the couch - fresh cup of coffee in one hand and phone in the other as I was going to check the weather. I can do that with one hand. Well, only sometimes it seems. I can't really describe what happened but in a split second my phone slid into my mug and hot coffee scalded my stomach! I ran to the kitchen and dumped out the rest of the coffee, quickly rinsed the phone in clean water, dried it with a tea towel and slide it into a container of rice I keep expressly for that purpose. I want to check if it works but Kazi said to leave it for at least 24 hours. Oh Lordy.

I have some hope as a couple of months ago said phone laid out in a rainstorm overnight and then worked just fine. I'm hoping it has 9 lives!

Eventually I looked up the weather on my laptop which had been on my lap when the accident happened but only got a few drops on it. It was only bloody 8c!! Feeling like 5c with the strong cold wind that was blowing. Do I really want to go out and rack up some cycling kms today? NO!

So I clocked 25km on my stationary bike today while watching "Aquarius" starring David Duchovny, a sort of fictionalized series about Manson. A little light TV to top off a dark, dull and dank day. And it's only 2pm!!

Just in case I burned off a bunch of calories I'm munching on a few chocolate-covered digestive cookies. I wouldn't want to get any thinner hahaha. Grooooaaaaaaannnn! This is NOT my day! Since I was feeling very glum I thought I would write a blog post and share the pain!

And I'll also share a few birthday snaps which I promised a week or so ago so I can remember being happy!! Here's just a sampling in no particular order:

Me with friends Julie and Troy.

A closeup of my tattoo!

Me eating my cake :)

I don't remember the joke!

My sister-in-law Pat and my brother Gord.

A fit of the giggles!

Drinking tequila shots! YUM! 

The Bridge to Nowhere

SUNDAY was a bloody brilliant day. Since then the weather has been nothing to talk about... so...back to Sunday! Sunny + warm = hiking in Kilally Meadows!

Hey...I thought these guys were nocturnal?!

I'm further away than it seems - thank goodness for the zoom lens! Who can blame her for wanting to enjoy the sunshine!?

No leaves in sight yet, but it won't be too much longer til it's all GREEN! 

It wasn't too muddy considering all the rain we've had.

The artsy shot...

 I love these trees - they make excellent landmarks when I'm going in circles :)

Won't be crossing the bridge today - it's the Bridge to Nowhere. You can see by all the gunk that the river has been extremely high this spring.

  On my return trip I went off-trail for awhile and came across a deer carcass.

I guess there really are coyotes in here!

 I'll be glad when the flooding recedes - there are large parts of the trails I can't access.

Finally... I have a little miracle to share with you! After my hike I got together with a couple friends for the 2nd potluck of the Easter long weekend. When I got home, around 11:30pm the thunderstorm had begun and continued ALL NIGHT and most of the next day. I went into my house and went through my various bags looking for my phone. I could remember putting it into my purse so where the heck was it?? I was able to message my friend (using my iPad) whose house we were at and she looked and looked and called and called but it wasn't there or in my house. So I ran out into the rain and looked in the truck - nothing. There was nothing else I could do til daylight so I went to bed.

The next morning as I'm pulling up my blinds I look out toward my truck and see my turquoise phone case. It's been in the parking lot all night during a torrential rain storm. I didn't hold out much hope for it working, but once we buried Kazi's Macpro in rice after she spilled water on it and it worked!

So I grabbed the container of rice and buried my phone in it. Kazi said to leave it for at least 24 hours (the rice absorbs the moisture). Lo and behold it magically turned on. Now that is a true miracle. Yes, it's an iPhone, and seems to be extremely waterproof! Phew!

Eventful Journey So Far

Yesterday Kazi and I made the trip to Pearson Airport in Toronto to launch her trip to Australia. We had gone only about 50km when just past Woodstock traffic was diverted from Hwy. 401 to Hwy. 403.  We assumed we'd be able to get back on the 401 at the next overpass but instead we were faced with this:

And again at the next overpass and the next. At that point we had no idea what had happened and were a bit concerned about getting to the airport on time. (well, I was concerned, Kazi remained optimistically  upbeat during the whole ordeal; maybe I would have too if I'd been the one heading to Australia!)

Eventually, after a detour that covered over 30km and travelling at an average speed of about 30km per hour we made it back on the 401. Once my "map" skills were no longer needed on my iPhone I googled "accident on the 401" and discovered there had been 2 major accidents on that stretch of highway Friday morning.

First an eastbound tractor trailer slammed into the concrete median causing debris to fly over into the westbound lanes - as far as I know the driver was OK. Then a little while later there was a collision involving 3 tractor trailers killing one driver and injuring another-oh no!! I'm so thankful we weren't travelling in the morning! There had been snow over night though I don't know if that was a factor or if it was driver error - police aren't releasing much info yet. When we began our journey on the 401 approximately 3.5 hours later the roads were clear and dry.  Very sad. I have to admit (and my daughter did too) that I try to pass large trucks as quickly as I can when on the 401 - it's not a pleasant experience!  And there are so many of them!

A piece of positive news is that Kazi met up with someone she sort of  knew who was travelling to Australia too - same plane! (2 planes actually as they have a stopover in L.A.) She knew the young woman would be on the plane (this woman is also in the law program in Australia that Kazi's friend is in and lives in the same apartment! They even had seats next to each other on the plane!!) Kazi hadn't met her before but it was still a happy moment for her to meet up with her and have a travelling companion who was familiar with where they were going. I was relieved because TWO are safer than ONE!

Unfortunately there was some not so good news. Kazi texted me around 6:30am (my time) that there were some issues with the plane they were supposed to board in L.A. and their 3 hour stopover had turned into 5 hours at that point. She had grabbed only 1 hour of sleep at that point by laying on the floor in the airport. I replied that a long stopover was still better than boarding a plane that is having problems!! I haven't heard from her since then so I can only assume that she is now somewhere over the Pacific winging her way to Australia - a 14 hour od.

As for me I arrived home shortly before 7pm. As suggested by Jane (The Maple Syrup Mob blog) I put a tray of food together with a glass of wine and parked myself in front of the TV.  Within the hour I was having a lovely nap....woke up around 11pm and went to bed!! So much for my first exciting night on my own lol!

Of course that would explain why I was wide awake at 6:15am this morning! I was actually sitting in front of the variety store (in my car) that carries my favorite newspaper before the owner had arrived! Pairing my newspaper with not one but two coffees from Timmy's and I had the most lovely and relaxed morning (well, as relaxed as I could be with my daughter hurtling over the Pacific!!) And of course now I am writing this post whilst doing laundry and will be catching up on my blog reading momentarily. I'm also going to check out the Ontario bloggers page over at Cindy's blog "North of Wiarton and South of the Checkerboard!" Perhaps you should too!

Talk to you later (TTYL!))