Victoria's Island

Quiet Saturday

What a day it has been. Super quiet and very enjoyable. Slept in a bit this morning to the late hour of 8 a.m. Okay this is late for me. Murphy had managed to take over Marc's side of the bed - amazing how much room he can take up. (Marc is in Charlevoix for a stage race.)

The rain this morning slowed down my plans a bit. Zipped out as usual and picked up the newspapers and a couple bottles of Perrier (this is my weekend treat). Since it was raining, I decided to delay my morning ride  and enjoyed lingering over the newspapers and drinking a fair amount of milky vanilla tea. Hit out at around 10 for my ride. The ride was supposed to be two hours but due to poor time management on my part, the ride ended up being two hours and 45 minutes. Oh well, no biggie. It was a great ride. A long block of tempo sandwiched between some endurance riding. Bit chilly though, I was kitted up in leg warmers, long sleeve jersey, gloves and a vest.

Relaxed for the afternoon with the rest of the newspapers and browsing the WWW. Murphy patrolled the backyard with zeal - even attempting to catch a butterfly... I headed out for my second ride of the day late in the afternoon. Thanks to the blue sky and sun, it was super warm and just what I needed to motivate for the second work-out. Hit up secret park and worked on some cyclo-cross specific drills. It wasn't a long session but it was quality. This is something I learned from my taekwon-do years, quality and quantity are not the same. I kept my work-out focused on a couple of key skills and did only as much as I needed to make sure I was progressing and did not push myself to the point where fatigue resulted in bad form. Rolled around a bit and enjoyed the green grass and rushing water of Hogs Back Falls. I so rarely get out to public parks on the weekends that it was a nice treat to see so many people out enjoying the park and soaking up the greenspace in the middle of the city.

Now I'm just chilling out and enjoying the comfortable evening. I cooked up a batch of skinny fig bars and they are cooling on the counter as I type. Last night I attempted to make granola bars. But I decided to modify the recipe... I wasn't intrigued with using 3/4 cup of brown sugar and butter in the granola bars. So I decided to substitue peanut butter. My logic being that peanut butter is sticky so this will hold the granola bits together. Nope. Didn't work. So now I have some super tasty granola. Ingredients include: oats, slivered almonds, wheat germ, raw unsalted sunflower seeds, chopped dried apple, chopped dried apricots, honey and natural peanut butter. A good mix of wholesome ingredients that I don't feel badly about eating. Actually this has made a very protein-packed version of granola - without an ounce of oil or butter. I mixed some into some plain yogurt last night - very tasty. I think this would be good with dried cherries - but these are hard to find.

Finished reading Knit Two by Kate Jacobs. I enjoyed it. Not nearly as much as Friday Night Knitting Club. But it was still a good read. I also read Comfort Food by Jacobs. This was a pretty good read as well. If you're looking for some reading this summer and don't want to read anything too heavy but aren't ready to dive headlong into the "chick lit", I'd recommend the Jacobs books. In my opinion you don't need to be a knitter or a cook to enjoy these - the characters and stories stand well enough to not need the themes. Discovered today that Margaret Atwood has a new book at the publishers - should be out in the fall. (Perfect timing for Christmas...)

Tomorrow my cooking adventures include barley risotto and chickpea burgers from Super Natural Cooking. I've never cooked risotto before and this will be the first time I've really made more than hummus with chick peas. I promise to stick to the recipes (at least for the first time!).

Okay, enough computer action for one day. Looking forward to Sunday. Lots going on: weight work-out, long ride, afternoon plans with a pal, and Marc is coming home. Pretty good way to close off the week. Hope you're having a good weekend.

Smooth

Kind of a lame title, but sometimes it is challenging to come up with a catchy title. Especially when I have no idea what is going to come out of my fingers.

So no post on Thursday. Sorry about that. The day got away from me. But in a good way. Just lots of little things to do and then I elected to simply sit and stare at the black box. Nothing really that exciting to tell you about from yesterday. Pretty standard stuff: time spent at the gym lifting heavy objects and a soggy/gritty bike ride to close off the day of training. I've got to say I'm a bit tired of this rain. I don't mind riding in the rain - it is the bike cleaning afterwards that I'm tired of. Did a wicked bike work-out yesterday. My legs were screaming at the end - nice and I had a grin on my face for a successful work-out.

We had the tasty mergues and couscous for supper last night. Definitely a keeper. We voted it a "make again".  At first blush the recipe looks a bit labor intensive. But really it isn't. If you like mergues or are even curious about these little red sausages, I suggest this recipe. You get everything you need in this meal: grains (couscous), protein (mergues and fava beans), veggies (red pepper, zuchini, and onion) and some nice spice. Okay, I think that is enough of a sales talk on the recipe!

I whipped up a massive batch of rice krispy squares last night. Five trays of rice krispy squares... I would have made more but I ran out of marshmallows. I thought three bags of marshmallows would be enough but I forgot that I like to double the amount of marshmallows in the rice krispy squares... This makes for extra gooey and moist squares. These are not for me! The Ride with Rendall guys are off to Charlevoix for a stage race this weekend, so I made some treats for my favorite guy and his buddies. (Yes Fearless there is  tray for you - and Mike and Marc are aware of this...)

Other than that, really just a regular Thursday. As for me this weekend? Well, not much on deck. Lots of training - but this isn't really any different. I've got some good road rides schedules with a weight work-out and some time on the 'cross bike thrown in for good measure. My plan is to cook a few recipes from my new cookbook: Super Natural Cooking. I'm also eyeing a recipe for natural fig bars. Might also go down to China town for a bit of a wander around - I'm always curious to look in the grocery stores and it would be nice to find a good Chinese bakery (craving one of those filled Chinese buns). (If you have a suggestion on a Chinese bakery in Ottawa - post up in the comments). I'll also squeeze in some quality time with my book, the newspapers, tea, and the back yard.

So there you have it. I'll be keeping an eye on the WWW on Saturday to see results of the Montreal World Cup. I checked out the start list - a pretty strong international field. Should be a good race. Best of luck to the Canadian girls racing.

Check out Ottawa Cross today. I'm just about to head over to post some pretty fly pictures from Kevin and Sheri's trip to Italy and Spain. Thanks for the great pics!

Happy Friday.

Super Wednesday

Remember on Monday when I wrote that I had a feeling this would be a super fine week? Well, I was right. Lets just say I'm having some pretty darn fine days.

The highlight of the last couple of days has been securing a number of sponsors for the upcoming 2009 - 2010 cyclo-cross season. I'm so stoked that I've got the support of some darn fine companies. I've written a full post about my sponsors over at Ottawa Cross. Go read it! I'm happy to report that this year, I'll have the support of: Kingsbridge Disaster Recovery, Clif Bar, Outdoor Gear Company, Bell Lap Coaching, and The Cyclery. I'm proud to represent these companies when I'm out training, racing and hanging out at the races. Thanks so much for the support.

Really, just sitting here listening to the rain and feeling an overwhelming attitude of grattitude. Can't really believe how well everything is coming together.

Training is going super well. Got out for a soggy but good ride today. My strength and conditioning is coming along super well in the gym. I'm injury free. My brain is in a good place. I'm stoked to be riding and putting in the hardwork. Really, I'm just having fun out there. Life is good.

Cooked up the mergues and couscous recipe that I linked to yesterday. But, we haven't eaten it yet... Ended up going out for dinner last night with a good friend and fellow UFC fan, so we had last night's leftovers tonight. But being the busy little person that I am, I decided to cook up the mergues and couscous tonight so it would be all ready for tomorrow night. Confused yet? Well, tomorrow will be busy - I've got a double day tomorrow and Marc will be getting ready to go to Charlevoix for a weekend of racing. So I thought I'd take tonight to whip up the recipe. So, I'll let you know how it tastes on Friday! (From a mini-taste test that I did - it is pretty darn fine!)

Okay, I'm off to bed. It is late and I've got a busy one tomorrow. Hope you are having a most excellent Wednesday. Thanks for reading.

Spent

Dudes, I'm spent. Plain old tired today. But in a good way. Had a super hard day of training today. I can feel it in my muscles and in my energy levels. Just the way I'm supposed to feel really.

I'll spare you the gory details. But suffice it to say, it was VO2Max day on the bike. You cyclists out there are most likely nodding your heads in understanding. Ya, not pretty. The super hard stuff. But again the hard work that needs to be done to get the results. Decided after my two hour sufferfest to then ride into work... I had a headwind for the entire ride. Yep, really tired now. Luckily I was able to sit down for a few hours and get my energy levels back. Rode home with a quick stop at Kingsbridge (details below) and then it was off to the gym for my strength work-out. Wow, the gym was busy. Much prefer it in the morning. The place was buzzing and the Sportsplex is not a very big gym. Got in an excellent session moving heavy stuff around.

So the stop at Kingsbridge... Confirmed some good news. Kingsbridge is on board for the upcoming cyclo-cross season as a sponsor. Yay! How happy am I? Super happy. This is the second season that I'll have Kingsbridge helping me out. I couldn't be more grateful. Super cool group of guys - who all happen to ride bikes. Cool product and technology as well. Go check them out.

I'd have to say that this has been a pretty fine day so far. I'm also super organized and even have my food prepared for tomorrow. I've got an early work day tomorrow - thanks to an early morning meeting. Such is life. But I'll be out early and will hopefully be able to beat the rain and get in a dry ride.

Finally cooking up the mergues and couscous tomorrow night. Found a tasty looking recipe that also isn't too labor intensive.

Marc is racing in Charlevoix this weekend. So we're off to run some errands tonight to get some stuff he needs. As for me, I'll be home this weekend. Training and recovering - the usual. I'm planning on cooking some recipes in my new cookbook as well. Got my eye on a barely risotto and chickpea burgers. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Okay, best dash. Marc is home and I'm still sitting here in my gym clothes! Like I said yesterday, I guess Monday is setting the tone for a super excellent week. Wonder what good news I'll get on Wednesday?

Browsing

Just sitting here in the backyard enjoying this calm Monday evening. Murphy is patrolling the backyard and is going crazy with the bird action. (Luckily he is a slow runner and he doesn't realize he can probably jump onto the top of the fence...) I've been poking around on the WWW, mostly reading cooking blogs when I realized, I hadn't posted today. So here goes nothin'...

Pretty good day I'd have to say. (Oh, Marc just came home - he was over at the fastest man in Barrhaven's house getting a time trial bike dialed in for Charlevoix... Okay - he is gone again - out for a ride on the time trial rig.)

Right, where was I? Honestly, trying to think of something deep and stimulating that will keep you reading. How am I doing? Right - okay, I'll get a move on.

So the day has been really good. I did four rides today. Yes, four rides. Ride into work against a wicked head/cross wind. Sat at desk and recovered for four hours. Rode home with a sweet head/cross wind. Dumped backpack and went out for an hour long recovery ride. Fired up my iPod and listened to "the gals" playlist: k.d. lang, serena ryder, 10,000 maniacs, jann arden, sarah, madonna, tracy chapman. Got home, made our favorite salad for supper: turkey sausage, apple, quinoa, and aragula. Got the cyclo-cross bike out of the garage and rode over to my favorite training grounds. Had fun playing in the sand, pine needles, singletrack and deep black mud. Got home, rolled out the old muscles on the wonderful foam roller, stretched, showered and ate supper (afore mentioned salad, a bevy of carrots and celery with homemade hummus, and an apple for dessert).

And now here I am. Sitting on the back step enjoying the quiet. On deck for the rest of the night? Well, there is the laundry that needs to be folded and put away. General tidying since our cleaning lady is coming tomorrow. I need to get my food ready for Tuesday as well. Then some book reading and probably some more tea drinking.

That's it. Nothing too exciting. But also not boring. Rather a simply good Monday. I think today signals the start of a pretty darn fine week. Hope your Monday is putting similar thoughts and feelings into your body and brain.

Banner

I'd have to say this has been a banner weekend. It started really well on Friday morning and is winding down very nicely right now on Sunday evening. You might think that such accolades for the weekend mean that we went away or did something wild and crazy. Nope. Not at all. Rather we had a pretty "normal" quiet weekend.

What made it so spectacular is that it just came together so perfectly. Well-paced with plenty of action and a good dose of downtime to relax and recharge. Really what I want from the weekend Okay, enough prelude - cut to the chase - what happened?

Hmm, well as you know Friday was a pretty stellar training day. Got out for a most excellent cyclo-cross ride in the morning and learned some new skills from a local 'cross guru. Had a blast ripping it up in secret park and getting the hang of the trusty Stevens once again. Sedate time at the office - perfect time for recovery. Also squeaked in a weight work-out on Friday. I really enjoy lifting weights so this was a pleasant way to start the weekend. Marc and I went to one of our favorite restaurants - The Singapore for a late dinner. It was nice to chat with the owner and just sit and enjoy our meal at an unhurried pace. I had a new dish: beef with cashews - yes, as good as it sounds. Rounded the evening out with a stop at Chapters/Sbucks.

I finally caved and bought a cookbook I have been covetting for quite some time: Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson. If you like to cook clean, healthy, fresh food - definitely pick up this cookbook. Not only is this cookbook jam packed with excellent restaurants but it also has fantastic information at the start of each chapter about such things as cooking with grains, using natural sweeteners, benefits of eating a multi-colored diet. This is a vegetarian cookbook but don't let this turn you away. As you know I am a confirmed meat eater and there are plenty of recipes in the book for me. In fact, truth be told, I plan on substituting chicken for the tofu... Anyway, definitely pick up this cookbook. You can check out Heidi Swanson's excellent cooking site first and try out some of her recipes.  (This is where I got the most excellent carrot cake recipe...)

Saturday was a busy day of training and bike-related activity. I hit the road early for a Saturday morning and got in an excellent road ride with some more sprint work. I've received some tips over the last couple days to help me with my sprinting. I'm finally putting the pieces together and my sprinting is improving. Thanks for all the advice - keep it coming! Chilled out in the afternoon and then hit up the 'cross bike for some trail riding. Had a blast riding around on the trails, soaking up the sun and remembering how to ride in the sand. Spent time getting familiar with my training park of last season - I forgot how diverse this area is - offers everything: grass, mud, lots of sand, tight and twisy trails, singletrack. Everything I need to hone my skills.

Have you seen The Wrestler? Wow - what a film. I really wasn't sure what to expect. Had heard from a number of people that it is a film worth watching. Definitely watch this film. There are some tough moments in this film, but I think these can be attributed to the fine acting.

Had a great evening on Saturday, hanging out Barrhaven's fastest man's place and watching the UFC action. Lots of great conversation. Some decent laughs and stories. The fights were pretty solid as well. A most excellent evening. I was impressed that I managed to go the distance and stayed awake until 1 a.m.!

So, I did not race today. After discussion with my coach we mutually decided that racing this weekend would not be happening. Tough decision but one that had to be made. I'm in the middle of a very heavy phase of lifting - which makes it hard to work in a race on the weekend (especially considering I had the Tuesday night crit this past week). So Marc went off to the crit in Montreal (he was 13th!) and I stayed home. Got in an excellent weight work-out and then hit up the road bike for a solid tempo ride. The headwind was wicked but made my intervals that much sweeter. Loved the heat - so nice to not be wearing an undershirt and cap. Excellent ride.

I simply chilled out this afternoon with Mr. Murphy. We kept a keen eye on the backyard. Murphy ate a lot of grass and I drank a lot of mint tea. Sat out for close to three hours and simply enjoyed just being. Read my book and listened to the quiet. A pretty smooth way to spend an afternoon. Extra bonus was Marc getting home in time for us to go out for supper. Nice! Had some tasty Vietnamese and now just winding down.

Yep, a pretty darn good weekend. Hope your weekend was banner as well.

Fine Friday

What a great way to start the weekend. I popped out of bed after a restless night of sleep - found it super hot in the house last night. Hmm, might be time to put the winter-weight duvet away. Zipped off to the gym this morning to get in an early weight work-out.

I've said it before. But I'll say it again. I love lifting weights. Such a sense of accomplishment after a weight work-out. Some of the early morning regulars were there. My faves are the guys who do nothing but bicep curls and bench press and then "rest" by watching TSN. They stare at me like I'm a freak as I'm rolling around on the swiss ball and bouncing around on the bosu ball. Anyway, excellent time at the gym.

I'm just chilling out here at home for a little bit before heading out for my 'cross training ride of the 2009 - 2010 season. How stoked am I? I've got some new Challenge clincher tires on the trusty Stevens. Took it for a little zoom in the neighbourhood last night. Forgot how different it feels to ride the 'cross bike compared to the road bike. This season I've done something different and hired a very experienced local 'cross rider to be my technical cyclo-cross coach. I think this will really pay off. So we've got the first session this morning.

Wow, Murphy is really yowling. He wants out badly. Later. Not now. We'll go out tonight. Crazy guy.

What else is up? Well as usual, lots of training this weekend. Planning to get out on all my bikes this weekend. Road bike. Cyclo-cross bike. Mountain bike. Yep, I'll be doing lots of pedaling this weekend. Love it.

Got a nice treat in the mail this morning: income tax return cheque. Sweet. Nothing like getting a cheque in the mail.

Not much else really happening. Still reading Comfort Food. If you are a cooking fan and/or a fan of the Food Network, you'll enjoy this book. It is not quite chick lit but it is definitely some nice brain candy. Definitely enjoying it.

Don't know about you but I think that we should all really just turn off our televisions. We have so many channels and really there is nothing on. I wish we could only get CBC, CTV, OLN, BBC, and the Food Network. This would make me happier with the television. We have one of those nifty Apple TVs that Marc has set up to "pick up" a bunch of our favorite shows that we can't get here. But even then we often don't turn on the television. Suppose really I'd rather read or surf the WWW than watch someone else on televsion (unless of course this person is my little brother!).

Okay, time is ticking a long, I best go. Have a great Friday. I know I am. Thinking of checking out the Middle East Market on Belfast Road tonight. If I go, I'll let you know what it is like. There is a new middle east grocery store in Barrhaven called Teba Grocery on Woodroffe/Fallowfield. Have you been? What is it like? Yikes, I'm rambling now. Better go. Ciao.

Most Excellent

Wow - what a great day. Well, it wasn't my birthday or anything. But for a run-of-the-mill Wednesday, the day was pretty darn fine.

I kicked off the day with a solid work-out in the gym. My legs, arms, and core were whipped when I was done. I'm in an intense phase of lifting right now so the training load is quite high. But the pay-off will be huge. Honestly, I quite enjoy the lifting. There is nothing quite like being able to squeeze out another rep or sliding some more weight onto the bar. Addictive. Chased this with a wet ride to the office. I really wanted to ride to spin out my legs, so I dressed for the rain and packed extra clothes for tonight's training. The training ride marked a bunch of firsts: first time riding the O-Train, first time in the Gatineau Park this year, first time riding with Skip from Kingsbridge. All of this plus the beautiful weather made for an excellent training session.

Skip and I have been trying to hook up for a ride for so long so it was nice to finally get a ride in. You may remember that Skip's company Kingsbridge was a big supporter of Ottawa Cross last season. We had a great ride with plenty of storytelling, catching up, climbing and descending. Kudos to Jay for a super strong ride (it was his second time on his new bike). Thanks for the ride guys - we'll have to do it again soon.

I rode home from the Gats, so this made for a good session on the bike. Some intensity from the hill climbing combined with a steady endurance ride. Just what coach Steve ordered.

Now, I'm just chilling out. The fridge is fairly empty so we caved and went out for some food. There is a pretty good restaurant here in Barrhaven called Liu's Cusisine. This place does take-out and eat-in. They also have a menu that includes: Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai. So we can pick exactly what we want. Extra bonus is the owners are super friendly and the service is top-notch.

On the grocery front, this is the first time in a long time our fridge has looked this bare. Typically I'm all over the groceries but the Victoria Day closure threw a snag into my routine. Had planned to go last night but we got home late from the crit and frankly I was happy to sit on the couch and eat the leftovers from our barbecue on Saturday. The plan was to go to the grocery store tonight... Well, I now have a revised plan: grocery store on Thursday!

So that's it for my most excellent day. Great day of training. Some good times spent with friends out in the sunshine. Nice meal out with my favorite guy and a chance to catch up on our days. Now I'm sitting here nicely recovered with a mug of chai tea and I'll soon being in bed reading my current book: Comfort Food.

Sending some positive vibes out to my pal (you know who you are). Marc and I are thinking of you.

Good

Pretty much sums up life right now. Plain and simple: good. Just the way it should be. Good.

Had a most excellent long weekend. In fact one of the most relaxing weekends I've had in a long time. We really just hibernated here at home. Had a mini stay-cation. The weekend was still busy. But in a more satisfying, less harried way than most weekends.

Spent most of it by really just being. Doing the things we enjoy and trying to not get caught up with "getting things done". Suppose it helped that my dad has been visiting. He was content to just hang out. So that's what we did. Did all of us some good.

I got in some excellent time on the bike. Some good hard rides on the weekend and a sweet recovery ride today. Spent lots of time tucking into my latest book. My mom sent two books for me: Comfort Food and Knit Two both by Kate Jacobs. I decided the long weekend was the perfect excuse to take a break from my serious reading and let my brain relax a bit. I'm thoroughly enjoying Comfort Food.

I like food. I like reading about cooking and recipes. I spend a lot of time browsing cooking web sites. Marc might also say I spend a lot of time watching the Food Network. So a novel about the host of a cooking show is right up my alley.

Speaking of food, I'm trying to decide what to cook for us this week. What I'm really looking for is a decent couscous and mergues sausage recipe. If you have one you'd recommend, please pass it on to me. Right now if I can't find a decent couscous/mergues sausage recipe it looks like we'll be have hot and sour chicken soup (super tasty recipe from Chatelaine magazine) and Asian chicken wraps. I always like to try one new recipe a week but sometimes I run short on time... I've finally found a healthy granola recipe that I'm going to test out this week as well.

So that's really about it. We're all just winding down here. In fact all three of us are sitting here with black apples on our laps. Guess it does run in the family!

Thanks to Marc I've got a complete stable of bikes to choose from this week. He did a ton of work on my road bike: cleaned it, replaces cables, tightened the headset, and a bunch of other stuff; he put my 'cross bike together for me and set me up with some new Challenge clinchers for training; Marc also got my mountain bike ready by throwing some pedals on it. So I'm ready. I'll be hitting up the trails this weekend on either the 'cross bike or the mountain bike. Totally stoked about this.

Got a big week of training ahead of me. Some serious work-outs in the gym complimented with some new biek work-outs. Going into a new block of training with some new work-outs. Super stoked about this. As well as getting my 'cross bike and getting started on fine-tuning my technical skills. Really looking forward to being out in nature riding my bike.

So lets change this. Not only am I good. But I'm lucky.

Also some plans cooking for the fall. Stay tuned. Lots of wheels turning and thoughts being tossed around. Exciting times.

Long Weekend

This weekend is one of those so treasured by most. The infamous long weekend. The long weekend in May signals a lot for Canadians. For the gardeners out there, this is typically when the gardening, planting and yardwork really gets going. For bike racers this weekend typically means lots of racing or lots of time to put miles in the legs. For others it is a time to hang out with family and friends and connect with people you haven't seen in a while.

Well, I've come out on top on two of the three. Got in some excellent training so far this weekend. A messy 2.5 in the rain on Saturday. But I was dressed for it and was doing tempo intervals so I didn't really notice the wet and the wind. A satisfying ride was done. Did a bunch of stuff in the house  to get ready for my dad's arrival.

My dad is staying with us for a few days so this is a nice treat. We took it pretty chilled out last night. The highlight being a trip to The Works for some tasty elk burgers and peanut butter/chocolate milkshakes for me and Marc and a banana split for my dad.

Today Marc and I were out the door at  6 a.m. Ouch! We were on our way to Dunrobin to get set up and volunteer at the Ride with Rendall Team Time Trial. This was the first time for this even so no one was really sure what to expect (especially since there are a lot of other races going on this weekend). In the end there were 17 teams out to race. I helped out the registration and I think things went smoothly. Lucky for us all the racers were very patient with us! Thanks everyone for coming out and making the event a success. I took off from the race a bit early and got in an awesome 3 hour ride. I've got to say it is darn windy out there and really not that warm.

Now my dad and I just chilling out here at the house. The usual stuff is happening. Chopped up a bunch of strawberries and have them marinating in a tasty balsamic/olive oil combo. These will be tossed with some spinach and part-skim mozeralla cheese for a tasty salad. It is barbecue night (luckily we have the king of barbecue here!) on deck are kebabs done on the barbecue. To accompany this we have corn on the cob and sweet potato fries. A pretty darn tasty and healthy spread for a Sunday night.

I think there are plans to watch The Wrestler tonight... We'll see how it goes with the fatigue level.

All in all a most excellent long weekend. You will notice I've made no mention of gardening and yardwork (sorry mom!). I do not posess a green thumb. I'm all for baking and cooking but really I don't have much of an attention span when it comes to gardening. Maybe when I'm older I will... The downside to this is I'm siting here looking at a veritable dandelion field in our backyard... I'll have to get Murphy out there and set him to work eating grass.

Okay, I'm out. Hope you're having a great long weekend and are getting a chance to catch up with friends and family.

Oh, almost forgot. We hooked up with our pals on Friday night and visited a new-to-us restaurant. We ate at Koreana on Somerset. This is a Korean bbq restaurant. It was okay. Not spectacular. We prefer Kwon's on Wilbrod. Koreana  has a fancier atmosphere than Kwon's. But the food and service is far superior at Kwon's. Nonetheless, it was a good night out catching up with our friends and sharing some laughs.