Cats and Boxes
26 Aug 2026
Today Grandpa enjoyed a quiet morning ride. He also said it was rather cool during his ride. I guess the dog days of summer really are here. Fall is rapidly approaching whether we like it or not! Switching gears before seasonal depression sets in. Did you know that cats love boxes? I believe this a universally known fact but, just in case it's not. Allow me to back it up with some official cat owner science. I have observed my cats enjoying many boxes. Big boxes, small boxes, giant boxes but, never tiny boxes. Yesterday our cat Little was trying to sit in a teeny tiny box. As you can see from this picture even though he is Little (hence his name) he was still to big for this particular box. However, he was not deterred and tried to get into it anyway! I am still researching the "cat trap" phenomenon where cats climb into a box instantly if its open. Perhaps it's because they are curious or, it could be because they have nine lives. Who can say? I shall continue my research into cats fascination with boxes 😉. (p.s please excuse my messy table. I was trying to do some cleaning and Little was "helping".)
Posted 20 hours ago
Balloon Fun!
26 Aug 2026
This morning was quite foggy! Grandpa had a good ride but mentioned there was lots of construction going on. Luckily the construction didn't effect his ride! I went out for a nice walk this afternoon and read some more of the book "Walk" that I mentioned yesterday. The book once again blew my mind with more fascinating information about walking and the importance of our feet! I really can't recommend this book enough and I don't usually read non-fiction. But as much fun as I had walking and reading (not at the same time of course 😅). Mom had the most fun of all! With the end of summer approaching so too is the end of summer reading club. For those who don't know summer reading club is an annual event hosted by TD that encourages kids to read during the summer. However, its not just about reading. Libraries across the country put on programs and events for the kids. From crafting to journal making, to science experiments there is a program for everything! And at the end of summer reading club there is of course a closing party! Mom hosted the closing party at her branch today and had a balloon artist there. This talented balloon wizard made kids balloon animals of their choice. Monkeys, spiders, cows, horses, and cats were created in every colour! I still don't understand how people twist balloons into such complex shapes. It's like physics magic! 111 people showed up for the closing party so mom was very busy! But she had fun and got her very own balloon turtle (isn't she cute?🥰)
Posted 2 days ago
Walk the Walk
25 Aug 2026
This morning Grandpa ran into his 90 year old firefighter friend again! Unfortunately, the construction on the main street is in full swing and they couldn't hear each other over the noise. But don't worry I'm sure they'll run into each other again soon! Especially since the 90 year old man (I hate to keep calling him that but I don't know his name! 😅) is keeping himself healthy with his daily walk! Turns out a daily walk of at least 30 minutes can improve your mood, lower your stress, help you sleep better, decrease you risk of dementia and certain types of cancer, strengthen your bones, and increase muscle mass! Getting in your daily dose of walking is extremely important for your overall health and longevity. Did you know that our ancestors use to walk more than 15,000 steps a day? Of course that was before we rode horses and invented the carriage and then the car. Where did I learn all these interesting walking facts I hear you say. From a book of course! (classic library worker!). The book is called 'Walk' by Dr. Courtney Conley & Dr. Milica McDowell. It's an amazing book about how important and beneficial walking is for our health and wellbeing. It even debunked the myth about 10,000 steps being the daily target everyone must meet. In reality the average daily step goal is 3,000 - 3,500 steps (which is very attainable!). But the more steps the better obviously! Our bodies are meant for moving not sitting. So, if you're able to walk get out there and walk everyday! You may even see a tree person while you're out there 👀 (p.s. mom would like to add some walking slogans she came up with. "Beat the street, move your feet!", "March in place, you'll win the race", "Keep your stride, move your thighs", "Wiggle your toes, that's how it goes", "Get some rest, be at your best". She said she couldn't stop! 😂 Can you tell she entertains children for a living?)
Posted 3 days ago
Game of Cards Anyone?
24 Aug 2026
Grandpa cannot be stopped! After smashing our ride goal yesterday. He was back out this afternoon for another 10km ride! After waiting for the rain to clear he headed out only to be met with on and off showers along the way. Luckily he didn't get to wet. We stopped in to see my grandparents right when grandpa was coming home from his ride. We delivered grandpa his 2026 GCC cycling jersey! He looked great in it! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a pic of him modeling his jersey so I'll have to get him to pose for a pic later 😉. We enjoyed playing a few card games while we were visiting too! My grandma is the queen of card games! She's really good at them and won our first game of Racko! Our latest favourite is Skip-Bo. It's really fun and more strategic than you think. We love to play a few rounds of it whenever we visit! Here's a pic of all the games we played today!
Posted 4 days ago
Achievement Unlocked!
23 Aug 2026
Today Grandpa completed our 200km ride goal! Whoo hoo!! It only took him 21 days which is really impressive! I did the math and with his 3 routes he does 100km every 11 days. Isn't that crazy!? I'm very proud of grandpa for completing our ride goal. Way to go grandpa! Oh, and he also reported that he saw people setting up for a horse show at the fair grounds this morning. He enjoys watching the horse shows at the fairs so I'm sure he'll being checking it out! The Richmond Fair is coming up on September 17th and will be the 182nd fair! My Mom and I use to enter crafts into the fair when I was a kid. I don't mean to toot my own horn but I won a lot of first place ribbons and so did Mom. In fact Mom use to enter into this category where you had to come up with your own wine or beer label. She was really good and always got first prize! We always had lots of fun making stuff for the fair it was great time! Maybe I should give grandpa a first place ribbon for doing 200km 😉 (p.s Mom did all of these labels by hand! From sketching the concept, to painting, to cutting them out, and finally fixing it to the bottle. She said she use to go to the LCBO and look for interestingly shaped beer bottles from other countries. Then she'd bring them home and give them to my Dad and say "here drink this. I need the bottle" 😂. She also wanted to point out that she made all these with inspiration from books not the internet. Because it was the early 2000s and there was no Pinterest or Instagram to scroll through for inspiration 😅).
Posted 5 days ago
