Shameless Plug

A blog post about building the new shed in the backyard is in the works! I promise!

Until then, this is a shameless plug for my graphic recording website...

http://www.tanyagadsby.wordpress.com/

I'm really loving this work!

Secret Garden

I've been meaning to post a few photos of our garden. It's been doing alright this year. But I think the garden likes to fool me... last year our one cucumber plant flourished. So this year I planted five of them, but the cucumbers are thumb-sized and shrivelled :(

Tomatoooooes! I love grape tomatoes.

The self-replenishing lettuce aisle.

I planted eight sunflowers. Only one grew.

The two zucchini plants I bought from the Moss Street Market are HUUUGE.

And the basil is also quite plump this year. Good old Basil.

That dead thing in the corner of the fence? Yeah that was once a big rose bush... until we moved it... and he died a slow death. RIP rose bush.

Breakin' the Silence

Hallo! How y'all doin'? We've been fine, although silent for the past month... or more... eeeeeeee....

But here's a quick visual summary of what we've been up to.

Eating al fresco Italian dinners in our lovely backyard garden. (with vino of course!)

Eating al fresco home-cooked meals on the parents' back deck. (with vino of course!)

Tending the garden. Trying not to kill the roses...

Jersey got a haircut. He thinks they took too much off. But it keeps him cool so I told him to keep his mouth shut.

And of course, we've been mountain biking. I joined the Dirty Girlz Club and I've been lovin' learning new skills and meeting like-minded ladies. I actually haven't been on a road ride in a couple weeks!

Cam's been practicing this wicked jump, pictured above. Here's the scary moving picture of the same jump... mothers, cover your eyes.

Today I decided to see how long it would take me to bike out to Hartland, the local mountain bike park (up by the red X). I'm going to have to do it a few times over the next weeks because the women's rides are right after work!

Cam met me up there with the truck and we went for a good ride on the trails.

This is my custom-made laminated map of Hartland... I colour coded the trails so I don't accidentally wander onto scary double black diamond trails.

Today Cam and I wound our way up the Switchbacks to the top... then descended Snakes & Ladders.

Now I'm ready for bed. Goodnight.

Pump Track Madness

On Canada Day, Cam and I hit up the pump track up in North Saanich. It was my first time out, but I had tons of fun. The swoopy hills and corners are great skill-building... and there ain't no roots or tree stumps to catch my wheels! My kinda trails.

This is a wee video we made....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZhvYYaYEm8


:)

Mt. Tzouhalem Adventure

Cameron and I tossed the mountain bikes in the truck and ventured over the Malahat to Duncan yesterday. We headed to Mt. Tzouhalem where a myriad of trails criss-cross through the woods for kilometres.

Cam said there were great easy trails for me to ride.... but after two hours of mostly hiking up the mountain and getting so deep in the woods I wondered if we were lost, we eventually found the easy trails.

But sadly we were both exhausted by then, so only did one quick ride down an easy trail.

Oh well, this kind of thing toughens me up. I just need to get past the "beginner" stage of mountain biking.

The killer view from atop Mt. Tzouhalem.... it doesn't look it, but Cam's feet are dangling over the edge of a few hundred foot drop.

Dinner with Giada

I cracked open Giada's cookbook this morning for some inspiration. She hasn't failed us in the past.

So I made a list and checked it twice!

Some appies to start with... grilled ciabatta bread topped with ricotta cheese, fresh mint, tomato and oregano.

Followed by almond-crusted salmon on puff pastry with pesto and tomatoes.

But honestly... I admit I saved room for dessert...

Chocolate cake with mascarpone icing and sugar hazelnut shards.

I promise to only have one piece.

Well, maybe one tomorrow too.

But not the next day, I swear.

Who you lookin' at??

There was no one else around during my hill repeats up the Observatory last night. Usually there are at least four other cyclists grinding up the hill too, but it was just me this time. Gotta love the peace n' quiet.

Then I noticed this fellow, sitting in a tree at the bottom of the hill, watching me.

See the owl?

Each time I came down he was there.

Then on my last time down he was gone, but there were these two robins making a heck of a racket just up the road. So I went to check it out and there was Mr. Owl. The robins were dive bombing him -- he must have been close to their nest. But he paid them no mind. He just sat on his branch and stared at the ground. 

I guess owls hunt by staring at the ground looking for mice. Only this owl kept falling asleep! He would look and look and then his head would droop and his eyes would close.

Until some rude girl on a bicycle decided to squawk at him in order to get a good photo.