The Swim

The day dawned clear and cool, perfect for an open-water swim.  This was the second year of my Lake Windermere mission.  The plan was to beat my time of last year in the 2K, but this time I was a little more strategic in my "training", if you can call it that.  Instead of swimming hard every day until the race, I stopped on the Thursday before Sunday's event to give my muscles a rest.

Would this work?  We would see.  The other things I decided to eliminate on this swim were the breast and back strokes.  It would be front crawl all the way.  Heck, this was a race and I planned to treat it that way.  After a breakfast of banana and toast with peanut butter, and with an eight o'clock start, I arrived around 7:30 to pick up my race kit.  Milling around, I noticed that again this year, everyone was wearing a wet suit, save I.  I was not going to pay $400 for one for one swim a year. 

When the horn sounded, we were off.  I briefly looked at the 1K buoy waaaaaay, waaaaaay out there and decided not to look again.  It seemed so far away and I knew from last year that when I arrived at it, I would just have to turn around and swim all the way back!  Happily, Windermere was calm and not too cold.  I was off.  I got into "the zone" and just kept swimming and swimming.  When I arrived at the buoy, I was actually delusional enough to think maybe I should carry on and do the 5K, heck Nancy just swim on.  Fortunately, sanity prevailed and I rounded the orange "Wilson" and started back.

The swim from the 1K buoy, although the same distance, always seems much closer, even though it isn't.  But again, that elusive beach never seemed to get closer.  An hour and four minutes after I had started, I finally hit the beach.  

With 47 swimmers in the event, amazingly it was a 53-year-old woman who captured first prize with a time of 29:20!  She beat women in their 20s and 30s, not to mention 16 men.  Wow for her is all I can say!  To top it off, five women beat the first man to finish.  Guess it was a day for the ladies!  In my case, I bested last year's time by five minutes, but was still the oldest and finished last.  But not by much!  Overall, I was pretty pleased with my swim at 1:04 -- not to mention the beautiful pair of goggles I was given for being the oldest in the meet.

I am very lucky to have such a supportive family.  Daughter, son-on-law -- both ironmen themselves -- grandchildren and husband all came to cheer me on.  Someone took a video, but I am unable to upload it here.........for some tech reason that I have no clue how to solve.

So, maybe next year............5K?  Maybe................... 

           

Unfortunately.........

............I won't be going.  Was thrilled to have received an invitation to my cousin's daughter's wedding the other day.  Thrilled!  My first answer was, yes, I wouldn't miss it.  But then I began to run the scenario through in my mind.  No, it wouldn't work. 

My cousin and I grew up as bother and sister; we were very, very close.  Through his girlfriends, marriages and divorces, our bond was unbreakable.  Alas, his latest wife has managed it.  Before he married her, we were all close, but no longer.  Either she has no sense of humour (took offence at some blog I wrote.  Hell, if anyone takes offence at any of my blogs.....well, they're in for it....!!??), or she was looking for an excuse.  Regardless, she has ensured the rift.  But my cousin is not blameless, he let it happen. 

Bottom line, I cannot go to the wedding because I would have no support system.  Husband cannot attend, so I started to picture myself at the reception.  There I would be, alone.  It could have happened at my uncle's funeral last January, which I flew to attend, were it not for many high school friends who showed up.  We supported each other.  But this time, I don't think it will work. 

Sadly, I bought shower and wedding cards and sent off my gifts last week.  I adore my niece, but am going to have to miss her wedding. 

Warmest wishes to "K" and "P"!  xo N

Stupid

Allan Rock is at it again.  The head of the University of Ottawa has now decided to cancel a second season of hockey because of sexual assault charges against two players.  So, he has decided to punish two dozen players because of the behaviour of two.  And he actually admitted it might not be fair!  What an idiot. 

A couple of years ago he pulled a similarly dumb move when he refused to allow Ann Coulter to speak because a few Arab students protested.  How pathetic was that!  (Think I blogged it at the time.)  Even if it cost a couple of million to fire his ass, the board should do it.  A guy like that has no place in an institute of higher learning.

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On another note, the natives are restless and calling for an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.  Hey, how about an inquiry into the culture of child neglect, hopelessness, unemployment, entitlement, crime and substance abuse on reserves?  Never mind more millions on an inquiry, how about starting to insist natives become responsible for the rearing of their own offspring?  And by the way, we don't need an inquiry because the natives already know what the problems are:  the rest of Canada and money.........never enough.  The Globe and Mail had an excellent editorial about this, saying...

"Canada's native community, particularly the on-reserve Indian community, is suffering from an epidemic of criminality, an epidemic of violence, an epidemic of victimization, an epidemic of lack of education, an epidemic of joblessness, an epidemic of substance abuse and an epidemic of hopelessness."

And let's face it, that whole residential schools deal is wearing a bit thin.  It's now a scapegoat, not a reason.  It's time native leaders looked in the mirror, instead of training their focus on "Ottawa".  Over to them.    

Me and guess who?

"I like that necklace," said the famous basketball star.  He himself was decked out in earrings and piercings and....you name it....scarves, hats, shoes...........the whole deal.

This man played for the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks.  He earned the NBA all-defensive honours seven times and won the NBA defensive player of the year award twice.  He has also been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.  (Yes, basketball is a Canadian invention, James Naismith hailed from Almonte, Ontario.)  

Who was it?  Dennis Rodman.  He was making an appearance in Calgary five minutes from where we live to promote his new line of vodka.  A friend, with whom I swim, told me about it this morning and said he was going.  So I went, but the lineup was stupid.  Came home, but when he called again to tell me he was there, I went back.  Could not resist.  So, here I am with the infamous Dennis Rodman and an autographed bottle.  (Had to buy one to get my picture taken)  It was a lot of fun:



Ho hum, another typical Saturday.

 

Fashion(?) I don't like

Bought the latest 'Bazaar' today, something I rarely do, just to see what hideous outfits are in vogue these days.  Here are a few dandies.  No need to comment, you'll get it:

 

How the mighty have fallen!  Everything is ugly and nothing, but nothing matches!  But I am sure vapid women pay thousands to look like this.  Sad.


But you can't beat Ralph Lauren.  Maybe that's why he's outlasted everyone.  Absolutely classic and stunning -- not to mention flattering:

I also like this dress, very chic and cute:

I think many designers try to outdo each other with "stupid".  All of it an ego trip for the designer and all of it rendering women completely hideous. 













Splat, crash, boom

That was me, hitting the floor of the kitchen in our rented cottage in Windermere, after having had to crawl through the window when the front door would not open.  Seriously.  I actually had to remove the screen, hoist myself up and crawl through the screen only to face the kitchen sink.  Didn't want to smash it, so tried to jump over and landed with a "splat" on the floor. 

This was just after my 2K swim.  Guess I thought I was Super-woman!?  Thank G-d for Voltaren.  The person who inspired me to swim across lakes was Marilyn Bell.  Remember her?  She was 16 when she became the first person to swim across Lake Ontario.  Fifty-two kilometres, or 32 miles.  What am I thinking with 2Ks???!!!!  Ridiculous.  She swam 50 more than I!  But I do remember watching TV with my parents and marvelling at her perseverance!  I was nine when I swam across the lake at our cottage in St. Pierre de Wakefield.  Since then, when I see a lake I have to swim it. 

Other delights at Windermere are as follows:

Our neighbour

This was a garbage dump in Windermere.  So many flowers, I was bowled over!

Daughter and grandchildren at Radium Hot Springs pool.  

Not just another pretty face

One of the most important military and telecommunications inventions ever was created by a very beautiful and famous A-list movie star who was huge in the 40s and 50s.  Any clue?  This ravishingly dazzling woman heard a bizarre and discordant multi-piano composition by an obscure composer at a dinner party one evening and a brilliant idea stuck her.

What if the composition formula could be used to jam torpedo radio communications in WW II and throw them off course?  It worked by broadcasting interference to cause the torpedo to go off course.  Called "Spread Sectrum Communications Technology", it was revolutionary.  She and the composer worked out a complicated formula and took it to Washington, where a congressional committee prompted threw it out as the work of a silly Hollywood star.  Smart as a whip, she nonetheless patented the rejected invention.   

How dumb they were because at the time U boats were being sunk left, right and centre, eventually causing the death of 75,000 seamen and preventing much-needed supplies to reach the battlefields.  Who was this beauty who could have changed all that?  Heddy Lamar, that's who.  I could not believe it.  Learned all this from 'Extraordinary Women' on PBS last evening.  Married six times, Lamar's personal life was a shambles, but she was a genius.  Relegated to the Hollywood trash heap when her looks faded, she had practically no relationship with her three children and lived as a threadbare recluse until....until....Wi-Fi came along. 

The rest is history, of course.  All cordless and wireless communications are based on her original formula and she made a fortune towards the end of her life, becoming a multi-millionaire all over again. 

So, the next time you use your phone or Bluetooth, think of Heddy.  Who knew!?       

Unconscionable

As a former Customs and Excise (now Canada Border Services) employee, I am outraged that a group of  Hindu priests refused to deal with women officers on the front line and some cowardly manager ordered the female officers off the line at Pearson and replaced them by men! How could this happen?! We are such a chickensh-t country it's appalling.

Never mind as a former employee, I am outraged as a woman and a Canadian. What's next? Someone refuses to be dealt with by a gay officer? Or a person-of-colour? The union has stepped in and is demanding to know who ordered their removal. Good for them. For once they're defending their employees and Canadian laws and values.  Naturally, the perpetrator has neither stepped up, nor tried to justify this outrage.  As I said, it's chickensh-t behaviour.

Just imagine going to India and refusing to deal with a front-line Customs agent because he/she was Hindu.  Just feature it!  Just imagine going to an African country and refusing to deal with an agent because he/she was black!  Only Canada would break the law to accommodate personal whims.   

It's absolutely stunning that this happened. What is wrong with people?!

 

My generation fought tooth and nail to secure the right to any job and these people are shoving us back two generations!  If it was a woman manager who ordered this I will be wilder, but I suspect it was a woman.  The male customs officers I knew were well-versed in Canadian law and simply would not have acquiesced to this ridiculous and illegal request.  Officer training in Rigaud has obviously come completely unglued and I can just imagine the number of "sensitization" courses that are now mandatory.  Last time I checked, the Canada Border Services Agency was a law enforcement agency, not a kindergarten.

 

"Sensitivity" and "political correctness" have gone way too far -- to the point where we break the law to accommodate some prehistoric, cave-man request.  For once, I am almost speechless.     

Welcome to Italy!

That's what B exclaimed when I read him a ridiculous article this morning, reprinted from The Telegraph.  Guess who is lecturing at a prestigious Italian University on how to handle "situations of panic and crisis"?!!??  Wait for it...........disgraced Costa Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino -- that's who! 

You could not make that up.  Not in a million years!  The guy is charged with multiple counts of manslaughter in the disaster he failed to deal with...."Oops, I accidentally tripped and fell into a lifeboat"......and scrambled to safety while hundreds of passengers and crew were still on board and many, many perished.  Here's a completely ludicrous and delusional quote:

"I was invited because I'm an expert," he told La Nazione newspaper.  "I illustrated how situations of panic should be managed.  I know how one should behave in cases like this, how one needs to act."  This is unbelievable!  His idea of how to act was to abandon ship and leave passengers to drown.  Hey, I'm alright, Jack! 

The course he lectured at was part of the department of forensic psychiatry.  Perfect, except they had the wrong end up.  The university claims it did not invite him and he simply "showed up" and gave a talk.

Please.   

A Couple of Airheads

Just listened to two young women debating "feminism" on CBC.  They have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.  None. 

I'll tell you what a "feminist" is:  I am a feminist.  In 1968 I was on the vanguard of "feminism".  The pill had come out, bras were burned and we thought we had the ticket!  We were wrong.  The pill meant guys had carte blanche with girls; stupidly the girls thought they were "free".  Free?  Free for what?  Free to be used by guys is what that meant.  We were duped. 

I don't even know what a feminist is?  I have no clue about "women's lib".  What I do know is that I did not want to squander my university education hanging around the kitchen, asking my husband for $2 for nylons.  But I also did not want to be penalized for having the biological function of bearing children.  I wanted to be treated both as a woman and as a contributing member of society.  Thankfully, I managed that.  I have always earned my own money, raised my children without outside support and paid my bills -- all without the help of a man.

I still have no idea what "women's lib" is?  I have no idea what "feminism" is?  All I know is that I want to be independent, want to be treated like a lady, want to be a woman, want to be a mother and want to be a grandmother.  I don't hate men, I love men!

There is no reason women can't be women and men can't be men.  We are different, but equal.  Is that feminism?  I have no clue.             

Under-dressed and Over-charged

There he sat, ball cap on backwards, sporting a glaring T-shirt and ugly shorts.  His dinner companions were not better attired, but at least no ball caps.  This was in 'The Bear's Den', one of the priciest restaurants in Calgary. 

Typical.  Is there anything uglier or stupider that a ball cap on backwards?   

When you enter the Den a "dress code" sign greets you, but hey, who cares!  This is Calgary and it's jeans, jeans and more jeans.  I know it's me, but I am old-fashioned and believe jeans are for "this" and other attire for "that".  As I have blogged, I don't own a pair because I no longer look good in them.  Now to the menu:

I ordered steak tartar, one of my favourites, but the chef messed it up because he jammed nutmeg into it and covered it in crème fraiche.  Yuck.  You just don't do that.  The only dessert I will eat is one bite of cheesecake, but the chef got smarty-pantsy and it arrived as something called "cheesecake cloud", which bore absolutely no resemblance to cheesecake.  It was all fluffy and had ice cream at its centre?!  Where was the gorgeous hard cheesecake I love?  Took one bite and that was that.  Told the manager, either you serve actual cheesecake, or you call it something else.  It's not cheesecake. 

Why do chefs have to get silly with basics?

Don't even want to tell you what the bill was, but it was drastically over-priced. 

Won't be back.