So on Christmas day Ryan and I ended up seeing Sherlock Holmes - great movie! We had planned to see more than one but took too long eating breakfast, then I still had to wrap a bunch of presents. That set us back a bit. We saw the show at the AMC near my place, then had about an hour to kill between the movie and leaving for dinner. We watched half of 500 Days of Summer back at my house.

When it was time to leave, it was pouring rain and the temperature hovered around the freezing mark. Ryan offered to drive to Laurel's and then bring me home again but I didn't want to make him drive two hours out of his way in these conditions. The rain would turn the roads to black ice if the temperature dropped even half a degree. Ryan lives about 10 minutes from Laurel's place. Since Greece, I'm much more aware of my son's safety. I don't ever want to be responsible for putting him in danger again - age doesn't come into it anymore - so I decided we should take our own cars.

Dinner was great, as always. My sister is a really good cook. Tara & Melissa helped with a couple of the side dishes but Melissa didn't leave her wing of the house the entire time we were there. She's nineteen but has apparently been having a tough start to 2nd year at Queens which has resulted in "issues" when "dealing" with people. Every family has their way of coping with eating and/or anxiety/stress disorders but from my observation, money becomes a buffer against common sense. I am so confused about what's going on, the story changes, so all I can do is sit and wait for the dust to settle. We left shortly after exchanging gifts with the rest of the family. I think I've finally convinced my sister that we should all go away somewhere warm and beachy for next Christmas.

Boxing day, I stayed in bed until 9:30, getting up for paddle pool at the last possible second(seriously, none of us could remember why we decided to go but all five of us were glad we did!). Afterwards, everyone had to rush off but I had time to stop at Starbucks for a coffee.

I'm always wondering if I'd be happier in a downtown condo but on days like this, with time to just sit and take in the view, I love where I live. I sat at the north-east corner table, looking across at the lighthouse with the river in behind. A group of runners went by in their Running Room penguin jackets, chatting and laughing. I watched the lake swell push tiny crests up the river. Very relaxing, kinda hypnotic.

Surprisingly, Port Credit still has that small town atmosphere. It's too bad there are so many condos going up along Lakeshore. (Which reminds me that there are a few more photos to take for my boxing day, year-end wrap-up.). Things will change dramatically over the next few years. But today I could still believe that PC is just a small, harbour town. I watched a man walk up the public boat ramp from the river leading some sort of waterfowl parade. A long line of geese, ducks, a single swan and one or two seagulls followed him across the parking lot and gathered around the back of his pickup truck. Clearly this was a regular thing. He scooped and spread birdseed like a pro. My guess is he's spent some time in a barnyard because these weren't the actions of a weekender. They come down to the river to entertain their small children and get rid of their stale bread. This man clearly felt responsible for the birds' upkeep.

On Sunday, it was ridiculously warm with some weak sunlight.
I've wrecked my left foot somehow and can't run so, desperate to get some exercise, I went for a 25km bike ride. I doubled up on the layers and wore my x-c ski gloves. Perfect temp (although my earlobes were exposed).

I'd started my ride by heading towards Oakville. I ran into Stringer and his two kids on my way out of our neighbourhood. We chatted for a bit - they're heading to Mexico - but he's been sick and was feeling a little chilled so I kept it brief.
At the foot of Winston Churchill, I decided to head north. Damn that hill up to the QEW is tough when you haven't been training. I wish I'd worn my heart rate monitor. I doubt I've gotten it that high in awhile. And I don't think I've ever used the full range of gears - especially those smaller ones! Once you pass the QEW though, it flattens out completely so the rest of the ride was just pure pleasure.

I stopped at Chapters on Dundas @ 403 on my way home and picked up The Book of Negroes, for our next book club along with Surfer and Bicycling magazine.

One the way home, I decided to try a different route and came across a trail system I didn't know about. It runs along the south side of the QEW. I came to a fork and since one path swung back northward, I took the other which carried on in a south-easterly direction. I came out at Truscott near Southdown and cut across to Clarkson road and home.

I enjoyed the ride so much that I pulled my old indoor trainer out of the garage and set it up in the basement. There's one bolt missing so I'll have to get to Canadian Tire once it's open.