Finished the Nordic Walk today.  We did the 15 km.  I walked with Judy and Roya.  Roya is a girl in my Brain Fog class.  The Walk raised over 112 thousand dollars for the Maplesoft center where I take my Brain Fog classes, yoga, exercise classes etc.  All of the classes are free for survivors so they rely on fund raising to keep going.  Now to get ready for next weekend to go in the Rattle me Bones 5km run on Sunday.  It is to raise money for Bone cancer.  I am in the craft sale on Sat to sell my scarves to raise money for the run.  Sorry no pictures today but it was the same as last year so scroll down to last year and you can see the pictures that I took that year of Maplesoft.

Lac Benard last weekend.  Nothing like being in the Gatineau when the leaves start to change colours.  We stayed over Sat night and had a great bonfire.  It was a great time.

Last Sat we went kayaking from the foot of Malakoff to the Rideau Locks.  It was kinda scary when we met the hunters coming out of the water.  It was opening day for duck and goose hunting.  They told us if we stayed out of the swampy areas we would be ok and wouldn't get shot at.  It was a beautiful day.  The water was really calm.  The car at the bottom is one of those amphibious cars.  It looked very interesting cruising along.

Ruth and I had a great day on the St Lawrence.  I do not remember ever seeing it so calm.  The sun was out most of the time and we both had our boat skirts on so stayed warm and dry.  We stopped at a picnic island and walked around a bit.  We picked up a map of the islands that explains which ones are camp grounds and which ones are just for picnics.  We will go back next summer and maybe stay on one.   We went in at St Lawrence park and went west.  Not sure how far we got but went for a couple of hours.  When we came back we went as far as Block House and then turned around and came back.  It was a good day.

I took in 29 more Chemo hats on Friday.  Went to the 8th floor where I had my chemo.  The nurses there told me they were moving to the 2nd floor of the cancer building so that is where I will take them the next time.  No more seeing little babies on the 8th floor on my way.  They said that they would take the hats over there for me this time.  They were very grateful for them.  They said that I was the only Angel these days bringing in hats.  All of the other donors haven't given any in a while.  I can make one a day so I should have a bunch more ready when I go back on the first of Oct for my check up.  Tomorrow Ruth and I are going to Brockville to go out on the St Lawrence with our kayaks.  It is only going to be 11 so I guess we will have to dress warm.  Stay tuned for tomorrows pictures of the 1000 islands from my kayak.

No 100 km this weekend but still lots of activity.  Tennis then kayaking.  We went from Rockliffe to Parliament Hill and back on the Ottawa River.

One of the tour boats with Gatineau in the background.  That is King Eddie bridge

Ruth and Margaret enjoying the view.

It was beautiful with the sun bouncing off the water.

Looking up into Gatineau.  Not sure what this river is that flows into the Ottawa.

These were the only houses along the shore on the Quebec side.  The rest was all woods.

Rideau Falls where the Rideau River goes into the Ottawa.  Really powerful when you are that close in a small boat.

Lots of foam on the water was our first clue that we were getting close to the falls.

Beautiful sun sparkling on the water.  This was in the afternoon too... not at sunset time.

Proof we made it to the hill.  The ride back was easy since the current carried us.

One of many places with lots of boats.  This one is across from Parliament Hill.

Just had to take more pictures for proof we were there.

This is the falls from the other side of the river.  We went up one side then back the other.

I kinda uploaded these pictures in a mish mash order.  I think that this is after pit stop number 3 if I remember correctly.  The bottom picture should be first but it is too much work to move it.

I love this one.  It looks like I am zooming around the corner.  This was the tight turn to come down the chute for the finish line.

This is about 20 ft from the finish line.  Note my white flag.  All survivors were asked to allow them to put a flag on our bikes to inspire the others.  There were either 33 or 37 of us out of the 800 riders.  It stirred up some conversations along the way for sure.  If any of you saw the guys with the blue flags... they raised more than  $10k.

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This was in Richmond coming into town just before the 50km finish line.  I never thought that I would wear spandex in public and now I am even showing pictures.

This is what appears on the Ride the Rideau Website now.  There were 37 survivors on the ride.  We all had white flags on our bikes.

Ruth and Jennifer in their canoe next to the swans.  The bridge in the background is Bank St. at Billings Bridge.

Nice way to relax after the ride yesterday.  We went in at Billings Bridge since it is more sheltered there so we would be out of the wind and cold.

I still do not have any pictures from the ride.  I know that there were a lot taken of me but none of them got posted to the site.  Still waiting for the Zoomphoto ones to be posted.  I am happy with what I did for the ride.  The time that is posted on sportstats website includes the four pitstops that I took.  The washroom line ups were long so I figure I rode in under 5 hours and the rest of the time was filling up my water bottle and going to the washroom at the four stops.  Considering at the beginning of the summer I was sick to my stomach after only doing 50 km.  I have increased my endurance and stamina a lot over the summer.  The rest of my team all finished the 50 km.  One person was injured falling off her bike and scraping her leg but she was a trooper and stuck with it and finished.

It was very windy.  I stuck behind three girls for about 30 km which made it easier since I used them for drafting.  They took too long at pit stop 3 so I went on without them and found out just how much I was using them.  The rest of the race was a lot harder peddling.  My knees hurt now when I ride but my butt is better.  They raised my seat when I got my tune up and changed the angle of it.  I think I have to change the height again since my knees should not be hurting like they were.  Legs were sore at the end but I just kept thinking they did not hurt half as much as after chemo treatments last summer and at least the pain was for a good cause.  A couple of tylenol and I was good to go again.  I am looking into finding out how to get into the kayak trip for a week from Kingston to Ottawa for next summer.  It too raises money for cancer research.  Stay tuned.  But first next month is the Nordik walk for the Maplesoft centre.  Never a dull minute.

Mom turned 90 today!!!!

Of course we went to Kelly's to celebrate!!!