2022 Rides - Week Twenty-Four

Monday 13 June I rode with Keiran to school on the tandem and then did a look of the south bridges and the Circle Drive Bridge

Rolling out it looked pretty grey and I thought maybe I'd get rained on... but I don't think I did... 

Spotted this little critter, which was pretty exciting. 

It's an America Mink. I usually see one about once a year, somewhere along the river downtown. They like to hide and play among the rocks on the banks of the river. 

Geese by the Vimy Memorial

The pedestrian/bicycle bridge at Circle Drive. 

New graffiti on the Circle Drive Bridge... which made me giggle... because I'm still twelve years old, apparently...!?

Path under the CPR bridge

Downtown and surroundings looking pretty green! 

Tuesday 14 June I dropped Keiran off at school again and then rode up to the Chief Mistawasis Beidge and east Through the swale. 

Spotted a Peregrin Falcon atop a downtown building. 

Crazy clouds...

Again thought I was totally going to get rained on, and I did, but it was very light and very brief. 

More crazy clouds being reflected in the uncharacteristically still water near the Chief Mistawasis Bridge. 

Heading back towards home, I spotted a pair of idiots trying to fish from a canoe near the weir!? Wow... Couple of potential Darwin Award candidates right there... 

Wednesday 15 June rode with Keiran to school and then rushed back home to switch bikes and head downtown for an appointment! 

Was almost late for appoinement because I, obviously, HAD to stop and take piles of pictures of the totally still river water reflecting stuff!? 

I mean, how could I NOT!? 

And... y'know... the GEESE!? 

More relfections

Also contributing to my lateness was construction requiring detours!? 

After the appointment I rolled up to the Circle Drive Bridge and across and down preston to the 14th street bikeway and to Staples and Superstore.... near Preston Crossing i spotted a DEER!? It quickly darted off into some neaby trees, but it stopped long enough to see if I was pursuing - which was long enough for me to get a picture of it! 

All I did Thursday was take Keiran to school and pick them up after - but after I picked them up we rolled downtown to the library to pick up some books on hold... 

On our way home we spotted the downtown Gosling Day Care going out for swimming lessons

They're all getting so big. 

Friday 17 June was another day of just ferrying Keiran about on the tandem - to and from school, then to and from a junior prom-like-event at Free Flow Dance Centre

Saturday 18 June I tooke Keiran downtown to meet some friends from school to walk in the Saskatoon Pride parade. 

This really doesn't give a good sense of how many people were there... it seriously felt like the entire city was walking in the parade - there were so many people in the marshalling area and as I rode home, there was just an unending stream of people heading in the opposite direction towards the marshalling area. I wondered who would be WATCHING the parade if EVERYONE was IN it!? (I am assured there were many, MANY people lining the streets). 

After the isolation of the last few years of pandemic and all the unending news cycle of hateful anti-gay/trans legislation being passed in so many states, it was uplifting to see SO MANY PEOPLE coming out to be involved in and support the Pride parade and festival. I would be a massive understatement to say I wasn't a little emotional as I rode along the trails downtown 

I was heading home because parades are just not my thing, for so many reasons... I find them overwhelming and loud, and simultaneously sooooo loooooong and boring. I also had plans to go for longer rides on both Saturday and Sunday to get me up to 200Km this week... 

But then it was +35°C on Saturday and the ride downtown to drop off Keiran almost did me in... 

I used to be less affected by such extremes, but the last few years I've felt like dying anytime the temperature gets above +25°C!? 

So I hid indoors all day.

Sunday 19 June I also planned to get out and ride... but I had book club in the evening and had not read the book... so I stayed home and did that... 

Maybe next week... 

2022 Rides - Week Twenty-Three

This is getting a little out of hand... TOO... MANY... PICTURES...!? Briefly I thought, "Oh, I should start doing posts for EVERY RIDE" because less pictures per post!? But that's going to just be WAY too much work, I'm having a hard enough time getting ONE post done on a weekly basis... I'll probably just have to take less pictures... or be a more ruthless editor of them going forward. Anyway, this is how last week went... 

No Mow May seems to be extending into June in our yard... 

(have since mowed it... a bit...) 

Monday I rode up to the Circle Drive Bridge and back down the other side, stopping at Broadway to pick up some groceries. 

Goslings downtown getting bigger and bigger... 

Pelicans at the weir. And my bike. And the CPR train Bridge. 

Just the Pelicans. And a bit of the weir. 

Everything looking green downtown. 

I had to google GOAT. (Greatest Of All Time) 

I mostly took the picture because there was evidently a Heartstopper fan making graffiti - and Keiran is a HUGE Heartstopper fan (like of the comic, and also now the netflix series) 

wednesday walk meet keiran 8 june

thursday - ryan am cemetary  9 june

   PM south, circle meet amanada

Thursday Morning Amanda and i rode downtown in the rain to the Woodlawn Cemetery. 

There we met with our friend Ryan - an exceptional birder - for a walk through the cemetery where he often spots lots of birds. I think we was 17 species, and two were ones I'd not seen so far this year! 

Spotted Goslings on the way home. 

Went out for another ride later in the afternoon and it looked nasty. I was certain I was going to get rained upon some more. 

Like, for sure going to get rained upon... 

Crazy roiling clouds! 

Murder! 

Zooming in on Murder.

Zoooooooooooom! 

Looking back downtown from the South Bridges, things didn't look TOO bad...? 

To the South and East, tho... 

Yikes. 

By the time I was back downtown and heading towards the Ccircle Drive Bridge, things were clearing and all the dark clouds were moving further east. 

Spotted a pair of turkey Vultures over the river near the weir! 

I met up with Amanda on campus as she was leaving work and we rode home together. 

Ran into the goslings, again, as they were getting out of the river after swim lessons... 

Some were to tuckered from their swim lessons they had to have a lie down. 

But then panicked at the thought of being left behind and ran to catch up. 

While some were still laying on the boat launch, the head of the procession was making their way up the steep part of the bank beyond the boat launch area and across the path in front of us! 

Friday, 10 June 2022, I rode up to Chief Mistawasis Bridge and then east through the swale.. and then all the way to the south bridges for a 45Km ride, all within the city limits. 

It was CRAZY WINDY!

Riding through the Swale. 

More Swale. 

Stopped here for a bit - see that green clump of bosth just above my saddle in the picture. 

There was a deer standing out there. I stopped to take some pictures with the good camera (which I am now taking with me on most rides... because... Zoooooooooooom lens!) 

Checking out one of the larger wetlands. 

Killdear and Scaups

section of the Meewasin Trail the runs adjacent to circle Drive North. 

Crossing the University Bridge - still so much wind! 

Saturday, 11 June 2022 - I helped Keiran get down to Persephone Theatre with their guitar for rehearsal for a play later in the evening - technically their first paying theatre gig! Yay! 

Later I went for another longer ride - basically taking the same route as I had the day before! 

view from the Chief Mistawassis Bridge - water looking a bit more calm. 

field bordering the edge of the Swale

Ravens

I took a "scenic" route THROUGH the swale on a mown pathway. 

got a closer look at some of that protected natural prairie 

Everything looking rather green out there, compared to earlier in the spring - and ALL of last summer! 

There are a few little interpretive markers along the way. 

Didn't see a lot of birds out there, though... 

The Bessborough Hotel and blooming lilacs - the lilacs have been OUT OF CONTROL, EVERYWHERE, this year! 

Sunday I went for another long ride, but through I'd switch it up and head south. 

Mother goose and goslings - these ones look considerably younger that the ones that inhabit the downtown parks!? 

Train crossing the Grand Trunk Bridge. 

Heading south out of town 

crazy clouds all over!? 

Some were a bit dark and I wondered, again, if I might get rained on... 

Further south it looked pretty clear, tho. 

onto gravel. 

Looking back towards town... maybe I'll be riding back into rain. 

Country crossroads where I turned east. 

Heading east. 

Loads of blackbirds. I think they were brewer's blackbirds. 

Heading south again. 

I spotted a red fox crossing an road I passed and bounding out into the field. I stopped and got out the camera to see if I could spot it moving out in teh tall grass. I realized it had stopped as well and was watching me watching it!? 

Heading west on the summer road bordering the army base. 

Cute but oh so dumb... Young Richardson Groundsquirrels. 

More of the same. 

Seriously, who mades the entrance to their home in the MIDDLE OF A ROAD!? 

Last leg, heading back into town. Looked like it was clearing up! 

Okay that's it for now.