I can tell you what summer means to me with a few simple formulas.

camping + Kenosee = July

We moved our 26′ camper (did I say we? I meant to say ‘Randy’) to Moose Mountain Provincial Park on June 30th. We’ve been in and out a bit, but for the most part we are settled in 107 which is secluded, though slightly slanted. Randy struggled with getting our camper level and our satellite dish hooked up. One text to Arthur at Queen City Communications, a house call, and $500 later, the situation was rectified. I’ve tried out my inflatable kayak (works great!), golfed a few times, and gotten a lot of revisions done on #gabriellerouge.

Normally I don’t go see the Jays during July and August, so the formula looks like this:

supper prep + wine = Blue Jays

However, Robin and I were in in TO July 18-20 for the Jays/Padres homestand. Three games. Two nights. In the first two games, the Jays scored one run. Total. But, what’s worth noting was the consumption of 75000+ looney dogs on Tuesday night—a new record. Robin and I each ate three—mainly because we hadn’t eaten since the YVR departure lounge hours earlier plus the hot dogs were pretty small. The lineups for dogs in the sixth inning were HUGE.

Although the Jays came out of the gate less than spectacular against the Padres, they kicked it up a notch in the final game, winning 4-0. I took $10.00 from Robin in our homerun derby (she picked Bo; I picked Vladdy). Kirk’s two-run shot reminded us once again why the Jays have hung onto him. There were a surprising number of Padres’ fans at the stadium. I talked to a couple from San Diego who were visiting Canada for the first time and very pleased with the experience. Kinda cool.

Once I’m back at YVR (provided Westjet can extract us from YYZ), I’ll be returning to our camper for a few weeks. And then . . .

motorcycles + Alberta (and maybe BC) = August

. . . weather permitting, we’ll head west on our motorcycles. Planned highlights include Writing on Stone Provincial Park, the Bomber Command Museum at Nanton, and the Kananaskis Nordic Spa. We’ll see a number of friends along the way. Maybe YOU are one of them!

Stay tuned, and as always, if you have any comments to share, please feel free!