We won!!!

Finally we actually won a curling game – not because of me though that’s for sure but Maynetta, Roy and Jeff played really well tonight!!

But besides my curling deficiencies I had a really satisfying weekend. Yesterday I went paddling surfski with Jodi in Deep Cove as well as going for a long recovery walk along the river to prevent the worst pain from the Friday workout and baking the last plum cake of the season. The weather was pretty decent. Today it rained quite a bit. I went swimming in the morning and then  K1 practice in the early afternoon – felt pretty good on a flat calm lake and only a light drizzle at times 🙂

Sunset over the Fraser River

Sunset over the Fraser River

Fall colours

Fall colours

Fall colours along the Fraser River

I am in my Legend

Jodi in her Nelo

Self portrait – Jodi & I paddling in Indian Arm

Weekend Oct 22-23: Harrison II Report

I spent most of Saturday shopping – something I only do once or twice a year. Needed some new work clothes – I hate shopping for work clothes, much more fun shopping for workout clothes. I really needed new shoes but never found what I was looking for so I ended up with a couple of pants and shirts. Oh well. In the afternoon Jodi and I went for a relaxed K1 paddle on Burnaby Lake. I hadn’t been in my boat for a while and luckily it was a nice calm and dry day. A great day to be out in a boat. Jodi tried the Super Lancer for the first time and she liked it. Now I won’t have a chance in hell beating her in sprint anymore 🙂

Sunday was a fishing day. Jeff even let me sleep in till 5:30AM. The sun was already up when we arrived at the Harrison. First we tried right below the bridge where we caught the two Coho two weeks before. But I had a horrible time casting and got more tangles than casts. I was already upset with having gone fishing that day – should have stayed home and go for a surfski paddle with Jodi and consorts instead (now you know why Jeff told me to stay home this weekend – Oct 29/30). But now that I was here, let’s make the best of it _ I can always sit on shore and read. Jeff didn’t have much more luck either so pretty soon we decided to walk over to the west side of the river. Jeff had found a whole bunch of Chum on that side the day before. It was a long walk though, through mud and high grass and I was sliding and tripping and SLOW, cursing myself again. Jeff was sprinting ahead like a gazelle – not sure how he can stay that sure-footed in that stuff. And it was HOT – sunny skies are nice for sure but I was dressed to warm and sweating like a pig. But I finally made it to the spot we were fishing. There were a lot more people around on this side so instead of reading first I secured a little spot for me and started fishing. Luckily my casting had fixed itself miraculously and I was getting the line out there. Wasn’t really necessary since there were fish all over the place, even though they weren’t as aggressive in chasing the fly as they were day before. Nevertheless, I hook into a few – half of them foul-hooked though but also landed a couple chum which were hooked right into the mouth obviously chasing my fly. By the way I was using the same fly I used the caught the Coho on two weeks ago – it’s MY river fly now. Those Chum actually fought really hard and it was fun fishing. But we were hoping for some Coho so we retreated back to the east side in the afternoon. Jeff again was well ahead of me while I stumbled up the east shore to get back to the road. I was soooo hot. And I was miserable. Even the snake that crawled across the bank in front of me nore the beaver popping up right in front couldn’t lighten up my mood. I realized I hadn’t eaten anything yet either so I found a nice grassy spot for lunch and a nap – while Jeff fished. Jeff kinda told me where he would be fishing but I lost sight of him and walked up-river along the east shore of a long time before realizing he must haw gone down-river – as he kinda had told me he would do but I never saw him come by me. Well I must have been sound asleep for a while. So by the time we re-united we were both mad at each other – how could a beautiful sunny day like this feel like a medium disaster? 

It was now too late to stop in for a proper supper. We had to rush back to town to make it to our curling match that evening. Only time for Subway on the way – I shall never eat a Meatball Sub again, doesn’t agree with my insides! The curling match was better than last weeks for sure but we still lost – not by much though.

Beaver popping up right in front of us

Gater snake along the banks

Back to the east side – looking for Coho

One of the chum I landed

Eagles everywhere waiting for the salmon to die

Little creek full of spawning ready Chum

The west bank – looking for Chum

Harrison River under blue skies