Otters

A while back, while walking along the water, I saw the otter that I usually see. Then I saw him again and again and again - popping up here and then there and then back over there. WTF?! It wasn't the otter... it was him, his beloved and their sprogs! I was seeing a family of otters; six of the wee weasels!



There's been an otter living here for a few years but this is the first year I've seen a whole family. Sweet, eh?



Sorry about the crap photos. Not the right camera for the job. Here's a crap video of them (same crap camera!). The otters are on the big rocks:

Sweaty Sunday: On a Tuesday

I keep forgetting to do my Sweaty Sunday posts on Sunday. So, Tuesday it is!

Warm up walkies - Ross Bay Cemetery, beautiful.

My knees have healed up nicely and while they did I focused on strengthening my quadraceps, walking, stretching and rest. It was frustrating but a good lesson in patience.

About two weeks ago, I started to run/walk again... very gently. I bought a stop watch and made sure I only ran for one minute (yeah, one single whole minute) at a time. A total of four minutes of running... but I just wanted to go very easy. All was well, no pain before, during or after. Great!

Stretching on the sea wall.

Between then and now, I've gradually upped the duration and frequency of the running segments of the 'runs' to this:

Warm-up walking/stretch.

Click 'go' on my stop watch.

walk 5 mins - brisk walking from here on in
run - 1 min
walk - 3
run - 2
walk - 3
run - 3
walk - 2
run - 3
walk - 2
run - 3

... and then cool down with 5 mins of slower walking.

I run from here to the top left bit of the bay...

and back and then through a bit of a neighbourhood.

This past Saturday's run, however was not very good. Actually I barely ran at all. Ok, I mostly walked. Ok, I strolled about 100 feet and turned around. I had zero umph. Then Sunday I felt all achey and spaced out. Then Monday, yesterday, ugh... upchuckitis. I must have caught what half the people in my art class had. I suffer for my art. (ha.ha.)

I feel better today but no energy to run, maybe tomorrow.

The photos are where I run... counter to Neil's advice to find some grass or chip trail. I don't listen very well but look at the view!



Can you blame me?!

Skywatch Friday... hazy and lazy

To some, this sky may seem dull but for me, it's wonderful. We've had near constant blue skies for a couple of months now and as much as I like a nice sunny day, it gets rather samey-samey if that's all you get. It's great to see some clouds, some variety.




Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours down at Ross Bay (in Victoria, BC), a favourite place of mine. Ross Bay is lined with a stoney beach, a wide sidewalk and a highly stimulating bumpy road. ;-) Ross Bay Cemetery is just beyond all the greenery.




I stuck to one end of Ross Bay, I sat my ass down on these rocks and chilled out.




I love sitting right here. It's a large rock in the middle of a channel and, even with my hearing loss, the sounds of the waves flowing in, out and around is hypnotic.




Just some different textures on this beach; driftwood, stones, kelp and a jellyfish that missed the tide going out.




All very relaxing...

To see more skies from around the globe, click the pic.