Sonya's Blog - Day 193 - New Years Day

Sonya’s Blog - Day 193 - January 1st - New Years Day

HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone. We sure hope 2016 will be a great year for you all.

Blake started off his day by going to the gym for a bit. We then took Kizmet for her morning walk along the beach. Kizmet started off her New Year by being a ginormous brat. She saw a Sandpiper and pulled at the least, managed to get away from Blake and had a grand romp down the beach pulling her leash along. She was so proud of herself!

It was a really cloudy day, but there was no breeze so it was very hot and humid. We decided that we were going to get on the bikes and bike down the beach to the pier today. It would have never occurred to me to bike on the beach, but lots of people do it as the sand is so packed nearer to the water. The beach is so wide, even the packed down part, that there is lots of room for bikes and people walking and running. The cars drive way at the back of the beach, near the sand dunes, so they are well out of everyone’s way.

We got back and told the kids the plan. Natasha was game, but Isaac thought it was not a great idea. Really, he thought biking down the beach was one of the stupidest ideas we had thought of yet and he went on and on about it. We told him that’s what we are doing, so get over it. He grumbled some more, but that’s what he does.

We had a few things to accomplish at the RV first, like lazing around and drinking tea while reading my book in my comfy chair. As a result we didn’t get to our bike ride until well after lunch. Well, by this time darker clouds had rolled in and the wind had picked up. It was a much cooler wind and the temperature had dropped slightly. It was still about 22 degrees or so, nothing dramatic. We were still wearing shorts, I did put on a long sleeve sweater, but I was the only one.

When we got on the beach, it was quite breezy. We would be heading into the wind on the way to the pier. It wasn’t so bad, once we got going and Isaac and I pulled ahead of Natasha and Blake and had a bit of a race. I think Blake and Natasha stopped for some pictures, because they were way back when I looked. Isaac and I kept on going and he actually had fun biking on the beach. He is a funny boy that way, so much grumbling and complaining and then he goes to do whatever thing we talked about, and it is not so bad. Unfortunately, Isaac is not the most observant person and he biked through doggy doo doo that some inconsiderate dog owner had not picked up. Really people, pick up after your dog! It is not that difficult, all dog owners have to do it. It is not my favourite either, but we do it all the time! So I told him to go closer to the water, where the waves just come up on the sand. It worked really well, but then we came to a part on the beach where the waves had made a bit of a pool in the sand and we got stuck going across it. We both got wet shoes, but he got most of the crap off his tire. After this point, the biking was a bit harder. The sand was softer and there were far more shells on the beach. Just small ones, but they had piled up. The advantage of this was that it helped to clean of Isaac’s wheel some more. We finally decided to wait for Natasha and Blake to see if they wanted to continue, because the sand was getting much softer.

When Natasha and Blake caught up with us, we had a nice rest on the beach and Natasha went in the water. Natasha was not loving the bike on the beach. Her tires were really digging into the sand and she had a hard time the last little bit. After a bit, we decided to head back to camp so I could start on the New Years supper. I could not believe how easy it was biking back, with the wind at our back. Even the softer sand parts were not that bad. When we got to the harder packed area, Blake and Isaac started to catch up with me and challenge me to a race. Well, being that I am a little competitive, I took the challenge. I started biking harder, but I am not that fast and Blake has much stronger legs. He had no problem pulling ahead of me and roaring down the beach. Isaac and I raced after him, but it was no contest. When we had finished, we looked behind and Natasha was way back there. I guess she had no interest in racing. We circled around to head back towards her, so we could bike together. Wow, was it ever windy now. It was tough going against the wind to get back. Of course, she was still coming towards us, so we didn’t have to go very far. I was pretty happy the wind was at our backs on the way back down the beach, it made it a much more pleasant bike back.

We got back to camp. Isaac took Kizmet for another walk and Blake and I started on supper. Okay, well Blake lit the barbeque and went and took a shower, I put the ham on the barbeque and started the potatoes. Isaac washed the lettuce for the salad and Natasha chopped up the vegetables. It was a family affair. We got back to the RV just in time and it was a good thing Isaac took Kizmet out for her walk right away. Not long after he got back with her it started to pour rain. It was nice though, because it cooled everything down and cleared out the air.

Before too long, we were sitting down to our New Years feast. It was very tasty. We decided to watch a movie after supper, since it was still raining. The internet is pretty good here, but it can get slow if you are watching a movie. We have a hard drive with lots of movies on it from a friend of ours, Cody. We always refer to them as Cody’s movies. There are a lot of older movies on there and we decided on The Wedding Singer. I wanted to watch Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but it wasn’t on there. Ah well, The Wedding Singer was pretty funny and it has some great 80’s hair and clothes in it.

After the movie, it had stopped raining so Blake and I took Kizmet out for her nightly stroll. I then finished my book. It took me awhile and I read two other book during the process, but I finished People of the Lightening by Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear. It is a story about several tribes of first nations people in the Florida area about 7000 to 8000 years ago (Early Archaic to Archaic). It took me awhile to get involved in the story and that is mostly because there are so many characters that play a pivotal role in the story. It takes a good part of the book to figure out who is who and what they all mean to each other, therefore it takes awhile to get involved in their stories. The two authors are archaeologists and have studied the archaeological digs of various first nations peoples. There is limited information about the Archaic peoples in Florida, but they do know how they buried their dead due to a find at Windover Pond. The dead buried in ponds and were dressed in fine clothing, wrapped in blankets, placed on their left sides with their heads to the west and their faces to the north. They were often buried with artifacts. The dead were staked to the bottom of the pond which allowed them to stay put for several thousand years. They know this due to the particular nature of the water in Windover Pond, which was a burial site. Due to many factors, the preservation of this burial site is incredible and has allowed for soft tissue preservation and clothing and artifacts that would normally have disintegrated by now. This find gave the authors a good basis for their story as they know what they ate, how they dressed, types of fibres used for clothing, tools and weapons. They know what kind of injuries the people suffered, which were consistent with warfare. Based on this information the authors then weaved a story of what they thought life would have been like for the Windover Pond people and how they may have interacted (within their clan and with other clans) and set up their social structures. It was an interesting story in the end and a pretty good read.

After I finished my book, it wasn’t so late so I was checking what was new and exciting on Netflix. I saw the Before I Go To Sleep was there and I had read that book a couple of years ago. It was a pretty good book, so I started the movie to see how it was. Nicole Kidman plays the main character and Colin Firth is her husband. I love Colin Firth, so I started to watch it. Blake joined me and he didn’t know the story, so that was good. They did a good job and it was just like the book. Nicole Kidman has amnesia and doesn’t remember he life before she was 20, but is now 40. She wakes up everyday and has to be reminded of who she is, who she is married to, etc. The biggest weakness of the movie is the denouement dragged on and on, I think they could have wrapped that up a bit quicker. We watched the whole thing, which was a bit of a pain. It took longer than the movie because we had to keep waiting for Netflix to reload when the wifi got bogged down. Probably not the best choice and we stayed up too late. Oh well, it’s not like we have to get up and go to work tomorrow.

Sonya