Showing posts with label horses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horses. Show all posts

Sunday, 15 April 2007

Wasabi, Honey & Horses



Lately, the weather has been fantastic.

I try to ride my scooter in most weather but it’s days like Saturday that are warm and sunny that I love the most. Riding is not only exciting and exhilarating, it is also not too much of a challenge.

My ride yesterday was not a terribly long ride, although I did have a couple longer rides during the week. I scooted to Superstore which is a large grocery chain in Canada to track down a treat that a co-worker had shared with me earlier in the week - wasabi and honey flavoured tortilla chips. They’re Superstore’s own premium brand called President’s Choice (nothing to do with George W., thank goodness) and are a unique taste. I got a little carried away with my enjoyment of them as I took some photos and then played around with the images with Photoshop. Trying to avoid my marking load again, I guess...



On the way home, I took the back roads. There are many different farms and horse ranches in Maple Ridge which I still find new and interesting even though I’ve lived here for twenty years. I grew up in the city of Vancouver and really only saw farms and horses when we went away for the holidays. Living in Maple Ridge, just a few minutes on my Vespa or a few more on my bike and I’m in the middle of farming country.

It was a very pleasant ride - neither bricks nor bouquets today - and I came home with a nice cache of wine, chips and a few other groceries, all carried in my handy pet carrier. As always, I felt recharged, yet also relaxed, and maybe even ready to mark those darned math tests...

Thursday, 8 February 2007

Maple Ridge? Where's that?

It's been a terrible week.

My wife has had a bad cold so I've had to pick up my daughters from school everyday this week except for Wednesday.

So that means I've had to take the car instead of the Vespa. *sigh*

On the day that I did take the Vespa, I drove around the city where I live, Maple Ridge, for a while. A lot of the riding I do is around this place. I do love nature and trees and big skies but I really like suburban and urban landscapes. I enjoy riding on nicely paved streets with lots of people around, lights to stop at and buildings to cruise past. Mind you, I like the urban setting of Vancouver more than the suburb of Maple Ridge but Maple RIidge does have the added benefit that there are a whole lot more trees than Vancouver.

Maple Ridge has around 60,000 people and is about 45 km east of Vancouver. The weather is pretty similar to Vancouver although it can be a couple degrees colder in winter and a couple degrees hotter in summer. There are plenty of parks close by and community facilities like a Leisure Centre (pool, etc,), ice rink, and lots of sports fields.

It's really famous for horses - in fact, its called the Horse Capital of Canada. I don't ride horses so I wouldn't know.



It does have a horse clock (which is what my Vespa is in front of) which is one of its most famous landmarks. It's nicknamed the Beast and the guy that built it won a contest to commemorate Maple Ridge's rural past. There was quite a bit of controversy because it has a striking resemblance to a Hasbro toy.

Every 15 minutes it moves around and rears up on its hind legs on the hour. It was originally powered by some dinky little computer like a Vic 20 or a Commodore 64 but that was replaced this year.

So that was my only ride this week- so far....

Oh, and my wife's better now. :-)