What! September 16th! Where did those two weeks go? Work, work, work is where the time went.

Okay it wasn't all work. I did have two days in a row on the labour day weekend. We did go for a walk in a local park with some intention on looking for mushrooms, but we didn't see much. There was a nice trail around this small pond though that made for a nice easy walk. 

We found some puff mushrooms that were beyond their eating stage, but when pressed little puffs of brown spores came out of the top. We also found a cauliflower mushroom that was sizeable. We took a sample home to do a better ID on it. I actually found a couple of black chanterelles, which I never thought I'd spot in the woods and didn't really know existed until I started to identify it. One I found looked a bit past its prime and the other one was tiny so I left it alone. They are supposed to be quite good though.

I love the west coast trees. Of course this whole area was heavily logged. Many of the stumps left behind still have the springboard markings in them. This is where slots were cut out of the lower trunk and a springboard was set up so the loggers could stand on them and cut away with their axes.

This side of the park is quite nice because it's a little less travelled than the beach side of the park. It would make a nice running trail actually. 

Last weekend we were planning on going to P's for a little mushroom walk (he's more of a pro and I want to learn what I can from him), but he called to say that the forests were still pretty dry. The summer was so dry, and our fall hasn't produced much rain either. So we decided to delay our trip for another week. Then hopefully he'll come to the mainland to poke around here. We've probably had a little more rain than Nanaimo.

***

What else have I been doing?
Of course I'm running again. It's very frustrating having to take a week off. I feel like I've lost some of my momentum, but I'm slowly gaining that back.

I had a great run along the inlet one evening after work. I ran the trail the whole way. It was sunny and not too warm; the weather was perfect running weather. That run really motivated me. Tonight I ran near the inlet, but had one of those sluggish runs. My legs felt heavy and I could never get into a groove. Sometimes it's just tougher. I'll see how it goes Friday on my long run.

I need to keep running because with the feeling of fall in the air, I've been baking. I've been baking cookies, muffins,  and even a cake (for db's birthday).

These are the lemon poppyseed muffins I made. They turned out beautifully. What is it about lemon and poppyseed that goes together so well?

do what you can

When you try to cram everything into your one day off at some point you have to realize that it just can't be done. You have to slow your pace down and finish what you can.

I've also been applying this to work. We are so incredibly busy at work that at some point yesterday I said to myself that I have to just get done what I can. There are so many orders coming in from so many directions (web, phone, delivery) that it is impossible to keep on top of it. I kept thinking at some point I'll catch up and get this done, but I never did. Near the end of my shift I was mentally spent. I couldn't focus on one thing for too long because I was just too exhausted to get anything else done.

Last night I fell asleep in the beginning of the second period of the Blues game (we had it on tape and were watching it after dinner). db tried to wake me when they scored but I found it impossible to keep my eyes open. I went to bed. I watched the rest of the game today. For some reason I thought db had told me that the Blues won 4-3, but when I watched the game today they did anything but. They lost to Edmonton in a shoot-out. I was completely suprised by this. At least I gained some points in the hockey pool and moved out of last place.

With all that rest last night, I had a little extra energy today and went to the gym for a fast paced run on the treadmill. I felt I could break the 8 minute mile today, but I didn't push it that far. I did a short fast run and had a good weight session in a relatively empty gym. I love having the weight room to myself.

I'm considering running in mid-February in the "Fort Langley Historic Half Marathon." It might be a bit of a motivator and a good way to warm up for the 2008 running season. I've had enough down time. I'd better decide since I need to start training asap.

***

Baking is something I haven't done much of lately. Today's vegan choc. chip cookies (db's favorite) were a bit of a warm-up to my Christmas baking. It was too overwhelming to dive right into Christmas baking in my one day off so I thought I'd wait for the weekend and just do a warm up and get those choc. chip cookies done. They turned out great so I guess I'm ready for a sugar cookie now.

***
Finally, I'm posting this photo because my mom asked me to. I just found this picture while going through my photos and labelling them in preparation for storing them on discs.
That's our dear sweet Svetlana in the middle who is no longer with us. She passed on in June. Gigi is on the right snoozing away and is as aloof as ever. Last but not least is Prima on the left with her smirk on. This is a rare photo because these three were hardly ever seen to share the same space, which is probably why we reached for the camera. Svetlana and Prima did sleep next to each other only because Prima is so territorial that she would find Svetlana wherever she was and park herself next to her (that is if she didn't swat her away first). Anywho, I thought I'd share the photo. I've put it on my desktop for now.