2011
2016
2016
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."---Dr Seuss
Love
Peter
Sunday, August 7, 2016
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
"Took My Bike to Church Day Two"
Different church though!
You may not believe this but several years ago Roo and I were friends with a Church pastor and his spouse. They were very kind, caring people, and if I seen them today I would still happily spend an evening with them. Our friendship kind of quietly dwindled away, I think primarily because they were sure we were going to hell, and we were sure we weren't!
What does that have to do with taking my bike to church you may ask? Well I'm gonna tell you! You see they once asked us to attend a marriage retreat that they were running, and although it was faith based, we thought we would give it a shot. They assured us that we weren't gonna be preached to.
Regardless, every other couple there (must have been 25 or 30) were avid Christians, and as such they assumed that we were as well. At dinner time they would sit us in groups of 4-5 couples to a table, and inevitably conversation would come around to religion. One evening a guy posed a question to the rest of the group as to what church they belonged to, and although we had nicely managed to fit in up til that point, there wasn't really a way to avoid the reality of the fact that neither Roo or had been inside any kind of church since the day we were married. After hearing about "redeemer" this, and "faith" that, it came to our turn. Roo looked at me. I looked at Roo. The other 4 couples looked at both of us.....
And you would have been proud of me. I could have said, we don't belong to any church. I could have said, I think you people are all bananas. I could have even made something up!
Well, I guess I did really. With a totally straight face, I looked around at everyone at the table, and told them that we belong to The Church of the Great Outdoors.
Not a word from anyone. Just silence. It was a beautiful moment.
Ever since then Roo and I have faithfully attended our church, and will continue to do so until the day we meet our maker. I think he lives somewhere in Algonquin Park!
So that's the church I took my bike to today.
Unfortunately it was a very hot day, hotter than hell I guess you could say, and I let myself get a bit dehydrated. :)
Like my guy? I named him Jesus, cause he's solid, unpretentious, non judgmental, and he belongs to the same church as me.
...and yes indeed. My church is never, ever boring. How many people can say that?
"I am unboreable in the great outdoors."---P. J. O'Rourke
You may not believe this but several years ago Roo and I were friends with a Church pastor and his spouse. They were very kind, caring people, and if I seen them today I would still happily spend an evening with them. Our friendship kind of quietly dwindled away, I think primarily because they were sure we were going to hell, and we were sure we weren't!
What does that have to do with taking my bike to church you may ask? Well I'm gonna tell you! You see they once asked us to attend a marriage retreat that they were running, and although it was faith based, we thought we would give it a shot. They assured us that we weren't gonna be preached to.
Regardless, every other couple there (must have been 25 or 30) were avid Christians, and as such they assumed that we were as well. At dinner time they would sit us in groups of 4-5 couples to a table, and inevitably conversation would come around to religion. One evening a guy posed a question to the rest of the group as to what church they belonged to, and although we had nicely managed to fit in up til that point, there wasn't really a way to avoid the reality of the fact that neither Roo or had been inside any kind of church since the day we were married. After hearing about "redeemer" this, and "faith" that, it came to our turn. Roo looked at me. I looked at Roo. The other 4 couples looked at both of us.....
And you would have been proud of me. I could have said, we don't belong to any church. I could have said, I think you people are all bananas. I could have even made something up!
Well, I guess I did really. With a totally straight face, I looked around at everyone at the table, and told them that we belong to The Church of the Great Outdoors.
Not a word from anyone. Just silence. It was a beautiful moment.
Ever since then Roo and I have faithfully attended our church, and will continue to do so until the day we meet our maker. I think he lives somewhere in Algonquin Park!
So that's the church I took my bike to today.
Unfortunately it was a very hot day, hotter than hell I guess you could say, and I let myself get a bit dehydrated. :)
Like my guy? I named him Jesus, cause he's solid, unpretentious, non judgmental, and he belongs to the same church as me.
...and yes indeed. My church is never, ever boring. How many people can say that?
"I am unboreable in the great outdoors."---P. J. O'Rourke
Love
Peter
Monday, August 1, 2016
"Took My Bike to Church"
Well that wasn't actually the plan, but indeed I did stop at the first church I seen...or saw...or did see...or did saw...or something? Who cares?
Here's a pic.
I decided to take only my mountain bike on this trip, and it was the right decision. The only good highways around here are extremely busy, and the off roads are very windey(and I don't know if there's such a word but I mean windey, not windy), and also hilly. Even on my mountain bike, I had to use my brakes now and then.
And "around here", is near the village of Dwight Ontario, just west of Algonquin Park. We are parked at Algonquin Trails RV park, a somewhat shabby, but quiet spot just off of Hwy 60.
I found the little church about 10 kms from here on Fox Point Road. I don't know why I stopped other than perhaps my thought patterns at the time. Sad to say, I was thinking about ironman, as I remain frustrated with my intolerance to exercise, and remain active in the search for answers. Either answers to the problem itself, or at least answers to my grief over the matter. I know that lots of people turn skyward when all else fails, but either because of my catholic upbringing or in spite of it, that would be the most hypocritical thing I've ever done.
As I write that however I realize it's not quite true, depending on ones interpretation of "heavenward". While turing to religion, even one represented by a seemingly harmless little country church like the one my bike and I visited would indeed be hypocritical, certainly turning to a higher power would not be so. All my life I have believed in "something"!
And just before I move on to the point of my post I need to offer an apology to the Anglican Church of Canada. If you look at the above picture closely you can see that both entry doors are completely dilapidated, and the steps, moss covered. I quickly concluded that the the "Sunday Service at 11:00" was just another lie, by another bunch of liars.
Then I went around back.
Whoops! Sorry! These steps look a lot more travelled. I wish I could come back on Sunday just to confirm, but since that isn't possible, I'm just gonna give them the benefit of the doubt.
It's probably best anyway. Can you imagine if I got there and got caught up in some theological discussion. Of course I would win any debate, and potentially crash the delusions of some of the parishioners. That would be very unchristian of me, wouldn't it?
Anyway.....did you know that anyway is one of the most overused words in the english language. It is kinda the written version of ummm. Yup! and while I pride myself on being able to public speak with the use of a single ummm, I admit that anyway crops up into much of my writing. I'm gonna fix that. I'm gonna keep gonna though, just because it reminds me of the hillbilly I really am.
Anyway :) I don't know where to turn next, and I'm kinda hoping that I'll get a revelation during this little break Roo and I are taking, but I have still not accepted the end of Ironman. Perhaps if I had an identifiable disease or injury it may be easier, but in the absence of that, I'm simply not ready to give up. So there!!
I'm thinking that a visit with Sister Cory might be in order. Perhaps she may be able to help me develop a strategy. After all, if anyone knows anything about stubbornness it's gotta be her.
And I know what some of you are thinking. Why can't he let this go? After all, he is reasonably healthy overall, he has a loving, caring family all of whom are reasonably healthy, he has good stability in his life, and he has 4 bicycles! wtf!!!
I'll try to explain. Long distance triathlon is not about doing the races, although that's fun too. Rather, ironman is about the way I want to live the rest of my life. I need this motivator to help me defeat, or at least hold at bay all the rest of my shortcomings, the main ones being laziness, and an addiction to food. And if I'm completely honest I also need it for my sense of self worth. Maybe all those things are connected eh? Maybe I can blame my catholic upbringing? Alas....if only I had been born Anglican....those people are honest :)
And finally for today, a big send off to my cousin Ted Rooyakkers. Ted died tragically last week, and while I didn't know him that well (he was 4 years younger than me) I feel sadness for his parents, and his siblings. Both of his parents are in their 80's, and who expects to lose a kid at that time of your life?? Visiting them was not practical because of our commitment to the grandchildren, but I called and spoke to both Tante Toos, and Ome Jos. They sounded surprisingly good. Perhaps it's easier when presumably you've already come to terms with your own mortality.
Good night Ted! See you in the morning.
"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."---Anne Lamott
"Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God."---Lenny Bruce
....and here's a keeper...
“To suspect your own mortality is to know the beginning of terror, to learn irrefutably that you are mortal is to know the end of terror.”---Frank Herbert
Here's a pic.
I decided to take only my mountain bike on this trip, and it was the right decision. The only good highways around here are extremely busy, and the off roads are very windey(and I don't know if there's such a word but I mean windey, not windy), and also hilly. Even on my mountain bike, I had to use my brakes now and then.
And "around here", is near the village of Dwight Ontario, just west of Algonquin Park. We are parked at Algonquin Trails RV park, a somewhat shabby, but quiet spot just off of Hwy 60.
I found the little church about 10 kms from here on Fox Point Road. I don't know why I stopped other than perhaps my thought patterns at the time. Sad to say, I was thinking about ironman, as I remain frustrated with my intolerance to exercise, and remain active in the search for answers. Either answers to the problem itself, or at least answers to my grief over the matter. I know that lots of people turn skyward when all else fails, but either because of my catholic upbringing or in spite of it, that would be the most hypocritical thing I've ever done.
As I write that however I realize it's not quite true, depending on ones interpretation of "heavenward". While turing to religion, even one represented by a seemingly harmless little country church like the one my bike and I visited would indeed be hypocritical, certainly turning to a higher power would not be so. All my life I have believed in "something"!
And just before I move on to the point of my post I need to offer an apology to the Anglican Church of Canada. If you look at the above picture closely you can see that both entry doors are completely dilapidated, and the steps, moss covered. I quickly concluded that the the "Sunday Service at 11:00" was just another lie, by another bunch of liars.
Then I went around back.
Whoops! Sorry! These steps look a lot more travelled. I wish I could come back on Sunday just to confirm, but since that isn't possible, I'm just gonna give them the benefit of the doubt.
It's probably best anyway. Can you imagine if I got there and got caught up in some theological discussion. Of course I would win any debate, and potentially crash the delusions of some of the parishioners. That would be very unchristian of me, wouldn't it?
Anyway.....did you know that anyway is one of the most overused words in the english language. It is kinda the written version of ummm. Yup! and while I pride myself on being able to public speak with the use of a single ummm, I admit that anyway crops up into much of my writing. I'm gonna fix that. I'm gonna keep gonna though, just because it reminds me of the hillbilly I really am.
Anyway :) I don't know where to turn next, and I'm kinda hoping that I'll get a revelation during this little break Roo and I are taking, but I have still not accepted the end of Ironman. Perhaps if I had an identifiable disease or injury it may be easier, but in the absence of that, I'm simply not ready to give up. So there!!
I'm thinking that a visit with Sister Cory might be in order. Perhaps she may be able to help me develop a strategy. After all, if anyone knows anything about stubbornness it's gotta be her.
And I know what some of you are thinking. Why can't he let this go? After all, he is reasonably healthy overall, he has a loving, caring family all of whom are reasonably healthy, he has good stability in his life, and he has 4 bicycles! wtf!!!
I'll try to explain. Long distance triathlon is not about doing the races, although that's fun too. Rather, ironman is about the way I want to live the rest of my life. I need this motivator to help me defeat, or at least hold at bay all the rest of my shortcomings, the main ones being laziness, and an addiction to food. And if I'm completely honest I also need it for my sense of self worth. Maybe all those things are connected eh? Maybe I can blame my catholic upbringing? Alas....if only I had been born Anglican....those people are honest :)
And finally for today, a big send off to my cousin Ted Rooyakkers. Ted died tragically last week, and while I didn't know him that well (he was 4 years younger than me) I feel sadness for his parents, and his siblings. Both of his parents are in their 80's, and who expects to lose a kid at that time of your life?? Visiting them was not practical because of our commitment to the grandchildren, but I called and spoke to both Tante Toos, and Ome Jos. They sounded surprisingly good. Perhaps it's easier when presumably you've already come to terms with your own mortality.
Good night Ted! See you in the morning.
"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."---Anne Lamott
"Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God."---Lenny Bruce
....and here's a keeper...
“To suspect your own mortality is to know the beginning of terror, to learn irrefutably that you are mortal is to know the end of terror.”---Frank Herbert
Love
Peter
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