Showing posts with label Mother Sharks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mother Sharks. Show all posts

Monday, June 7, 2010

Shark FĂȘte

My stomach muscles hurt from laughing so much. I'm covered in bruises and black fly bites. I'm exhausted and sated. I have trouble keeping the giggles from bubbling up when I remember something that happened. I must have had a weekend with the Mother Sharks.
My friends and I spent another glorious, fabulous, hilarious weekend in Quebec at Big Liver Girl's condo in the Laurentian mountains. Big Liver Girl is such a wonderful, accomplished and generous hostess that I am even willing to abandon my habitual slothfulness and go along with whatever activities she suggests. (Truth be told, one of the reasons I like hanging out with Big Liver Girl is that she makes me do things that I would never do on my own, and thus can brag about having done them for the rest of my life.)
This year we went to a place that has skiing in the winter and a Tarzan-like activity in the summer. The place has 59 "stations" way up high in the trees, and you swing or climb or zip-line all over the forest. The zip-lining itself was a blast, I could have done that all day....the longest line is almost a thousand feet long. Seriously, it was absolutely thrilling. The other activities didn't delight me nearly as much....one of the most very basic of human instincts is a fear of falling, and when you mess with that fear, you will come very close to losing your shit altogether.
Here is my friend Shawnee on her way to meet Big Liver Girl way up on one of the "stations". Those two did the course like they were born to it, swinging and cavorting their way from one tree to the next. I think they are both part cat. My other friend, Spinner, and I struggled a bit, being two of the most sluggish people God ever made. We got through it, the course, though, albiet with incessent whining and a LOT of foul language. We are not "Survivor" kind of women, we are more like "Cancun" kind of women.
Spinner even got caught on one of the zip-lines; her glove got stuck in a pulley, and there she was, stopped dead in the middle of the line, unable to go forwards or backwards, wayyyyyy up off the ground. This concerned me greatly, partly because she is my good friend and I was concerned for her safety and well-being, but mostly because I couldn't go past her, and I couldn't get down, so I was stuck up in a tree 50 feet off the ground until she got unstuck. One of the guides was close by and didn't he just skip up the tree I was on, shimmy his way over to the damsel in distress and liberate her, AND deliver her to the next tree, all in about 12 seconds flat. He was magical, that monkey man! If he had been better looking, I think she would have fallen in love.
Here I am coming in on my final zip-line. I think I would like to do that part again, very much.

We live in a part of Canada that is lovely, but very flat; mountains hold a particular thrall for us. This shot is looking back towards the condos with the ski hills in the background, taken when we were walking to dinner. Who wouldn't fall in love with this place?

We went on a hike another day, went out and had drinks at a very swanky bar, were fed well, did some shopping and hung out by the pool. And we talked and laughed and had some sangria and thoroughly enjoyed the holiday from our every day lives. And of course, had spectacular company. Thank you, Sharks, and thank you, Quebec....you never disappoint.

Monday, August 31, 2009

One Last Beach Day

Even though summery weather can last well into September and October, it still feels like summer is at an end once Labour Day comes and the kids go back to school. The kids still have another week to go, and there's not much time to cram in those last few activities of summer.

The Mother Sharks and 14 of their offspring managed to organize ourselves into one last day at the beach today. And what a glorious day it was...the weather didn't look promising when we started out, but we got a windy, sunny, perfect,idyllic beach day. (Lake Huron and I have had our differences lately, I had had it with that lake when we were at the cottage in July, and declared the lake and I had broken up for good. It was too cold and messy and moody, and the lake thought I was too sensitive and princessy, and needed to man up and deal with it. But today we had a nice time together, and have decided to remain friends after all.)

The younger kids played in the lake, and the older ones sat and talked, and quite happily occasionaly went for a walk. The mothers all got a chance to catch up and talk and eat and tell each other what we read recently and what we were having for dinner this evening. I've come to realize what a comfortable bunch these women are; there's no hidden agendas or touchy personalities or rivals looking to score points off each other. They never fail to make me laugh or give me perspective or remind me to not take myself too seriously. I just love them.

It's nice to have one last kick at the summery can.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Sharks In Quebec

I was away in Quebec with 6 of my favorite people on the planet for the weekend. The Mother Sharks went away for four days together, and my stomach muscles are just now recovering from the non-stop laughing.

We set off most efficiently on Thursday afternoon at around 3 and arrived in the Laurentians at midnight. You've got to love a bunch of mothers; everyone was waiting with their bags packed when the van arrived, and with kleenex and garbage bags, too.
Its usually an 8 hour trip, but with the rush-hour traffic in Toronto and 7 bladders of various capacities, we added an extra hour to the journey. I love a good road trip; one of the rules is that there are no calories in a moving car, so that means that copious amounts of potato chips and chocolate and coffee, as well as the occasional cheeseburger, are perfectly acceptable fare. (Also, in case you were wondering, there are no calories in other provinces or foreign countries. Those rules are important to know.)
We spent most of the ride and the weekend talking non-stop and making each other laugh so hard and so long that I'm pretty sure it qualifies as a cardio workout.
Big Liver Girl and I managed to get some fly fishing in, which was sort of the main goal of our trip. The rest of the ladies watched and took pictures, with very good humor. We made them walk in the woods, which was good for them...some of those princesses needed to get outside.
Here is a picture of me fishing; don't I look like I know what I'm doing? Here I am demonstrating that I have no idea what I'm doing, I've managed to hook my sleeve. It was the only thing I caught the whole time. Here is Big Liver Girl and I enjoying the day. I think we both just liked the outfits. During one harrowing rescue of a hook on a rock in the river, Big Liver Girl had to borrow my waders (hers were still in the car at the time) and we both discovered, when we got into the river, that the left foot leaked a LOT. I somehow managed to drop her right boot into the river while I was trying to put it on (long story, don't ask) and then we discovered that the entire bum seam of my waders was blown out, and we were lucky that they didn't fill up with water entirely and drown one of us. Near death experiences make for a most exciting fishing trip.
We came home last night around supper time, happy and tired and delightfully pleased with ourselves. It was a magical weekend.
Thanks Sharks.