Riding a new to us trail at Kazabazua, Quebec.

 Today was another beautiful fall day. Anne suggested we go bike riding, "Somewhere we have not been." So I looked at the National Capital Commission's map of bike trails in the Ottawa region and saw a new route: the veloroute des draveurs. This was about 90 minutes distance by car from our home. I selected one of the villages on that route, Kazabazua, as the starting point since it has such an evocative name. This photo shows the starting point, with the gates that are easy to ride through.

 The trail follows the bed of an abandoned rail line. It is hillier than other ex rail lines though.

 The hills in the background indicate the ups and downs we followed.

 The turn round point of our ride had this old covered bridge. These are fairly common in Quebec.

 The day was glorious.

 There was even a shelter at one point should the weather turn nasty.

 The rules of the trail are spelled out. No more than three peoples can walk on the trail side by side.

The Ride for Refuge

 Today, ten cyclists from Glen Cairn United Church's cycling group, "The Wheels of Fortune". joined with around 300 other cyclists to take part in Ottawa's "Ride for Refuge. This ride, along with many other similar events in other North American cities, raises funds for those without homes. The GCUC team raised funds for The Ottawa Mission, an organisation that provides shelter and hope for the male segment of the homeless in Ottawa. Our group raised almost $1000 for this charity, and this in a very few short weeks.

There were choices as to how far each person could ride. There was a 10 km circuit, a 25 km route and a 50 km route. Half of the GCUC Riders chose to ride 50 km while the other half, including me, rode the 25 km route. It was a sunny day with clouds, and temperatures starting at 12 C, a very pleasant day for riding.

For next year's event, the GCUC Riders will select one of the church's Outreach Programs to support. This event is scheduled for October 4th, and is expected to draw 500 riders.

Refurbishing the master-bedroom closet

 Our master-bedroom closets were in drastic need of refurbishment. The bi-fold closet doors never shut properly. My closet was accessed through a hole in the wall since it was the closet for the office/bedroom on the far side of the closet wall.

 This is the view of my closet from the office side of the closet with the office access-door to it in the open position.

 We hired "Handyman Connections  " to remove the closet and to make the wall between the two rooms one solid wall. As the interior walls of the closet were removed we found that the Parquet flooring did not extend beneath them. No new parquet was available to match the old, so I had to remove the flooring inside the closet space. Each individual piece was glued down solidly. It took me almost four hours on my hands and knees to remove it, using a hammer and chisel.

 The tools of removal.

I replaced the Parquet with some laminate flooring and a matching threshold strip.

We purchased an IKEA wardrobe unit to replace the worn closet. We had it delivered and assembled. It took the two delivery men one hour to assemble the unit. We estimate it would have taken us all day and a great deal of frustration to do the assembling ourselves!

My side of the wardrobe has two bars on which to hang clothes. The wire basket below has proven to be very handy for temporary storage of laundry.

Here my side of the wardrobe is filled with my clothes. Anne's side is partially filled, with more to come.

The last step in the process was to take the construction debris to the curb today in readiness for the garbage pick-up. All was removed as I wrote this blog.

Signs of fall.

A sure sign that Fall is on the way is seen in the turning of the leaves on the maple tree across the street from us. Only a few branches are showing that deep red, but more of the glories of the season are sure to come. Leaf raking cannot be far behind either.

Protecting against an anticipated frost

 Last night "patchy frost" was predicted for our suburb. So I spent some time covering the tomato plants and green pepper plants with canvass, paint drop cloths, and other old drapes to protect them should the frost occur. At 7 00 am today, I awoke to see frost on the roof tops, but the thermometer was recording a temperature of plus 3 C.

The deck was covered in dew rather than frost or ice. The dew showed an overnight visitor had passed by, a racoon. This time no calling card was deposited at our back door step.

Ride for Refuge

http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=2105238#.UjJXpDApUmc.facebook

On October 5th I will join lots of other cyclists in Ottawa's "Ride for Refuge", a 25km ride. Other members of GCUC Riders (AKA The Wheels of Fortune of Glen Cairn United Church) are also registered for the ride including my wife, Anne. The ride is to raise funds for those suffering adversity, in this case homelessness. The funds will go to the Ottawa Mission that operates a shelter for the homeless.

The Ride for Refuge is not limited to Ottawa. Similar rides, for a variety of charities, are held throughout North America. You may support my ride or your local rides. I have a target of raising a minimum of $150.00 for the Mission. To make a donation towards that total click on the link above.

Thank you,

John

Basketry supplies for sale

 I have around 15 skeins of died cane available to purchase at my home in Kanata, Ontario.

 And there are around 75 or so hoops of grapevine ready for sale too. Two hoops, joined together with rattan cane God's eyes, form the structure of a rib basket.

 These whips of brown willow, when soaked, form the ribs of rib baskets too.

 The seagrass can be used as weavers for rib baskets, while the fine cane can be weavers too.

 Six lbs of undied flat and round cane are available too.

While this bucket contains four grapevine hoops, white willow ribs, and enough flat cane weavers to construct two rib baskets.

All these items can be picked up at my home for $40.00.