I will do my best not to bore you with my long weekend adventures or rather lack there of, but I fancy writing something this afternoon and unfortunately have not had anything particularly funny or interesting happen lately so will make do with my imagination.

Life has somewhat turned into a routine now that I’ve learned what it is like to live without a car. I didn’t realize leading up to this weekend how deep set my cabin fever had become. It wasn’t until I was whisked away on an unplanned Sunday afternoon that I realized how bad it’d become. I am turning into a hermit which I imagine will eventually turn me into “that nutty aunt of ours”.

So this whisking away business is simply my family deciding it was time that I visit them regardless. When I was able to visit on my own, by the evening I usually would complain and find an excuse to dart home to sleep in my own bed but this time I didn’t have much of a choice.

See I don’t mind sleeping over. What I have a hard time with is that since I live so close, 30 minutes in a car, it seems ridiculous that I’d sleep in a bed that is not mine when mine is so close by. Mind you it is much more entertaining to wake up and have a full breakfast ready. That happens rarely at my house and only when guests are arriving from their own homes for a mid-morning brunch, usually with coffees in their hands (and the downside is I am the one making the breakfast haha). So you could say that sleeping over even when I live only 30 minutes away is worth getting over my unfounded sleep-over anxiety.

It isn’t that I think I’ll miss out on some fantastic unplanned adventure any one of my friends may come up with while I am out of town (Ok, maybe it is, just a little ;)) but really it’s more than that. It is also that the next day I can never figure out when the “right” time is to leave.

Here I am, still 30 minutes away from my house without any stress of “when should I leave” simply because walking is not an option. I smell like barbecue and I just finished a cold can of Pepsi, this is relevant only because I dislike pop but here I am enjoying a gut wretching pop. Its been a long while since I have been this relaxed. The so relaxed feeling where the only energy I possess is to curl up and read a book from a favourite author.

I chalk this weekend up to being a little like a cottage weekend that is nowhere near a lake or a river.

We did spend a fair amount of time outside hiking wood trails. I don’t know if there is a difference between “wood trails” and “trails” but I feel it is important to note that we were in the woods on trails. The reason for the importance are the dangers when it comes to being on a trail in the woods.

Growing up I spent most weekends riding the back trails to the lake, having a swim across the lake and back, then racing home soaking wet. I decided however that partaking in the swim after the plus 2 hour ride was only suitable between the months of June and August. That’s only three months of swimming. This worked out most of the time because it coincided with summer break from school.

What was so exhilarating about the bike rides wasn’t the swim. It was the idea that lurking in the woods was a giant black bear waiting quietly for their dinner. I don’t really think black bears are meat eaters but they certainly will attack when frightened, hungry, have cubs or just feel generally bored.

I never physically faced a black bear. I’ve seen them up a tree, in the bush but never face to face on the bike trail. But thinking about the possibility made me ride as fast as my legs would take me.

This weekend while trekking through the woods I wasn’t pre-occupied with bears, I was pre-occupied with deer ticks.

They are not as physically ominous as a black bear but to me they are much more sneaky.

They are mooches that latch on and potentially infect our bodies with crippling lyme disease. As we were trekking along I was contemplating what is better; an adrenaline battle with a giant black bear that had an obvious advantage or a small pin head sized insect that could wreck havoc over a period of time if not detected?

Both can be easily subdued – one with a loaded shot gun and the other with DEET laden bug spray. The long term health effects certainly are worse with the bug spray + the lyme disease – providing the bug spray fails. However the alternative, if the gun shot fails to hit its target, well, the outcome is much more immediate and final – not in a good way.

I haven’t decided which is a better or worse scenario.

What I have decided is that neither will keep me from enjoying nature and a relaxing afternoon, evening, day or weekend. 🙂

Here is a link to some information on Lyme disease. And be proud, it is NOT wikipedia 🙂