Coyote, coiot

First, I have to explain that posting may be erratic, as I am having problems with access.  Blogger is blocked at work (grrr) and the internet where we are living is slooooooooooowwwww to non-existent.  I'll see what I can do.
Primer, us haig de explicar que tinc dificultats de penjar aqui per temes d'access electrònic.  No puc entrar a blogger on treballo, (grrr) i el internet on quedem va MOLT LENT, si no, no hi ha de vegades.  Faré tot el que puc, però.....i el corrector no està obrint i hem deixat els diccionaris a Toronto.  Em sap greu per el meu català.


ara, una histora.  Now, onwards.


Yesterday morning I got up pretty early for a run, with the Chuckster, and we did hills.  Half an hour of hills.  Still nothing compared to Catalunya, but what can you do in flat old TO.....  Chuck was a little squirrelly in some spots, he could smell some sort of living thing in the bushes, skunk? Raccoon?  Fox?  Coyote?  I make great time running when he sees something nervous or that makes him a little uneasy.  See, when I'm walking, my feet are on the ground providing friction and braking, but when running, there's that air time and sometimes the strides get REALLY Lllloooooooooooooooooong.


Ahir al matí vaig aixecar molt aviat per anar a córrer, amb en Chuck, i vam fer pujades.  No sé exactament com es diu en català, però vull dir que vam anar a córrer amunt i avall unes quantes vegades.  Per un mig hora.  Res en comparació de Catalunya, però és Toronto, i no hi ha molt que podem fer.  En Chuck li trobava una mica nerviòs en alguns llocs, podia sentir o olorar un animal en el bosc.  Mofetes?  Un ós rentador? Un guine?u Un coiot?  Puc córrer molt rapidament quen en Chuck li posa nerviós perquè, quan estic caminant, les meus peus sempre tocan la terra, amb frició i frenant, però quan corro, hi han aquests moments quan estic en l'aire i, de tant en tan, els pasos van MOOOOOOOlllllt larg.

Anyway, we'd finished up the run I had planned, and had headed on over to the dog park, his Chuckiness was off leash lying in a puddle at the far side of the park while another dog was running towards him.  Behind him was a hill that runs the length of the park.  Enter Coyote, full speed, running along the side of the hill.  The other woman calls her dog, who comes, and I just try to keep his royal Chuckiness' attention.....and the coyote streaks across the field behind him....and then Chuck sees him....and is OFF like a missile.  
Doncs, vam acabar la ruta que vaig pantefar de fer i vam anar cap al parc de gossos, i un cop allà, en Chuck lliure i estirat en un toll o bassiot amb una altra gossa corrent cap a el.  Al darrer d'en Chuck hi havia un tross de terrany més alt, i que anava des d'una banda del parc cap a l'altre, i en una cantonada, un coiot arrivava...córrent tan ràpid!  Passava al darrer d'en Chuck, qui jo estava cridant, i pensava que el coiot aniria en el bosc al final a l'esquerra, però no, va gira una 90º i va anar cap a mi, bé no a mi perquè era un 100 m a la meva esquerra, però en Chuck li va veure i le va seguir!  

Takes off into the distance, down into the ravine after the coyote, and I figure that if he meets up with that coyotes family, I'm down one dog.  Els dos van desapareix en la distancia i jo tenia po que si en Chuck trobava el coiot i tota la resta de la seva família, no tindré un gos.

Thankfully, he reappears. Por fi, va reaparei.

Goes on leash, and that was the end of that adventure.  Li vaig agafar i aquesta aventura va acabar.


And plenty of adventure for one morning.  Ja vam tenir prou per un matí.

The weekend? El cap de setmana?

Bring. it. on.  Por fi, jaaaaaaaa.

How to solve running in TO, com solucionar el problema de córrer a Toronto c

FINALLY I am online.....between jetlag, no access to blogger at work, no wifi at home and exhaustion....this took a while.  Hopefully back to more regular blogging soon!

Here's the thing.  I am, it would seem, extremely quickly bored.  This would seem to play out in my lifestyle too....and running down a flat road on a sidewalk or bike path, however lovely the park I'm in, quickly becomes tedious.  Really quickly.  Running in circles, same same same.

Mira, és aixì.  Em sembla que m'avorreixo molt senzillament.  Pots veure aquest caràcter en la meva vida, no?  I corrent per un carrer, o vorera pla i recte malgrat que sigui en un parc super maca, ràpidament, ho trobo tediós.  Molt ràpidament.  Si estic corrent donant voltes?  Igual igual igual.

Back when I was biking a lot, commuter biking worked well, aside from being quite dangerous, especially in the winter...wiped out I know not how often and got hit by a car once....I loved it.  There was something challenging to think about all the time, other than the fact that you were riding down the road.  I mostly thought about cars and pedestrians and lights and who was going to kill me first.  It was interesting every single moment.

Fa temps, quan vaig anar amb bicicleta molt, per anar i tornar, a treballar o a les cases de amics, em va anar molt bé fins i tot a l'hivern quan pot ser força perillós....vaig caure!  No sé quantes vegades i una cotxa em xocava una vegada també, però ho m'encantava.  Era una repta, havia de pensar tota l'estona, i no simplement pensant que estic corrent, o fent bici.  Pensava, dels cotxes, senyals, vianants...qui em matarà primera.  Em va anar molt de gust.


Trail running, so the same.  You don't get to see much scenery, but you spend every moment thinking about something, where to put your feet, where the dog's gone (cause he ain't at the end of the d*mn lead) birds, who else is going by, horses, horse turds, and it is up and down and up and down and up and down.
Corrent pels muntanyes als camis és igual.  No pots veure molt dels vistes perquè has de passar tota l'estona pensant on posés els peus, on ha anat el gos - perquè no ha de ser lligat (por fi) - ocelles, que em passa si fos gossos, cavalls, i pujo i baixo i pujo i baixo i pujo i baixo.....

So I'm trying to think of a way to keep up the running here without losing my marbles.  Commuter running is one solutions I've thought of.  The man and girls can drive or take the TTC to a friend or family members house, and I'll head off running, they'll carry a change of clothes.  I always figure that if I can walk a distance, I can run it, just a question of how often and for how long I have to stop, but I'll get there.  The route won't be as pretty, cause it won't be trails, indeed, I think I'd prefer to run where there are more other folks, I can think about avoiding them etc.....

Per tant, estic intentant de trobar una manera d'anar a córrer sense fent-me boja.  Corrent d'un lloc cap a un altre podria ser una solució.  L'Home i les nenes podrien anar-hi amb cotxe o transport publica i jo aniria corrent.  Els podrien portar una recanvi de roba.  Sempre penso que si puc caminar una distancia, puc córrer-la també simplement depèn quantes vegades hauria de caminar, però arribaria.  La ruta no serà maca, ni amb camirols, però quan hi ha una gentada, haig de pensar de evitar-los.

Such a squirrelly head I seem to have.  Sembla que el meu cap no para mai.

The man can sit on a rowing machine for an hour, or run around a track for an hour.  I. so. cannot.  Another friend was talking about how much he loves swimming, in a pool.  Back and forth and back and forth for an hour or more.  Swimming hard.  I cannot imagine doing it.  Open water with waves slapping me around....yeah, a challenge, something to think about.  A bit of an edge to it.
L'Home pot fer una erg (aquest maquina per remar) per una hora o córrer donen voltes als pistes per un hora.  Jo. no. puc.  Un altre amic em va dir que li encanta anar a nadar, en una piscina.  Per aquí i allà i aquí i allà...i s'esforça molt.  No ho puc imaginar.  En el mar, amb ones donant-me cops, potser...una repta, hauria de pensar, una mica de adrenalina.

Is it a kind of meditative thing?  I can't quite fathom it.  Potser és una tipus de meditació...no ho veig clar.

It does make me wonder what it is with my head though.  Al final encara tinc dubtes de com va el meu cap.

Finally, finalment

I have internet access, but no time to write...all well here, more later

Tinc accès al internet, però no tinc temps....tot bé...fins ara.

Best teaching gig evaaah....el millor treball d'ensenyar mai.

Check these out:  Mira-les:

See the close up?  I més a prop?

These are 150 year old hand painted tiles, framed.  They were a gift from a friend who we have been helping with English for the last couple of weeks.  The one who got the job as a tour guide, and wanted to brush up his English a bit?  The one who's taken us on three different tours of BCN?  I mean really, lovely company, learning lots of new stuff about BCN, getting to visit it all, and then this gift?  Excellent.  All I had to do was correct some English!

Són rajoles amb unes 150 anys d'antiguitat....pintat a mà i posat en una marc.  Estan un regal que ens va donar un amic.  Hem estat ajudant-li amb anglès aquests últims setmanes.  El que ha guanyat feina com una guia turístic i volia millorar el seu anglès.  El que ens va portar per tres tours de BCN?  Vull dir, seriosament, bon company, hem après molt de BCN que no vam saber abans, hem fet visites - guiades - i un regal a sobre?  I tot el que havia de fer era corregir una mica d'anglès!

Yeah.  Sí

Pretty cool, no?  Impressionant, no?

Thank you so very much, if your reading.  Moltíssimes gràcies si estas llegint.

They are beautiful.   Són molt maques.  Però molt.

The Gothic Quarter, el barri Gothic

Went on another walking tour of BCN - an English correcting one!  The Man had the camera.....

I don't know which church this is, though I suspect it is Santa Maria del Pi

In the Plaça del Pi - it says the plaça of the unknown militia.  Don't know what that is referring to.

This is definitely inside Santa Maria del Pi

And this too, I'd never been in the church before, so it was pretty interesting, as churches go.

Cleaning up some graffiti...

Plaça de I-have-no-idea, but I could take you there, and they shot a scene from Vicky-Christina Barcelona there.  Flowers were falling off the tree onto us while we were there, it was lovely.

The courtyard of Casa l'Adriarca, now the archives of something or other, just by the Cathedral, lovely and quiet.

Their mailbox....complete with swallows and a turtle

The courtyard or a museum near the Cathedral...don't remember the name, it's late and the computer is running out of juice...it is lovely and quiet and has sculpture and a pretty little cafe, which I've never eaten in, but which our guide said was nice.

A unicorn gargoyle on the cathedral

Our feet....

The ceiling in part of the Palace of the Kings of Catalonia and Aragon

A doorway designed by Subiras, who is also doing the passion facade at Sagrada Familia

Columns from the original Roman forum

The base of another column, long gone.

The entrance to a building just off St Jaume, part of the city hall of BCN...look closely at the arch over the door, it is very cleverly done.

A sculpture by Antoni Llena that is of the Castallers, and also cava...very Catalan.
I like it, though it doesn't stand out well in the photo.  Every one of those curves was made by cutting the metal at an angle and then resticking it together again to make the curve.  Then smoothing it out.  Think about that for a bit.

Look closely at those columns.  Someone was feeling very bold.

Street art on someone's balcony.

and on the Palau de Mùsica Catalana

There it is again, I like the Palau a lot.

There you have it, the orfeó català, the choir that funded the building's construction, and the Catalan shield.

Hope you enjoyed it, I did.

Youngest has come back. La Petita ha tornat

Very very tired (as expected) and has a lot of work for tomorrow.  Should be dramatic.

MOLT cansada (com hem anticipat) i té molt de treball per demà.  Hauria de ser dramatic.

Visit, una visita

We went off to the Sagrada Família today, with a friend who's working as a tour guide and I manage to bring a camera without a memory card, cause I'm just that smart.

Hem anat a la Sagrada Família avui amb un amic qui té treball com una guia turística i he portat una càmera sense una targeta de memòria, perquè sóc tan llesta.

walking Caminant

I went walking today with my hairdresser and a friend of his.  A fantastic day.  60K, 1,859 climbing, 1,992 descending.   That would be 6,099 ascending and 6,207 descending.

We ended it all with a swim in the sea.  What a fabulous day.


He anat a caminar avui, amb el meu perruquer i una amiga seva.  Un dia fantàstic.  60K, 1,859m de pujada i 1,992 de baixada.  


Hem acabat la dia nadant pel mar.  Un dia fabulós.

well, that was OK....doncs, això ha passat força bé

A day spent packing.  Wish I could say we were finished, but we're not.

Tomorrow will be spent walking though, and that's very good indeed.

Hem passat el dia fent maletes.  M'agradaria dir que hem acabat, però no.


Demà passaré caminant i això em va molt bé, per cert.