tubing – FIT IS A FEMINIST ISSUE

54 is just fine so far. I turned 54 last Friday and spent the weekend celebrating. See Happy 54! Celebrate Sam’s Birthday Season. There was a lot of cake but also a lot of friends and family and adventures. Thanks to everyone who took part and helped organize!

On Sunday fifteen friends and family members went rafting on the Grand River with me. Here’s a review of the activity, note though that we were on the shorter, faster section, from Edon Mills to Paris. So much fun. I’d definitely do it again. You can hang with people or go off on your own. Definitely though bring lots of snacks, sunscreen, and things to drink. It wasn’t all about floating leisurely down river. We had a headwind and in some sections if you didn’t paddle you went backwards. My sub-group didn’t paddle much. We were committed mostly to not paddling. It took us the full 5 hours.

Often we rafted up and appointed the people at the edges the chore of paddling.

At one point I landed up in super shallow water and could neither paddle nor float. I got up out of the boat and tried to walk it downstream but nearly lost my boat, paddles, and pfd in the water. Luckily Sarah rescued me! Thanks Sarah!

You can rent kayaks, canoes, large rafts for groups of people, or individual rafts like the one below. Despite the paddles they aren’t actually that maneuverable. And they’re definitely not speed machines.

But they are a lot of fun, especially through the fast sections.

Here’s Jeff’s account of the day.

On Saturday, a group of us rode our bikes 54 km to celebrate my 54th birthday. We chose the country roads east and south of the university being careful to avoid campus because it was move in day. In the end it turned out to be 52 km due to detours but I pedaled around the block a few times to make it an even 54.

Kim didn’t join us for the ride but came along for cake.

Best of all, my former PhD student Mark stopped by with his daughter who is starting university at Guelph and his son who was along for the ride. The teenagers gave us flossing lessons. No video though!

All in all, a happy birthday weekend full of friends, family, cake, and birthday adventures.

Image description: Black text on a white background that reads, “Girls can never just celebrate their birthday on ONE day, they need the whole month, 6 outfits, 2 dinners, a holiday, and 3 cakes.”

I’m celebrating my birthday today. Happy 54th birthday to me! I’m reminded that we started the blog when we were 48. The blog has been going for six years now. That’s really old in blog years.

But I’m not just celebrating today. I’m making a weekend of it. A long weekend. It actually began yesterday while I was still 53 with a visit from Tracy. We had lunch and that’s a big deal now we’re living and working in different cities.

There’ll be three days of cake. Today, my actual birthday, will be a low key thing. Maybe we’ll go out to eat. Maybe a movie. There’ll be a 54 km bike ride on Saturday to mark the occasion. Sunday my family is taking me tubing. We’re doing the “Glen Morris to Paris Area… 11km paddle with easy splash (3-4 hrs)” For details, see here.

See This 13-km Lazy River In Ontario Is The Coolest Place For Tubing.

Again, more cake probably with bonus ice cream.

I’m all for spreading birthdays out. For me, it’s also a time of year that needs parties.

My friend Ange writes, “Agreed! I am a mere 9 days into the 41st festivus of Ange (also knows locally as Angemas). Angemas goes for the number of years of my age – this year – 41 days. I can’t wait until I’m 92 and can rock it for 3 whole months!!”

How about you? How much birthday celebrating do you do?