This post is not about fibre, art or really anything in particular. Pull the wheel hard to the left (so you don’t go off the tracks) and read on…

John and I had two days without Katherine this weekend, which were marred only by John’s massively infected feet (which will hopefully be on the mend soon, thanks to the help of good doctors and specialists!). We slept, watched Chariots of Fire, ate Chinese food, talked, drank much good coffee, wandered down-town, went out for breakfast and went to a geocaching event/meeting.

Chariots of Fire was excellent. I can’t believe we haven’t watched it before. I somehow had it in my head that it was about middle-distance runners, when in fact it’s really about sprinters (which are a whole different quintal of fish) and Olympians. That said, there was enough running and sufficient numbers of montages to satisfy adherents of both genres. It was a pleasure to watch a film that progressed fairly slowly and in which character development was allowed to occur at a reasonable pace.I also got a real kick out of seeing the recreation of the opening of the 8th Olympiad, which looked more like a Challenge Cup soccer final than a modern Olympic Games!

This morning we went out for breakfast and enjoyed the heaping piles of fruit on top of crepes at Cora’s, then a slow and short wander down-town, stopping to poke through camping equipment at The Outfitters. We need a new sleeping bag and the addition of Katherine as an growing and active part of our camping excursions (and not just an appendage in tow) means that our tent will soon be too small and our pots and pans will need to be rethought. So we priced things and were pleased to see that the sticker shock was far less than that of houses, cars or clothing! Good camping gear is still affordable and the good stuff will last forever.

Finally we headed to a geocaching event (the Meet, Greet & Brainstorm Event – the link will only work if you have a geocaching.com account and are logged in. I think.), which can be many things, but is, in essence, a time and place at which a lot of cachers suddenly show up and get together to chat, exchange stories and ideas, show off new gear and sometimes (gasp) even go CACHING together! This gathering was actually mostly a meeting and was held at Admiralty House. There are enough of us now that there has been some talk of a provincial geocaching club, whose purpose would be to basically provide regular get-togethers for enthusiasts and help organize events. It was a fun time, we all decided that some sort of group was a good idea, but that we didn’t want to get too hierarchical or charge memberships fees or any such things. Our main goal is just to keep getting together, encourage new folks, help keep caching active and environmentally friendly and generally have fun. The next get-together is at Admiralty House again, at 4pm, on May 7th.

These are the wonderful folk who came today (minus Phobos, who took the picture, and eveleye5, who had to leave early):

John handily nabbed the first to find (drawn from a hat) and got a nice shiny new geocoin for his troubles! Then we followed it up with a wonderful birthday (mine)  supper at my folks (who had taken Katherine for a sleepover) and watched Luke and Rowan run circles around each other while Katherine ricocheted off the walls after chocolate cake and ice cream.

All-in-all, it was a nice time. A much-needed relaxing weekend. Now if only John’s poor old feet will get better so that he can walk and run again!