I've enjoyed the past few days here on the left coast of Canada. The weather has been much to be desired and got just enough sun when it was needed.
I began my weekend with an outing to Whistler. Well, sort of. I tagged along with my mate Kris on his way up to see a client in Whistler. In tow were two vintage enduro motorcross bikes. Brilliant. After business was handled we ventured back down closer to Squamish and found a clearing full of motorcross clad fanatics. This apparently was the trail of trails that these folks share a commonality in.
I didn't have any gear with my and Kris was prepared. I got some vintage Italian racing boots, a leather jacket and a coconut to protect my melon. The adventure started out with my bike not starting and while Kris worked on it to find the fix, I took his bike up the hill to get acquainted with riding again. I made it up the hill and then I stalled it. This bike had a crank that was a work out to try and start. Uphill, tip toeing the bike around trying to kick start it was not the easiest of tasks. I managed somehow to turn the bike around on the incline that I was on and coasted down hill towards where I began and left Kris. As I was coasting down, Kris was blasting up the mountain. We traded bikes and again we were, up, up and away! ;)
I dropped the bike on my finger coming around a corner, dropped the bike while stalling out in first, and I think dropped the bike one other time while climbing up some snow filled rock infested land. We got to as far as we could due to the snow blocking us off and so we headed back down to the flat clearing that looked out into the mountains. The sunlight reflecting off the snow and the sides of the mountains while everything in the shadows stayed dark and black. Clouds over head painted along the canvas as the wind blew by as we looked down to see how far we had climbed. A brilliant experience and splendid to be back on a bike. Might just have to pick one of these two wheelers up ;)
The concert on Friday was fantastic and I had to opportunity to catch another concert, U2.
I got to see U2 in concert!! My seats were fantastic. Edge was right up in my face I was so close. Bono reached out to hold my hand as I extended mine out to grasp hold, yet just out of reach. Then my 3d glasses fell of my face and then everything appeared as it was... an IMAX 3D event of U2 performing a concert in Buenos Aires. A thrilling experience to have enjoyed my first IMAX theatre and a 3d event at that. It was a great concert and was filled with humming and singing U2 for days...
One of my favorite breakfast choices has always been an eggs benedict or florentine. I tell you, the secret is in the hollandaise sauce, you can't be stingy on the butter. So I was taken for an eggsperience ;) Fresh fluffy waffles and creamy benny's. That is what was ordered, that is not what came. After a clarification the waffles were sent back for more fluffy ones. Thank goodness they were. These flufferific fun filled waffles were not only salivatingly splendidly scrumptous, they were covered in fruit and alliteration. I enjoyed a slow moving breakfast that was filled with a spot of rain and observations of umbrellas bouncing by. Smiles poured down on me.
In between my sushi fixes and Starbucks fills I managed to squeak in some time on a beach cruiser ripping around the sand walls of Vancouver resulting in my exploration of Stanley Park. I spent hours aside the ocean, moments in the trees, years beside the flowing streams. It was a sanctuary at a time when I needed it. A great deal of reflection had been had since I recalled a point of reference into where I am. I don't mean where I am located, I mean the where I am on the way. The people I had visited with I had not seen since I had left a couple of years ago. It allowed me to see where I was then and put into perspective where I am now.
Still lost and yet this time, wearing a smile...
I am embarking on another pilgrimage. This time it will take place in Saudi Arabia. It is called The Hajj and is one of the five pillars of Islam. An obligation to any able-bodied muslim who can afford to do so. I have been blessed by the stars and have been afforded this opportunity. Two million people congregate in this location every year to perform rituals together. Two million souls all focusing on something greater than themselves, the Creator, Source, All That Is; a tremendous energy to be circumambulating within. The spiritual significance of a journey like this is more important to me than the religious aspects which tends to cause some discussion with some ;)The Hajj is associated with the life of Muhammad, but the ritual of pilgrimage to Makkah is considered by Muslims to stretch back to the time of Ibrahim and Is'mail, prominent figures in both Islam and in Judaism. Pilgrims join processions of hundreds of thousands of people, who simultaneously converge on Makkah for the week of the Hajj, and perform a series of rituals. As part of the Hajj, each person walks counter-clockwise seven times about the Kaaba, the cube-shaped building which acts as the Muslim direction of prayer (qibla); runs back and forth between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah; drinks from the Zamzam Well; goes to the plains of Mount Arafat to stand in vigil; and throws stones in a ritual Stoning of the Devil. The pilgrims then shave their heads, perform an animal sacrifice, and celebrate the four day global festival of Eid al-Adha.[3][4][5]
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