June 13. Kingston

We have acclimatized to the realization that our cross-Canada bicycle ride has ended at least for the time being. Gramie is still disappointed at having to truncate the ride but is doing her best to adjust. This has been made easier by knowing that our friends in Canadian Citizens Care Alliance have pitched in and are riding for us. A number of them got the ball rolling by telling us that they would ride their bikes in their own neighbourhoods and add up the Km to finish the ride for us. This has evolved into a fun activity, which will be recorded on a website. Anyone will be able to participate by doing something active outdoors (where making vitamin D is possible) and recording it there; the activities could be anything that doesn't depend on a motor and is outdoors. Biking, running, walking, sailing, paddling would all qualify, maybe even parachuting. Gramie had her eyes checked at the Urgent Eye Clinic at Hotel Dieu Hospital on June 11, and that afternoon we took a 40 Km bike ride west of Kingston; the walk to the clinic and home added about 8 Km. On June 12, we started running stairs and doing pushups at Lake Ontari Park; that added about 8 Km. Today (June 13) we rode our bikes east of Kingston in a loop of about 50 Km. Tomorrow morning at 10 AM, we have "talk & walk" session at Rodden Park. We started these with the idea of getting our neighbours together outdoors in a setting that would encourage informal discussion about whatever comes to mind. People everywhere have been subjected to isolation and lack of personal interactions for the last four years, and need to talk with others. We thought that "talk & walk" would be be one way to facilitate social interaction. Moreover, it requires no expenses and no one has to host anything in their homes. The only minor expense was the paper we used to make up about 500 notices that we distributed in Calvin Park.

This picture was taken from the Third Crossing, formally known as Waaban Crossing. It shows the Rideau Canal and the rowing course in the background.