The Search

 Thursday evening.. it was raining snow or rather snaining, I would say.. 

If it was not for the green GO train, it would look like scene from a black and white movie. I think you could see some random people walking in the same direction, towards the gate. Winter jackets, hands in pockets, they want to walk quickly, but then, don't want to fall down, hence making careful strides, they went ahead.. Now.. if you slow down a bit, and look for someone standing out, then you could see me. Do I need to make it explicit.. I'm telling the story, so I have to stand out, right.!!

So, she(me) walked towards the bus boarding point. She couldn't find the 902 bus and checked online to find out that next one is only after half an hour. Yeah, she just missed her bus. It's all because of you.. she did that slow-motion walk just because you were looking..!

Snaining is going into a higher pitch with the wind and it's difficult to stay in the open for another half an hour, so she decided to take shelter in the VRail waiting area. 

She kept her bag and phone down to adjust the neck wrap and free out the hair pricking through it. that's when she noticed the greenish notification on the phone., it says something about ear bud.. let's take a closer look.. (zoomin please..) It's a notification that the right ear bud is missing.. OMG.. she checked her right ear.. hell, yeah it's missing.. checked in the jacket, tried couple of jumps to see if it magically falls.. nope.. "Argh... this is not happening..I might be dreaming", she pinched herself.. it's not!!

It begins here, my dear folks.. The Search...!! As you watch, she quickly grabs her bag, started tracing back her footsteps. Not literally, as the falling snow is making sure to clear out all the tracks. How do you search a 1.5 inch, white earbud in snow..!! 

"Find the Device" app, shows the location of the bud a little further, that means it would probably be in the train. It might have fallen off her ear while she was sitting in the train and fell asleep over the side window. So, she finally decided to search in the train. This is where the actual question comes., in which compartment did she sit.?? Who knows, does anybody notice it, that too on the way back from office, hoping to reach home, change into something comfy, longing to be a couch potato. She too didn't.. She hopped into the 4th compartment. She sat in the middle layer, on the corner seat near to the steps. This made it easy, she only need to check those corner seats in the middle layer. One silver lining.. 

Finally..!! she reached the last compartment and still couldn't find it. The last announcement said that the train will start in 3 minutes. "Okie, I will check in 3 more compartments and it's done, I will have to offboard the train". 1 done, nothing. 2 done, nothing, 3 done nothing..

Wait!!!

Did you see something there? No? Crouch over and zoom in again! yes.. yeah.. there it is!!

We got it!!!

She took it.. rushed out of the train.. waved her hands happily at the train official who was making the final announcement for departure..

Search completed..! she got to the bus terminal just in time for the 902 bus.

This could have gone another way, where she might have decided not to look for it. She could have used the left one that is left with her now, for sometime. Then, may be buy a new one after the remorse is settled. But there would always be this question of  'What if?' and the feeling of incompleteness whenever she opens the bud box. 

P.S. - The 'What if?' popped out anyway. :D

A Sunday @ Greenwood Conservation Area

 Another lazy Sunday to be a couch potato!! 

But! There's a always a BUT.. The climate is crazily sunny for end of October and perfect for a ride. I had been thinking of going to Greenwood Conservation Area from last couple of days. But how does a lazy body with a crazy mind would go on a ride, to a place that is more than 20 KM away, just like that..? 

But! But, then, I had to find the laziest possible way out..! May be bus + bike would do! I took around 5 minutes to decide on the route and the buses. Breakfast and packing done in another 20 mins and yeah, all set for the Greenwood Conservation Area, Ajax. 

I had to take 2 buses. I got down from the second one(a 915) at Westney Southbound @ Taunton. From there, I had to ride through Westney Rd, without any sidewalks for about 1.3KM to reach the entry point.

Left-turn from Westney Rd

I already started getting the feel of a park. There were some houses on the right side and lot of trees on the other. Another ~500 meters to the parking lot and then I was at the official entry to the Park.

Map & other details

There were some 10-15 cars parked in the lot. Unless you are a camping guest, I don't think you can take cars inside the Park.  I went in, parked the bike to the side of the road and that is when I saw the sculpture carved out of a tree trunk.

The 'HOPE' by Dorsey James

From the name board, I came to know that it is an art piece by Dorsey James, installed in 2018. 'She' is the spirit Elpis(from the story of Pandora) and is entitled as 'HOPE'. 

Back at my home in India, we had some guests. I had a quick call to see all of them. There was our uncle, who himself is quite an artist and is into carving. He was delighted in seeing HOPE. I was so glad to know that it made his day.

After bidding farewell to HOPE and Uncle, I started riding again. It felt as if the place is extending the hands to hug me, so serene and picturesque, and sunny and breezy.

I stopped here and there for a couple of photos. But then, I'm no photographer, y'all!! So, I called up my husband, whose 'secret' passion is photography, to get some online photography lessons. But, again.. I have always been an average student whose presence(both physical & mental) was limited to the back benches of any class. He ended up giving me some tips and closed the call for 'good'.  The man asked for fee as well!! :D

[the model basking in the sunlight and swimming under the shadows at the same time..]

Alongside the road, I saw some hiking paths. Seems like the hikes were easy ones as I saw people going in with kids as well. 

[seems like the model is not tired of posing]

There was a small building at the end of the bike trail. One can book the place for some small events. The ride back to the bus stop was uneventful other than this small bit below:

No!! I didn't ride the whole way back! You might have forgotten about the 'being lazy' part. I took a bus from the nearest bus stop. And I got back home by 1PM, to join my friends for the weekend grocery shopping and bla bla blaaas..

A Solo Ride to Darlington Park

 Days are getting shorter, but working hours are getting longer. I don’t know how long I can convince myself saying that it is because the project is new!!

The much-awaited Friday night is here, and I see that I am still working.!! The usual questions came running across and my eyes got stuck at the bike at the corner of the room. There you are - my answer! I shut down the laptop and started searching in my phone for “fall colors near me” and ‘ended up’ in Darlington Provincial Park, which is about 10 KM from my home. This is it, decision made, good night!