Bwahhhha!! Happy Hallowe'en!!!!!

I have to admit Hallowe'en is one of my favorite holidays.  Every year I decorate the house and make it a scary place to come and ask for candy.  My neighborhood kids love coming to our house and they bring their friends who have never experienced my witchingly scary behavior.  I do very theatrical make-up and stand as stiff as a statue holding a broom in the front yard. The first time I did it I scared Motorcycle Man and our doggis wouldn't even look at me and cowered in the corner.  Motorcycle Man is a key player in my little macabre theatre performance, he plays the nice guy at the door and then I scare the living pee out of them after they come down the stairs.  I stand as still as a statue and wait for them to get by me on the way out and scare them.  One little kid came up to me and said to his dad, "She's not real is she dad, she's not real." His dad knew and said, "Nope she's not real."  Bwahhha! This little kid came up to me and poked me in my tummy a couple of times and I didn't even flinch.  When the weevil came down the stairs and was beside me I let out a witchy cackle and threatened to put him in my stew pot or turn him into a wee froggy.  He screamed and almost peed his pants.  His dad was in stitches and found it hilarious.  (I generally wait for a nod from the parents that it is okay to scare their offspring.)

I thought my motorcycle license looked bad!  I am just Boo-tiful!

I am however a witch with a consciences, I don't scare little tiny kids or pregnant women - I accidentally did that one year and the lady peed her pants and almost went into labour. Whoops! ( I think that was a bad karma getting moment)  So if you are sending your evil weevils to my house prepared for them to need pampers.

Happy Hallowe'en!!!!  Bwahhhhaaaaaa!!!!!

Bras on Broad - October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Breast cancer is one of the most common cancer's affecting women.  1 in 9 women are expected to develop breast cancer. This year alone in Canada approximately 23,400 women will be diagnosed and of those 5,100 will die from the disease.  It is not only a woman's cancer, men can develop breast cancer as well.  Approximately 190 males in 2011 developed breast cancer and about 55 will die from it. If you are a woman, getting regular mammograms and practicing breast self examination are your best tools to fight the disease.  If you are a mom and have a daughter(s) take the time to show them how to do the exam properly, it is a gift you are giving your daughter.  (stats provided by Canadian Cancer Society)

For more information about breast cancer and other forms of cancer please visit the Canadian Cancer Society website at www.cancer.ca     Together we can beat cancer.

KoolFM in Victoria hosts Bras On Broad, this is a yearly event to raise breast cancer awareness and raise funds for breast cancer treatment and cure.  They collect donated bras, string them together and hang them on the along Broad Street.  Pretty cool!  They accept cash donations, as well as new or gently used bras which will be donated to Women In Need.  The event is today, October 28th, until 5:00pm.

All of these beautiful bras will be donated to Women In Need.  

Heaven on earth - moto weekend!

This twisty hill  is just outside of East Sooke Park.  Pretty Amazing on the bike.  

This weekend was my first as a fully licensed motorcyclist, and it was a weekend full of riding.  The weather forecast was pretty iffy for the weekend, cloudy with showers and possibly clearing on Sunday.  I woke up early Saturday and dragged Motorcycle Man out of his cozy bed, because we were going riding rain or shine.  It was slightly sunny as I got up and got ready, but it changed to showers.  We pulled out Lucy and Motorcycle Man's ride (he doesn't have a name for it) and did our pre-check inspection.  We kind of tossed out the idea of driving to Duncan, but it started to rain shortly after we got under way, so that altered our plans.  We decided to go out to beautiful Sidney for breakfast.  Cafe 3 is a tiny little restaurant and it is always busy and there is always a wait.  It was well worth the wait.  I usually drive Motorcycle Man crazy with snapping pictures of our meal, but today I was too hungry and realized after I scarfed down the Pacific Benny that I had forgotten to take a pic.  Let me assure you it was amazing!  The Pacific Benny is a crab cake served with egg and hollandaise sauce.  OMG it was divine!!!  We continued on after our breakfast and took the long lazy way back down West Saanich Road.  I love this ride, it is full of twisties and it is a great ride with long lazy curves.  It started to pour and it was torrential and it soaked us to the skin.  We arrived home chilled, but happy, well at least one of us was.  The whole thing about being a newb is even when it is raining it doesn't seem to really bother you.  Motorcycle Man on the other hand has been riding for 30+ years and has the been there done that feeling about riding in the rain.  Thank goodness he decided to go along on my ride, it says a lot when your spousal unit just does something like this for you.  After we got home we settled in and warmed up.

Saturday's weather was a mixed bag of tricks, mostly rain, but I didn't mind too much.

If you come to Vancouver Island, you have to stop in scenic Sidney has have breaky at Cafe 3.  

Sunday morning bloomed full and glorious with sunshine.  The minute I saw the sun, I was all but out the door, when Motorcycle Man said, "Whoa, we need to have some breakfast and some coffee first."  Darn it, I was hoping we would do destination eating.  I whipped up some blueberry pancakes and waited while he leisurely ate them.  (Seriously I have a one track mind and it is hard to contain my exuberance sometimes)  We decided to go out Sooke way and rode through Metchosin and East Sooke Park.  The weather was so nice we meandered down to the beach. We continued eventually into Sooke.

It was GLORIOUS!!  The sun was beautiful, the temperature perfect and OH THE TWISTIES!!!!!  The road out this way is very twisty and I now know why riders love them so, you get momentum going, you lean into the turn and it is nothing less than perfection.  You become one with the bike and it is an exhilarating feeling.   

As our afternoon wound down we were feeling a little peckish, so of course we needed to stop and have a little something something.  We headed to Mom's Cafe and ordered the salmon corn chowder.  It was pretty yummy.  What I have been finding about our moto adventures is that there seems to be an element of stopping at little eateries, this is just an added side bonus. While we were at Mom's a group of bikers riding classic motorcycles pulled up for lunch as well.  On our way out I snapped some pictures of these beautiful classic bikes.  There were 2 beautiful old Harley's with side cars, a triumph, a Norton and a Matchless.  Gorgeous bikes. The best part of the day was when Motorcycle Man said to me over a bowl of chowder, "Welcome to the club." That meant more to me than anything!  

We had such a wonderful day, I could have gone a 1,000 miles, it was amazing!!!

Little meander to the beach at East Sooke Park

The weather was perfect and it was beautifully warm and I could lazed in the sun for hours

A little bit of fall in the countryside

This is a little pull off just after the twisties end with a little bridge at the bottom.  It was a very popular place for motorcyclists, several came by as we were stopped.  

Motorcycle Man and his ride

There were other 2 wheelers as well, had a lovely chat with the lady who owned one of the bicycles.  

Another shot of the twisty hill and bridge - bike Nirvana

These 2 young guns came ripping around the corner & down the hill & pulled over, they were waiting for traffic to clear so they could take another run at the hill and video each other coming down.  I think every motorcyclist on the Island was coming down this hill today.  They finally gave up and decided just to go as the traffic was too heavy.  

What's not to love about a brilliantly sunny day, good riding company and beautiful vintage bikes.  

Pictures do say a 1,000 things......

This pretty much says it all!

I passed my motorcycle road test and am now a fully legal class 6 motorcyclist!  I am extremely happy and feel relieved that all of the testing is over.  It has been a very long 3 weeks and I really have to thank Motorcycle Man and Motorcycle Daughter.  You guys have been wonderful and I thank you for putting up with my test anxiety and celebrating the highs and encouraging me through the lows.  I seriously could not have done this without you both.  To all my friends who have been rooting for me - I humbly thank you for your faith in me!

I went for a celebratory ride after I dropped the course bike off and picked up Lucy.  We did one of my favorite scooter treks down West Saanich Road into the countryside.   Below are pictures from Observatory Hill.  The sun was gorgeous and You could see forever.  I was lucky it was clear enough to see majestic Mount Baker.  We zipped back over the highway  - BECAUSE I CAN NOW!!!!!!!!!

VISC Traffic Safety course October 15 & 16th, 2011

Good ole #20 a 250 Honda Rebel - this was my course bike, I was too short for the other ones :(

This weekend was beyond words in description.  I was a student in the Vancouver Island Safety Council Traffic Safety course.  I found the course very comprehensive and it added to my knowledge  base and skill set that I learned in the Novice course.  

When I first started out my two wheel adventures 10 months ago, I never dreamed I would be riding a motorcycle.  In looking back on my journey, there are some things I definitely would have done differently.  I know they say hindsight is 20/20. I guess I was destined to do it, at first the hard way and lastly a better way.  I am pretty one track minded at times, when I set my mind on something I do it and that resulted in me having a scooter wipe-out when I was starting out.  What I would have done differently would have been to take the Novice Motorcycle course and Traffic Safety course before I even touched the scooter.  In fact I think our laws in BC need to change with respect to 50cc scooters, I think that it should be mandatory that people take a basic road course that teaches them how to stay safe and be a competent scooter rider.  I look back and realize I was doing some things incorrectly. But in the end I have come full circle and have graduated to a BC class 6 motorcycle license.

I have taken the training wheels off so to speak, but I will always be a life-long learner with regards to the motorcycle.  I feel that there are three important things in regards to motorcycling 1)  Motorcycle Training with an accredited company 2) Safety  3) All The Gear All The Time - ATGATT.  If you live in Victoria, I highly recommend the Vancouver Island Safety Council Motorcycle training courses, you come out of these a well trained competent rider.  www.visafetycouncil.com.

Instructor Jim and my classmates

We are having a road side conference about our ride so far.

Some folks we met along the way.....

Another pumpkin head......

This beauty was hanging in the Roadside Cafe where we had lunch (I think I would rather ride it than look at it)

Final part of our day.

This is the fun part after we have 'graduated' we get to try all the different bikes - my classmate fell in love with the
250 Ninja, I have a feeling it is going to be her next bike.