At 9 am on Tuesday morning, I arrived at Blair's apartment on my bike. Shortly thereafter, Blair assumed the role of hairstylist and proceeded to cut my hair. After giving me a fantastic trim, I hopped into the shower and rinsed myself off. Then we ate a healthy breakfast to get ourselves energized for the big day ahead.
Once breakfast was done, we embarked on our big adventure. With gym gear in hand and I with my bike, we walked at a leisurely pace down to the YMCA on Grosvenor for our workout. We spent about an hour-and-an-half at the gym and it was a good workout for us both. I felt fantastic afterwards.
After we got showered and dressed, we parted ways for a short while. Blair had to run an errand and I had to run back home to get a couple of things done. Before going our separate ways, we said that we would meet at Java Jive for a quick bite and then venture down to the Island from there.
Blair and I arrived at Java Jive within minutes of each other. We chilled a bit and had our lunch. I also took the opportunity to introduce Blair to a couple of my friends, Gary and Bob, both of whom I had glowingly related about this beautiful human being who had recently entered my life.
We left the cafe and walked down to Wellesley Station to catch the train down to Union Station. From Union Station, we walked down Bay Street to the Ferry Terminal. Within moments of our arrival, the ferry docked and we were on our way to the Island.
We couldn't have chosen a more perfect day for this adventure. The ferry crossing was wonderful.
As soon as we encountered the first signs of sand, we took off our shoes and let our bare feet experience its wonderful sensations. But that was a short-lived experience. As we continued our walk toward the water, the sand became hotter and hotter until we were forced to put our shoes back on. Once we hit the water though, we slipped off our shoes and let our bare feet experience the cool sensation of wet sand and water. Despite the day being beautiful, the water still had a pronounced chill.
Finally we found a spot on the beach, rolled out our towels and stripped off our clothes. The simple act of removing our clothing was a small celebration in and of itself and very liberating. Feeling the warmth of the sun that day on our exposed skin was simply magical.
As soon as we undressed, we both applied liberal amounts of suntan lotion to prevent ourselves turning into lobsters.
Blair was the first one to take the plunge into the chilly waters. The water closest to the beach wasn't that bad, but as one ventured out from shore there was a marked drop in temperature. The image below tells the tale of Blair's encounter with that cold water firsthand.
When I finally decided to take the plunge in these chilly waters, I took my camera with me. Among the images I captured that day are a couple of my favourites, which appear below.
The first image is of Blair in the water. To me, it is such a beautiful and relaxed moment.
The second image is of a couple of ducks leisurely swimming by. I moved slowly through the water so I wouldn't scare them. When I got close enough, I snapped a couple of photos. This one with the sailboat in the background is perfect.
Even at the beach the creative mind was at work. Mother Nature provided the raw materials and the canvas for artistic expression. Below, Blair transformed something as simple as small stones into a work of art.
