The Summer of Bike

This Summer was our first without owning a vehicle.  We decided as a family to use bicycles as our primary mode of transportation and over the Summer we started on this journey.
It is actually quite exciting for us to see how much we can fit onto our bikes and how far we can ride.
Riding is an amazing culmination of exercise, being outdoors, hearing sounds, seeing sites and working together as a family.  We live in Hamilton, ON so we have had to learn how to ride safely as a family through a busy city and although it is challenging at times, we love that too.
For our vacation this Summer we did a 10 day Bicycle Music Tour covering around 325 kms and although it was challenging, our kids each told us how much they loved it and how they want to do a longer one next year.
I will do some longer blogs telling more about the tour itself in the next few weeks.
I highly recommend buying a bike and starting to use it as much as our life will allow you to.
We are a family of 5 and we didn't all own bikes a few years ago, but not we look forward to our time as a family using our bikes.  It's pretty awesome!

Let's Ride

In the morning we will be loading all of this gear onto our bikes and rolling out of our driveway for a 10 day adventure.  We are covering a fair bit of ground and stopping in some cool little towns along the way.  I will try to post some stuff on my blog in case you want to follow our journey.  And if you are in the area and feeling inspired, bring your bike and join us for part of the journey.

Notice the homemade panniers made out of recycled cat litter containers.

The View From My Bike

Over the past year or so we have been wrestling as a family between trying to be more 'Green' and trying to simplify life.  Early on in that year we started having van troubles and the maintenance bills were growing, stressing us out and leaving us to wonder, why are we keeping it?  So we got rid of it and bought bikes.  How we got rid of the van is another cool story but I will save that one for now.
For now, we got rid of our van and have been riding our bikes everywhere over the Summer.  I'm not going to lie, it is challenging at first, well, actually, it's just plain challenging.  But is awesome!
We've really grown together as a family and have learned to look out for one another.  Living in a city with busy roads and lots of cars moving very quickly, you really have to work together to keep each other safe.
Right now I am in the process of buying this green Yuba cargo bike which allows me to put lots of stuff on it and next week we will be leaving for our 10 day bicycle music tour using only our bikes and traveling close to 300 kms with our kids pedaling along.
In our journey of simplifying, we wanted to do a family vacation this year that incorporated, community, exercise, camping and music and I think our 10 day bike tour to St. Marys and back is going to achieve all of those goals.  For 10 days we will be riding as a family and with whomever else joins us along the way.  Each night we will set up camp and I will play music.  We have some stops already booked along the way but also wanted to leave it open incase opportunity to develop new community arises in towns like Tavestock and Ayr.  It should be hard work, but also tons of fun.
People that hear about our decision to go car free always ask us what we plan to do in the winter and the truth is we plan to dress warm and keep riding.  Thankfully we have good friends who use their bikes year round to learn from.  The VanderKwaaks and Carrolls families.  But really, we don't know what it will be like until it gets here.
We aren't committing to this for the rest of our lives, but so far we love it!  It's fun to try and be strategic with what kind of "stuff" we take with us.  If we can't fit it, we don't take it.
From the seat on my bike I see so much more.  I see my kids pushing themselves to try things that they may not have tried before.  I see it bringing our family closer together, I see it causing us to try and eat better, and exercise more.  I even see that as we reach our destinations, it gets easier and easier so that we can push ourselves further next time.  The view from my bike is pretty sweet indeed.

Coffee

As a kid, I always thought coffee was weird.
My dad loved (and still loves) his double double from Tim Hortons.  Coffee smelled funny to me.  But somewhere along the line I was introduced to sugar and cream with a shot of coffee and then I too was hooked.  Now I spend a good portion of my week hanging out in coffee shops.  I write papers in them, I meet people in them and I play music in them.
What is it about the wonderful beverage that draws people like me in?
Why is it that I get excited to get to a coffee shop to set up my workstation and order a hot cup of Jo?
I know it's full of caffeine and other stuff that is probably not good for me, but it's the whole experience that draws me in.                      
As I write this blog post, my view is what you see in this picture.
It's perfect!  It's simple, I see a bunch of brown which is my favorite colour, and it makes me want to order another coffee and get more done.
Nowadays my dad and I drink coffee together. He still orders his double double, but I don't add sugar cuz I'm sweet enough already:)

Slippery Sidewalks Are Bringing Me Down.

It's February and the snow outside is starting to get me down.  I know that is common in February but I'm just in need of a pick-me-up.  So I have been working really hard to book a bunch of Spring shows once the better weather hits.  Working on a bunch of church events and a possible Summer tour.  I am reworking my press kit right now, recording a bunch of new songs and I even chopped my hair off to try and get a fresh start.
So now I'm just waiting for the snow to thaw, the patios to re-open and my record to get finished.
Stay tuned for more updates soon.

Something New for 2015

So I haven't posted on my blog for a long time but this is the start of a new year so why not post a wee update.  

The last half of 2014 was spent back in school trying to finish my Masters in Divinity, launching a second group in our House Church Plant called "GreenHouse" and working on a bunch of new songs.  Not to mentioned working on new music and a single with Otic Poets.  I felt like I didn't do very much performing but as I reflect, I suppose I was still pretty busy.  It's funny, when you are busy doing something you love, it doesn't seem like such hard work.  

I am very excited about 2015 as I am currently starting a new acoustic album at Sheepdog Studio which is so close to me that I can literally walk across Gage Park and be there in 10 mins.  Walking in a park is a beautiful way to prepare for recording.  After each session I get to walk home through the park and reflect.  This is going to be my best record yet.    

I will blog again soon about some other things happening.  Please stay tuned.  This picture was taken by my friend Kaz who is a brilliant photographer, videographer and owner of Verity Creative.  I'll share some more of his shots soon.