sports

The Great White Mountains
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The Great White Mountains

Hail Bravehearts

It is with great pleasure that this winter is warm and snowy, and that it brings us sport.  Fabulous pleasure, a great day for a ski.  Downhill skiing is the easiest sport in the world.

The balmy mountain weather hovers above -10.  A warm, sunny February, brings us out of our snug homes, to smile and greet yet another sunny day.  Stay home this winter, no need to travel south.  As the snow birds fly away each year, to sunny summer climates, in the warm tropics, those hearty winter lovers, stay home, for the delightful winters time.  Peace to us all.  This is a great one.

The drive to find snow, this year, has made this an easy, more carefree year.  The pussy willows are out, a sapling in a warm spot has started to bud,  the snow melts on the sidewalks, energy bills plummet.  Global warming is a nuisance. It brings too much cold in the East and fabulous, warm, sunny skies in the West.

A day on the slopes, warm enough to stay out all day!  Our weekly snowshoe day has taken us on excursions to find that soft fluffy snow. We lather on sunscreen and snowshoe in our shirts.  Too warm for winter coats.  The birds sing to us as we pass and flocks gather in the trees.

It’s beautiful and warm and a day on the ski hill is just so easy.  No frostbite, no frozen cheeks, no frost beards, or icicle eyelashes.  No chalet skiing, from days too cold to stay outside.  No complaints of frozen toes and frozen fingers, too long in food lines and too long drinking hot chocolate.  The warm winter weather gives us a boost of excitement. We can play outside in the snow!

I push off from my spot at the top of the mountain and fly down my usual terrain.  Easy, easy, it’s just so exhilarating. After thirty years of this, skiing is easier than walking.  The mountain is so familiar, I know these runs well. Perfectly groomed, all the holes have been patched and we compliment the groomers on yet another year of snow moving, that makes the mountain more enjoyable and less dangerous.  No slipping over rocks and crashing down the hill.  No entanglements with saplings as they catch your skis.  No snow monsters or snow snakes, tripping you on your way.  No, this is just perfect.  It’s a perfect day for a ski.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilRI4zKoBPo  extreme skiing

Global warming has it’s drawbacks, we gloat to one another, as the snow is starting to fall.  Our winter wonderland of fluffy white stuff is now a drive away.  Smiles and nods as the weather is co-operative.  The roads are open. Tourists flock to us and fill our town.  Trapped.

I know that the joy of today, is the doom of tomorrow, as our glaciers are slipping away.  As yet another natural wonder crashes off the mountain, and our water supply is threatened. That harsh reality will rear it’s head again this summer.  But for now, push off that mountain and glide your way along those dreamy snow covered slopes.  Fill your mind with winter.  Winter fun and winter play and how much we still adore it.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

March 2, 2016

Own The Game
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Own The Game

Hail, all you brave ones.

The time is near.  Your path is chosen.  Your team is ready.  Skills and knowledge, trust and harmony, experience and expertise.  The team is everything.  Team building is a skill and a goal in itself.  A strong, directed team, with knowledgeable leadership can achieve insurmountable tasks.  Focus and dedication, building those skills, training and development, nurture and care.  The inexperienced can learn, their energy and enthusiasm helps to drive the team forward.  Push yourselves, the goal is in sight.

That small step of a minor achievement, when the course was finished and a new skill achieved.  Now this!  On to that path.  The goal of your dreams, the impossible dream.  That single, small step, to earth moving potential and striving for success.  Concentrate on the goal.  Step by step, follow that path. Don’t give it up.  This is the adventure of your life.

Choose well, oh brave ones, there are many paths.  The straight, the narrow, the high, the low, each with challenges, obstacles and pitfalls.  Clues to success glitter in the corner of your eye.  Whisperings of sweetness echos in your ears. The chalk on the board draws your attention.  Learn your lessons well. The time spent on nurturing a fine aptitude gives you the knowledge you need for your life.  Don’t let this pass.  You must achieve it.  The road becomes narrow, there are dead ends, circles and confusion.  Time passes, it doesn’t stand still and your aptitude must be nourished for it to flourish.

Your fortitude is with your comrades.  Strength to you.  A trusted system of mutual support and life skills, building knowledge, courage and your team. A trusted team of mutual respect, connectivity and sharing.  Educate and learn, trial and error, practice, practice, practice, you will get it right.  Devotion to your cause and focus.

The game has already started, it’s been playing out forever.  Mentors line the walls to help.  Each with skills  and wisdom to impart.  Nothing changes, this is the game.

Climb on board, you winning team, handpicked for your expertise.  It is your time, your armour shines, the spotlight sees you, the crowds cheer.  Achieve it, oh almighty ones!  To victory, to eternity.  This is your day, your hour, your second.  All of your life’s work comes down to this moment.  The moment that you dream for, that you risked it all for, that you dared for.

Now, in that imperceptible moment, when your mind is sharp and the world stands still, quietly waiting for you.  Now we know who you are, your name and your game.  All that you’ve trained for, all that you’ve worked for, all that you have ever been.  Now you, and the merit of your team, will be counted.

written by Dr, Louise Hayes

February 2, 2016

Action!
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Action!

Hail, you awesome human

For beauty is as beauty does and you all do it so well.  Test your skills and competitive edge, test your knowledge and constant training, test your fortitude and your companionship, test your ability to train and command.  Hail, all you beauties.  The judges watch in eager support, the crowd cheers at the dare devil within and the champion of this match is an unrivaled and much heralded success.  Glory and honour to this golden crown, the skills of the beauty are unsurpassed.  A pageant queen that has never been questioned.  No one disputes the necessity of this  test, or the rights of these women to compete.

A test of skills and nerve and fortitude, an inspiration to all who watch and to those who jealously eye the crown.  The secret to success is the fabulously well trained body and the perfection of the match.

He listens closely  to the voice in his ear and responds immediately to the command.  A match of perfect unison as they plunge headlong into the race.  Over and over, the practice was perfect, now only to attain the unbeatable speed  that will send them on to victory.  Hours of training, hours spend in competition, train your body, train your mind and harness the superior beast.

Quietly down in the rolling countryside, where a days work begins at dawn and life is a routine of milking the cows, feeding the chickens and harvesting the crops.  The peaceful country life, ideally set in the picturesque landscape.  A life, so seemingly simple, that anyone could do it.

Canadian Cowboys’ Association Ladies Barrel Racing Highlights- Canadian Western Agribition

at http://www.RodeoCanada.com, from http://www.youtube.ca

But from that land of simple charm, comes an athlete of a different proportion.  Tall in the saddle, high in their ability, the twosome walk into center stage.  The drama unfolds.  Like their forefathers of yesteryear, the cowboy is still the same.  A bull rider, a bronco buster ,a  barrel racer, a calf roper and a highly skilled athlete.

Now it is the ladies turn, a competition of their own.  To train and command the powerful  horse and to demand the speed and agility for this course.

The quiet of the country, so peaceful and so dreamy.  Where all of the rush of the  rodeo comes from.  A country life with it’s own unique culture, it’s own unique identity, privileges and heroes.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

October 27, 2015

The Quiet of the County
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The Quiet of the County

Hail Bravehearts

To bravery and skill and monumental tasks, to competition and necessity and getting the job done.  Those were the days of heady exploration, of building a country of home on the range.  Those were the days of cattle drives and opening up the land.  The days of ranching, homesteading and the cowboy.

Those were our yesterdays.  But still, in the quiet of the land, in the rolling countryside, in the far off place where only the dirt roads go, lies the key to our past and our splendid present, the future still holds this truth.  The land of the cowboy, where steer wresting and bronco busting fills a part of their daily lives.

Rise to the songs of the livestock rustling, of the wind blowing through the fields and the quiet of dawn. The world sleeps at this hour, but the morning sun is rising and the daily chores must be done.  Oh lonesome cowboy, of song and spirit, the day calls to you to earn your daily bread.  Come out to the pasture, a new day is calling, come out to a day’s work of home on the range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nht3bMUebzI  mini bronc at the Edson Stampede

The chickens proudly display their treasure, a new gift of food to their delighted owner.  Chuckling and prancing their days work is done, as a new egg lies gleaming in the early morning sun.  The cattle line up in their stalls eagerly waiting, their milk has come and it must be taken.  Their gift, their treasure, more food for the farmer.  The family farm where no one starves.  The fields grow tall with grains for bread and a days work of harvesting lies just ahead.  The fruit tree ripens and sends it’s gifts to us, the bounty of the harvest lies in the basket.  A forage through the garden reveals the tasty lettuce, the carrots and spinach awaiting the platter, a days work is done when the weeds are pulled and the  ground is bursting with delicious, nutritional plants.  No more the hungry, no more the worry, the life of the farm is wholesome and ready.

At the end of the day, when the sun still shines brightly, brings a time for rest and relaxation.  A time for the energizing sport of the days of yesteryear, a time when the cowboy and ranching and riding filled their lives.   Livestock herding and breeding and taming the wild.  That horse out yonder, who must be rode, that sport for dollars and it makes sense, if you know their custom and their culture, the rodeo is a must.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3M4xhx42tc  Saddle Bronc Ride at the Calgary Stampede 2015

Ride,  you sportsmen, ride.  Break that wild horse, who  must listen.  Tame the beast to be your own and ride, for your life, you cowboy, ride!  It is not just  sport, it is not just a test, it is the taming of the wild as the horse must be ridden and taught to do a job.  From here, the training persists and the quiet of the country fills with the joy of yet another day in the saddle.

 

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

October 10, 2015

A Simple Country Life
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A Simple Country Life

Hail Oh Brilliant Ones

Muscle and brawn, determination and might.  The power of the body and the mind in a challenge for victory for us all. Strength and will, focus and mindset, the power of the objective is a lure of contentment.  Bring on the bull, bring on the market, bring on the challenge that proves the might of this power.

Ride for your lives, oh glorious ones, a challenge unusual, but necessary for a culture of unique bravery and unique courage.  The fight between man and beast in a contest of wills to tame the savagery out of the wild.  Bring on the bull, the market is waiting, for this is an animal of fierce power and fierce mindset.

As in all wild things, the thought of taming it,  is an exciting interest to some of us.  The challenge to ride an unusual animal, who’s interests are for protection and preservation of it’s own kind.  Bought and paid for, the bull is owned, but not really tame.  A bull is a powerhouse of strength and musculature, with a brain focused on survival.  He is the fittest, the rightful, the protector of the herd and his temper and adrenalin flair with anger.  From intruders and strangers, the bull protects it’s land with seething contempt for outsiders.  Nostrils flair, stomping and pounding, steely gaze and snorting breath, the bull challenges.  Run, you cowards, save yourselves!  This animal will not allow a trespasser.

A mild farm animal, to the unwitting and unknowing, this is an animal of unpredictable nature and immense girth.  Stay away, stay out of the paddock, don’t go near the bull.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocX5EXgHmGU  bull riding in Canada

Hop on board, you daring cowboy.  Ride the vicious bull.  Tame the wild beast of farmyard passivity.  The quiet country way, the rolling landscape, the picturesque farm nestled into a hillside, the pastures dotted with grazing animals, all tame and well fed, all quiet and calm in the peaceful countryside.

A challenge is upon us, to beat a vicious and untameable foe, an animal of fierceness and endurance, power and meanness.  The bull will fight for it’s life and kill it’s adversary.  Stomping and flailing, sharpened horns and massive body, who will ride the bull?

An interesting and exciting diversion from quiet country life.  The birds sing in the trees and nature plays out it’s everyday fascination.  Ponds filled with ducks and waterfowl dot the landscape, marshland is preserved for it’s own sake and the wild encroaches with timid apprehension.  Sometimes foxes, sometimes deer, the pastures in the farm attract the more daring of the wild, who linger along it’s fringes.  A simple co-existence, usually without distress.

But the bull is an adversary.  A wild and difficult animal.  He exists for himself. For his powerful genetics win the show ribbons and he’s the champion of them all.

Ride on, oh cowboys.  Laughing and daring, rope in hand.  Farm life is not for simple minded folk.  Your own  strong, agile bodies, tested against the steel of a bull headed animal. Determined and stubborn, willful and massive, ride on, you cowboys, to glory and courage and to conquer the wild of the farm.  The massive bull.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

September 20, 2015

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Ironman Day

Hail Bravehearts!

To formidable strength on this great day.  Hail to perseverance, to dedication, to repetition, to study, to achievement  and to your success.

Hail bravehearts to a day of glorious competition, to enormous effort, to personal bests and to the fortitude of your fabulous minds and bodies.

Here it is, the day is now and now your hard work and training will pay of with the supreme efforts of your glorious bodies.  Strong and mighty, hard and flexible, the body responds to the focus of your determined mind and obeys the call with duty to the will of the master.  Be the master, oh champions of sport.  This is not a small feat for mankind, but a fabulous recognition of the power of sport, the power of competition, of sportsmanship, of culture and of dedication.  Sport is a world of it’s own and the masters of these worlds are  formidable, well disciplined competitors.

Powerful bodies, powerful minds.  The repetition, the demands, the focus for this achievement is far beyond the call of the ordinary mind.  Push, push yourselves to the extreme.  Extend your limits.  Rise and fly.  Stretch and feel the strong response of well conditioned muscles ready for this day.  Muscles of steel, fire in your blood, reflexes sharpened to a cutting edge.  Over and over, the practised body has learned to obey the masterful mind.  The tireless demand of the focused mind, in control.  Yes, body, you will obey and shine in this athletic event.  Yes, body, you will obey your master.

Hard work and training is the order of this day as competitors flock to yet another outstanding athletic event.  Yet another difficult and strenuous day of championship competition in the great outdoors.  Awesome human, with minds so clear, so focused and so persistent.  Awesome human with bodies so strong, so flexible, so nourished and so light.  The strength of your training will show off on this day and you fly with the wind and soar.

Flex those strong muscles, this is no easy challenge and no one will accept defeat.  Swim, bike, run!  These sporting events  draw sports enthusiasts and athletic champions to outstanding areas all throughout the country.  A world class destination, for a world class competition.

Praises almighty ones.  The course is your focus, your mind and body are partners, locked in together to present to the world, the cutting edge of will and determination.  Perform, strong body.  Meet this goal.  Be the champion.

These athletes come from all walks of life, from ages young and old, from young adult to seniors, flocking to these events for prove the stamina of mind and body.  To prove the ageless fortitude of a good, well disciplined team of mind and body.  Perform!  calls the mind.  And on this great day in sports and Canadian culture, your fabulous body will respond to your perfect mind. ” Oh master, I will!”

http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman/canada/athletes/course.aspx#axzz3h0uK3PHm

 

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

July 26, 2015