I might as well redo my brand and rename this the Monthly Zekely. Doesn't roll off the tongue quite as nicely. Long time followers will know how much adventure I pack into a post every week. More pictures and less words will be the formula to make this short enough for 1 blog post. Here goes!
In this edition, a bit of adventure as a head start on summer
Monthly Zekely?
Previously, on the Zekely: The garden had been planted, fortified and all the hard work had been done except for weeding, pruning, fertilizing, watering and waiting.
It has been the perfect month with strong periods of sun mixed with bouts of solid rain! One thing I love is not having to pay to run treated water onto the garden when at all possible. This happens in dry spells where the sky doesn't do the watering, or is dry long enough to empty my rain barrel. Well, the rain barrel has been full and I have hosed only once all month! There should be some nice #gardenhive posts in July!
Dog Wars
A good week for me is when I have been able to spend an hour a day in the dog park hosting this little guy as he has the time of his life. Getting pretty jungly up here and it wouldn't be a Zekely without a trip to the park.
On the Town
The summer kinda wakes this town up after a long winter and to start a long tourist season. The patios have been planted and there will be too many reasons to enjoy them the next 3 months.
I also do some work with and get to enjoy time at one of the fanciest places in town https://www.revival.house I THINK these ethereal cocktails are called Corpse Grinders or something of the like and I had to snap a dramatic pic to share for social media promotion.
I do some work with the local Multicultural Association https://www.maph.ca and enjoyed a little multicultural music at their multicultural festival!
Into the City!
It was fantastic to get back to the big city and be cage-side for a UFC fight by one of my BJJ training partners. So proud of the guys who have the guts to fight on this stage and we ended the night off on a stage of our own singing karaoke songs til the wee hours.
While in town, I managed to sneak in a visit to my favourite brewery and score some sweet #beersaturday candidates from the bottleshop. You can read about the results here https://hive.blog/beersaturday/@zekepickleman/beersaturday-camping-and-great-lakes-ipa
To the Woods!
We also managed to sneak away from the big city and to the woods for the first camping trip of the season. Car camping almost doesn't count for all the shelters and gear you can drive right in but there were tents, camp fires and beer so that makes it legit.
Beer
I already mentioned beer in this Zekely but it bears repeating when you brew your own! This big fat boil is a Golden Ale we brewed a couple weeks ago as a test run for the new brewer. It is not my preferred hoppy IPA but a clean clear 5% ABV unassuming beer so we can see how tight the brewing process is on new gear. Turned out so clean it was almost boring, except how quickly they go down and how fast that adds up to a buzz! Don't worry, we have a hazy New England IPA in the fermenter right now.
Some Fun
Looking back over my hundreds of pictures, I almost forgot about being behind the scenes at a photo shoot for a concert we will be helping market later on in the year. SO many cool projects coming on for @town-crier https://www.towncriermarketing.ca and I will make time for more valuable business blogging at some point. Hopefully soon but summer has its way of getting in the way of new years resolutions.
Summer has Begun!
The sun is staying high in the sky in the evenings and the bugs haven't even barely arrived yet. It has been a fantastic month in itself but only feels like the setup for a fantastic summer!