CNN reports that in a bid to protect its lucrative media contracts, the IOC is barring competitors, coaches, and support personnel from writing firsthand accounts of their Olympic experience, on the web or in print, for the duration of the Games. Nor are they allowed to ever post photographs or movies that they’ve taken, including media of themselves, even after the Games are finished. They’ve threatened to disqualify anyone that violates their restrictions and sue them for monetary damages.

The IOC’s rationale for the restrictions is that athletes and their coaches should not serve as journalists — and that the interests of broadcast rightsholders and accredited media come first. It’s a good thing they’re not having any problems selling tickets anyways, eh?

This morning at 7am, Tom headed off to Port Dover on his ST1100 for Canada’s Largest Motorcycle Event, PD13. This is the first time he has done something like this with his bike although I have always been intrigued to do Sturgis or Daytona Bike Week. Have fun Tom and enjoy the ride! Check it out http://www.pd13.com [MORE added by Tom… Please continue]
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It was an emotional morning as we bid adu to Catherine as she headed back up north after a wonderful weeks stay. While she was here we sat and talked, played board games, visited with Irene, had a pondside picnic with Pud and Milt, celebrated Laura’s birthday, went on a shopping spree to Clem’s Book Store, had an evening with friends and neighbours at the North Harwich Volunteer Firefighters BBQ, visited a long time friend Barbara Jean, enjoyed great suppers and sipped wonderful wines. It went by all to soon. Thanks for your visit Catherine….until next year……!
This morning Catherine and Jackie caught the train together to Toronto. Catherine is meeting up with Bill and Jackie is going to Barrie with friends for a concert.

Happy 16th Birthday Laura!
Birthdays are more than cakes and candles,
they’re more than presents too.
They give us a chance to celebrate
someone as special as you!

Today Laura celebrated one of the biggest milestones in a young girl’s life, her Sweet 16 birthday, marking an important passage from childhood into the approaching life of an adult. She chose to celebrate this special occasion with her family including her Aunt Catherine. We had a lovely picnic lunch at Erieau Beach and a brisk walk along the pier breakwall. Tom made a delicious wine chicken for supper, with corn on the cob and red skin potatoes. After soccer practice Jackie and Josh brought Laura’s friend Jenny back for marble cake and opening of presents. It was a great day!
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August 1st brought a welcome mini vacation. I travelled down the 401 to Chatham where I hadn’t been for well over a year. My family continued to be wrapped up in baseball commitments back in Mississauga and I welcomed the break. I loved the farm facelift and it was fun to see both Jackie and Laura home for the summer. Thanks Laura for giving me your room for the 3 days. Lucas was sweet and very luvable. Thanks Tom and Martha for treating me to the movies and the picnic at Mitchell’s Bay. It was so nice to be back.

What a lovely weekend for a….”Road Trip”!!!
Laura was babysitting Alex yesterday so Tom and I headed out for an all day motorcycle outing. We first headed south to the Chatham Airport to see the Chatham Aeronauts R/C Model Flying Club’s 6th Annual All-Ontario Scale Fly-in. The show featured turbine jets, combat teams, helicopters, and free-style aerobatics. There was also a display of classic cars and full-size aircraft. We spied an Ultralight and chatted with the owner and instructor about his craft. A neighbour, Larry Anderson was there and I admired his all original 57 T-Bird convertible and his 65 Corvette ragtop.
We had a blast last year and this was definitely on our summer agenda. It was much bigger this year with the new location and visiting pilots and planes.
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This morning we were pleasantly greeted at our pond by the opening of our first lotus blossom. We all squealed with delight as we had expected the arrival later in the week! What a beauty it is!
[EDIT] Here is some more pictures Laura and Tom took out near Rondeau today.

Can you believe that we drove all the way to St Louis and we didn’t even have a beer at the stadium!!! Too expensive so I’m told. We went thru the turnstiles at 12:30 for a 3:00 game. We got our seats and waited for the game to start. We thought that we would see the batting practise and warmups like at the Skydome but they cancelled these events due to persistent rain. Lucky our seats were under the roof for full cover from the elements. The Cardinals won the game over the Seattle Mariners. It was really neat because all the fans wear red or some sort of Cardinal gear and all they do all game long is EAT. They are up and down like a toilet seat. It is truly and all day event.

We had a wonderful time on our time-share golf holiday in Arkansas last week. The weather was quite a bit hotter down there than what was experienced in Toronto. The high was 105F and the low was 93F. When you opened your door in the morning to head out for the golf course, it felt like you were opening the oven door. We lathered up in sunscreen 30spf and bug spray (for the West Nile Virus) each day. We had golf carts on all the courses. Thank goodness. We had a fun week and enjoyed smacking that little ball around, some more times than others. We stopped in at Busch Stadium to catch a St. Louis Cardinals vs Seattle Mariners game. That was a highlight as it was the 4th of July fireworks extravaganza over Greer Ferry Lake in Fairfield Bay. We will go on another golf holiday but not go all the way to Arkansas (Bin-there, dun-that). Boys slept most of the time in the car.

RBC Dominion Securities gave us complimentary tickets to the RM Classic Car Concours d’Elegance in Tecumseh Park to view a selection of over 100 of the world’s most beautiful cars.

The show was spectacular! So much chrome and polish! The rare cars including many one-of a kinds, million dollar sports and classic cars and so many never before shown or seen in Canada. There are only 34 Tuckers in the world and 3 of them were in this show. The highlight was a 1930 Mercedes SS Roadster valued between $10 to $20 million.
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