Goodbye 2006

The last day of the year and I'm still laying around doing not much. Maybe its a reaction to having no time off all summer, while working on the house.

I started knitting a pair of socks before Christmas. Anyone else would have finished them by now. They are knit on big 5 mm dp needles. I had to unravel the foot part of the sock when I realized I was knitting it inside out. I went back and starting purling the rows before I understood that in order to knit all I had to do was reverse directions. If you have no idea what I'm writing about don't worry just understand that it was one of those Aha moments.

I will have to get off my butt very soon to make my contribution to a New Years dinner party I've been invited too. This particular group of friends are very culinary. You can be sure every item of food will have been lovingly prepared from scratch, using only the best ingrediants. The theme is East Indian. I was told to bring either a vegetable dish or an hors d'oeuvre. I decided to combine the two and make vegetable pakoris. I 'm going to use cauliflour, onion and potato, make sure I have lots of spices in the chickpea based batter and avoid going to the store by concocting some kind of dip, for the vegetables, out of the things already in my pantry.

As usual I'm the designated driver, I don't mind.

Whatever you are doing to mark the beginning of the New Year make sure it is a fun and happy celebration. Till next year.

Our Trip To Sun Peaks Ski Resort

My kids decided they wanted to get their seven year old cousin a gift, some toy they hoped would annoy my sister. They finally settled on a nerf gun. Controversial by its very nature it also made a load popping noise when it fired and it wouldn’t destroy the house.

As it turned out only my mother was irritated by the guns.

At the last minute Charlotte decided not to come so It was just Callum and I who drove down to Kamloops. It was great because Callum did all the driving I sat in the passenger seat, laptop open on my lap, plugged into the car stereo so we could listen to tunes and I could catch up on my email. I hadn’t read anything on my tidbits talk list or classical music list since June.

Upon arriving we spent way too much time finding and buying a nerf gun. Callum (who just turned 20) got two so he could play as well. After getting lost somewhere in the housing estate on the hill, we were forced to phone my brother in law for directions. When we finally got there it was nice to sit down, drink a glass of wine and visit. The boys were banned to the basement with their guns.

The next day we headed to the hill. The mountain was huge, the crowds were huge. Unlike our local haunt there was no tree skiing and no fresh powder. Most of the hill was a huge expanse of traditional moguls and groomed runs, hard and icy, except in the places where the sun had melted and softened the snow. All this I expected. It reminded me of Whistler where I learned to ski. Once we got over our disappointment and accepted the hill for what it was, including the long lift lineups, we did have fun. It was very cold so I did not get as many photos as I would have liked. There are three hills, Mount Tod, the original hill before Sun Peaks, is the highest and the steepest. It had the longest chair lift from the bottom all the way to the top at 2152 metres. Sundance had the terrain park and Morrisey had the cross country ski trails as well as lift skiing and the nicest snow since it faced north. If I ever go there again I think I will bring my cross country skis. There is lots of terrain and we did our best to explore most of it. The exposed Alpine on Mount Tod was the most interesting in terms of exploring out of bounds, if we were so inclined, but because of the wind and cold we never stayed long enough at the top to get a good look around. If you like traditonal downhill skiing Sun Peaks is definitely worth a trip. As for us we will stick with our best kept secret. Can't wait to go back there.

On the whole it was a very successful trip I spend time with my son doing something we both love and I got to see my family.

Boxing Day Sales in Canada

Will it suprise you if I tell you I have never been to one? The following is from a CBC story, 6M Canadians likely to pack stores on Boxing Day.

According to Visa, those not shopping will be:
taying home and eating leftovers (27 per cent).
Visiting family and friends (22 per cent).
Doing nothing (six per cent).
Working (six per cent).

That's me up there in that 6% of non shoppers who are doing nothing.

Mozart For Babies and Boxing Day

I just ripped a CD of Mozart tunes from the Baby Einstein repertoire. It's soothing intelligent music in one package for babies and harried adults wanting to de-stress after having a house full of family yesterday and a house full of friends and family on Christmas Eve. Don't get me wrong I loved every second of it. But today all I want to do is sit inside my house, in the warmth of the sun beaming through the huge windows, doing nothing. Never mind the pile of Christmas present books I could be reading or knitting which is always beckoning, housework, shudder, cooking, I did my share yesterday, working on the house, not till the New Year, Going for a walk, why? I'm resting for the drive to Kamloops tomorrow.

What I am Doing For Christmas

I heard on the radio that the only place, this Christmas, with snow, is BC and Alberta. People from all over the world are coming here to ski, this week and next.

My son, enroute to our house last Friday, stopped off in Powder King to ski until the lifts shut down. Yesterday morning we got up well before the sun crested the horizon to drive back to Powder King for more. It was my best day out yet, lots of powder and not too cold. I wasn't worried about the onslaught of foreigners tying up the lifts and taking over the lodge because Powder King, In the Pine Pass, is a million miles from stress, hidden away In the depths of Northern BC. Occasionally, someone from a hipper, higher profile ski resort hears of Powder Kings legendary, humungous amounts of champagne powder and thinks it might be worth discovering but somehow just never gets around to it. We are glad they don't bother.

After Christmas we are going to Kamloops to ski at Sun Peaks Resort. We will have to brave the foreign Christmas crowds, heavily populated ski runs, long lineups and if there is any powder it will probably disappear fast. Despite all that we are still looking forward to having lots more terrain, longer steeper runs and a park in which to do jumps, rails and other tricks, the kids want the park.

We are avoiding the expensive hotels and overprice food and staying with my sister, her husband and her son who is seven. The other members of my family, my Mum and other sister are already there. I'm looking forward to seeing them all and going skiing.

Chocolate, Skiing and Cake

I just got back from a two hour cross country ski. I followed the sled tracks at the bottom of the road through a field and into the bush, then into a logged out area. It looks like a regular route for someone. With all the wind in the last few days the snow is hard and crusty so I don't really need sled tracks to ski on. I was just curious to see where they went.

That is the cake I have just finished icing with ganache, a mixture of cream and chocolate, for tonights birthday parties. We are going out for steak then back home for presents, candles and birthday cake.

Winter Solstice 2006

In the northern hemispere the winter solstice, when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, is the shortest day of the year. The solstice occurs either December 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn. This year the Solstice occurs at 0:22 universal time, that translates into 4:22 PM pacific daylight savings time.

But, you know what the best thing is? tomorrow the days start getting longer. Yaaaaay.

Power Outage ( I guess it is our turn)

So this morning we woke up to no power. BC hydro was very obtuse on the phone, they feigned any knowledge of any power outage in our area. They told us to shut off the main breaker then turn it back on again in 5 minutes. Of course their stupid little exercise had no effect whatsoever, the power did not come back on. Another call to BC hydro was made. This time they were more willing to believe that the problem might be theirs and with the aid of who knows what kind of map they were able to locate our road and determine that yes the whole area had no power.

I suppose that's what happens when you are the first to wake up on your road and thus the first to attempt reporting there is no power, to BC Hydro.

So I lit some candles and gave Robert one of his Christmas presents, a flashlight. It is powered by shaking. You shake it for a few minutes to power it up and it gives light for a few hours. He likes it.

I also got out my Pocket Rocket stove, which I use on backpacking trips, to heat some water for my cup of green tea. Having lots of water depends on a powered pump to get it out of the well, so showers were not an option. However, our wood heater was keeping us nice and warm.

I'm posting this from the library's WIFI so I have no idea if the power is back on at home, yet.

Knitted Sweater

I've finished knitting the sweater. It's the Portland Pullover from the 2006 fall issue of Interweave knits.

It's a very simple pattern, knit in the round, on big needles. It would probably take most devoted knitters no more than a day to knit up. Now I'm looking at my stash of wool, all bought for specific projects and deciding what to knit next.

Christmas Money

I donated money to Knitters without borders or Tricoteuses Sans Frontières, all on the encouragement of Stephanie. Knitters without borders was started to support Doctors Without Borders or Médecins Sans Frontières.

Médecins Sans Frontières. offer assistance to victims of natural and manmade disasters and victims of armed conflict irrespective of race, religion, creed or political affiliation. They observe neutrality, impartiality, the right to humanitian assistance and demand freedom to act in the name of universal medical ethics.

As well as buying presents for my friends and family I like to give a monetary donation to a charity. Every year I choose somewhere different. There are so many people, the world over, less fortunate than me It is easy to justify the money. I suppose I should be donating closer to home but I'll save my volunteer efforts for that.

The Advantages Of Skins Versus Ski Wax

My legs are killing me. It must be something to do with yesterday. Trying ot climb the hills in two anda half feet of champagne powder with only wax for grip on the bottom of my skis.

I forgot to pack my skins. These are are long pies of fabric, one side is sticky which you attach to your skis the other side is sort of like velcro. As you climb up a hill it grips the snow or ice giving you traction so you don't slip backwards. Skins work a lot better than wax. My friend Magnus is from Norway and he swears by ski wax. It works great on slight inclines and has the advantage of giving you grip as well as glide. The type of wax or combination of waxes used depends on the temperature as well as the type of snow, fresh powder, cruddy 3 day old snow, ice etc. He has a huge selection of waxes in a suitcase he brings with him on every trip. I asked him if he would mind puttting some on my skis.

He chose a wax which seemed to work, for both our skis, and off we went. But as we climbed higher the incline got steeper, the snow more powdery and deeper and the temperature colder. With every step I found myself slipping backwards. Instead of climbing straight up the fall line, like I would have done if I had skins on, I was forced to climb at an angle, parallel to the fall line. Banging my feet down with every step also helped to improve my grip. It was very tiring

Magnus of course being almost twice my size didn't have nearly the problem I did and he had his skins with him, which he eventually was forced to put on.

Despite our frozen toes and fingers and not having a fire at lunchtime most of us still had fun. Afterwards, because no trip to Quesnel would be complete without it, we went to our usual pit stop for wine and Christmas snacks.

The first thing I did when I got home was put my skins into my pack.

Eating Baking Cake and Slacking Off

I'm starting to relax. I left last nights Christmas potluck early, 9:30 PM , My excuse was I had a long way to drive. This is true but I really just wanted to get home. I've decided not to do any work on the house until after Chritmas. I've done all my Christmas shopping, sent off all my cards and boxes of presents, decorated my house, although I would like to put some outdoor christmas lights up. I might have to wait on this one because the mercury plunged to minus 15 last night. ( a bit cold to be stringing lights) I only have one more party before Christmas, a birthday party for Callum and Robert next Friday, to organize. At this time of year we have twice the reason to celebrate.

This morning I got up at 8:30 , what luxury. I laid around drinking green tea, reading blogs and email and knitting. I might even finish the sweater by the end of this weekend.

After breakfast I did one of my other favourite relaxing pastimes , baking. I made bagels and a chocolate cake for the birthday. I can freeze the cake, thaw it on the day and ice it with this yummy sounding chocolate ganache recipe I found in my Nigella lawson cookbook.

250 grams best quality chocolate
250 ml cream

Chop chocolate into bits, put in bowl.
Heat cream to the boiling point, don't let it boil. Pour over the chocolate, let cool for 5 minutes.
With an electric beater/mixer beat until combined, coolish, thickish and glossy. it should be thin enough to pour but thick enough to stay together. It will set hard.

Mmnn

I just came back from an easy cross-country ski. I need to explore a bit more on my skis, there has to be some trails somewhere. I have poured myself a glass of that Calona winery Pinot Gris. I'm off to finish knitting that sweater.

Green Santa and James Lovelock on Saving Gaia

video via The Guardian

Are your children interested in this video? My children are sure it is too late. They assure me the world is gone. Bombarded everyday at school and through the media with statistics on polar icecap melts, numbers of species lost and seeing for themselves the decline of winter, they don't have much hope that turning off the lights, walking instead of taking the car, and recycling will have any impact on saving the world.

Neither does scientist James lovelock. In a recent interview on CBC radio's Dispatches (July 13. You can download the ram and listen to his interview in real audio) Lovelock says we should work to preserve what we have left. all those species that are lost have gone, forget them, worry about what is left.

As a pioneer of the widely accepted Gaia Theory- that the earth is an organism and due to outside forces it is slowly dying, Lovelock is embracing Nuclear energy. He says,

An outstanding advantage of nuclear over fossil fuel energy is how easy it is to deal with the waste it produces. Fossil fuel burning produces twenty seven thousand million tons of carbon dioxide yearly. This is enough if solidified to make a mountain nearly two kilometres high and with a base ten kilometres in circumference. The same quantity of energy if it came from nuclear reactions would make fourteen thousand tons of high level waste. A quantity that occupies a sixteen metre sided cube. The carbon dioxide waste is invisible but so deadly that if its emissions go unchecked it will kill nearly everyone. The nuclear waste buried in pits at the production sites is no threat to Gaia and dangerous only to those foolish enough to expose themselves to its radiation.

Hoping For A Green Christmas

The green gadget Christmas gift guide lists cool stuff you, of course, can't live without. Given all the windstorms, knocking out hydro power, around BC, I'm particualry intrigued by the windup digital radio.

Who knew listening to music could be entertaining, energy efficient, and a good workout all at the same time? With Freeplay’s Devo wind-up digital radio, you can enjoy all the benefits of high-quality digital radio and portability. A great gift for your music-loving, on-the-go friend, the Devo is powered by your own muscle and provides an hour of digital music, or 36 hours of FM radio at normal volume.

I wonder what they mean by "normal vlolume"? Perhaps this would not be a good gift for one of my teenagers. I have my eye on the Voltaic Solar Powered Bag, although I wish they were available in other colours besides black.

These solar bags never cease to amaze us, and make a great gift for that nomadic tech-geek in your life. The Voltaic messenger bags and backpacks are mobile power generators, designed to charge all your little gadgets with the energy of the sun. With no power outlets they charge cell phones, cameras, PDA’s, and MP3 player, making them ideal for that gadget-lover-on-the-go.

This is the best idea. My cell phone is always running out of juice and hanging up on me right in the middle of a call.

Besides being cool as well as practical, buying something off this list can help me feel good about reducing the size of my footprint.

Via treehugger

It's Ticking Away From Me

The Death Clock scarily brings into focus the end of my life.

Via Amanda

For The Birds

A couple of months ago I put up my other bird feeder, the one that looks like a house with a red roof, and is attached to a post sunk into the ground. Well a grumpy black bear, probably looking for a tasty snack before going to his winter bed, took offence to my bird offerings. He smashed my lovely bird feeder off the post, broke it into bits and ate all the bird seed.

I spent most of yesterday enduring continual canned Christmas music in the mall, driving all over town, more than once because I keep forgeting things but I remembered to buy another bird feeder. Only problem those damn birds haven't discovered it yet.

Book Club

I love to read so it's not surprising I belong to a book club. I like it because it gives me a chance to read books I wouldn't otherwise look at. We all pick books we would like to read or have read and would like to discuss. We take turns once a month being the host. After the discussion, which is always thought provoking, lively and fueled by questions downloaded from the web, some are put out specificaly for book clubs, others come from university sites, the host serves dessert and tea.

At the first book club I belonged to, in Dawson Creek, we served dinner and wine. The book discussions were just as fun.

When I moved to Prince George One of my friends hooked me up with the book club I presently attend.

Happiness Is A State Of Mind

Two people came to my door about 45 minutes ago, they are neighbours from the end of the road, very nice people, they asked me if I had dropped something.

This morning when I walked down my driveway ( The driveway is a mass of rotten snow which I'm sick of getting stuck in, Robert's truck has 4 wheel drive, he doesn't get stuck) and up the road to my car, In the dark, I slipped on the ice and fell on my bum. It hurt a bit but I was more upset because I spilt my cup of tea ( I always take a hot drink for the drive ) all over my jeans and all over my purse. I dropped my computer bag and my purse on the road. I suppose I never picked the computer bag back up. At this point I was unaware of this.

I drove out to my daughters place, parked in her driveway, left the drivers side door open and went up to the door. I was there for about ten minutes. After I left my daughters place it took me a minute to realize my computer bag was not on the seat. My first thought was it was stolen becasue I had left my car door open.

I spent the next three hours going to the police station, the insurance company, back home to look for receipts , over to the store to get the receipts I couldn't find, pulling out my hair and feeling miserable.

My misery came to an end when these very nice neighbours came to my door. They told me, when they drove up the road this morning they saw the bag on the road. They thought it belonged to the kids. There are two kids who wait on the corner for the school bus everyday. They picked up the bag. Inside they found one of my Christmas cards with my return address on it so they knew where I lived. They waited for me to come home. Which was a long time ago, anyway I guess they just noticed now, so they came and bought me my bag. Everything was in it.

Powder King Skiing

Yesteray was opening day at Powder king. I went today. It was nice to be back in the mountains and to see old friends from the Peace whom I rarely see nowadays.

The photo above was taken out of bounds on a previous trip. Usually, if the sun is out and the snow good, we leave the runs in search of virgin powder. Sometimes we pay $10 for the one way trip to the top and stay away all day. I have all terrain bindings so I can unlock my heels to climb up.

Today we stayed on the hill all day. I didn't even take up Callum's ( my son) invitation to ski the elevator shaft.

Felted Wool MacBook bag- adapting an idea

When I got my original bluberry ibook back in 1999 I loved it. Not only was it full of the latest software and leading edge technology It was also a very stylish laptop. Its clamshell shape, bright colour, rugged case and foldout handle are unique features I haven't seen since. A couple of months ago I got a MacBook. I love it of course but the thing I miss most is having a handle to carry it around.

So I decided to make one. I got the idea from the Wobbly circles totes pattern in the spring 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. The idea is to knit up the bag then felt it in the washing machine. I wasn't going to follow the pattern just the idea. I liked the way the handle was made. However, I knit really slowly. I still have a hat to finish for a Christmas present and I still haven't finished the sweater I stated eons ago not to mention the wool which I keep buying for further projects yet to be started. ( I need to stop buying, start knitting)

Recently, I've been reading on the web and in books and magazines about making bags, blankets, whatever out of felted wool sweaters. You buy the sweaters at thrift stores as cheaply as possible, especially if you are going to make a blanket, take them home and bung them into the washing machine turning the dial to hot. The sweaters with dire warnings on the label about handwashing and dry cleaning work best. This idea was invented for people like me. Let someone else do the hard part, knitting, leaving the easy part, sewing and felting, for me.

A word of warning. In order not to wreck your washing machine place everything to be felted inside a lingerie bag or pillowcase before washing. This keeps all the lint from finding its way into the inner workings of your machine.

To make the bag I cut across the chest of the sweater under the arms. Discarding the neck and arms, I was left with the body. I decided to use the ribbed part of the sweater for the top and let it be the place for the handle. First I sewed the bottom then I made the handle by slashing a hole, with a pair of scissors, about 3 inches long in the middle of the ribbing. I sewed around the edges of the hole with blanket stitch, in a contrasing colour of wool. More for looks because during the felting process the ravelled edges would have melded together anyway. Then I popped it into a bag. I used my huge mesh storage bag that came with my down sleeping bag. Then I threw it in the machine and walked away. That was a couple of days ago. It is still a bit damp but hey doesn't it look fabulous?

Building With Beetle Killed Pine

My article, Logs To Love, Building with beetle-killed pine, is out in the winter issue ofNorthWord magazine

If you live in Northern British Columbia you can pick up a print copy at any library, airport, better coffeeshops and bookstores. Otherwise go online. Here to read it.

Too Much Wet Snow

Last night while I did laundry, washed dishes and luxuriated in the shower (the water came back on, it was a dead mouse which short circuited and fried the electrical connection) it snowed and snowed. In the middle of the night I kept hearing a sound like an avalanche. It was the snow falling off the roof.

This morning, as it was getting light and I was getting dressed to go for a quick ski, I saw people walking past the bottom of the driveway. Despite all the snow in the last few days the road hasn't been plowed yet. Then I noticed my car, almost covered in snow not only from the stuff which fell out of the sky but also the snow which fell off the roof. I cancelled my ski trip and got out the shovel. It's only zero degrees outside. As you can imagine the snow is wet and heavy like sand on the beech after the tide goes out.

It didn't make any difference. I still couldn't move the car. Gary says he's been clearing snow since 2 AM and despite the fact I'm one of his regular customers he won't be able to get here for a while, sigh. So I rescheduled my appointment for this afternoon, got out my darning needles and old wool sweaters (I picked up at value village) to start on my felted wool projects. More about that later.

James Bond, Casino Royale and Daniel Craig.

Roger Moore was the third person to play James Bond. In 1997 I saw him in my first Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me. The experience sparked a love for me and I wanted to see all the Bond Movies. I've since seen all of Sean Connery's incarnations, all of Roger Moores efforts and James Lazenbys sole apperance in, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." After Roger Moore packed it in I never saw any more James Bond movies ( to busy with work and kids) until last night.

Casino Royale was great, it never let up. Apparently the story closely follows Ian Flemings original work, I've never read any of Flemings work. In this movie Bond is still an egotistic womenizer and the lack of gadgets was only off set by his Sony ericsson cell phone and Sony vaio laptop. (product placement?) Despite all that I enjoyed the movie and hey Daniel Craig is great eye candy.

What I Will Do For A Glass Of Wine. Calona Vineyards artist series

I don’t usually drink white wine ( I prefer red) although lately I’ve been buying a lot of it. I’m blaming it on the CBC radio show, All Points West. Every Tuesday they have a wine column profiling BC wines. A couple of weeks ago they recommended varieties of Pinot Gris. The one I was interested in tasting is from the Calona Vineyards artist series. I liked it so much I went back to the liquor store to buy more. They were out but the women assured me they had another case on order and it should be in soon.

Every time I wet back it still hadn’t come in. By this time it was Tuesday again and another edition of the wine show was on. This week they were talking about Gewurztraminer. Again the vintage I wanted to try was from Calona Vineyards artist series. Back at the liquor store the Pinot Gris still hadn't come in so I bought the Gewurztraminer and went home.

By Saturday it had still not arrived. One of the workers looked it up on the computer and found they had 14 bottles in McBride and 10 bottles in Vanderhoof. Which community’s closer? I joked, I’ll drive there and pick some up.

They told me they would get it in for me. So I ordered 5 bottles. I got them yesterday. It seems the wines from the Calona vineyards artist series are big hits. Apparently the Pinot Noir and the Soveriegn Opal are also not to be missed. All these wines have won awards.

I’ll have to make another trip to the liquor store.

My Penguin "Books by the Greats, Covers by You"

Via Debra.

This is probably the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

According to consumer research conducted on what factors matter to people when they decide whether or not to pick up a book in a bookshop, the cover design comes out as most important.

In view of this research the people over at Penguin Books have wholeheartedly embraced the concept. They are publishing their favourite books without covers. The idea being the consumer will buy the book and draw, paint, create their own cover.

I don't know about you but I buy books based on their content. I barely glance at the cover. If I cared about the cover I’d be buying art not writing.

My Weekend

I got home a couple of hours ago, The first thing I saw was a white bucket sitting by the door. Good, I thought, Fred came to finish the mudding, no such luck. The bucket is full of water to use when flushing the toilet.

I had a nice weekend up until this point. I went to my first Christmas party , Saturday night and I even did some Christmas shopping. This morning I drove out with friends along the Barkerville highway looking for a place to backcountry ski. It ended up being a big hike with not much vertical and another big hike back to the car. But afterwards we ended up at our usual pit stop , sitting by the fire, drinking wine and chatting. It was all very nice.

Why do we need water for the toilet? I asked. Because the pump is not working.

Robert said he and the neighbour had been trying to fix it all day. Neither of them have much idea what they are doing so teh pump is still broken and we have no water. Every receptical is filled with snow. A big pot on the stove is melting it down to wash dishes and to drink.

I hope it doesn't cost a lot of money to fix.

Knitting

I started a hat. It's going to be a Christmas present. It's very simple, knit on circular needles and then the whole thing is thrown into a hot wash in the machine, so it felts. The hat is warm. I made myself one last year. The sweater is still in progress and I'm thinking about starting some socks. I have wool for several projects laid away and more on order. I just to to find more time to knit.