Family Game Night

Last night was family game night at the cabin.  We pulled out Lord of the Rings Monopoly and put in the movie to set the atmosphere.  It was an intense game complete with building of strongholds and fortresses, and morgating of properties. Gandalf and Frodo went around and around the board buying properties and paying rent.  But alas, the ring got to Mount Doom before anyone went bankrupt.

 Shelby rolled a 2....

 Shelby not impressed that she now owes $14 in rent.

Shelby being the banker.

Craft time at the cabin

The local Arts and Crafts council put on a "Rags To Rugs" rug making open house in February.  Various ladies throughout the community brought different projects they had made.  There was hook rugging, weaving - on regular looms, small looms and hoolahoop looms, knitted rugs, toothbrush rugs, and braided rugs. All were made out of old clothes or other scrap material.  There were quite a few beautiful and interesting rugs.  A lot of people showed up to check out all the various projects.

Every Thursday night since we've been able to gather at the old bank building and learn how to make some of the different rugs.

The first rug that I made was a toothbrush rug made out of an old pair of courdroy pants I had and some pj pants of Mark's.  These materials made a thick rug which is super comfortable and cozy on the feet.  This rug is now in front of our bathroom sink so our feet stay warm when we brush our teeth.






One of the rug ladies brought a lot of fabric for people to use - a donation from an ex-quilter.  I thought the colours were fun so for my second rug I tried to go with more of a rainbow theme.  This rug is made with thinner fabric than the first but the colours make me smile.  I also worked on this one last weekend at the campfire - this is a great craft for outside.




After doing 2 oval rugs, I decided to up the ante (as per Mark's suggestion).  I've started a Star-shapped toothbrush rug.  It is still tiny, but so far it has a distinct star shape. 

We also learned how to make willow baskets on one of the Thursday evenings.  Late February was the ideal time for getting the sticks, and Charlotte brought a whole bunch to show us how to make the baskets.  It took me a couple of weeks to make this one.  I think it will be a great yarn basket.

In the world of crochet, I've made a few new dish cloths this past month.  These flower shapped dishcloths have a scrubby center and cotton petals.  Mark thinks they are great for washing the dishes. (I'm quite happy to make him the cloths if he does the dishes)

Don't worry Dad.  I haven't forgotten you.  I'm still working on your mittens.  Hopefully you'll have them by the time next winter comes.









As for my next projects - well, I'm going to make a sky scarf  ( a really cool project where you knit one row each day in colours corresponding to the sky/weather outside - Sky Scarf),  a dwarf balaclava for Mark, and  well, the list goes on and on....  :)

St. Patrick's Day Camping

What better way to spend St. Patrick's Day than heading out on the lake with a couple of friends to drink green beer.  We went winter camping this past weekend out on Tezzeron Lake.  It was a fantastic time.

 Getting ready to go.  Skimmers are all packed up.   Lucky us, Tue and Steph brought 2 snowmobiles and skimmers.  That meant we didn't have to carry all our stuff on our backs. 










Radar and I decided to go at a slower pace and ski across the lake.  A fantastic day for skiing - perfect weather.  The snow was super fast when we started out.








Skiing across the lake.  Isn't the view wonderful?  The sleds went around the edge of the lake over to the far side, but since the snow was so perfect and we were flying over the top, Radar and I went straight across to cut off a few km.  The snow got a little soft at the end of our journey but we finally caught up with the others at our campsite.  Turns out we missed when the snowmobile burst into flames.  Adventures all around.




Part of the view from our campsite.  Mountains all around.  Not a soul in sight.  Peaceful.











Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Time for a (green) beer.















Our campsite - the sleeping section.

Our campsite - the living/dining room.
Yes there are three feet walls of snow all around.  The floor is pebbles. 

Hanging out around the fire. 

My Polish Leprechaun.













Here's to you - Shawn, Mel and Ellen C.
Beers and (unrotten) potatoes.

 And of course food.  Smokies go real well with green beer.   Dinner was stuffed mushrooms (Portobello pizzas) and melted brie on toasted bread and plums in port for dessert.  Breakfast was in multiple courses - irish coffees, over-easy eggs, pancakes with plum port syrup, and breakfast sausages. Lunch - ginger-garlic shrimp and chocolate and strawberries.  Not to mention lots of snacks.  Food - what camping is all about.

Mark all ready to go out to the ling lines.  The trout lines were within walking distance from the camp, but since the water was so shallow, the ling lines were far out.  We had multiple fishing lines out all weekend and yet no fish were caught.  (Good thing we had other food).








Good Morning!

I think it snowed last night.

Good morning Lindsay!

 All packed up and going back across the lake.













Heading home.

Interestingly creepy twist on childhood story

My favourite story growing up (and still today) is Anne of Green Gables.  I can still remember my dad reading the stories to me when I was a little girl.  My uncle gave me the first three books in a box set one year and I loved reading them.  When my dad and I went to the maritimes to check out universities, he got me the other 5 books in the series.  I read them every year (well, they are in a storage box right now, but I look forward to getting them back one day and sprawling on the grass to revisit Anne's adventures).  I even got the prequel when it came out for the 100th anniversary.  I also enjoyed watching the movies. I taped them off TV one year and watch them every Christmas break (again in storage for now).  Even the commercials are entertaining now (some would be ~ 20 years old).  My brother always hated that I'd take over the tv for an entire day, but he'd watch the scene where Anne falls off the roof over and over again.  I enjoy Anne Shirley's stories so much that sometimes I think of my life in relation to hers....  for example I'm currently in my little house of dreams with my man without kids yet, just like Anne was when she first married Gilbert and they lived on the coast near the lighthouse before they had kids. 

So when my brother saw this article, he sent it to me to read since he knows I like Anne of Green Gables things.  While the article isn't really about Anne, it is about a house across the street from where Anne's creator was born.  (which is about the only tie in, but will always link the two in my mind).  The creepy part is that a bone was found in that house... a 100 year old human bone.  The cool part is that it was from a teaching skeleton.  It kinda links my love for biology and knowledge to my love of Anne. 

Just a little piece of interesting news for the day.

mystery-human-bone-linked-green-gables-author-

Good ol' homecooked dinner

Sunday night.   Growing up, Sunday night dinner was often a big deal.  We often had something that took longer to cook than was possible on a week night, such as roast.  In fact Mom and Dad had a roast cook off once.  One Sunday was Mom's turn to cook, the next was Dad's.  Then they asked BJ and I to vote for the best...  how fair is that?

Anyway, tonight was our roast night.  We got a roast from our farmer friends.  Real fresh (then frozen) cow, from around the corner.  A variety of fresh veggies were in the fridge - broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, carrots and onions.  I even called Dad and got the Yorkshire pudding recipe. 

The food turned out delicious.  We had a great feast.   

just ignore all the smoke in the house.

Shoot, Score, Win!

So our hockey season is almost over.  The last practice is coming up this Wednesday.  And yesterday was our last set of games.  It has been a great season, with a wonderful bunch of ladies.  And it ended with a bang - both for the team and for me personally. 

We played two games yesterday.  The first was against Fraser Lake.  Twice during that game, I had the puck, looked up, saw my open player, made the pass and got it right to her!  I was super excited to complete a pass.  It pays to look.  Head up is one of the things I've been working on all year and it finally paid off. 

I also scored a goal!  (kinda)  Unfortunately the whistle blew just before I hit it in the net, so it didn't actually count.  But I did get the puck in the net.  That's a start!   We won the game 4 - 2.  (and we were missing some of our more talented players).

Second game was against Vanderhoof.  They were back to back games, so we were a little tired going into it.  At the flood after 30 minutes, we were down 1 - 3.  Then we got another goal, 2 - 3.   Then it was my shift.  I was near the net, my teammate passed it around the back of the net as the defender came near her.  I got the puck, turned it and shot it off the goalie's back and into the net.  I SCORED!!!!!   (before the whistle blew)   We were tied with only about 10 minutes to go.  A few minutes later, Mary came out of nowhere and scored the winning goal.  4-3 for us!  We Won!  and I scored the tying goal!  My first hockey goal ever!   

A great way to end the season.



These pictures are from the tournament in Burns Lake in December (2011).  We lost the first few games and then snuck in the back door as fourth place, won the semi-finals and then won the final game and took home the tournament.  Another great weekend with the team.  I'm number 9. 

We even made the local newspaper.