Snow

Winter is here.... I might as well face it. (sigh) The whole world has turned white.

While I hate the frigid temperatures that come with living in the Northern part of Canada in winter, there is something that is undeniably spectacular about living where you get an eighty degree temperature spread between winter and summer. Daughter #2 is hoping that she will have a clear evening for Halloween and Daughter #1 doesn't care, she is having her friends over for a night of scary movies and snacks. For Hubby and I, we are satisfied to spend the evening apart, one to watch over the trick-or-treaters, while the other watches over the movie-watchers. I'm not quite sure what Daughter #1 has in mind for scary movies.... but I expect I won't get a wink of sleep. Daughter #2 has been diligently working on her costume and intends on being a dead teacher! I'm not certain as to how she will accomplish this and I'm not sure if this is some kind of comment on school. Her creative ideas are interesting though.

Right now the snow is coming down slowly and I look out the window and there before me is a picture that takes your breath away. The quintessential Canadian winter scene greets me.... evergreens reaching for an opaque sky with loads of snow built up on the branches and more falling all around. These are the kinds of days that beg for me to go out and catch a snowflake on my tongue. A ramble through the bush with a camera in tow is probably just what I need.... problem is Hubby and I have been caught off guard. I need to truck out to the storage shed and find all the winter gear. Boots, jackets, hats, scarves, and mitts, are all necessary items if I want to ramble in comfort.

Hubby and I got our first winter shock with our drive to Fort St. John yesterday. We left our house here in the river bottoms with no precipitation at all but going up the cut backs on the Bear Flats Hill, where the highway cuts back and forth to rise some 200 ft, we ran into snow enough that Hubby had to shift the truck into 4x4. FSJ was white. I'm still fighting the almighty sock and so I was wearing Crocs and bare toesies inside.... thank heavens Daughter #2 had left a pair of socks in the truck, I was able to put those on and suffer the early winter snowfall.... still it was not the best footwear for 3 inches of snow, I assure you. Never mind... I'll just have to get out my Bean boots.... and some warm woollies today if I intend on a trek through the bush.

Though this snow is not likely to stay I do believe that winter is here and Jack Frost is just starting. Might as well tuck in I guess. Stiff upper lip and all that... I'm off to find some socks before I ramble with my camera.

Bucket List

A friend sent me a bucket list via email today. The idea was to tick off anything that you've done and then answer the questions and send it back to the person who sent it as well as send it forward to a bunch of people so they can get to know you better. I did it and then started to think about what actually would be on my bucket list.

So here goes....
1. Go on a trip to Peru
2. Go on a trip to Scotland and Cornwall
3. Bicycle around the loop of Chetwynd, Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, and Hudson's Hope
4. Lose 80 pounds
5. Become a Master Spinner
6. Write a really great book and have it published
7. Spend two weeks camping on a beach in good weather
8. Own a house boat and live on it on a Northern Lake
9. Spin and weave for a whole year with no obligations or distractions
10. Canoe the Peace from the head waters to the tail waters
11. Drive to Inuktituk then kayak the Arctic waters.
12. Take my girls and spend a summer traveling through Newfoundland
13. Go on a cruise up the coast of B.C.
14. Go on a cruise to Hawaii and then back again.
15. Learn to drive a standard.
16. Own a horse and buggy and actually drive it.
17. Manage to go into the MRI machine without panicking.
18. Sleep in a tree house.
I've shot a gun and gotten supper with it.
I've snared a rabbit and had to beat one over the head when it didn't die as it was supposed to.
I've had my ears pierced I've had my knees pierced and my head in four places when I had to live in traction for two months.
I've had more surgery than I wanted.
I've camped in every situation you could think of from the smallest tent... to the biggest RV
I've been from one end of the country to the other. I've lived in the biggest city in Canada and I lived in a community of 300. I've even driven a standard (I was learning) in the biggest city in Canada.
I've sung in front of hundreds. I've danced in front of hundreds.
I've graduated from three different institutes.
I've watched many sunrises and just as many sunsets.
I've sung to the Aurora Borealis and they have sung to me.
I've lived with cowboys and Indians not just played them.
I've lived on a forty-five foot yacht. I've watched a whale look me in the eye and had dolphins follow in my wake.
I've watched someone die and I've watched someone be born.
I've watched a lamb be born as well as a puppy and a kitten.
I expect to see an alpaca born at some time.
I've flown on several planes from the very small to the very large.
I've been in the U.S. and England and France and Canada
I've swum in the ocean and a lake and a pond, and a river, and a brook and a indoor pool and an outdoor pool.
I've body surfed.
I've been buried to my neck in sand.
I've been on a ferry.
I've kissed in the rain, and made love in the rain, I've danced naked in the rain.
I've even danced naked in the snow.
I've been on a ski doo, and a Harley, and a dirt bike, and a scooter.
I've fallen overboard.
I've taught someone to swim.
I've been to New York and went to the top of the World Trade Center... yes that one.
I've fallen over a cliff.
I've had babies.
I've miscarried.
I've swung on a gate.
I've been pulled over for drag racing.
I've had too much to drink and sat with my head in the toilet too.
I've seen love bloom and hate sour.
My favorite colour is plaid.
I've almost frozen to death. Really!
I've watched the moon rise and then set.
I've sung kareoke and then run for my life.
I've cut my own Christmas tree.
I've eaten bugs.
Never smoked or even tried and there's not too many who can say that!
Never done drugs other than those prescribed.
I've broken a bone.
Been stung by a hornet.
I've eaten ice cream without my hands.
I've walked up a mountain and carried a 40 lb pack.
I've lived without T.V.
I've gone off into the unknown and not had a safety net.
I've lay in a cargo net hung in the upper canopy of trees.
I've seen many things that have taken my breath away and heard things that have sent a chill up my back.
Held someone's hand while they watched their loved one being buried.
Been pierced by profound beauty.
Helped a homeless person have a meal.
Watched someone dig in the garbage for the french fries I just tossed away.
Had my purse stolen.
Fallen asleep sitting up.
Been stretched.
Been in a truck so big you could drive under it.
Been to Niagra Falls.
Had a snow wash.
Got married and am glad.
I've loved, laughed, and lived.

I can't think anymore.....

It's Only Going To Get Worse

It's really hard to get out of bed and it is only going to get worse. It is dark... just plain dark in the mornings now and it is really hard to get out of a nice warm bed that feels oh so cozy when there are no birds singing and no sun shining. The girls grunt when I call them and the only one who is enthusiastic is Tootsie the wonder chicken herder. We all eat breakfast like we are zombies and then slowly the sky lightens. The last of the stars twinkle and the sky looks pretty but cold... oh so cold, in that metallic blue that no one has a name for. As the sky lightens we perk up... but I know that that blue which I love will come later and later every morning until it's midmorning before there's light. This morning all the grass has a serious coat of frost and it looks almost like feathers sticking up out of the ground. It is pretty in a very cool kind of way.



I've always wondered why school couldn't start at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. I know my whole family would be a lot better off if we had that extra hour to wait for dawn before getting our carcasses out of bed. Think of it... 10 - 4 instead of 9 - 3. Oh happy day if that would ever happen. I would rather stretch out the work in the evenings rather than in the mornings. I'm up in the evenings anyway and I usually wake up by 8 a.m. even in the winter, so 10 - 4 would work a whole lot better for me and I'm not alone in this. Unfortunately I cannot make the time of school different and so we fumble our way through mornings in a fog bank.

This morning, the deck is covered in really cool frost that swirls and twists in feather like patterns.
This is one of those odd mornings where there is fog that has been locked down into the river bottoms but every so often the fog rolls in over the land a little further. That is probably why there is more frost this morning than is usual. Still all the fog and frost makes for a lovely morning even if it is a little on the dull side.
So there it is, as we make our way down into the depths of winter, I begin to see that I have to stop procrastinating and start getting work done whether I am awake or not... there is no time to lose. I'm off today now that it is actually morning, to spin, card, and do what needs to be done before it gets any worse!

Trippin' On Home

What a busy weekend! I was really glad to get home yesterday afternoon. Last night it was so nice to crawl back into my own bed. I just lay there and thought, there's no place like home. I had a great sleep. Sleep is an amazing thing. All weekend sleeping in a hotel meant for me that I wasn't really sleeping my best and so if I don't sleep well I don't function well. By Sunday I was starting to function in a red mist which means that I was not really thinking straight and I was getting angry about it. On top of it all I still am having dizzy issues which more and more I'm convinced is due to problems with my ear which is having shooting pains and a dull ache. Dizzy spells took the crispness out of my step. So after a weekend of serious fatigue, I am glad to be back in my space, with all my comforts right at my fingertips.

I did manage while I was away to knit a fair bit on a lace glove. I was happy to see it progress as well as it did. I am at the point where my lace glove will soon need fingers. It was made with a Rideau Arcott fleece and then dyed with Avacadoes. The yarn is a lovely ecru bordering on peach colour. Sadly though I have managed to break another one of my rosewood needles. So today I have to have a look through my Knitpiks catalogue and see if I can order more along with a really nifty needle protector. I made it to a very nice wool shop too while I was away and of course spent money on yarn. That's just too easy to do. Two yarns were brought for a component of my level three homework. Later this year I will have to spin several different commercial yarns and so I picked out two commercial yarns that I would like to duplicate. One is a novelty yarn with a thick single and a thin single. The other yarn is a four ply silk and merino worsted weight yarn. Both are lovely. I look forward to spinning them.

The conference that I attended was interesting and for the moment that is all I am prepared to say about it. I will have to take some time and ponder the things that were said both officially and in chit chat with other attendees. It certainly has given me much to think about.

Being the latter part of October means that winter is so close you can feel it breathing down your neck. The drive back from the conference only reminded me that snow is coming in the near future. The days are grey and dull even the grass is lifeless. There is a darkness to the days and so I begin to think of Christmas. On the drive home yesterday I saw my first Christmas lights in the window of a store that we passed by as we drove along the highway. Christmas must become something to enjoy instead of something to dread in our house. Last year Christmas was not what we would hope for with Hubby hurting his back and the daughters not interested in anything other than their books. I have decided that Advent will be a time of preparation with one Christmas thing going up each day, so that by the time the actual day arrives I won't be dead from the exhaustion of decorating.

It feels like only a short few days ago that I looked out my window and saw sun and warmth in abundance. So with winter hard upon my heals I am off for a day of spinning on my woven jacket commission.

Trippin'

It's gotta be pretty serious when I miss knit night... and twice in a row is next to unheard of. I'm not sick but I just ran out of time. Tomorrow I'm trippin'. I'm heading off down to PG for a religious conference for the weekend and tonight is my time to pack.... I had intended on packing today but things just got too busy. So here I am waiting for a load of laundry to come out of the dryer and then I will pack my bags for the Long and Winding road to prayer and learning. See you all when I get back on Sunday.... hopefully I'll have some interesting things to talk about.

X Support Spindle Sample

Today I have had a very big disappointment. I have been spinning on my Navajo spindle and have greatly enjoyed it. I finally felt yesterday, that I had spun a good amount and was satisfied that it looked pretty good. I plied the skein and washed it, expecting that it would be lovely especially when it came off the spindle plied, and nicely balanced. I washed it in some hot water with a little soap and rinsed it and hung it to dry. This morning I had a look at said skein and was very disappointed because the whole thing had bloomed and where I thought I was being so consistent in my grist and tpi, turned out to have slubs in it all over the place. So I am back to the drawing board with a commercially prepared top in Finn wool this time. So back to whorling around again. Mind you this does not entirely displease me since I really enjoy the Navajo spindle and find it almost as relaxing as my wheel.

I think I will go and watch a movie while I spin, spin, spin.

June

Once upon a time there was a farm that had chickens. The chickens were bad. Bad, bad, chickens. They were always freaking out the farmer's wife by hiding under the deck and squawking loudly when she came out to water her flowers. One day the farmer came into his wife's kitchen and said, "I am going to butcher the chickens... they are the worse chickens we have ever had! They eat way too many eggs and I can't break them of that habit. I'm not going to feed them if they are all eating eggs."

The farmer's wife was not too happy. She liked fresh eggs but she knew that there weren't enough eggs to keep them. Sadly she watched Hubby and her daughter cut the heads off each and every chicken.

The farmer came into the house and said that he would smoke the chickens in his smoker and so for a whole week there were eleven chickens soaking in a roaster with yummy marinade. The farmer's wife cut her losses and began to look forward to trying the smoked chicken. Finally when the chickens were smoked, the farmer and the farmer's wife were very pleased that the smoked chicken tasted so good. The farmer's daughters both said, "yum yum," to the smoked chicken and they all knew that it was very good.

The farmer's wife began to plan for next year's chickens and the joy of fresh eggs and more yummy smoked chicken. She began to look up websites where she could buy new chicks. One day, the farmer's wife was looking out the window and noticed something strange. Tootsie, the wonder chicken herder, was staring under the deck. The farmer's wife wondered what the chicken herding dog was staring at, when out from under the deck came a very smart dumb cluck. Dumb cluck because all chickens are dumb. Smart because she managed to avoid the ax and survive for a whole week with no food. So the smart dumb cluck was named June by the farmer's wife and lives happily ever after in the barn with the sheep. She is in love with the ram's belly and the ram seems to have taken to her. The farmer's wife saves scraps for June and feeds her tidbits from the kitchen. The daughters are happy to have a pet chicken and the farmer scowls at the chicken and says things like.... "I'm not hooking up a heat lamp for her," and, "she is going to have to survive on her own," and," I should cut her head off."

But the farmer's wife just smiles, knowing that the farmer will suffer the chicken through the winter with heat lamps and feed. And so the farmer's wife waits patiently for June, the month, to come at which time she will borrow a rooster in the hopes that June, the chicken, will have a brood of chicks yet!