Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Monday, 12 January 2015
First time for everything
Yesterday was a great sports day for me. If you've been reading my blog for any period you'll know I love curling...not playing but watching. I'm a heck of a skip from the stands; I love the strategy and the finesse required to make the shots. I've been told most people think of it as exciting as watching paint dry...I say they just don't understand the game.
I pretty much grew up in curling and hockey rinks. My parents both curled, my mom even reached the Northern (Saskatchewan) playdowns a couple of times. My dad made ice for a local one-sheet curling rink for many years, and was the assistant coach for my younger brother's hockey team. Winter time was also busy as we went from one bonspiel or hockey tournament to the next.
The Continental Cup of Curling has been on television the past few days and yesterday were the final games of the event. If you watch golf at all, you know about Skins games and these finals were played in a similar format. Canada played well all weekend and needed only a few points to win the cup...which they reached mid-point of the first series of games in the morning. The rest of the games were played for the bonus cash - the Canadian teams won that too.
In between the games, I walked out to Oceanside Place to watch the Oceanside Generals junior B hockey team play the Kerry Park (Nanaimo) Islanders play. The first two periods were close, but were marred by numerous fights and multiple penalties. It all started with the Islanders first goal early in the game when the goal scorer grabbed his jersey and gestured towards the Generals bench.
At one point close to the end of the second period, I hollered "let's see you guys play some hockey" and someone else in the crowd yelled, "That would be a great idea!" They went to the dressing rooms at the end of the 2nd period tied 3-3, shortly after two players were given game misconducts for fighting.
In the third period, they actually took my advice, and the rest of the game was great. Fast-paced, lots of stick handling and far fewer penalties (though there were was a 10 minute misconduct - Generals and another player evicted - Islanders). The goalies got a workout and two minutes before the end of the game the score was 8-6 for the Generals. The Islanders tried to rally and pulled their goalie, but it was too little, too late.
I thoroughly enjoyed the game (despite the rough play) and enjoyed my walk to and from the rink. I even added a total of 6 kilometers to my walking total!
This morning I attended a drop-in yoga class at the Child, family and youth centre here in town. I've never done yoga before...I've learned I have very little balance especially when standing on my right leg, but the stretching felt good. K arrives tomorrow, she's done yoga before, so I think I'll ask if she wants to attend Wednesday's class.
Before I head out for today's walk, I have to share this e-mail I received from my brother R yesterday.
Here's a dinner conversation you won't hear in every house:
L (12 year-old daughter) "I need to take a shower". K (14 year old son) "use the one upstairs".
Mom " L , we'll just take the porcupine out of the tub and you can shower down here".
Yup, back when I was putting coyotes, dead birds and fish in mom's freezer, this was the family I dreamed of!
I'm sure you're wondering why there was a porcupine in the bathtub. Well it was de-barking some of the trees in their yard, so K dispatched it earlier this weekend. His mom and he brought the frozen carcass into the house and put in the tub so they could remove some of the quills. As to why they want the quills I have no idea.
Have a great day everyone!
I pretty much grew up in curling and hockey rinks. My parents both curled, my mom even reached the Northern (Saskatchewan) playdowns a couple of times. My dad made ice for a local one-sheet curling rink for many years, and was the assistant coach for my younger brother's hockey team. Winter time was also busy as we went from one bonspiel or hockey tournament to the next.
The Continental Cup of Curling has been on television the past few days and yesterday were the final games of the event. If you watch golf at all, you know about Skins games and these finals were played in a similar format. Canada played well all weekend and needed only a few points to win the cup...which they reached mid-point of the first series of games in the morning. The rest of the games were played for the bonus cash - the Canadian teams won that too.
In between the games, I walked out to Oceanside Place to watch the Oceanside Generals junior B hockey team play the Kerry Park (Nanaimo) Islanders play. The first two periods were close, but were marred by numerous fights and multiple penalties. It all started with the Islanders first goal early in the game when the goal scorer grabbed his jersey and gestured towards the Generals bench.
At one point close to the end of the second period, I hollered "let's see you guys play some hockey" and someone else in the crowd yelled, "That would be a great idea!" They went to the dressing rooms at the end of the 2nd period tied 3-3, shortly after two players were given game misconducts for fighting.
In the third period, they actually took my advice, and the rest of the game was great. Fast-paced, lots of stick handling and far fewer penalties (though there were was a 10 minute misconduct - Generals and another player evicted - Islanders). The goalies got a workout and two minutes before the end of the game the score was 8-6 for the Generals. The Islanders tried to rally and pulled their goalie, but it was too little, too late.
I thoroughly enjoyed the game (despite the rough play) and enjoyed my walk to and from the rink. I even added a total of 6 kilometers to my walking total!
This morning I attended a drop-in yoga class at the Child, family and youth centre here in town. I've never done yoga before...I've learned I have very little balance especially when standing on my right leg, but the stretching felt good. K arrives tomorrow, she's done yoga before, so I think I'll ask if she wants to attend Wednesday's class.
Before I head out for today's walk, I have to share this e-mail I received from my brother R yesterday.
Here's a dinner conversation you won't hear in every house:
L (12 year-old daughter) "I need to take a shower". K (14 year old son) "use the one upstairs".
Mom " L , we'll just take the porcupine out of the tub and you can shower down here".
Yup, back when I was putting coyotes, dead birds and fish in mom's freezer, this was the family I dreamed of!
I'm sure you're wondering why there was a porcupine in the bathtub. Well it was de-barking some of the trees in their yard, so K dispatched it earlier this weekend. His mom and he brought the frozen carcass into the house and put in the tub so they could remove some of the quills. As to why they want the quills I have no idea.
Have a great day everyone!
Sunday, 11 January 2015
Production
So, lest anyone think I have been doing nothing but walking, and whiling away the hours on my test of retirement, let me assure you I have been very busy doing as little or as much as I like. In fact, there have been days when I've planned to do nothing and gotten only half of it done. (Sorry, old bad joke but there is some truth to it).
Take yesterday for example. I got out of bed around 8 a.m. after reading a few chapters of my book. I think I mentioned the house is heated by a wood burning fireplace and the landlady shuts down the heat at night. I always wait until the furnace has been lit and begins warming the place up before I get mobile. These cement floors (lino on top) are cold on the feet!
After a breakfast comprising a cheese omelet and toast I decided it was laundry day. I stripped the bed of its sheets and tossed a load in the washing machine. Although my landlady has asked that I not use the dryer much I really don't like crispy sheets and towels so I put them in the dryer for about 25 minutes, then left them to hang and dry on the rack. There is a air duct from the furnace in the bathroom so I put the rack below it...even so it was still evening before the sheets were dry enough to put on the bed. I suspect the spin cycle on the washer isn't particularly good.
Meanwhile I watched the Continental Cup of curling on television, read e-mail and blogs, did some on-line banking and read up on the news. About 11, I decided to take another walk on the beach (pictures to follow). I arrived back at the house just as the landlady and her friend were returning from a shopping trip. They informed me they were heading into Nanaimo or a movie and I mentioned I was heading up to the library to the knitting group later in the afternoon.
I had great fun at the knitting group. There were about eight of us with our knitting and another woman who came along with her friend. Two of us were new to the group, myself and Maggie, and for Maggie this was her first attempt at knitting. They are a great group, ranging in age from late 20`s to what I would guess would be late 80`s. The lady next to me, funnily enough, is also named Eileen and we had a wonderful chat. She is obviously the most knowledgeable of the group and was assisting the younger members with the challenging bits in their patterns.
She was also very helpful in suggesting where I might find good quality yarn for more projects. Plus she mentioned there are other knitting groups different days of the week and in other locations and invited me to attend when I can.
This is one of the projects I've been working on, a pullover for a small child. I finished one of the sleeves at the library yesterday and started the second. But I kept making mistakes and had to rip it out. This is actually the fifth attempt (and hopefully final) as I found I'd made another error last evening and ripped it back again!
The sweater is really quick and easy to knit up (well it would be if I quit making mistakes!) with knobbly wool and large needles. I knew it wouldn't be enough to keep me busy so I brought along another project.
Can you tell what this will be? Probably not at this point....it is the first of a pair of socks. I've never knit socks before, though had some experience with double pointed needles making mittens.
How hard could it be, I thought? Well, harder than I supposed. I was busily knitting away on the heel flap when I came to the "turn". I read and re-read, and re-read again the instructions and just could not picture what I needed to do. So I "turned" to the internet and pulled up an instructional video. Within minutes I was able to continue knitting with a realization I'd missed two rows in the instructions. Duh!
The evening was spent making my bed, folding and putting away the laundry, knitting and watching more curling, editing the photos for this blog post, and counting up the kilometers I've walked thus far.
Silly Google maps won't let me calculate the kilometers based on my walks on the beach....apparently it doesn't think walks on the beach count?....so it's a rough estimate. I've been averaging just around the 3 kilometers a day.....the longest day (Tuesday) was closer to 5. Since I've been here 7 full days, that means I've walked at least 21 kilometers (just over 13 miles). That's half a marathon! For someone who hasn't walked any distance since our visit to England last April I figure that's pretty darn good. The shin splints I felt for the first few days are gone and I feel like I can walk further and for longer periods each day. Now, I just need to ponder how I can keep this up when I go home at the end of the month.
So that was my productive day. Laundry done, bills paid, spent some time with a lovely group of women, did some knitting (and re-knitting), cheered on the Canadian team at the Continental Cup of curling, and went for another walk on the beach. These are the photos from that jaunt.
This is the lizard/dragon from the opposite side of the previous photo I shared the other day . I think it looks more like a lizard here.
Time to go and be productive again today. Curling just started and then I'm walking down the highway to go watch a Junior B hockey game.
Take yesterday for example. I got out of bed around 8 a.m. after reading a few chapters of my book. I think I mentioned the house is heated by a wood burning fireplace and the landlady shuts down the heat at night. I always wait until the furnace has been lit and begins warming the place up before I get mobile. These cement floors (lino on top) are cold on the feet!
After a breakfast comprising a cheese omelet and toast I decided it was laundry day. I stripped the bed of its sheets and tossed a load in the washing machine. Although my landlady has asked that I not use the dryer much I really don't like crispy sheets and towels so I put them in the dryer for about 25 minutes, then left them to hang and dry on the rack. There is a air duct from the furnace in the bathroom so I put the rack below it...even so it was still evening before the sheets were dry enough to put on the bed. I suspect the spin cycle on the washer isn't particularly good.
Meanwhile I watched the Continental Cup of curling on television, read e-mail and blogs, did some on-line banking and read up on the news. About 11, I decided to take another walk on the beach (pictures to follow). I arrived back at the house just as the landlady and her friend were returning from a shopping trip. They informed me they were heading into Nanaimo or a movie and I mentioned I was heading up to the library to the knitting group later in the afternoon.
I had great fun at the knitting group. There were about eight of us with our knitting and another woman who came along with her friend. Two of us were new to the group, myself and Maggie, and for Maggie this was her first attempt at knitting. They are a great group, ranging in age from late 20`s to what I would guess would be late 80`s. The lady next to me, funnily enough, is also named Eileen and we had a wonderful chat. She is obviously the most knowledgeable of the group and was assisting the younger members with the challenging bits in their patterns.
She was also very helpful in suggesting where I might find good quality yarn for more projects. Plus she mentioned there are other knitting groups different days of the week and in other locations and invited me to attend when I can.
This is one of the projects I've been working on, a pullover for a small child. I finished one of the sleeves at the library yesterday and started the second. But I kept making mistakes and had to rip it out. This is actually the fifth attempt (and hopefully final) as I found I'd made another error last evening and ripped it back again!
Can you tell what this will be? Probably not at this point....it is the first of a pair of socks. I've never knit socks before, though had some experience with double pointed needles making mittens.
How hard could it be, I thought? Well, harder than I supposed. I was busily knitting away on the heel flap when I came to the "turn". I read and re-read, and re-read again the instructions and just could not picture what I needed to do. So I "turned" to the internet and pulled up an instructional video. Within minutes I was able to continue knitting with a realization I'd missed two rows in the instructions. Duh!
The evening was spent making my bed, folding and putting away the laundry, knitting and watching more curling, editing the photos for this blog post, and counting up the kilometers I've walked thus far.
Silly Google maps won't let me calculate the kilometers based on my walks on the beach....apparently it doesn't think walks on the beach count?....so it's a rough estimate. I've been averaging just around the 3 kilometers a day.....the longest day (Tuesday) was closer to 5. Since I've been here 7 full days, that means I've walked at least 21 kilometers (just over 13 miles). That's half a marathon! For someone who hasn't walked any distance since our visit to England last April I figure that's pretty darn good. The shin splints I felt for the first few days are gone and I feel like I can walk further and for longer periods each day. Now, I just need to ponder how I can keep this up when I go home at the end of the month.
So that was my productive day. Laundry done, bills paid, spent some time with a lovely group of women, did some knitting (and re-knitting), cheered on the Canadian team at the Continental Cup of curling, and went for another walk on the beach. These are the photos from that jaunt.
 |
| The view from the lizard's eye looking towards the beach. |
This sand bar (I assume that is what it is called) is towards the end of the beach near the point where the RV park is situated. Every time I've been out there are, what appears to be, hundreds of birds hanging out.
The crows are quite friendly, this was just on the rocks below where I was taking photos of the duck below. He/she wasn't the least bit concerned by my proximity.
My assumption is this duck was trying to get some alone time! I totally understand.
There are pieces of driftwood, some large trees in fact, scattered across the beach.
This piece struck me...that even in the death of one there springs new life as evidenced by the green moss growing from the tree.
What an amazing, incredible, wonderful world we live in!
Time to go and be productive again today. Curling just started and then I'm walking down the highway to go watch a Junior B hockey game.
Have a great day everyone!
Saturday, 10 January 2015
It's a walk on the beach
My goal of walking an hour a day is pretty darn easy here. Whether I'm wandering the town streets getting oriented, walking down the highway towards the mall, or strolling the beach, there is so much to see that I don't even notice how long I've been moving.
I was up the hill to the library Friday morning, to check out where it is located, as I'm planning to head there for stitching circle today. Do you do that? Go somewhere you're planning to go ahead of time? I'm not sure why I do it but it's something I've done most of my adult life. For some reason I want to know where I'm going and have an opportunity to scout out the location. Bizarre I know...and maybe a little OCD?
On the way back I took a detour down a couple of residential streets looking out for "for sale" signs. Not that I'm in any way prepared to purchase a property out here yet but it is still interesting to view the places that I've been checking out on-line in person. Coming back down the hill towards the highway there is a park called Mark's Nature Park. I didn't stop but I'll be going back to wander through there another day.
On Thursday I waited until afternoon to take my walk on the beach. I was glad I did as the tides were out and it gave me a different perspective. It was also very foggy!
The fog certainly makes it seem dark and cold, but it was actually 5C (41F) with no rain.
It amazes me, because every time I walk the beach I see something different. I can imagine these grasses are lovely when green and waving in the summer breezes.
This unique piece of wood made me think of a dinosaur or maybe a giant lizard. I've already decided that next time I'll take a photo through one of the holes. Another perspective perhaps!
This little guy was leading his grandpa on a chase. He saw me walking on the beach, jumped down from the boardwalk and started running towards me.
I must have looked frightening to grandpa as he was hollering at the kid to come back. I was just laughing as was the boy. But grandpa caught up and took him away.
Perhaps it is my purple hair? I know I wasn't singing!
Have a wonderful laughter filled day everyone!
I was up the hill to the library Friday morning, to check out where it is located, as I'm planning to head there for stitching circle today. Do you do that? Go somewhere you're planning to go ahead of time? I'm not sure why I do it but it's something I've done most of my adult life. For some reason I want to know where I'm going and have an opportunity to scout out the location. Bizarre I know...and maybe a little OCD?
On the way back I took a detour down a couple of residential streets looking out for "for sale" signs. Not that I'm in any way prepared to purchase a property out here yet but it is still interesting to view the places that I've been checking out on-line in person. Coming back down the hill towards the highway there is a park called Mark's Nature Park. I didn't stop but I'll be going back to wander through there another day.
On Thursday I waited until afternoon to take my walk on the beach. I was glad I did as the tides were out and it gave me a different perspective. It was also very foggy!The fog certainly makes it seem dark and cold, but it was actually 5C (41F) with no rain.
It amazes me, because every time I walk the beach I see something different. I can imagine these grasses are lovely when green and waving in the summer breezes.This unique piece of wood made me think of a dinosaur or maybe a giant lizard. I've already decided that next time I'll take a photo through one of the holes. Another perspective perhaps!This little guy was leading his grandpa on a chase. He saw me walking on the beach, jumped down from the boardwalk and started running towards me.I must have looked frightening to grandpa as he was hollering at the kid to come back. I was just laughing as was the boy. But grandpa caught up and took him away.
Perhaps it is my purple hair? I know I wasn't singing!
Have a wonderful laughter filled day everyone!
Friday, 9 January 2015
Friday Funny
Have a great day everyone!
Thursday, 8 January 2015
Thankful Thursday
Magnitude: 4.8
Location: Canada, 13 km ENE of Tofino
Time: Wed, Jan 7, 2015, 6:02:56 PM PST
Latitude: 49° 11' 37" N (49.19367)
Longitude: 125° 43' 49" W (-125.73033)
Depth: 5.0 km
*** no tsunami warning, advisory or watch yet in effect 6:17pm ***
My cousin posted this to Facebook last evening, asking if I'd felt the earth quake here in Parksville. (This is my other cousin E, who lives in Campbell River, not the cousin B who lives nearby.) I had not, thankfully, though it was felt only 30 minutes away. I'm certain I would have freaked out, but now that I know it may be a possibility the idea is not nearly as frightening.
I responded to her saying, apparently you want me to experience everything the island has to offer!
*****
Yesterday was a horrible day. Not for me, but for those impacted by the events in Paris. I generally turn on the news while I'm fixing my breakfast and I was horrified to hear of the shootings. There seems to be no safe place anymore in the world. With the recent shooting deaths of policeman in the states, the killing of two military personnel here in Canada (Montreal and Ottawa), and now this....it truly makes me wonder.
Instead of becoming more tolerant of the differences, and acknowledging and welcoming the various cultures, the pendulum seems to be swinging the other direction. It is sad, as we have so much we can learn from one another.
*****
I am grateful for every day I spend here in Parksville, not only because it is far away from snow and cold of Saskatchewan, but the peace I feel being near the ocean is both invigorating and refreshing. Would it be, that all the angry people could find a place like this.
Have a good day everyone!
Location: Canada, 13 km ENE of Tofino
Time: Wed, Jan 7, 2015, 6:02:56 PM PST
Latitude: 49° 11' 37" N (49.19367)
Longitude: 125° 43' 49" W (-125.73033)
Depth: 5.0 km
*** no tsunami warning, advisory or watch yet in effect 6:17pm ***
My cousin posted this to Facebook last evening, asking if I'd felt the earth quake here in Parksville. (This is my other cousin E, who lives in Campbell River, not the cousin B who lives nearby.) I had not, thankfully, though it was felt only 30 minutes away. I'm certain I would have freaked out, but now that I know it may be a possibility the idea is not nearly as frightening.
I responded to her saying, apparently you want me to experience everything the island has to offer!
*****
Yesterday was a horrible day. Not for me, but for those impacted by the events in Paris. I generally turn on the news while I'm fixing my breakfast and I was horrified to hear of the shootings. There seems to be no safe place anymore in the world. With the recent shooting deaths of policeman in the states, the killing of two military personnel here in Canada (Montreal and Ottawa), and now this....it truly makes me wonder.
Instead of becoming more tolerant of the differences, and acknowledging and welcoming the various cultures, the pendulum seems to be swinging the other direction. It is sad, as we have so much we can learn from one another.
*****
I am grateful for every day I spend here in Parksville, not only because it is far away from snow and cold of Saskatchewan, but the peace I feel being near the ocean is both invigorating and refreshing. Would it be, that all the angry people could find a place like this.
Have a good day everyone!
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
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