Well, I'm home! Apparently a week and a half of rain wasn't enough because it followed me up here - it's been raining since I landed - arg!!!! Rain up here is pretty miserable - it gets COLD when it rains. Not like other places where summer rain is nice and refreshing and can even be warm. Oh no, not here. Rain means the temperature plunges and you get icy raindrops and freezing wind. And for me it means I get nice and sore/achy. My friggin hips are killing me and all I want to do is sleep - but I can't since sleeping hurts too much :-(
So remember how I was going to have this great post with pictures of the antelope I saw (the closest one yet)? Well genius Glen was playing with the new camera and somehow erased ALL the pictures - ?!?!?! - I hadn't even found the erase all button! So all my pictures from the last day (antelope and pictures from the park) are all gone :-( booo!!!!
So going along with our lack of pictures theme for the day, I made a great dinner last night and didn't even get pictures of it. I bought a Crohn's book while I was south and the last 200ish pages are all recipes. It has a killer falafel recipe in it that I've made twice now. We went to two grocery stores yesterday and neither of them had pitas so I decided to make my own. They turned out REALLY good!
First off, the falafel itself was better than the first time (coarsely chopped the chickpeas with my manual starfrit thinger instead of blending them too much made it MUCH easier to work with and I made them into patties instead of balls). They could've used a bit more spice but it was still good. Secondly, home made pita is friggin amazing! Besides the fact that it tasted like actual pita, the fact that they puff up in the oven and actually make a pocket is so cool! Another bonus is the fact that it didn't upset my stomach at all - woo!
On the yarn-y front, I've been dyeing a few skeins a day since I got home. I'm seriously thinking of starting an etsy shop but I have to look into a few things (like fees for paypal and all that?). If I start one up it probably won't be until August-ish. I'm knee deep in arts festival prep right now and that's taking a lot of my time and concentration. I got my preliminary canvas prints yesterday and am really thrilled. I've ordered a bunch more and I'm thinking about doing cards and calendars again. I'm having a problem finding a place that does printing and doesn't plaster their logo on everything. I have all my workshop stuff too - woo! - I have to make up a few example pieces and put the kits together and I'll be ready for that too. I'll try to get some of that done tonight during Lost.
Anyway! This is getting rather long. I'll get a picture of those canvases and post that soon!
Temperature: +2C (feels like -2C)
Sunrise: n/a
Sunset: n/a
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
I'm up too early...
I'm up WAY too early!! grr! As much as I like being here and not at work/etc, I can't wait to get home and sleep in my own bed in my own quiet (smoke free!) house!
I was totally going to post pictures of the antelope we saw yesterday but my camera is upstairs and it's too early to talk to anyone. I guess it'll have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday.
I was tagged for a meme - My first one! I figure I'd better do it now so I don't forget!
1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
In May 1998, I was getting ready to finish grade 9 and move on up to High School. Our school was getting ready to be torn down and rebuilt so there was a lot of packing up of stuff and also a lot of sitting around playing cards in some classes.
2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?
Pack, figure out if I need to send some stuff home by mail, drive to Medicine Hat to catch the plane, have my last fast food for probably another year, and go to Michael's Crafts.
3. Snacks I enjoy:
Fruit, popcorn, chips & dip, Almond M&Ms
4. Places I’ve lived:
Inuvik NT, Germany (Stendal --- Does 1 month in Marburg count too?), Victoria BC, Wetaskiwin AB (5 places there)
5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Travel, buy some land and build a house (maybe a little hobby farm too?), do charity work and do programs that help children go to school/get vaccinated/buy medicine/buy livestock for families/etc
I'm supposed to tag people but honestly I don't know who to tag. How about if you decide to do it let me know? haha
Shaunavon
Temperature: +2C (feels like -3C ---- WTF?!?!)
Sunrise: 5:09am
Sunset: 9:06pm
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Prairie Days
Today is the last full day I'm here. Tomorrow we'll drive out to Medicine Hat so I can hop on a tiny plane to fly to Edmonton then on Tuesday I'll fly back home (ahhh I hope my flights are better than the barfy ones I had on the way down!!!)
We've spent most of our afternoons out at the regional park where mum is the caretaker. Yesterday we went for a walk around the country-side since there wasn't anyone around camping and it was too wet to mow lawns and stuff.
There's a robin's nest at the end of one of the sites near the road. Every time someone walks or drives by the robin flies away - silly bird, you'd think she'd pick a better spot for her nest... I got a great picture of her eggs though:
Most of the days we've driven out to the park or up to Swift Current we've seen antelope. They're hard to get a picture of since they're usually laying down in fields or running away (not to mention the fact that we're driving on a highway past them). On our last trip to Swift Current we stopped as a group of them ran across the road so I managed to get a good shot (compared to all the other ones I've tried to get).
Other than that, we saw a fox yesterday or the day before but I didn't get a good picture of it (once again with it running away and us driving fast). Mum keeps saying that there are moose in the park but I haven't seen any.
Other that, I've just been playing around with the new camera. As much as I love my ultra expensive Canon camera the one thing it doesn't do well (with my current lens situation) is close-up shots. I wish I could afford a macro lens (and a fish eye and.... haha). So yeah, I now have a really good second camera that will do close up shots, self portraits (whoa, ever try one of those with a DSLR? You almost break your wrist!) and it's small enough that I can just throw it in my purse (instead of lugging around a whole dedicated backpack). It's handy for getting those "up close and personal" shots like the bird egg pictures... I couldn't imagine trying to wrangle my other camera into there (I mean, I could but it's a bit of a hassle).
mmm, strawberries!
Glennie Puss-Puss cuddling my slipper (it's hard to resist moose hide and beaver when you're a cat!)
Tumbleweed! They do exist!
So yeah! We're going to head out to the park in a while to see if anyone is out there (I doubt it, who wants to camp in the rain?) and I'm going to try to get some pictures so I can post them when I get home (or tonight if I get bored and don't want to pack)
Inuvik
Temperature: +15C
Sunrise: n/a
Sunset: n/a
24hrs of daylight is here!!!
Shaunavon
Temperature: +10C (how sad that it's warmer in the Arctic!)
Sunrise: 5:10am
Sunset: 9:05pm
We've spent most of our afternoons out at the regional park where mum is the caretaker. Yesterday we went for a walk around the country-side since there wasn't anyone around camping and it was too wet to mow lawns and stuff.
There's a robin's nest at the end of one of the sites near the road. Every time someone walks or drives by the robin flies away - silly bird, you'd think she'd pick a better spot for her nest... I got a great picture of her eggs though:
Most of the days we've driven out to the park or up to Swift Current we've seen antelope. They're hard to get a picture of since they're usually laying down in fields or running away (not to mention the fact that we're driving on a highway past them). On our last trip to Swift Current we stopped as a group of them ran across the road so I managed to get a good shot (compared to all the other ones I've tried to get).
Other than that, we saw a fox yesterday or the day before but I didn't get a good picture of it (once again with it running away and us driving fast). Mum keeps saying that there are moose in the park but I haven't seen any.
Other that, I've just been playing around with the new camera. As much as I love my ultra expensive Canon camera the one thing it doesn't do well (with my current lens situation) is close-up shots. I wish I could afford a macro lens (and a fish eye and.... haha). So yeah, I now have a really good second camera that will do close up shots, self portraits (whoa, ever try one of those with a DSLR? You almost break your wrist!) and it's small enough that I can just throw it in my purse (instead of lugging around a whole dedicated backpack). It's handy for getting those "up close and personal" shots like the bird egg pictures... I couldn't imagine trying to wrangle my other camera into there (I mean, I could but it's a bit of a hassle).
mmm, strawberries!
Glennie Puss-Puss cuddling my slipper (it's hard to resist moose hide and beaver when you're a cat!)
Tumbleweed! They do exist!
So yeah! We're going to head out to the park in a while to see if anyone is out there (I doubt it, who wants to camp in the rain?) and I'm going to try to get some pictures so I can post them when I get home (or tonight if I get bored and don't want to pack)
Inuvik
Temperature: +15C
Sunrise: n/a
Sunset: n/a
24hrs of daylight is here!!!
Shaunavon
Temperature: +10C (how sad that it's warmer in the Arctic!)
Sunrise: 5:10am
Sunset: 9:05pm
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Small Town Saskatchewan
What a change from Inuvik!!
The weather since Thursday has been fabulous. Even Yellowknife was "hot" when we flew through! Unfortunately my Inuvik - Edmonton flight was rough and I ended up getting sick as we were landing in YK. It was my first time actually getting sick on a plane - how embarassing!! The flight was absolutely packed so I was squashed between two people and we were landing so I couldn't get up to go be sick in private - yuck! Thankfully my Edmonton - Medicine Hat flight was better and I had gravol & ativan on board. Of course now I'm paranoid about all the
Mum and I spent Monday out at the regional park cleaning up after May Long campers and today was spent getting groceries, going to the greenhouse and planting things in the garden. We weren't out there for very long (2hrs at most?) and I managed to get a little sunburnt on my shoulders - damn! The weather has been in the mid to high 20s (25C = 77F) a pretty big jump from 0 - +5C! All the leaves are starting to really come out and there are flowers blooming.
I think we're planning on going back out to the park tomorrow to do the garbages and then I don't know what the plan for the rest of the day is.
Main Street
Tulip in Mum's garden
I've got a small amount of knitting done (BSJ #5!) but nothing too exciting progress wise. I'll probably have more time to do some knitting since it's supposed to rain for most of the rest of the time I'm here (boo!!).
Inuvik
Temperature: -1C (feels like -5C)
Sunrise: 3:54am
Sunset: 1:54am
(coming up to the home stretch!!)
Shaunavon
Temperature: +18C
Sunrise: 5:16am
Sunset: 8:58pm
The weather since Thursday has been fabulous. Even Yellowknife was "hot" when we flew through! Unfortunately my Inuvik - Edmonton flight was rough and I ended up getting sick as we were landing in YK. It was my first time actually getting sick on a plane - how embarassing!! The flight was absolutely packed so I was squashed between two people and we were landing so I couldn't get up to go be sick in private - yuck! Thankfully my Edmonton - Medicine Hat flight was better and I had gravol & ativan on board. Of course now I'm paranoid about all the
Mum and I spent Monday out at the regional park cleaning up after May Long campers and today was spent getting groceries, going to the greenhouse and planting things in the garden. We weren't out there for very long (2hrs at most?) and I managed to get a little sunburnt on my shoulders - damn! The weather has been in the mid to high 20s (25C = 77F) a pretty big jump from 0 - +5C! All the leaves are starting to really come out and there are flowers blooming.
I think we're planning on going back out to the park tomorrow to do the garbages and then I don't know what the plan for the rest of the day is.
Main Street
Tulip in Mum's garden
I've got a small amount of knitting done (BSJ #5!) but nothing too exciting progress wise. I'll probably have more time to do some knitting since it's supposed to rain for most of the rest of the time I'm here (boo!!).
Inuvik
Temperature: -1C (feels like -5C)
Sunrise: 3:54am
Sunset: 1:54am
(coming up to the home stretch!!)
Shaunavon
Temperature: +18C
Sunrise: 5:16am
Sunset: 8:58pm
Monday, May 12, 2008
Baby Surprise Jackets
I finished my third BSJ over the weekend and have already started a fourth (addictive little things!). I'm making a few sizes since you never know when something like this could come in handy (and I have no idea what size children are! ie: I can't look at one of these sweaters and say "oh! That will fit a ___ year/month old").
The green one is by far the biggest one I've knit so far (I was starting to think I could wear it as a shrug!) and the pink one is the smallest. I don't really have a lot of experience with newborn babies so I don't know if the pink sweater would actually fit a baby or if it's too small... I have a doll that my mum made and it's wearing an outfit I wore when I was a few months old and, the sweater fit the doll so I'm thinking as long as the baby isn't 10lbs it'll probably fit (I was a smallish baby at 6lbs 6ish oz).
I'm going out of town at the end of the week (another medical trip!) so I'm trying to decide what projects I should take with me. I might have my fourth BSJ done by the time I leave so I could either start another one and bring it or bring something completely different (felted slippers, the socks I've been working on, ???)... Ahhh decisions!
I'm trying to decide if I want to take knitting with me on the plane. I've never had problems before but I don't really fancy losing a set of KP Options tips when I go through security in Yellowknife and Edmonton.
I'm extending my trip so I can go down to Saskatchewan and see my mum. I haven't seen her since last year when we got back from Australia. Since she lives so close to the US (75km to the border) we're thinking of taking a day trip into Montana (either Havre or Great Falls). I'm going to take my camera and my laptop so I should have time to update my blog while I'm gone (we don't really have any concrete plans - I'll be there from the 18th-26th).
Temperature: +3C (feels like -1C)
Sunrise: 4:47am
Sunset: 12:57am
I'm going out of town at the end of the week (another medical trip!) so I'm trying to decide what projects I should take with me. I might have my fourth BSJ done by the time I leave so I could either start another one and bring it or bring something completely different (felted slippers, the socks I've been working on, ???)... Ahhh decisions!
I'm trying to decide if I want to take knitting with me on the plane. I've never had problems before but I don't really fancy losing a set of KP Options tips when I go through security in Yellowknife and Edmonton.
I'm extending my trip so I can go down to Saskatchewan and see my mum. I haven't seen her since last year when we got back from Australia. Since she lives so close to the US (75km to the border) we're thinking of taking a day trip into Montana (either Havre or Great Falls). I'm going to take my camera and my laptop so I should have time to update my blog while I'm gone (we don't really have any concrete plans - I'll be there from the 18th-26th).
Temperature: +3C (feels like -1C)
Sunrise: 4:47am
Sunset: 12:57am
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Dyed Yarn and Needle Felting!
I've finally gotten around to taking pictures of my latest dyeing. I'm not too happy with the pictures though - it's been overcast for a few days now so it was hard to get accurate colours. I did some photoshop work and they're as close as I can get them (I hate editing colours in photos, sort of feels like cheating). The red skeins have a lot more pink and orange in them than it shows.
I've also started some more elaborate needle felting (branching out from the inuksuks I've been doing!). I'm planning on running a needle felting workshop this summer so I figured I'd better get some example pieces done. I've ordered all my supplies and a few books (more examples and I'd love to do some 3D animals!). I'm getting really excited! For the people that have been reading from the beginning, one of my first posts (or was it my first?) was about the craft-y stuff I did at the art festival last summer - that is where I'll be running the workshop. Normally the workshop you run is related to the art you have in the gallery but since I can't really think of a good photography workshop I got the OK to do a needle felting one.
I got another BSJ done the other day but forgot to take a picture of it earlier. It's A LOT smaller than the previous one I made. I'm almost wondering if it'll be too small for an actual baby? If all else fails it can go on a doll!
Temperature: -3C (feels like -7C)
Sunrise: 5:19am
Sunset: 12:29am
I've also started some more elaborate needle felting (branching out from the inuksuks I've been doing!). I'm planning on running a needle felting workshop this summer so I figured I'd better get some example pieces done. I've ordered all my supplies and a few books (more examples and I'd love to do some 3D animals!). I'm getting really excited! For the people that have been reading from the beginning, one of my first posts (or was it my first?) was about the craft-y stuff I did at the art festival last summer - that is where I'll be running the workshop. Normally the workshop you run is related to the art you have in the gallery but since I can't really think of a good photography workshop I got the OK to do a needle felting one.
I got another BSJ done the other day but forgot to take a picture of it earlier. It's A LOT smaller than the previous one I made. I'm almost wondering if it'll be too small for an actual baby? If all else fails it can go on a doll!
Temperature: -3C (feels like -7C)
Sunrise: 5:19am
Sunset: 12:29am
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