Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride

Here's something I've learned the hard way about being a member of the Ladies' Auxiliary: when you cook big meals for multiple people (in this case, a 'community dinner' for a casual 200), you smell like turkey and/or gravy for the rest of the week. At first, I thought this was in my head, but three days and two showers after the dinner, I kept having to smell my clothing, my hair, and even my backpack to see what the hell still reeked of gravy. Reaaaally, really good gravy. I just don't want to be the girl that smells like gravy.

I arrived at the Legion at 9am on Wednesday and cooked with the gals until noon, then went to my studio and passed out on the floor for an hour or so, and then was back again from 4-8pm for the serving of dinner. This was Kaslo's second annual Ladies' Auxiliary Community Christmas dinner (one of three different community Christmas dinners put on around town). There was live music (Celtic Kitchen was the name of the band), homemade decorations brought in by the kindergarten class, several ladies on a mission to feed the town, 7 turkeys roasting away, 85 pounds of mashed potatoes, and a partridge in a pear tree. I came home with two turkey carcasses this time. One for me, and one for Sheree, the queen of amazing bone broth. The funny thing about being a new face in a small town (especially if you volunteer for a bunch of stuff) is that people come up to you and look confused that they don't know who you are. And others somehow already know who you are when they approach. "You're Leah, right? You live at 109 7th Street? Yes, well, I grew up in your house!"

I must admit, some of the intrigue of a visit with Santa is lost when you've both been at the Legion for hours, helping prepare dinner. Plus, I knew Santa's name was Andy.

Kaslo, BC-the world capital of free meals, events with the word 'community' in them, and fliers plastered all over town beckoning you to join said events.

Around this time of year, Facebook always reminds me of years gone by. Pictured here, me on Halloween in Tokyo, and two Japanese kids that wanted to take a picture with me on the street. I've puzzled over this photo a thousand times. Who ARE these kids? Are they boys, girls, or old men with really great costumes? Are they ten years old, or twenty-five? All I know is these two have absolutely MASTERED the art of face-making.

This little number hangs at our local building supplies store, the 'Bird' (used to be the Irly Bird, but is now called Ace, but locals refuse to call it Ace-kind of like how I refuse to call GM Place 'Rogers Arena' or Science World 'Telus World of Science,' or Wonderland 'Castle Fun Park.') I do have one or two comments for whoever painted this sign. 1) No flesh coloured pants, ever. 2) No Santa crotch shots. 3) Don't 'define' the area around Santa's crotch. 4) Great job with the striped socks!

Jordie at the Eisenhauers' Christmas concert at the Langham theatre. In the background, a lady that helped me sign up for my flu vaccine, two of my ukulele students, the principal, two of Jeremy's clients (thank you for the wine, John!), a guy that knows a lot about mushrooms, and a gal that has the same colourful scrunchie as me (because Sheree made them for us). Yes, it's a small town.

Me and my Charlie Brown tree. I've learned that it's not just Jordan who always wants a bigger, better tree. It seems to be an Eisenhauer family thing. I keep pointing out the little, scrawny trees only to be reminded that those trees aren't big or "full" enough.

Making Grandma's classic shortbread recipe. She once told me sternly that you have to make sure you mix the butter with the sugar well before you add the flour. She was right-I made a batch of these with the kids the other day, didn't follow her orders, and they were the worst cookies ever. My nephew gently told me they 'weren't that bad.' Sweetheart.

Finally convinced mama to make a cheesy egg in this tiny cast iron pan.

Christmas, as usual, was a little bit of a blur. We drove down to the coast to spend time with family in North Vancouver and Chilliwack, stopping on the way at my aunt and uncle's house in Grand Forks. Nobody was home, but they had left us some treats-we ate some of their shortbread and left them a box of Grandma's recipe and hit the road. It's always a bit of a toss-up when you drive from Kaslo to Vancouver during the winter, especially through Manning Park (hey Manning, can we get some LIGHTS ON THE ROAD?!), but this time we were lucky to have blue skies.

Thinking back on Christmas as I write this on January 14th, I remember the following things:

-turkey, and lots of it

-rum and egg nog (not enough this year)

-coffee with some kind of booze in it

-spending some much-needed time with my parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews

-packing our stuff, repacking our stuff, then packing our stuff again, then repacking our stuff again

-the smell of the Christmas tree (my favourite)

-eating a lot of sugar

-SUSHI in the city (thrice)

-Jeremy complaining that we weren't going to be in Kaslo over the Christmas season

For New Year's Eve, we drove up to Salmon Arm to 'Gidney Ranch,' where two of my cousins and their families live on a beautiful piece of property. We arrived just minutes before it was completely dark out. We arrived to a power outage. NYE with candles, unbelievable beef stew (thanks Cody! I never knew the secret was red wine!), little pizzas, kids playing with their new Christmas bounty. I didn't think any of us would make it to midnight, since we got there at 4pm and it already felt like it was 8pm. But I made it, just barely. Went to bed at about 12:05. And in the morning, glorious electricity. Just for breakfast-after we left, I heard the power was out again for the rest of the day. And Salmon Arm, it turned out, would certainly not be our only power outage for the week. Highway 1 was closed the next day, so we couldn't go through Revelstoke (aka, 'Revy'-this is what people call it when they want you to know they've skiied there a lot). Instead, we took some highway I'd never heard of, through towns I thought sounded familiar (Lumby, Cherryville). And when we arrived in Nakusp, guess what. No power. No gas at the gas stations, because no power. Jordan wanted to 'gun it' to Kaslo on the eighth of a tank we had left, but I was having none of that. I insisted we stay the night in town, and we found ourselves checking into the 'Selkirk Inn,' where the man at the front desk was wearing an Arctic coat out of necessity, and he let us check in even though the debit machine didn't work. The hotel room was FREEZING, but they did have cable TV. Hey, you know what's not that great? Cable TV.

Jordie's new favourite cup. Thanks Jayson!

Two of the Eisenhauer boyz.

Jordie's parents' house, complete with Jimmy's star.

Dad and Jordie chewing the fat in the shop.

Looks like somebody's a little too excited about their spritzy Japanese plum drink.

Looking around the shop with Dad, there are always some great samples of his hand-lettered signs. I remember as a kid Mom used to make pinatas and sold them, along with kites and windsocks (twirly things you hang outdoors). I remember the many tubs of bulk candy we used to have in the shop that mama used to fill the pinatas with. Sneaking handfuls of little gummies called 'bellybuttons.' I don't recall the Santa pinatas, but mom said they had long beards of tissue paper. I remember mom working with paper mache in the shop-I can still smell the paste.

I feel like those long skinny balloons that make balloon animals were always around our house. My brothers used to make balloon animals, and I remember how much it hurt my cheeks to try to blow those things up! We also had these huge balloons called Jumbo balloons that were the size of a pilates ball. Loads of fun to play around on those in the house, and terrifying when they popped.

Animals for 50 cents...now there's a deal! Wait, are they 50 cents or 75 cents?

Bananas-Dad painted this sign for a restaurant Uncle Martin and family owned at the time in Grand Forks. This sign has hung in the Gidney shop for many a moon!

OK, I could have taken this photo from a little closer, but you get the gist. All this lettering done by hand-good work Papa! Ooh, and 60 cents for a coffee-sounds good to me!

One of Dad's paintings (not sure when this one was done, but my guess is the early 70s when Dad was in his UBC art school days). This one is Uncle Martin, Dad's brother. Hey Dad, how come you've never painted my portrait?!

One of my favourite photos. This was taken by my grandfather (Dad's dad) in East Vancouver. Black and white, and then colourized in the Gidney Signs shop. I'm not sure when this was taken. Dad?

We arrived back in Kaslo on January 2, and over the last week and a half, we have gotten a shitload of snow. I don't even know how much, but there are these massive snow piles on the sides of the roads that are like 3 feet deep. It keeps snowing, then raining, and then there's a six-inch-thick layer of ice on the roads and sidewalks. Over the last few days, though, it's stayed cold (you might even call it a 'cold snap,' as it's about -12C right now as I write this, and I heard Edmonton is supposed to be the coldest place on earth this week!), and the snow is purrrrfect for skiing. Me and Sheree have been out cross-country skiing three times and out with Jordie twice. Last night me and Sheree were busting our balls to ski to the prayer flags junction (a junction of trails where they hang prayer flags) because it was getting dark, and even with a headlamp it's hard to see the tracks. Such a good workout! I can't even tell you how great it is to have a free cross-country ski area five minutes from my house. All groomed, of course, by Kaslo's mysterious (and very active) troop of volunteers. On the 8th of February, I will definitely be joining the moonlit ski/chili cookout up at the warming hut! Apparently, there are three types of chili. A town after my own heart!

A few nights ago we went to Friday "after work" beers at the Angry Hen Brewery on Front Street, and our friends brought their brand new daughter. Her head smells like strawberries, and as I held the little bundle of love in my arms, I smiled, thinking how exciting it always is when there's a new life in my midst. Also, I just love how there are newborn babies AND dogs in the bar. We were back at the Hen the next night for a friend's birthday, and I was chatting to a Kaslo local. "If you make the decision to move here," he said, "you'll figure out what to do to make a living. You just gotta buy the ticket, and take the ride." This is not the first time I've gotten this advice since we arrived here in September. And you know what? I kind of like the idea of deciding where you want to live, and what kind of lifestyle you want to have, and then just 'figuring out' what to do for work later. These people have got their priorities straight!

OK, my memory in terms of chronological order of what we did over the holidays is not serving me right now, so here's a list of other random things that have happened in the last few weeks:

-We went to an art show at the Langham. About sixty artists from the area participated, and it was really great! There were snacks (of course), and a huge variety of types of art. I bought three teapots that came with handmade (knitted) tea cosies. One of them had a huge 'Marmite' logo knitted on it. Wow!

-We had Jeremy and his family over for dinner the other night and made homemade chicken strips. CROWD PLEASER!

-The Treehouse Cafe seems to be the only place ever open when there's a power outage. I walked by yesterday, and with every other business closed, the Treehouse had a sign in the window that said, 'Power outage. Limited menu. Coffee's on-it's hot!' I don't know how they had hot coffee, but I friggin loved it. Maybe they were running a jenny. Oh, apparently people in Kaslo don't have enough time to say 'generator.'

-Jordie and I went to Nakusp Hot Springs for a night in one of their little A-frame chalets. Out under the full moon in the beautiful hot pools, then back to the chalet to eat white wine pasta I made, and watch a show called 'The Strongest Man on Earth,' where they do challenges like pulling a boat, or lifting a ridiculously heavy log. I told you cable TV sucks!

-Jordie and I went to Ainsworth Hot Springs too. Out for dinner at the Ktunaxa Grill (YUM) and into the hot pools in the dark. At Ainsworth, they have these caves you can swim through. They're wild. I can't explain...just scroll down and look at the picture!

-Jordie and I went skiing at Summit Lake Ski Area. It's between Nakusp and New Denver, right off the side of the highway, and has been open since 1961. They have a rope tow and a T-bar, and maybe 5 runs. And a really cute cafeteria where the menu is hand-written and the people working there are an older couple that assure you if you don't have cash, you can use the debit machine at the reception desk. The Kootenays are much more of a cash society than Vancouver, I'm realizing. Gotta have those Benjamins or whatever.

That's all for now, folks! Happy belated New Year!