Encore! Encore!

This week, I've been spending a lot of time painting in my shop, looking out the window at the snowy town below. Wait, is Kaslo a town or a village? Maybe it's a hamlet. I hope it's a hamlet, because that word just makes me feel so cozy inside. So Shakespeare-y.

*Side note: I just looked up what a 'hamlet' actually is. I found several helpful definitions, including: a) a hamlet is smaller than a village, b) a hamlet does not have a church, but may have a bar, and c) a hamlet is smaller than a town. But I think the little triangle hierarchy below has the best info. A hamlet is one step above 'isolated farmhouse.' If this is the case, I think Kaslo is at least a village, and maybe just a 'small town.' Not quite as romantic as a hamlet, but at least we have bars! Well, one pub, plus a couple restaurants that sometimes double as bars, plus the Legion lounge where they have shuffleboard and a pool table! A great place to drink away your sorrows, because I'm pretty sure there are no windows.

I've been volunteering for a few months now at the school in town. Kindergarten. It's a wild world, the school day of a bunch of 5-year-olds. One minute, they're making these adorable little Christmas ornaments out of snowberries and rose hips, the next they're rolling out capital letters with play-dough. And this week, I went in with my ukulele to sing a little song and do a little dancing. Why not? Kindies are up for anything! These little guys are my favourite age group to work with, because the things they say always kill me. Over the years as a teacher, I've been on the receiving end of quite a few unforgettable comments from the kindie population. My favourite? (I wrote this down as soon as I heard it, and tacked it on my fridge for endless enjoyment): "Miss Gidney, you're as old as a Chinese dragon, but wiser, and as beautiful as a butterfly, but richer." I don't know if I'm as wise as a Chinese dragon, but I sincerely hope I'm richer than a butterfly. I also loved: "Miss Gidney, are you a kid?" This one, I've gotten a good, solid handful of times. Maybe they ask me this because I'm not that much taller than a lot of kindergarten students. One little girl, after asking me if I was a kid and I said no, responded: "You are a kid. You're just grown up." In a funny way, this was the biggest compliment I've ever gotten!

This week has also seen me at the post office almost every day. Wow-Kaslo folks are extremely active post office users! Amazon is a really big thing here-I guess when toilet paper costs double in the supermarket compared to what you'd pay in the city, it kind of makes sense. But I never thought about ordering such rudimentary items on Amazon before-sure makes trips to the post office a little less interesting. Oh, amazing-it's a giant box of bars of Ivory soap. I think working at the post office would be kind of cool. For one thing, you would get to talk to pretty much everyone in town (being quite chatty, I would love this!), because everyone's in there like 3 times a day (I actually went in 3 times the other day). And then also, you might get discounts on stamps. Hey, don't judge! Stamps are expensive!

Living in Kaslo, with its 11 restaurants, means having a lot less choice than we did in Vancouver. Now, I'm living a life without Pho (pronounced 'phuh,' people), sushi, Thai curry, and Korean feasts. So when the Bluebelle Bistro had a Pho night with dim sum appetizers, we were all there with bells on. It was delicious! Homemade rice noodles (talk about an undertaking!), local beef, broth made in-house.

*By the way, I feel like people just say 'dim sum' for everything now, like any little appetizers. Hey, come over on Friday-we're having tuna on rice cakes dim sum and then cucumber pizza! But dim sum (I had a hunch, so I gave it a google) is really a little meal of Chinese dumplings and other small plates, served with tea, often in those wonderful steamer baskets.

After our amazing Pho supper, we went over to hang out with Jeremy and Sheree and their kids (our Kaslo family). On our walk home, it was ridiculously slippery. All week, actually. The other day, as I was baby-steppin' down the hill towards town, going at a snail's pace, I laughed out loud at myself as a young gal speed-walked past me in sneakers, and then disappeared out of sight. The next day, as I was again hoofin' it grandma-style down the hill, Sheree drove past and honked to say hi, scaring the crap out of me. And poor Jeremy slipped on the river trail when he was running and smoked his head or elbow or something on the stairs. So yeah, it was slippery this week. Anyways, so we're walking home. It was dark, we saw two sweet deer on the street, nibbling away at the grass or whatever they eat, their little white tailed butts dancing in the darkness. A cat scooted across the road. Wow, I thought. So much wildlife! And then out of the corner of my eye, another cat was running towards us, and I squealed, scaring Jordan, who then found the cat walking literally right under his feet. I laughed as he tripped over the little guy. And then, a first for me! This cat was clearly following us home, just prancing a few feet ahead. I told Jordie if the cat came up to our door, I was going to let him in. And he did, so I did. He came into the house and looked around. "Well,' I asked him, 'would you like a bowl of milk?' He didn't say anything, so I gave him a bowl of milk and he lapped it up. I spent the next half an hour trying to decide what to do with him-my instinct was to plop him at the foot of our bed to have a sleepover. Jordie had already gone to bed, declaring as he went, "It's up to you, babe." But the cat started nipping at my feet, and then I got trapped upstairs with him when, every time I took a step, he would bite me. Aaaaand, out he went.

I know this is not a great photo, but I was excited, and in all fairness, I really don't know how to work an iphone.

You know how people say humans are the only species who drinks another species' milk? My theory is that animals don't have some kind of philosophical or ethical view on the whole milk thing. If they could go to the grocery store and buy a jug of milk, I'm guessing they would.

Saturday morning I went to a lovely little baby shower brunch for a friend at Sheree's house. We had homemade poppyseed scones with lemon curd (my god these were good), spritzy fruit juice, cheesy eggs, pesto potatoes, breakfast sausages, fruit skewers drizzled with chocolate, and coffee and tea. I was STUFFED after eating a few scones, but continued to stuff myself with all this deliciousness until I was officially uncomfortably full. This brunch made me think maybe I should have a baby too! Plus, I love kids, etc etc.

The rest of Saturday was Kaslo's infamous 'Light Up.' I guess it's not really infamous. Maybe famous is a better word. And it's not really famous outside of this little village, but among the townsfolk, it sure is. An all-day event. A scavenger hunt for the kids, 3 Christmas craft fairs, live music at the brewery, lots of stores open past their usual 3pm closing time, a Santa parade, a town bonfire, stories at the library. This event has been going on for 31 years, and was truly a small-town treat.

Here's what to expect if you ever find yourself at Light Up in Kaslo:

-Eric's Meat Market, illuminated with Christmas lights, the butcher still slingin' packages of bacon and other meat products well into the evening

-hot chocolate and homemade treats sold outside Front Street Market for $1 apiece

-craft fair treasures such as beeswax candles (a must in the Kootenays), homemade soup (courtesy of the Ladies' Auxiliary), crocheted socks and mittens and toques and scarves (for my American readers-a 'toque' is what you might call a 'winter hat'), and so much more

-the Santa parade is made up of about 10 vehicles, and about 9 of them are emergency vehicles (we got really familiar with the sound of the siren, as it was blasting for like half an hour)

We wandered into one of the antique stores, which had one of those electric train sets running on a track in the window. And as the kids looked on, faces close to the glass, I had to remind myself that this was, in fact, 2019, and not the set of 'A Christmas Story.' We stood on the side of the road as the parade marched on, and we watched as candy canes were thrown to the kids, some of them shattering on the ground on impact. Later, Jordie and I went to the Bluebelle, which was having a live performance by 'White Lightning.' I have to say, and I hate this word, this band rocked. The dance floor was full, the Beatles covers were in full swing, and I knew all the words. We drank steamy hot chai lattes and chatted with our tablemates, Ursula and Erwin. Erwin was wearing this fantastic hat with a feather in it. I told him I liked his hat, and about two minutes later someone came over and complimented him on it again. You don't see feathers in hats too much these days, but he really pulled it off! Ursula, during White Lightning's version of 'Back in the USSR,' mentioned that she'd seen the Beatles at the Forum in Montreal in 1964. The ticket was $4.50. "But you couldn't hear anything," she said, "and it was like being in a wind tunnel." "Why couldn't you hear anything?" I asked. "Because everyone was screaming too loud." Man. People REALLY went crazy for the Beatles. And you know what? I totally understand it.

White Lightning played a couple of truly great sets. I don't know the last time I've seen a band that kept the crowd dancing for the entire show. Nobody was even really having conversations too much-just watching and singing along. And at the end, for the first time in my life, I participated in an encore where people were SCREAMING 'Encore! Encore! ENCORE!' Usually, it's just a bunch of reluctant clapping, and the musicians don't even go backstage anymore for a minute. It's just a ten second break between the last song and the encore. We've really lost the tradition of the encore, I think. But I tell ya, it felt so good to scream it. White Lightning. Check them out. They rocked.

The town bonfire. Windy, sparky, warm, rainy, amazing. At the end of the night (9pm), as I drove past what was once an enormous bonfire with a lot of people standing around it, it was just a steaming pile of ashes. Just like that, like it'd never been there in the first place. Jordie said the fire department comes by to put it out. Maybe the town has a curfew on bonfires or something.

Jordie and I went snowshoeing Sunday morning, right along the cross-country ski route. Several skiiers swooshed past us, advising, "Skiing is the way to go! You guys are doing way more work!" Always with a triumphant air, like they were really letting us in on a big secret. I could already tell after 10 minutes of deep snow snowshoeing that my hip flexors were going to be sore the next day. Fast forward to Monday morning: yup, they're sore. It was lovely to get out in the snow, into the fresh air. Jordie kept pointing out these big drops and saying how 'perfect' they would be for snowboarding. Riiiiiiiight. As we were snowshoeing back to the car, he pointed vaguely to something in the snow. "What?" I asked. "I don't see anything." I looked at him, confused. "I peed your name in the snow!" he cheerfully announced. He's getting really good at this now. We've been on two snowy expeditions in the last week, and both times, he's 'peed my name.' In cursive, even! And this morning, he brought me a coffee in bed. Now that's a man to hold onto! Jordie, if you're reading this (and I know you are, because I make you), more coffees in bed, less peeing my name in the snow. I briefly considered including photo evidence of this chivalry, but smartly, I think, decided against it.

Hi mom! Hi dad!

Driftwood characters for a zippier world. On the left, Cliff, the giraffe (he's reaching for something, I think), and...Leona the rabbit, who oh-so carefully put on her eye shadow and blush for a night on the town. I think she's going to see White Lightning.

And last but certainly not least for this week: the Ladies' Auxiliary. We made supper for one of the market's Christmas dinner parties last night (I just remembered, I now have a turkey carcass in my fridge, so I guess I'm making soup today!) Roasted carrots and onions with a honey glaze, mashed potatoes with a lot of butter (the only way to do em!), turkey, ham, salad, stuffing, gravy (Barb, your gravy is unreal!), treats, festive hairbands. I'm just a novice in this world of feeding big groups at all-day cooking events, but wow did my feet hurt at the end of the night. Thrice I was asked if I was 'pregnant.'

This is a group of hardworking gals, always feeding some large group of people in town. This photo was taken just moments before we started mashing an ungodly amount of potatoes with a tool that I can only compare to a shovel. Maybe a rake.

I haven't seen my 17 turkey friends this week, but something tells me...they might have been in my yard.

Nerd alert! Hey, do you like my new mitts? Got them from the Hospital Auxiliary craft fair (there are a lot of 'auxiliaries' in town!) And here I am, on the wagon road. This used to be an actual road. Hard to imagine, but those pioneers were really hell-bent on finding silver!

Well, the sun is out. Gotta run! I better get my butt down to the studio to do some painting before lunch. So long for now, dear readers. But before I go, let me introduce you to my new friends, Luke and Fluke. This is a photo that hangs on the wall of one of the Ladies Auxiliary members-I believe it is her father on the left and his uncle on the right. Next time I have a party, I'm inviting these guys!