Ice Capades

Some thoughts from this week to get started with:

1. I'm starting to think that can openers were actually created by psychologists and/or sociologists as part of a huge experiment to see what it takes to push a normally calm, regular person to the absolute breaking point. Photocopiers are probably part of this same experiment.

2. The other day I was sitting at my kitchen table, doing a giant crossword that my Uncle Norm sent me in the mail, minding my own business, when I got that feeling that if I turned around, there would be a ghost behind me or something. Man, I can really freak myself out sometimes. And then right in the middle of this ghosty weird feeling, Jeremy pulled into our driveway, got out of the truck without turning it off, and came up the front steps in a hurry. I flung open the front door, my heart pounding. He looked like he was going to tell me a UFO just landed downtown. Turns out Jordie just broke off his key in one of the car doors. Phew.

3. We watched 'Sleepless in Seattle' the other day, which is your classic Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan rom-com (but not that much 'com,' really). It's more of a rom. And then we watched 'You've Got Mail,' which is your classic Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan rom-com. Still not a lot of com, but I did chuckle at all the ancient internet references. I love movies that are about the internet, but came out like 25 years ago. Another great one is 'The Net' with Sandra Bullock. Chat rooms were pretty much the only thing ON the internet in those days. And porn, I think.

4. I forgot to say this months ago when I saw it, but there was an ad in the Pennywise local paper for a workshop where you learn to write your own obituary. Hey, maybe this would be a fun date idea for Valentine's Day!

5. A real conversation I had with a kid this week:

Me: Morning!

Kid: Do you know what the coronavirus is?

Me: Oh. Um, yeah...

Kid: Well, I'm only staying here until the virus comes, and then I'm moving into the forest.

Me: OK. Hey, did you get a new shirt?

6. There's this little event at the Langham coming up which is a slide show of some Kaslovian's trip to Europe. This really tugged at my heart strings for some reason. Maybe because it totally reminds me of those old-timey newspapers that would announce that so-and-so is having a guest visit from out of town, or so-and-so went to the movies with a friend. I think we should bring back this tradition of reporting banal goings-on. Maybe we should trade in the constant news of war/politics/garbage on social media/viruses for gems like 'Mr. Jones recently had a Tinder date that was a flop' or 'On Monday, Lisa Smith watched 12 episodes of The Office with her very own cheese pizza, and then really didn't feel so great after.'

7. I went to Zumba again with Sheree this week. I cannot stress how much fun this is. Had to peel myself off the couch a little bit. I kind of felt like doing my crossword puzzle, or reading or something. But as usual, once I was there body rollin' I felt like I should really apply to be on Dancing with the Stars. Then I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, dancing, and thought 'Nope-I think a small-town Zumba class with two people in it is right where I should be.'

8. I heard the band 'Butthole Surfers' mentioned on CBC at some point this week. What I want to know is, did a producer actually sit down with the band members and agree that this was a good name? There has got to be some other explanation for this.

9. Me and Jordie were supposed to go skiing with some people today at Whitewater in Nelson, but I woke up around 1:30am with a really sore throat and then promptly got NO more sleep. And you know how, when you miss out on something like a ski day because you have a stupid annoying sore throat, you secretly kind of hope that they get to the hill and find out that it went bankrupt last night, or everyone gets pooped on by a flock of geese or something? This, my friends, is the nature of FOMO (the fear of missing out). I did read something the other day about JOMO (the joy of missing out), which is when you find the joy in sitting on your couch all day watching Netflix until it asks you if you're 'still watching.' But today, I think I'm more in the FOMO camp. Even Jordie is in the kitchen right now, listening to classical piano tunes and frying up something delicious with bok choy in it. I feel like calling a RAIN DELAY!!! Everybody inside!!! Nobody's allowed to be productive or have any fun until I feel better. Hahaha...fine, fine. I'm being a little bit dramatic.

But yeah, anyways, obviously as human beings living in polite societies, we can't SAY that we were hoping everyone got pooped on by geese while we were at home watching 'The Terminal' (which is a Tom Hanks rom-com). We have to have conversations that go more like this:

Me: So...how was skiing?

Refreshed skiier with rosy cheeks: Ugh, it was UNREAL. Best powder day of the season, hands down.

Me: Cool, cool. Wow, that's...cool.

Refreshed skiier with rosy cheeks: Yeah, and guess WHAT? We all entered this contest and we all won! The prize was a lifetime season's pass for each of us! Plus, free skis, poles, boots and bindings for everyone! It was honestly one of the best days of my life.

Me: Whoooooaaaaa...heh heh. Crazy. That's so cool. Yep, that's really cool. Yep, yep, yep. Coooool beans. Hey, have you seen 'The Terminal?' I watched it today. It was pretty life-changing. Yup, definitely changed my life.

Leah and Jordie, young and fresh, just a couple weeks after I snatched him from the depths of online dating.

OK, how did Grandpa even get up there? Dad's shoulders look like they're about to pop out of their sockets.

Valentine's Day is almost upon us, and I have to say, this week I've seen some odd advertisements in the local papers. I mean, does a 10% discount on septic services really have anything to do with Valentine's Day? Or a free toilet? Actually, I guess that would be a good Valentine's Day present if your toilet was in really, really bad shape. Jordie and I are planning to go night skiing up to the Moose Meadows warming cabin with some wine. I kind of want to go to the taqueria again (for the cocktails), but I'm trying to limit my Whoa Mama intake. I bought Jordie a cute card and a little tiny hand-carved soapstone jar with a little tiny hand-carved soapstone spoon. (Usually when I buy him a gift, it kinda ends up being for me. Except when I got him those giant chunks of beechwood from Windsor Plywood for Christmas. Those were strictly for him.) So anyways, since Valentine's Day is this Friday, so I thought I'd have a look-see at some antique V-Day cards. Here are some of my favourites!

I went on a little road trip with Sheree to Nelson this week. We wandered around the town, went into Oso Negro Coffee to have a little drink and a treat (I had a dandelion latte...seriously, and Sheree had a coffee and an oat bar that we both agreed was way too sweet). Later in the day we went for lunch at an Indian restaurant, which was divine, and for dessert had a vanilla rice pudding. Rice pudding is one of those desserts that sounds like it isn't going to be very good, kinda like 'carrot cake' or anything with the word 'loaf' in it. But creamy rice pudding with a little bit of cardamom in it? Gad, that's good! Walking around Nelson with my little nephew in his stroller, I was amazed at how amazed he was by the birds. Pigeons, mostly. He kept saying 'Tweet tweet!' when he saw one on the street. Eventually, I decided to just pull the stroller over and really take in the birds with him. When you're with a little kid, you can spend 45 minutes talking to the pigeons on the street and nobody thinks anything of it, but if you did it by yourself, everyone would probably think you'd lost your mind. Kids are so funny.

Jeremy, Sheree, Jordie and I went to...surprise, surprise...the taqueria the other night for drinks. It's funny going out in a really small town because you pretty much expect to run into someone you know. I ran into my new friend Sarah, who told me about the 'Whoa Mama' cocktail. I pretended this was new info. We ate a crapload of tortilla chips with homemade salsa, drank a few yummy cocktails, had a chocolate creme brulee (or something), and enjoyed our first double-date since we arrived in September. Jordie insists that we 'did' go on another double-date with them since we got here in the fall, but no, we didn't. I have been trying to remember to make fun drinks for the kids when they're here for dinner, because I imagine it's annoying for kids to see the adults drinking wine, after-supper coffees or fancy cocktails, and then just be given...drumroll, please...water.

The next night, I went to the most Kaslo event I've been to so far with my new friend Sarah. It was a fundraiser for one of Kaslo's outdoor societies (yes, there's more than one). We skiied up to the Moose Meadows warming cabin in the evening with our headlamps on, me slipping uphill in my extremely waxed rental skis the whole time. We skiied to the lookout point, which is a lovely 6km route, and then back to the cabin for chili. Val (a Kaslo guy) was on chili detail-three different kinds of chili, a roaring fire, ridiculously good hot chocolate, cookies and community cheer to last you a lifetime. The other side of the little cabin, which normally houses the sleighs (yes, SLEIGHS!) and that cat-track thing that grooms the ski trails, had been turned into a little restaurant seating area complete with a snowy floor, tables covered in white paper, candles and overturned plastic buckets from 'The Bird' (AKA 'Ace Hardware,') to sit on. It was, quite honestly, almost too much to handle. And then, on the way back down the hill, as I cruised past the Tiki torches lighting the path, I had to laugh out loud to myself while also screaming in fear/delight, because I swear to God, my body has never moved that fast down a hill. Like, ZOOMING down the hill. The next morning, Jordie and I went for a little ski in the morning to that same lookout point, and again, it was laughable how zoomy it was. And the funny thing? Nobody else on the trail, even though it snowed quite a bit overnight. I guess there's some kind of Facebook page or inner Kaslovian wisdom that lets the locals know when it's going to be icy. I don't know. I'm out of the loop on this one.

Yes, Auntie Leah, I know where 'Middle C' is. Jeez.

The Legion. Home to the Ladies Auxiliary. Home to a RIFLE range in the basement. Okaaaaaay!

My childhood home. There is nothing like a little white house filled with people. My heart.

Our family cabin in Lytton, BC. Nothing like the snow there!

Our cabin in Lytton, right before Gandalf arrived.

We also went over to Jer and Sher's place for supper this week, and had delicious pork chops with scalloped potatoes made in a cast-iron pan, summer beans from their garden, and beets. The beets and beans killed me. Brought me right back to summer and got me thinking about all the beautiful summer garden bounty. And rice pudding (yum!) and Jenny Jones buns. And then yesterday, our friend who has a 6-week-old baby invited Sheree and I and a couple other gals over for brunch. And after Sheree and I almost died walking (well, skating, basically) uphill on the iciest driveway of all time, we were treated to French toast with berries and two kinds of whipped cream, bacon, chia pudding, juice and coffee. And all with a brand new baby! It was such a treat. It's so amazing having other people cook for you. Cooking for other people is also really great. Big dinner parties, even though they're lots of work, are so much fun, and always a nice opportunity to make something a little bit schmancy. But you know what I have to admit I'm not that big a fan of? Potlucks. It's like, let's all just take turns cooking for each other so that sometimes we can just laze around and enjoy someone else cooking us supper, you know what I mean? But Kaslo is a bit of a potluck town, and that's cool too. I love potlucks.

Last night, I went over to Sarah's house to have tea with her and her big, friendly pup. Huck. He is so sweet. She gave me a tour of her house, which almost made me die with jealousy because it's so cozy and tucked into the trees! I gave her some homemade kimchi, some kefir because she said she spends too much money on yogurt (YES, I know this feeling!) and some cotton yarn so she can start crocheting. She gave me a pair of skis. I thought this was a much better deal for me than for her, but I will pay this favour forward to someone else when I can! Hey, have you ever noticed it's way harder to make a new friend as an adult than when you're a kid? When you're a kid, you can be BFFs with someone just because you both got the word 'vegetable' wrong on the spelling quiz. And then as an adult, you find out that someone else feels like they spend too much money on yogurt just like you, and you're like, 'Let's be best friends!'

And now, for green tips of the week!

1. Stop any non-essential paper mail (make them e-mail it to you!)

I recently realized I was getting a LOT of mail from the Los Angeles LGBT Centre, because I have donated to them in the past. Same thing with the Red Cross. I feel like, when I believe in a charity, I don't need a weekly letter to remind me. Also, monthly credit card statements? I like to do my banking online anyways, so...mail cancelled!

2. Close your curtains/blinds at night or when you're out.

I never thought about this as a little heat-saver, but apparently it makes a difference! I don't know how much difference, but it probably saves like half a rainforest a year or something. Just kidding. I have no idea. But it's a small fix, so I'm on the bandwagon!

3. Use a wrapping paper alternative.

So, here's another one I never really thought of. I always recycle my used wrapping paper, so I thought that was pretty eco-friendly. But when you think about it, wrapping paper is used for such a short amount of time and then it's straight into the garbage or recycling bin. I read about some other options: jars, tins, newspaper, a dishcloth, or...one of my favourites...just the old school 'close your eyes' routine (followed by the old school 'open your eyes' routine).

OK, folks. That's all for now. My throat hurts and it's definitely movie-watching time at my house! Until next time!