Shiny Fuzzy Muddy 14: This Weekend!

I've been busy since the Crawl trying to make some new work for the Shiny Fuzzy Muddy show coming up this weekend! The show is a highly curated collection of great makers, artists and designers- some coming from Alberta, but mostly from BC.  I'm really excited to be part of the show!

Saturday, December 14, 11am-9pm
Sunday, December 15, 10am-7pm

Hope to see you there!  Learn more about all the makers involved in the show here!

So it's December... again

 I must be in the phase of life where time travels much faster then it ever used to.  Where a year goes by in the blink of an eye and here we are in December again.  Every year I feel like I'm on a freight train that starts out slowly but then picks up speed so that we are now barreling towards the holidays with what feels like a run-away train with no brakes to stop it.  Because as a potter, this is the only time of year I seem to actually turn a profit with what I make- where people actually come flocking to my booth, madly buying up my wares as gifts, and I can't seem to keep up with the demand for my work.  And all I want to do right now is get off the train and have this ride be over!

Well perhaps quite the opposite of the run-away train, we took the boys to the 'Polar Express' at the Train museum up in Squamish last weekend.  It's a pretty penny to go on a real, old-fashioned train, to drink hot chocolate and sing carols while listening to the story of the Polar Express over the intercom.  I think I'm so destination bound, that it was hard not to be disappointed that we didn't actually go anywhere- the train chugged along by the estuary to a loading bay and back to the station.  Of course, these types of things are never for the adults, they are always for the kids and seeing Santa and riding on a mini-train indoors while it poured rain outside was a lot of fun for the boys.  It's nice to have done something a little Christmassy around here, since my decorations don't come up at home until well after the One of a Kind Show (December 8-11). 

Watching the Tides

Island get-a-way's are pretty easy to slip into when they involve warm weather, lots of beach, and a beautiful log cabin.  Our friends were great hosts and the boys had heaps of fun skim boarding, sandcastle building, getting motorbike rides around the Island, and even doing some tubing out on the water behind a boat.  It's the kind of place you want to spend the whole summer just watching the tide go in and out.

gone camping

It hasn't exactly been the ideal summer to go camping.  It's rained and has been cold 90% of the time on the westcoast of BC (I know all those heat-wave folks are probably envious, but I guess the grass is always greener...).  So when the weather turned nice this past weekend, we headed out with the Boler up to Hick's Lake, about 2 hours outside of Vancouver, to go camping with our neighbours and their 2 younger boys.  Arriving on a balmy warm day seemed a little too good to be true, and despite the weather forecasting sunny and warm, it quickly turned cold and nearly raining on us.  While I'm not too keen on the bug bites, the outhouses, lack of showers, or camping in the rain (despite us having Dean's folk's Boler to keep us dry at night), it was good to be out of cell range, stoke a campfire in the evenings and camp with the neighbours.  We feel so fortunate to live on a street where we can connect with people beyond a little wave while getting the mail!

**We came back to the sad news about Norway, including news through friends that one of their family members was at the camp where the shootings took place.  Apparently she found a place to hide and was safe, however I can only imagine the shock, horror and tragedy that is affecting so many people who were involved or had family involved.  My heart goes out...

Random

This is the last from our holiday pics up in the Okanagan parts of BC.  Beautiful huge lakes to swim and watch boats on, amazing fruit fresh from the farmers markets and great meals and visits with our friends.  Don't you love their dining room table that they made?  And these little 'lantern' fruits were really interesting- not sure what they are called but it's a cross between a cherry and a tomato. 

back from holidays

Well I'm back from putting my feet up, from reading books all day and from watching the boys swim from a shady spot on the beach.  It's been really great to relax and enjoy the company of our good friends who we stayed with. 
I'll be getting back in the swing of things this week here, albeit a little slower because it's so incredibly hot and a few beach days are still in order around here.  Hope you are enjoying the last few weeks of the summer!

Island get-a-way: Adventure Walk

Below my sister's place is a salmon spawning stream/river that is perfect for taking little boys on an nature walk.  We came to this cave-like tunnel at far end of the stream, which keeps the water flowing  through while holding train tracks above it.  The boys and I ventured through the dark tunnel, finding an almost magical waterhole on the other side.  If I had had my video camera with me you would have heard me 'yelling' at the boys to be careful along the wall and sides- not to slip into the water because it was so deep.  They are OK swimmers but it would have required me jumping in after them, camera and all if they had slipped in.  No worries- all went well and they have an adventure story to add to their summer holiday journal.

Learning to knit

I've been wanting to learn to knit for a  while now- it's been on the mental to do list, and I finally got to it this week.  I picked up the yarn (and borrowed really thick knitting needles size 17- thanks Megan) from Room6.  It's an Alpaca/wool mix, super thick, super soft and I loved the midnight blue colour!  Then at home I looked up the directions with drawings on the Learn to Knit website.  I got a wee bit confused when the second row came along though and headed over to a U-tube for the 'How to knit' video, which was golden as far as I'm concerned! Super easy folks, really! It only took me one evening to get a ball of yarn into this super cute neck warmer.  I did happen to have a porcelain button I had made a while ago with the midnight blue ovals on it.  And for some reason it felt more relaxing to me than reading a book, although that's also on my to-do list during the holidays too.  Any good reads anyone? 

Expecting good things at Portobello this weekend!

Ok so I'm a part of the Portobello Holiday Market this coming weekend and after browsing the list of other folks there, I'm really excited to check out this work in person (instead of just online)!
Above- don't you just adore this hand-knitted sweater?? Ok so I'm saving up for a new pair of glasses and must remember that when I dearly want that sweater... Deer Love Sweater and Toque by Granted Knitwear

I've been meaning to get my passport up-dated, with one of these and a ticket to a tropical island I'd certainly have the incentive to stand in line: Petit Ecole Friends Passport by Noei

A beauty of a bag by fiveleft -while we (Dean) already own a lap-top bag and wallet by fiveleft, I'm thinking a Christmas wallet for my brother-in-law...

I think I saw these on Poppytalk a while back and am really looking forward to taking a gander by the Henderson Dry Goods table... again, will try to restrain myself from spending everything that I sell:)

And of course, I'll be there with some new work out of the kiln, some of my tile frames, and my new photoprints on bamboo frames:)

Oh, and check out this little link while you're at it! 

Home from Holiday Part 1

Well we are back from a week in Vernon, where we stayed with our good friends Marvin and Jenny and their 2 daughters that are the same ages as our boys. I'd love to tell you all that it was an amazing holiday, but to be completely honest, I was sick in bed for much of the week... Yuck. We arrived last monday and I was already feeling really tired and a bit off, but managed to make it with the family to the local farmer's market and up to SilverStar Mountain (middle image) for a hike. The fresh mountain air and wild-flowers up and down the hill were really something special to see, especially since we usually go up there in the middle of winter. I also managed to enjoy an amazing meal that Marvin made while he had his day off. From that point on I was pretty much flat out in bed for a whole day+ with a fever of a 104, the chills, the aches, an incredibly sore throat and so tired. It wasn't until friday that I finally made it to the doctor to find out that I had Strep Throat and needed to be on antibiotics. Amazingly, my boys had a great time, dispite the cloudy/wet and cold weather that was highly unusual for Vernon's usual hot and dry summer climate.
I will say that my two big highlights were going to the Value Village and finding a score of stuff- both for the boys and for myself (will share more tomorrow!), and I got to see the movie Julie & Julia! I won't spoil it for any of you who haven't gone- but I was smitten!
We are home for a couple of days and then off to Vancouver Island for the weekend... as long as no one else gets sick.