Skating on the Pond

Hello! We are back from a lovely time in Vernon, where we played in the snow and lived in a winter wonderland over New Years.  Twice a year we make the 6 hour drive to visit our friends who live in Vernon- it's a trip we have been making for over 10 years now.   Our kids (they have 2 girls) are the same ages- born months a part so they are like cousins.  Friendships that span through the child-rearing age are often hard to keep up with so we really value the time we spend with them, once in the winter and once in the summer, with their family coming out our way a couple of times in between to visit too.
The boys went up to Silver Star Mountain to snowboard on our second day and then on NYE day we  went ice skating at the pond.  The sun was out- despite the fog down below and it was snowy and lovely (only about -3 so not too cold).  At one point my son lay on the ice and pointed to a 'rainbow' in the sky- kind of this upside down rainbow that was all sparkly and faint like it was made with sparkly snowflakes.  What a treat to see something this beautiful in the sky at the end of a great year, giving hope and promise to a new year dawning.  After lunch it fogged up again and the misty fog came out reminding me how quickly and constant change is in life. 

Views from the top

I hope you are having a great holiday! These are a few photos I took while snowshoeing at Mount Seymour (a local North Shore mountain) this morning.  These whiskey jack's kept coming by hoping for treats and attention! 

We still have a bit more family time to take part in and then will be heading up to Vernon to enjoy more snow and mountain top adventures!

That winter feeling

We finally made it up to Mt. Seymour to pick up the season's passes for my boys this year, and while there wasn't as much snow as the last time I was up there, it was wonderful to enjoy the wintery feeling, despite the warmish weather here in Vancouver.  We ended up hiking on the snow-shoe trails part of the way to the look-out (last time Sasha and I did the 2.5 km that it took to get there) and noticed that dogs are now allowed on the trail as well.  Not that we have a dog, but there were some beautiful dogs clearly enjoying the snow as much as my boys.  Also new at Seymour- the magic carpet to take kids just learning to ski or snow-board up the bunny hill.  Sure beats the tow-rope! And someone parked their vintage snowshoes on the trail- the kind I'd be hanging up in my home if I had a pair! (The owner's bags were close by so I didn't quite feel like I could mess with these to stand both shoes up-right for the photo... does anyone know what the smaller one on the ground would be for?  It was on it's own...)
Only a few more days until Christmas!  I'll be taking some time off of blogging to really enjoy things around here, but I just thought I'd pass along a very Merry Christmas from my family to yours.  Thank you all for stopping by my blog, leaving comments and being interested in what I do and make.

Mountain to lake

Hello June!  Wow, did that ever happen fast! Six months into 2011 already...
So a couple of weekends ago we made it back to Princeton for Dean's yearly staff conference.   The boys and I rode the Zip-line from one side of the valley over the lake to the other.  We went on boat rides, the boys swam in the pool.  They played hockey with their friends and my hands took a much needed break from making work.  I didn't take as many photos as I usually do, but I liked the pairings of these ones: Sky to mountain top, mountain to lake.  Not perfectly matched up, since I wasn't really planning it out when I took them, but there is something about the topography that is similar in each one.
**In the studio this week:
 With all my spring shop orders finished, I will be focusing on getting ready for Renegade, which is a mere month or so away.  I've got a few things sorted out: getting there, where to stay, where to ship to, & hopefully how to get the work to the show from our friends' place.  There are just a few more details to sort through.  It's tricky doing a show across the line.  Apparently there are a lot of rules, which make it nearly impossible to do this sort of thing.  Anyways, we shall see how it goes. 
In other news... supposedly Canada Post is going on strike.  Tomorrow.  So this affects my shipping rates and time-lines until the strike is over.  I will be shipping via UPS in the meantime- this means extra time for me at the post office filling out forms, and extra costs associated with shipping. Good times!

Mountain top views

Well we were all feeling a whole lot better today, good enough to brave the traffic up to one of our local mountains.  The last time our whole family was up at Seymour was a couple of summers ago when we went hiking and swimming with the boys.  Now seeing everything in it's winter glory on a clear sunny day made the whole mountain absolutely spectacular!  While Dean took Johnny snowboarding, Sasha and I hiked on one of the snowshoe trails down to a little frozen lake and then up to a lookout that was truly amazing.  Of course, hiking back with a tired 6 yr old in tow before the sun went completely down was a little nerve-wracking but we all met up just fine and everyone had a great day.  A much better way to end off 2010 than the flu!!