Ah Christmas. With the family this year. Above is just a portion of those I shared the day with. Lots of food, lots of gifts, lots of laughter.

Been a busy time, what with Bingo ... and speaking of Bingo, I never realized how complicated it is to play this game I once played as a child. But, alas, luck was not on our side this particular afternoon - we didn't win one game, which surprised me immensely. I thought with five of us playing someone would get at least one line, but no.

Lots of eating out. Here Tex displays the food while Will eats it. It was a cute little English pub which did remind me of England.

Then an afternoon at the bowling alley. Just as we started to catch on our hour of rolling balls down the alley was over. But we did have fun. Tomorrow we will all have bowling leg.

Tonight is New Year's Eve. Another party to attend. If I feel good in the morning I may once again add to the blog.

Happy New Year everyone!

A Kettleby Christmas

The Carolers came to the door tonight singing their Christmas music. It was lovely to see and hear. Although there is a bit of snow, there is nothing like the east coast of the United States. The tree is up and little Kate is getting excited. Santa will soon be here.


Caught Kate reading away in my bedroom. She has grown so much since I last saw her - two years ago...talking non stop and moving non stop. I've forgotten what it is like having a 3-1/2 year old in the house. The joys of Christmas!

Cookies

This is for my friend in Etobicoke. My cookie baking was drastically reduced this year but did bake up a few for family, friends and neighbours. Christmas book club was held at my house and this is the plate I served to them. If you were here, I'd share them with you.
Happy Holidays!

I may be Christmassed out by Dec 25th. Had our Christmas gift exchange today with my old neighbour Helen. Dianna (her daughter) was in town from Cabo San Lucas so we had a grand chat around cups of coffee and freshly baked goods. The funny thing is that Helen & I gave each other the same gift! They are locally made beautiful glass necklaces...great minds think alike!

This gift was given to me from one of my golfing partners. The tag reads "would you like to extend your Canadian golfing experience? These fur lined golf tees are the perfect gift for the truly dedicated golfer." Considering we HAVE golfed in the snow, it may come in handy.


I miss the drive from my old house into/out of, town. Stopped to snap this pic of the Alaska Highway with the trees frosted and the mountains against the sky. The cold weather is coming our way - should be -30 or lower by the weekend.

Christmas Dinner

Guess what I got for Christmas !!! We had our Christmas dinner and gift exchange last night at SR & Brooke's place and a lovely dinner it was. As they are both leaving soon for distance destinations, we celebrated and exchanged gifts. To my surprise, I not only received the handy dandy Home Hardware tape measure that includes a light, magnetic tape, pencil and poker (something I've always wanted ever since I saw the advertisement on tv) but I also received the iPod Touch with lots and lots of apps. Now my learning curve begins once again to figure out how it works (it's really not as easy as shown on tv). I am so excited, I have books, music galore, maps, foreign languages, soccer scores, youtube, clocks ... THANK YOU SO MUCH SR & BROOKE for such an exciting gift!

Even when they become men, they are still little boys are heart.

Thanks SR & Brooke for a great pre-Christmas Christmas.

YVR

Bev's mum recently celebrated her 90th Birthday! Bev treated us to a night at the theatre. The Metro Theatre on Marine Drive presented THEFT. We all thoroughly enjoyed the show.


It was a CP Air weekend.


I worked at CP Air from 1972 to 76 at which time I moved west to Calgary. I visited my long-time friend Bev (I was going to say "old friend" but changed my mind) this weekend as Bill was in from England. Now, being with two CP Air people, we spent our time visiting others that we worked with - some I haven't seen since 1976! I am happy to say everyone looked the same, only, like wine, we seem to be getting better with age.


Just found this blog about CP Air: CLICK HERE
Don't know who made it up but if you want to reminisce (and remember what air travel used to be like - remember customer service????) - it's great to browse through.

Canada Line - Vancouver

Took a quick jaunt to Vancouver this weekend. Experienced the new Canada Line which was built especially for the Winter Olympics to be held soon in Vancouver. We were fortunate as the rain stopped and the sun shone its merry face as we road the rails from Richmond to downtown. If you remember the news during the building of this system, many of the main roads were closed for construction and many of the shops went out of business due to the fact no one could reach their stores. But now that it is complete I, for one, enjoyed the ride downtown. This line also can take you out to the airport.




Two ways it could be improved:
1. SIGNAGE - we sometimes found it was like the blind leading the blind to get to where you wanted to go.
2. The Stations - they all look the same, white and grey. I would have liked to see each station a distinct colour with perhaps some art work in them.

But, they didn't ask my opinion when they were building the system.

Sunday Dinner

When I was young Sunday dinner was roast beef and mashed potatoes. Today - Sushi.
Had dinner tonight with my YEG tenant during her visit to YXY and SR's friend that I haven't seen forever! T'was fun and I didn't have to cook!

Spruce Bog

Ah, Christmas must be coming as it is once again Spruce Bog time. Held this year at the Canada Games Centre, it was busy as usual.



Saw Deanna Slonski, selling her rock art. She is just back from Las Vegas, one of the reasons she looks so warm and relaxed.

And, amongst others, ran into Cody and Ella. Ella was in need of a nap so wouldn't smile but wasn't cranky either...just tired.

Although is was only about -10 today felt much colder than that. A bit of snow falling and very wintery looking, so good weather to browse crafts for Christmas.

The Hand of Henry

In case you missed it, World Cup controversy starts early this time. Thierry Henry's Hand Ball in the World Cup Qualifier match against Ireland wins France an entry into the games. Henry admitted (albeit a bit late) that he used his hand to direct the ball and FIFA have denied a replay of the game. Wouldn't it be something if France won the cup in the 2010 World Cup !!

Art Series ... again

Went to another in the Art Series tonight - Mary Gauthier (pronounced GoShay). Had no idea what to expect but was pleasantly surprised. She sings in the line of Dylan. Born in Lafayette and I believe now living in New Orleans she is internationally known. Her introductions are humorous but her songs are of the sadder variety - like she once said "I should sing a happy song now, but I don't have any". A show I thoroughly enjoyed. Below, I'll give you a taste of her music.

Article of Interest

Sipping my coffee and reading Popular Science (my favourite magazine) this morning, I came across this story:
PERSONAL CHEMISTRY
It talks about all the man-made chemicals we have in our bodies from womb to now.
Seeing the photo of the coffee-maker and reading my coffee contains "Deca BDE
A toxic flame retardant in plastic can leach into your brew" didn't help me enjoy my morning java. It went on to talk about sun screen, lotions, shampoo ... things we use everyday and things which are suppose to be good for us and the Rule of 1,000 - Anything released indoors is about 1,000 times as likely to be inhaled as something released outdoors. It is a very interesting article and if you View Photo Gallery you may wonder how we are still alive after using these everyday things.

On a similar note, (and in the same magazine) I cruised this site:
Alternative Uses for Everyday Products
I may just have to start using Vodka to clean my bathroom tiles (and I can think of another use or two for this cleaning agent).

Good health to you!

Oops

So if you think you just had a bad day at work ... it probably could have been worse.

Hallowe'en Night

Bookclub was set for Hallowe'en night. With minimal kids trick or treating it didn't really make much of a difference if we were home or not, and personally, I'd rather be sitting around with friends, sipping wine and eating appies than feeling the blast of -10 air hitting me every time I open the door to hand out candy. I know that's sort of a bah humbug statement but that is the truth.

Luckily we arrived before Peter, Cody & little Ella left for their Hallowe'en Party. As is the case with babies, Ella has grown by leaps and bounds since I last saw her. She was all decked out for the party in her Bat Cape & Bat Hat.

It's funny how different books affect different people. Joan & I loved The Book of Negroes while two others in the group couldn't read it as they found the subject too depressing. They also wouldn't be able to read the Wally Lamb book I'm currently reading called The Hour I First Believed which is about experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the aftermath of the Columbine shootings. But I think everyone could read Gods Behaving Badly which is one of the few books I have ever laughed out loud to whilst reading it.

Clocks turned back, and extra hour of sleep (or partying), I guess winter is officially here. Going today to The Country House's Christmas open house. Lots of sales (along with appies) at my favourite store in Whitehorse.

The McLean Girls visit my old home

The old homestead is experiencing the next generation. SR & Brooke and her sisters spent a weekend there as seen below:

Art Series Once Again

Saw Suite Cruelles last night. Once again a modern ballet exploring love. I think I've had enough of modern dance with their almost non-existant clothing, abstract stories and men in high heels. Trying to keep an open mind, but ...

Happy Thanksgiving

Yesterday, we had Thanksgiving dinner, turkey and all the trimmings. It was a feast I don't usually cook anymore so was all the more enjoyable. It is good to celebrate family and friends at least one day a year and I am happy to say I have the best of both.


Coincidentally it was also SR's Birthday. 27 years ago, Thanksgiving Day he came into this world. Never being a cake person, but a connoisseur of apple pies, he had his Birthday pie with one candle for good luck, which he successfully blew out! Happy Birthday son!

First Snowfall

If snow means winter, then winter came yesterday - the very day I had snow tires put on my car! What timing. Although it almost all melted today, it didn't all disappear, so I believe snow is here to stay. The Alaska highway was very very dangerous yesterday between Whitehorse & Watson Lake, according to two different people I knew that drove home that day.

Watched a movie on Blue Ray on the weekend on SR's new 52" TV. Still trying to decide if I liked it or not. The people almost jumped out of the screen, but I'm not sure if it was the Blue Ray or the size of picture on the screen...52"!!!...boys and their toys!

For those of you that were listening to CBC radio to hear SR's girlfriend being interviewed, apparently is WAS CBC that messed up. Then finally on The Sunday Edition on July 19th (a date I'm sure no one listened to)CBC did play one of their songs! Below is from the CBC site:

McLEAN SISTERS Duration: 00:02:14


"The Sunday Edition kicked off this summer season in Vancouver, with broadcaster Vicki Gabereau behind the mic. Vicki lives out on the west coast, where she happens to live across the street from a group of hitherto unsung singers. She discovered this one day, when she overheard the pristine strains of "blood harmony" - a vocal style that can only be produced by the blending of voices of members of the same family. In fact, the rehearsal she heard involved three singing McLean sisters - 20-year old Haley, who doubles on lead guitar, Brooke Heather, who plays bass and Erica, who's the percussionist. And they were all backed by Dad Bruce and his buddy Dave.

The McLean Sisters have now recorded a demo, and Vicki had intended to play a track on the show, to expose a national audience to those talented McLeans - and vice versa. Unfortunately, due to circumstances that really shouldn't have been beyond our control, Vicki didn't get the chance to do that. But we guest hosts of the Sunday Edition have our own kind of blood harmony, and we always sing from the same hymnbook. So this morning, courtesy of Vicki Gabereau, and for the first time on CBC Radio, this is Swimming Upstream by the McLean Sisters."

Here is the Youtube when Brooke and her sister were interviewed (Brooke has the bangs and sings in this video):



If you want to read more on them visit this site:
http://www.myspace.com/themcleangirls

I wondered if I should put this on my blog, but I thought they wouldn't mind a little free advertising!

Last Day of September

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go ... once again - for a month only this time. In the meantime winter is approaching quickly. Nights usually below 0 degrees C. now, mornings I need headlights to drive to work and if I'm out past 7 PM need them to drive home (no lights needed in the summer!!!) The mountain tops are capped white and I'm sure by next week, so will the ground be white. Time to get the car tuned up for winter and the snow tires on.

The 2nd performance of the Art Series was last night with Mike Daisy - a monologist. He told a story for 1-1/2 hours. Luckily he is a good story-teller. He is also performing at the Arts Centre tonight, but I think one night of Mike is sufficient.

Also saw the new Matt Daemon movie Informant. I liked it and thought he was perfect for the part, but just sat with someone last night who didn't like it at all and walked out after an hour. Different strokes I guess.

Still at the cabin, right beside the dike, the beavers have built their home. They have been very busy dragging logs across the dike and creating grooves in it.

Above is one tree they chewed down, but I guess his wife told him they had enough as he left the tree just lying there.

And finally, above is a picture of my old driveway. It still looks about the same, less a few dogs staked at the edge and less a chicken coop, now completed gone.

Apparently SR is now the proud owner of the ol' cabin. Was invited out today for a visit - he wasn't there! But did take a stroll around to see what the old place looks like now, after I vacated it 20ish years ago (!! - wow does time pass quickly...it seems like only a couple of years ago I called it home). The road to the cabin - all 15 kilometers of it is rough and curvy and at times steep. The cabin sits 1,000 feet above Whitehorse. I can just imagine what my parents thought when they first came to visit me in the Yukon and I drove them "home" on that road. Now, since I don't drive it every day, I can hardly believe I thought it normal.

The inside has changed considerably. The old cook stove (which was stolen, then recovered thanks to Debbie, even though she didn't reap the "reward" that was offered) is now sitting in what was once my bedroom. The flooring has all changed, there is no kitchen table and there is a propane stove now, but no fridge. Interesting.

The poor sauna has seen better days. Must have been some windstorm to blow that tree on its roof!


The lake seems to be the only constant. Still looks like it did 30 years ago. Beautiful.

The Art series has started with Orpheus and Eurydice as the first performance. It was a 65 minute ballet in one act and premiered in Rome Italy in 2008. As the title suggests, it is the story of Orpheus and Eurydice done in dance (and very little clothing). As the program says "we are talking to you here about creation, transgression, derision-veneration, confusion - fusion, the manufacturing of meaning, the emergence of consciousness." That sort of says it all. Some loved it, some liked it and some hated it. It was very interesting .

The next night was once again Book Club. Just a small gathering this month but many books to choose from and lots of food and gossip to catch up on.

An Edmonton Weekend

Didn't have much to do this weekend, so flew to Edmonton, thanks to my share in Air North. I hit record breaking highs temperature wise - luckily I took a pair of shorts with me. One day of shopping - one day of visiting my niece and her family. Dawson is now in grade 4 - his current favourite thing is Corner Gas - he laughs so much at the episodes.


Hot, hot, hot and sunny - 30 degrees C and here we go to play hockey. Must be Canadians, eh?
Actually, it was power skating camp.



Took a drive to Beaumont with its large park and small lake which is stocked with trout. It was lovely to be by nature in this weather.


Dawson just learnt to tie his shoe laces. Above I caught him tying up in the bushes.

Back at home, Tia was busy with work, golfing and a stagette but I did spend one evening with her when her lifestyle caught up to her and she had to stay home to recuperate. The apartment looks great - thanks Tia! - I really do like living in it and love the area it's in.

The flight home was one of the best I've taken. Over the Yukon there were no clouds and with the trees turning the view was amazing. I would have taken a picture but the old lady...sorry, the elderly woman (I'm heading that way quickly, so I must remember to be respectful) got so nervous when I had to pass her once, she couldn't get her seat belt undone her hands were shaking so badly, I couldn't ask her to do that once again just so I could get my camera. So you just have to believe me that we followed the highway in and the view was great! So good trip from beginning to end.

The Hike

Our last day we took a hike up the Grizzly Lake Trail. I didn't look too closely at the details and later found that is was rated Difficult Level. I thought it would just follow the Grizzly Creek - wrong! It was a climb up the mountain at the top of which we ate lunch. In the photo above, you can just see our car park (in a t-shaped light yellow area). Below our group atop Grizzly Ridge eating lunch.
When you're in bear country, it is important to be aware of your surroundings. The trail was littered with tree roots and rock and slate so my eyes were always down to see where my next step would be. I did see bear scat once on the way up, twice on the way down. You know what that means.

At the top, there was another view of the tombstone mountains although Mount Monolith, the highest peak was clouded. It was hot and sunny at the bottom of the trail, and cold and raining at the top.

I did see a grizzly though... on the way home on the Mayo Road. Unfortunately I wasn't driving, so didn't stop to view it.