OUT and ABOUT in WHISTLER

Day three in Whistler and I've spent quite a bit of time just cruising around getting to know the 'lay of the land.' I've been here several times before, but never with a view to driving guests around, so I'm paying more attention now to where everything is!

We went for dinner to a pizza place the other night, and got to sit right next to the oven .... it was huge!

Whistler is so gorgeous, even though it's been raining (and melting the current snow), and what snow is on the ground is 'dirty' looking -- but Hailey assures me it'll snow (and snow and snow) before the Games, so it'll all look pretty and white.

What they're calling the 'Look of the Games' is appearing everywhere...


Construction of the 'Celebration Plaza' (where the Whistler-based events medals will be handed out) is not complete, and they are working feverishly on that ...



Hailey says these little 'pods' of 'beezlebubs' (her word!) have been appearing all over town in the past few weeks...


I reminded her that those folks are among the thousands of volunteers who make the Games possible, and that I'm one of them, and I'll look just like that, starting tomorrow, which is my first shift. (I still haven't got her to take that pic of me in my uniform, maybe tomorrow morning!)

Life in the Village looks like it always does, Olympics or not ...


But at night it is absolutely magical here...


I'll post again after my first shift!

My trip to Whistler via Parksville was pretty uneventful, and I arrived at Hailey's by mid-afternoon yesterday. By the time I got unpacked and settled in we went for supper and then called it a day.

Today I got my accreditation! I'll get Hailey to take a photo of me 'all decked out' tomorrow, but my internet connection is spotty here so I thought I better get on while I could. I got my 'uniform' -- track pants, two long-sleeved sweaters, a coat, a fleece vest and a touque; a travel mug; a few discount coupons (The Bay and Petro-Can, of course!) and some post cards.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to spend some time getting to know the routes I'll be driving a little better.

It's pretty exciting to be here, and the momentum in Whistler is definitely building! I'll update as I can... :-)

TWO MORE SLEEPS :)

My life continues at a break-neck pace around here trying to get all my ducks in a row before I leave for Whistler at the crack of 6 a.m. on Thursday morning! Why is it that the 'to-do' list doesn't appear to be getting any shorter?

And the baby blanket I'm knitting doesn't appear to be getting any longer, either -- it's taking forever,and it needs to be off the needles and packed in a suitcase when I leave here to take to its recipient in Vancouver!

To top it off, day before yesterday I woke up with a crappy cold (is there any other kind?)and don't feel like doing anything! Great timing, huh? Drugs are the answer...

This morning I have to go to my local MLA's office and get some BC 'pins' to take with me -- apparently people all over the world collect these things, and I'll be some kind of hero if I happen to have some to give away. Then back here to finish packing, and knitting a baby blanket!

How much yarn would you take if you were going away for a month?? I have one overnight bag stuffed with it -- half a dozen pairs-of-socks-worth, one shawl project, and two of those huge skeins of cotton to make dishcloths and spa cloths. Other than the shawl, I'm thinking portability...

Back to work... I'll actually have more time to blog once I get to Whistler!

ONE MORE WEEK

Drove up to Duncan yesterday where my sister met me with my favorite coat I'd forgotten at her house on the weekend -- I couldn't imagine going to Whistler without it! It was a lovely sunny day, and a lovely drive and quick visit -- and all I could think about was getting back here to work! I did stop at the Malahat lookout briefly, though, and it was pretty but hazy out over the peninsula ...


It was also interesting to see several places, even on the main highway, where it has flooded recently from all the rain.

Today, after I get home from taking River to school and my mindful knitting time at Clover Point, Michael will be taking the wheels off the van to check the brakes so I can't distract myself by going anywhere else -- this is a good thing! I'm hoping to reward myself for working hard later by sorting through some of the yarn I'd like to take with me -- I've decided that February will be a socks and dish/wash cloth month -- small, portable and relatively quick projects I can have on-the-go while I'm on-the-go!

DIDJA MISS ME? :)

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted! Where does the time go?

I have been working. And working. And working. And a little bit of knitting.

That's a baby blanket I cast on before Christmas and I have maybe a foot of it done?

I've been to Clover Point maybe twice. But one of those times, for whatever reason, I drove a little further along the waterfront route to the look-out, just in time to see this...


And a quick road trip up-Island -- with no pictures to show for it.(Finally delivered my sister and niece's Christmas presents, and had to pick up the two single inflatable beds I'm borrowing from my sister for Audrey and I).

One website ... pretty much done. Two more to go....

Articles done.

E-book not even touched since before Christmas.

Nine days to go before I leave for Whistler.

Who, me, panicking?

HERE'S TO ANOTHER 32 YEARS

The Executive House Hotel was lovely! Although I forgot to take pictures of the suite before we lived in it for two days, I did get some pics of the view from our 16th FLOOR window! From left to right... out over Beacon Hill Park to the Juan de Fuca:

The museum is in the bottom right corner here:

And finally, the legislature and grounds, with the back of the Empress in the bottom right corner:

When we arrived we were surprised by a lovely bamboo plant and a basket of goodies delivered here by Mischa. :-)

Michael made a new friend:


I got some knitting done...

Last night we went out for dinner to the Irish Times Pub on our gift certificate. I've walked and driven by here a kazillion times, and never looked closely -- first of all, the pub is in one of Victoria's oldest buildings:


And nearby is a plaque that reads:

Here's a section of the brick-work showing some of those ancient First Nation names:

The Pub looked very inviting:

We decided there was no point going to an Irish Pub unless we ordered traditional Irish food ....

... so Michael ordered Shepherd's Pie (made with lamb!) and I got the Irish Stew. Both were delicious!

We'll pack up, reluctantly, this morning, and head back to the boat. It's been a delightful anniversary!

MONDAY MORNING

Much work is taking place these days, but I always make sure I have a little time to play, too. I got down to Clover Point just in time for a lovely sunset the other day, and I wasn't the only one taking pictures of it...


An hour later, back in the marina, the fog rolled in...

Saturday afternoon was River's birthday party -- his Uncle Jason let him use the Sunset Room, so that was fun. I helped set up, and we went for a piece of cake and to help clean up toward the end ... that's about all I can handle of several 11-year-old boys, loud music and video games!

And yes, I've been knitting. I'm almost finished the green shawl...

And I did finish the fuschia mittens...

... and started the hat that will match... I've knit a 12-stitch cable and finished it with a 3-needle bind-off. Now I'll pick up 120 stitches around the top edge, and knit the rest of the hat!

Today we check in to the hotel to celebrate our 'anniversary' (the day we met, 32 years ago tomorrow. We'll be there for two nights, but I have to take my laptop and get some work done, so you may hear from me. :) I'll take the yarn for another mitten set, and I'll be bringing along this book -- an autobiography of one of my all-time heroes -- which I found in a book exchange last week!

THURSDAY (is for spinning?)

Today I'll host the Thursday afternoon spinning group that I became an imposter in (er, I mean a member of) last year, even before I bought the spinning wheel that I still don't spin on. But we'll have a potluck lunch and I'm sure they like me anyway... :-) It's probably the last time I'll get together with them until at least March, and possibly until after the FibreFest, so I'm looking forward to 'goofing off' a bit today.

Never mind spinning, in the last several days, I've barely knit! I have this to show for it...

That's about 1/5th of a Threads of Compassion garter-stitch shawl, and one fuschia-colored mitten. I hope to finish the other mitten and one more pair before I leave for Whistler -- which is three weeks from today.

I'm a little overwhelmed by how much I need to accomplish between now and then, but I'll just keep slogging away here...

OLYMPIC VOLUNTEERING

I got an email yesterday from VANOC confirming that Olympic volunteers can attend the dress rehearsal of the OPENING CEREMONIES at no charge! I've emailed my contact in the Transportation Centre because ... I'm scheduled to work a shift that day in Whistler, but the ceremony is in Vancouver, and I'd sure love to be there. I'm just hoping that volunteers who *don't* care about going to the ceremony will 'step up' so that the rest of us can have that day off ... I'll keep you posted. :-)

Meanwhile, here in my real world, I did manage to get a few hours work done yesterday, and hope to again today. The birthday boy was here overnight, though, so I took the evening off. Our friends Penny and Robin gave us a 'Boggle' game for Christmas so we played that -- River loves word games -- and then watched Home Alone. (That's a Christmas season 'must' in this household, and I hadn't had a chance to watch it yet -- now the season is complete)!

And a few rows of knitting happened -- I'm hoping to complete three or four new scarf/hat/mittens sets for myself to wear to Whistler, so I've started on the first one -- a fuschia-colored set in an alpaca/soy blend that's lovely.

Sorry, no pics today,and no other interesting news! Back to work now...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIVER

Eleven years ago last night, Mischa had just returned home to Victoria after spending Christmas with us when we lived in Deep Bay,a 3-hour drive up-Island from here. She went into labour around supper time, and just after 10:30 pm, River came in to the world. (He's the reason we moved to Victoria almost 6 years ago now!)

River is smart, fun, quirky, funny, and a joy in our lives every single day. He'll celebrate his birthday with a party this coming Sunday, but last night we took him out for dinner to one of his favorite restaurants. (Forgive the horrid picture, but he's sporting the new fedora we got him!)

OF POLAR BEARS, ERRORS AND SOCKS

... and we started it off by taking River and Gibson to watch that crazy annual tradition called the Polar Bear Swim, during which a whole bunch of people who must be still addled from their partying ways on New Year's Eve jump in to frigid cold waters on New Year's Day ... just for fun, apparently.

Locally, they do this in two different places -- Island View Beach (so... Pacific Ocean) and Elk Lake -- that one must be for the wimps. ;-) I completely forgot to take my camera out at Island View, but only about 15 people were brave enough to tackle that one, anyway.

We got to Elk Lake over an hour early for the main event, so we found a little place to buy the boys a hot chocolate, and then went to the park for a bit. It was fun being back at Elk Lake -- we used to take our own kids there over 30 years ago when they were pre-schoolers. It was a bit misty and drizzly, but warm...


This 'cairn' had been added since last time I was anywhere near the lake:

My mother used to say 'you learn something new every day,' so here was January 1st's contribution:

The boys had fun (including that old guy there...)

About to show off his cartwheel skills... (which of course turned out blurry)...



Then we wandered over to the main beach, and chatted with some of the folks who were intending to 'take the plunge'. These women were friends, and first-timers, and pretty enthusiastic about the whole idea:

And look, they're still smiling, can you believe it?

So were the several dozen others who did this crazy thing:

I think I'll, as they say, stick to my knitting.

Speaking of which, I did manage to convince the boys to pose briefly in their new knit socks:

Wanna see those a little closer?

And still speaking of knitting, I cast on for a shawl for Threads of Compassion yesterday morning, and after knitting about 6" of it, realized that it would be almost 9' wide ... hmmm... so out it came this morning.

Now. It's January 3rd, I leave for a month in Whistler in exactly 25 days, and I have three websites to build, a 24-page ebook to create, several articles to write, 2010 FibreFest details to take care of ... and various other non-income-producing life things to think about and be a part of, between now and then. Good thing I'll have lots of knitting time in Whistler, because I don't think I'll get much more here this month!

I just got so tired thinking about all that, that I'm going back to bed for a few hours!