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!