poplar road

Happy New Year! As Bev pointed out in her comment this morning, I’ve been away from the blog for a while. Writing has been on my mind more than usual and I’ve got no end of photos I’d love to share, but it’s been hard to find the time. The holidays were a whirlwind (a blizzard?) from the 12th of December when Dagny, Chris and our first major snowfall arrived, to the 5th of January when we collapsed in a heap, holidays over. Since then we’ve been struggling to keep up with everything. I’m going to post a few photo highlights of our holidays here, finally, after an update on the latest goings-on.

So far the New Year has been about work: finding it, in my case, and getting things working smoothly, in Richard’s. While I try to get my writing & design business off the ground, I’m also hunting for part-time admin work to keep funds coming in. This coming week I’m working with my two sisters to get a new website going for my business, and design all the other promotional material to go along with it. I’ll be posting the link to the new site here soon. If you know anyone who’s looking for a writer or editor, send them my way!

Also taking up my time has been reorganization of our office since the arrival of new furniture on the 31st. Richard has joined me in working from home, so we’ve transformed my 14’ x 16’ study-like space into a professional office with two walls worth of desk area including a peninsula that seats two or three for meetings, two much better designed computer stations, a new printer, and more storage coming soon. (His new employer covered the cost of his half of the furniture and the printer, thank you Cubex!) Now it feels like coming to work. Richard’s colleague Andrew was here Wednesday evening through Thursday night and they were able to work comfortably for several hours at one desk while I was at the other. It’s probably the most used room in the house! I’ll post pics when the last of the furniture is installed at the end of the month.

Earlier today, Richard was outside getting familiar with one of the pieces of equipment he sells at his new job. It’s a municipal tractor for sidewalks, currently with a powerful snow blower on the front. He practiced on our driveway and our neighbours’. Ironically, now that they’re beginning a tour across the province showing off the winter equipment they sell, it has stopped snowing pretty much everywhere, although there’s no shortage of it lying around here still. I’ve been breaking in my snowshoes making tracks in the back yard where the snow is up to my knees. Most of our family and friends on the coast are sick of snow, but we’re looking forward to the next round, especially now that Richard is back to selling snow plows and salt spreaders again. I hate to point out, but it is only January, people.

Aside from work, the main other activity taking up my time is exercise. I’ve been working out with a belly dance DVD every morning, trying to get back in shape so I can return to dance class starting February 5th. I see my naturopath next week for some more work on my tailbone and the torn ligaments in my foot (which is why it has taken so long to heal since the break) and hopefully some more acupuncture for my hips, and then I should be able to make it through one or two classes a week without losing the ability to walk. It’s been almost a year since I was last in class and I miss it and the troupe a lot. I look forward to getting back into it with a much healthier lower back this time around. And I’ve got more motivation: to fit into my gorgeous dress as matron of honour at Chris & Dagny’s wedding, only 3 months away!

Now for the holiday photo journal. This is in order, pretty much, from when we left for Calgary on the 17th until Ben & Adrie’s visit for New Year’s. I didn’t get pics of everything and everybody but I did make more of an effort to pull out the camera, at least on Christmas Eve. We had a great time with Richard’s new colleagues, with our families, and with the few friends we were able to see over the holidays. To everyone we didn’t get to spend time with, we hope to see you soon!

O Tannenbaum - our tree was beautiful.

Did I mention I went crazy with my new glue gun?

My first trip through the Rockies in winter.

A mountain I remembered from childhood holidays.

Wonder of wonders, a white Christmas in the Cove.

Making snowmen on Christmas Eve morning.

My sister & nieces sled through the Xmas Eve snowfall.

My nieces shimmy in the belly dance hip scarves I gave them.

Richard shows off a new set of tools.

A family tradition: carols with Erika on piano.

Our drive home Boxing Day was fine. Unlike this guy.

Richard and Jason made the boys a wild toboggan run.

A few things I have to paint you a picture of because I never got out the camera:

December 23rd, dinner at Adrie & Ben’s, a million pairs of eyes watched us from snowmen of all sizes and poses covering every inch of their townhouse. We added one more for the garden. I had no idea Adrie had a snowman fetish!

Christmas Eve morning in Deep Cove, my sister Erika and our nieces Lael and Niamh and I went outside, swathed in woolens and armed with carrots to make a couple of snowmen. The second one became a snow bear, after Niamh took a bite of its unfortunate nose and then lost it while trying to wade through snow higher than her waist. Lael and I got stuck trying to get up out of our wingless snow angels – we couldn’t move our arms.

Christmas Day morning, Lael brought out a new gift, a special set of playing cards, two sets of the alphabet illustrated with animals doing activities like a purple polka-dotted pig painting a letter P. We try Memory and Monkey’s Uncle (a version of Old Maid), and then she and Richard play Big Big Fish, the same as Go Fish but instead of a stack of cards, you spread them out in a fish pond. Cheeky Lael (encouraged by her equally cheeky uncle, of course) replaced the reply “go fish” with inventive ways of saying no using the letter of the requested card. Do you have a raccoon roller-skating? asks Richard. Roll away, Richard Racoon, says Lael. Her replies got far cheekier than that, and so quick! If we weren’t playing a game I’m sure her mother would have been horrified at the insults. My parents sat there laughing their heads off. I couldn’t come up with anything to draw a laugh, until asked for an “N”. Um, nnnnn… I said, struggling for words…nnNO!

Christmas Day evening, we arrived at Richard’s sister’s place for a big potluck dinner with family and friends, at which mashed potatoes were not on the menu. Richard was hugely disappointed, until he saw his Christmas present: a sack of potatoes on the kitchen counter. He got exactly what he wanted – he made them himself.

Boxing Day despite the weather, a few people joined us for Christmas Sushi. We didn't get organized enough before the holidays to get the usual crowd, sadly, but you might be glad you missed it. Chris developed a drinking problem, and Dagny nearly called off the wedding. Not once but twice he knocked over a full glass of ice water right into her lap. Richard and I tried very hard not to laugh.

December 28th, the Rocksons were visiting. After young Alex went out with three pairs in his first turn at Go Fish, we decided to teach him how to play Crazy Eights. Richard helped him sort his cards and run through one game to learn the rules. The 5-year-old won. Then Richard left to cook dinner, and by himself Alex beat us all again, twice. His last card was a Crazy Eight every time. Beware boys with dimples. I love cards and Richard rarely plays, so it was also a treat to play Rummy after the kids went to bed that night.

Oh, and one more anecdote from Ben and Adrie: driving through Vancouver during the worst of the Christmas snowfall, they saw a man whose car had been buried at the curb by a snow plow. He was digging it out with a 9”x13” baking pan. Ah, winter.