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Thursday, January 29, 2009

Where's That Blasted Wine

Posted by Melanie at 07:10 1 comments

I first heard about the Blasted Church winery when I read an article about it on the internet. It was all about how they wanted to create some history for themselves so they found an old church somewhere, put it on rollers and shipped it to their estate, located by Okanagan Falls on a bench above Skaha lake. I think the church blew up or it had blown up in the past anyway hence the name.

Gwertraminer>

Three years ago on our first trip to the Okanagan wineries, we rode our bicycles from Kaleden to Okanagan Falls. First we rode out to the Wild Goose and Stags Hollow wineries. After tasting their wine and probably buying a bottle or two, which we stowed in our panniers, we set off for Blasted Church. Their driveway was a killer hill. By the time we arrived I was thirsty and ravenous. We did a quick taste of the wine then got a glass of something white and cold to take out on to their deck. The deck is built at the top of the hill. The vineyards spread out below, rows and rows of green vines with back hoses threaded along and through each. We ate our lunch and sipped the wine looking at this view.

The other day I found Blasted Church wine for sale in the Government liquor store. Immediately I was taken back to that holiday. I'm definitely going back to the liquor store for more.

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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A Pattern Language

Posted by Melanie at 16:40 0 comments

I’ve figured out the pattern for the Norah Gaughan sweater, sort off, although I‘m a terrible counter and extra stitches have a habit of suddenly appearing, messing up the whole thing. When you first start knitting a complicated pattern it's all about trying to get the stitches right, blindly following the charts, god I hate knitting charts, hoping it turns out.

Knitting charts are full of arcane symbols representing each stitch. You read them from right to left starting at the bottom. Every odd row is a right side row and every even row is a wrong side row. Whatever you knit on the right side row you have to knit the exact opposite on the wrong side row. I know, its stupidly confusing.

The Norah Gaughan sweater uses three patterns, repeated across each row plus there is decreases and increasing for shaping. I have to write down every row after I've finished it so when I put the knitting down I know exactly where I am when I come back to it.

The only thing keeping me going is, I want the end resutlt.

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Sunday, January 25, 2009

A frozen Bundle Of Suck Wrapped In Sunshine

Posted by Melanie at 12:14 0 comments

The Bad
It’s minus thirty.
We’re running out of firewood again.
The CD player is broken
I’m not skiing.

The good

The sun is shinning filling up the house with warm yellow light. If it keeps up we won’t need any firewood. Ha.

The frustration of being middle class and Canadian.

My CD collection approaches the 200 mark. My MP3 collection approaches the 500 mark. We really need a new record player for our 200 plus collection of records. Yesterday we went to the stereo store to look at options. We were swayed mightily by a deeply discounted, new and improved, better than we own amp/tuner. I’m toying with the idea of an airport express with which to wirelessly stream music from the computer over to the stereo.

Why hasn’t someone invented a device that can play records, CDS, cassettes, eight tracks, the radio and MP3s. I’ll be first in line. Realistically I‘d rather not have to rip all my CDS into MP3’s. Ideally I’m going outside to ski, fast.

 
Friday, January 23, 2009

Favourite Authors

Posted by Melanie at 20:10 0 comments

Yesterday I went to Books and Company, here in Prince George, to attend a book signing. Barbara Raynment a well known local Master Gardener and owner of the former Birch Creek nursery, was officially releasing the second edition of her book, From The Ground Up A Horticultural Guide For Northern Gardeners.

Barb, describes her book as being the ultimate reference guide for zone 3 gardeners. What I like is her exhaustive collection of annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs, listed by botanical name with descriptions of each one. The best part is her personal irreverent comments on each plant. Being a nursery owner Barb has had first hand experience with almost every one of these plants.

While I was there I picked up Betsy Trumpener’s, first book, The Butcher Of Penetang. Betsy is a local CBC radio journalist and fiction writer. I love this book. I love her immediate, edgy, detailed writing style. It grabs you by the hand and won't let go. I love the fact she writes about Northern BC, its people, the land and weather. Some of her stories are only half a page long but it doesn’t matter. It’s the writing that gets your attention.

If you've been meaning to buy these books I urge you to pick them up. Books and company is having a 20 % off sale. It ends tomorrow.

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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Climate Change, War and Depression

Posted by Melanie at 04:56 0 comments

Anthropologists observe that the small bands of human populations they study, try to get along with each other until they reach a point they can’t feed themselves, then they raid neighbouring bands for food so their own children won’t starve. Paul Kennedy, the host of the CBC radio program Ideas, asks, if rich nations, like ourselves, would be any different.

Gwynne Dyer, Military Historian and Journalist answers the question in a three part series, on Ideas, called, The Climate Wars.

I listened to the first podcast from the series last night. Unlike Al Gores movie, An Inconvenient Truth, which I knew intellectually was probably right, in its scary predictions about climate change, Gwynne Dyer's answer affected my gut. His words made me feel extremely depressed.

He says that our current models, predicting the rate of climate change, do not take into effect feedbacks like the melting of the summer sea ice in the arctic. Apparently it is melting faster than was thought and the temperature of the earth is already starting to go up. One may think that a temperature rise of six degrees is not a big deal, except if our own body temperature went up 6 degrees higher then normal we would be very worried because it could be fatal.

It’s no different, he says, for the Earth except when it happens it will be too late.

You can listen to the podcasts by going to the Ideas podcast page - http://tinyurl.com/yuzctc.

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Monday, January 19, 2009

If it's not one thing...

Posted by Melanie at 16:55 0 comments

My Magsafe power adapter had a meltdown and now it is not safe to use. When I talked to the people at Apple the first thing they asked me was if I was alright. Then they asked if the adapter had burned me or anything else. They were all prepared to send me a new computer but quickly retracted the decision when I told them all I needed was a new power charger.

I noticed the magnetic bit that plugs into the MacBook was getting a bit hot last night. This morning I noticed it was bent out of shape and the plastic around the wires was melting. There was smoke coming off it. Of course I thought it was my fault. Apple sells new ones for$99. I was all prepared to buy one off ebay for about a third of the price but my gut was holding me back. For some reason I started reading the reviews. The more I read the more I realized this was a known problem and that Apple would send me a new one if the computer was still under warranty.

Given how concerned they were when I talked to them about the potential for it to burn me, something else or wreck the MacBook, I would think, if your Magsafe power adapter has suffered the same fate as mine Apple should give you another one for free whether or not you still have a warranty.

I wonder how long it will take them to ship it too me?

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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Cerebral Arousal

Posted by Melanie at 16:53 0 comments

First and foremost I never get sick, well hardly ever. Robert has been coughing and sneezing and blowing his nose all week. Now its my turn, minus the cough.

It was a gorgeous sunlit day but icy, not good for skiing. If it had been any different I would have gone skiing to take my mind off my runny nose. Instead I curled up with a hot lemon drink to do some editing.

I barely got a quarter of it done because of the usual internet porn and this site. It’s not so much the pictures but the persuasive stories I like encouraging me to be more creative.

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Thursday, January 15, 2009

It sucks to be a grownup

Posted by Melanie at 16:34 0 comments

The other day I ordered all kinds of yummy food seeds from three different places. Now, my inbox is besieged with notifications and assurances from the companies saying they have received my order, they are processing my order and one day, very soon, they will ship it. Ok, enough already. It’s only January, three feet deep in snow, subzero depths of winter, weather. No matter how much I want it to be, spring is not even a sunray in my future, yet.

I also ordered a battery for my MacBook from Apple. They too filled my inbox up with notices of my order status. I’ve been waiting everyday this week for it too show up.

Today, when I still had not seen even a glimmer of its shiny, white, plastic self I decided I needed to take action. Apple told me they shipped it with Purolator on January 6th. Purolators website was giving me incredulous looks whenever I tried to enter in my supposed shipping number so I gave them a call. While I was on hold I went back to Apple. Sure enough the phone number in my Apple account was a cell number belonging to an account I no longer have. By the time I had fixed that I was talking to someone at Purolator.

The battery is still there, in the lonely depot, waiting to be picked up. If I didn't live on the almost edge of civilization I would have gone there now, but I have to go to town tomorrow for a dentist appointment, so, for a bunch of boring grownup reasons, I'll wait.

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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Distraction

Posted by Melanie at 16:13 2 comments

I have lots of time to write but making that time productive sometimes seems like trying to reach the unattainable high score in a game. Since I already have my laptop open on my lap the necessity of research becomes an excuse to spend more time than necessary, checking email, flickr and all the rest.

Cory Doctorow, sci fi writer and BoingBoing blogger says the way to manage the websurfing trap/research guise is to not even go there. He says,
“Instead, do what journalists do: type "TK" where your fact should go, “ .
 Later a quick search through your document for TK will show you what still needs to be done.

Most experts on writing suggest you sit in the same place everyday at the same time and write a certain number of words. A thousand words seems like a good total to aim for. Cory Doctorow writes only a page. They all agree you should stop writing the minute your total is reached, even if you are in the middle of a sentence. Supposedly the unfinished thought gives you something to begin with the next day.

My problem is most of what I write I delete. I write hundreds of words, most of them useless, trying to get to the essence of what I want to say, not every word I write is a gem. Perhaps I'm missing the point. I suppose it all counts in the end result.

Chris Hardwick writes about time management a construct described in several books on which his article, in the current issue of Wired, is based. What’s interesting is the pie chart he drew while writing the article. It shows the amount of time he spent doing other things besides writing, clicking unrelated Wikipedia links, watching Mad Men on TiVo, researching, actual writing and the time spent making the pie chart.

Despite his newly learned time management skills he’s not too worried about the time he wasted, being distracted, from writing his article. Hardwick concludes that the point of being a freelance writer is being free. Subscribing to one of the "time management cults", he says, is too much like getting a real job. "I prefer to swipe the best ideas and ignore the rest."

Maybe, allowing oneself to be distracted is a way for ones brain to organize your thoughts, while you are playing tetris or oggling the latest at apartment therapy, so when you come back to the blank page you have no trouble filing it up with brilliant prose.

That’s my new excuse, err theory anyway to justify the time I spend on websites like flickr, unplggd, Desire To inspire, the kitchn, design* sponge and a million other home design, lifestyle sites in order to avoid writing.

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Monday, January 12, 2009

Browser Loyalties

Posted by Melanie at 08:57 0 comments

I've been having major problems with Safari crashing unexpectedly. It's driving me nuts. I've tried every fix recommended by my brain and all the experts, even installing a shiny new version to no avail.

In desperation I fired up Firefox and started the painstaking process of remembering my user names and passwords of my favourite sites to enter into Firefoxes data base. I was all prepared to switch browser loyalties when I realized the advice I was getting for fixing safari crashes was, at best, six months old.

I typed "safari crashes 2009" into Google and came up with this fix. from Mulder over on Apple support.

disable the "Warn before visiting a fraudulent website" option in Preferences > Security, then restart to see if the problem persists?

So far it seems to be working. I hope it lasts until Apple pays heed to my numerous bug reports and comes up with a new fix.

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Friday, January 9, 2009

Sometimes I feel like my t-shirt

Posted by Melanie at 12:35 0 comments

I’m bummed because my ski partner decided to forgo an awesome, powder filled trip to Powder King in favour of dealing with a crisis at work. To avoid having to clean my dusty, crumb filled house and to stop myself from emulating my t-shirt I decided to make:

Sometimes I feel like my t-shirt

1) refritos out of the black beans I soaked yesterday.

2)Bran muffins

3) Cook the dough for the chocolate chip cookies I whipped up yesterday. I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the New York Times. Unlike what the recipe says I used regular Bakers chocolate chips. Do use the coarse salt and unsalted butter, it makes all the difference in the world.

But, before I did any of this I went for an extra long cross country ski around the neighbourhood with my ipod tuned to the latest podcasts.

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Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Staying Alive In Avalanche Terrain

Posted by Melanie at 21:00 0 comments

Since Christmas, record snow fall, especially in Southern BC, has increased the avalanche hazard to extreme proportions, shutting down highways and disallowing access to threatened areas in ski resorts, even so there have been many fatalities.

last week some skiers went out of bounds at Grouse Mountain Ski resort in Vancouver. The skiers, who say they were equipped with avalanche gear, were rescued by helicopter whether they needed it or not, presented with the rescue bill and banned from Grouse Mountain Ski Resort for life. This event coupled with the extreme avalanche hazard and the avalanche fatalities has sparked debate between backcountry enthusiasts and the general public. The feeling is- if you venture out into the backcountry you are on your own.

I’m a back country skier. I’ve been back country skiing for the last seven years. I have never been in an avalanche and I hope I never will. I’ve taken avalanche courses and own and use all the equipment, avalanche beacon, probe and shovel. This alone is not enough to keep you alive.

Some people swear by snow pits. You dig down deeply into the snow pack performing stress tests on a suspected weak layer to check its instability.

However, knowledge of snow conditions starts well before you dig a pit. Paying attention to the weather, temperature, freezing and thawing, and snowfall over the entire ski season will help you know what the layers are before you dig a pit.

The whole time you are out in the back country you should be using your ski pole or probe to test the snow. How fluffy, wet, hard, heavy is it? what layers can you detect? where is the soft snow ? the hard snow? Use you eyes to note cornices, and slides on surrounding peaks, sluffing or point avalanches. Look where the wind is blowing and depositing the snow. Use your ears to listen for characteristic whumping sounds, a sign the snow is unstable.

Pay attention to the slope you are thinking of skiing. Most avalanches occur on slopes between 35 -45 degrees. Knowing the steepness of the slope will help you choose safer terrain. Anchors like trees and rocks will not prevent a slope from sliding.

Always remember you are participating in a dangerous activity. The potential for death is real. It could strike with absolutely no notice at any time. Pay attention to the group feeling, if someone is not comfortable then don’t go there.

The aim is to try not to have to use your avalanche equipment to locate and dig up your friends, or for them to dig you up. The possibility of surviving an avalanche is minimal.

Get educated.

Excellent books I have read are:
Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain by Bruce Tremper,
Snow Sense By Jill Fredston and Doug Fesler.

Use your brain and listen to your gut feeling. It is usually right.

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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

When it's done no one notices.

Posted by Melanie at 21:06 0 comments

I really need to stay at home to clean my house, and take down my Christmas decorations. Now the holidays are over I'm finding time between ski trips to work, it's nice to get paid, do the homework for school this Saturday and ski some more.

Maybe I should just go with the flow. Is a clean house really necessary?

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Sunday, January 4, 2009

Powder Turns

Posted by Melanie at 20:36 1 comments

The last few years I’ve been lucky enough to ski with a couple of friends whose abilities match mine. Almost every weekend we went up to Powder King with or without our families to sk. In the relative safety of the hill we mastered groomed runs, deep powder and tree skiing. After taking the avalanche course twice we ventured out of bounds and out into the back country. However, like all good things it came slowly to an end, one of us moved to Alberta, I moved to PG and our friendship dwindled.

powder turns

I miss those days.

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Thursday, January 1, 2009

2009...

Posted by Melanie at 21:00 1 comments

I thought it would be a fun way to start the New Year by participating in the interview meme Air posted on her blog. She sent me five questions about myself which I have answered below. I would love to interview you. If you are up to the challenge follow the instructions at the end of this post.

1.If you could go on a two week vacation to anywhere in the world, budget not an issue, where would you go, and who would you take?

moai

Robert and I want to go to Easter Island. We would find somewhere to stay in Hanga Roa, take a stack of books, several bathing suits, sandals and other summer clothes. Lie on the beach reading, jumping into the ocean when I got too hot. Walk or bike around the island, it is only 117 square miles. Check out those cool looking, giant stone faces, moai. When I’m tired sit in the shade with a drink looking at the sunset.

2.You are given $10,000 and asked to "pay it forward." What would you do?

This is a hard question to answer but perhaps the most interesting. Here’s my attempt.

Give poor kids the same academic, social and cultural and economic advantages as middle class kids. Make it easy for them to attend school and expect that they will graduate and become valuable members of society.

3.What are your five favourite flowers?

Primulas, Dianthus, Roses, Daisies, Chionodoxa

4.Describe your ideal best day spent close to home.

Morning gloryGetting up when the sun rises, bare feet on the cool wooden floor, go downstairs to the kitchen, boil water for green tea, sit outside on the east deck feeling the suns warmth on my body as it rises. Check my email, flickr, RSS feeds and site stats. Check on the progress of the vegetables in the garden, see what flowers are blooming. Lie on the deck reading. If it is too hot, and I up to exercise, ride my bike to the lake for a swim. Write a blog post or some other creative piece. Perhaps do some laundry so I can have the joy of hanging it on the line and inhaling its fresh smell when I take it off. Cook something yummy from scratch, incorporating whatever is fresh in the garden, that I can enjoy for dinner with a glass of wine. As the sun sets go for a walk around the neigbourhood, stopping to talk to the neigbours to catch up on what they are doing.

5. You can do anything you want to with the rest of your life. What is your dream?

I’m living it, although being able to pay my debts down faster would be nice so I can use the money to travel to far away places.

Want to get in on the fun? You can be a part of it by following a few simple steps…Send me an e-mail with the subject line “Interview Me” I’ll respond by Sunday with 5 questions directed to you (I promise to try and be unique) Answer the questions on your blog (or Facebook or MySpace) and link back to this original post. Invite others to participate by re-posting these steps.

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