Finally it is Spring!

Even though the trees are still just budding and the perennials are up only a few inches, it now feels like spring.

We have had great weather this week... Started off windy, cool and clear but in the last few days the wind has stopped and out came the tank tops and shorts all around town. I have seen lots of soft ice cream cones, one PT Cruiser with the top down, a couple guys outside working on old quads, 3 houses on our street have fresh cut grass, B has joined a softball team and track and field season has started at school.

It is also razorclam season and today D's class went digging. His buddy R was one of the more experienced diggers and he gave us all the good tips: look for the indent in the sand (even stomp beside it to be sure it bubbles), put the shovel in straight down with the blade on the ocean side, give a quick dig and straight out, toss the shovel and start digging! The clam is really quick and moves deeper but after a few handfulls of sand you can feel it and start to pull it out. 

But it almost feels like summer because it is light so early and late! Not sure when the sun comes up (it is bright as day at 7am) but i think the sun sets about 9:30pm and it is light till almost 10pm. crazy!

3 boats

Thanks to Mrs. L.F. for the great picture and description below. I think she is Haida Gwaii's newest island holiday promoter :)

The Queen of Prince Rupert (smallest one) did its last sailing yesterday. It has been officially retired from service. Northern Adventure (middle) has now taken over for all north routes but will do only the Queen Charlotte run June-Sept. Northern Expedition (largest and farthest away) starts in May on the direct Port Hardy – Prince Rupert run. It dwarfs the two other boats!

badminton, buffet dinner, theatre, playground, and books

What do all these things have in common?? nothing!



Top of this entry I will cut/paste my note I just sent to family/friends about the boys school playground fundraiser...



The boys school has a big fundraiser happening to raise money for a new playground. The old climbing structure is made of wood and it is rotting away; every week a board is dismantled because it is unsafe. Time to get a new one!

We are doing a raffle fundraiser with fantastic prizes...

1st prize: 1/2 in. silver bracelet by James Sawyer (your choice of design)

2nd prize: 2 prints by Reg Davidson (2 eagle and frog)

3rd prize: Argelite Eagle necklace carved by Vern Williams donated by Sara's Longhouse

Tickets are $5 each or 3 for $10. Draw date April 27. If you want to support our Playground effort, check to see if your online banking has "email money transfer" then I can put your name on a ticket ASAP.



J had a great showing at the badminton round robin in Port this week. 3 and 0. The hours of summertime extreme badminton in the PoCo backyard earned him a spot on the school squad. All he had to do was catch up on the rules and he was good to go. Our school won in overall points so now we play the winner of the south island in the final.



Last night we went to a buffet dinner in the village. It was a fundraiser for the Culinary Arts program. great fun, great food, lots of people!



After the dinner, a few of us went on to see a live theatre show at the hall in town. It was called Here We Speak One Language: A Spring Celebration of Story. It had great music, a creative set, and an insightful storyline. Another full house event.



This morning, I went out for a walk/jog with my buddy K along the loop trail and on the way back through town we stopped to visit the gang at the Masset Firefighters Car Wash (too bad my boys washed the truck last weekend) and I was able to borrow the latest book club book, called "Three Cups of Tea" (check it out on chapters.ca). I have to read it by next Sunday evening and K wants to read it too, better get reading.



I also got an email that my library book was ready to pick up, called "The Shack". I have been waiting since November to get my turn so I have 2 weeks for that one. If reading books is the biggest timeline stress I have around here, that's ok by me!



Almost forgot about Revenue Canada paperwork to file pretty quick. I knew there was something I was suppose to get done :)



n

out of stock

So I missed out on buying hot dogs buns for the beach fire tomorrow. I got the 'dogs last week when I saw them on sale and thought I should wait to buy the buns. Guess I waited too long. I also walked right past the foil Easter eggs when we were down in Van... thought I would get some up here. They were sold out last week too.

But I learned a new shopping tip today: The bananas that did not sell during the week are on sale for .99 a bag on Saturday morning (but they were already gone when I was at the store about 1pm today). At 1.69/lb I am not buying bananas just to go over ripe to make the boys banana choco chip muffins. B also let me in on something he has heard a few times about keeping mushrooms: clean off the mushrooms, dip in hot water then into a bag and into the freezer. Apparently they will keep for a long time.... I will have to try this and report back. Any other strange food saving techniques out there?

We had a family over for dinner last night. It was a joint food effort, I made the rice and veggies and fresh cinnamon buns (a big hit with the kids) and they brought ling cod and homemade tarter sauce, complete with sea asparagus. It was awesome! Can't wait till my guys get out and catch me some fish! The best line of the night came from the 3 yr old. She looks out our front window and says ' It looks like Prince Rupert'. This family lives out towards Tow Hill and there are no street lights, unlike the big city of Prince Rupert and Masset so it seems.

We are having a quiet day here. J was at a sleepover last night and still has not surfaced at home. B and D spent the morning tuning up the dirk bike and with dry roads and relatively clear skies, they just left for a motorcycle ride to Port.

I will enjoy some alone time, maybe listen to some tunes or do some reading. Just a quiet day in the life :)
n

March pics

Our trip started off with a week of performances at UBC MOA. An amazing venue the hold the Wi Yah Hani Nah festival; in the presence of these old poles. Here is a pic of our pre-game chat.

The family :)

During the second week of the trip, the boys were in Hawaii (with their little cousins) so imagine some pics of them digging holes in the sand and surfing the big waves. Meanwhile, Ben caught a plane back home (apparently he had all the city he could handle) and I had my eyes zapped. There were no action shots of me putting drops in my eyes 100 times a day or my movie star sunglasses worn in the rain, out for lunch, in the grocery store...

The third week we did some more visiting around the old hood.

Climbing with papa.

Hot tubbing at RD's house.

A week after my eye surgery, I could finally drive and I had a lot of super sized shopping to do. Thankfully the days I did my big shops the weather was good. Did you know it takes at least 20 mins to pack up $1000 of groceries into the back of the truck?

By departure day we were more than ready to get back home, we missed B and the dogs :( The drive was fantastic with my girl L along for the trek. She had never been west of PG before so with all the scenery/towns she slept through, she will have to do the drive again with me one day :)

Sunny skies and cold in Moricetown. The Skeena River was still very frozen.

We stopped in Williams Lake for a visit with friends of L. When 2 girls are chatting and driving, even the most obvious landmarks of 'turn at the blue barn' can be missed. With a trailer in tow, there has to be enough room to turn around even if that means driving 5 km farther down the road to a pull out. Secondly, space must be allowed to slow down this rig from highway speeds or else the 'turn at the blue barn' can be missed.

By the end of the drive my trailer skills were stellar. I parallel parked at the Keg in PG just to find the line up inside was too long and we would not stay. I got us parked in the lot at the hotel and then decided if any more cars showed up over night and blocked my escape route we would be stuck. Fortunately, the hotel front desk lady gave us rock star parking in the bus zone. Nice.

Sunday night we had to unload the motorcycle in the Rupert ferry lot, carry 2 huge white plastic bags of wrestling mats to the passenger baggage cart, and return the trailer in the freezing cold rain/snow/wind and then get back into the ferry line up (it was getting late, after 10pm) for the overnight cruise. Too bad there were no pics of that chaos L?

In Masset, we had 48 hrs so show L all around town (yeah, that takes about 10 mins) even got out to some ship wreaks and Tow hill for some pics. lots of fun.

till next time :)

n

good to be back home...

after such a whirlwind trip to Van. It was a busy 3 1/2 weeks. Quite strange to be thrown back into our old routine, I was quite out of practice actually. The first few days at UBC I did not have any food for my crew. Back in the day, I was always prepared to fuel my guys with drinks from a cooler and bag of pre-made sandwiches and bars, even had enough to share, but not this time. We were mooching food off everyone (Mrs. Vickies chips make a great dinner). I kept forgetting to lock the truck doors and I was a bit spacially challenged when it came to parking lots with lines and obstacles.

It was great to see you all and eat some crapes, sleep in the basement/pull out couch, play a few hands of poker, go in the hot tub, hang at the gym, visit in the old 'hood, crash Friday night study, get to a service at ERBF, give some business to our favourite mechanic/chiro/dentist/dr/esthetician/costoc/superstore, meet lil' P.D., hang with our smallest cuz/nephew, and see all my girly friends!

The We Yah Hani Nah festival was fantastic, the boys had fun in Hawaii (even surfed a tsunami), and my new eyes are doing just fine... I could read the 20/20 line off the chart at work today.

Our drive north was smooth sailing with clear roads and great weather, I had quiet passengers plugged into their movies/tunes and my bestest co-pilot Mrs. L.F. kept it all together. I was feeling a bit stressed before we left with my LOADED to the max truck and B's motorcycle on the rental trailer. I am sure we were quite the sight; got a few strange looks as we pulled into the Time Hortons en route.

I may get some pics on here soon. My laptop is down and out for a bit but B said 'I'll look at it this weekend' unless something else comes up. We had warm 14C sunny skies today, maybe it will stick around for the weekend. The motorcycle needs to go for a spin and the boys are looking to ride the quad on the beach. I just want a Saturday morning to sleep in!

Glad to be back in our quiet little town :) right back to school and work for us all. Can't believe it is almost Easter... Last year we found chocolate eggs in Princeton, now maybe this year at North Beach?
n