Jer’s Continuing Adventures…

This is the time of year to slow down, and appreciate the company of friends and loved ones. Snow or Sun it’s a beautiful time.

Enjoy some good food, good friends and good times.

Peace and Love, all y’all!

Yummmmmmm…

I’ve been inspired over the last few days to put some extra effort in to my food, even if I’m cooking for meselfs. Prawns and Scallops sauteed with dried Tomatoes and Chilies over Pesto Pasta one night, Ground Venison cooked with fried egg and Garlic over toast the next. And tonight, Doug and Rachelle brought a fantastic Wild Mushroom Soup to go with the Venison Sausage over Risotto I prepared. So good! And thanks to them, we finished off with fresh grapes and some killer Christmas Fruit Cake. I’m practically in a food coma. It doesn’t hurt having the very tasty cider that Steve & Carrie made. Thanks Steve! It is so much fun and surprisingly easy to make good food with the right ingredients. What’s next?

In other news, my Dad and I have started working on databasing his artwork. It’s my first real experience of studio photography and I think I like it. Unlike shooting nature where the challenge is composition and light, studio shooting is more about getting the technical stuff right. With the right light set up and everything in fixed positions, I can concentrate on learning the subtle differences between f11 and f13 at .5 second. Fascinating stuff! And I get to see many years of my Dad’s work and hear him talk about what they mean to him. I’m looking forward to more tomorrow.

I’m on day 14 of the first 24. Feeling strong.

Out at the plant today there was a big boom. To me it sounded like they were blasting, but being that there are no rocks, that doesn’t follow. No sirens or Emergency vehicles in evidence so I imagine no one got hurt. We were out on the line at the time. I still have no idea what it was. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow along with when the Christmas break is. Home to Hornby for Christmas! Woot! I think Cavan will be coming with as well.

After a couple of weeks on the site, I have a better handle on the social scene here. In short, it’s like a boys locker room in highschool. Mostly a bunch of meatheads, some interesting folks, some (like me) who just keep to themselves. The Newfies on my crew are the best of the bunch, so far as I can tell. Cavan is a more self aware as well. This does give me perspective on my years in the public school system. It wasn’t that I was wrong, they really were aggressive idiots!

The house is working out too. My roommates are moving out at the end of the month, and there are a bunch of guys interested in moving in. Hopefully they will turn out to be reasonable people. I expect they will also want to have a reasonably quiet and tidy house, even if I have to make them listen.

In other new, I was planning on heading down to Toronto to see Kaetlyn on my first break. Now that isn’t happening, though I am stoked to go see her on the next one. So looking forward to that. Hanging out in TO with Kaet, shopping, eating, seeing her world. Stoked!

I’m off to bed,

Sweet Dreams, all y’all!

It’s been a good holidaze so far. Starting with the Fire Department Christmas dinner there have beena  nice string of social occasions. The Winter Solstice Bonfire and Oyster roast at Elaine and Wayne’s was a lot of fun as we kept 2 big bonfires roaring, and we roasted freshly gathered oysters from the beach out front. Yum! Liz had her first raw oyster (she turned a cool shade of green), I took some interesting shots and the wind played amongst us.

Christmas at the Hoeppner’s was lovely, as we had the turkey, built a puzzle (3D puzzle that is), and played a game. Angel stayed there that night as they do a family bonding thing with just them in the morning. I really enjoyed having a morning to myself, did some yoga, meditated, and tidied the house. Mmmmmmm, peaceful.

Christmas day had some surprises. Angel has made me a quilt! A really nice one! All greens and blues. It will be on display at the co-op as part of the January quilt show. My sister Andrea sent me a very nice watch and toque. When I say very nice I mean way more stylish than I can usually manage. You can dress me up and I’ll still get muddy. My folks were generous as always, much thanks for that.

After a couple evenings of quiet, Angel’s cousin Brenda, with her husband John and daughter Ayla came up and we did another family dinner with the Hoeppner’s. More presents and then to bed.

That brings us to last night when we had Gordon and Mary, Ed and April, Brenda, John and Ayla over to my place for dinner. Lots of very interesting conversation ensued! And Angel’s souffle  was a big hit.

May you enjoy the best of the season, in the company of friends and family.

I say Happy Solstice as I prefer the celebration of a natural part of the year, and I’m less excited by the commercialization of what was a joyful gathering of loved ones. Here’s to reconnection and celebration!

Damn that Doug guy, always following me around! <grin>

Yep, bumped in to Doug at a few of our stops during town day yesterday. A productive day none the less. Picked up some needed supplies for the shop and (ouch) dropped a bundle on good organic foods at Edible Island. My philosophy is to have spent the money on the good food rather than be hungry and have pocket money to spend on chips and junk.

Now, a day later, we’ve just returned from the Fire Department Christmas Dinner. It was a hoot! Lots of amazing food (Sarah’s Oysters Rockefeller were the hit of the night, though how can one miss Dale’s Cheesy Potatoes?) and great social time with some awesome people. Several awards were handed out and I felt a swell of pride for our team and the people that commit the time to our Department. David, Parker and Iain all got awards from the government for long service and Duncan got his Swiss Army knife for 5 years. Well done, boys, well done!

Speaking of done, this lad is off to bed. I’ll post the pics I took tomorrow. Sweet dreams, ya’ll.

Blogs are easy to set up and not so easy to remember to update.

So what’s been happening? Well, I’m staying away from meat and dairy again, in a low key way. I know if I announce it I will get some comments from the peanut gallery. So we’ll keep this on the QT for now. And I’m doing yoga in the mornings again. A very basic 5 reps of the Sun Salute for now. As I limber up I’ll increase the positions.

Steve Dallaway was meant to come up this morning to do some trail work and go for a ride. Unfortunately he got to Gravely Bay on Denman at 0930 in time to be told that the ferries had stopped running due to the storm. Back down to Cobble Hill he went. Heavy winds! Being up on the trails in high wind is not so smart so we likely wouldn’t have gotten out anyways. Next time.

I’m looking forward to the Christmas Dinner at the Fire Hall this Thursday. I’m making Schwartzies Potatoes. Yum! And if you don’t know what they are, ask Carrie or Robin. Our beer will be ready for the dinner too, and I can almost taste it.

Sweet Dreams