Snow!

Well the snow has finally arrived in Nelson. It was promised and promised to be here at the end of October and arrived just a few days shy of a month late. I was so excited to start snapping pictures of my journey to school (uphill in both directions!) I left my keys on the kitchen table. I had to enlist the help of Darcy to steady the crooked lattice while I shimmied up and climbed through the bathroom window. I am now officially a pro, Michelle and I had to do the same routine when I closed the door on our way to do laundry.
Cold temperatures have also arrived with the snow wreaking havoc on my little truck. First the emergency break was frozen and then the throttle cable. Kind of difficult to drive when you can't press on the gas. Well, half a can of "Cable Life" lube squirted in I went for a test run to get groceries. The journey there was smooth like butter and my new tires stick like molasses. The return journey wasn't so uneventful. The throttle was frozen again. So I tapped the gas and got her stuck at about 2000 rpm and drove home varying speed with fancy gear changes and incredible key control. Upon arriving home I squirted in more lube and freed the cable. I will have to give her a test drive tomorrow...

Snow!

Water Lily Lamp

Ok here is my finished lamp. It has been sitting finished for weeks in the lunch/presentation room patiently waiting for me to take photos... I find it often turned on with the ugly fluorescent lights off, while people eat lunch and chat.

Water Lily Lamp

Plague of Fork Bugs Hits Nelson District Art Council Craft Faire!!!

So we thought a few weeks ago it would be fun to try and get a booth at a craft fair. A class mate's partner put us in touch with the NDAC Craft Faire. This fair is the only juried fair in the Kootenays. We got in. I like to think it was because of my belt buckles, but truly they were desperate for more artists... I put my buckles in and Darcy made some amazing moon candle holders and Katherine put in some raku-like platters and a single picture frame. We also thought about fork bugs. Katherine found one on a dead old rusty motorbike at Kevin's place. I tweaked it a bit so it could be a fridge magnet. The rest is history. So far we have sold about 120 of the little buggers with Sunday still to come...

NDAC Craft Faire

Cancel-gar

Well the rumors are true, it really is called the Cancel-gar Airport. To begin with, Michelle's ticket was booked for today from Vancouver to Castlegar. Kinda the wrong direction. She managed to sort it out and got on the 9:30 am flight today. We got to the airport, said our teary goodbyes and I headed back to Nelson. The flight was canceled about 2 minutes after I left. So Michelle had to take a shuttle back to Nelson and catch the 5:20 pm Greyhound home. 12 hours! At least we got to spend the day together.

Cancelgar

Ainsworth Hot Springs

Today Michelle and I headed to the soothing waters of Ainsworth Hot Springs. It was a nice escape from the Nelson dirty hippies. Not so surprisingly hippies appear to avoid the tepid waters, it probably washes away the patchouli stench and disentangles their musty dreads. There are a number of different temperatures to enjoy from just above freezing to near lobster boiling.

Ainsworth Hot Springs

Visit to Andrew Raney's shop.

Today we went to meet with an incredibly humble and extremely talented man. Andrew Raney creates birds and other animals out of welding filler rod and small gauge steel sheets. With nothing more than an oxy/acetylene setup and a throat-less Beverly sheer his birds come to life. It was a fantastic trip to his shop in Salmo, enjoy the pictures.

Andrew Raney