The Graves in the Forest

This afternoon, Dave and I went to Ainsworth and hiked to the Ainsworth Historical Cemetery. The gates pictured here show the roadway out of the cemetery and many of the graves have these white picket fences around them. I like the historical marker, located slightly away from the "consecrated" graves. Here lie the remains of 5 suicides who were not allowed to be buried in the other part of the cemetery. The last one was laid to rest here in 1917.

Exploring a little further, we found a trail called the Cedar Creek Trail and could have gone on for ages but had a nice walk to the creek and past lots of mining tailings and equipment. I can't think of a better way to spend Hallowe'en than visiting a graveyard and its environs. Can you?

What's In A Name?

I head originally intended to write this post about unusual ways to get to and from work. I remember having to pinch myself when in the Isle of Man - that actually was the Irish Sea that I was walking beside and that actually was a steam train that I was taking home from work! Yesterday, for the first time, I had a 40-minute ferry ride to get to work. Yes, I was called to TOC (Teacher-on-call) at Crawford Bay. I was grateful for the full moon because it made for a pretty bright morning - to get to Crawford Bay for work at 8:30 a.m. I need to be on the 6:30 a.m. ferry because the next one doesn't go until 8:10. The full moon lit up the boat's wake in a very romantic way and the rising light gave an eerie silhouette to the Purcells as we made our way to Crawford Bay. Sorry, I forgot to bring the camera with me. It was a cold morning (just below zero) and fortunately one cafe was open so I could read my book in relative comfort while waiting for the school to open.

So what's in a name? Well, in the grade 4 - 5 - 6 class there's a pair of twins (male) with the names Sunny and Rainbow. They have an older brother with the name of Sky. Only in the Kootenays, one might say. Is this Hippieville, or what?

Holes

I got thinking today about Louis Sachar's novel, Holes, because a big part of my life has been about digging them, and now, filling them. I think I've dug 14 holes for our deck posts and then did four more for the garden shed that we put up this summer. I must say that those four were the easiest holes to dig on this here acreage!

We've had a big hole at our water connection ever since we moved here and last month the PRWUS (Pine Ridge Water Users Society) approved the purchase of fill for this hole. Yesterday when I arrived home I was a bit dismayed to discover that the truck couldn't back the fill INTO the hole (too many trees in this part of the country) so I get to fill it by hand. Our one and only bobcat neighbour moved out last year! Anyway, this is sand and I actually filled about half the hole this p.m. in about 20 minutes. Unlike the kids in the novel, Holes, our newly dug holes have had a purpose and I think we're getting to the last two of them as I started to dig holes for the gateposts this past week.

Stitch 'n B.....

I've had to miss my weekly knitting/weaving/spinning sessions for the past two Thursdays but on Saturday my friend Anne taught me the linen stitch. I did this sample piece in hemp, first on very small needles that I think are about a size 11 and the rest on a size 7. I like the tight knit very well and it will work very well as a belt. Here's the pattern.

Cast on an even number of stitches.

Row 1: K1 (wyif, sl1pw), wyib, k1) -d0 this as many times as necessary to get to the last 3 stitches. Then wyif, sl1pw, wyib, k2

Row 2: P1, (wyib, sl1pw, wyif, p1) - do this as many times as necessary to get to last 3 stitches. Then wyib, sl1pw, wyif, P2

Abbreviations: wyif - wind yarn in front
wyib - wind yarn in back
slpw - slip purlwise

Note: You don't need to actually "wind" the yarn, just move it to the back or the front. It's a pretty simple stitch once you get the hang of it and could be pretty useful. Happy knitting, knitting bloggers!

Trail to Nowhere

Our MP (Alex Atamenenko, NDP) provided a service to his constituents by announcing that four passport clinics would be held in the riding. The deal was that 450 applications would be received at each of the clinics and that 20 working days would be required to receive the new passport. Sounds ideal. On Friday, I headed to Trail to renew my passport which will expire in the early part of '08. I wanted to be in the lineup by 8:00 a.m. and as usual, we were away ahead of the game. I actually arrived at the line at 7:15 and it was much longer than I had anticipated. However, I knew that I was within the 450 quota so I stood around with my book and lots of people to visit. A guy did a head count and I was at about number 300. The doors, of course, didn't open until 9 a.m. and then slowly the line began to move. Every once in a while someone who had "information" came out to make announcements to those of us in the crowd. It came to be known that they would only process 450 applications and some people were getting passports for their entire family - they all had to live at the same address, however. At about 10 a.m. a fellow told us that all the "leftovers" from the clinic in Grand Forks had been given numbers the previous day and they had been admitted first. Then a guy came out and asked us how many passports we were having processed. Everyone around me replied, "One." Finally, at about 10:50 a.m. I was on the stairs and this was the last stretch. Then, an official came out to say that no more passports would be taken that day and that we could come to the clinic in Nelson on Saturday. This time no numbers were given out! I realize that our MP can't control how Passport Canada does its job. It was good of him to offer us some opportunities to get passports because I'm sure the Gov't of Canada never would have come up with the idea. (Our closest passport offices are on the Lower Mainland or Calgary). Don't you think there could be a way that someone could figure out how many applications would be received before some of us waited for four hours? There were at least 200 people behind me and we had heard rumours that some clinics took 500 people. A lot of the people I chatted with had never waited in lineups for anything so they now knew what it was like to get tickets for a Stones concert. Those of us living along highway 3 live right next door to the American border and the way Passport Canada operates, most of us are going nowhere.

Thanksgiving Monday

We just came back from a good steep walk, trying to find the route up Mt. Buchanan, Kaslo's best lookout. We were on the Buchanan Access Trail and then came out onto a logging road which we followed for a couple of kms. We could see the top of Buchanan, but the road began to descend so we'll try again another day. I was feeling a bit of pain on the uphill route - too much Thanksgiving, I guess. We had 8 "new friends" over for supper last night and we had fine food, wine and conversation. I was happy to be the host.

Outside our front windows is our wild rose and the rose hips are perfect this year. It's also very nice to have our upstairs woodstove operating once again - we finished the fireplace last Wednesday. Celebrating Thanksgiving with rose hips, wine and a wood-burning fire is all part of the good life in the Kootenays.