I've been watching Sarah closely to make sure that she's coping ok with Sparkle's death. Up until today she seemed to be doing fine but now I am starting to worry. She has tucked herself into the corner with all the plants where Sparkle hung out her last few days. She's just kind of sitting there not doing much, just an occasional flutter of her fins. Ughh...I hope its just a bit of depression and nothing more serious (not to suggest that depression is not serious).


So I guess that leads to the question; should I start looking for a friend for her and if so, how long should I wait before introducing another fishy to our family?

It is with much sadness that I must post news of Sparkle's death. Just shy of three years, she led a remarkable life for a little goldfish who came home with me from Jackie and Blake's wedding three years ago November. With her best friend Sarah she embarked on a cross country adventure with Ciara and Jenn as they drove from Toronto to Vancouver via Salt Lake City, Utah; Mt. Shasta, California and Ashland, Oregon.

Sparkle will be laid to rest this evening at dog park beach, tucked gently into the sand near the long grass to remind her of the plants in her tank.

Here are some photos from the adventures we shared.

Sarah & Sparkle being introduced to their travel tank and then getting used to their new home before heading out on their cross Canada adventure



<- The girls visiting their Aunty Caron's family in Grosse Ile, MI and with their cousin Hannah ->

<- Sarah & Sparkle with Ciara in a small town in the mid West on route to Salt Lake City.

The girls with friends they met at Mt. Shasta. Sarah & Sparkle hung out with Keith for the morning while we boarded. ->






The girls with their friend Milo in Oregan

And finally Trent with the girls at Christmas time

You'll notice on the right that I have recently added a Christmas counter. It's the number of days until Trent and I meet in Toronto to begin our Cross Canada Christmas Tour (C3 Tour). From Toronto we plan to head right to Grosse Ile, MI to spend Christmas with my sister. We'll head back to TO Boxing day to see my Dad and brothers (and hopefully a few friends)for a day or two before continuing East to Halifax to spend New Year's with Trent's family. From there we head back across the country to Vancouver (I wasn't kidding when I said it was cross Canada). We'll get a few days together in Van before Trent has to head back up North.

I'm back from my first creative writing class. I'm not sure what I expected our instructor to be like but it wasn't the funny old bat with a walker I encountered when I entered the class room.

There are 12 women in the class plus our teacher. I think it should make for a safe, creative environment, all be it one lacking in male perspective. It was interesting to learn about each of the students and see what experiences we have that are unique and what are shared. One thing that quickly became apparent is the number of women who are struggling to deal with the loss of their mothers. I don't think any of us expected it to be such an emotional journey.

We were given an exercise where we had to use all of the senses to describe something. I choose to describe cool hands and used the memory of my mother's. While my piece missed a few of the senses (taste and smell) and was rough in style, I succeeded in conveying the deep sense of loss I feel over her death.

I'm looking forward to next week's class. I have a good idea what I am going to write about for my homework assignment and I can't wait to see what some of the others come up with.

If ever there was an incentive to get healthy and walking to/from work this morning was it. It was rainy and warm outside and the bus was so stuffy I thought I was going to pass out. I really don't think I can handle a winter of that..and I'm a lover of the public transportation!

Tonight I decided to tackle that beef stew I mentioned on Sunday. Not sure what I was thinking making beef stew for myself. While I enjoyed the bowl I had for dinner I have enough leftovers for a good weeks worth of meals. Which one might think is good but after having been immersed in the scent for the past 3 hours just the thought of it makes me to eschew meat for a long long time.

We'll its time to go. Trent and I usually talk or get on Skype at about this time each night. I have to say its nice his having internet at home now. It certainly makes the distance seem not so far.

Autumn has certainly arrived here in Van. The berries at the market are starting to be replaced by apples and squash and with that I'm starting to think about winter stews and comfort food. I picked up some organic stewing beef along with pearl onions, baby potatoes and some beautiful carrots to start cooking later this week. Mmm I can't wait.

And with Autumn comes figure skating season. Yes, I did say figure skating. Over the next few months I will be learning as much as I can about the sport as it will figure (KMS) prominently in my work. Last night I was at a dinner with the national team and was asked by one the top skaters in the country whether I liked skating. For those of you who don't know, I'm a hockey player, not a figure skater. I've never even owned a pair of figure skates. I thank my mother for all of the Sunday afternoons we spent watching figure skating so I can say that I know a bit about it. However, I'd never taken it seriously until I got to view a video put together by Skate Canada last year. Watching the skaters in this video gave me a whole new appreciation for how hard they work and what athletes they really are. So I was glad that I could honestly tell Lesley that yes, I am a fan of figure skating. Who knew?

With the polls now closed, it looks like I squeaked out a victory with a total of 12 votes for Look Out to Trent's 11 votes for Look Off. I attribute the 3 votes on my site to the abnormal number of Coasters that I seem to know, 2 of whom I am sure read my blog. The third I think was Trent voting for himself. :)

It's been an interesting experiment in regional differences. Look for another poll soon as we explore other differences between Coasters and Upper Canadians (not sure why that moniker erks me but it does).

As Trent would say...that is all.

And one last thing before I head to bed...Trent's got a blog now. You'll see the link to the right. It should give you a better idea of what life is like up in Deline. It's not all fishing and swimming. Ok...we'll not for long at least!

As you well know by now...I am obsessed with the farmers market. Sunday morning I headed up to the market, a little sad I was going it alone but excited at the prospect of the heirloom tomatoes. My intention was to buy a bunch of tomatoes to make homemade oven dried tomatoes and to pick up some sweet peppers to make red pepper jelly.

By time left I had over 2.5 lbs of beautiful assorted heirloom
tomatoes, some for the drying and some just for eating, and 4 large and 4 miniature sweet peppers not to mention the zuc's, cucumbers, apples, peaches and pears. I love this time of year. All of the farmers were giving samples of their new produce and it everything was so good.


I didn't have time to start working on the dried tomatoes before heading off to the Whitecaps game but decided to start the process when I got home at 7:00 PM. Mistake..the dehydrating process can take anywhere from 6-12 hours. At 2:00 AM finally turned the oven off after waking up every 2 hours to check on them. The result of 24 tomato halves baked in the over for 6 hours and 54 minutes can be seen in the jar to the right. Tuesday night I plan to tackle the red pepper jelly and the second batch of dried tomatoes. I'm hoping I can find a way to preserve the tomatoes through the winter as I refuse to eat tasteless mealy tomatoes any longer. I say no, no.

I'm testing out the new video clip feature.

This is a short clip, actually the last clip, from Trent and my tidal bore rafting adventure when we were in NS. Watch closely...then watch it again. You'll notice that Trent and I (the only two wearing the yellow rain pants) weren't originally sitting beside one another. Ohh it makes me laugh every time I watch it. It's even better in slow motion.

Please have a look at this photo and then respond to the poll at the right. Trent and I have differing opinions on what it is called.

I'm sitting here watching Trent pack for his return to the North. I won't lie, it sucks. It's been so nice having him here all summer. We've had so much fun between our trips to the Island and back East, open water swims and trips to the farmers market. It will be nice to know that in June he'll be back for good!

We decided to spend our last full day over on Bowen Island. We went for a great hike around Killarney Lake and then had lunch at a great little restaurant on the Island.

I have to tell you...we have some crazy radio station on that plays love songs from 9-11 PM and people can call in and request songs. Right now we are listing to Miss you like crazy by the Moffats. Who am I?

Last weekend RR, DK and I participated in the Jericho Oceanman race. It's a local triathlon that can be done single, relay or team and involves swimming, paddling and running plus a few secret challenges thrown in to keep everyone on their toes.

Before I start I should mention that I jokingly called our team, Team No Training as we entered at the last minute and none of us had really trained for the event. DK, the strongest swimmer of our group did the swim, a 1K ocean swim. I got the paddle as I have the most paddling experience while RR did the run. What a laugh. While we might not have done well, we had a ton of fun. DK's secret event involved paddling out around a bouy about 50m out on an air mattress. I got to do some stand up paddle boarding while RR did a little orienteering in his 8K run with one check point having a croquet challenge.

Next year I might give it a try solo or do it with Trent. Will definitely also choose the surf ski over the outrigger for the paddle portion.

Yes...its been a long time since a posting...been waiting for a rainy afternoon and this is the first in a while.

It's Trent's last weekend here in Van so we are busy running errands and trying to do all of the things we had talked about doing but hadn't gotten around to. The list includes:

• Take a water taxi done
  
• Do the Grouse Grind done
  
• Dinner at Bistrot Bistro Friday night with RR, DL, DE, SB, NB & JB
  
• Hiking on Bowen scheduled for tomorrow morning
  
• Richmond Night Market went last night
  
• Aquarium not likely
  
• Vancouver Art Gallery - Monet to Dali Exhibit not likely
  
• Grab a movie at the Fifth - tonight