The Continuing Adventures of the Bradshaw Girls

Kyoto: Without a (live) tour guide

2012-03-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

hanging monkeys Yasaka Koshindo - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

I had been in Kyoto for 5 days by now and was fairly comfortable getting around. It's a surprisingly easy city to navigate.
For day 6 I wanted to keep fairly close to my home base so I could do a little shopping in the morning. I ended up finding a route in this book that ended on the street my apartment was off of. I had no clue that was a route that took in the Kiyomizudera temple complex which was on my mental list of places to go to (which I will blame jetleg for forgetting).

Just behind the park where Virginia and I shared some DELICIOUS takoyaki at the start of my trip was Choaku-ji. It was a small, quiet temple. Backed right against the mountain it felt completely removed from the city.

Choakuji Temple - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

I got a little turned around trying to follow the directions in the guide book but still wandered by Otani Soboyo.

Otani Soboyo - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

One of my favorite finds of my whole trip was finding Yasaka Koshindo, the temple devoted to the three monkeys. You know them, the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys. If you look carefully you can make them out at the top of the alter stairs. Yasaka Koshindo was a really bright, happy temple. The top most photo is of this temples fabric monkeys and that also function as the temple ema. *

Yasaka Koshindo - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Not far from the monkeys was the former pottery district of Kyoto. It was full of little pottery and gift shops that I happily wandered in and out of.
It was in this area that I first started to notice many more tour groups of students and girls in kimono and yukata.

Pottery district - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Also interesting in this area are the 2 year and 6 year hills leading up to the Kiyomizudera temple. It is said that is you slip on one of these hills you will have 2 or 6 years of bad luck... UNLESS... you buy a gourd! amazing! （すごいね！）

I can not recommend Exploring Kyoto highly enough. It's packed with info and amusing stories. The maps are useful and though I did get lost once or twice I still managed to right myself and find everything. Though the route I took eventually led me to one of Kyotos larger temples I got to see and learn about a bunch of smaller, interesting temples along the way. (it's also available on Google books where you can check out a chapter or two!)

I'll finish up with Kiyomizudera in my next post as I want to post quite a few pictures from there.

*Ema are plaques that you can purchase to write wishes and prayers to the temple god. They are gathered up once a year and ceremoniously burned.

Kyoto: Walking tour day 2

2012-03-07T21:45:00.000-08:00

Nijo Castle - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Our second day starts with a bit of hiccup. I was supposed to meet Jane and Greg Hunt (one of the Aussie couples from the previous day) in morning but was so worried that I was late - I just hopped in a cab to Nijo castle by myself leaving them behind. I don't know if I'll ever get used to Japanese cabs - the door is closed by the diver with a button - I made the mistake more than once on my trip. Anyways, The Hunts were more than gracious about my flub and we continued on.

Entrance gate to Ninomaru palace photo by Greg Koch

At Nijo-jo we wandered through beautifully preserved audience halls built for the Tokugawa shoguns, the rulers of Japan in the Edo Period. There was no photography allowed inside so you'll just have to go there yourself.

After wandering though the expansive grounds we made our way to Kitayama (North Mountain) and the magnificent Kinkaku-ji, Golden Pavilion.

Kinkakuji: Gold Pavilion - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

The Pavilion, coated in gold leaf and reflected in the still lake surrounding it, is probably Japan’s most recognizable icon. Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion), that we had see the previous day, in Higashiyama (the East Mountain) was built as a counter balance to this temple. We were so fortunate to arrive when there weren't too many tourists and so our shots all look relatively serene.

From here we made our way to nearby Ryoan-ji temple and its worldfamous garden, considered to be the epitome of a Zengarden.

Scale model of the Ryoan-ji garden photo by Greg Koch

Ryoan-ji Rock garden photo by Greg Koch

Ryoanji: Zen Rock Garden, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Outside the temple was a lovely lake surrounded by persimmon trees. (which I totally though were mikan trees until I looked a little closer)

Randen Train photo by Greg Koch

I'm so glad Greg got shots of the super adorable train/tram that we took up to Arashiyama in the west of Kyoto. Here we had a fantastic lunch of soba (buckwheat noodles) at Yoshimura overlooking the Katsura River. We also went on a little hunt for coffee. Coffee was priority that our tour guide just did not understand ☺. Here is classic shot of me and Greg Hunt in the little shop Jane spotted pre-coffee.

Coffee = Life photo by Greg Koch

Ha ha ha ha. I look so unimpressed. Also of note is the fact that I'm not wearing a jacket - so warm! Moving on!

Tenryuji, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

After we recovered ourselves and caffeine-d up we wandered over to Tenryu-ji, the temple of the Heavenly Dragon. It has one of the oldest gardens in Kyoto and at it's edge is the famous bamboo forest.

Bamboo forest, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

The scenery is more reminiscent of rural Japan than a city and I think this afternoon was my favorite part of the tour (well that and karaoke session that we had in the evening). It was after a short walk that we came upon the gorgeous, almost delicate, temple that is associated with Gio, a concubine of Taira-no-Kiyomori. Taira was a central figure in The Tale of Heike, the epic story of the power struggle between the Taira and Minamoto Clans that engulfed Japan in the 12th Century.

Moss Garden, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

On our way back to the city we walked past Rakushisha, which is associated with Japan’s greatest poet, Basho.
We ended our tour by taking another train back to Shijo-Omiya in west-central Kyoto. Well... really we ended by going out for karaoke which was so (so, so) much fun. I really missed having the Hunt's around as I explored the rest of Kyoto and Japan mostly by myself. They were so much fun and adventurous! They continued on and walked the Nakesendo way, a tour that I desperately wanted to do but time and other plans interfered. Next time I guess.

Note: all the photos appearing to be unlabelled on this post and the last are by Greg Koch.. I think it has something to do with my style sheet - my apologies

Kyoto: Walking tour day 1

2012-03-03T19:22:00.000-08:00

Silver Pavilion - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

So I got a little distracted and didn't finish all my Japan posts - I want to rectify that so I set myself a goal of two blog posts a week for the month of March. Lets hope I can do it (がんばりますよ！）

For my birthday I was given some money to sign up for a walking tour of Kyoto. In a city of literally thousands of shrines and equally as much history I thought this would be the best way of seeing and learning about the highlights. I also though it would be nice to sightsee with some people instead of heading out on my own. It was such a delightful experience. The tour consisted of two Aussie couples, myself and our guide Greg (another Canadian).

The inori or hearth a photo by Greg Koch

Our first day started with a trip to a Japanese tea house and a lesson in the tea ceremony. It was a wonderfully relaxing and refreshing experience. Our hosts, Jack and Hiromisan, were so lovely.

photo by Greg Koch

After what was unanimously agreed as a great start to the day we moved onto the Daitoku-ji temple, one of Japan’s finest Zen monasteries, a complex of main and sub-temples covering 56 acres.
It was here that we had the shojin ryori meal I described in my last post.

After lunch we stopped briefly at Heian-jingu Shrine (the terminus of the Jidai Matsuri) and then wandered through nearby hand craft museum. It was so interetsing to see how kimono fabric, ceramics and illuminated scrolls were traditionally made.

Silver Pavilion - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

From there we wandered down the famous Philosopher's Path, through quiet suburbs and past many temples, until we arrived at Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion. Ginkaku-jin was built by the 8th Ashikaga Shogun in the late 15th Century.

photo by Greg Koch

The Silver Pavilion is an exquisite structure, which is silver in name only, set in beautiful gardens. A path around the parameter led us up a small hill over looking the temple and lake.

Silver Pavilion - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

The whole complex was quite lush and I inwardly cursed a little that I was probably 2 or 3 weeks too early to really catch the fall colours.

Afterwards we moved along to central Kyoto for an exploration of Nishiki, Kyoto’s lively central market, where a plethora of food items, many not so familiar, overwhelmed us. I had been shopping on some of the covered markets in Kyoto already but had not ventured down that street so I was pleasantly amused with all the goings on.

I ended the night eating some Kansai style okonomiyaki at a small shop on the edge of Ginza. A delightful evening of food, beer and people watching.

UPDATE! I found a picture of the Okonomiyaki!

Kyoto: Shojin food

2011-12-13T17:30:00.000-08:00

Izusen: Shojin Food, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Ah food! Kyoto has some pretty amazing places to eat .. what am I saying?!? all of Japan has great food.
Kyoto is unique in the fact that being a land locked city and with a large population of Buddhist monks a vegetarian cuisine developed. Part of my walking tour included a stop for traditional Shojin food. the little red bowls stacked into each other to make a pagoda.
All the food is local and seasonal.. from what I can remember chestnut, black beans, tempura, rice with mushrooms, miso soup, daikon, various pickled vegetables. Sweet wine (plum ??) Ah! I wish I could have remembered more.
Oh! and fresh tofu - I read somewhere that it's a specialty in the north east of the city (due to the abundance of clean water used to make the tofu)

Izusen: Shojin Food, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Kyoto (an introduction)

2011-12-12T08:55:00.000-08:00

Choakuji Temple - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

I feel like I don't even know where to start when I go to talk about Kyoto. I took a two day walking tour the city, did a lot of self (and book) -guided exploration and met some wonderful people.

My week in the city was something I won't soon forget and it still feels me with a warm nostalgic feeling. I highly recommend taking a large chunk of time to visit Kyoto. You shouldn't rush around this place.

To that end I would highly recommend the apartment I rented - clean, centrally located and cheap. Everything you could want. Just ignore the terrible website.

This shot is of Choakuji Temple - located in the east of Kyoto and tucked in the mountains behind two other bigger temple complexes it was a nice respite.

Nara

2011-11-23T10:47:00.000-08:00

Daibutsuden - Todaiji Temple, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

After an exciting weekend of festivals I headed off on a short day trip to Nara. Nara is an another ancient capital of Japan and has remained a very important religious city. It's here that the Daibutsuden (Big Buddha) is located. Actually there are 8 sites (temples, ruins etc.) in Nara that have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I made it to 5 (for the record... Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji, Kasugataishi, Yakushi-ji and Kasugayama Primeval Forest).

Painting in the park - Nara, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

This is a small park located just below Kōfuku-ji Temple - it has a great view of the five story Pagoda and was really popular with the artists. It was nice to take a break and inspiring to see people painting.

Nara, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Kōfuku-ji Temple is also where I had my first school trip photo.. These girls rushed over and in pretty good english asked to take a photo with me - I whipped out my camera and asked for the same..Awesome!

Kasugayama primeval forrest, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

I think my favorite part of Nara was the Kasugayama primeval forest. A sight to behold pure forest lined with thousands of stone lanterns.

Kasuga Taisha Temple - Nara, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

The path through the forest led to the Kasuga Taisha Temple. An lovely temple full of bronze lanterns.

Nara, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

A note about the deer. It's believed that the deer were messengers of the god that resides in the Kasuga Grand Shrine and as such are protected creatures. Although not evident by the pictures I posted, they are everywhere in Nara - generally hounding the tourists for food or deer biscuits (on sale in the picture for 150 Yen). As one guide book noted the God must have stopped using the deer or has become really fond of biscuits.

Finally I found out in Nara that i actually don't mind red-bean paste (which was a shock). I tried freshly made mochi (glutinous rice desert) filled with red bean and it's one of the most delicious things.

Behold the first red bean I like, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

京都時代祭 (Festival of the Ages) - Kyoto

2011-11-21T11:45:00.000-08:00

I have way too many pictures from Jidai Matsuri - the Festival of the Ages - in Kyoto. So I've just posted a slide show of some of them. Jidai Matsuri is one of the three largest festivals of Kyoto - the main attraction being a parade of traditional costumes from Kyoto's history with about 2000 people participating! It takes about an hour to watch the whole thing pass by you!

Kurama Fire Festival .. 鞍馬の火祭り（くらまのひまつり）

2011-11-18T11:32:00.000-08:00

Kurama Fire Festival, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

I literally had arrived in Kyoto the day before this festival and almost missed it completely. Thank goodness for tourist websites and a mostly flexible plan. My friend Virginia made it up for this and so did her co-worker Kristin. It was pretty nice to go with people especially since my jet lag was in full effect!

So first things first - the back story. (from here)

This festival held at Yuki-jinja Shrine reproduces the scene of receiving the deity in Kurama. At 6 o'clock in the evening, watch fires called kagaribi are ignited all at once in front of the houses, and people holding up small and large taimatsu (pine torches) parade all night long announcing in loud voices the arrival of the festival.

Guys, it was a downpour but that didn't stop people from attending. Karama is about 45 minutes out of Kyoto and the train was packed! The trains in Tokyo weren't as bad as that ride up. Ah but it was worth it.. lots of crazy torches, shouting, kimonos and ...loin cloths.

Kurama Fire Festival, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

The start of the festival was kids carrying torches with their parents the parents shouting "Sairya" and the kids responding "Sairyo!" and then it moved up to the larger torches that required 6 or 7 people to carry them.

The only downside was the route we walked on - which required wandering through a few(very muddy) feilds behind the main streets where the action was taking place.

The other side-Kurama Fire Festival, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Not much to complain about!
Highly recommended!

Japan... coming soon

2011-11-16T07:31:00.001-08:00

Kinkakuji: Gold Pavilion - Kyoto, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Ah, the travel high... I'm still coming down off of it. And as much as I had planned to blog and upload things as I went along that just did not happen. I was in Japan for 3 weeks - 3 weeks! - and I have so much to say about my time there but I'm going to have to go a little slowly - I have only uploaded about a weeks worth of photos so there is a lot of background work to do.
To start you off here is a nice shot of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. So relax a little and I'll be with you all shortly.

On the lake

2011-08-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

Andrea Rowing, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Oh man what a fun morning out on the lake. Andrea invited me to come out to see her time trials. Five am! but on the upside with me still being on EST I was good to go (but I didn't turn down the two thermoses of coffee she made me)

Andrea Rowing, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

The trials were really fun to watch.. but man! it looks so hard!

shoes, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

8, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

and as a bonus we go to see the national men's 8 practice! too cool!

Coming soon..

2011-07-31T05:42:00.001-07:00

Rowing - Warm up, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Double Wedding Ring Quilt.. quilted!

2011-05-23T12:27:00.001-07:00

Double Wedding Ring Quilt.. quilted!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Yes, yes..
It took long enough. But thanks to my mom my double wedding ring quilt is completed and in a much fancier way than I could ever hope to achieve. For my birthday my mom had it professionally quilted and it looks so good on my bed! check out the detail below!

Double Wedding Ring Quilt.. quilted!, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Thanks for a lovely birthday

2011-05-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

Birthday flowers, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

My goodness.. another year older! and still in Toronto. hee hee.
I thought I'd share a few of the lovely things I received form my awesome family and friends. Thank you all so much.

Birthday gifts, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

even the wrapping on Andrea's gift was amazing!
Mary gave me her gift partly before my birthday... an amazing summer dress and some winter/fall fingerless gloves which I used right away. I will take a picture.

ok and a few more pictures of the flowers!

Birthday flowers, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Did you get up for it?

2011-05-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

Bridesmaids and page boys, a photo by The British Monarchy on Flickr.

So how many of you got up early Friday morning to watch the wedding? It was on at a (reasonable) 6am here in Toronto - but I know that Mary was up at 3am in Whitehorse.
I for one, am glad I saw it - the dress the hats - everything was lovely.
I'm including some of the official photos from the official British Monarchy flickr site.

The Official Royal Wedding photographs, a photo by The British Monarchy on Flickr.

also you should check out the full size version of this one - for Harry's expression alone

Crowds gather outside Buckingham Palace, a photo by The British Monarchy on Flickr.

the full size version of the above picture is so cool - check out the people in the fountain they look so happy

The Royal Wedding Cake, a photo by The British Monarchy on Flickr.

finally I couldn't leave it without mentioning the cake! wow! definitely check out the larger version for all the details and there is also a set of the just the cake. pretty amazing!

Dance Break!

2011-04-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

dancedanceTO from dancedanceTO on Vimeo.

The story goes like this...
I was out for pie with my friends Naseem and Connie. We were sitting around chatting, laughing and eating when the subject of an amazing video that Naseem had made came up. It is an inspired by "Insipred by Iceland" homage and it is fantastic. Someone (not me) suggested we do one for Toronto and we all laughed and said YES! That's the best idea ever. I didn't think they would follow though.
but these friends..
they follow through.

And I am so glad we did it.
We filmed from November through March (taking a very generous break for Christmas) and although most people are in sweaters and mittens I think the city is wonderfully portrayed.
I hope you'll love it too!

にほん

2011-03-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

I have started Japanese lessons and have finally advanced to the stage of writing journal entries. I'm pretty excited about it. My sentences are still quite basic but I thought I'd share some of it anyways.
Last week I wrote this:

2/25

This morning I listened to the radio at home.

:: image ::

me: good morning...

This afternoon Tabby bought coffee at the coffee shop.

This evening I watched tv at home.

2/26

I washed my jeans this morning.

This afternoon at home I read a book.

Mary and I talked this evening.

goodnight!

:: image ::

arrow: older sister

Here are some entries from this week.

Speech bubble: Good evening Mr. Masa!

3/2
This evening I bought tickets at the station. I am taking the bus home.
:: images ::
me: good evening
arrow: is this a zombie?

3/3
This morning I read the paper. I am going to the hospital.
This afternoon Tabby is going to the bank. I am going to eat my bento.
Holly took a car to come to the cafe. Holly and I are chatting.
:: images ::
light hair: Tabby
dark hair: Holly

UPDATE
this post was originally written before the earthquake and subsequent disasters in Japan. I've been sitting on it for a week now waiting on events and the thought of taking better pictures.. wondering what to append to the post.
my heart goes out to all the people in Japan and those with family and close friends there. They are in my thoughts and prayers. My friends in Japan as well as the friends and families of my Japanese teachers and classmates are all safe. For that I am really thankful.
There are lots of ways to help and I would encourage people to think about making a donation to an aid organization working there. Many creative people are pitching in... Hello Sandwich is selling her gift wrapping zine with all proceeds going to the Japanese red cross and there are raffles here and here benefitting the same cause. Two of my favorite web art dealers are raising funds 20x200 and tiny showcase have amazing prints and there are a slew of other artists doing the same.
If you want to donate directly to a charity I would encourage you to read this article and research a charity to give to (granted this is from the US but most of what they say is applicable to us).

[better pictures to come]

granite

2011-03-12T20:17:00.000-08:00

so I'm not sure about posting this - as I'm likely the only one excited about the fact we got to pick out our granite for our countertops. But have a look ...isn't it great?!

house (paint) update

2011-02-16T19:53:00.000-08:00

Patrick and I stopped by the house today and they have painted! how exciting! The photos of the main space (from Patrick's iPhone - sorry for fuzziness) were taken from the living/dining room looking to where the kitchen and front door will be. I'm really excited about the colour - a kind of blue spruce. You just never know how it will look on a massive wall when you are looking at a chip. The facing wall and pretty much the rest of the house is a light beige. The red (a rosy/coral terracotta) is the feature wall in the bedroom.

You can see the bamboo flooring stacked up - it is acclimatizing to the indoor temperature as it is -30C outside.

Chinese New Year Dimsum

2011-02-07T11:09:00.001-08:00

Chinese New Year dimsum, originally uploaded by ardenstreet.

Carpiquet

2011-02-01T23:39:00.000-08:00

Carpiquet, Dieppe, Arnham, Cassino, Ortona, Normandy ..... all Canadian battles in WWII and all streets in our new nieghbourhood! Whitehorse is set up that way - each neighbourhood has a theme: Porter Creek is trees (elm, spruce etc); Copper Ridge is minerals/gems and you guessed it Riverdale has streets named after Yukon rivers.

But back to Carpiquet - it is a new road in Takhini North, which is a short walk to work. And we are buying a house on it! It is a half of a duplex and will be ready for us by the end of April.

The Yukon has a very crazy real estate market - there is a huge shortage and places get snapped up incredibility fast. The recession didn’t seem to affect the market here at all. So we feel extremely happy to get a place that is: in the neighbourhood we want, within our budget and is a quality new build.

It 1000 square feet - so close to the same size as our apartment and on such a beautiful lot. Here is the view out the living room window of the backyard and beyond!!!

(umm nevermind the construction debris)

It has been all very exciting and scary. As you can see it is a new build, so we got to choose our paint colours, granite counter tops, floor tiles (for the bathroom). Below is the bamboo floor sample, maple kitchen cabinets and paint chips (rosy peach is feature wall in bedroom, the blue spruce type colour is for one long wall that stretches from the kitchen to the living room, and the beige is for everything else).

Hello World!

2010-12-31T16:01:00.001-08:00

Welcome Aboard! originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Welcome to our new shared blog... Right now it's just Mary and I blogging here but maybe, possibly, we can convince Andrea to also start blogging.. (about her rowing.. maybe?...hint, hint).

Anyways, all our old posts are here so look around and I'll try to get a page set up soon for our trip posts that has proper links... soon

Washing DC... for a day

2010-12-30T14:33:00.000-08:00

Rally for Sanity/Fear, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Mary, my sister, came east for a meeting and had a four day window to visit me.
We took the opportunity to hop on a bus down to Washington DC to attend Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.

Early in the Morining - Rally for Sanity/Fear, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The bus trip, organized by the good people at the Torontoist and sponsored by Bud Lite, was a 36 hour whirlwind trip. The coverage by the Torontoist is here.
The rally was crazy.. so many people.. so many stars (I saw Cat Stevens perform Peace Train!)
But the best part, oddly enough, was visiting the Smithsonian National Museum of the Native American. That weekend they had Día de los Muertos celebrations, exhibits and activities. It was a lot of fun.

Nuit Blanche

2010-12-28T10:09:00.000-08:00

Nuit Blanche -Gladstone Hotel, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I must admit I found this years Nuit Blanche a little underwhelming.

I don't know if it was the poor use of space or the weariness of traveling across town to get to most of the main exhibits.
Still it is nice to see the streets filled with so many people wandering about at 1 am appreciating art and the city.

Nuit Blanche - Later That Night At The Drive-In - Daniel Lanois, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Cottage Weekend

2010-12-28T00:50:00.000-08:00

Cottage Weekend, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I didn't travel much this summer (actually I have only been out of the country for a day and a half this year!) so it was really lovely to be invited to my pal Katie's family's cottage on the Ottawa River (Quebec side).
It was a wonderful, relaxing girls weekend away.

Cottage Weekend, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Birthday Macarons

2010-12-22T10:40:00.000-08:00

My pal Ayalah has her birthday in the summer which was the perfect timing for a picnic!
Because she has a serious sweet tooth and also loves France I made her some macarons.

I picked up the cutest book (I heart macarons) at a cooking store in St. Johns and was itching to use it.
I made yellow with chocolate ganache filling and a cinnamon with cardamon milk tea filling. TASTY!

Trinity and back to St. John's - Newfoundland

2010-11-30T09:51:00.000-08:00

Trinity, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We took a slightly more lazy route back to St. John's. We headed across the bulk of the island and spent a night at a B&B before heading to Trinity for a day and a half.
Trinity was awesome. We stayed in a little cabin that Mary and I imagined what vacationing was probably like in the 50's.. really cute!

Trinity Cabins - Vintage Awesomeness, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

It was really quiet in Trinity (we couldn't find a place to eat that was open) but we walked around the town taking in all the lovely buildings. The Shipping News was filmed in Trinity and nearby a whole fake fishing village was recreated for the filming of Remote Passage for the CBC. Mary and I, after finally finding somewhere to eat decided to check out the Maritime Museum in Bonavista.

Root cellar capital of the world?, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

On the way there I forced Mary to drive through Elliston, the root cellar captital of the world, which seemed a little unfriendly. Also we didn't see a lot of root cellars.

Bonavista - Harbour, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Bonavista was great though. While signing into the museum we noticed that another group of yukoners were in the museum (they had gone to the same conference as Mary and were really nice). So after a little hunting we found them and ended the evening with a lovely lobster and toutons with molasses (my favorite newfie food .. hard bread and salt cod - I recommend you pass on them).

Bonavista - Maritime Museum, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Back to St. John's for the last bit of shopping and wandering around (the Rooms! Viking demonstrations! Joe Fresh!).
Conclusion:
Newfoundland - highly recommended.

Western Brook Pond - Newfoundland

2010-11-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

Newfoundland - Western Brook Pond, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The last day in Gros Morne National Park we went for a hike to Western Brook Pond. Another of the guided walks It was really cool to learn so much about the area.
The geography was really influenced by glaciation (it was carved out by glaciers and then, when they receeded the land rebounded cutting off the pond from the ocean). Also - the part I found really cool was the rippling of the bedrock which caused alternating bogs (pictured above) and limestone ridges which are forrested (below)
The guides from the park were really into showing off different parts of the bog and forrest, even to the extent of reaching into the bog to pull out peat. We also spotted an arctic hare and pitcher plants (the provincial flower). Very cool.

Newfoundland - Western Brook Pond, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

An acidic lake fed by the bog.

Newfoundland - Western Brook Pond, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Lime stone ridges.

Newfoundland - Western Brook Pond, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The ultimate destination - Western Brook Pond.

Trails, Tales and Tunes - Newfoundland

2010-10-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

Lighthouse near Rocky Harbour Newfoundland, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Norris Point and the nearby (slightly larger) town of Rocky Harbour were amazing. t was like being home but with a different forrest.
We decided to go there for 2 reasons. The first was because Mary's friend from the conference was going to be there, and the second was because of the park. What sealed the deal though was the trails tales and tunes festival that was going on that weekend.
The festival is mostly for the locals - kind of a kick off to the tourist season. Almost all of the activities we participated in were outdoors. There were guided hikes every day - almost all of them ending in homemade pie and treats. So nice!
There were also live performances that we took in and listened to on the radio. It was really fun and we had a fantastic time.

We ended up renting a cabin and were amazed at how big it was (a bedroom each!).. We also discovered there wasn't really a proper grocery store in town. What we did find though was hard tack (which we attempted to cook), salted cod (that stunk up our cabin), and local jams (which we started a collection of).

Our time in Norris Point was really a highlight of our stay in Newfoundland and I would encourage anyone to go.

Hike to see birds - Gros Morne National Park, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

A lot (and I mean A LOT) of my photos are not uploaded yet as they are on my sisters computer - in Whitehorse. so this post (and possibly a few other posts) will be updated with more pictures from Norris Point, Rocky Harbour and Mary and my awesome take on the Discover Newfoundland ads.

Lighthouse near Rocky Harbour Newfoundland, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Travel - Newfoundland

2010-10-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

After the conference was complete Mary and I rented a car and headed across the island.

Our original plan was to go over to St. Pierre and Miquelon but that proved to be too difficult due to the time we were traveling (May is not high season).

So when I said we headed across the island I really do mean that literally. From St. John's it took two days of almost solid driving (by Mary - bless her) to get to Gros Morne National Park and the little cabin we rented in Norris Point.

View Larger Map

I seem to be missing a few pictures so I'll update this later if I can find a good shot of the highway - I remember taking a few :)

Around St. John's - Newfoundland

2010-10-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Signal Hill - St. John's Nfld, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The first few days we were in St. John's Mary was at her conference and I got to explore a little bit of the city.

Signal Hill - St. John's Nfld, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I walked up and around signal hill - a little dangerous.

And Mary and I went on a few trips - to Ferryland an active archeological site which was very cool and whale watching in a huge windy storm (which resulted in the boat turning around and no wildlife being seen.

Newfoundland!

2010-10-18T17:33:00.000-07:00

Signal Hill - St. John's Nfld, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I know this is a little late but I'd still like to share some pics and stories from Mary and my trip to Newfoundland. Every year Mary attends a museums conference somewhere in Canada and I am lucky enough to often tag along. Trips to Ottawa, Victoria and err.. Toronto (we ended up going to Iceland after that one) have sprouted from these meetings and I love that every year we get to meet up and spend 2 weeks together.

Signal Hill - St. John's Nfld), originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Newfoundland was the last maritime province that I needed to visit, we didn't make it there with the family and I wish we had. Dad, I think, will love Newfoundland.. This trip also means that I only have one more province (Saskatchewan) to go and then I've been to them all (not including territories). I must say I wish I had gone to Newfoundland sooner. I really loved it there - lots of culture and energy - plus the whole province felt like a bigger east coast version of the Vancouver Island in my head (ie/ the 80's). I loved all the small towns and crazy food.

Hey Family!

2010-09-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

Family (Smith side), originally uploaded by girl from finito.

keep being awesome.

Chinese New Year cupcakes

2010-08-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

Chinese New Year cupcakes, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Wow - old pictures!
I made these the day I left for the west coast. Awesome Chinese New Years cupcakes for my friend Fran and her family (note for reading the story below.. this friend is Chinese)

Fran: thanks for coming by and dropping off some awesome cupcakes.
cats, eh?...or tigers?...damn! whatever!...they were awesome and cute...geez...i thought just icing was fancy...but noooooo...you had to go ALL out and put characters on mine...

i'm sure xavier will be like, "look! it's a cat...a cat...see...a cat...do you see the cat?"...
me: "yes xavier. it's a cat. it's very nice"...
x: "do you see it?...look right here! it's a cat...see A CAT!...seeeeee!"...
me: "yes...yes...i see it"...
x: "i'm going to eat the cat!...the cat, right here. see this cat!...on the cupcake there's a cat!"...
me: [shoots herself].

Me: They were tigers

Fran: yes...yes...i realized that now...

"happy lunar new year"....yes...yes...the asian got it wrong.

Chinese New Year cupcakes, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Birthday Flowers (2 months late in posting)

2010-07-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Birthday Flowers, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

mom - did I ever send you pictures of what the flowers you sent looked like? They were beautiful!

Birthday Flowers, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

5 x July a full circle (almost)

2010-07-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

It's funny to see things come back around.

little italy, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

new hair!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

lemonade, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Quilt doubles, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Hup Holland - at halftime, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

July 9, 2006
I could only afford to take off one afternoon in the middle of the final stretch of my masters project to watch the final game of the World Cup.

July 5, 2007
Major haircut - it stayed like this for quite a while.

July 6, 2008
In the middle of cooking and baking challenges.

July 12, 2009
The start of a new project - that I'm just getting back to.

July 11, 2010
World cup watching again... this time on the patio at the Drake. And check out all the Holland fans! I wasn't all alone all decked in orange (but I was all alone at my table).

EDIT.. this was all set to be published last week but somehow I dropped the ball.. oops

MYSTERY GIFT!

2010-07-12T20:17:00.000-07:00

MYSTERY GIFT!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

well not really a mystery for me... but can you guess what's in the box?... I can lie down on my couch with room to spare for a size reference.

Bayeux Tapestry - William departs for England, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

annnd.. this was in the crate... A beautiful replica of part of the Bayeux Tapestry. THAT MY MOM MADE!

The original (in Bayeux, France) is 70 meters long and not technically a tapestry (it's embroidered cloth). It depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England (by William the Conqueror) as well as the events of the invasion itself.

I love this section with the ships and all the horses lined up inside of them.

It's hanging above the couch and looks oh so good.
Thanks mom!

Mary Mitchell in Mackenzie

2010-07-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

Mitch, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Right after the big Olympics trip I decided that enough time had passed and it was finally my turn to visit my best friend. She moved to Mackenzie BC while I was still living in Vancouver - so that has to be 6 or more years ago. I've seen her many times since then - but never up there.
As can be imagined it was the best ending to the trip possible. Mackenzie was a winter wonderland and any time I get to hang out with Mary is never long enough (yes, my best friend and my middle sister have the same name). We went for walks across frozen lakes, cross-country skiing (though the cross-country skiing was a TERRIBLE idea or well skiing on the hills was a terrible idea) and fixed things.. McGuiver style. The photo below is a terrible picture of our repair of the dishwasher, with a zip tie (the black one). It worked wonderfully!

cute mitts

2010-06-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

Mitered Mittens (May) by Elizabeth Zimmermann
wool: Noro Silk Garden
weekend knit (started Friday after work and finished on Monday)

ez at perfection! i think this might be the perfect car knitting pattern ever … small/portable, ideal mix of mindless stockinette but miters keep it interesting… feeling inspired to make a bunch on the upcoming road trip into BC
love love love!
used the gusset thumb thanks to grace ivy

i have narrow hands so adjusted the stitch count
CO 48st and reduced to 36st (so a flared long cuff)
gusset thumb: 12 st

ps crazy how these ending lining up! it is like i planned it (not at all)

tricky relations (clarified!)

2010-06-24T11:24:00.000-07:00

I had this problem come up a few times since I've moved to Ontario. How do I refer to some of my more distant and differently connected family when talking about them to other people? Living closer, and interacting more, with a greater array of my families relatives is really cool but ultimately brings up the problem that I never know the exact term for people. When I was younger I called most of them aunt and uncle (and still do with most of my dad's cousins who live in Tofino) but now that I am older, and my age is closer to some of these people, this won't work.

Just today I read a really cool post from Lifehacker (one of my favorite blogs). It talked about using the "computational knowledge engine" Wolfram-Alpha (similar to searching through a encyclopedia.. ?? but with the ability to do math or compare things?) to understand familial connections.. so I searched "mom's cousin's son" and got this:

Mystery solved.

1st day of Summer

2010-06-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

sprinkler fest, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I can't imagine it getting so hot in Victoria that I would need to run through the sprinklers - but it apparently happened.
Happy summer everyone.

Olympics - Hockey!

2010-06-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hockey - Vancouver 2010, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Oh man! this was exciting - a round robin match between underdogs Latvia and the Czechs. Somehow we got amazing seats .. just to the side of the goal in the 6th row. The atmosphere in the arena was amazing an it was so cool to see the crowd erupt when Latvia finally scored.

Hockey - Vancouver 2010, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Though Latvia lost the game there was lots to celebrate.. That day they had won their first Olympic Medal ever! and later in the games they would come back to defeat the Czechs. Below is a little slide show of some of the pictures I took that day.

Practice Lines

2010-06-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Olympics - Curling practice lines
Originally uploaded by girl from finito

One of my favorite things that I didn't expect.. before the games start they run practice lines!
The men tended to do them more than the women -
very cool.

this video unfortunately is pretty shoddy - I shot it with my phone.

Olympics - curling

2010-06-07T15:55:00.000-07:00

Curling - Vancouver 2010, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

So I've finally gotten around to uploading my pictures from the Olympics. There will be more in the coming week now that things with the freelance work is becoming more relaxed.
This is one of my favorite shots that I've come across (so far I've only looked at a third of the photos I took).
This was the first day of curling we saw (round robin #4 for the men). The Canada v. Sweden game ended before the others that's why there is a page empty.

spruce tip jelly

2010-06-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

yes, you read the title correctly .... spruce tip

it is spruce tip collecting time in the Yukon ... or really the end of it. For a couple weeks in May you can go collect the new 'buds' just before the brown papery covering has fallen off .... before they get too mature. You can eat them right off the tree - they taste almost lemony. So Christine and I inspired by our new Miche Genest cookbooks went out into the woods to gather them up. Many bug bites later we emerged with a bag each!

The jelly is quite delicate tasting - I can see why many people say they use it like honey - a teaspoon in their tea. Apparently spruce tips are very rich in Vitamin C (and are brewed into a tea for sore throats/colds).

Recipe:

Pick roundabout four cups of spruce tips. Rinse in cold water and give a light chopping. Cover the tips with water and simmer for 10 minutes. Let stand overnight, strain with jelly bag or cheesecloth.

3 1/2 cups spruce tip juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 package (dry) fruit pectin
5 cups sugar

Mix juice with lemon juice and pectin, stir until dissolved. Bring to a boil - add sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil for 1 minute. Ladle into jars.

More about spruce tips here and thank you to Miche - do check out her great cookbook: The Boreal Gourmet (review here)

Jónsi

2010-04-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow night, as an early birthday present Jodi is taking me to see Jónsi (the side project of the lead singer of Sigur Ros)
From what I've heard so far I think It'll be fantastic!

raspberry lemon jam

2010-04-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

raspberry-lemon jam (with kiwi and grapefruit marmalade behind)

last night i made this jam - i had frozen raspberries and a bunch of lemons in the house - it is pretty tasty! i love raspberry jam - it has always been a favourite and I have to say the addition of lemon is a great sweet/tart combo.

Raspberry Lemon Jam

4 medium lemons
1/8 teaspoon baking soda (to adjust acidity)
one package (600 grams) frozen raspberries
6 cups sugar
1 (3 ounce) pouch liquid fruit pectin

1. Slice the lemons in half (along equator) and remove any seeds . Place in a deep pot and bring to boil, simmer, covered, for about 30 min. or until rind is soft. * I thinly sliced half of the lemons into rounds (these didn't go into the food processor) I don't think I'd bother again - the rounds are pretty but kind of a pain to spread on toast

2. Toss the boiled lemons in the food processor until its a nice even pulp

3. Meanwhile defrost raspberries

4. Place lemon pulp and defrosted raspberries into pot - i use my le creuset (dutch oven), bring to a boil, slowly add sugar, stir over heat, until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil, boil uncovered for 2 minutes. Quickly stir in pectin; return to a full rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; skim off any foam.

5. Pour into hot sterilized jars; leaving 1/4-in. headspace, seal.

Yields: about 8 cups

kiwi lime marmalade

2010-03-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

based on this meyer lemon kiwi marmalade recipe this is the tastiest marmalade ever ... well it is a hardly marmalade but a tangy beautiful spread

kiwi lime marmalade

6-8 Limes (or lemons if you like - i didn't have enough limes so did 4 limes and 3 lemons)
6 Kiwi (firm/ripe)
5 C Sugar

1. Slice the limes in half (along equator) and remove any seeds . Place in a deep pot and bring to boil, simmer, covered, for about 30 min. or until rind is soft.

2. Toss the boiled limes in the food processor until its a nice even pulp

3. Halve and scoop out kiwi - chop or crush into smaller pieces - it doesn't need to be pretty

3. Place lime pulp and kiwi into pot - i use my le creuset (dutch oven), add sugar, stir over heat, without boiling, until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil, boil, uncovered for about 15 min. or until marmalade jells when tested.

5. Pour into hot sterilized jars; seal.

Yields: about 5 cups

ps - i love this stuff! it is great with cream cheese and bagels

sigh a bunch didn't seal

2010-03-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

i love listening to the lovely little pops as the jars seals. it is seriously so satisfying ... ok i profess my geekdom there but then i guess that is already out there with all this canning

but .. sigh 7 jars of the grapefruit didn't take - that is pretty much half of the batch! I think my jars were not hot enough - so have looked up other ways to heat up the jars. the simplest is filling the jars with water and tossing them in the microwave worked like a charm for the kiwi marmalade i made tonight

easy organic grapefruit marmalade

2010-03-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

so the first marmalade i made was blood orange based on this recipe from design sponge. it came out a lovely deep red .... it was a lot of work and i think i over cooked it. so much prep work! ... segmenting the oranges, making sure none of the white pith remained in ....

but then i read about boiling the fruit - it removes the bitterness - and the beauty is once they have been boiled - toss the orange etc in the food processor - yep the whole (mushy) thing!

OK on to the recipe!

easy grapefruit marmalade

5-6 Medium grapefruit (i used organic ruby red)
1 Medium lemon
10 Cups sugar, approximately

1. Slice the grapefruit and lemon in half (along equator) and remove any seeds - you won't get them all but no worries you can scoop out any stray seeds later. place in a deep pot and bring to boil, simmer, covered, for about 45 min. or until rind is soft. many suggest leaving them overnight - i have done this as well using them right away - i can't tell the difference

2. Toss the boiled citrus in the food processor until its a nice even pulp

3. Measure fruit mixture; allow 1-cup sugar to each cup of fruit mixture.

4. Return fruit mixture to your pot - i use my le creuset (dutch oven), add sugar, stir over heat, without boiling, until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil, boil, uncovered for about 15 min. or until marmalade jells when tested.

5. Pour into hot sterilized jars; seal.

Yields: About 10 cups

101 jars of jam on the wall

2010-03-09T22:52:00.000-08:00

well not 100 jars yet ... but that is the plan
i've challenged myself to make 10 dozen (umm yes i can do math that is 120 jars but gosh that seems like a big number that i'll never finish) so as i go i figured i'd share the recipes
since its winter i'm starting with marmalades - i don't know about you but citrus seem like the only fruit in the supermarket at the moment but maybe that is because i live in the yukon

Olympics - Outfits and fans

2010-03-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

Holy cow Vancouver was full of people. Mostly it was candians wandering around in toques and red mapleleaf mitts but there were people who stuck out in the sea of red and white.

Probably the most recognizable were the Dutch fans in their bright orange. Though there were a lot downtown you found most of the fans were at the Richmond speedskating oval. (these people were waiting for the skytrain)

The other really popular uniform was team Russia - and I must admit they looked really good.

Olympics - Curling

2010-02-28T16:22:00.000-08:00

Curling! I love curling!

This is a shot from the first of 3 curling games my family attended during the olympics... The 2nd page is Team Canada (Martin's rink) playing Team Sweden. (Norway is right beside them).
Later I will upload some video of the practice runs from this game.

Also congratulations to Team Martin and Team Bernard for excellent showings at the games (gold and silver respectivly).

Olympics - Vancouver

2010-02-27T22:02:00.000-08:00

Two years ago tickets for the Vancouver olympics went on sale. My family was lucky enough to get a few and made plans to attend. It feels like I have been planning on this forever, and giving people the most advanced notice I have ever given.
Mary and I found a place to rent in the west end - close to downtown and arranged extra event tickets.
Vancouver was amazing. It was like April or May. Trees and flowers blooming and warm enough to just wear a light coat.

It really was magical to be there and to be there with my family.
In the next few days I plan on putting together my photos from the trip but for now here is some early spring.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Taking advantage of Beaconsfieldville

2010-02-13T15:40:00.000-08:00

I must admit, I love living where I live. My neighbourhood is full of cafes and bars and art galleries. On any given night there is a plethora of things to do. I don't often take advantage of this-even when I know my house is around the corner and if I'm bored I can easily go home. Thankful (luckily? covienently? serendipitously?) my good friend Connie now works across the street from my apartment, so we can attend events together.

Last Friday we attended Powerpoint Karaoke.

What is Powerpoint karaoke you ask... Well basically it's where people improv speaches to match a series of PowerPoint slides they have never seen.

Overall analysis: funtimes!
On closer inspection: these things are better when they are less self-aware... Too much irony and too many hipsters (of which I would probably have to count myself).
I would have enjoyed more random slides.. Though I really did love the talk on grammar.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Freelancing, freelancing, freelancing

2010-02-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

Lungs, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Man! I was busy at the end of last year. It was good, flexing the little drawing muscle I have but it was a bit much.. a lot of running around trying to meet deadlines.
All in all I'm pretty pleased with what I accomplished.
The above shot is a a surfactant secreting cell that I drew as part of an illustration of the inner workings of the lung during development. I was nervous about the comic style but I think it turned out quite well.

The action of Warfarin, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I also worked on a method of action illustration which was fun.. I kinda channeled the text books form my biochemistry days.

Ted Harrison Exhibit Kids guide, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Finally I got to do some work for Mary. These last two are kids guides for upcoming shows.
The one above is so cool - an exhibit of the original painting Ted Harrison did for the Cremation of Sam McGee and the Shooting of Dan McGrew... it's on in West Vancouver from Feb 9 to March 5th at the Ferry Building Gallery

this is from the front and back cover -- the dude is supposed to be Robert Service.

The one below is a paper doll illustrating some different outfits of the native people of the north...
This one accompanies an exhibit of Dolls for the Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver..

It was fun not having to be so strict with proportion and scale.. and the clothing is just so pretty...
also I am now skilled at drawing fur.. kinda

Paper Doll - Outfits from the North, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

CATS LET NOTHING DARKEN THEIR ROAR - January

2010-01-31T18:08:00.000-08:00

January, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I have too many calendars. I do. But when I saw this one last year I had to have it. It's a Scandinavian typography calendar. Each month has a different phrase that spells out the month's name. I love it.

As a little challenge, to get me drawing more, I've decided to draw the phrase each month...

As you can see it's Jan 31st so this one took a while.. the idea and drawing didn't take too long to put together once I decided that the bunnies would not be pink. It is early for cherry blossoms, in fact it's snowing right now, but I am reminded of the Christmas card Mary got for me. She found some cards that brownies were selling at a Christmas bazaar... the outside said merry christmas and inside it said Spring is bound to come!.... so great!

Hikes...

2010-01-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

Dune grass - Radar Beach, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The best thing, besides seeing my family, about being back in BC is the access to the outdoors. The thing I miss about living in Vancouver is that you can hop on a city bus and be in the woods in 30 minutes. The green space in Toronto and the east is quite different from BC. I find myself missing the mountains and rain forest quite a bit when I am in Toronto.

Top of Radar.. looking towards Tofino, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Part of the time I was back for Christmas my good friend Karen was in town as well. Karen is like me, grew up in Tofino and moved away for school, she now lives in London and works for the World Health Organization (I am amazed sometimes at the talent and accomplishments of my friends). One of the days before Christmas we decided to hike down to Radar Beach. The hike is a bit different from normal ones as you drive up to the top of Radar and hike down( and then hike back up). Radar Hill is so named because it was a lookout for invading armies from Asia during the war. Most of the grand views of the Pacific have grown over with trees (Radar Hill is now part of Pacific Rim National Park) but the view towards Tofino is still lovely I think. It turned out to be the perfect day to hike down... It started raining boxing day.

Radar Beach, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Christmas, New Years and Resolutions

2010-01-23T11:41:00.000-08:00

Incense burner, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I'm not a person who's big into making resolutions.. mostly because I have a hard time keeping them. But as always I thought I'd try. so here is it, my resolution for 2010... 52 blog entries.. that is one for every week in the year. Note that I did not say 1 every week... though that, ultimately will be the aim. so 23 days into the new year I am starting... sounds about right.

As a note this little dude is a German incense burner that my mom got on our family trip to the Maritimes. You put a little cone of incense in the body and he "smokes", though this picture it kinda looks like his souls is escaping! The first time we did this we let the whole cone burn down and the house stunk! the next time we restricted mom to a short time .. and cracked a window.

more fall colours outside my door

2009-09-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

as promised here are more photos

sunday morning in the fall

2009-09-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

sunday mornings are often often filled with pancakes for brunch. patrick whips them up for us around lunch time. this morning i made an apple breakfast cake. quite simple and tasty - it is based roughly on this recipe from d*sponge - theirs is still about summer fruit while i used fall-friendly apples and pears. i used more fruit 3 or 3 1/2 cups (theirs called for 2 cups of berries) and added pumpkin pie spice. it took a little more time to bake. oh and i would suggest sour cream or some yogurt with this - yum!

we are solidly into autumn here - the sweaters (rather than light summer cardigans ... they don't really count as sweaters) are out - these are the lighter pullovers and cozy cardigans ... not the massive ones .... hmm seems i have many classes of sweaters, but in my defense i do live north of 60: Fall arrives at the end of August; i scrape frost off the windshield most mornings now but thats OK - i don't need a coat yet!

here are a couple shots from my apartment patio. i'm going for a little hike this afternoon so may bring my camera as there are some lovely reds out right now too.

Let's go to the EX!

2009-09-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

Let's go to the EX!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Oh my goodness it's the CNE!
this seems more important to me because... I had never been! I know.. but the idea seemed pretty exciting..
It kinda wasn't.. a lot of carnie games and rides and bright flashing lights.. and people.. a lot of people.
But the experience of going was worth it... and there was a lot of food...horribly amazing food!
JD (flatmate) and I headed out with the express purpose of eating terrible food.. I had heard the rumour of deep fried oreos and we both were curious...
I only wish I had gotten a picture of our first food item.. chocolate covered bacon.. that was amazing.. possibly because bacon is amazing... we followed that up with a deep fried Mars bar (kinda disappointing) and deep fried Oreos (mega good) really it was a tie between the bacon and the oreos for best food of the night... mmmmn I can feel my ateries clogging as I remember...
Yum Yum

CNE.. home of greasy food... take 3, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Tomatoes!

2009-09-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I grew these.
It's my first time growing tomatoes and I think I did ok. some of the plants now have a fungal or mold infection on their leaves.. i think because it's been a really wet summer. Other than that I've gotten quite a few lovely cherry tomatoes from my 3 little plants. Ya!

new project ...old project

2009-08-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

so yes ... i hate to admit it but i do have a closet of wool. here is a very old project .... from the last winter olympics in fact! this was my olympic knitting project when i lived in dawson .... but i never finished ... as it was coming together, it umm was a bit blah. but when i saw new free pattern downloads yesterday from interweave i found inspiration to dig up that project, pull it apart and start on a cozy fall cardigan.

so i have it all balled now and you know it is really quite a lovely colour deep greens with some teal and clay hints. the pattern: Side-Way Ribs Cardigan by Norah Gaughan is quite simple and normally too boring to knit but it is going to be quick and has an interesting construction!

instant shawl

2009-08-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

so i'm still working on that edging ..... 2.5 sections out of seven .... sigh
on my trip to dawson last weekend i cast on for a simple shawllette (placing beads on lace yarn in the car .... not that do-able) .... very satisfying to finish a project in the car there and back!

this is textured shawl recipe available on ravelry. i subbed in a bunch of other stitches and rows of stockinette between the lace

it is fairly small but it is perfect for this rustic pretty handspun wool that i bought in inuvik. hard to see but there are beads randomly glittering too

i made wool

2009-07-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

ok maybe i didn't make it but i did spin it!

while in Inuvik i was able to take a spinning class ... well almost the class was full but they let me watch and listen. I learnt alot! and it gave me confidence to try drop spindling. that is the photo above: my drop spindle. it is a lovely little thing cherry wood and very light so i can spin lace weights. can should be in quotes ... so i could spin lace, once i get better - right now it is mainly fingering (sock) weight .. but there are fair chunks of thick and thin

here is my fibre .... Spunky Eclectic Spunky Club Roving: Romney wool, Pansy colourway

our instructor gave lots of tips - ie good begining fibres - romney, corridale are two goods ones as they have long grabby hairs/fibres. also variegated colours help too so you can see the twist.

and here is my first 4oz or 100 grams of hand spun wool!!!

Quilting week three

2009-07-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

Quilt week three, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

So this week we sewed the pieces together and attached a border with a mitered edge.. not hard work as it was all sewing in straight lines. This is the first picture of the quilt top all assembled.. the lighting is pretty poor as I took the photo at night but I think it looks pretty good!!!!Last class tomorrow.. backing, binding and starting to quilt it ..
WOW!

all i do is edge

2009-07-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

lacy knit-on edging: a fancy way to bind off

so i've had a few questions on how my current sweater is constructed. it is basically a giant circle. i cast on 7 stitches (centre back) and every other round i increased by 7 stitches.

step 1: knit the circle
step 2: knit the edging
step 3: sleeves

so right now i am on step 2 - the edging is basically a fancy bind-off, or in other words to cast off one stitch i have to knit 40 to 48 stitches. around the edge is about 550 stitches to cast off .... i don't want to do the math so lets just say it is a lot of knitting. Unfortunately it is kind of boring knitting which is part of the reason i'm adding beads to make it more interesting !

see what i mean how the colour shifts? here the beads appear copper ....
a post or two below and they look amethyst

just to clarify i haven't pre-strung the beads rather i add them to stitch with a crochet hook - whoever figured this out was brilliant. it works really well! you just need to find a tiny hook!

Quilting... week two

2009-07-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

thread, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

OK so a lot got accomplished this week. we took our sewn arcs and appliqued them onto squares we cut out. then we cut out corner pieces and sewed them on..
I opted to make a larger quilt so there is a lot of homework to do. But got it done! ya ya ya! this is just some of the scrap thread from the sewing extravaganza that occurred this week.

The arcs are below.. they'll be assembled into intersecting circles this monday!

Quilt squares, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Finally, this week I also chose my backing and border fabrics. The backing fabric I'm going to keep a little bit of a secret for now, but trust me it's awesome! The fabric below is the border fabric.. it reminds me of Andrea.

Anna Griffin - Flora Collection, originally uploaded by the workroom.

1985

2009-07-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

mom and dad brought boxes of everything i've left behind at home ... most of it i haven't seen for years.
this morning i found my school journal from 1985:

My DaD is wroking on church. he allmot finish it. I like helping

this one is kind of hard to read ... but it is me helping my dad as he is working on the church (they were building an upper floor extension) ... how sweet hey .... now check this one out:

85/10/15. When I was walking to class Willa was makeing noses. I spaked willa said OWh!

yes .. that is me hitting my younger sister... ha! how awesome is that ... she was banging cups (?) so i decided to spank her and then wrote about it?! what the hell ... but i do love the expressions

on to the edging

2009-07-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

well i've done the body of the cardigan now onto the edging. to help the monotony of it (twenty stitch saw tooth lace edge) i've decided to add beads - i picked out gold seed beads in Inuvik but i haven't been able to find a crochet hook small enough to add them to the yarn. so yesterday i went to our great local dollar store and found these larger beads and a size 14 crochet hook (0.60 mm smallest i've been able to find in whitehorse). The beads are a clear amethyst purple with a copper foil lining - the copper glints in the light and also makes the beads appear brown in some light. i really like how they shift colour - sometimes a pale grey-purple, bright copper, or dark warm purple/brown.

i have to admit i'm a little worried that they will add too much weight to this light floaty cardigan (wool will weigh about 100grams) and/or distract from the lace - however they are really pretty and it is fun to knit with them!

ps want to know how to knit with beads? knitty has a great article about beading it is much easier than it looks - try it out!

Quilting... aka I might be insane

2009-07-12T18:21:00.000-07:00

Quilt doubles, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

So I signed up for a double wedding ring quilting class at the excellent Workroom just down the street from my house.
I got super excited about picking fabric for the rings and am all excited for class... but I'm just going to say it..
It's a ton of work.
I want to make it big enough to fit on my bed but ummm... I was hoping to have a life this summer. the teacher would like us to make a 4x4 quilt... I have enough patches to make a 6x7 quilt.. almost triple the size...
I don't know what I've gotten myself into but here goes nothing.

sewn arcs!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Iceland and Denmark - that's all folks!

2009-07-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Denmark - Lego at Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

man! it took me forever to get all these posts up! but here they are. YA! man looking at all this stuff makes me wish I was back there right now.

Blue Lagoon, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Tivoli

2009-07-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

April 10 - In and Outside of Copenhagen: Castle, Museum and Tivoli

2009-07-10T08:10:00.000-07:00

Denmark - Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Just outside of Copenhagen stands one of the best known castles in Europe. Kronborg Slot in Helsingor otherwise known as Hamlet's Castle. We spent the morning exploring the castles many rooms and, while I can't speak for Mary, I was reciting bits of Hamlet the whole time (Ah! Yorik! I knew him well Horatio...). After a traditional lunch of Smørrebrød(open faced sandwiches) we headed back towards Copenhagen with a stop at Louisiana. Louisiana is the Danish MoMA - but bigger. It is set on a lovely sea side property donated to the modern art museum and named after the donors three wives all named Louise ... yes he married three different women with the same name.

Our last stop was Tivoli, the amusement park near the centre of Copenhagen. It is amazing. It is no wonder that Walt Disney based Disneyland on it and the Michael Jackson offered to buy it. We went back twice, once for dinner and the second time to see all the lights on. Tivoli is the perfect mix of rides and carnival games and food. There really was things for all ages.. fine dining next to candyfloss stands, carni games and rollercoasters.. and lots and lots of flowers in bloom! Mary and I got wonderful fresh brewed Chai tea and if we go again I will insist on gelato..mmmmn.

Denmark - Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Denmark - Pulpit Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

April 9 - Museums, Castles and Waterfront

2009-07-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

Copenhagen - Botanisk Have, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We started the day a little late so that we could fully use the 72 hour Copenhagen Card. The card gets us entry into almost every museum in the city as well as free rides on all the city transportation. We wandered up from the hotel and into Botanisk Have, the botanical gardens. We came across the Palm house and took a look inside. I wasn't brave enough to make it up the circular viewing platform but Mary was. The plants in the gardens were really lovely and it was cool to see things like cinnamon and orange trees.

After that we made our way to the Satens Museum for Kunst. We saw some excellent Titians, Magrittes and Picassos as well as quite a number of Danish contemporaries. Right across the street was Rosenborg Slot, a summer castle for the monarchy that now is a museum and the housing for the crown jewels.

Copenhagen - Rosenborg Slot, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The castle was beautiful - almost all of it containing thee original furnishing from Christian IV including his bloody clothes from when he lost an eye in a batttle. It was very impressive, I especially enjoyed the tapestries depicting the Dano-Swede naval battles.

Copenhagen - Anglican Church, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We wandered up town but were unfortunately too late for the medical museum and too early for church service. we wandered around the battlements near the Anglican church for a while and then decided to walk along the water to go get dinner.

Copenhagen - Lagkagehuset Bakery, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We ended up stopping at Lagkagehuset one of the oldest and premiere bakeries in Copenhagen. It all looked so delicious so we picked up desert.

April 8 - Copenhagen Shopping and Boat Tour

2009-07-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

Copenhagen - fisherwoman, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Being Easter it is opening weekend for Tivoli! We were greeted in the morning by the boys auxiliary (?) band playing outside the entrance to the amusement park.We carried on .. there was a lot of shopping to do and the shops would be closed thursday and friday for easter holidays. We did manage to sneak in a canal tour in between hunting for wool and the latest Danish trend.. crazy scarves. We ran into the band again while shopping, this time in a little parade down the main pedestrian street.

Copenhagen - Tivoli parade, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

cool free stuff

2009-06-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

hermes kelly bag - seriously! the classic grace kelly bag - you can download it and print off your very own coveted bag. they have pre-made designs or a plain white one to decorate. i'm quite tempted to bring it down to to staples and print it out on heavy card ... wonder if you could laminate it??

yoga podcasts - ok many of you might have already thought of this but i just recently discovered these and gotta say i love them - i stick on my ipod and i can have a class at home (or the park ..etc) there are video podcasts but i prefer the audio ones ... the yogadownload ones come with pose guides too .. i also like "hillary's yoga practice" for longer sessions (about 60 minutes vs 20 minutes).

libravox - i have been talking about/loving this site for a while. what is librivox.org? free audio books of anything that is in the public domain. so the classics! feel like knitting to Jane Austen or maybe Dickens? all the books are there read by volunteers ... which means some are better than others but all in all it is great! here is a personal fav: Pride and Prejudice

and yeah there is plenty more out there (like some great knitting patterns) ... nevermind my place: the library! enjoy and share other links!

currently on the needles ..... and on my plate

2009-06-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

hardly looks like anything here but it will end up as a lacy floaty cardigan .... this link isn't a great pic but it does give you an idea how it will end up. the pattern is Honeysuckle in Rowan 45. mom has given me a subscription to this British magazine for the last couple years and i love it. it isn't a fast knit ... i'm on row 86 of 130 .... well then i do the edging and sleeves. so i'm getting there but haven't reached the half way mark yet!

mom and dad were here last week. it was so great to have them visiting as they finally got a chance to see the Yukon during our long summer days. they drove up bring my bedroom furniture ( a tall boy chest of drawers and vanity both with beautiful art deco lines from the 30s) and my great grandmothers china ... yes i now have a stunning set of dishes!

Blue Mikado by Royal Crown Derby ... this set was once Jennie Cogswell's my mom's mother's mother ... willa also got a beautiful set - from mom's father's mother - unfortunately not all of willa's made it to her complete ... so sad!!!! many broke ... so we'll hunt the internet for replacements. andrea also just received china too from our grandma white - her's has lovely pink blossoms that almost have a botanical drawing feel about them - so perfect for andrea!

back to my trip with mom and dad - they spent a few days here in whitehorse then we drove up to dawson city where we had three nights. there are so many touristy things to do in dawson and it has been a while since i've done them! we did the walking tour(highly recommended by the way as they also take you into restored buildings), the dredge (so big!), and mom and dad also went to robert service's and jack london's cabin .... i had homework to do then so didn't make it to those. we all went up the dome road which is high above dawson to see the sun not set on the 21st at midnight. it is a big gathering spot everyone brings a bottle ... or card table (there were a couple of groups plying poker) ... we looking rather square with out booze and mom and i were pretty tired ... but it is always cool to experience to sun stay high .. or skim above the mountains anyway ;)

ok i'm going to knit a bit more this morning .. enjoy your sunday morning

Easter in Copenhagen

2009-06-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

Europe knows how to celebrate Easter. Not only is every shop decorated with bunnies and eggs and chickens but they get Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Monday as stat holidays.

April 7 - Copenhagen and Spring

2009-06-24T14:01:00.000-07:00

Copenhagen - houses, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Mary and I were pretty excited to arrive in Copenhagen. Iceland was wonderful and the weather despite the gloomy forecasts was lovely. But Denmark is full of spring, we arrived to a flower market in the square beside our hotel, bikes everywhere and warm glorious sunshine.

Copenhagen - tulips, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We even ate dinner outside (with blankets wrapped around our legs) at the terrific RizRaz.

Copenhagen - Riz Raz, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

April 7 - Skyr!

2009-06-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

Iceland - Skyr!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

we thought it was yoghurt.. it's actually cheese. It's really tasty- all the flavours of yoghurt but not too sweet. delicious!

oh and watch this : It could be worse: Iceland

April 6 - Gullfoss and Geyser

2009-06-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

April 6 - Thingvalier

2009-06-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

April 6 - The Golden Circle

2009-06-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

the Golden Circle - the road to Thingvellir, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Today was our big "tourist day"; we rented a car and started out on a tour of the major geographic sites of the Reykjavik area. Before we hit those we made a very important stop at the Alafoss Outlet Store and bought unspun wool, something you can't buy in Canada. Then we were off. The countryside is a lot like northern Canada.. low tundra and snow capped mountains; except these mountains are volcanic.

the Golden Circle - Pingvellir, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We stopped at Thingvalier for lunch and a walk around. It's the sight of the first Icelandic Parliament (the oldest in the world) and also marks the boundary of the North American and European plates. The split between the plates has created a rather dramatic looking rift beside a swiftly moving river. The plates are slowly moving apart and cause Iceland to grow by about 2 cm per year!

Oh, I mentioned lunch. It was here we decided to try some Icelandic "delicacies"

the Golden Circle - mmmmn.. haroifiskur, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Haroifiskur: dried fish with butter
Our verdict: a bit chewy, but good

Pingvellir - mary tries hakari, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Hakari: fermented (rotten) shark..
our verdict: I thought it was chewy and tolerable..like a very strong cheese. I could grow to like it.
Mary couldn't even swallow it.

the Golden Circle - on the way back to Reykjavik, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We continued up the road to Geyser... yes the one that named all other geysers.. well actually we were more interested in Strokkur which is active - Geyser stopped being active many years ago. Further up the road the sleet started .. but being good Canadian girls, we still managed to run out and look at Gullfoss the waterfall nearby. The sleet and snow was pretty miserable so we didn't stay long. We drove home via Sulfoss in the south which is near where we went horse riding before. It seems Sulfoss has the worst weather (but does have pizza with bananas!).

icelandic wool

2009-05-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

one thing i absolutely had on my list to bring back was icelandic wool. hee hee no surprise there! the mecca? the Álafoss factory outlet shop/orginal mill (pictured above). willa and i drove there on monday before we started our country drive. and wow! so glad we went. the staff were sooo nice, the selection amazing, and more than just wool lots of knit sweaters/ lace stoles/ kid items etc. oh and great prices - i left with spending just under $40 CA with enough wool to knit a cardigan and 2 or 3 lace stoles/scarves!

i will warn you my knitting/yarn geekness is going to come out here - so feel free to glaze over and just admire the pics.

Like Shetland (northern scottish islands) Iceland has its own breed of sheep. the resulting wool is warm, hardy and water-repellent. its long fibres mean it wears well (merino and cashmere for example have short fibres meaning they are soft .. but are delicate/prone to pilling - this is over simplified but you get the picture) because the long guard hairs are included - this adds to the wind/water resistant quality but also makes the wool 'hairy' looking and many find it itchy - ps a wash/soak in hair conditioner does wonders!

Ever heard of Lopi? yep that is icelandic wool - available in north america in 3 weights lite, regular and bulky. It is one ply with a loose spin/twist. Pretty affordable a lot of people i know use it for felted items (slippers etc) ......... i've used it a few times often carrying anther fibre like mohair with it to soften it up a bit

but i've been curious about the other icelandic wool out there..... in particular the traditional unspun that comes in "cakes" much like white buffalo used to, and the lace weight.

Plötulopi: the unspun wool, it "is fragile to knit; however, due to the length of its fibres, it knits into a sweater that is both sturdy and soft." see the lovely sweater above? I bought one from "Farmers Market" - young design company [profiled here] that is re-imagining the traditional lopapeysa - or icelandic yoke sweater. I love the sweater - i must get a shot of of me wearing it. anyway back to wool it is knit with a single strand of unspun while more traditional sweaters you'd knit with 2 to 4 strands at a time which would make them ready for the elements. but since i'm wearing this inside i love how lightweight and airy the cardigan is - yet still warm.

i love it so much i'm going to knit myself almost the same sweater - this time in a natural heathered grey with cream and purple. swoon! i have soooo many projects lined up but this pretty pretty wool is calling. oh and it smells great - i guess because it is rather unprocessed

and then there is the laceweight: Loðband - if you've been following the blog you'll know i've been really into knitting lace. and based on a beautiful triangle shaped shawl we saw in the shop [here is one that is similar - might be the pattern i'll use] i bought 6 natural shades from the lightest cream to a deep charcoal. i bought extra white/cream and charcoal so i have enough for 2 or 3 projects!

ps. if you are interested in more about icelandic wool and knitting - check out the The Handknitting Association of Iceland

streets of Reykjavík

2009-05-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

just wanted to give you a few glimpses of Reykjavík - here is willa (basically across from our place on the main shopping street: Laugavegur ) as you can see it wasn't warm - but no snow in town at least (early april)

street names - this was a shorter one!

many murals in town - this was a favourite! notice the palettes/massive sequins - the shimmering as the wind blew them - this was a feature on a few buildings. you know my undying love for shiny things ... so yes loved these giant metallic discs

overview from high up on the perlan

residential street - downtown Reykjavík - like Dawson City a good deal of tin siding. i love all the colours

mmmmmmmmm yellow

2009-05-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

oh how i love yellow at the mo. especially when it has a bit of green in it .....almost neon
mmmmmmm. thanks to willa i have these. don't ya love them!

April 5 - Reykjavik and the Blue Lagoon

2009-04-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Reykjavik - Hallgrimur church, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Sunday and we made it to church. Well... not an english service, that's actually really hard to find. but we made it an Icelandic service in the beautiful Hallgrimur church. After that we cruised around to some museums. We saw the original Sagas written in Viking times chronically the exploits of Erik the Red and Leif Errikson. Many of them are still in Copenhagen, claimed by the Danish when they ruled over Iceland but a few have been returned. The Culture house had a good display of them as well as exhibits on Icelandic film and housing some of the Natural History Museum specimens.

Reykjavik - hot dogs!!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We wandered back to the Flea Market to get me an Icelandic sweater (ya!) and ate dinner at the famous Baedarius Beztu hot-dog stand. I don't really know what was on our hot-dogs what we guessed was: raw onions, cooked (crunchy) onions, ketchup, mayonnaise with pickles??? and gravy??? Despite the unknown condiments they were quite good! We had to eat early becasue we were off to the blue lagoon.

Blue Lagoon, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The water really is blue, but amazingly it didn't smell terribly of sulphur (like the surrounding area did). we slathered the white silt on our faces (sorry no pictures!) and lounged around in the warm waters. when it started to get dark we hopped on the bus and headed back into Reykjavik.

Blue Lagoon, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Kolaportið

2009-04-20T22:21:00.000-07:00

Kolaportið ......... ah the flea market in Reykjavík. seriously such a great time. imagine a large warehouse divided into to isles and many table/stalls and then add huge amounts of people swarming and trying on sweaters/hats/etc. it's a crazy mix from folks with established tables full of vinyl and band tees, handknit sweaters (lopapeysa), beautiful dishes, to artists selling their work, and many just clearing out their closet. oh and the fish market of course! where we bought the rotten shark and dried fish

what we came away with:
jewelery - directly from the artist - stunning lava and silver pieces
salt licorice (just a couple pieces as i bought a MASSIVE bag at the airport - i still have loads)
a sparkly topshop tank - barely worn
a cowl top (again a group of friends selling items from their closets)
willa almost bought a sweater dress - but ended up with a great sweater at another shop

icelandic foods: love, like, and not so much

2009-04-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

easter eggs that come with fortunes. love cool article here

Bæjarins beztu pylsur (translates to The best best hot dog in town) and yep pretty good! they had a huge amount of toppings: ketchup, sweet mustard, fried onions, raw onions and remolaði, a mayonnaise-based sauce with sweet relish (oh and gravy too i think!) somewhere between like and love

haroifiskur or hardfiskur wind dried fish you eat with butter. it is alright. made a pretty good lunch. although not a quick eat.... lots of chewing. like

Hákari or kæstur hákarl (Icelandic for "fermented shark") yes rotten shark ... why rotten? well shark is poisonous when fresh due to a high content of uric acid and other toxins but may be consumed after it is 'cured' - ie buried in gravel for 2-3 months. It has a particular ammonia smell ... and is umm an acquired taste. Willa didn't mind it .... me? not so much

Skyr (pronounced skeer) is similar to a thick yoghurt, though technically skyr is a very soft cheese. and oh my it is really really good! it is actually made from skim milk which for yoghurt usually means well pretty crap but skyr is very creamy and rich. we ate skyr everyday and even during our layover on our way home! love oooooh and check out colbert eating skyr

April 4 - Reykjavik - Weekend Flea Market

2009-04-16T04:59:00.000-07:00

Reykjavik - Weekend Flea Market, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We were supposed to go to the museums today but spent the day shopping. We cruised the flea market which is not to be missed. from the stalls you can buy all sorts of things, from locally designed jewelry to junk jewels; icelandic sweaters, delicacies such as dried fish and shark. We ate lunch in the small cafe area and listened to a group of friends playing Beatles tunes on their guitars.

April 3 - Reykjavik and Around

2009-04-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

Reyjkavik -, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I was shocked when my sister didn't put up a fight when I suggested this activity. Mary is not a fan or horses but Saying the magic word PONIES! many many times somehow convinced her. We couldn't have picked a worse day for it.. blowing sleet for half the ride. Thankfully the riding company we went with had snow suits and rain gear for us. The rain stopped as we crossed over some low mountains and it was a pleasant ride from there on but both mary and my butts are sore an I think I will be trying to make up for this excursion for a little while.

Reyjkavik - the Perlan, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Back in town we decided to go for a walk around town and found our way up to the Perlan. The Perlan is the storehouse for a lot of the geothermically heated water supplied to reykjavik. Actually almost 90% of houses in the capital are heated geothermically. The Perlan is also a museum and a cafe that sits on the top of a mountain overlooking all of Reykjavik. There was some lovely views and some bunnies spotted. The bunnies apparently survive the winter by snuggling up the the hot water pipes. After all the riding and walking we opted for a relaxing swim at one of the 7 swimming pools in the city. All the pools are minimally chlorinated (so you have to shower before you enter) and geothermcally heated.

April 2: Reykjavik

2009-04-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

Reykjavik - The Grey Cat, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

What do you do after not sleeping on a red eye from Toronto to Reykjavik? I mean besides wondering what the smell is (sulphur) and stopping in the duty free to impulse buy vodka and salted licorice (and then put the super salty thing in your mouth and reel back).. no, after all that you eat breakfast. yummy yummy breakfast at the Grei Kotturinn (Grey Cat) my new favorite little cafe. it was a big breakfast in the oddest little relaxed shop.

Reykjavik - Sun Craft, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

So we have arrived. and have the pictures to prove it. We did a little walking tour that ended at the suncraft sculpture down near the harbour.

Iceland & Denmark

2009-04-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

Reykjavik - Leif Eríkson, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

If you came for posts on our trip.. they are coming... My computer ran into a little power problem in Reykjavik and we have no wifi in Copenhagen so I have been forced to shun the internet. But I have been keeping a little bit of a diary and taking a ton of pictures so I'll have a lot show you all very soon.
Back in Canada on Sunday.

no photos ..... but trust me it is pretty

2009-04-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

Copenhagen is a pretty city .... lots of flowers which is the best. We wandered around shopping today as all the shops will be shut for Easter starting tomorrow(yes including Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday). The big fashion item here are big scarfs - loud bright triangle ones with tassles are hot..... so guess what both willa and i bought today? oh yes mine is almost neon with fantastic embroidery and pom-poms and willas? massive black and white woven square with the biggest tassles ever in yellow, pink, and purple. so great. is it bad i want another one? saw this russian style one ...... good thing those shops are shut for a couple days hey!
tomorrow we are hitting museums. looking forward to that.
oh and to explain the lack of photos: we have to internet cafe now as our hostel doesn't have wifi and we are still having computer power issues (our power converter blew up - it was quite dramatic .. smoke and everything). so yes this a brief note ..... but we have lots more icelandic and now danish photos to post. you can check out some of our iceland photos at willa's flickr site

orange blobs on wet icelandic horses

2009-04-04T02:38:00.000-07:00

umm yep that us .. this picture was taking after about 1/2 an hour of driving sleet. my hair and wet touque is plastered to my face. willa looks a bit better, but then she has always liked horses. when we were kids she was "horse crazy" went to horse camp, drew horses, had posters of horses etc .... me? no. they kinda freaked me out ... ok i should be honest they totally freaked me out esp when they went fast. so willa was pretty excited/surprized when i agreed to a three hour riding trip on icelandic horses. the reassuring thing for me? do you see the size? more like a pony.
We went out with Eldhester they are about 45 min out of town and picked us up right at our hotel/apartment. The horses are really well trained. which served me well. going fast still freaks me out so that was the worst part for me yes even above the stinging sleet and walking thru the river. the mountain trail was beautiful (it had started to clear up then). the staff and whole set up was great. they provided a snowsuit plus the bright orange rain gear along with boots (we had our own), gloves/mitts, and helmets.
today? a little sore .... feels like my bum is bruised. even after the soak at the thermal pool last night.

first stop? .... pancakes

2009-04-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

we flew at 9pm and arrived in Iceland at 6am ... it was a four hour flight and neither willa or i slept much. the drive in from the airport took us thru volcanic cliffs and lichen flatlands almost looked like tundra at times but with giant lava boulders. once in town we headed straight to the Grái kötturinn (Grey Cat) for a full plate of pancakes and bacon. it was about 3am our time so bodies demanded food or sleep. sleep wasn't an option so we window shopped and trekked around town. we hit most of the major landmarks. Reykjavík is such a walkable city! everything on the map ended up being closer than we thought. however by 3 we were about to collapse and had to nap! ah well we walked around more after dinner. our place is great! we have a studio apartment right on the trendy shopping street. very amazing. it has an awesome little kitchen and big square windows.

the classic Reykjavík shot ..... right on the harbour. what might not show up here is how windy it was. unreal. super chilly. but as you can see a nice looking day none the less.

Easter Eggs

2009-03-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

Jars full of dye, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I have never been so on top of things. This year I have finished 5 eggs! .. I managed to finish off the last two yesterday while I was waiting to go to the vet.

red background, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

fleur, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I'm not entirely pleased with how the first 3 came out.. all on brown eggs.

diagonal, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

48 triangles, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The last two turned out well..I can't believe I had never done a 48 triangle egg before

Ayalah's Egg, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

My friend Ayalah even came over and made one too! I love this. She's defiantly inspired me to do a non-geometric design.

Happy St.Patricks Day

2009-03-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

St.Patricks Day, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

An excellent pin from mom and some Guinness for the holiday

Cinnamon roooooollllls

2009-03-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

Cinnamon roooooollllls, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Been doing more baking and cooking as of late. These have been made twice. They are really good and - learning to be a bit more patient - they have risen and worked out really nicely. ahhhh hot fresh cinnamon buns. lovely. They have one extra step which makes them a bit more unique than others - when you roll out the dough you fold in a layer of cream cheese and then re-roll.. oooh so tasty.
The recipe come from Saveur magazine.. yum!