Christmas haircut!

I got a hair cut last week, and am happy to have my hair nice and short again. My stylist tried to get creative and leave the top a bit long, which is OK I guess, but I think I'll choose another place next time. Anyway, happy to have shorter coiffed hair!

Skating on Lost Lake

I went skating again today, but not on my neighbourhood pond. I scouted all the local lakes, and found that Lost Lake was completely frozen. I got my skates on, and hit the ice!

Like my local pond, Lost Lake froze pretty well all at once, so it was as smooth as glass. Times like this don't come along very often, when it's cold with no wind and no snow. It created the most amazing skating conditions. Here are some pics.



I got on the lake before 10, and left about three hours later. For most of the time, I had the whole surface to myself. It was so much fun! When I was ready to leave, some people came and got a hockey game going. I was too tired to put in the social effort and join them, since I'd been out there for more than three hours. The middle of the lake was sort of snowy, from others skating and some frost I think.

In the corners and fringes of the lake though, it was very clear.



Look at the ice! It's so flat and clear. I stayed out as long as I could to take advantage of the amazing conditions. It's supposed to snow tomorrow, so the heady days of skating the lake end-to-end will likely be over. I needed to take advantage of the ice while I could!






It took awhile to get my skating legs back, and they're not fully used to skating yet. I feel pretty good out there, but since it's been 10 years since I've played hockey, there are still some dust bunnies and cobwebs that need to be cleared out.

It was such good fun, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I'll try and get in on a hockey game later, if the ice stays around.

Comments Back Up

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Zip video

I threw together the footage from Carmella and my zipping adventure.



"I had to show them how it's done in Whistler!"

Pond Hockey

The pond outside my house has frozen. It's been really cold here, after a bit of a thaw. The pond froze all at once too, so it's like skating on glass. The kids in the neighbourhood kids play on it after school, and have little hockey games. Most kids are about 6 to 9 years old.

I bought some skates in Squamish yesterday, and also a puck and a stick. I was excited to hit the pond and get some touches on the puck!

Today is a day off for me, so I slept in, then laced up the skates, taped my stick, and took to the ice. I was nervous at first, since the ice was somewhat invisible. I peered closer, and was happy to see that it was about four or five inches thick. Beautiful ice!




It was really smooth! Since it hasn't snowed since it froze, there is no shoveling required. I brought a big rubbermaid container out on the ice, and used it as a net. I skated around the pond, and fired pucks into my makeshift net. I was out there for over an hour. Before I went in, I got a pitcher of hot water and repaired some divots in the ice.



It was great fun! I'm going to cruise around Whistler and see how the bigger lakes are doing. They're probably not frozen enough to skate on, but if they are it will be amazing. I hope they're as glassy and solid as my local pond!

Albert!

Last night after church I got to hold my friend Jess' new baby, Albert. He's big! He has a rash from the recent cold weather. He's about two months old I think.



Here's Carmella with James, who she nannys. He's about a year old, and is honestly very advanced. If he can't reach something, he grabs Carmella's arm and aims it towards what he's trying to get. He can also walk now, and will fetch things if Carmella asks him to. Good work James!

6!

Today, Carmella and I celebrated our six-monthiversary! It actually happend a few days ago, but we're both working lots so we celebrated today.

Carmella knows I enjoy root beer, and brought me the following, while at work:



Six different kinds of glorious nectar, one for every month we've been together! She also bought me the Miga key chain. Miga is a mascot for the coming olympics. I am always losing my keys, so installing a large lanyard has helped, but having Miga attached will probably solve the problem completely.



The big celebration event today was going zip lining. Lots of people in Whistler like to do it, and we decided to go. I was able to get a great rate since I work at the front desk, and we took advantage.



Basically, you have a harness and zip on five different zip lines placed in the forest between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. The lines are up to 600m long, and we would get up to about 80 km/h.

There are two guides, and up to ten guests on each tour. One guide helps you take off, while the other guide collects you at the end of the line. Our tour, which started in the morning, had 7 people on it.



Here, Carmella watches a member of our tour finish the freestyle line. We were encouraged to zip upside down. I went first, and thought I was doing a good job. Turned out I was just horizontal in the air, not inverted. No wonder it didn't feel too disorienting!



The zip lines criss-cross the Fitzsimmons river, and go between big trees. There is a lichen that forms on the branches, called Angel's Hair, which you can see in the picture. These lichens only grow where the air is pure, and they only grow about 1mm per year. So, the guides told us that some of the strands we were seeing were over 300 years old.



Here's another shot of the trees, which I enjoy.

I took some video during the day, and when I get some days off I'll concoct a video and post a link here. It'll give a better idea of what we were up to. Carmella had no issues with heights or the actual zipping, but I got nervous at times. The video will show that well, unless I decide to edit those parts out!