Last chance saloon

Winter is coming, so the next few weeks are the last chance for getting up into the mountains on a bike around here. We were lucky enough to get a break in the weather (up high at least) for my last venture into the Monashees before the snows come. Fingers crossed for next weekend in Mazama!

I found this nice orange bike up the mountain, so that was useful.

Was the abyss staring into us? I'm not sure how you tell.

Someone filled the valley with cotton wool.

What I do in my free time

When I don't have much free time (like when I'm supposed to be working), I might do this:

Interactive Landscaping from Andrew Dye on Vimeo.

...and when I have a bit more free time, we might do something like this:

So now you know.

You say tomato.

Last weekend was the first Vernon Homesteading Weekend. There was also bike riding, but I write enough about that already, so today I'm going to focus on tomatoes.

Lina was given the task of foraging for 100 lbs of tomatoes before the Vancouver canning (and biking) enthusiasts arrived. The farmer's market is winding down at this time of year, but Lina found half of what we needed there - and the other half was not far away. It turns out living in a place surrounded by farms is useful when you need to buy vegetables. Amazing. Are tomatoes vegetables? I digress. 

The farm with the tomatoes was around the corner, so Lina went and woke up the farmer. There were more tomatoes but some of them were still on the plants, so Lina and the farmer in pajamas went picking. With the necessary tomatoes secured, we were ready for action.

Incidentally, "Lina and the Farmer in Pajamas" is the title of my new children's novel which will be available in time for Christmas and would make a perfect gift for your loved ones.

Not really.

Canning things is a bit mystical to me, but I do have a slightly better understanding of it now. I even made a photo-essay of some of it. We haven't tasted the evidence yet, but they do look pretty.

100 lbs of blanched and peeled tomatoes, in a big bin.

Lemon juice, then tomatoes go in the sterilized jars.

Topping-up the jars with water and measuring the headspace (man).

Squeezing out the bubbles and squishing down escaping tomatoes.

Lids on, and into the canning contraption for 40 minutes.

And another thing... the "landscaping" is coming along quite well.

There's snow in them hills.

Though not a lot of it. We got a brief glimpse of the season to come by driving an unexpectedly long way up a logging road in an inappropriate vehicle yesterday afternoon. We all survived to tell the tale and Mr Fish Face got a nice wash this morning all the way from the Coquihalla Summit to Burnaby. 

Twin Lakes Trail

Thar she snows (a little bit)

The Internet is all over Vernon

Lately, these people have been doing a very nice job of riding bikes around here and taking pictures of it. There is a definite flavor of "infomercial" lingering in there, but these stories me want to go and ride my bike which can't be bad.

Click it for pretty pictures

Same with this one

Click this for pictures that move

High Anxiety

"Remember, you chose to do this" is something I have to say to myself once in a while. The weekend before last was definitely one of those. Back in the mists of time, before we moved to Vernon, I was lucky enough to get a place in the Crankworx Whistler Enduro World Series (catchy name, right?) It was one of those "mash on the computer keyboard until the thing pops up to take your credit card details" situations. My button-mashing skills were clearly up to the task as I got one of the spots that frustratingly for many sold out in 0.2 milliseconds, approximately. 

And so we went to Whistler for the weekend. There I was - buoyed up by the thought that I was very lucky to be racing there, but trodden down by the long drive from Vernon, lack of motivation and opportunity to ride the course before the race, and the fact I'm not very good at racing. Whistler Village was fortunately quiet at 8:11 am as I failed to entertain the announcer with my pre-race musings... and then it was my turn to trundle off up the hill to Stage 1. 

Witness the ferocity of an ENDURO WORLD SERIES start line

Beginning your trundle at precision-timed intervals seemed a bit weird, but thankfully I went the wrong way within about 100 meters so ended up riding the climb with a few friendly folks who caught up with me. Getting into excruciating detail about the race now seems a bit unnecessary, but in summary - it was a lot of fun, and I was glad I chose to be there. Racing down wet, steep Whistler trails which (with one exception) I'd never ridden before was certainly exhilarating, though really not an effective racing strategy. The marshals and spectators were several times amazed, or perhaps horrified, by my creative/foolish line choices.. Most of these worked out, though of course the truth was I had no idea which way the trail was going until I was already committed to wriggling myself between tight trees or attempting to manhandle myself over a huge hole. My shoulder is a bit of a funny color from one tight squeeze (ok, collision) in some trees, but overall I probably wouldn't have gone much faster if I had prepared appropriately. I assumed my now usual "top of the bottom third" place in my category, which seemed was a pretty tough crowd on the whole. One thing worth noting is that I would have more-or-less come last in the 40+ category so I'd better quit racing by the time I reach that milestone.

Witness me not "going big" at all over the jump to the finish line,
I was hanging on for dear life at this point of the top-to-bottom run.
Look... that's Felix in the blue shirt. Hi Felix!

With all of that Enduroing nonsense out of the way until the next time, it was time to terrify myself in a whole new way this weekend.

Paul and Angie got married on Saturday in Mazama, and decided they preferred the idea of me taking care of business for them rather than getting someone in who actually knew what they were doing. Brave people. I'd had some vague ideas on literary works I could plagiarise for the ceremony. However, my favorite idea turned out to be a bad movie from the 1950's and not a literary work at all - which was a disappointment. So, I resorted to corrupting the words of John Lennon's "Instant Karma" instead, which I thought worked out quite well. I suppose what I thought is pretty irrelevant, but no-one punched me in the face afterwards, so we were ok there.

Paul and Angie wrote the rest of the ceremony, so that was much better and I managed to read most of it correctly and at appropriate times. In short, we got away with it. Phew. I'll save the photos for Paul and Angie to share with the world, but for evidence, here's one of me that Suzanne took.

Paul and Angie enjoying my operatic rendition of Ave Maria
(not really)

For the record (that's a pun I just made right there), here's "Instant Mazama":

Instant Mazama’s gonna get you

Gonna knock you right on the head

You’ve chosen to be together

And pretty soon you're gonna be wed

What in the world you thinking of

Going and falling in love

And now look at what you’re going to do

But it's up to you [Angie]… and you [Paul]

Instant Mazama's gonna get you

Gonna look you right in the face

Better keep it together Paul and Angie

Stood in this beautiful place

You’re what everyone’s here to see

Well, you and the mountains and the trees

You two and your VW bus

Now there’s something we have to discuss

Instant Mazama's gonna get you

Gonna knock you off your feet

Like if you mistimed the train crossing

Now you live on Camata Street

Why in the world are we here

Surely not - just - for the free beer

Why on earth are you there

Because you had something to declare, for the life you will share

Instant Mazama's gonna get you

We’ll celebrate together, but not - too - late

Paul and Angie you’re getting married

Though the paperwork will have to wait

Together you go travelling on bicycles

And in winter to places with… icicles

And married you’ll surely go far

Well, right you are.

Paul and Angie Celebration

Before the moment is lost, here are some pictures of Quadra Island fun this weekend: