my addiction

it's taking over my life! (no, not the cadbury creme egg one.)

i went to the library today to return one book, and came home with four more.  all travel books.  one about the american west, two about canada, and one about alaska.  (i bet that last one was a surprise, right?)  i've also got three books that i have purchased sitting on my desk only one of which i have actually read, that being the bill bryson book i've read twice.  and then let's not mention the five or so books that i've taken from the book exchange and have yet to start.

i've also started a bookcrossing.com account, which i can't imagine will help matters any!

settling in

today i got my nelson libraries library card, and promptly checked out two books.  even though the book exchange has been really good lately and i have about eight books on my desk to read.

not just blowing smoke

these pictures don't quite do it justice.

a couple of weeks ago, leah and i received vouchers to blow our own glass baubles at a local glassworks and design studio.  we went on monday, and yesterday i was able to go pick them up.  they turned out really cool!  okay, so mine may not be perfectly round, and the colors might be more orange-y than i wanted, but it's so cool!  i made my own glass ball!  it was a lot of fun too, the guy was really good at explaining everything and pretty much did all of the hard work.  all we had to do was "blow a lot of hot air", hardy har har! 

there are photos of the actual event, but not on my camera.  i had thought "i should take my camera" and then, "no, i don't need it."  so i am awaiting copies from leah.  when i get them, i will probably post a couple!

pictorial

 

• lake rotoiti with mt. robert in the background



• theresa and i on top of mt. robert, with a nice,chilly wind of 40 km/hr



• walking towards relax shelter on mt. robert



• self-portrait--notice the world-travelling hat!



• kea hut, belonging to the nelson ski club, on paddy's track



• lake rotoiti and the st. arnaud range



• taking in the view near bushline hut



• our trusty steed, sunny the nissan sunny

it was a good day, and i decided to over-estimate the d.o.c. time of five hours, but we finished it in four.  there was a nice cold wind above about 1000 meters, so i was glad to have a hat, but i wish that i had had some gloves as well.  and driving wasn't so bad, but i kept getting confused since the windshield wipers and the turn signal were switched around.  ah well, i will learn!  and then when i get home, i will get to re-learn!  just like crossing streets!

another food edition

the red snapper.  it turned out really well, and even i, the non-seafood person, enjoyed it.  turns out it was already gutted (thank goodness, because i didn't know what i would do with them) so i just had to chop the head off.  which is hard, because backpackers tend to have very dull kitchen knives.  i then rinsed it out, and we put in some lemon pepper seasonining, a couple of cracked garlic bulbs, and some rosemary from the bush out front.  also, onions.  lots of them.  i drizzled some olive oil on top, and into the oven it went at about 200º (C) for half an hour.  and it came out all nice and flaky, and the skin just peeled back so easily.  it was wonderful!  i didn't let it sit long enough to absorb much flavor, so at first i couldn't even tell, but it definitely had time to soak into the bottom half of the fish.  the hardest part was trying to get the kids out of the kitchen long enough to have a whack at the head, i think.

i've also been doing a lot of baking on my days off; pizza with roasted eggplant, tomato, and onion; blueberry buttermilk pancakes, cookies. it's a surprise i haven't really gained much weight!  but the best food-related thing is the farmer's market that takes place every saturday morning in a carpark downtown.  i try to go there each weekend and stock up on fruits and veges.  sadly, it seems that the summer merchandise is becoming more sparse.  but hopefull that means soon it'll be apples, squash, and zucchini.  i'll have to start making pies, soups and a nice batch of zuchinni bread!

also on tuesday, after teresa and i go to nelson lakes for our day hike, hopefully we will have enough time with our rent-a-dent car to go to cafe del rio, near the golf course outside of town.  i'm craving mexican that does not have broccoli in it, and the guy who runs it has lived in the american southwest.  keeping my fingers crossed!

i must have been delirious!

last night i bought a whole red snapper from work (it was $5) and said that i would gut the thing so we can eat it tonight.

what hubris!
*sigh*

the mice at play while the cat's away

fiona and the kids are gone, and so is paul, so leah and i are running this joint for a little bit.  and we're getting to check our email for free.  so i bought this zipper pull to go on my new purple hoodie.  it wasn't really an impulse purchase unless you look at it as being not the one i intended to buy, but the sockeye salmon (the one i wanted) turns out to be the snaggle-tooth version, and i think that the snaggle-tooth version of any salmon is too unattractive to add to a sweatshirt.

last night leah and i went to a show at this place called phat club in town, and it was alright.  it was supposed to be punk, but it sounded like border-line heavy metal and by the time i got back here my ears were ringing.  in fact, i think they still are.  but the band was pretty good, and it got me out of the "compound" for awhile so it was worth the entry fee.

and today before she left, fiona gave us vouchers to blow our own baubles at flamedaisy, a local glass studio.  these people are absolutely the most wonderful people i have met!  some days i just can't believe our luck at ending up here, honestly.

and as it is nearly 2 p.m., i will go eat some lunch which may or may not consist entirely of double chocolate ice cream while hoping that nobody rings the place, followed by perhaps some writing, finally getting around to editing some photos, and reading my new book called rowing to alaska, which i purchased at a used bookstore yesterday on my foray in the rain into town.  and then tonight i will watch csii on tv 3 (crossing my fingers it's caught up to where i left) and maybe men in trees afterwards.  it's good to have a plan!