Straight Band Fire Summer
My first curling game is this Monday. I'd gone to the initial free lesson and instruction night two weeks ago, but over 100 people came out and with only four playing sheets available, I only got to make four shots. Jessica and I went back last weekend and got to play a bit. Jessica was to be on the team I'm on. However, while playing and sweeping the ice, she took a spill and landed on her rear. She was fine, and everything's fine with the pregnancy, but it was a little scare for us and we decided that it's better for her not to play.
On a good note, I had two excellent and two good shots out of about six, so I'm looking forward to playing a real game.
Choir is also a new activity I'll be starting this month. I was last in the choir at the university in the Fall '08 semester. I'm glad I'll be picking up some activity this winter and spring. I had nothing going on from week to week and now will have two activities going on.
Jessica and I spent 11 hours last weekend out at Beaver Creek Reserve making Ojibwa-style snowshoes. We got kits which consisted of the wooden frames and nylon ribbons used to lace the shoes. I'm not too knowledgeable on different kinds of knots and it took a while to get started and comfortable, but after a while we got going at a pretty good rate. However, it was important not to get going to fast because one mistake will cause you go spend time unweaving back to the error and starting again from that point. We did have to back up a few times.
It was a two-day workshop and we packed a nice lunch each day. There were 11 people there, 5 pairs and a solo guy. Though Jessica and I finished first, most people seemed to go along at good rate, except for the lady next to us who just never seemed to catch on. One must learn from their mistakes, and she did not.
Time flew by and the weekend seemed short as a result, but we were happy with our end product. The bindings arrived later and we'll get those, but first we have to varnish the shoes before attaching the bindings. The finishing varnish is the only bad thing. It takes hours for the varnish to soak and dry and multiple coats must be applied. For best results, the weather needs to be warm, so we'll have to wait until spring. We'll be eagerly waiting for the first snowfall next fall.
This past Thursday Jessica and I headed down to Boyd Park for Volume One's first Winter After Hours event. They'll do this each Thursday from 6-8 p.m. from Jan 14 to Feb 25. There were tons of people skating out the outdoor track set up on the park field. I skated a few laps solo while Jessica walked around the rink with Erin Anderson and one of her young girls since Jessica has given up skating during the pregnancy. Beaver Creek Reserve was there renting out snowshoes to walk in a candle-lit field just to the east of the park by the Eau Claire River. A snow sculptor was there and made an 8' tall creation. Kubb was also being played (which Jessica and I do frequently during the summer). It was different playing in snow, but I still had my touch, despite the snow and gloves. A firepit and hot drinks were also on hand.
The whole event was very lovely. It's nice to have a large public event going in during a winter night. I think over 250 people came out. Eric Anderson, who the guy in charge of the Wisconsin Kubb association, said it had a very European feel to it (which is a good thing!). A dense, fun gathering of people for a festival outside is a thing more common in the EU than the US. However, I imagine that subsequent events will be less well attended than this initial one was. Jessica and I told Eric that we could run the kubb one night since he agreed to have kubb going each of the weeks of Winter After Hours event, so we're sure to be back.
