Well it wasn't the TIm Horton's Briar...

But what ever it was we won! Yes I spent yesterday in a curling rink.... outside it was warm and sunny and the snow was melting.... what was I doing, chasing large blocks of granite up and down sheets of ice....

The prizes were all hidden in brown paper lunch bags... So the only benefit of winning was getting to pick first (and of course knowing that we won!) I surveyed the bags carefully and picked one that looked like it contained a box... I think the clock is actually quite nice... and I need a clock in my bead studio... Gord got a very tacky bunny It will probably get to live in his sock drawer! Poor bunny!

We woke up to more... NEW SNOW this morning...Now on twitter I commented that the snow replacement theory that is operating this winter is Einstein's theory of relativity WRONG even though I think E = MC2 would work with E being the melting snow, M being the new snow and C2 being the thickness of the layer of ice on top of the new snow!

This years snow fall is actually following Galileo's law of conservation of energy... where matter can not be created or destroyed... snow can no longer be destroyed! Every flake that melts will be replaced within 48 hours...

Curling

Tonight is the annual Engineers Curling party... One of the things about curling in this event is it seems like the worse you do the better your score is.... after the end is finished you pull a piece of paper out of an envelope and score according to that... things like the team with a rock closest to the hog line gets 3 points... Or the team with the shortest lead gets one point... I will have to play lead this year... that is a guaranteed point!

Last year was a Hawaiian theme so is this year... one of the organizers must have spent too much money on their outfit last year so are using it again this year! I will be wearing the same dress as last year except it's shorter now! It was a long dress that I actually bought in Hawaii... However



The slit up the back got much slittier when I tried to curl in it... Not sure that being 5 inches shorter will make it any more curling friendly! This was the picture prier to curling last year... We will look very similar this year! The ones at the top were taken this year.. I need to find my manual so I can figure out how to use the self timer!

We did not win... we did get home before the worst of the blizzard hit yesterday! And the shortest lead is no longer worth a point.....

More on Curling

Today you could curl on the mainland roads... and last night you certainly could have curled anywhere on Deer Island... We don't salt our roads so any ice sport was certainly an option on Island roads! Driving was ........... interesting?

When I first started curling I assumed (wrongly) that one swept behind the rock to create a draft to push the rock along actually what you are doing is sweeping in front of the rock to melt the ice to try and keep the rock moving in the direction that the skip (the person in charge of the 4 person team who thinks he knows whats going on) wants the rock to go. The skip stands in the house and holds his broom... so that the person throwing the rock has something to aim at. The skips flunkies sweep like mad while the skip stands there and screams at you to sweep harder..... If you are on the broom you threw it where you were suppose to.... however, to me this is what on the broom means...

Once again I will direct you to Wikpedia if you really want to know everything there is to know about the history and origins of the game

I am suppose to be doing a bead making demo at the mainland high school today... but since the roads are more suitable for curling than driving I have been postponed ... so much for the 30 beads I spent all week making to hand out...

Curling....

It's that time of year again, indoor winter sports on ice... My husband has been curling forever... I curled for one year in high school... and then became a funspiel curler... That means really short games... often stupid costumesThis was a Hawaiian flavored spiel last winter... Note to would-be curlers ankle length dresses are not appropriate for sliding out of the hack! However shorter fuller 'skirts' are traditional curling attire for the Scottish male! It also appears as if he may be praying to the god of curling..... This was a Bonspiel... difference between a funspiel and a bonspiel People take Bonspiels seriously and there may be good prizes for the winners...

Somehow last winter I got talked into playing in a mixed curling league... I do not like being cold... I would happily spend all winter curled up in front a fire place or hunched over my torch ... so why do I spent 90 minutes a week sliding up and down an ice surface... playing shuffle board on ice... Who knows, however the season has started again... tonight is our third week ... After winning the big prize last year (a plastic tool kit!) so far this year we are win-less.. and yes that has a lot to do with the fact that I can't hit the broom and have no clue how hard to fling the 'rock' (a round chunk of highly polished granite) to get it to stop where the skip wants me to have it stop!