The Crossing

Cross Lake is aptly named since it surrounds much of the town in a "cross" formation. As you can imagine it can be a long drive to get from one part of town to another.  Like many other Northern communities the residents look forward to the time that the winter roads open up. They call them winter roads because there's no way you could use them any other time of year...mainly because you'd be under water.

I'm quite a chicken when it comes to ice; a complete nervous wreck walking on ice that's two feet thick so I can't even begin to imagine driving on it.  It seems to me that the lake had just frozen over and a week later people were driving on it. CRAZY!

I actually had my camera out because I liked the late afternoon sun on the buildings at the ramp where the cars head out onto the lake but  I figured you might get a kick out of the cars driving across.

The North hasn't changed me that much...

My friends back home in Ontario will be happy to know that my wacky mind is still intact.  We had this great Coke display at the store for about a week and I couldn't walk by it without wishing I had some rings to toss. I SO wanted to try to win a giant teddy bear!

Too bad it's gone now; I was trying to think up some motivational game for the staff...Alas, much like those coke bottles, I'll have to shelve that idea for awhile.

But mom he followed me home!

I popped out the back door the other day, to dash home for lunch, and startled a poor shivering dog.  I felt rather sorry for him and stopped to pat his head...Look what happens when you do that.

I didn't have my camera with me at the time, but I brought it on my return trip so I'd have a picture for this posting.  I was actually pretty funny walking home. The sun was really bright and was casting long shadows. All I could see was the shadow of two dogs happily prancing along behind me.

It's sad to see these dogs roaming around uncared for and even sadder is when all of a sudden they are no longer there.  It's just one of those things that you have to adjust to up here.

Elephant Boogers

Who knew they have elephants in Germany? Okay so they aren't really Elephant Boogers, that's just their nickname but I was so taken by it I can't remember the real name.

On a recent visit to Brato's house for a dinner with he and his lovely wife, we were treated to some German treats. Elephant boogers are a lot like cheesies but no cheese, they are peanuty...note the shape, then the peanuts...you can understand the nickname now I'm sure.  If you ever get the chance to try them make sure you do, they're great!  We also had lots of German cakes and cookies, but my favorite dish of all was the Rouladin.

When you are far from home those special treats bring you right back...This is "Finger Lickin Good" German style!


Even more enjoyable than the food was the company.  Lots of laughs and great entertainment.  Brato's talents are definately wasted at the "supermarket". Check out his blog for some fabulous videos of his singing and spoken word poems...extremely funny!

http://naknakoverthere.blogspot.com/

I couldn't watch the video's on my computer with my dial-up connection (a.k.a. mouse running on a treadmill) so I especially liked seeing them with the creator!

He's also an inventor...I loved his "Cantenna".

Comments

I've heard from two seperate people that it's a bit of a pain commenting on my posts.  I have changed the settings now so anyone can post. I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Chinese Food, Horoscopes, and Prophecies

From that title you might be thinking "Chinese New Year?" Nope just a little get together in Cross Lake.


This past Saturday I hosted a little dinner at my place.  I wanted to have my new friend Roseann, her "fella" Lorne, and her son Curtis over for the first time.  I had heard that Chinese food was Lorne's favorite and since there are no Chinese restaurants here yet (rumour has it that one is coming) I thought I would sweeten the invite by offering to make Chinese food.





It worked! They came over along with Richard and Andrea and we had a wonderful evening.  I do not recommend Chinese food for a get together though, unless it's take out! Very, labour intensive and all at the last minute.  You can see from the picture here that I was a tad warm.

Richard made a really delicious cake which he has posted on his blog, and Roseann made some fabulous steamed buns stuffed with a meat mixture.  I think we all packed on a few extra pounds that night...maybe my next dinner should be "salad night".

I'm sure you've been wondering why those silly trapper hats are so popular...maybe even speculated that it's because of the cold climate...don't be silly; where else would you keep your chopsticks!

Lorne is a wealth of Native culture and an all-around interesting guy and he provided us with an interesting Native Prophecy which was written in 1929 (I think) and was spooky in its accuracy. It was quite long and most of us would have stumbled terribly reading it aloud but fortunately we had amongst us an extremely gifted reader...a tad camera shy as you can see from the picture. She also entertained us with our 2011 year long Horoscope; all I can say is Hurray, finely a good year for me. 


I think I can safely say that we all had a great evening based on the laughter that went on at the very least.

Hoar Frost?

Thankfully it looks better than it sounds! Apparently the lovely snowfall was Hoar Frost with a bit of snow on top.

I had so many positive comments about my "snowy" pictures I thought I'd post a few more.  I love the ones of the old fence so I'm putting in another one.