Gillian King: Away from civilization

Darrin and I just got home from a weekend camping in Caddy Lake. We both found it shocking that in the two years we've been dating we still hadn't gone camping together. This is crazy because through our teens we were working and going to camps that centered around canoeing and camping. So we drove out to caddy lake and rented a canoe and set off in the rain. The forecast didn't look great for the weekend but I had booked it off work specifically to go camping and we were set on doing it! We spent two nights there and our days consisted of:

mystical fire - some sort of poisonous powder you put on the fire to create a rainbow of colours

beaver fever coffee - we didnt bring out any water except 1 water bottle - not smart - so we strained to remember if we simply boiled the lake water if it was ok to drink or if we'd get beaver fever (for non-camping types beaver fever in short is when you drink straight up dirty lake water and wind up peeing out of your bum for a week or more afterwards). So needing our morning coffee we decided to chance it and we boiled up the brown water and made our coffee - and so far so good!

bear bells - I dont feel like I've ever been worried about bears on previous camping trips but for some reason before this trip everyone I talked to seemed to warn me about bears - so being paranoid I made Darrin go out to MEC and buy us bear bells and whistles - I wore my bear bell around on my shoe the entire weekend like a little cat and no bears to be seen! We did see several deer, loons, and eagles though...

camp cooking - darrin and I managed to make some pretty great food while camping - our fave was a black olive/veggie sausage/tomato spelt pasta

canoeing through white caps - both of us hadn't canoed in probably 5 years or so but like to think of ourselves as fairly strong paddlers - this was tested when we paddled to and from the island through white caps. We paddled against the wind on the way there which was an ego boost and made us feel hardcore but on the way back we had the wind with us. This should have been a breeze but after being on a windy and rainy island all weekend, in wet clothes, and only having one bottle of water between the two of us I think we were loosing steam. We each cracked a beer before setting off and started strong but near the end of the journey found ourselves battling with the waves when Darrin (the stern) started to look at our crumpled and wet map and I (the bow) had to keep the canoe straight in the white caps ... It's a bit of a blur but I remember him yelling, "Gill draw in!!" - we somehow made it :)

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut - Other than reading painting magazines and articles online I have taken a hiatus from reading for a while - Darrin is a big reader and brought three books with him as entertainment on our 3 day camping trip. All I brought was my current knitting project and backgammon. Since there was so much rain during our stay we had a lot of tent time so once I had had enough knitting and Darrin had finished Galapagos I decided to pick it up and give it a go - I've gotta say, being on a secluded island in a storm really ignites the joy of reading again - I'm knee deep in this crazy sci-fi novel and I'm determined to finish it this week!

*Stay tuned for actual photos of our trip - we borrowed a camera and haven't been able to upload photos yet!

Back in the city now, I'm prepping for another knit night at my place tonight and hoping to encourage my knit night ladies to partake in 'Knitting the Bridge'. It's a community knitting project where anyone and everyone can contribute their knitting projects to cover the Esplanade Louis Riel Bridge (aka the Salisbury House bridge) in Winnipeg. All the efforts will be fastened to the bridge in late September so if you want to participate visit their facebook and twitter page and start knitting! I think it's going to look pretty awesome especially in the fall - a whole knitted bridge - it's like knit graffiti gone mad...

I've also been watching Bravo's The Next Great Artist non-stop over the past week. I don't have cable so hadn't heard of it until Kara couldn't stop talking about it. I'm trying to suss out what I think of it with it being a reality t.v. show and all but I've got to admit I really enjoy watching it. The artist's competitions are relatable in that art school (at least in the first few years) forces you to complete assignments with a theme in a limited amount of time. You can tell these people are passionate about what they do and are trying to find opportunities to make their art but of course it has the whole trash mag feel to it with it being a televised competition devised to make money - "Will Miles hook up with Nicole?" etc etc. Anyways go watch it on megavideo (or real cable if you have it) and tell me what you think!