Slopestyle Ski Photo Essay

Happy Easter!

We came across this sweet little rabbit on our recent ski trip to Red Mountain in Rossland, B.C. After enjoying some lovely powder turns we made our way down the mountain through the trees and there it was, frozen like a statue as we marvelled at her camouflage.

We haven't had a photo essay for a while, so I thought I'd share some more photos taken with my new iphone 6 (which is WAY too big and I'm so bummed that Apple issued a smaller phone with the same photo capabilities just a week after I got this one - the story of my tech life!).

No lift lines make for a sweet ski vacation!

This one is actually taken by B of our group after a little hike up for a back country run through lovely, untracked powder fields. I'm in the red jacket third from the right.

B dropping in for some sweet turns.

Dreamy...just dreamy. 

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It was a pleasure to bring D's friend along for the week - they had a ball!

With three mountain, Red has so much terrain it was like we had the entire resort to ourselves!

An excellent reminder with all of the glade skiing there is on Red!

Slopeside facilities

Classic ski town fencing!

You gotta love a ski lodge with serve-yourself mini marshmallows!

Our happy little ski family, (minus one son busy building robots at university).

Sweden - The Northern Bit

Continuing on from this post.....

After the meeting and my workshops near Stockholm finished up, I was back to Arlanda airport on Monday morning where I met up with Louise in the departure lounge. We were both headed up to the town of Luleå where Stina (person responsible for this entire trip happening in the first place) was waiting to pick us up and drive us 50 km to her town of Piteå.  Stina had already warned me that we would be stopping for lunch at the world's ONLY "Palticeria". Good thing I had abandoned gluten free for this trip, because I was about to chow down on two giant dumplings of potato, wheat and barley flour, smothered in butter and lingonberry jam. I do like to try new things when I travel (however I draw the line at red meat because it makes me feel pretty awful, so I never eat it) and this was a dish I enjoyed, but wouldn't eat on a regular basis! Stina assured me that not many people do.

The typical Palt is a ball filled with ham/bacon. They specially made two veggie ones for me, but still served the ham on the side ; ) and yes, that yellow triangle is BUTTER!

I survived the Palt!

On the way to the cabin, Stina took us through the historic Öjebyn village adjacent to the oldest church in northern Sweden.  She explained that in the 1800's attendance at church was compulsory, so farming families would travel great distances weekly for services and stay in these small houses around the church. 

The low, afternoon winter sun made for some dramatic shadows. We are at the 65th northern parallel here.

Apparently it wasn't all faith and purity...Stina also showed us the 'secret' carvings in some of the shutters that indicated a house where someone might find some extra warm company for the evening. Nudge, nudge, wink,wink.  These days the houses are summer cottages for people and many will be decorated for winter celebrations.

Everything is rather crooked. The homes are all wood-frame construction and balanced on boulders to keep them up off the frozen ground.

A view into the church graveyard.

After a brief visit to Stina's beautiful home (where she has a gorgeous upstairs quilting studio!), we picked up a few things at the shop and headed out to the cabin that would be our home for the next four days, along with another friend Marica. I loved that they organized a mini-retreat just for my workshop!  The cabin is on the shores of the Pite Alve (the Pitea river), only 6 km from town. Through various conversations during my visit, it became obvious to me that Swedes are totally into cabin life - some families have a cabin for summer relaxing, another for winter skiing and a third for hunting!  The owners of this cabin bicycle to work in town during the summer months. How idyllic.  I seriously felt like I was living in an IKEA catalogue.

In front of the cabin sits this charming greenhouse, complete with dining table, heater and comfy reading chairs. Here you can see one of the 4 outbuildings also on the property - extra sleeping cabins  for guests and a sauna on the beach.

Lingonberries everywhere!

Here's the plank pathway from the sauna into the icy waters of the river. Across the river you can just make out a ski resort. At night we could see the lights of a windfarm on the hills there.

Our first dinner by candlelight - a delicious curry prepared by Stina,on the right. Marica and Louise sit on the left. The cabin is just for summer use, so there isn't much need for electric lighting (it is light 20 hours/day in the height of summer). I loved the candlelight we enjoyed each evening.

After our meal we exchanged gifts with one another because this was such a special, long-anticipated meeting. I was overwhelmed when the girls presented me with a QUILT! No one (except my mom) has ever made a quilt for me. It is so beautiful and I adore everything about it.

Look at this sweet quilt!! Marica, Louise and Stina hold the Plus Friends quilt that they made for me. Stina quilted the Pite Alve into the straight line quilting and added some extra special pieces of fabric, just for me. I have show and telled my quilt at all of my guilds and it hangs proudly in my home. I love it so much. 

These gals are all members of the Scandi-bee and had previously exchanged larger sized plus blocks. Stina put her quilt top together and brought it to share with us all:

The women who attended my class gifted me the unique braided pewter and caribou leather wrap bracelet. This is a traditional Sami handcraft from Lapland which you can read about here. The gorgeous bling bracelets are from Louise - they are made by the company "SNO of Sweden" that has a factory in Louise's town.

Stina had been very busy making projects from Make It, Take It (I gifted all of them with scissor keepers from the book, hoping that Stina hadn't already made them!!).  Here she is (below) modelling her new down parka and matching Ultimate Equipment Tote and large Patchwork Tote.  Stina is not shy about her favourite colour.  If you'd like to see the special thank you gift I made for Stina, you can read her post here.

I'll leave you with a couple more photos from the cabin. I've only got one last post to write, and that is about my workshops and the amazing quilts that were made! Almost there....

Hej dag!

Stockholm...the Really Old Part

In my last photo essay, I shared pictures from Gamla Stan, the oldest part of Stockholm city. I have a few more to include here from my walk around this little city island. I think what struck me most were the colours.  I'm not really sure what I expected, but it wasn't ochre. I knew there would be a lot of red in the north, but for some reason the city colours were a surprise for me.

I've got a little collection of photos featuring address numbers of my birthdate

Without groaning kids in tow, I enjoyed my leisurely stroll through the 13th century Gothic brick Storkyrkan (Great Church), the oldest church in Gamla Stan.  Royal weddings and coronations take place in this church, which is adjacent to the Royal Palace.  I always enjoy the formality of historic churches; the soaring ceilings, worn stone grave markers on the floors, ornate carvings, draperies, gigantic pipe organs. There is so much to look at. Here, I was amazed by the wood, antler and metal statue of Saint George slaying the dragon, made in 1489.  For a Canadian who's country is only 150 years old, this type of relic is a wonder, indeed.

One of the most beautiful candelabras for votive candles that I've ever seen - I love the simplicity of forged iron amid all of the ornate gold leaf sculpture found elsewhere in the curch.

The pulpit was constructed around 1700

The massive organ at the back of the sanctuary

I never took a great interest in history at school, nor am I a religious person, but I appreciate and am fascinated by historical artifacts and architecture. Plus, it's really fun to photograph!

Saint George

Saint George, detail. This wooden statue has so many elements including antlers and metal. It's a fascinating work of art and really a miracle that is has survived.

This is a bronze reproduction of the statue, also found in Gamla Stan.

My Supertote photobombed my fika!

Later in the afternoon, I enjoyed my first official "fika" (fee-kah), Swedish for coffee/tea/cake time. I had a delicious cafe mocha and cinnamon bun sitting on the square outside the Nobel Museum, after which I took my transit pass card and headed to one of the many ferry docks to cross the harbour over to Djurgarden and the Vasa Museum.  Here are some views from the ferry ride:

This is looking towards the main road of the harbourfront, where fancy hotels, the Opera House, offices and perhaps even luxury private residences are located in those beautiful buildings lining the waterfront.

Everyone I know that has been to Stockholm told me that I absolutely HAD to visit the Vasa Museum. I checked it out online before leaving and I have to say, the thought of a smelly old warship from the 16th century really didn't seem like a riveting afternoon.  Wow, was I wrong; I am so glad that I took the advice! This ship and her tragic story are fascinating.  By now it was close to 4:15 p.m. Luckily, I arrived just in time for the final guided tour in English for the day.  The young man leading the tour was so passionate about sharing the history - I felt like we were really getting the inside scoop (isn't it amazing when people truly LOVE their jobs?). If you ever visit, be sure to wait for the tour!

I was equally fascinated with the building itself and it's high-tech environmental controls. Apparently it has the largest, most sophisticated environmental control system of any building in Scandinavia. Constant temperature and humidity and very little natural light. All of these photos were very long exposures, with my camera steadied on railings or against pillars (that's why the are not super sharp).

This vessel has an incredible long story, and an equally incredible short story. Here's the short version: built over two years from 300 oak trees imported from Poland, completed 1628. Commissioned by King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden to battle the Poles (irony). First warship designed with double cannon decks (64 guns). Sank on maiden voyage when she keeled over in a small gust of wind and took on water through the canon portholes, shortly after sailing from the Royal Palace.  It is thought 50 men lost their lives, trapped in lower decks. Many survived, due to proximity to shore. The Vasa lay on the Baltic sea floor for 333 years until discovered by Anders Franzen and raised in an intricate operation in 1961. She's been in a constant state of preservation since then.

I watched these technicians working to replace all of the iron bolts in the ship with stainless steel ones using laser-guided tools.

Here at the stern, you can see the tiny windows from which gunners could shoot. The intricate carvings would have been ornately painted in gaudy colours. The king was known as the "Lion" so there are menacing lion carvings all over the ship (below, holding the coat of arms).

If ever you have one day of tourist-time in Stockholm, take my advice. Visit the Vasa!