Eeewww Gross. What is that in my suit?

Anyone who has been swimming at Headacher in August knows what I am talking about. Those slimy green bits that fill the lake towards the end of summer – ALGAE. Some summers it is so thick that down the lake it looks like green pain rather than water! Not that it stop us from diving in.

Of course, you can’t just jump in. Before submersing yourself, it is best to sit on the end of the dock and using either your feet or hands, push away as much of the surface algae as possible. Deep down you know that this doesn’t really work but it sure makes it easier to get in.

Once you are in, you can’t really notice it too much, although it is probably not the best idea to be gulping water as you swim. Up to you whether you open your eyes underwater or not. I for one don’t.

It’s what happens when you get out that is the gross part… One glance down the inside of your suit reveals streaks of green slime sticking to your skin. If you happen to have an ample bosom most of it has collected beneath your breasts. You don’t want to think of the other places it may be lurking.

You need to get rid of it or you can end up with a nasty rash (just speaking from my personal experience). Typically, you have three choices:
1. Garden hose down the suit. This is a good option depending on how hot it is outside and how cold the water is from the hose.
2. The wipe down. You take care of the green stuff with your towel. This will only work for a day or two before you start to notice a ripe pungent smell wherever you go. You realize its you and your towel and you are due for a shower.
3. The shower. Sometimes, this is the only option. It seems to defeat the purpose of going for a swim to have a shower afterwards but for those of us with sensitive skin or those of us going out in public, it’s a must.

Despite the grossness and the rigmarole, a dip in the lake is somehow always worth it.

Blogging, Facebooking, Skyping and Tweeting....wow!

Hi everybody!

Well I just wanted to say that I think this is a great idea. Since we cannot get together everyweek for dinner or even see eachother during the holidays, I think this is the next best thing to share all the stories and memories we have. Though I am definitly a blogger "newbie", I think this is something that I will really enjoy; as most of you know I like to talk. Though I am only familiar with Facebook and do not have not yet entered the "Tweeting" world and do not plan to this and Skype seem to be great means of communication. I am excited to be a part of this and share my stories and memories with everyone as well.

I also wanted to reply to Andrea's post about Headacher because I could not agree with her more. I thought the tear-down would also trigger some emotion for me but I was surprised when it really didn't, it was more of an excitement. I made a comment to Rosey that without the people in it, it was just a building or structure to me. Each family member or friend that had been through the camp or stayed at the camp really made it "The Camp". When we are all there having a drink on the dock or playing cards in the living room, or just relaxing on the swinging chairs in the front porch, that is the camp to me. I know that this may be different for some people and they may not share the same feelings that I do. I know that regardless of the building we are in, the same memories and stories will be there with us. I will never forget the smells of baking in the kitchen, the smell of the shed and the smell of the bedding in early spring (you know the mothball one).

I could go on and on but it might turn into a novel of some kind and would not be good. So in closing, I am excited use this and share whatever I can. Love to everybody near and far!

Adventures in Canning

I am trying for the life of me to remember an Easter story but.... nothing. However, on the drive yesterday we were listening to Jian Gomeshi on Q interview Gordon Ramsey about his book A Healthy Appetite. They were talking about eating locally and in season. Well, that got me thinking about our canning and freezing adventures in Kamloops; summer weekends spent driving around the Okanagan picking up the fruit or vegetable in season and bringing it back to the house to be preserved. 30 years ago, Nancy was way ahead of her time and although it did not seem like a cool idea at the time, with the steam swirling around us in the kitchen in the middle of August, what we were doing was quite remarkable and let us eat naturally and locally throughout the year.

It would start with asparagus in May or June. I think that the asparagus came from Armstrong but I don't remember much about going to get it so I could be wrong (or I was in school). I do remember that we would get to have fresh asparagus on toast with cheese sauce for dinner that night. The asparagus was like a warm-up before a marathon.

As I write this, I am also realizing that I don't remember much about any of the vegetables. I guess that they were not as exciting as the fruit. The exception would be the zucchini. Let’s just say that Nancy’s Zucchini looked nothing like the ones you get in the grocery store. These were monster Zucchini and deserve an entry of their own one day.

After the asparagus there was a bit of a lull as we waited for the strawberries in late June or early July. Picking your own strawberries (or any other produce) is such a romantic notion; in reality it is back breaking, hot, dusty work. It only took one season for Nancy to quickly realize that pick your own plus preserve your own would result in strike action by her work force (us). On our part we were sure to complain as much as possible so it never happened again. After that we left the picking to the professionals.

As far as fruit goes, the strawberries were an easy way to start. They just needed to be washed and trimmed and frozen - some whole and some sliced. What I never understood is why the whole strawberries needed to be set out in perfect little rows on baking sheets and frozen individually before being put into bags. They all turned to mush anyway when they were thawed. I have since learned that its the recommended best practice but at the time I just thought that Nancy was doing that Head perfection thing. A bag of strawberries would be pulled out of the freezer periodically through the winter to be eaten plain or for a treat with a bit of ice cream.

July brought blueberries, cherries, raspberries. There had to be some vegetables that month but as I said, I can't remember - maybe beans? Blueberries and cherries were my favourites and still are to this day. Blueberries came from the Fraser Valley while the cherries required a trip down to Vernon or Kelowna. Janeen and I would sit in the back of our orange VW bus, strategically situated near the crates of fruit. We would gorge ourselves on the bounty the entire way home. I won’t describe the effect that this had on our digestive systems. Let’s just say that it wasn’t pretty but we didn't care and we did it every year.

The blueberries and raspberries were pretty easy - they just needed to be sorted and washed. The strange ritual of laying the fruit out on baking sheets was repeated. These frozen berries featured prominently in George’s Sunday morning pancake breakfasts.

The cherries required the additional step of pitting. This took forever and we were always in search of the ultimate cherry pitter. The cherries were both frozen and canned and they looked so beautiful packed into jars and sitting on the shelves of the cold storage room. Cherries jubilee around Christmas time became a tradition during this period.

So with the berries all packed away in the freezer and in jars we would head into August, lulled into a sense that this was not so bad and that we were half way through. How wrong we were because now the peaches, pears and tomatoes were ready and the hell began... We went through a lot of peaches, pears and tomatoes (especially tomatoes!) and they all had to be peeled and canned. Anyone who has blanched one of these suckers in order to get the skin off will quickly realize why, as a child, I thought it was hell.

It would be the height of summer and in Kamloops that meant HOT. All four of us would be elbow to elbow in the kitchen and there would be pots on every element on the stove plus a kettle or two filled with boiling water. It was an assembly line. Someone would be blanching the peaches and peeling the skins off, another would be cutting, pitting and slicing them to various thicknesses, someone would then be packing them into jars, filling them with juice or syrup and putting the lids and rings on that had been sitting in boiling water and finally, someone would be manning the canning pot, putting the precious jars into the bath, taking them out at the designated time and setting them on towels to cool.

Each of these positions had its drawbacks. Blanching and peeling the fruit required a high tolerance for scalding your hands; cutting and pitting the skinned fruit was messy and sticky; the jars needed to be packed just right – not too full and not too empty or you would not get a good seal; manning the bath was the most pressure as a messed up batch was an expensive and time consuming mistake. Doing some would not be so bad but we did a lot. Between the peaches and the tomatoes, it seemed like it would never end. However, it did end and after a few months, we would forget the worst of it, especially when the peach crisp came out of the oven in January.

Sometime in late September or early October we would have our ritual weekend with the apple press. For a couple of weeks building up to the big day, Nancy would be out collecting as many windfall apples as she could from local apple farmers. The apple shredder and press would arrive early one Saturday morning and we would begin. George would move the van out of the driveway to make room for the press and the shredder. This was not a small implement nor a small endeavour. Janeen and I would be tasked with throwing the apples into the shredder which was basically a wood chipper for fruit. The shredded fruit would be collected and placed into the press. Once the press was full we would put the lid on and then crank it down by circling the press and pushing on a wooden handle. Out would come a stream of the most amazing fresh apple juice. We would take it up to the kitchen where Nancy was pasteurizing the juice and sealing it in big jugs for the store room. It was hazardous work what with the wood chipper and the swarm of wasps that were attracted by the sweet smell of the apples. It was worth it though as that apple juice kept us going through the winter.

Apples marked the end of the season and I am sure we were all relieved when it was over. It was such a part of our lives at the time that I never realized how unusual it was to have a 28cu.ft. freezer filled to the brim and a cold store room with jar upon jar of fruit and vegetables that sustained us through the winter. As a result, I am sure that I was not as appreciative of my parents efforts then as I am now. Looking back with the perspective of adulthood, it was a great opportunity to bond as a family and a wonderful learning experience. I hope that someday (soon) I will have the chance do some of what we did, albeit on a (much) smaller scale.

Stairs to Heaven

As I viewed this picture all I could think of was a stairway to heaven because if we didn't jump off & fly, it would be a hard fall. However when Elaine talked about the cottage as a safe haven, memories of rainy days upstairs cuddled under the heavy dark stiped blankets with red binding on the beds came to mind. Memories of hiding in bed under the same blankets thinking I was safe from the thunder and lightening.

Our Story Archive

Throughout this week, Rosie has been sending pictures of the old cottage demolition at Headacher. She expressed the mixed emotions that are coming with this project and how hard it is to see the old place go. My response to her was that the essence of Headacher will remain and all that is happening is that camp is getting a new dress and a new pair of shoes!

I was thinking about the changes on our way up to the farm today. The reason that the essence of Headacher will remain no matter what structures are on the property is because of the stoires and the memories. Nancy is our photo archivist but we don't have a story archive.

I have been toying with the idea of setting up a blog for awhile but did not really know what I would talk about. Big-city-lawyer-girl turned farmer/renovator came to mind but there is almost too much material! Today on the drive I had one of those ah-ha moments. We were listening to Spark on CBC and I was inspired set up this blog as our story archive. As the KM professional in the family, this probably should have occurred to me earlier but hey, better late than never!

Blogging is not that hard, as Elaine and Bruce have demonstrated with their wonderful postings from Vietnam. I am hopeful that the rest of us can pick up the blogging habit and build our family threads for the enjoyment of those of us reading them now and those of us who will read them in the future. The stories can be long or short, old or new, first hand or family legend and about immediate or extended family. Several of us have edit rights to the blog to add posts and stories. If I left you out and your story genie is dying to get out, let me know.

That's it. I am now unleashing the blog! Go forth and tell your stories...