Fun with the girls!

You may be reading all about Jethro's epic boys trip and thinking: "Does Alex get to have any fun?"

But of course!

Karen came up with the fabulous idea that we should get a few of the girls together and go for another cross country ski adventure, so naturally I jumped at the chance. There is this lovely little secluded B&B called Birch Meadows, situated about 7km's out of Fernie. You can cross-country ski to the cottage by following Fernie Alpine Resorts special trails and have dinner in the form of Raclette (like a fondue thingy) and then get one of the husbands/boyfriends to pick you up. GENIUS!

Jethro dropped us off at the beginning of the trail and we all set about getting ready - mainly making sure that Karen had enough Peach Schnaps to go around! Some of us had been cross-country skiing before but we had a few novices and one lass who had never skied before - needless to say she did exceptionally well with only a few tumbles. I managed to fall over less than I did up at Island Lake Lodge - I'm getting better - I did THE most spectacular fall in the form of a splayed eagle - one leg went one way and one went another. Cathy and Tanya followed suit, with Cathy nearly going into a tree because she was laughing so much at my fall.

It took us an hour and a half to ski to the cottage, and bearing in mind that we set off at 5pm, it was pretty much dark by the time we arrived. You really are getting back to nature on the cross country trails as it is very peaceful and removed from the rest of the mountain - hence I kept seeing big paw prints in the snow and thinking "That's a wee bit too big to belong to a dog, surely?... EEK!"

We got a lovely warm welcome from the couple that run the lodge and the food that they had laid out was spectacular - Sonya explained how the hot plate for the Raclette worked and had prepared a selection of meats, cheeses and other nibbles which kept on coming. You melt the cheese and put it onto bread, potatoes or fruit (the pear and cheese mix was particularly yummy) and you can also sizzle your meat or fish on top too. Needless to say, we earned our supper and made the most of it!

To get an idea of just how secluded and pituresque the setting for Birch Meadows is, take a peek at their website: http://www.birchmeadowslodge.com/index.htm

I tried not to let this sign bother me as I meandered past...


One of the breathtaking views on the way to the cottage


Taking a little breather with the obligatory peach schnaps!

In honour of my newest family member...

To celebrate the birth of my neice on Friday morning, here is a picture of a baby otter... (my neice is obviously WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY cuter than a baby otter, but I have yet to see a picture. All I know is that she has black hair and very long arms!)

Alas, poor Hamish...

To put it mildly, it was a bit of a weekend, and not in a good way. The most hardcore member of the Snow Valley Lodge team got a good spanking from Fernie mountain on Saturday afternoon. Yup, poor wee Hamish is now the not-so-proud owner of a broken wrist and two broken fingers. Ouchy!

It would seem that the mountain decided to get it's own back and was fed up with Hamish tearing all over the place, doing his bestest to conquer all he could see (and he pretty much conquered all of it, to be honest!) so as he was skiing down a chute - which he'd done a million times before - he hit a nasty little windlip that had formed and got spat out on Falling Star run, one very bruised, winded and broken dude. Props to him, he skied down to First Aid to get checked out and then got taxied over to Fernie Hospital where they confirmed it was a break.

We then had an hours drive to Cranbrook hopsital where there is a breaks specialist and waited around for five hours to be told in five minutes that yes, he needed an operation (three pins) and he had to come back tomorrow. Bummer.

Bless him, he was exceptionally brave, having had no pain relief. We did have a good giggle when we heard one of the nurses ask another ER patient what level of pain they were experiencing, level 1 being mild and level ten being ripping your lip over your head!

He eventually had his two hour operation on Sunday afternoon, and we got home last night at about 6pm. Thank heavens for insurance - Canadian hospitals are not cheap. You would think that the amount of money you have to pay to even get through the door - $400 admission fee - they would be spanky places with unpeeled grapes on tap and private rooms a go go. Not so. Cranbrook hopsital is just like any other NHS hopsital in the UK. Crumbling walls painted hideous colours, peeling wallpaper and no canteen open at the weekend. The only good thing I can say about it is that the ER is probably a bit more unusual than your average UK hospital on a Saturday afternoon - while we were there a snowmobiler was helicoptered in and a little kid that had been hit by a quad bike - both were fine in the end, thankfully.

As I whiled away my seven hour wait on Sunday, knitting hats and reading a book from cover to cover, I met some lovely people from all walks of life but one thing that struck me about all of them is that they're not shy about sharing their injuries or ailments with you! I suppose us Brits are a reserved bunch, but I do think that Canadians on the whole are very measured in a way that they rarely get uppity or panicky - the ER was a very calm place, even when the paramedics wheeled the snowmobiler in.

And you would think that a hospital in a ski town would have a breaks specialist employed there... well, think again. The doctor at Cranbrook has only been working there a year and it took them a long time to get him. Why would a doctor not want to work in Fernie??? It's totally beyond me!

Broken Hamish with his shiny white plaster cast

Sminky Pinky Pancake

Fear not, dear readers. I have not been guzzled by a grizzly bear just yet. The punters at Fernie Sports have been keeping me busy with thier skis and boards and I've been off galavanting in the snow on the new board that I am "demoing" for work. Yup, those lovely work colleagues of mine have given me an Atomic Polarity to play with, and I LOVE it! I fear that my old Burton Seven will be made into shelving at this rate. It rides like a brick in comparison.

But enough of the snowboarding twaddle. For once, I am going to write about something that is on the level with most people - Pancake Day!

I have to say that I have found something bad about Canada - well, it was bound to happen. They don't do Shrove Tuesday round these parts! Crazy huh! Here is a country where the pancake is a stable food group, and yet Pancake Day is a mere "Wierd British Thing" or a WBT as they like to call it. But we decided to celebrate in style any way, and Sarah set about flipping 80 of the things in the kitchen and piling them high, whilst we gathered a little posse of pancake appreciaters and lotsa toppings. Rather than go for the fluffy and thick North American version, we made traditional English pancakes which are much nicer IMHO. With lemon and sugar. None of this maple suyrup malarky.

(Oh all right, so there was a bit of maple syrup floating about)

Besides, the thin ones are easier to roll and stuff in your mouth with minimum effort. Classy as ever! ;-)


The kids get messy!


BUSTED! So besides the lemon and sugar and the maple syrup, there may have been a few other toppings...


Keith (our newest SVL guest) gets to grips with his second pancake of the evening