Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Skating and Shopping

Yesterday I went skating! It was fun. :) I skated all the way down to Hugo Docks and back (from The Forks). Here's a signpost at Hugo Docks:
Skating Signpost
So that means I skated 5.4 km. I figure that's not bad, given how little I've skated. Of course, it took me an hour, so I won't be entering the 2010 Olympics in speed skating. ;)

I knocked the wind out of me once with one spectacular fall, but for the most part I managed to stay on my feet. Coming back from Hugo Docks was colder and a bit harder, because I had the wind in my face. Having the wind at my back is much nicer. (The cold also made the battery in my iPod run out shortly after turning back... that sucked.)

Hugo Docks is as far as the trail goes now, due to last week's weather. (News link.)

After skating, I had a nice (but expensive!) hot chocolate, and then wandered around the antique store in the basement of the Johnston Terminal. The stuff there tends to be pricey, and I don't like how some stuff that I knew was new wasn't labelled as such, but they've also got a lot of neat stuff. I bought a nutcracker and a pretty little glass:
Antique Store Finds
(I already have a nutcracker that I bought at the dollar store, but it's poorly designed... the antique one looks like it has potential, and I at least know it'll last!) The glass was pricey for a glass, but pretty. I've been looking for something pretty to keep my toothpicks in, rather than their ratty cardboard boxes. (I have them on the shelf above the stove, and so they're visible.) I'll need to make a little lid for the glass, though, to keep the dust off.

While I'm showing you my vintage finds, here's two items I found at thrift shops last month:
Thrift Shop Finds
The gravy boat is very pretty... I like both the shape and the pattern. According to this site, the mark on the bottom dates it between 1936 and 1954. It cost $10 at Value Village, so not terribly cheap. It is, however, lovely, and will do it's job just fine. (Should I ever make gravy, that is.)

The glass, on the other hand, was a much better buy at the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. It's a pretty amber colour, and reminds me of the glasses my mom had since before I was born. (Hers were/are green, though.) Regular price on the glass was 50 cents, but was on sale for 10 cents! Steal! ;)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

My dad has two glasses that look similar to the amber one that he uses to drink iced tea out of. One is amber and the other green. :) I wouldn't swear they're the exact same, but they are definitely similar.

Muriel said...

-18 degrees, how can you go out by that temperature ?
My toes freeze at -5 degrees.

noricum said...

-18 isn't so bad, it's when it gets down below -25 that I start whining. However, it wasn't that cold yesterday. It got up to -11. :)

How do I stay warm? By dressing properly. ;) Winter coat, wool sweater, long underwear, wool socks, wool scarf, wool tuque, thrummed mittens... plus all the regular stuff like jeans, turtleneck, underthings. The wool really helps... it stays warm even when I get sweaty. (And sweaty I did get, yesterday.

Muriel said...

What does "thrummed" means ?
I can't find it in the dictionary.

noricum said...

Muriel: Thrums are bits of wool roving knit in to mittens or other items... you can see them sticking out of my half-done mittens in this post:
http://noricum.blogspot.com/2008/12/thrummed-mitten-in-progress.html

You can see a pair inside-out here:
http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2004/09/15/mitten_what_mitten.html