Pumpkins Found!

Remember how I was lamenting over the lack of proper pumpkins over here? Turns out they DO exist and they're mainly marketed as carving only pumpkins not eating pumpkins (or at least on the ads I've seen they're talking about carving them). Which I guess is the case at home too but people do still make homemade pies with them. I have a feeling they're also a one week only/blink and you'll miss them type of thing especially when Halloween is NOT a popular event.

Anyway, I saw an ad on TV for big orange pumpkins and so when we went grocery shopping this week I picked one up. I can't remember how much they are at home - especially since a lot of my pumpkin buying was done in Inuvik where things like that are notoriously expensive. These pumpkins were $26/ea which is not too bad since I'm actually going to be cooking it not carving it/throwing it away (even though I wanted to carve it SO bad when I was cutting it! It felt weird to cut it in half instead of cutting the top bit off to scoop the insides out that way).

So my plan for today is to roast up this pumpkin (it's bigger than it looks in the picture - half of one cut in threes barely fits on our cookie sheet), blend it and freeze it in 1 or 2 cup portions to save for pies and other yummy things.

Another bonus in finally finding a pumpkin?

The seeds! yum! (I might have to go buy another pumpkin this week before they disappear again!)


Temperature: +12C
Sunrise: 6:24am
Sunset: 7:46pm

New Phone! yay!

I managed to snag myself an iPhone this week after a bit of drama with the phone company (basically I couldn't sign up in my name so Glen did it in his and because of that, I couldn't keep my old phone number). Besides having a new phone I'm really excited about the camera portion of the iPhone and downloaded a few cool camera aps. I'm hoping to do something similar to project365 but with my phone - my camera is just too big to lug around everywhere every day and there are some seriously cool photography aps out there.

So because I've gotten a new phone I'm getting a case for it. I bought one for the time being because there's no way this phone is going to go without a case (I put a case AND screen protector on it before I did anything else) and I want to order a custom case for it. I found a site that will let you upload a photo or artwork and it turns it into phone case. I picked 16 of my favourite pictures and I can't decide which one to choose!
I thought I'd open it up for public opinion to get some help.


In no particular order:

Berries & Grevillea 1


Grevillea 2 & 3


Bird & Crocus


Rainbow Lorikeet & Koala 1


Koala 2 & Inuvik


Crocus 2 & Fireweed 2


Fireweed 3 & 4


Fireweed 5 & Rainbow Lorikeet 2

In other news we've been getting brief snippets of warmer weather. It was +29C yesterday and now it's back to rainy and cold. We had a bit of wild weather a week or so ago but there doesn't seem to be as much damage as when we had those storms last November.


Temperature: +13C
Sunrise: 6:25am
Sunset: 7:45pm

Back to work

So here I was getting into a semi-regular posting routine and then I got a full time job and that's pretty much sucked away all my spare time.
I can't complain about getting a job because well, I needed one and it's nice to have the cash. It just sucks that I don't have an endless expanse of free time in front of me (not like I really think I spent it wisely anyway).

On Friday we went to see Paul Dempsey who is the lead singer of the band Something for Kate. We went and saw Paul about a year ago when he played up in Castlemaine (he's put out a solo album and is playing acoustic shows). It was the first time I'd seen him live and was completely blown away. Not every musician sounds good live but Paul does and he is really great onstage/interacting with the audience.

So, after work on Friday Glen and I drove into the city to see him play again. Parking was a nightmare but we managed to cram the car into a spot a few blocks away.

As awesome as the venue is, after a day of standing at work, it sucks to stand for 4+ hours in a giant group of people (especially when a few are drunk and dancing in that giant group).

If anyone is interested, I'd suggest you check out some of his music (and Something for Kate - SFK is a group that Glen introduced me to back in 2004 and instantly loved them). He's played a few shows in the US and is headed back there and is even playing one show in Canada next month.

I definitely wish I would've brought my big camera with me (we were so close!). I was too tired to lug it around and happened to have our point and shoot camera in my bag.

In other news, it's warming up a bit here and we've set the clocks forward an hour. I have all the windows in the apartment open and there's definitely a warm breeze blowing through. Nice!
It's also mango season! yay!


Temperature: +22C
Sunrise: 6:43am
Sunset: 7:32pm