July 22, 2014- Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the Day “The Kiss”

After capturing on of the smallest sculptures on Castlegar’s Sculpture Walk yesterday, “Sova” today I have a large sculpture for you that can be found among other works outside of Castlegar City Hall and the Castlegar RCMP Detachment. “The Kiss” is absolutely beautiful, the way the sun hits it makes it an inspirational piece of aluminum art to behold. Dedicated to all of the loving hearts separated by law, “The Kiss” is not only significant because of its physical majesty but because of it’s message.

“The Kiss” comes to Castlegar’s Sculpture Walk from Serge Mozhnevsky who is based out if Coquitlam, British Columbia (yes another talented BC artist). For more one “The Kiss” click here.

July 06, 2014- Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the Day “Tundra”

Today’s sculpture feature is another work of art that is large and in charge on Columbia Avenue. As you can see “Tundra” is a steel work that stands tall outside of Kootenay Market.

“Tundra” is a shaggy musk ox created by Maryland’s Virginia Sperry.  I am so impressed with the detail behind “Tundra”; Sperry crafted every bit of the musk ox perfectly from each shaggy bit of hair to its curled horns.  Even though the musk ox is intimidating with its horns and hooves it is also friendly looking, a gentle giant made of steel!

This morning I saw so many people on the streets taking in Castlegar’s Sculpture Walk and Canada Day packs of people were walking around with their voting cards viewing all of the impressive artwork part of the exhibit.  Do not forget you can vote until the end of September for this year’s People’s Choice Award!

For more on Virginia Sperry and “Tundra” click here.

To check out my blog on Nathan Smith’s amazing piece “Jelly” follow this link.

PS. It has been a beauty of a week here in the Kootenay Boundary; but seriously we need it cool down so this girl can get some sleep! 

June 25, 2014- Castlegar Sculpture Walk Sculpture of the Day “Sea Swimmer”

Today for my sculpture of the day I ventured down Columbia Avenue looking for a little inspiration. Today was one of those days where I wanted to jump in my car and gun it for Mexico, never to be seen or heard from again. Yes, today I was looking for a little extra freedom with heavy workload and I found it in “Sea Swimmer”.

To be completely honest with you “Sea Swimmer” does remind me of Disney and Pixar’s character crush from Finding Nemo, that is totally a compliment to artist Heather Wall because everyone knows the painstaking lengths the teams at Disney go to when making movies to mirror the animals they are portraying.

Oh the freedom of being a turtle set to swim the seas. To be honest with you I hate swimming and I consider what turtles do in the water much more graceful than actual swimming. To me (because I am horrible at it) swimming involves frantic movements that are so unlike turtles, turtles are so smooth and graceful in comparison to how I envision the average person swimming.

Heather Wall is another BC artist (from Powell River) represented on the Castlegar. Sculpture Walk. For more on Heather Wall click here.

“Sea Swimmer” is a green sea turtle created from steel, the detail on this piece is incredible. This green sea turtle seems so happy to be floating free from the world care. Not only is the turtle, focus of this piece, incredibly detailed the starfish and the fish that adorn this sculpture also are impeccably crafted from steel.

I am so impressed with “Sea Swimmer”, so much so that it is definitely in contention for my vote for the People’s Choice Award! By the way, "Sea Swimmer" is sculpture number sixteen in my blog series, that means I am halfway through Castlegar Sculpture Walk 2014!

Have you read my previous blog on “Dreamer”? If not you can check it out by clicking here.

My New Favourite Treat--- Hidden Garden Foods Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a new favourite food item and surpassingly there are more vegetables involved than I like to admit.  I discovered these bad boys at Ferraro Foods in Trail a couple of weeks ago in Trail, BC and I have been addicted to them since.

 I am so sold on the chocolate chip flavoured cookies made from pumpkins that I have not tried the other flavours (including red velvet cupcake) yet! Tonight, after a crazy day at work I think I am going branch out and try a new flavor and be in my happy place as I watch more of season two of Orange is the New Black!

Another great BC product! Check out these guilt-free treats! Gluten free, no preservatives or artificial flavours and they taste just like my great-grandmothers amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe that’s loaded with guilt inducing ingredients among other things.

Hidden Garden Foods, a BC business making better foods for British Columbians! :) 

The 51st Annual Trail Silver City Days

Our Street Team ready for the parade!

This is my first Trail Silver City Days.  I feel like Summer 2014 has now started and is out in full force. Right now the weather is absolutely beautiful downtown for the last day of activities.

As a resident of Trail I have seen the all the hustle and bustle getting ready around down for days. I walk around town and climb the staircases in the evenings to get some sunlight and exercise, one day all of the carnival gear showed up and everything quickly started transforming.

The highlight of Silver City Days weekend (for me) was driving in the Firefighter’s Parade was a lot of fun. Actually Jenny drove. I rode shotgun and jammed with her the entire time. I have been a part of many parades; I was Princess Middleton 2009 and had to be in parades pretty much every weekend that summer. I have never been in a parade as long as the Silver City Days Parade.

A car view of the streets full of people at the parade.

Not only was the parade filled with an impressive group of floats (including the City of Trail’s beautiful new float) the streets of Downtown Trail were PACKED with people. Luckily the rain started as soon as the parade ended.

The parade was like a second Halloween for the kid’s watching, we were entry #54 and by the time we reached the kids most of them had semi-full bags of candy. It is a good thing those sugared-up youth did not revolt, there was so many of them they would have taken over Trail!

After the parade the midway and food mall was the place to be until the evening when ABRA Cadabra played the arena. I had another work function (I’ll tell you about it later) but driving back into town the fireworks filled the sky beautifully!

On Sunday Country Divas took the stage at Gyro Park for Family Day and a Mother’s Day celebration.

Sunday we spent the day going on rides and playing games at the West Coast Amusement Carnival and treated ourselves to the food mall. My roommate from university came and visited for part of the weekend so she experienced the perfect first weekend in Trail.

I had a great time at my first Trail Silver City Days, I got to meet new people and celebrate Trail for my first Silver City Days! Thanks to everyone who helps make this incredible event happen, I can't wait until next year!

For a look at the entire schedule of events for the 51st Annual Trail Silver City Days click here.

Rotary Club of Castlegar Sunrise 2000's 15th Annual Wine Festival

One of the most amazing things about living in British Columbia is the incredible selection of local wines that are available here.

Every year Mountain FM takes part in the Castlegar Sunrise 2000 Rotary Club’s Wine Festival and 2014 was no exception. This year was the 15^th Annual event and brought in wines from across B.C. for tasting.

I am so impressed at the turnout for this event! The entire room was buzzing and PACKED with some of the best wines in B.C. and their biggest fans. The booths were engaged with patrons the entire night. The Castlegar Rec. Centre was definitely the place to be last night!

With over thirty wineries onsite everyone was celebrating the diverse selection of wines produced right here in B.C. In passing I heard multiple people talking about their drives in from Spokane and other areas outside of town to come to the Wine Festival.

I am not the most knowledgeable person on the subject of wines. I prefer rose and reds to whites and choose sparking over still. With that being said I found quite a few new favorites I can’t wait to try again.

My overall favorite from the entire night was Heron Ridge Estates’ sparkling blueberry wine. Monster Vineyards’ riesling, Dirty Laundry Vineyards’ Hush and Quinta Ferreira Estate Winery’s unoaked chardonnay were among my other new favorites from the festival.

On top of all of the incredible wines to be tasted Bon Appetito Catering provided food that stopped all of the wine from going to our heads. The catering was tasty and the service was incredible. Shrimp, chicken skewers, artichoke dip baguettes and chocolate (milk and white) dipped strawberries were just some of the treats available. The big food winners were definitely the chocolate dipped strawberries; oh my damn they were good!

On top of treats for your taste buds there were also tons of chances to win. There were huge door prizes and a silent auction to check out as well.

One amazing thing about small towns is how everyone comes together to support events like the Wine Festival. Working in events and promotions I know how hard it can be to get people out to events (there are way too many good TV shows on these days)! It is so encouraging seeing young and old come out to events like this. Also the support from the Rotoract and the Interact Clubs was very impressive as well.

Kevin decided that he would be our designated driver so I tried to keep the night interesting for both of us by initiating a little game. Kevin is much more knowledgeable about wines than I am. His parent’s house has an incredible wine cellar and he grew up drinking wine; unlike me. The game was that he would find a wine without me looking and I would have to guess what vineyard and wine he had gotten me. This worked very well because he made me try things that I definitely would not have picked out for myself.

The Sunrise 2000 Rotary Club’s 15^th Annual Wine Festival was a great time! I can’t wait until the 16^th Annual event!