the perfect commute

I've been working at the local highway #6 restaurant...mostly on nights with great music, which is just perfect. Local bluegrass and Hank&Lily -type bands from out of town suit me fine. After a few days of kicking back on the mountain, I left to head into Winlaw/Winlove for my first shift back.

The 20min bike ride was a source of unexpected nostalgia. There's a 50km section of rec trail that was developed along an old Slocan Valley CPR route in the mid-90s. The section that runs between the bottom of our driveway and town takes you past wetlands and along the Slocan River. For me... it was a reminder of being a kid at Sandy Beach near Lloydminster, AB. So much of the plant life is the same.

Saskatoon berries and pincherries, fireweed, tigerlilies, (a lot of my childhood adventures revolved around plant life)... my Grandpa used to spend days at a time, picking berries into a bucket around his neck, and my Grandma would use them to make delicious pies and jams. I was obsessed with figuring out which plants were edible, and would spend hours at a time (sometimes weeks) methodically going through a mental checklist: "place leaf/berry/flower against lips...wait and feel for a tingle... place leaf/berry/flower against tip of tongue...wait and...place in inside left cheek..." I guess now a kid would only have to look online for extra support in the final decision... The affection I feel for pincherry trees is something I haven't thought much about as an adult, but stuffing my face with the berries along the trail made me remember how much I used to love peeling the soft bark off with my fingernails to expose the red veins against the pale and smooth wood, and how a cheek-full of the little pits made for good spittin' wars. It made me happy to think that if this is where we raise kids, they might share some of the same adventures. I'll have to ask my Grandma for some of her recipes.

I guess this blog will serve a dual purpose for us. It will be a journal of sorts for our own purposes...detailing the joys of settling into an area that seems to hold everything we want for now and the future...and eventually a way to communicate more and more about Pokerfloat products and production methods with our customers. We're both so excited to get back to work on our designs, and will have some new products up soon.

If you are reading this blog and would like to get some mail from Winlaw, please send us your address. We'd love to send something your way...

Lauren

We woke up at 5am to the sounds of the early birds and those crazy cows that live down in the flats to celebrate the launch of pokerfloat.com and get Worthy on the road to the coast. Q's back with her beautiful Mama, and although W got Miss Emily as sidekick on the trip, I'm lucky to have the G as company while they're away. With his injured paw and my desire to putter around the tent for a few days after too many days of work, I think we'll be taking it easy... poor guy's got an assortment of pet bandages in all kinds of colours, and an old IV bag over that to protect from the dirt and moisture. I am amazed at how quickly he's learned to run at almost top speed using three legs.

Came home last night to our first out-of-town visitors. Thanks Annie and Ethan (and Siren), for making it out here. It was lovely to see you.

We'll be continuing to build our new website and ETSY store in the coming months.

www.pokerfloat.com/pokerfloat.etsy.com

Thanks to Emily Beamer

Pokerfloats Team Awesome

Welcome to the Bluegrass Jamboree
introducing
``POKERFLOATS`` Team Awesome:

Worthy....me...
Super Q... she got pancakes that were shaped like Mickey Mouse... They were a hit. She is the coolest... I think she thought she was gonna see real cowboys... but like I said before... them cowboys need their beauty rests...
Lauren sorta loved the Cowboy Pancakes... but not as much as the next guy.... Lauren worked late the night before... and still joined us for 7 am jamboree... upon leaving this she went right back to work.... Lauren is a trooper...

This is emily our new best friend.... if you need a graphic designer she's yr gal.... http://www.emilybeamer.com as you can see Emily LOVED the delicious Cowboy Pancakes...

Team Pokerfloat goes to bluegrass jamboree....

so we went to the pancake breakfast at the bluegrass jamboree in castlegar/pass creek......
we woke up at 530 am to get our stuff together and get the Q ready for the pancake breakfast at the jamboree.... we had fun... it is possible that we were the only outsiders there... we met some really great old cowboys.... i met a man from Fort Worth Texas..... he said he comes up to the jamboree every year.... which makes me think this must be one hell of a Jamboree.... i guess 730 in the morning isn't the best time to check out a bluegrass festival..as most of the cowboys were still getting their beauty sleep i guess..... anyway, no matter where we go if "team awesome" is there it is bound to be a blast....

Super Q

Started sewing again... finished an order..... building a deck.. Lauren's at work.. q is here bringing all the wonders of the mind of the innocent to my attention..... I am driving down to the coast in 5 days all the way to Victoria for three appointments... we drove down last week too...I wasn't looking forward to this trip...but now our new best friend emily...(which is also the name of two of laurens other best friends) is going to be joining me for the drive down... which will make it a million times better... the drive back will be a full load. I am already excited to get home and I am still five days from leaving.


Has anyone ever built a raft? We are officially entering the Slocan Pokerfloat this year... and over the next month and a half we will be building our "Float".... if anyone has any suggestions we would really appreciate them...

I have to put the little one to bed now...
sweet dreams
-worthy

Scamper Stove

so this is the scampers sweet cooking facilities....

faema

and who needs a house (or running water) to make a great americano?

mountain dog

Guthrie is lovin' the new life. He sleeps on a bed of moss and drags half the forest into our tent each morning with his big tail. Having him around is a big help to us, as he's learning how to be a great guard dog and early warning sign for animals at night. Who would have thought the little guy could sound so tough?

we are ironing things out with the tent life. it has evolved quite a bit in the last few days... We will post pictures of the sweet "Scamper" soon....

POKERFLOAT******The Big Change

And so we start...... Things are starting to happen for us out here.... we are happy to announce that the beautiful community of Winlaw, BC has become our home. Not only is it beautiful, it also encompasses all of what we are looking for. We have been busy setting up shop..... and home. we are living in a 16 foot x 14 foot pioneer prospector/wall tent. It is amazing. We (with the help of J'ai, Tree & Quinn) built a beautiful deck in a mossy meadow, atop that deck we erected the tent. As luck has been following us around lately, we were also offered an old camper from a new friend. The camper (affectionately known as the "SCAMPER") needed some TLC but things are looking up for the scamper, which was almost lost to rain and rot..... we now have a working fridge, freezer, and stove... we will post pics soon... Lauren got a job in Winlaw at our local cafe..... which is where i am right now... Guthrie (the wonder dog) is settling into mountain life nicely.... as are we. This blog will get better and contain our trials and errors as we venture into our home/tent based business... POKERFLOAT. We will also be building a raft for the pokerfloat that takes place here in the beautiful Slocan Valley BC.... we will be updating soon and often.... please keep checking....
Big Love- Yr pals @ POKERFLOAT
(Lauren, Worthy & Guthrie)