# 31 - Curling

When I was making my list there were a lot of things that got cut from the list that I wanted to do. The reality is there is not a lot of time until thirty. I had to be realistic if I wanted to accomplish the list. I had to be particular about the seasons and I was trying to only pick one new activity per season. For the upcoming winter I chose Skiing for the list.  I have wanted to learn to ski for years but have never really got the nerve to go.  This year I have been chatting with some colleagues who have offered to provide some help and encouragement and are game for some new adventures. I have even made one attempt to go to a local hill for my first lesson only to find it closed since it was a sheet of ice  (So my friend Emily and I drank wine that night instead!) I have a weekend trip planned at a local ski lodge for a couple of nights with some friends. I expect some good stories to come from that weekend- 2 of the 5 of us are new and it can clearly only end in somebody breaking something- hopefully nothing more than a ski or our own egos!

So you are probably thinking this is a post about skiing- but I’m afraid not- I am certain there will be some good stories that come from that when I make it out to the hill… but this is about another winter sport. Curling. It was a toss up for the list between skiing and curling.  I curled for one season in High school and in the last few years I’ve really started to enjoy watching curling events. Last winter my sister and I went to Kingston to watch the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Its really the only sport I’ve ever really followed. My sister and I have started watching together and have become borderline obsessed when there is a tournament on. We are already talking about how we will manage the time difference when the Olympics start.

Shortly after I published the list a friend, who I had told about the list and knew about my love of curling, invited me to a curling bonspiel. She had expected that curling would make the list but alas it got cut for skiing. But the whole idea of having a list is pushing my self to try new things so I figured why not. I roped in another friend from work just to make it interesting. We curled in a small curling rink in Cobden close to where I live. It was a fundraiser for the Renfrew County branch of the Canadian Cancer Society.  We played 3 games over the weekend and were even given a turkey dinner at the end of the bonspiel. They raised a total $4400 for the Cancer Society and certainly provided some entertainment for what would have been an otherwise mundane weekend.  

I played the position of second, my friend Lindsay played first. Our third and skip had a little more experience curling so I think they wanted to get the bad shots out of the way early. Lindsay and I both struggled with either not getting the rock past the hog line or throwing it right through the house (the house clearly is just not big enough and that hog line is much too far away!) My favorite part of curling is hitting. I am amazed at the shots that get played in the big leagues. The Canadian Team at the Olympics this year, Team Jacobs from Northern Ontario, play these incredibly complex hitting shots. Often the opposing team make assumptions that Jacobs won’t play a shot because it’s too much of a risk but then they play it and often make it. They are a young team and are a little bit cocky but still fun to watch. I had three good hits that weekend. There is a bit of a thrill that comes with making a hit. The first one was a total fluke. It was the shot called but I don’t really know what I’m doing so the fact that I made it was pretty neat. The other two…well the truth is they were meant to be draws…but its still fun to hear the rocks hit. 

Our third and Skip, Steve and Marjorie were super fun to play with.  They taught Lindsay and I a lot and we had a lot of laughs over the weekend. It wasn’t traditional scoring- it was meant just to be fun and so at the end of a game you just spun a wheel to determine the score. The wheel had different options- such as the rock closest to the hog line or the most rocks in the blue ring. It made it feel non competitive but made it really hard to strategize. Out skip did a great job and I think we won one game lost one game and maybe tied the other. In the end it was to support a good cause and have some fun. See some picks below of our team.

The hats Lindsay and I wore were ones my sister had made for our Scotties trip- they didn’t arrive in time for the Scotties so this seemed like a fun time to wear them. People at the bonspiel loved them Lindsay thought we should get Spirit points for each game- no one else had fun caps!

All in all a fun weekend.

Ready for Game 2

Game Faces! note the fun hats. they are supposed to be curling rocks we had a bit of a hard time with the handles getting them to stick up but most people got the idea! 

Team Marjorie!