Birthday & Anniversary Week

29th Birthday - July 17

The weather was great. Hot and sunny. I wasn't feeling awesome, silly ole pregnancy. I wasn't feeling up to much, so we enjoyed a feast on the deck with the kiddie pool. Charlie loves that silly pool. He chased the little white ball from Bocce all afternoon.

I had a new dress that I had received for my birthday from both moms. It required a quick hem job, so while I was inside the boys hopped in the boat with beers. Almost the same as being out on the water.

Logan had to go to work for a night shift, but the rest of us headed over to Meagan and Jonathan's for a BBQ and a little King Kubb.

Anniversary Dinner

To celebrate our 6th Anniversary, a little early, mom took us out to dinner. Booker's BBQ and Crab Shack. An excellent meal.

6th Anniversary - July 23rd

Logan worked for our Anniversary, hey, someone's got to. But we were going to be together for supper - what to do. We had gone out for dinner on Thursday and are going out again Sunday. I could cook something nice. Logan loves lasagna, but we had that last night in Edmonton, steak but we are going to the Keg, had ribs at Booker's. No inspiration. So I proposed our classic meals; McDonald's or Pizza Hut. All of our early days of celebration were over these inexpensive meals - our comfort food. So we had Pizza Hut and DQ Ice Cream Cake!

Reunion Craft

Our family reunion for the Scherle Family takes place at the end of August. We will be gathering at LutherLand camp just outside of Regina. This year they have decided to add a little Silent Auction with the proceeds going to offset the rental costs. On behalf of my family I have created a table runner and napkins.


Stef and I found some great fabric at Fabricland.
And the added touch the will represent our family is the ladybug. I cross stitched a single ladybug and sewed it onto the table runner.

The package offers the table runner and 8 napkins. I am very proud of my work.

Today Auntie Linda picked me up to go site seeing. We started on Granville Island. We saw some great galleries/gift shops and then spent some time in the Market.
It was great. There is just about everything there. Plenty of fruits and vegetables, fish and other meats, chocolate and pastries. I bought some great tarts and then some fish and chips on the water.

Then we headed downtown to check out some of the sights I haven't explored alone. Robson Square's skating rink, the performance areas, the shops. Here are a couple of buildings that have HUGE billboards.

The other side of the flag wraps around the building.

While walking down Robson St we discovered Auntie Linda's Eagle. Richmond Holdings donated to have their name on an eagle among many eagles that are placed around the city. Here she is with her eagle at Robson and Burrard. Great location. And great Eagle. Haida art. (many of the other eagles we have seen have not be so great.)

Tuesday off

Yesterday we were given a bonus day off. The show had been held for a "bought house". No one bought it. No show.

I decided to go to the Museum of Anthropology. This museum was created to house the Totem Poles "rescued" from the beaches of Ninstints. The entire plot of our play.

Quick overview: The real life Anthropologist Wilson Duff (Lewis Wilson played by John Mann in our show) and his friend Bill Reid (Max Thomson played by Cam MacDuffee) go to Ninstints to remove select totem poles so that they can be preserved in a museum to be studied etc. The argument was and still is to this day, that they shouldn't have taken them. That the cycle is not supposed to be broken, a tree grows, it is chopped down, carved, it decays and nourishes new trees that will be chopped down and carved. The argument on the other side is that the families were killed by small pox and the village abandoned for 60 at the time of the expedition. The cycle was broken.

The experience was so much for these two guys - and all of the people on this expedition - that it affected them for the rest of their lives. The Anthropologist ended up committing suicide and Bill Reid found inspiration to learn to carve, to re-discover his own past. He is one of the most famous First Nations artists (turn over a $20 bill and you can see his work!)

In the "backyard" of the museum they recreated a piece of Ninstints - Bill Reid carving 2/3 scale replicas of the totems they rescued - and turning it into a long house and a small house as it was/might have been in the village.It was beautiful. The real village was built with all buildings facing the ocean. So was this one. It was quite the sight.Inside the museum you can see the poles that they chopped down. It was pretty powerful. To see the actual poles that I watch fall every night onstage. Usually I just do theatre, but to see that this is actually someones history, heritage, turmoil. It was pretty cool.

There is always a lot of research that goes into doing a play. Even if it is a work of fiction you still have to learn about the time and place that you are working in. This one was intense as Bruce Riddell, our playwright, has been working on this for 20 years. He worked with Duff, with Bill Reid and many other elders and chiefs in the creation of this story. The bits and pieces that we have learned about this expedition is incredible. We have even seen pieces of footage from the actual expedition. Of them chopping down the poles, cutting them into pieces, putting them in crates and floating them down the water in a train-all tied together behind a boat. To see those actual pieces...
Also in this picture: The painted board on the wall was the original entry way into the building that stored the poles when they first returned. The canoe was carved by Bill Reid in the traditional way - we talk about canoes a lot in the play. And the two boxes in front are bentwood boxes. They are a thin sheet of cedar that is steamed and then bent into a box. That is how our story starts - with a bentwood box and a mask.
The four pieces seen here are all one pole. The left is the base, the right is the top - the watchman, just like Tom Jackson is in our play.

There was tons of other things to see. Most of them I had no patients to take a long time to read about. There was so much other stuff to look at. Like other work by Bill Reid. He started out as a metal smith. He worked mostly in Gold and Silver. Here are some things I thought were cool.
The museum was originally a building to protect Vancouver during the war. One of the key architectural features is the gun turrets. They weren't sure what to do with it when they were
"remodeling". So they commissioned Bill Reid to create a piece out of a huge, solid piece of yellow cedar. He created a carving of the creation story. I think it is interesting that in the gun turret there is a carving of creation. (The Raven is a huge player in the story telling of the Haida. The Raven was walking along the beach after the great flood and he noticed something shiny. It was a clam shell. Within the clam shell there were little creatures, some curious, some unsure, some not interested in what was going on outside of the shell. The Raven convinced them to explore the new world. And thus the first people stepped onto the beach.)

I am glad I went. I enjoyed the sunset on the water before the houses of Ninstints before I left.

After my trip I met up with Matt for dinner. He took me out for sushi. He is so grown up and cultured.

After Sushi I got to see his apartment. He had part of my Christmas Present waiting there for me. It was the new Monopoly City game (that I was sad no one got me for Christmas). We opened up some beer and played for three and a half hours. It was great fun. Matt whooped my ass. Final net worth: Matt $75 Million, Stacey $35 Million.

Blogging Again

I took a little time off. I stopped blogging about the same time I started Christmas Carol again. When you only have 8 days of rehearsal before you are onstage (usually you have three weeks) things are busy.

I finished on Carol two weeks early. They moved me over to another show at Theatre Calgary Beyond Eden. We put in a week of rehearsal before Christmas.

Christmas was great. My parents came to Calgary and we spend Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing day with the Glass Family. It was great. It was one of the shorter holidays I have had. I was back to work on the 27th.

Fall Garden

My little garden is over flowing. Most of it has been harvested, but some is still going strong.

Butternut Squash (Flowers but no squash at this point. We will see)

Pumpkin (a number of flowers, and one pumpkin is started)

Red Pepper Plant (the plant got choked out by the other plants. I transplanted it once and then the pumpkin choked it out. But one little pepper did grow.)

With this late season heat the strawberry plants have gone crazy!!! It should be a good summer for strawberries next year.The asparagus is going strong. Next year we will just watch it again. Year three!!!!

The herbs are taking over. Compact Thyme, Thyme, Tarragon, Mint and Sage.
The tomatoes are turning red, finally. There are about 25 on the plant. They are ripening one at a time-which is nice.
And our raspberry bush has fruit. The tag promised fruit the first year, I was skeptical as there has been no fruit until now.
Two Mondays ago Stef and I got together and made Pickles, Pickled Carrots

And Borscht. (please note the open jar of pickles in the background. The perks of making pickles while there are still some from last year - no waiting!)

A quick trip home

Logan, Dan and I just returned from Regina. Logan and Dan (Lindsay's husband) went on a boys camping trip with Lorne, a boys trip.

I joined them for the ride, leaving them at Chaplan where Lorne drove them to Diefenbaker.

I continued on to Regina and had a quick visit with a number of different people! Usually when I head home we have limited time and spend one day with my family, one day with Logan`s family and then we drive home. This time I had the opportunity to visit with friends (as both sets of parents had visited us in Calgary recently).

Mom and Dad hosted dinner for Grandma, Grandpa, Janet and I. It was wonderfully delicious.
I also had lunch with Kendra, dinner with Lisa, lunch with Janet and drinks with the ole Do It With Class gang. I had a great couple of days. They always go by to fast.

Late Twenties

Yesterday was my 27th Birthday. Were does time go. Think back to high school. How far away does 27 seem then? I graduated at 17 years old. "What do you think you will be doing ten years from now" is a common question. I am married to a man that I love and is my best friend. I have established myself and am very successful in a career that I chose, that I love and have proved to many (that I am sure doubted) that I could earn a living working in professional theatre. I have a house that is everything I could have hoped for, that I am slowly decorating to my taste. I have a little puppy who loves me unconditionally. I have a family that loves me and will make the effort to drive to Calgary to see us, to the city we chose that took us away from that very family. Family that have been brought together by our marriage, that don't have to see each other except when Logan and I ask them to be, that will hang out together, go for drinks or go to concerts together. I think that the 17 year old me would be very happy with where I am at now.

My birthday was fantastic. The weather was the best it has been...maybe all summer. As I had mentioned in the last post we sat on the deck in the heat all day. Logan pulled out the pool and we had a great time watching Charlie and Robyn. After our classy meal of McDonald's I opened up some presents.

Logan got me the newest and coolest in scrapbooking, a Cricut Cutter. I have been asking for one for a bit, doing my research and trying to find the best deal. It is like a printer but works without a computer. You select the shape/letter/design and insert paper and the machine cuts it out in any size. Very intricate shapes and letters. I am very excited. Everyone watch out, homemade cards are on their way for years to come.


Leah and Marc headed on to the family they were here to visit and Mom, Dad, Logan and I had supper before heading over to Meagan and Stef's place for my party. All I knew was that they were working their tails off...no idea on what. It was a Musical Themed Party. I was very excited. Not many people I hang with now know the musical side of me. It was a huge part of my life for so many years. It is primarily the music I listen to by myself. It was great to let that side of me out for the night.


Everyone was dressed up as someone from a musical. They even were able to steal my Marty costume from "Grease" that was hanging in my guest room closet. They had it there ready for me to wear it. (It was a bit warm, but you can see my pink ladies jacket on the chair).
Logan, Sonny from "Grease".

Dad went as a Greaser.

As you can see from the comments below, I was corrected (and apparently uninformed or not a very good guesser) Mom went as one of the ladies from the new musical 9 to 5.

The Hosts of the Party Stef and Meagan, along with Raveigh dressed as Diamond Dogs from "Moulin Rouge".

Cris dressed as Ash from "Evil Dead: The Musical". (He was not the only one, Ruby Dawn arrived later in the same outfit - only she had just spent three months working on the show)

Meagan's Mom May also attended as Annie Oakley from "Annie Get Your Gun". It was great that she came, we have been doing a circuit workout two/three times a week (Meagan leads May, Stef, Auntie Shelley, Rackhee and a couple other friends of Meagan's).
They went all out with the details. Music playing all night.

Mom made Sangria, the girls had Pink Lady Punch, Technicolour Shots, Carousel Jello Shooters.

And a whole table of food.

Yellow Brick Road out of cheddar cheese, A Taste of Siam eggrolls,
Oliver olives, Diamonds are a girls best friend Veggie Diamonds from "Moulin Rouge" and my favorite the Venus Fly Trap Audrey Two made out of pickles.
And desserts, Rumblin' Sharks Gummies from "West Side Story", and Phantom cupcakes.

And This is my boomstick "Evil Dead" cake.

I had such a good time.

A little fABBAulous bubbly ala "Momma Mia"
They even had a game (because "what Stacey party would be complete without planned activities"). They had a crazy difficult Musical Quiz. I didn't do very well. The questions were so detailed, but great. I even had to perform.

So Long, Farewell from "The Sound of Music"

The Hand Jive from "Grease".

With Meagan and May you will also see Rakhee who also does the circuit training dressed up from "Bombay Dreams" and Craig as Roger from "Rent".

I opened up some great, extremely thoughtful gifts.

Ate a delicious cake, Chocolate with Raspberry center.

After cake we went out for a fire. It was a beautiful night, still very warm. Not at all like a normal Calgary night.

Ruby Dawn as Ash from "Evil Dead". She joined us in time for cake a the fire.

I wasn't the only one that enjoyed myself. Stef and Meagan dancing to each other through the kitchen window.