The 24th Annual "Silver Bedpan" Curling Bonspiel
Howdie everyone!
This past Saturday my Mom invited us to curl in the hospital bonspiel, otherwise known as "The Silver Bedpan". For the past few years the turnout has been pretty low for the event, (last year there were only 14 teams). Since Mom was organizing it this year she told everyone that planned to attend to bring someone along. Much to her surprise 28 teams registered, which was awesome!
It was held at the new curling club which is located at French Fort Cove. I believe it's called the "Eco-Center", or something like that. It's a beautiful building, my only complaint is there's no bathrooms upstairs! :(
Before I get into pictures (which I have lots of), I wanted to explain how Mom set up the bonspiel. Each team had to play 3 games throughout the day, only 4 ends each. Then there was the complicated "points system"..heh heh! If you won the game, you got 4 points. A tie was 2 points. Each end that you won, was worth 2 points, and a blank end (no score) was a point for each team. Oh, and you also got points for the spread between the final score, which maxed out at 3 points. Still following me here? :) So, basically the most points you could possibly get for one game is 15. I normally wouldn't bother with all of this info, but it'll come into play later on in the story!
Mom set up the teams, so she put Darcy, Nick, Kari and I together with Darcy skipping. Mom skipped her own team which included my Nan and two of her co-workers from the hospital. Mom also made the mistake of putting her team against our team for the very first game..heh heh!
Here's a picture of our team when we first arrived on Saturday morning...
We had to wait a little while to play our first game, since there were already people on the ice. So, I wandered around and took a few pictures. This is a shot of the rink from the upstairs..
Everyone waiting to play...I really dig the look on Mom's face in this picture! Darcy is totally oblivious! :)
This is a shot of the entrance to the building. It's nice, but really bare! They desperately need to display some stuff there..
A picture of the "prize table", there were actually enough prizes for everyone to get something which was nice.
The coveted "Silver Bedpan" trophy..ha ha!
After taking those pictures, it was time to play! I must say, we played a great game! You have to remember that it was Nick and Kari's second time curling and Darcy and I haven't curled in years and years. We kicked Mom's butt..and she wasn't too impressed! At one point she was even yelling down the ice to Darcy saying, "Don't you skunk me Darcy!"..ha ha! We ended up finishing with 15 points, which put us at the top of the pack right from the get-go. Not too shabby!
Between games we hung out upstairs, had a few beers, and talked strategy! Not! No strategy for us..well not really! :) Here's everyone sittin' around..
This picture has a story behind it. Kari had to ask for the day off work to play, and this picture is the proof that she was actually in a curling bonspiel and playing for a silver bedpan. Look at Nick's face..hee hee!
A picture of the bar, and there's Mom looking out the window thinking up her future strategy..:) Couldn't resist Mom!
And here's what happens when Darcy has the camera...the next two shots are up close and personal!
Soon, it was time to hit the ice for game #2. We faired not too bad actually, we played against a team that also had 15 points. I must admit the competitive streak was coming out and we were all a bit worried. We managed to win the game and pick up 11 more points! Woo hoo! Once all of the teams had finished their second game we were in 2nd place. However, our final game was against the top team who was going into it with 30 points!
We decided to have a few more beers while we waited (don't think that helped our game much)! But hey..it's all for fun right? Kim showed up during the last game, so we have some actual shots of us in action..heh heh! Thanks for the pics Kim!
This is my Nan getting ready to throw her rock. She never ceases to amaze me, she's so "hip" for her age (and I won't mention your age Nan..no worries)!
This is one of my favorite pictures..Mom getting totally annoyed with Darcy! Hee hee..
The next few are of Mom and her team..
These next couple were taken right before our last game. This one of Nick and I cracks me up, Nick looks so serious! I think he was busy scoping out the competition...
And this is my team saying a prayer before we begin our last game..ha ha! Priceless!
The next bunch of pictures pretty much speak for themselves, so I won't bother explaining..
So, when it was all said and done, WE LOST! :( We did play a pretty good game though. We actually picked up 2 points on the first end, another point on the 2nd end, and then they took a point on the 3rd end. I thought we might actually win, especially since we had a 2 point lead, but they stole 3 points in the last end. We choked! But, we were still pretty happy with ourselves. Overall we came in 4th place, which is pretty good considering there were 28 teams.
After that game, we headed home to get cleaned up and have a few drinks before the prize ceremony and dance later on that evening. It was decided that Mom would cram all of us in her car since we were all drinking, so it was a tight squeeze! Darcy took the hatchback again, a replay of the "Stones Rescue"!
The prizes were awarded by random draw, (except for the top team). Mom was MC for the evening..here's a pic of her doing her duty..
Nick's name was the second one called, and I know Kim mentioned this in her post, but I have to say it again (it's too funny)! If you know Nick at all, he's the world's worst decision maker (not including me of course)! He stood at that prize table forever! About 20 more people went up to pick prizes and still, he was there browsing through everything. Everybody noticed and was laughing at him! Here's a picture of him trying to decide..
Finally he made a decision, which got a round of applause from the crowd! This is what he came back with..and he doesn't even drink coffee!
Darcy and Kari both got metal stools, but for some reason Darcy decided to pose with Mom's prize..
For the first time in history I made a quick decision and grabbed the hot pink rubbermaid container. :)
Once the prizes were all handed out, Mom had to give up the microphone (and I think she was more than happy to)! Gordioke Karaoke took over, and I have to say that this guy can really sing! He puts on a great show, and even has lots of props for people to use (wierd hats, plastic instruments, hula hoops)..lots of stuff! If any of you saw that picture of Nick playing the guitar on Kim's blog, you'll know what I mean when I say it makes for some great entertainment! I couldn't resist getting some video of Gordie singing, he was really awesome. I've decided to leave out the video of the other people singing (figured I'd spare ya that much..ha ha). So to see Gordie you can click here and here!
A great time was had by all, thanks for the invite Mom! By 11:00, we decided to head back to the house, and Dad offered to pick all of us up. It was a tight squeeze, but we managed to fit somehow! We carried the party on till the wee hours of 4:30am, and had a blast! :)
So, that's it for now! I'm sure nothing exciting will be happening till our next camp trip which is not for a couple of weeks. Till then, take 'er easy everybody!
Liss :)
This past Saturday my Mom invited us to curl in the hospital bonspiel, otherwise known as "The Silver Bedpan". For the past few years the turnout has been pretty low for the event, (last year there were only 14 teams). Since Mom was organizing it this year she told everyone that planned to attend to bring someone along. Much to her surprise 28 teams registered, which was awesome!
It was held at the new curling club which is located at French Fort Cove. I believe it's called the "Eco-Center", or something like that. It's a beautiful building, my only complaint is there's no bathrooms upstairs! :(
Before I get into pictures (which I have lots of), I wanted to explain how Mom set up the bonspiel. Each team had to play 3 games throughout the day, only 4 ends each. Then there was the complicated "points system"..heh heh! If you won the game, you got 4 points. A tie was 2 points. Each end that you won, was worth 2 points, and a blank end (no score) was a point for each team. Oh, and you also got points for the spread between the final score, which maxed out at 3 points. Still following me here? :) So, basically the most points you could possibly get for one game is 15. I normally wouldn't bother with all of this info, but it'll come into play later on in the story!
Mom set up the teams, so she put Darcy, Nick, Kari and I together with Darcy skipping. Mom skipped her own team which included my Nan and two of her co-workers from the hospital. Mom also made the mistake of putting her team against our team for the very first game..heh heh!
Here's a picture of our team when we first arrived on Saturday morning...
We had to wait a little while to play our first game, since there were already people on the ice. So, I wandered around and took a few pictures. This is a shot of the rink from the upstairs..
Everyone waiting to play...I really dig the look on Mom's face in this picture! Darcy is totally oblivious! :)
This is a shot of the entrance to the building. It's nice, but really bare! They desperately need to display some stuff there..
A picture of the "prize table", there were actually enough prizes for everyone to get something which was nice.
The coveted "Silver Bedpan" trophy..ha ha!
After taking those pictures, it was time to play! I must say, we played a great game! You have to remember that it was Nick and Kari's second time curling and Darcy and I haven't curled in years and years. We kicked Mom's butt..and she wasn't too impressed! At one point she was even yelling down the ice to Darcy saying, "Don't you skunk me Darcy!"..ha ha! We ended up finishing with 15 points, which put us at the top of the pack right from the get-go. Not too shabby!
Between games we hung out upstairs, had a few beers, and talked strategy! Not! No strategy for us..well not really! :) Here's everyone sittin' around..
This picture has a story behind it. Kari had to ask for the day off work to play, and this picture is the proof that she was actually in a curling bonspiel and playing for a silver bedpan. Look at Nick's face..hee hee!
A picture of the bar, and there's Mom looking out the window thinking up her future strategy..:) Couldn't resist Mom!
And here's what happens when Darcy has the camera...the next two shots are up close and personal!
Soon, it was time to hit the ice for game #2. We faired not too bad actually, we played against a team that also had 15 points. I must admit the competitive streak was coming out and we were all a bit worried. We managed to win the game and pick up 11 more points! Woo hoo! Once all of the teams had finished their second game we were in 2nd place. However, our final game was against the top team who was going into it with 30 points!
We decided to have a few more beers while we waited (don't think that helped our game much)! But hey..it's all for fun right? Kim showed up during the last game, so we have some actual shots of us in action..heh heh! Thanks for the pics Kim!
This is my Nan getting ready to throw her rock. She never ceases to amaze me, she's so "hip" for her age (and I won't mention your age Nan..no worries)!
This is one of my favorite pictures..Mom getting totally annoyed with Darcy! Hee hee..
The next few are of Mom and her team..
These next couple were taken right before our last game. This one of Nick and I cracks me up, Nick looks so serious! I think he was busy scoping out the competition...
And this is my team saying a prayer before we begin our last game..ha ha! Priceless!
The next bunch of pictures pretty much speak for themselves, so I won't bother explaining..
So, when it was all said and done, WE LOST! :( We did play a pretty good game though. We actually picked up 2 points on the first end, another point on the 2nd end, and then they took a point on the 3rd end. I thought we might actually win, especially since we had a 2 point lead, but they stole 3 points in the last end. We choked! But, we were still pretty happy with ourselves. Overall we came in 4th place, which is pretty good considering there were 28 teams.
After that game, we headed home to get cleaned up and have a few drinks before the prize ceremony and dance later on that evening. It was decided that Mom would cram all of us in her car since we were all drinking, so it was a tight squeeze! Darcy took the hatchback again, a replay of the "Stones Rescue"!
The prizes were awarded by random draw, (except for the top team). Mom was MC for the evening..here's a pic of her doing her duty..
Nick's name was the second one called, and I know Kim mentioned this in her post, but I have to say it again (it's too funny)! If you know Nick at all, he's the world's worst decision maker (not including me of course)! He stood at that prize table forever! About 20 more people went up to pick prizes and still, he was there browsing through everything. Everybody noticed and was laughing at him! Here's a picture of him trying to decide..
Finally he made a decision, which got a round of applause from the crowd! This is what he came back with..and he doesn't even drink coffee!
Darcy and Kari both got metal stools, but for some reason Darcy decided to pose with Mom's prize..
For the first time in history I made a quick decision and grabbed the hot pink rubbermaid container. :)
Once the prizes were all handed out, Mom had to give up the microphone (and I think she was more than happy to)! Gordioke Karaoke took over, and I have to say that this guy can really sing! He puts on a great show, and even has lots of props for people to use (wierd hats, plastic instruments, hula hoops)..lots of stuff! If any of you saw that picture of Nick playing the guitar on Kim's blog, you'll know what I mean when I say it makes for some great entertainment! I couldn't resist getting some video of Gordie singing, he was really awesome. I've decided to leave out the video of the other people singing (figured I'd spare ya that much..ha ha). So to see Gordie you can click here and here!
A great time was had by all, thanks for the invite Mom! By 11:00, we decided to head back to the house, and Dad offered to pick all of us up. It was a tight squeeze, but we managed to fit somehow! We carried the party on till the wee hours of 4:30am, and had a blast! :)
So, that's it for now! I'm sure nothing exciting will be happening till our next camp trip which is not for a couple of weeks. Till then, take 'er easy everybody!
Liss :)
posted by Liss @ 4:22 PM
2 comments
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