In Canada there are two sports that kept Canadians busy during the winter. Most people know that hockey is one of the favorites. The other is a sport called curling. The sport began in Scotland and came to Canada in the 1800's. Canada was a natural for the sport and it rapidly became a favorite pastime for the farmers that lived on the prairies. It still is as every small town in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta have their own ice and curling rink. In the beginning they were all outdoors and used natural ice. Today every town seems to have their own "ice palace".

This is a sport that my wife loves. The game is played on a sheet of ice that is 180 feet long and at the end of the ice is a target like a bulls eye, which are placed at both ends of the ice. A team has four members called the lead, second, third, and the skip. Most teams use the name of the skip at the team's name, but not always as sometimes the "skip" will throw third. The skip is the individual that has the most experience in "reading" the ice. Each member "throws" 2 "rocks" each. The rock or stone, is made of granite, and weigh about 40 pounds each. The players actually slides the rock down the sheet of ice and tries to put it where his/her skip has indicated.

The game is a combination of shuffle board, chess, and billiards. After all eight rocks have been delivered the one closes to the center of the bulls eye scores a point for that particular team. If the second rock from the same team is closer they get a second point and on it goes. If a team scores an "eight ender" they get their name in the record book just like a hole-in-one in golf.

Beginning in early December the Canadians will host an event that is called the Roar of the Rings in Edmonton, Alberta. Here eight men and women's teams will compete to decide who will represent Canada at the 2010 Olympics. Way back in April I bought my wife tickets for all the games. Well the tickets never arrived until today. The look on her face was well worth the cost and it doesn't start for another three weeks!

One of her favorite teams came from a town not far from where I was a school administrator and for some reason we have never met them. Then last spring we were on our way to get my mother and as we drove through Grand Forks. North Dakota we saw the signs for the World Championships that were being held there. We stopped to watch and there before us was the Canadian team and the rink she liked curling against the French. After the game she went down and met all the players, their autographs and a couple of photos. We traveled over 800 miles to see a team that plays out of a community located 10 miles from us! She was thrilled!

We will kept you up dated on how her favorite team is doing at the playoffs which start on December 6th