{"id":5376,"date":"2013-02-17T09:53:14","date_gmt":"2013-02-17T14:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=5376"},"modified":"2013-02-21T15:50:39","modified_gmt":"2013-02-21T20:50:39","slug":"hurry-hard-my-first-live-curling-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=5376","title":{"rendered":"Hurry! Hard! My first live curling event…"},"content":{"rendered":"

And no, I wasn’t playing. Good thing… LOL!<\/p>\n

Five pairs of tickets found their way to work for the opening weekend draws of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian Women’s Curling Championships<\/a> and were up for grabs on a first come first serve basis. Hubby and I love to watch the curling on the television and had discussed going this year to at least one draw since it was being held at the K-Rock Centre<\/a> in nearby Kingston<\/a>. I wasted no time getting my name in the “hat” for a pair and chose two tickets for the opening draw at 2:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\"ice<\/a>
ice prep after hotshots contest<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We found out later when we went for supper that the opening ceremonies took place earlier in the day and not immediately before the opening draw. Still, watching the players being piped in to the rink was pretty cool.<\/p>\n

\"players<\/a>
players being piped in<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the pomp and circumstance followed by the national anthem, the teams got in a little pre-draw practice.<\/p>\n

\"pre-draw<\/a>
pre-draw practice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The granite used to make the curling stones comes from a quarry on the island of Ailsa Craig off the west coast of Scotland, south of the Isle of Arran and west of Girvan,<\/p>\n

\"\"
Colin McDonald [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

and from the north quarry.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Richard Webb [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our seats were in the corner closest to the media and the television booth which meant all the even ends were played in front of us. It’s so different trying to keep watch on four sheets of ice rather than just the feature game on television. Still loads of fun.<\/p>\n

\"all<\/a>
all four sheets in play<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"and<\/a>
and then there were two<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The television game was on the sheet closest to us – Team Canada (the 2012 winner) vs New Brunswick and while it looked for quite a while, it would be one of the first ones finished but in the end was the last.<\/p>\n

\"and<\/a>
and then there was one<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And in case you REALLY want to know how curling stones are made, here’s a video clip from the television program HOW IT’S MADE<\/strong>.<\/p>\n