After a brief hiatus, due to Life-us-Interruptus, I am back at the blog. So much has happened since my last post, but rather than play catch up, I think I’ll just start from…how about right now (with a few references to the past 10 months)? Seems like as good a place as any. You know how you always have way more to say to someone you see frequently, sharing all those minute details, which make up the tight knit fabric of day-to-day life, whereas with someone you see infrequently, you can only offer up a loose crochet of general information? That’s where we are. We’re okay, by the way. We’ve had some wins and some losses recently, but we’re still standing. So, let’s begin again, starting with last weekend (which is pretty close to right now and what’s on my mind) as my thighs, knees, and ego continue to repair from the physical ambush.
With Mind (middle child) involved in a tennis tournament, Spirit (youngest child) and I spent the weekend with a good friend up at his cabin at Osler Bluffs in Collingwood for our biennial (occurring every two years) skiing adventure.
While I worried that the weather might be too cold, considering it’s February, it turned into the exact conditions I require to enjoy the day outside–a balmy 6°C. Spirit will enjoy any weather for his outing, but I am a fair weather skier (and I use the term skier loosely), but if I’m going to go up and down a mountain at cautious speeds, over bumps and other people’s skis, and occasionally into strands of trees, I’d prefer not to have add “in freezing conditions” to the mix. The snow was a bit slushy, but I’m okay with that–it softens the landing.
Skiing all day Saturday went off without a hitch (or a crutch) and the après ski seemed like appropriate compensation for sore legs and knees. On Sunday, we moved onto the next activity: hiking. Our host is a real outdoor enthusiast and does some pretty extreme things in his free time. Whenever I agree to join him, even on his “mild” excursions, I somehow always underestimate the expected exertion, so when he says, “hike” I somehow hear “walk” and prepare for a scenic roadside jaunt.
Instead, Spirit and I, in our urban footwear, hike up the mountain, over ice, streams, and rivers, in deep snow, once even pulling ourselves, by a rope, up the steep, icy terrain. If I weren’t so stubborn, I would play my Princess Card and find an easy route on which to tippy-toe down; instead, I occasionally swear a little under my breath but am grateful to our host for providing the challenge and the above zero temperatures again. After an hour-and-a-half of upward movement, we reach the top and enjoy a quick descent back to a hearty lunch as a reward for our efforts. Big thanks to our generous host who always provides a Triple E Trip: entertaining, educational, and exhausting!
Skiing: check.
Next chairlift departing in 2020.
Didn't See That Coming! 