Gradual improvements...

Skier Days: Sara(53), Caroline(24), Susan(27), Charles(42)

It is Sunday night again and I am looking back on an eventful week.   For a week that started out with some horrid tropical rain and ended up with some scary arctic air,  it turned out to be a pretty good one all and all.

Wednesday...

I had banked a lot of work time on Monday and Tuesday with all of the bad weather.  Sara was still at Sugarloaf until tonight so I was able to wake up early and jump right into my work routine.   At 8:35 I got my stuff together and headed out to try to make the first lift when it opened at 9am.  This was to be my first race in the Bud Light Locals Challenge.  This is a series of 10 weekly races for locals and teams representing departments of the mountain,  local bars and restaurants, and stragglers such as myself.     I got down to the lift at 8:50 and stood in line with a fellow early bird waiting for the lifties to get the call that the trails were all clear.  At 9:02 we were headed up.  

This was my first chance to really survey the damage from the big rain.  Surprisingly it did not seem as bad as you might think the damage would be from 2 1/2 inches of rain.   The worst issues seemed to be on those slopes that directly faced the sun and on those which were the targets of downward rushing water.  At the top of the Southridge Quad and the base of the junction of trails there was a long narrow chasm that had been dug into the snow.  The picture shows the much and stones that had been washed up and out and spread across the surface of the snow.  What you can't tell from the photo is that it is a couple of feet deep and goes straight to the bottom, which is where the dirt came from.

I got in two warm up runs and then my two actual runs of 35' and then 34 seconds putting me 45 out of 97 of the middle to later middle aged racers :-).  I got put on the "Single you?" team for all of the uncommitted folks.  It was really fun to get timed and now I have something to shoot for.  The conditions were marginal and so I did one or two more runs and headed back to work.   I got in a full day with my only real distraction being a the draw to watch Sara's race times come in on live-timing.com.  She did a pretty good job competing against the best racers in the state of Maine and has given herself another good baseline from which to build.  I ended up the day with a trip to the Matterhorn Ski Bar that was hosting this weeks post race event and a trip into Bethel to pick up Sara.  She and all of her teammates were in hyper-drive and 

At work I have been drawn into a little side project at work that has become all consuming.  I am modifying some old and complex but well structured code as part of a Proof of Concept.   It is coming along well, but each time I turn one corner I am confronted with a few more new challenges.  It is a good time to do such work as we are just about wrapping up one release and moving on to another. 

I finished the night as I close in on the end of "Pride and Predjudice and Zombies", yes I am the slowest reader in history...

Thursday...

Dawned cold,  very, very cold...  After the intense training and long days at Sugarloaf the coaches had given the team the morning off.  Sara slept in while I got another early day started.   I made her a big breakfast late morning and brought her down to school early so that she and her fellow students could finish up a project that was due the end of the week.   

I managed to sneak out after lunch for an hour or so to get in a few runs and to stop in down to get my boots adjusted a bit.  One of the coaches at Black Diamond is also a great boot fitter and he made a few tweaks to my boot that have made all the difference in the world.  It is truly amazing how a small shim can change your stance and make it possible to get your skis on the proper edge.   I went down to Bethel a little early to drop off the power cord for her laptop which she had left at home.   There was a "Rail Jam" on Main St. in Bethel with trucked in snow, lights and the whole deal..

Friday...

The wind came in overnight sounding like a freight train.  Sara started the day in classes and it is already noticeable how much lighter the sky is in the mornings when we drive down.  Despite the cold it is clear that spring will soon be nudging her way in..  I took a short side trip down Sunday River Road to take a few pictures on this bright and sunny day.  The cold biting at my fingers made me work quickly.

I tried to get out early this morning to ski, but the wind had shut everything down but the South Ridge Quad.   I was back at my desk by 10 after one footed skiing the beginner trails at the base of the mountain 4 or 5 times ..  Susan and Caroline showed up at around 6pm and we had a hearty dinner of spaghetti and meatballs.   Susan collected Sara at 7pm and we were together as a family again.

Saturday...

The wind had scoured the trails pretty clean and blown quite a bit of the newly blown snow from Friday into the woods.   The conditions were super hard and the temperature called for some serious bundling up.   I spent the morning with the race group and we had a blast.   I really felt like I had made a break through and my freshly tuned skis were gripping the hard and icy course really well.

Sara had a case of frozen toes and Susan drove over and got her to take her back to the condo where they whiled away the afternoon reading and hanging.   Caroline has continued improving her skiing this weekend and is starting to rival some of her teammates.  I skied for another two hours this afternoon and then headed in  to warm up.    Caroline had gone home with one of her pals that live just down the hill from the competition center in Viking Village so I dropped off some boots for her.   The family that she is with is one of the nicest you will want to meet and she and Kate have really hit off.  They have a family house that is the third to be built down in the Village and is truly an gem of a classic Maine camp.   It look out directly on to the recently widened creek that runs out of the snow making reservoir at the bottom of Barker.

I had been desperate for Cheese Fondue since th season had started and tonight was the night.   I had neglected to get Sterno and ended up running all the way in Bethel to get it do desperate was I.  Susan and I munched on the bulk of it with the girls not really finding the tangy cheese and Kirsch to their liking.    I took Maggie for her one last walk of the night and took my camera and tripod out with me to try my hand at some night photography...

 It was another early night and too bed..

Sunday...

Started out with my first chance to try out "skinning" up the mountain.   Last year I had picked up a pair of wide skis for those occasional powder days and to make it easier to get through the bumps and crud.   When I did so I purchased "AT bindings for them.  AT bindings allow you to release the heel and ski on these skis as if they were cross country skis.   To climb up hill you add a covering that allows you to glide in one direction but that stops you from sliding backwards.  They are now synthetic, but once they were made of animal skin and thus the term "skinning".   

Our friend Rod is a bit of an adventurer, and tele-skier that has some experience in this area and he volunteered to school me in how to use them.  We set up from the condo a little after 7pm and began climbing up Dreammaker.   By 8am we were at the top of North Peak and soaked with sweat.  It was a beautiful blue-bird day and it was a great way to start it out.   Susan met us at the top for a brief rest and to ski a few runs before Black Diamond started at 10.  We got in to the lodge early so that I could dry out my gear a bit more before heading out again.   We skied until 11:15 or so before heading down to watch Caroline's race.

When we got to the course Sara and her winter term classmates were helping out by setting up the finish area netting.  It was pretty entertaining to watch them rolling out the netting and drilling the holes in the snow for the poles.   They are a spirited bunch.

It was a great day for racing and this was Caroline's first chance to show off her new found skiing ability that materialized last weekend.   She lived up to they hype and her time was the third best time amongst all of the girls and second in the J5 age group.  The best girl times went to her J4 friends Natalie and Allie and her pal Colby.   Most importantly she was very consistent across both runs and you could clearly see that she had made a significant leap forward in terms of both form and aggressiveness.

The expression on her face as she tucks towards the finish line is pretty intense.  All of the girls have collectively decided to let out a war cry and a growl at the start and apparently during the race as well...

We stuck around for the awards ceremony after and it was really nice to see the girls all supporting one another when the race was over.  While the Carnival is a team event, there is definitely some healthy competition amongst the kids and it is a great lesson in sportsmanship to be able compete hard and still revel in the accomplishments of those that you compete against....

Quietude..

Skier Days: Sara(49), Caroline(22), Susan(25), Charles(37)

Powder Days: Susan(3), Charles(2)

Today started better than yesterday with a light flurries salting some of the ground laid bare by yesterdays rain. Sara was over at Sugarloaf so I had no rushing about this morning.  I woke up early, made a yummy breakfast.  The conditions did not warrant skiing today so I did some Wii Fit Yoga.  It is terribly demoralizing to be told you are virtually ancient. My main weakness is anything that has to do with balancing on one leg.  It was also really funny to have it try to encourage me along since I had not used it in over 376 days.. Nonetheless the biofeedback may actually help me develop some of that balance that it tells me I am missing.   A quick shower and I managed to get in a really productive day.  

There was one break to run down to the Tune Shop and pick up the skis that I had left on Sunday night.  The Wintersteiger does indeed rock and put a really nice factory finish on them that I just can't get to when I hand tune.  I stopped to lock around at the mountain and was impressed that the damage was not as severe as I had expected.   Nonetheless there were some nasty dirty spots here and there and were it not for the groomers and snow making things would be much worse.  

Sara called to check in briefly late in the afternoon, but she is not one to talk much when she is with the crowd.  She seemed happy and was looking forward to the Super G tomorrow afternoon.  In the meantime we arranged to have our old friend Chantal and her daughter stay at our place next week for the Speed Camp that is Thursday and Friday.   Should be another great week.

It's 31 degrees right now and I am really hoping it drops a couple of degrees more so that they can start running the snow guns tonight.  Tomorrow is my own chance to race in the "Locals Challenge"..

Cyclone: Part II

Skier Days: Sara(48), Caroline(22), Susan(25), Charles(37)

Powder Days: Susan(3), Charles(2)

The ski days did not increase today.   Sara and I were up early to start the week and get her ready to go for a 2 day trip to Sugarloaf for Super G camp.   Susan had done a great job of organizing Sara's travel bag and notes on all the rest that needed to be put together.   We were anticipating the bad weather that was predicted, but hoping for a miracle.   When I went to the car to put Sara's skis in I slid down the walk and across the parking lot.  We loaded up the Mini with all of here gear and drove very slowly down to Bethel.

I made a quick stop at the Tune Shop down at South Ridge to ask that they put a 3 deg. angle (that would be the racers bevel :-).  I got back to the condo and got to work.   The icicles were growing longer and longer for a couple of hours until the warm wind came up and blew them all into the snow under the window.  The rain was cascading off the roof like a water fall and the trees were whipping around.   It was a very quiet day on the mountain with only the occasional snow mobile running up and down the trails.  There were few if any skiers riding the lifts today and I was certainly not one of them.

Sara called around 3pm to ask me to bring the tuning box down to her which we had forgotten to bring with us earlier.   I made the quick trip down to town in the deluge and stopped only to take the picture of  "Sundance", which looks a lot more like "Raindance".   The condo repair guys were working on a leak in the roof that was dripping into the hallway outside the door next door.   The water was coming in from a big melting drift that had formed where two sections of the roof join.   They expect to shovel the roof and repair it tomorrow.  That should liven things up a bit.   It is way to quiet around here without any of my girls...

Early night to see if I can finish "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies".

Susan's Lucky Week

Skier Days: Sara(48), Caroline(22), Susan(25), Charles(37)
Powder Days: Susan(3), Charles(2)

With things seemingly settled down at school and a routine in place, it seemed like a good week for Susan to stay up North and get a taste for mountain life.    Tuesday was a day off in Medford due to the special election to replace Senator Kennedy.   I was up early to prepare my weekly status report and work for a few hours before meeting with my manager.  It had continued to snow overnight and there was more scheduled so Caroline and I headed south just before lunch and made it home mid afternoon.   I stopped in for a few minutes to vote in the hope of salvaging the possibility of universal health care that would bring the US up to par with the rest of the developed world and rescue the economy.   I was back to work and Caroline spent the afternoon getting a leg up on her homework for the rest of the week.   Around dinner time Caroline and I went down to Whole Foods and stocked up on food for the week and brought home a little Sushi feast to get the week off to a good start.

Susan got to spend the afternoon making some sweet turns on some fresh snow.  Sara was back to a regular school and ski schedule after having Monday off.   The competition season started with Slalom followed up by Giant Slalom(GS) and this week they are progressing to Super Giant Slalom(Super G).   The progression in the format of these races is from tighter courses with more turning, to looser courses at higher speed.  As a 13 year old Sara is considered a first year J3(Junior under 15) and this is the first year that skiers compete at Super G.  Last year, as a J4, Sara got to try out Super G at "Speed Camp" and really loved it.   She immediately fell for the adrenalin rush and her coaches recognized in her the spark of love for speed.  That week is probably the one thing most responsible for hooking her on the sport and driving her to want to go to Gould.

The equipment for each of these races is also specialized.  The Super-G requires a longer more stable ski with a longer turning radius to match the longer distance between the gates.   The straighter stiffer ski does not wander as much and provides greater edge length to better handle the pressure generated by the skier in a high speed turn.   The only faster race than Super G is the Downhill.

Susan went to dinner with Megan and Adam and Sara ended up tagging along at the last minute as dinner plans didn't end up working out at school this Tuesday.  The $5 pizza night at the Matterhorn get a lot more expensive when you throw in a Celiac for whom the only appropriate thing on the menu involves steak.

Caroline and I fell into a routine quickly with me getting up early to work a bit, waking her and having breakfast,  a little homework, and then a walk to school.    Work, work work and then walk down to pick her up.   She brought home a friend from school which worked out well because they did homework together while I got back to it.    We made ourselves a yummy Lamb on the grill with a side of risotto.   Susan had another great day on the snow and caught up a bunch of errands that had been lagging.

We were all in mourning and slightly in shock at our new Republican Senator Brown from Massachusetts.   It seems the American people are very fickle when they are unemployed.  What stuns me is just how quick people are to vote against their own interests to "send a message".    In this case it is clear to me that my fellow citizens are not capability of thinking long term and the fear, uncertainty and doubt messages of the Republicans continues to work.  It does not help to dwell on what cannot be changed.  Caroline and I spent an hour watching a cake competition on the Food Network before crashing early.

Thursday was another day like Wednesday but with better sleep and an indoor soccer game at the end of it.   Caroline has been playing with the "Strikers FC" along with three of her regular teammates from the town team.  They have been winning all of their games handily and she has even scored a couple of goals.   This was the first game that they ran into an older and more accomplished opponent from the dreaded soccer powerhouse of Wilmington.   They managed to keep it close and lost only 3-0.  It was an 8pm game and Caroline was practically asleep before we got home.   I put her to bed, checked on a couple of things at work and crashed.

Friday was another ski day in paradise for Susan and Sara.  I was up early again and worked a couple of hours before getting Caroline up and walking her down to school.   Work, work, work and then back to Maine after school.

The family was reunited and Saturday was a bluebird day with lots of sunshine and the bluest of blue skies.  I did the "Race" group with our Black Diamond Group and we had a really nice course set up for us old timers on Wildfire.   I have been struggling a bit to get back to where we ended up last season on the race.  I started to feel better to day and Dave, our instructor/coach, is so enthusiastic it is hard not to improve.

After lunch I packed up my tripod, thanks to Grammy Ellie, and my good Camera in the back pack and dragged it up to the top of the Jordan lift with my co conspirator Steve.   We got some great panorama pictures including the one above of the Mahoosucs and the one below of the Presidentials that I assembled from five separate images using the Photo Stitch software that came with the Canon camera.

When I got home Kate was hanging out with Caroline.  We ended Saturday night down at the Shipyard at White Cap for our first Sunday River Ski Club event.  It was really great to hang out with all of the grown ups while the kids went tubing.  Caroline ended up brining her friend Colby home for a sleep over.  She is another really nice and polite kid and the they had an excellent time.  This is a really nice group of J5 girls.

Sunday we all had another good day on the hill.  I worked on my racing all morning and felt like I really had a breakthrough.  Caroline too felt that she had made some great strides and did very well on the timed runs that they did in training.   She we bubbly and happy when I picked her up and we skied home.

Caroline and Susan, ten straight days on the hill,  headed back to Medford and Sara and I settled into a little tidying up.  We watched the Colts beat the Jets and made a yummy dinner.    We ran a laundry and now she is long in bed and I am next.   We checked the standing at the Eastern Regionals and of the two top teammates one finished 6th out of the top 60 J3 girls in the East.  Not too shabby.   Tomorrow she heads to Sugarloaf with the team for two days of Super G training and a race.

Powder Day: Part II

Skier Days: Sara(42), Caroline(20), Susan(19), Charles(35)
Powder Days:  Susan(1), Charles(2)

Today was a bonus day tacked on to a long weekend.   The weatherman last night said it was only going to be 1 inch, but when we woke up it was more like 6-10.   Saturday was a school day and a day off from skiing for Sara as they were preparing for the race on Monday (today).    She went with all her girl teammates down to the Maine Mall.

Susan, Caroline, and I all did our programs.  Caroline is working hard and progressing well.  This year the GSR program has decided to introduce Slalom skiing to the younger kids and Saturday that got to spend time working on those skills.  I went with the Black Diamond race group and we had some fun of our own trying to run the gates.  Every time that I try to do it I am reminded just how subtle and difficult it is to properly ski gates.   This Saturday I was not dialed in at all and my attempts were really inconsistent.

Saturday night Caroline, Susan and I went to a potluck for the J5s and got to meet some more of the other parents and coaches.  The kids had a great time and it was interesting to hear some of the other stories of folks that have moved or have considered moving to ski country.

Sunday was another good day on the hill it had warmed up quite a bit and the ability to skip lines that Black Diamond affords was well worth the investment.   It was a holiday weekend and this was by far the most crazy it has become on the slopes this season.   The combination of a lot of new skiers and the tendency of the slopes to get skied off by the late afternoon made it an afternoon to avoid the crowds by heading to some of the less frequented parts of the mountain.

Sunday night we had the goal of getting in bed early.  Caroline had gone home with a friend after skiing for some sledding and hanging out.  We went to collect her late in the afternoon down in Bethel.  When we arrived the Dad invited us in for a beer and to watch the end of the Jets game.   His hospitality was overwhelming and we ended up staying for burgers and yummy broccoli and getting to know the family some. They have a beautiful chocolate colored greyhound with the gentlest manner and sweetest eyes.

Sara left on Saturday morning with her team to do some reconnaissance at Sugarloaf and stay overnight there.  Starting at Sugarloaf would allow them to get up later than the normal five AM to get there on time.

The forecast was for only a couple of inches of snow this morning and we were planning to ride over to Saddleback.  When we got up in the morning at clearly snowed a bit more than that.   I went down to the locker and loaded the skis in the car and came back up stairs to tell Susan that I was not sure we were going to make it.  She was determined to give it a go and we were on the road at 7:15.  We were all the way down to the Rte. 2 and heading towards Rumford at 30 mph when we realized that by the time we got there we were going to miss the first run at any rate :-(  We reluctantly turned back...

The good news is that it was a powder day!!   Having pulled the plug on the driving we made it back just before eight and wasted no time heading out onto the slopes.    Caroline headed over to train gates and Susan and I headed west to float down velvety trails covered with a fresh coating of 6 inches of soft powder.   The woods and the bump runs that were looking a bit dirty and showing patches of granite and wood were refreshed and clean.   We crashed by early afternoon and headed back to the condo to shower and nap.  I walked Maggie late in the afternoon and brought my camera out in the hope of catching a few birds at the bird feeders.   One of the women in the building is a birder and had moved her feeders further from the building down to the corder of the parking lot.   I was rewarded with the woodpecker photo.    This one is for my Dad is an avid birder himself...

We met up with our friends Mark and Steve and skied until our legs were toast at around noon.  We had lunch at Barker and headed back to check on the online results from Sara's race.   She continues her gradual improvement and each race her form and her times improve.   When I picked her up she as talkative, smiling and positive knowing that this is just another leg of the journey.   As a parent you can't ask for more than to see your kids challenging themselves, working hard, and loving life.

Midterms...

Skier Days: Sara(40), Caroline(17), Susan(16), Charles(32)

Sara had her midterms today over the last couple of days which is a sign that we are half way through this experiment in relocation.  It is hard to believe that so much time has passed.  A lot of things seem to have worked themselves out and we had a great week.   There was a lot more homework and tests this week and this was a full week of classes.   We have discovered that the secret of success is to get up early and do homework in the morning.

Our typical routine involve me waking up about 30 minutes before Sara and checking email and opening her door.  About 15 minutes later I turn on the light and start organizing breakfast.   She stumbles into the room bleary eyed and we eat breakfast together.   We check her schedule and get her stuff all packed and ready to go.   She does homework for 30 minutes to an hour and I get my work day started.   I driver her down to campus or the competition center and then get back to work. Of late have been running down after she finishes training to pick up her skis and gear.  At first I was resistant to this, but of late it seems to be a good thing and gets me out of my isolation and some human contact.

Work has been pretty productive this week.  We are closing out another release and a lot of the open issues have been working themselves out and coming to a conclusion.   Now that the new year is starting there are a lot more people around and it is much easier to get some of the projects I have been working on to progress.

The only down side to this week has been the absolutely frigid and windy weather that we have been having.   The good news is that they have been making snow,  the bad part is that it has been hard packed styro-foam like stuff that is pretty hard to hold an edge on.  Practice makes perfect, and we are all getting better at handling this stuff.  I decided to take off Monday from skiing,  that turned into Tuesday as well.  I did manage to get out on Wednesday,  but I headed west to Jordan, and the wind was howling there.  The picture at the top and bottom of this post were taken from atop the observation deck next to Jordan.  I nearly got frostbite taking my gloves off long enough to take them.   I can tell you there was not a lot of time spent on composition.  As for the conditions; thank god for snow making, but we really do need a good helping of mother natures real stuff.

In training they have switched back to Giant Slalom (GS).   Sara has been enjoying this somewhat less technical training and has been really getting into the groove with her coaches and teammates.   I got a rare glance into their world when I collected her from the dorm after school on Wednesday night.   It seemed like a really warm environment with kids studying, tuning skis,  knitting (which apparently a number of them do while in class to keep their hands busy) and skate boarding around the basement.   I think that she is currently working through to the next phase of her skiing development.  If she can drive through this next set of challenges I believe that she will break through to the next level..  Monday is the first GS Qualifier of the season at Saddleback and we are all going over to watch and ski.

Susan and Caroline came up this morning and spent the day skiing while I worked through to lunch and spent a couple of hours with them in the afternoon before returning to my desk to finish up my last bits for the week.    It has warmed up quite a bit and the snow was much softer and easier to hold an edge on.   We met up with our friend "Coach Megan" who was skiing on 188 Super G skis.  It was a fun way to end the week and start the weekend and the second half of the winter term....

Getting back into the groove....

Skier Days: Sara(36), Caroline(16), Susan(15), Charles(30)

Sara and I have been up here since Christmas Day, which makes it 16 days straight. It it is starting to feel like a regular routine.   As you may recall  the original plan was for me to go home this last week, but Caroline was not feeling all that well last weekend and it looked like she was winding up for an asthma attack.  It was decided that it was wiser for Susan to go home and keep an eye on her health in case she needed to go in to the doctor, or worse yet the hospital.   I rescheduled my plans for the week, which was just as well, because I had plenty of issues to follow up with on the current release that we are working on.

The week was a rollercoaster as it followed the ups and downs of teenage girlhood.   As a young man I always found girls and their relationships confusing,  as a father I am no less confounded.   Suffice it to say that I have compassion for all of them and wish that some of the unpleasantness that they put each other through could somehow be lessened..  As you suffer through them, the challenges seem so significant.  It is only in hindsight you realize that they are just bumps in the road.  Navigating them as parents can be one of our biggest challenges.  At any rate things now seem to be going in the right direction and with any luck we should now be able to focus on academics, skiing and building friendships.

The weather this week has been consistently cold which has allowed them to make a significant amount of snow.  The only challenge has been the wind, which has been kicking up hard ever couple of days or so and th lack of any new natural snow in the forecast.   The power of the wind to completely scour a slope of snow and blow it into the woods is amazing..   The tops of many of the lifts were blown down to "good old New England boiler plate" and granite.  On the other side of the battle are the mountain operations team blowing an amazing amount of snow on  the days that the wind did quiet down.   On Thursday afternoon at the top of Aurora the trail Airglow was nothing but the hardest of the hard but then on Friday there were 6 foot deep mounds of snow.

The obvious lack of  interesting pictures in this posting is a testament to just how cold the weather has been.   I have not really had the courage to take the camera out on the trail with me and without Maggie to walk in the morning there have been fewer opportunities for picture taking.  Part of it may also be that things are settling in a bit more and some of the novelty is wearing off.  This is not a bad thing,  it just means that we are starting to feel more like we are at home.

I have found that working remotely is starting to become more and more natural.  I have been putting in a good 10 hours a day, but it is broken up into smaller segments.   An hour or so before breakfast is followed by getting Sara ready and down to school or the competition center..  Four hours through to lunch is followed by a lunch break of an hour or two of skiing.    Three or four hours of work is followed by dinner and a ride down to Bethel to get Sara.   An extra snack and some guitar playing is followed by one last check in to IM and the opportunity to work with the team in China or India before bed.  Being home I find that I can do a quick vacuum or start a load of laundry as part of my "think time".  "Think time" is what you need when you get stuck on a challenging problem or while writing a technical document. You need to get up, walk around, and think.  It is amazing how many tough problems are solved this way.

In the realm of skiing Sara and the team have been focusing very heavily on Slalom as today was the first J3 Slalom Qualifier of the season.  Slalom skiing requires a great deal of technical skill and it is a discipline that Sara is just now starting to develop.  The excellent coaching that she has been getting has helped to increase her confidence in the gates and she managed to complete both of her runs in reasonable  times, improving by 5 seconds from her first run to her second.   Not a bad showing at all  and a good place from which to build.

I have managed to get out for a little bit of skiing everyday and my physical and mental well being is all the better for it.  At home I find that it is really hard to find the time to work out.   Here, the pull of the snow has managed to motivate me each day.  Even on those days when the wind roars through the trees I seem to be able to muster the courage to make it out.   I find that my skiing is improving for having the opportunity to spend a little bit of time each day on the snow.   The variety of condition really forces you to understand how your skis work and how slight variations in weighting impact how your skis perform.

The weekend was fun but busy and it has gone by all to fast.   Sara is in bed very early tonight and Susan and Caroline I home safely.   It went by way to fast and now we are quickly back into the grind...