Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
JANUARY 7, 2023 – Followers of this blog know that in the course of my stem cell transplant procedure back in late August, Drs. Killjoy (both of them) told me, “No more downhill skiing for you. Cross-country, fine; downhill, no.” Their perfectly sound reasoning was that the multiple myeloma had turned my skeleton into “Swiss …
JANUARY 6, 2023 – (Cont.) Out of the wrecker cab dropped a driver from central casting—a burly, bearded fellow, wearing blue transition-glasses, a baseball cap, heavy-duty gloves and a green safety vest. His name was “Jim.” and he proved to be as much a witty conversationalist as he was an engineer on the fly. He’d …
JANUARY 5, 2023 – (Cont.) But we still had the stuck vehicles to worry about. John had plenty of devices and equipment for pulling his tractor out of the snow, but I couldn’t see how my car could be rescued much before spring. I was prepared to abandon it until then. In that case, however, …
JANUARY 4, 2023 – Mylène got her wish: being snowed in at the cabin as the world around us turned into a winter wonderland. While for several days we’d enjoyed the gorgeous winter scenery outside, and inside, played cards and Scrabble and kept the wood-burning stove loaded with oak, the window was closing on our …
JANUARY 1, 2023 – Happy New Year cheers to all my readers! May 2023 bring you good health and lots of happiness. And may it bring a measure of peace and prosperity to the world. Yesterday, I celebrated the end of an eventful year by skiing for an hour on the American Birkebeiner Trail, the …
DECEMBER 11, 2022 – Currently, snow conditions aren’t optimal, but I’ve learned to adapt. I’ve found a loop of skiable snow in “Little Switzerland,” a 10-minute walk from our house. My course is only a little over a kilometer but has what every serious x-c skier needs: two straight-aways—one for “V-1” (poling with every other …
JANUARY 24, 2022 – Woods are fraught. Little Red Riding Hood nearly met her doom there, as did other “Grimm” characters. Belleau Wood is where U.S. Marines were baptized by fire in WW I and in the Ardennes Forest a later generation of U.S. soldiers battled the last German offensive of WW II. We still refer …
NOVEMBER 14, 2021 – Snow fell overnight and stuck. It was a warm-up (“cool-down”?) for what lies ahead. I used to feel excited and frustrated with the first snow—excited by the approaching ski season; frustrated that the first dusting of snow wouldn’t be skiable. In my (halcyon) dinosaur days, winter couldn’t last long enough. With …
MARCH 9, 2021 – On today’s local news the youthful forecaster cheerfully promised bright sunshine and record high temperatures. Mercury’s already flying high—well above 40. My main concern is . . . over the past 24 hours, how much snow has disappeared from my remaining run in nearby “Little Switzerland”? Yesterday, before the sun got …
FEBRUARY 18, 2021 – Last Monday I wiped out on skis. The issue was “boilerplate,” as my uncle used to call a patch of glare ice on a ski slope. Plus, I was on x-c skis—without sharp, metal, defensive edges. It was my first fall of the season—63 days, so far. As my left hip …
FEBRUARY 7, 2021 – It happened once when I was in college—so much snow fell, my skiing buddies and I couldn’t get to the ski area where we’d planned to play hooky. This was doubly ironic given that our school mascot was a polar bear. Yesterday, I faced another winter irony—air too cold for skiing. …
JANUARY 27, 2021 – Yesterday was crowded with work-related demands, routines of daily existence, and more “breaking news.” I couldn’t enjoy the sun-filled outdoors until it was no longer sun-filled. Not until 9:30 in the evening did I grab skis and escape. In the dark, the “banana-peel” ice on alley and sidewalks was too treacherous …
JANUARY 3, 2021 – An essential trait for survival is adaptability. At the bank where I worked years ago, we were told, “Adapt or die.” I wasn’t sure if that was a dictate or an observation, but either way, I figured the outcome would be the same. I tried to adapt. I quit thinking like …
DECEMBER 24, 2020 – Yesterday while I was workin’ away . . . at work . . . my cell phone rang, and up popped an 800-number. I suspected a robo-marketing call but answered anyway. It was a robo call but not a solicitation. It was from Eversource, the power company serving our family quarters …