isn't this an awesome view to wake up to, every morning?! imagine... having a backyard where you could ski / snow-board to your heart's content! that was just what i got to do last weekend... when my brother very generously gifted me the opportunity to get-away from minnesota (where i feel absolutely stuck in all senses), to join him, lianne and their friends up on snowbird for a ski-snowboarding-weekend...
of course... i didn't know what i was to expect... snow in april?! when it was already very warm by minnesota's standards?!... but jolly yes! snow in april; up on snowbird! you'd say... utter madness... i'd say... utter joy!
it took me 3 hrs to fly to salt-lake-city, utah, from the twin-cities, minnesota, and with flight delays from JFK in nyc, we managed to arrive at the ski-resort nearly 2 hours after thursday midnight... during our 45min ride from the airport, my excitement grew as i could gradually figure out the vague silhouettes of the mountain range as we accended up in altitude... and the blanket of tiny stars that were just visible made it seem magical...
with all the travelling, logistics and room-assignments finally sorted and our bellies fed a little, exhaustion soon won over our better senses... and we slept, or rather tried to... for someone in our lodge room was snoring real loudly... i was also unwittingly woken up some 6 hours later by a phone conversation and much later annoyingly so by the same phone conversationalist bouncing on the pull-out sofa bed wherein i was trying to catch a few more winks... and of course... i was not a happy camper when i don't get my deserved lie-in! but once i woke myself up enough to see the view that was to behold from the sofa bed... all was forgiven... i wanted to get out and explore!
[ photo courtesy of kwt & lal ]
almost everyone had their own spiffy gear with them... beautifully crafted snowboards and skis, and 'cosmonaut-like' shoes... polarized ski-goggles and helmets.... i didn't have any of my own except my cool ski-trousers and jacket... so i had to pick up some ski-boots and skis from the rental store... and i got to borrow a nice woolly ski-hat, spare googles and gloves from my brother and lianne.
it was a rather busy friday morning... and the rental store was packed... i had called in the day before to rent skis but never got my confirmation email before arrival at snowbird... so some delay ensued before they found my application details... i wasn't sure if i would make the morning ski-class with the ski-fitting still on-going, so we decided i would take one in the afternoon instead... and i could explore the easier trails during what was left of the morning while everyone else seemed daring enough to hit the high slopes!
before i left the mountain-ski-school booking office, i asked the lady if she could tell me how i could get to the easier slopes... and she directed me to how i could get to the ski-school-lane and then to the Wibere ski-lift up 1/3 of the mountain... in my naivity... and pressumption that the 'easier' slopes marked 'green' on the snowbird trial-map would be manageable since i had felt more confident about skiing after the last ski-trip to Welch Village in minnesota... off i went on my own... with my rented skis over my right shoulder and walking like a pseudo-robot and climbing up a wee bit of snowy hill with all the gear before getting to the ski-school-lane to start my day...
it started off pretty fine... i click my ski-boots into the skis and let myslef slid gently down the lane... i even convinced myself i was doing pretty alright... the ski-school-lane seemed gentle enough and i thought maybe i would even manage getting on and off the lift on my own! so that's what i did... as i ascended the ~700feet to the top of the ski-lift... i marvelled at the snow-covered terraine... skiers maneuvouring themselves elegantly down and snow-boarders carving down the slopes! just before lifting up the safety bar in preparation to get off, i began to worry a little... golly me... this is really quite high up!
i got off the lift sliding to a gentle stop nearby... but then i started to panic when it dawned on me that 'easier' isn't 'easy' and 'green' ain't going to be so much of an 'easier' trail afterall... immediately to the right of the ski-lift is a blue-trail (wilbere ridge, which is a pretty darn steep slope)... there is a winding path along the side cliff of the mountain that led to the 'green' trail (big emma) i wanted to go to... and immediately on the left of the ski-lift is part of another blue-trail lane (rothman way) and almost vertically upwards are double-black-diamond (expert) trails where traffic moves incredibly fast... just as i was digesting the overwhelming information, a crew of ski-patrol were shouting for passage to be made clear... there was an emergency evacuation being carried out and they were approaching from one of those crazy double-black-diamond trails... i was scared but managed to manoeuvre myself out of their way before figuring what to do with myself...
... oh goodness, how am i going to get to the green-trail and through this winding path with edges running down the cliff and it was so icy?! i hate icy slopes... it reminded me of my first-ever ski-experience in germany... and it was not fun... i was traumatized... but that's then... and i was up on the mountain and i needed to get down or near where we had agreed to meet up for lunch! ... help!
i don't know how i did it but i tried with all my might, snow-plowed as much as i could, battling my fears down the icy winding sloping path to the 'big-emma' green trail... when i got there, big emma looked steeper than any other slopes i had ever gone down... and i was not sure if i could do it... i don't even know if i would be able to make lunch and get to my lesson on time... because it was nearly 11:30am according to my watch... and i had an hour to get down and make my way back to snowbird-center... before my 1pm lesson. yikes... i turned on my cell phone anyways because that's what i agreed with my brother.
i tried snow-plowing straight down but i was going too fast and it scared me silly and i lost control of my skis and fell sliding down on my front a little more... one of my skis became detached and i was wondering how i might get up and fetch my other ski! thankfully, a ski-instructor with a few little kids were nearby and one of them cheeky kids remarked "why does everything go wrong when we are on this hill!"... the ski-instructor helped me up before needing to go off with the kids... but made sure that i was fine and advised that i do my turns to slow down... so i tried to do that very slowly... stopping as quickly as i could with each turn... however, it's hard to get started again when you stop and at the same time too much momentum is terrifying so it was a balancing act... but it was either that or taking off my skis and walking down carrying them...
i managed to go a little further down doing turns that enabled me to cut across the slope and thereby having a little more control than flying downhill... my poor knees and all the wee muscles i had summoned at every turn to tighten up so i could get my skis straight and slow down were knackered and i fell once more but this time i didn't lose my skis and a passerby was really kind to tell me i was doing fine despite my fall and her partner helped to stablize me as i poked my ski-sticks into the snow and pushed myself up on the slope. once i did so, i felt a little better that i could get up mostly by myself... and the lady reminded me of how clever the skis are engineered so that i just have to squeeze the my toes right as i turn... i tried again... even though i was still a little shaken by fear... and before i knew it, the steepest part of big emma was soon over and i could control my sliding a lot better... but an hour was almost gone... and i was no where near the bottom of the mountain... and i had to get to my lesson in time...
i kept looking out for signs down the big emma green trail to the bottom of another ski-lift because the whole place just seem like a maze to a newcomer... i continued doing my little zig-zags down the slopes and trying not to panic at each turn... but just as i was concentrating on my turning down the slopes my cell-phone rang... it didn't make sense to answer it while i am trying to get down and when everyone passing me is going zip zip swishing down so i had to ignore the incessant rings even though i knew it was my brother; i thought they might be starting to worry that i didn't join them for lunch etc... but i could explain myself if i could just get to the bottom...
and as i got further down, i could finally see the ski-lift which someone had pointed out to me earlier and i felt so relieved i nearly cried... as i made my way there, i decided that there was no way i would go through that experience before my ski-lesson and i had to get back to where i started as soon as i could... there was a sign which said i could go to for the shuttle bus back to the ski-center and that's where i headed even though i had no clue where the shuttle was waiting... soon enough, i spotted the red bus moving and waved to the bus driver while trying to run in those crazy ski-boots and lugging my skis... some other people were also trying to get on... and i am glad the driver waited for all of us!
you don't know how relieved i felt sitting in the shuttle seat... and as i pulled out my cell to ring my brother i realised that i actually have another hour before my lesson (utah is 1 hr behind minnesota and i had forgotten to turn back time on my watch but my cell phone had requested to update itself to local time... oh well!)... and that they were just making their way down the slopes because the venue we had originally decided to meet for lunch wasn't open... just as well... i left a message to say i am heading back to the ski-center and won't join them for lunch but would get something to nibble on my own instead... that's kind of what i did except i also changed my ski-boots to a size smaller and went back to our loft-hotel-room to shred a few clothing layers because it wasn't too cold despite the snow in april...
after all that excitement i wasn't sure if i could cope with 2&1/2hrs of ski-lessons... but i guess, things could only get better... and i am not going to go down that scary slope on my own next time!
a couple of us mingled as we waited by the benches for our ski-workshop... soon, a ski-instructor came by to ask each of us about our ski-experience/level and what we did in the morning... i recounted how i nearly took the life of me earlier and he asked if i didn't start of with 'Chickadee'... and whether i was with someone when i went to 'big emma'... and i had to answer 'nope' to both...
"you went up there alone?!" he exclaimed in a slightly incredulous tone...
i responded by nodding my head with a silly smile; i wasn't sure if i ought to feel stupid or brave, or both...
shortly after, i was assigned to an aussie ski-instructor with 3 others and another ski-instructor joining in as we made our way to the beginner's/warm-up slope 'Chickadee'...
each ski-instructor wears a lovely sky-blue-and-white NorthFace ski-jacket-trouser-set with the snowbird logo stitched onto the left breast of the jacket... an oval name tag displayed the name, city/state and country of origin of the instructor, so i could make out where their accent came from...
having gotten somewhat used to the american friendliness or the warmth of continental europeans, the apparent laid-back aussie seemed a little distant... i wasn't sure what to make out of it... for many of the australians i know or people who live down under yonder seem really friendly... perhaps he's just an outlier!
i was clearly being more cautious than i really needed to on the wee-er slope but i am sure you will understand why if you were to put yourselves into my ski-shoes! ... and perhaps that was just as well, because i ended up with the other ski-instructor and was joined by another female ski-workshop participant (P) who seemed as unsure of herself as i am, although i think she is far more daring than timid me!
you don't know how glad i was to have our ski-instructor (NP) ... not only did he seem much warmer, being from continental europe, but despite being french, he also actually spoke english (with a classic french accent, which i thought was brilliant but i am not sure if he'd agree)! well i suppose wanting to learn to speak english was his reason to come to work in america BUT you have to appreciate that i learnt to stereotypify the french for being a purist with regards to their beautiful (and somewhat --- subjectively-speaking --- impossibly difficult) language... because often if you don't articulate it well, in purrrfect accent and pronunciation, and do so grammatically, most french will find it impossible to communicate with you... i had quite a different experience when it came to learning german (although i had to first overcome my fear of saying things wrongly, which i probably cultivated while trying to learn french!)... and so however ungrammatical i sounded (and still do), people still seemed willing to converse with me... bless them!
anyways, me and P spent a good decent portion of our lesson on Chickadee to brush up on our foot work without our ski-sticks... i refreshed my memory on how to transfer my body weight from my down-hill leg to the up-hill leg as i began my turns... it takes a while before your brain and body coordinate and synchronize all the verbal-visual instructions into a smooth motoric act... we also had to lift up our up-hill skis when we traversed across the slope after each turn... i reckoned that was to emphasize the shift of weight... and then NP made us jump in our skis when we crossed the slope instead... i doubt i stayed in the air much with those heavy skis but with some practice, the act of making even a wee tiny jump into the air wasn't as challenging as it first seemed... and while i am a little better with silly 'stunts' like these, P was ways better in following NP's ski-trail than moi... i mostly undershoot while i turned, cutting into the slopes earlier... and thereby slowing down more than i needed to... let's blame it on remnants of the morning 'trauma', for lack of better reasons!
we did eventually advanced further up the mountains after P finally found her lift-ticket... the route we then took seemed all too familiar and while gamed for it all, i was feeling rather nervous... for in addition to remembering the somewhat scary morning, we were going to go without our ski-sticks as well!
up the snowy slopey path to the ski-school trail we climbed... it's amazing how a wee bit of a climb in all the crazy gear could easily make you feel breathless... NP was carrying 2 pairs of skis for P was struggling to get up... boy, you must be darn FIT to be a ski-instructor! after clicking on our skis and catching our breaths (just P and me really, NP was way too fit to need to catch his breath!)... we slid down the gentle trail towards the bottom of the wilbere ski-lift, where i went earlier...
i hopped on the lift-chair with NP and P followed behind on the other lift-chair... and up we went sailing through the air on the moving 'gondolas'...
it took approximately some 5 minutes to get to the top of the lift each time and so we chatted to kill time... that's when i figured out why a frenchman from the region of the belle of mountains in 'western' europe
(except perhaps mountains have the wrong gender?!?), mont blanc, would rather be skiing on snowbird, utah! ... the snow! pure powder snow and excellent skiing conditions that sustain the long winter season... ahh... and i got quite envious that one could have 2 seasonal professions to accommodate and add to the spice of life... sigh... i envy people who live their dreams... because it's both difficult to make it happen and live the often atypical life that one leads... and it takes a lot of courage! while it's fascinating to learn about what people do, i often find it impossible to explain what i do adequately... so i try to keep it as short as possible... like something along the lines of trying to understand how movements and corresponding brain-signals maybe related in the general sense... and leave it to those who are more interested to probe further... in any case, i tried to convince NP that his english is really far superior to my non-existent french... uttering the usual standard but useful phrases... but it was wiser to stick to english for my knowledge of french is really quite hopeless...when we got off the ski-lift at the top, we began our descend to big emma like i struggled in the morning... except the slopes were no longer icy... soft slushy snow made skiing down the winding path a lot more manageable without ski-sticks... so P and i snow-ploughed behind NP who led us to the start of the steep end of big emma and without stopping continued a little down the slope... "and down we go! ", trying to subtly coerce us to join... but i yelped...
"it's okay... just follow me", NP cried out.
i was overwhelmed by trepidation... inching my skis onto the edge of the start of slope i let myself slid and tensed up looking down and seeing how fast i was sliding... i let out a wee shriek...
"look up over there! where the mountain peaks are!" cried NP as i slid past him...
and 'miraculously', i gradually came to a stop when i followed his instructions... looking upwards helped!
"now, do it the other way and look over there, where the ski-lifts are going..."
i tried again... and somehow managed to slow down when i looked up to where NP directed... i then waited where i came to a stop across the slope while P gave her shot under NP's guidance... and i pondered over the fact that simply looking at where you wanted to go helped to steer and control one's manoeuvres... i was thinking of the abstract concept of 'population vectors' pertaining to movement direction... the essence of this idea, which was formally introduced in the 80s by my supervisor here in the usa, is that while each neuron in the motor cortex seems to have a preferred direction; firing a lot or most happily if the movement executed was in one particular direction relative to all other directions, the intensity of a cell's firing acts as a weight of the cell's preferred direction with refrence to movement in a particular direction (so if a movement was made opposite to the cell's preferred direction, the cell might not fire very much as opposed to a movement made close to its preferred direction). and the weighted sum of each cell's preferred direction for a given movement direction (ie the directional vector) gives a relatively accurate representation of the actual direction of movement... and relating back to my pondering was that the population vector idea and my using of perceptual direction in guiding my movements nicely illustrated that you don't have to specifically/ consciously tell each muscle to flex or tense (i wonder how one could really do that but for a long time many neurophysiologists thought that it might be possible...) to achieve the state you would like to be in... in the particular circumstance i was in, looking up-slope (i.e. over-shooting in gaze-direction) from where i was initially heading helped positioned me perpendicular to the slope and thereby decelerating and coming to a halt; all the required muscles were summoned spinally (downstream from the cortex)...
when i recovered from my riverie... i spotted P lying on the slope trying to get up from her fall and NP was giving her a hand... soon, P also managed to control her sliding and turns a little down big emma and we slowly zig-zagged downwards a little more. we got midway down and then NP guided us to turn into another winding path which i had not visited before... it seemed wide enough to begin with but soon the path brought us to a hilly bit which descended quite dangerously and continued as a narrow path around to the right, with steep slopes off the left edges... i absolutely feared the descend onto the narrow path and found it excruciatingly hard to follow NP's instructions especially when i had to zig-zag down to slow down and then head straight down (i.e. having your skis parallel and straight and thereby going rather quickly) with some momentum so as to traverse the rest of the winding path without too much effort to get to the end where there's a gradual hill... otherwise one has to climb up-hill on skis (and without ski-sticks!) and it's a lot of work.
for what seemed like the many times we had to pass along the path, i needed coaxing and help to get through it... but NP was very good about it; i don't think anyone else would have had the patience! ... and just as i thought the winding path would be the worst of the scary bits i had to deal with on the first lesson, P and i were then challenged to go down an even steeper part of the trail after what seemed like an ordeal for me along the winding pathway which led to this other cliff.
it is on this bit of the mountain that we learnt to slide with our skis parallel (but still somewhat perpendicular towards the slope) downwards and stopping the slide with the subtle shift of weight back towards the slope... i can't tell you how hard it is to 'let go of your fears' to try such things... but we did manage a little even if we were not looking the most elegant... and when you couple the parallel down-hill slide while you traverse across the slope after a turn on the slopes, you move a lot faster down-hill... without having to do too many zig-zag turns... but it's awfully scary when you haven't quite figured out how to control your speed... or how to tell your body to do what you think it should ... so we had to practice a couple of times... which meant going up the ski-lift, going down the steep part of big emma, traverse along the scary winding path towards this other steep hill!
and so we did that a few more times until it was about time to call it the day and then we made our way back to the ski-center using the shuttle...
after picking up my ski-sticks from where we left them at the ski-workshop office, i bade goodbye to P and thanked NP in french for the lesson and went to find my brother and co... they were indeed somewhere in the crowd chilling out to live music... and i was to discover how much fun they had amusing themselves further up the mountain range while i was i) trying to survive the morning, and ii) learning some ski-survival skills!
they had so much fun snapping pictures and traversing crazy trails and here are some of their pics to show the miniscule size of humans admist the majestic mountains... and the kind of stunts they amuse themselves on the slopes... (click on pics for an larger view)
[ sheer size of the mountain range... ]
[ my brother doing his snow-boarding stuff! ]
after a wee break catching up with each others' anecdotes and some splurging on the sale-items at the ski-store... [no i didn't buy myself skis nor boots... but i ended up gifted with a pair of ski-goggles which might come in handy in pollen-season after ski-season! oooh i look awesome in them!!!] ... i managed to lugged my rental skis and boots (that felt heavier than they did earlier in the day) back to our hotel room and soaked myself in a warm bath.... ahhhh... in fact, i hogged the bathroom at the lower level of our 'loft-apartment' and everyone else was too nice to tell me that i was being a miserable selfish person! I LOVE MY BATHS... you see... heee.after making ourselves squeeky clean and smelling like deep-heat (at least me!) we headed off to feed our tumtums...
snowbird resort has everything thought out for its visitors... restaurants, delis, and exclusive member venues... the choice varies with price, and sceneries of different mountain facades... and if you rather have some wholesome homecooked food, you could do so too in the lodge rooms which are like service aparments and comes fully equipped with its own DISH-WASHER (yes, i have a fondness for dish-washers... ahem) ... just don't forget to bring the wholesome ingredients (if you can) for while you could get quite a few things from the wee co-op (grocery store) at the snowbird center, they are rather extortionistically priced.
on our first evening, we tried Steak Pit resto... where they served a rather pleasing menu of appetisers which included butter-baked button-cup mushrooms, succulently boiled artichoke hearts, spicey seared scallops rolled in bacon, and prawn cocktail... the crowd of us ordered a myriad of different entrees ranging from different cuts of steak, porkchops, to baked salmon and scallops... and sharing the side dishes of boiled veggies and tatties (american-style). it was pretty hearty though not overwhelmingly mind-blowing. perhaps we were too exhausted for any serious food gourmet critique eventhough we had an incessant photographer, who, with his profi digi-slr, could really vie for the title of dinner paparazzi... ?!?!
anyways, none of us did get to enjoy the losing team's feet-massage for we never got round to playing TABOO before we were back to slumbering ZZZZZZs (and if i might add, after quite a serious assault to the room's air-supply for someone let out a hideous stink-bomb!!! *gasp!*) and an ever louder snoring symphony...
where did i place my ear-plugs?!
morning appears to arrive too soon when you are sleep-deprived... i tried to get to the loo from the sofa-bed and felt somewhat like a quadriplegic... it is amazing what one day of skiing can do to you... every single muscle you have never quite got acquainted with is suddenly screaming out to you to tell you of their apparent existence and over-stretched status... all you could really do is feel sorry for your pathetic self... the only other experience that could possibly match this mucle-ache-state is the day after horse-riding...
you wake up to the pancake-preparation buzz... a slight problem, it surfaced... we had forgotten to purchase a carton of milk when we did our shopping at the co-op yesterday... bummer. but the wee cartons of coffee creamers at the drinks corner of the lodge lobby sure is a good alternative! kudos to my brother, who probably deprived the remaining guests of their creamers... just so we could have some pancakes and minnesotan lingonberry sauce!
fuelled, we began our morning run pretty much like the day before... wee and lianne and pals headed up the scenic and dare-devil paths while i entertained myself on the supposedly gentler slopes... except this time i really did not venture onto big emma on my own... heeding NP's advice not to scare myself again... which is usually a good thing!
so i warmed up on chickadee... trying to get my feet acquainted with the skis again and going over what i learnt just yesterday... the slopes were a little icy... but the areas upon which the sun gladly shone, were lovely to traverse across... a profi photographer was perched on the hill to snap up any candid-camera pics... yelled out the roll-number and you could go look it up at the prints-store later for your portrait(s) on the slopes or the lifts... i had a couple of shots taken... but i didn't end up getting any prints in the end... nope... they were quite dear...
come lunch time, i was getting a little more comfy with the idea of skiing... optimism is always a cheerful friend... i was looking forward to my ski-lesson and wondered if NP might be on his ski-school shift today too... it'd be ace, if he were... then i won't have to go through it all again, getting acquainted with a new instructor, starting off knowing about my amateur skiing skills etc... we could just continue from where we left yesterday on the scary hill!
saturday's ski-workshop turnout was not as busy as yesterday's... only a couple of people signed up for the afternoon session... in the same ritual as yesterday, a ski-instructor came to each of the participant to inquire about what they did before, earlier this day etc... my anecdote for the day was plain boring compared to my crazy experience yesterday... but i mentioned that i had a lesson with NP yesterday and where we went and what we learnt etc... just in case...
a few minutes passed while i waited on the benches, wandering in my thoughts and starring into random spaces/sceneries when my riverie was interrupted ...
"Hallo M__!" (NP pronounced my [middle] name, the french way... ) squatting down so he could face me and looked me in the eye, like a typical continental european would (for whom eye-contact is very much part of their social etiquette, particularly in wine-toasting!)
"hi!"
"How are you feeling today? Are you able to ski or are you in pain?"
having lived so many months in usa and almost getting used to the apparent 'how are you?!' greeting, which is, more often than not, just a 'hello', i thought that was refreshing... (and sweet... because i was indeed suffering a little and it was probably obvious that i was smelling like deep-heat because of my sore-muscles!)
"erm... my knees hurt a little, but i'm okay..."
"How was your morning? Did you do some skiing on Chickadee?"
"yup... it went pretty well... i tried to go over what you showed me and P yesterday..."
"Good. You will come with me today... and it's good because you are the only one in this lesson... I will go get my skis and meet you back here in a few minutes and we'll go to Chickadee for a little... before going to Emma, okay?"
"okay... " wow... a private ski-workshop is real ace! blimey...
when NP returned, we headed straight towards the ski-school lane that led towards the Wilbere ski-lifts instead of going to Chickadee as planned... this sudden change of plans saw me carrying his ski-sticks together with mine and NP carrying 2 pairs of skis as we climbed up the bit of a hilly slope to get to the ski-school lane. with utmost respect, NP laid my skis gently on the snow-plowed path, and repeated the ritual with his own skis. while catching my breath, i clicked my ski-boots into the skis and adjusting my newly accquired ski-goggles. NP started off and i followed behind.
the ski-school lane is quite a wide gentle sloping lane and with the afternoon sun already at its highest, the icy bits have long been melted into a lovely bit of slush... i seemed to have benefited from the morning warm-up at Chickadee... for i was doing quite alright down to the bottom of the lift. NP turned to check a couple of times to make sure i wasn't stuck somewhere for i tend to be much slower than he is. we arrived at the bottom of the ski-lift at Wilbere and waited to get on.
"Oh my God! Are you on the chair?! Please don't scare me!" exclaimed NP as he pulled me up from what seemed like a slip and pulled the safety bar over us.
"it's okay, i scare myself a lot... unintentionally" i replied... with a silly grin. i still have problems manoeuvring myself to get onto the ski lift at Wilbere...
NP just gave me an incredulous look of disbelief... he must have thought i was a loony.
"how was your morning?" i tried to distract him away from the possibility of thinking i am insane...
NP mentioned that he gave a private lesson and it went okay. a moment of silence accompanied the spectacular backdrop of snow-capped mountains. when i am stuck in conversation... i tend to resort to talking about the weather... sometimes i amaze myself with how much i've rubbed off the brits in different ways.
"it's such a beautiful day, isn't it? i wonder what my brother is up to with his friends... "
"How many brothers and sisters do you have?" inquired NP.
"i have 2 big brothers!" i exclaimed ... and then continued to explain (or rather, try to explain) what they do in their more accomplished lives, and where they are currently living... which makes my existence more nomadic to him.
"do you have any siblings?" i returned his question.
"Siblings? What is 'siblings'?"
"like brothers and sisters? ... it's a word that refers to a person's brothers and/or sisters"
"Oh! How do you spell it?" NP was eager to learn le nouveau mot.
"S, I, B, L, I, N, G, and S to make it plural" i was surprized that i could share something of use (perhaps)!
"Ahh... oh yes! " NP has (if i remember correctly!) 3 younger siblings, among them, a sister, who, as he explained, is currently going through what i imagine as quite a painful process of lengthening the shorter of her two legs. it is a procedure that involves breaking ones shin-bone and leaving a gap between the slit so as to promote growth. it is true that one doesn't have to do this in life if you can cope with it, but it would make life a little and if not a lot better. and NP thinks it would be a lot better for his little sis even if it will take 6 months and possibly longer for full recovery.
"But what is 6 months in a whole lifetime?!" NP offered his philosophical statement of the day.
it always appears to me that there is some form of weight and substance in truth... like the clumps of snow falling off my ski-boots hundreds of feet under gravity, merging with the larger mass of snow-ness... i tried to extrapolate this with reference to my miserable arduous phd-journey... what is 3-4 yrs in a whole lifetime?! hmmm... i honestly don't know if it will be as positive an outcome as it would be for his sister. everything is relative, as they say.
before long, we arrived at the end of the lift-climb and got off to continue along the narrower path leading to the start of Big Emma (or perhaps it really is the middle of it!).
---- to be continued.... come back a little later... there might be more (+ pics) in a while... time-permitting... =C)
Sounds like you really had fun, Tigs, And a well deserved recharge!
Posted by: fatgirl on Tuesday, 2 May, 2006 at 12:51 hrswe all had a lot of fun... i wish we could have stayed longer! i wish i could have brought back the mountains too! they are just amazing... being part of the rockies... i wish they'd extended into the midwest... sigh...
but i am a really lucky little sister!
Posted by: overacuppa on Wednesday, 3 May, 2006 at 01:28 hrs*Note: in case you were thinking of leaving a comment and the option isn't here anymore... it is because the comment section of each entry is closed after sometime to prevent malicious comments... if you are looking for the actual entry, type in the keyword(s) in the little box on the main page http://overacuppa.com where it says "fossicking pebbles & seashells" and press *search*... thank you for popping by and happy browsing!
