Chelsea loves thrills. I’m conflicted. Tim thought she would enjoy racing down the skeleton track at the Olympic Stadium in Lake Placid. She did. I worried about her pretty face.
Fun and Games
Yeah, it’s the holidays and family is starting to arrive. Cooper and Liz were our first guests and we had a great visit. I felt like a tourist at home. We wanted to see ski jumping but it was 0 degrees F and the wind was blowing too hard – some things never change – and the event was postponed. No worries. We had our own events. We went to the Olympic Museum, went ice skating, tested beer and played darts at a microbrewery, soaked in the hot tub and played Cranium. Oh yes and ate nonstop.
I’ve owned Cranium for years but never played it. My first game made me own up to my aging eyes and admit that I need to wear reading glasses. I thought the sculpture clues were particularly hard when I had to sculpt UPS. I moaned and worked the clay. Cooper and Liz looked at each other like I was nuts. I made a truck, a package, an envelope, opened the envelope and then my time was up. Liz said she could have made the clue, LIPS, in seconds. No point for the home tea m. Doesn’t UPS look just like LIPS?
The Weary Travelers
On the Ice at Lake Placid
Cubs at the pub
A fine example of a well cropped photo discreetly shot. The real subject was Liz to the right.
Icing on the cake
I think I need to Zumba
I’m finding it hard to exercise here. First of all the days are short but I think we turned the corner a few days ago. Sunset is currently around 4:30 and I often don’t have my act together by then. Need to eat, drink water, can’t be too full. Yesterday we took a nice walk in the woods with snowshoes. I’m very particular though. Temperature has to be just right, I don’t like going out to play when it’s 0 F. Snow is OK but I don’t like it to rain on my activity. The hike shouldn’t be too easy but can’t be too strenuous. If skiing, no sharp turns on a downhill. And I shouldn’t see too many dismembered body parts along the way like we did yesterday. We came across a deer, sans head and coat. Further along, I spotted an arm bone (humerus) and wing bone (scapula). Tim says all i do is complain. It looked like it was being cleaned by the local coyotes. The Zumba form of exercise is becoming more and more appealing.
Woodie in the Woods
Snow Flower
Warm hot tub
Once again, it’s all about timing. We ordered a real hot tub and are trying to give away the claw foot one. The excavator came the day before our major snowfall and said, wait until the spring thaw to set up it’s final resting place. So here it is…in our driveway. At least it’s pretty private. Next problem, setting it up. First we had an air lock and no water spewed forth from the jets. We figured this out in the dark when it was about 10 degrees outside. This meant it also wasn’t heating – after it was filled, luckily, with hot water from our outside tap. So I had a mildly sleepless night thinking about our new hot tub freezing out there. The water temp only fell to 80 degrees but not warm enough for my taste. After about 10 phone calls to the manufacturer and 3 trips to hardware stores, Tim fixed it and this morning, 3 days later, it’s 103 degrees. When Chelsea and I were in New Zealand, one town boasted tepid springs. Now I know what they are talking about.
Avatar 3D
We saw Avatar this week. Not to be missed. I laughed, I cried and I spent $20 for matinee tickets.
Touch mohair scarf
This is knit from yarn I bought in New Zealand. I love it! Very light and warm. Maybe I’ll wear it in the hot tub.
I’m on a Knitpicks Podcast!
This is very exciting. More exciting than being interviewed on TV or the Radio for medical issues because this is a KNITTING podcast. I’m interviewed by Kelley Petkun in the last third of the episode for you non knitters. Actually it’s more about my knitting disasters than any knitting prowess but it was fun. Any of you that have received knitted gifts from me know what I am talking about. I was interviewed by phone while sitting on a pier in Salem, MA after we had moved off our lighthouse caretaking stint and were in the process of provisioning the boat.
This is the first knitting podcast I listened to while commuting to Manhattan by train and it remains one of my favorites. I have learned a lot from it. Oddly enough, now that I am sort of retired, it is harder to listen to because I don’t have dedicated downtime and my internet connection is less than ideal.
It’s all about timing and trust
We went to watch the Nordic Combined competition today at Lake Placid. Participants were from around the world and they were vying for spots on their Olympic teams as well as endorsements from sponsors. First they jump off a 90m ski jump at about 60 mph and travel 80 – 95 meters before landing. Happily there were no agonies of defeat. Then somehow (using the Gunderson method) the ski jump score is weighted and they compete in a 10k cross country ski race. The start times are staggered based upon the score from the ski jump – the best start first – so that the winner of the cross country race is the ultimate winner. Unbelievable how fast they fly overhead. I tried to snap some photos but missed a lot and never really captured their speed . Their grunts and the rush of the wind was incredible.
We took the elevator up to the top of the 120m jump, which wasn’t in use, and watched from there a bit. The views of the High Peaks was great. It was a balmy 14 degrees so with about 20 layers of clothes on, and lots of knit and woven wear, I was toasty.
Oops I missed
View from the top
Right place and time
After the races, we stopped at a sugar house to buy some syrup. Despite some problems with navigation, we made it there. The shop keeps costs down by not paying anyone to man the store and relies on the honor system. They must not read the Press Republican. There was a lot of money in the till when we got there.
Trusting Maple Sugar Shop
Home sweet home
Looks tranquil doesn’t it? Not according to the local paper. We can only get one local paper, the Press Republican, delivered daily. I may stop reading it. It has about one page of national news and the rest is dedicated to the horrors of the Adirondacks and its environs. The printed news is in sharp contrast to my daily experiences.
Every day contains an article about bestiality in the north county. Dogs, horses you name it. Another serious problem reported is abuse – of everyone, children, husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends and elders. Every driver is either under the influence or going too fast for road conditions. Hunters shoot people instead of prey. It’s a jungle out there. If I relied on what I read in the paper as the whole picture, I would think twice about ever venturing out.
Then there is the reality of my own experiences. The kindness of our neighbors who are there to lend a hand with anything. Friendly people who stop to say hello. Today I even had a sweet young thing buy me a cup of coffee!! It reminds me of a study of people who watch a lot of TV (news?). They develop an unrealistic fear of the dangers out there.
I’ll have to keep my head up and my eyes open…and maybe cancel the newspaper subscription.
Starry Night, in pairs
We’re getting ready for the holidays. Storing wood, decorating the tree, which is huge. I’m not sure we’ll get anything on the top. Tim noticed some cool reflections through double paned windows.
My split wood, not bad eh?
We’ll let the tree get used to the house before we do anything else with it. Cold today, wind chill minus teens, so I probably won’t be playing too much outside today. Deer hunting season is over, I think, so we can put away our bright hats.
I’ve learned two new terms since we’ve been here in the North Country: Robodeer and deerjacking, both pretty serious stuff. The robodeer is a decoy that is set up along the side of a road. It’s used to catch hunters who see a deer on the side of the road while driving by and shoot them from the truck! This is bad for a lot of reasons, one of the most important being that apparently a lot of people drive around with loaded firearms beside them. Deerjackers can be caught with decoys or they may just be hunters using lights at night to stop deer in their tracks and have their way with them. No night runs even out of season!
Treelight
Reflections on Christmas
Morning View
Nice to wake up to this morning. On land, I don’t care if the morning sky is violet, pink or bright red! We’ve had some snow and have been cranking the wood burning stove to keep toasty. I chopped a pile of wood and it’s still fun. Very satisfying when the log splits on the first try and both pieces go flying. I’m going to spin a positive light here so all the kids will be happy to chop wood when they arrive.
First Warped Loom
I followed Ashford’s instructions that came with the wheel and found it very easy to warp the loom by myself. I was amazed how fast the work progressed and already have a sampler scarf. More fiber fun. Today I’m going to a quilting meeting to get started on my new bedspread.
It’s beginning to look a lot like….
We’ve had our first snowfall! I got to use the new snow blower but it was really for my own benefit because early in the morning a neighbor came by with a truck to pack down the driveway and after I used the snow blower on the whole driveway (with a path to the “hottub”) another neighbor came by with a huge tractor and plowed the driveway clear. I’m working on my refined technique. If you reverse over an area a second time, it packs it down better.
We get a local newspaper delivered and I saw this classified in the Lost and Found this A.M., “Found: framed picture in my car. If lost, please call to describe and claim it.” Sets the mind to wondering. Does this person shuttle so many people around that they can’t call up and say, “Hey did you lose a pic in my car?” Or a darker side of me thinks perhaps the person wants to hear the verbal description of the picture. Hmmm. OK so too much time on my hands.
Tim is out trying out couches. We are sitting ducks in furniture stores once we start lying on and testing out couches. We become a captive audience and I grow weary. So since Tim found such a great house, he has authority to buy a couch too. The excavator thinks we may have missed our window to set up the real hot tub where we want it so we may be soaking in the driveway this winter. Hear those banjos?
Packed, snowblown and plowed
Looking North
Island and North Country Life 