Introducing Bjorn the Narwhal

Our latest addition :)

Early warning - this post was written over multiple sessions so is both very long and may not be the smoothest of transitions; it's the "as I was going" adventure.

Okay as some of you may know, my mum knits amazing creations. And I LOVE the things she turns out, but for the life of me have not been able to create or sustain an interest in knitting. For all my random hobbies that one just doesn’t appeal. Fail.

But for whatever reason, a couple times I’ve tried crocheting. It’s literally the same concept but somehow it appeals more? Idk. My brain has always been weird ;). But still, it’s never stuck.

However, for whatever reason I began seeing targeted ads for Woobles. Little critters (I like little critters) to crochet (sure why not?) that are completely beginner friendly…. And eventually I clicked through.

It actually is pretty well that simple

Well I started with a “medium beginner” because I didn’t like any of the actual beginner ones enough. The fact that they have three phases of beginner was a good sign to me ;)



It comes pre started, and the videos really do literally walk you through stitch by stitch at the start, so I was pretty pleased. I had to pay a lot of attention, but my little narwhal was taking shape ;). I am really impressed at the 101 level of the videos. Like legitimately “I’ve never done this before” beginner safe - right from how to hold the wool (and both left and right hand versions of the videos)

So far, the switch of colour was the only video that I found not completely idiot proof. It mentioned a slip stitch and that hadn’t been taught yet. Fail. Had a choice of google or make it up as I went along - I made it up ;-P. My narwhal will be unique ;)

I also failed in the colour switch in that I cut the threads way too close, so my little narwhal is definitely fragile ;). The video *did* explain about how to tuck them in and stitch over them, but I was following as it went instead of watching the whole thing first and so definitely didn’t leave nearly enough wool.

Otherwise though it’s been awesome. You can definitely tell where my I got better as the tension between stitches varies wildly at the start, then got too tight for a bit. When it came time to learning to do decrease stitches those tight stitches just about did me in. Lesson learned for next one.

Also, there was a video right at the start about turning it inside out — but that also meant mirroring all the movements. I was way too new to risk trying that, but as I’m getting to the end, I am wondering how I’m going to turn it inside out now ;). We’ll see….

So - the inside out hit sooner than expected cause I had to turn it around to put on the eyes. Plus side - adding eyes is very easy. Down side - wow is my poor Bjorn ever very clearly a first effort lol. Room for improvement we shall say. And now I have to figure out how to stitch backward to finish him… hmmmm

For the record - in the finish video when it tells you to cut the yarn, it’s very clear how far away you should be ;)

Added video that would be useful - how to work the yarn so it doesn’t end up in a bit knot. I had no problem w the blue, but the white was a less than pleasant experience…

So now my Bjorn is a little blue and white ball with eyes. Fins come next - they don’t come pre-started, so I’ll be learning that piece shortly lol. I am loving the very gradual pace of this. I’m not loving how interpretive some of my stitches clearly were lol. Ah well — first time for everything. 

I made a thing!  Or at least this start of a thing :)

For those following the adventures of Bjorn - he now has fins! Lol these did *not* come pre-started. So the first step has the learning of how to crochet basic stitches and switch colours. The second step was how to start from scratch and attach pieces to one another. The first - not so fun. I definitely did it, but it definitely took more than one try. Significant improvement between the first fin and the 2nd though. The attaching was really basic sewing; after a couple years of xstitch and some occasional embroidery, this was not what we will deem a challenge. Next up - tail and horn. 

Starting to look like a real critter

Okay so there was a LONG break of a few weeks between sections, but BJORN now has a tail AND a horn! Woohoo! The tail was moderately confusing - a picture of the finished product would’ve definitely helped, but I followed the instructions and went with what I ended up with 😂 

 

Hard to get a good photo that shows the funky tail :)

And now I have a Narwhal! For the win :)

Hi Everybody!

And while it is very definitely a beginner effort and even I can see all the opportunities for improvement, I made a thing, it made me smile, and we’re deeming that a win! I have two more to make (a unicorn and a dinosaur) and there’s a phoenix that just came out that I may add to the collection some day ;). But not till the ones I have are made — which is likely *after* nice weather season.

Overall my summary would be:

- These kits are absolutely beginner friendly 

- They are cute, easy to make, and achievable in a short timeframe — easily could’ve been done in a weekend even with no experience. I imagine someone who knows what they’re doing could prob knock it off in an hour or two (less?). 

- If you actually know how to crochet, they are not cost-effective. But looking at the pattern alone (also included) would’ve been completely overwhelming to starting from scratch beginner. They DO teach you to read the pattern as you go so it’s not quite so scary in the end ;)

Transferrable skills from riding to dance? Sure - why not?

Dance Fusion class today.  I was, shall we say, not the least bit interested in going.  Lol I was not feeling super hot - really dragging getting going in the am.   AND it's the first nice weekend day since last fall.  Going to an indoor activity?  Not super high on my list.

I was definitely more in a chips kinda mindset ;)

But...  I'd already committed, and I do *really* enjoy dance class so...  🤷‍♀️ 

Pull into the parking lot like 5 mins before class starts and, it's empty?   Usually it's packed and the problem is there's no spaces.   Wondering if I'd missed a memo?   But as I walked to the door I saw two other people coming down the street whom I recognized from our Tues class so probably okay...   Open the door and it's packed?   Lol turns out everyone assumed there would be no parking and parked on the street.  Amazing.

Lots of familiar friendly faces when I walked in.  I give Michelle (coach) a great deal of credit for creating a very welcoming culture.   Changed into my fancy dance shoes and we got started right away.   The concept of the Saturday ones is a 2h session to learn choreography end-to-end for one song.  Could be any mix of styles.  Lol this one was something I've never heard of before and already forgotten.  Google is not helping me at all atm.  I'll find out and update ;). *edited later - oh the boss got back to me.  Apparently it's Cumbia.  Who knew?*

Anyways - was SO much fun.  Enjoyed this one a lot more than the last one.  It felt easier - idk if it actually was, or if I've managed to improve between the two lol.  Potentially both?   Either way, lots of fun.  Enjoyed that this one travelled a lot more -- most of the time we stay mostly in one place with the dances -- at least partially cause of the practicality of 15-20 people in a room, you can only move so far before crashing into people ;).   Not that there *wasn't* crashing into people in this one.  😂.  But it was entertaining.

We did an arm styling class last week that I entirely failed to apply today lol but overall did at least manage to move my arms more often than not and the footwork is definitely becoming easier.   With arms - getting better at including them, but it usually feels very awkward.   Or it feels awesome but then I have *zero* belief that it LOOKS awesome.   Some day ;).   It is fun though.   And I'm continuing to improv my mimic skills.  I can't really come up with anything on my own, but I'm getting better at doing whatever someone more talented than I does ;)

It's literally a meme.  Sheesh.

Interesting for me just this week was cluing in to 3 very distinct advantages from a lifetime of riding.   I had never realised before, but between Tuesday's class and today all kinds of people were struggling and eventually determined that's why I wasn't.   First is physicality -- core strength, balance, and posture (not sure if that's one or three, but for my purposes it's one).  That's kinda a given but it actually helps ;).  The number of people I've told to "drop their shoulder blades into their back pockets" in dressage and I literally heard that exact instruction given to the group on Tues.   The second is the ability to easily memorise a fairly long pattern and to pretty quickly apply what the mirror image will be is almost instinctual after decades of dressage tests.  And the last, for the win, "don't look down".  Lol the number of times I heard that, or "look up!", directed even at otherwise really good dancers, was a riot.  In riding, looking down has far more serious consequences than just missing a step ;).  So that was fun.   

I'm starting to not feel completely lost each time.  And I'm definitely no longer the greenest or least-coordinated person in the group.   Music lessons from a lifetime ago / piano this year likely help too (I feel it's more the ones from a lifetime ago realistically) -- with things like being able to find and follow a beat or phrase, and understanding syncopation reasonably easily (if you're syncopating anything on horseback, something has gone *horribly* wrong).  lol.   But to me, this is part of why both teaching adults and learning as an adult is in many ways more interesting -- a lifetime of random experiences contributes in strange and unusual ways...

So yeah, still having a ton of fun, and really glad I went in the end ;).  I will 100% have forgotten the whole thing by morning.

*updated to add* OMG there's video.  Lol and I'm thoroughly hidden in the middle so willing to share.  I had zero idea this was being recorded and I'm guessing was right after teh break - it definitely got better ;).  But if you're curious...

Fire burns brightest in the darkness

Writing blog posts by the campfire is just about as perfect as it gets for my introverted self.   Super relaxing and puts me in a pretty instant happy place.

Sashabear, quiet, and a fire.   Heaven.

Said fire was a bit of a splurge.  Which makes it all the more fun ;).  We were always intending some landscaping this year - gardens are the primary objective and 2 trees.  And in our plan there was a fire pit.  We were planning a traditional “dig the whole, put rocks around it” type of situation.  Which we have space for but may or may not technically be legal in suburbia (we hadn’t really investigated ;)

But then a friend sent me a pic of her relaxing w her new fire pit, including a recommendation.  This is not a friend who generally (ever?) suggests products without being asked her opinion.  And since it was a perfect night for such a thing and I like fires, I clicked through.

And discovered they’re on sale right now.   Flipped it to C who mentioned he’d looked into them before but usually too expensive.  But… sale - one that brought it into the same price range as our DIY plan.  They are also far more legal.  Win ;)

It arrived quickly (like 1-2 days?) and after finding a handful of firewood away I went.   We have the stand to put it on the deck but I haven’t been that brave yet lol. 

I don’t *love* the look of it - far more C’s style than mine.  But we’re going to get a surround for it so then that’ll solve even that “problem” ;)

Because there have been a lot of questions, I figured I’d try to answer them here:

• advertised as smokeless.  This depends on how you interpret “smokeless” lol.  It literally smokes less than a normal campfire.  By a lot.  It is *not* smoke free.  At the start of the fire there is just as much smoke as always.  The difference is once it gets hot (10-15 min in) there is very little smoke.  And, what smoke there is in the start tends to be better funnelled so is easier to avoid.
• It is light and easy to move around; slightly awkward because of the shape but I had no problem moving it myself.
• It has excellent airflow so is both easy to light and easy to keep going.  Downside - that excellent airflow means it consumes logs *very* quickly
• The outside stays cool to the touch longer than you’d expect (although it does get very hot!) and cools completely within about an hour of the fire going out
• The fire is still “real” snap, crackle, pop, look and smell like a normal campfire
• You are limited in size of logs.  This has not been an issue for us at all with “average” size logs donated to our collection (thanks Janie!) but if you’re doing the splitting be aware of limits
• It throws a lot of heat - but said heat isn’t dispersed very far.
• Clean up is quite easy; would’ve been even smarter if the *whole* bottom came out but it’s still quick and easy to do.   It’s smartly designed so that when it comes time to put it away, all the pieces (eg the deck/grass stand) can be stored inside it and it has its own carrying case.
• You will need *some* tools - dropping a log in without tongs is seriously hazardous and given the small size a poker is pretty critical.   On more traditional campfires these things are also helpful but it’s easier to reasonably safely do without.   My poker atm is a stick I found.  Lol this has taught me that like the average child, I still drawing in the air w fire ;). Lack of tongs has burned me once already.  They will be here in a day or two.
• Plus side - portable.  If we decided to move again, the deck and gardens have to stay here but the fire pit comes w us. 

If you decide you’re interested, the one we got is a SoloStove Bonfire 2.0.  It seems to be the midsize of their options.  Enjoy!

Writing mostly cause I’m smiling :)

 So dance was a riot tonight.  Tonight was w partner and C was more on than I was lol.    They also had us switch partners???  That was definitely interesting and moderately useful.   Both J and I said it gave us a new appreciation for our partners ;).  Although it only just occurred to me now that neither the boys agreed.  Hmmm ah well ;)

Learning a new turn today and was a little more of a challenge because this coach doesn’t generally demonstrate the footwork for the women.   And when he takes a partner, it’s another student so highly unlikely they’ll get it exactly correct.   So I knew it wasn’t working but wasn’t till right at the end of the class that I figured out why.  Ah well - C had his part down at least ;).   And J had the exact same challenge I did so I feel like I wasn’t alone.  Fun though - amazing how much more you feel like you’re actually dancing when you can move around outside the beginner square ;)

Was a very long day, but that was a fun way to end it :)

I wanna dance with somebody…

Typing this on my phone so, well, you get what you get ;)   I know from prev exp that doesn’t always end well so if I can find time tomorrow, I’ll clean up formatting and maybe find a pretty picture. If. 

So C and I had our first partner dance lesson today (along w another couple we’re friends with).  This class is 6 wks of salsa lol.  I think swing would likely be more useful for us but it didn’t work from a schedule perspective so salsa it is.

I had so much fun and was so excited.  C, I think, less so lol.  But he’s humouring me and genuinely trying so I’m deeming that a win :)

It’s a different instructor from our women’s class and interesting to see the difference.  If I hadn’t had a few lessons already, the spin would’ve toasted me, but since we already learned the footwork for that one the only new part was which arm to duck under.

Also still in the women’s class which I’m loving.  The footwork is becoming significantly easier by this point - so of course trying to add in arms which instantly resets the whole balance.   I have no natural movement, but I’m getting better at learning to mimic those who do, and I feel like mimicry can take me quite a ways lol.   Youtube, pause, analyze, test, rinse and repeat.   Still feels ridiculous but I’ve been told it doesn’t look that way - albeit only by friendlies so definitely taken w a grain of salt lol 

It is fascinating to me how wildly my confidence fluctuates in those classes.   From sexy and confident to “if one person looks at me I will fall on my face” oh and btw, my arms were not invited to this party ;)

Because it’s round two there are some new people and it’s fun not being the least competent person.  That being said, this class has a ton from the last round, incl most of those who were really good (even one who’s - or was - a dance teacher herself), so this class is moving at a much faster pace than the last. Which I’m loving but would have really struggled had it been my first.

Have signed up for a few one-off sessions just cause I’m having so much fun w it.   But mostly I’m still grinning from getting to dance w somebody who loves me ;)

My first attempt at actively applying some of that Spanish learning

So one of the things I learned while doing my MBA is that if you have a class that moves too slowly, and you don’t need or want to engage with it, watch the video instead cause you can watch it in double time and get through life faster.

It is amazing to me how quickly this became very deeply imbedded in me.  So I’m trying this online course - that is taught in Spanish.   Terrifyingly it has class 2 days a week?!?!  I did not realise that when I signed up lol.   Anyways - the first class conflicts with dance.  So yeah, class I want to participate in vs one I would actively avoid participating in - this is not a hard choice.

Then I downloaded the slide deck — 69 slides?!?!  That’s a lot in any language.  Lol.   I read the first 10 or so though and decided that while I definitely didn’t get it all and had to look up a couple thing (although had to laugh that one of the ones I was most curious about cause it’s clearly a literary phrase and I’m reasonably good with those in English, didn’t translate to anything any English dictionary recognized.  So I felt better about my previous education.  And a slide later she went on to explain it so all good).

Anyways what made me laugh is today I signed in to watch the video and my brain immediately went "2h?  Should take about 1 to watch.  No problem".  Ummm no.  If anything, vids in Spanish take me LONGER to watch.  Fail.   Also, when I signed up for this I was counting on the ability to slow the video down.  This is not an option in this software.  Fail the 2nd.   

I will say, one thing I was really proud of - when there was a critical phrase I didn’t understand, I was able to spell it correctly into google translate - despite not knowing the words - and get the answer.  My next step was going to be to let my phone listen instead, but I was really pleased that my Spanish phonetics are WAY better than my English phonetics lol.  Arguably, to be fair, Spanish phonetics are also much easier.

I was amused one of the things she was talking about in the intro - essentially that one’s resume doesn’t define the person, nor does their citizenship or family - was a similar train of thought to what lead to one of my favourite writing exercises.  This is me - if you’ve never tried to introduce yourself without context of work, things you’ve done, or friends/family, give it a few seconds thought.  It’s an interesting exercise.

Overall, I could understand and follow the vast majority of the concepts.   I definitely did not catch every word and was occasionally completely lost (esp when she was reading parts of stories), but it wasn’t horrible.  Esp given that it was strictly listening - no CC option and no slowing things down.  

It was exhausting to focus that intensively.  I’m going to admit I just made it to the intermission lol which was at an hour and 10 mins.   I’ll finish the rest tomorrow ;)  Wow.  In a world of micro-learning, and task-switching, a 2h listening exercise is a challenge.  Thank god she’s an engaging speaker - if she were boring I wouldn’t have a hope.

So partially, this was incredibly frustrating.  And partially I’m thrilled I could follow as much as I did.

It's amazing how many things you can do when you don't have kids ;-P

So I'm really enjoying my dance classes.  Enough that I've been relying strongly on YouTube University to learn things that haven't been in class (yet).  A few challenges to this - one, I have to find videos for single dancers since C is not nearly as entertained by this new adventure as I am.  And two - some lessons greatly overestimate my definition of "beginner".  But I am finding some snippets of super usefulness.  

And when I find those snippets, I need to slow it down to like 50% to be able to actually figure out what's going on more often than not lol.   And as I was doing that, I started to see some similarities to my piano adventures.

Playing piano with two hands doing different things - learn one hand, then the other, then put it together.  When you put it together it'll all fall apart.  Slow it RIDICULOUSLY down, figure it out one note a time, and then speed it back up again.  Don't even bother introducing a foot pedal ;-P

Dancing - learn feet, then the arms, then put it together.  When you put it together it'll all fall apart.  Slow it RIDICULOUSLY down, figure it out one beat at a time, then speed it back up again.  Don't even consider introducing hips or body movement ;-P

Bonus round - it sometimes falls apart again when you put it to actual music.

The half-hour "beginner" Bachata video I've been working my way through, I've been working on for two days and am not quite all the way through lol.  Legs alone, all good.   Arms alone - slightly more of a challenge, but got there.  Put them together?  lol.  Right.  We'll get there.  Some day ;-P

But is it ever fun.  I feel absolutely ridiculous at times, but those odd moments where I actually get something right are just so exciting.  Also, after lesson 2 (before I even fell down the YouTube rabbit hole)

With the painoing - working my way through Playground sessions.  Their intermediate level songs are lower in difficulty than Flowkey's which is slightly disappointing as I don't feel I've accomplished anything when I get learn one, but their lessons are way harder.   I am learning a lot more though so that counts.  Nola likes to help play which doesn't do good things for my accuracy scores at all ;)

Enola's musical interpretation in red ;)

Rounding out the hobbies, cause why not, clicked on a random targeted ad for a course in Latin American myths and legends -- that's taught in Spanish.  Since there's no writing or presenting required, I thought it might be an interesting challenge.   Topic I generally enjoy, and, well, I've taken ALL the literature classes in English, so I should get the general concepts ;).   Signed up and *then* realised there's two classes a week?!?!   Lol I definitely do not read Spanish fast enough for that.   So we'll see how it goes.   Also not sure I have sufficient vocabulary or can listen fast enough for the classes, but worst case I can watch the recording slightly slower.   And if I really need to cheat, with closed captioning on ;).   Always good to take on impossible challenges right? ;).  That one starts end of Feb and I'm really hoping they'll share some of the reading material in advance.  May the odds be ever in my favour.  Wish me luck!

Targeted advertising for the win

Grand Finale

So this post is complete randomness lol

We drove over to the hill so our cars would be near where we drop off the skis at the end of the day.   I parked, and Laura was right behind me, but the next spot wasn't big enough for her larger vehicle.  Parking attendant indicated she should follow him.   He took her to the very first spot, moved HIS car, and gave her that spot.  Customer service was seriously impressive throughout.

Even a little bit of blue sky!

This morning's skiing had some actual powder that was SO lovely.   The hill was also way more crowded, but still our lovely greens were fairly open.   We tried a couple runs we hadn't done before, but the one we found yesterday held out for the win.

Part of my favourite run - easy curviness through the trees

I had SO much fun on our ski trip.  I was disappointed by how completely and totally exhausted I was -- although I appreciated the sleep!  When I booked the trip I had ambitions of skiing all day and getting home quite late at night, but that didn't end up being reasonable.  In reality, I skied for the am and left at lunch.

So Laura and I decided we are "fast food skiers" lol - as in "pizza and fries".   As in "snow plow when things are dodgy and parallel when things are good".  Win.   Also got a good laugh because the thought crossed my mind that I can't stop well in parallel skiing and I often can't stop when eating fries.  I don't have that problem with snowplow or pizza ;-P.  It's amazing what's funny when you're completely exhausted.

Not exaggerating about having easy hills to ourselves ;)

On one of the runs there were two snowboarders about to go, I offered to let them go first and the response was something about "I always let the skiers go first since I'm just learning and don't want to get in the way" and I got a laugh that I was feeling the exact same thing about the snowboarders.   All good.  In general people were very good about the whole "downhill has right of way" situation and faster skiers just dodging us.

Returning gear was a little dodgy -- you literally just leave it on the table?!?  Nobody checking it in or even acknowledging its existence.  Which reminds me, I was impressed that pretty much everybody was wearing helmets on the hill.  And also that those helmets are both comfortable and WARM.  Loved it.

I left around lunch time - I can't remember the last time I was so tired.  Laura lasted a couple more hours than I did to make up for missing Wed night.   Drive home was super easy - roads were clear, no weather, no traffic.  All good.  Border crossing was more normal but not bad.  And definitely came home and had a nap ;).  But still grinning.   Trip was So. Much. Fun.

Exhausted skiing adventure

So today I learned my right leg is significantly stronger than my left.  Lol trying to ski past the point of exhaustion and my left leg just noped out.   If it was not weight bearing, it would like shake randomly - so that was fun lol. Just as well I’m not great at keeping my skis closer than hip-width apart or there might have been challenges. And if it was weight bearing it was really useless at turning and would 💯 default to snow plow.   It made for some awkward runs lol.

Wasn't crowded so lots of time for pics :)

But that was this evening.  This am started w a disappointing breakfast, then heading to the hill to get Laura’s skis.  Hit the slopes for the am and it was super icy.  Way less fun than yesterday :(.  But we did a bunch of runs anyways - it wasn’t bad, just not lovely.  And definitely more people.  Stopped in a ski school to see about getting a lesson, but they were crazy expensive.   Laura’s goggles were deteriorating so we stoped in the ski store, where I randomly got a neck warmer thing since it’s colder today.  I was disappointed the one I liked best only came in youth sizes.  Might’ve been okay?   But with 12 as the high end age, I decided to stick to the adult selection.  

Back out on the hill, skied our way back to the hotel and then went into town in search of food and requests for US-specific stuff from people at home.   We were partially successful ;)

Then Laura went back to the hill while I crashed for a lovely 20 min cat nap.  I hit the slopes about 30 mins after her.   Remember the whole “put your skis on and go 10 feet to the ski lift” thing?   Well that part was just fine, but moments after I sat down the lift stopped???   There were no other people so….  “You forgot something!”  Lol my ski hadn’t been properly in the binding and snapped out when gravity got involved.  Awesome lift guy helped reattach it for me.   Fortunately this was the most eventful issue of the evening. 

Laura was way on the other side of the mountain so it took me a few runs to make my way over there, but we did get connected.   Still busier than yesterday but as per last night the green hills were mostly empty, which was lovely.  As well, the snow all afternoon had helped negate some of the ice issues.  And the skiing got consistently better as the night went on.

Love the snow with the lights at night

In her solo skiing Laura had found a different run I hadn’t tried yet that was 100% my favourite of the night.   Through the woods but the gentlest slope (fairly critical since by this point I only had one quasi-functional leg), snow falling, no people but us (the other runs on that chair lift are double black diamond and black diamond, so it’s not exactly one populated by many novice skiers!).   We did this one a number of times.   

Eventually it got to the point where my legs were so iffy it wasn’t super safe and we still have more skiing tomorrow so we made our way back.  Last night’s favourite hill was tonight’s least favourite hill as it was sheer ice for all the steepest parts.  And I was exhausted.  So yeah - definitely not a fun end.

Our room was just to the left of this pic, the lights are for the closest lift.

We were both really tired but I dragged Laura to the pool anyways - how often can you swim outside in the snowfall?!?!   Which ended up being *awesome* because we found the hot tub!!!  It does exist!  And was absolutely the perfect thing for my poor body that was very much letting me know that I’m neither young nor in riding shape any more ;)

Neither of us were hungry for dinner but we had splurged at the cupcake store for Laura’s birthday :)

Dinner of champions ;)
We only made it a fraction of the way through, but seemed good at the time.

Ski Trip Day 1 :)

Okay so I very much wanted to get away somewhere; Chris is restricted to school vacation times (aka very expensive times) to travel; so I figured I'd go skiing since C doesn't ski w iffy knees so wouldn't miss that trip.

Laura was onside so we booked a getaway to Holiday Valley.  I have fun memories of family ski trips there when I was a kid, and importantly, they have ski-in rooms.  So book a few days off work and away we go :)

Now the rest of this...  Was written at the very end of Day 1 -- I was super happy and equally exhausted so definitely not in a state to write a concise and coherent post.

So many things and only a tiny keyboard to write on…

Was supposed to run a bunch of errands and have a Spanish lesson today before heading to the ski hill, but they were forecasting supreme nastiness in the form of a snow storm late morning so cancelled Spanish and anything that wasn’t critically important and left a couple hours earlier than planned.

This kept me right at the front of the storm - there were snowy roads in places but for the most part it was just wet and the snow falling was light enough not to create visibility issues.

Pro tip - horribly ugly old-people glasses for driving at night, you know the ones? And yes I have a pair - make of that as you will. I choose to blame multiple surgeries rather than age but alas it may be both…. Anyways - those are fabulous for snow storms. Learned this the other wk when driving to Windsor. When the glare is obnoxious but not quite bright enough for sunglasses to be effective (unless you’re my husband who keeps multiple gradients of sunglasses on hand) - for those days, ugly night glasses are legitimately perfect. So now you know.

Back to my story - apparently nobody drives mid day?!?! Cause after I passed Niagara there were almost zero other cars. Crossed the border in Fort Erie and there were literally no cars. Two open car lanes and no cars. Zero wait to cross. Surreal.

Border guard was bored so took more chit chat than normal to get across but then on my way. Once I got to 219, again - no cars for miles. Was completely stress free driving. A little random when the multi lane highway stops at a stop sign, makes a 90 deg turn, and starts again lol but other than that all good. Drive after that was gorgeous. Starting to snow at that point but if visibility had been better would’ve been an amazing drive.

Got here and even though I was super early, the room was ready, so win. Hotel room is dated and soundproofing is non existent, but it’s clean and reasonable for an inexpensive stay. They also have ski lockers outside every room which is definitely ideal.

Got myself organized - the area is basically three resorts in one. Ours in on the far outskirts, apparently the restaurant is in the middle one, then there’s the main ski centre with cafe type food, then something even further but I didn’t go far enough to ascertain exactly what.

I familiarized myself w our hotel - super disappointed that the outdoor hot tub is actually at one of the others :(. Oh well - next year. We do have an indoor outdoor pool? The indoor part looks pretty dodgy but the outdoor is lovely. I saw a sign for hot tub as well but not evidence of one existing. That’ll be tonight or tomorrow’s exploration.

This looks fairly stunning :)

Found an “exercise trail” which would prob be awesome but maybe not a great winter idea ;)

Pretty snowstormy at this point so I drove to the main lodge to find food and gear. Food was not great and very expensive. Booo. Gear was a bit of a process to acquire but zero line and super friendly / helpful staff. This seems to be a trend here; they’re definitely hiring for personable and customer focused.

About 5 years ago (I can’t believe it was that long but both fb and my blog assure me it was), Laura and I took up night skiing for the winter. It was SO much fun. And even then skis were much shorter than when I skied as a kid. Well now they fit in the back seat of my car lol. I think the winter clothes actually took more space!

Skis are a LOT shorter than they used to be!

Wasn’t sure how well I’d be able to get my car out so loaded everything back up and went back to the room. The ski guy had said to let skis acclimatize to the weather before using so yeah ski locker. I chilled a bit, checked in w Laura who couldn’t come till after work, and Chris whose work ended early thanks to said snow, and then decided that since I came here to ski, perhaps I should go ski???

So I got myself all geared up - the lift pass isn’t a sticker anymore…. It looks and feels like a credit card, and they just said “have it somewhere on the left side of your body” and warned me not to have it w other cards. Uh sure. Since I had C’s ski pants (mine somehow have holes in them?!?) they have ALL the pockets. So lift pass on one side, cc, room card, and id on the other, and STILL an extra pocket for my phone and trail map.

There is a lift that comes right to the hotel - our room faces the parking lot not the hill, so had to walk across said parking lot. But then the hill is right there. Which is super convenient but means I skied all of about 10 feet before getting on a chair lift. Which means getting off the chair lift was the first skiing I would do. Lol occurred to me this might be a poor life choice, but it actually worked out fine.

Mine is a little folded so snagged this version from Google.

So I knew from my handy trail map that I could get from our room to the main hub on only green trails. This was a significant win since the greens here are the blues we had at tiny Glen Eden 5 yrs ago. I did possibly the slowest trip ever across but made it in one piece. And stumble upon this lovely snack option ;). Which I did not indulge, but likely will tomorrow cause they smelled SO good!

Spoiler alert - I never actually tried one

According to my trail map pretty much every lift had a green route down, so that was exciting. There were not maps posted at the bottom which I found very disconcerting but fortunately I had one w me. There were usually maps at the top - but if you’re a novice skier, by that point it might be too late ;). I basically just picked green ones. Often they criss cross so many times I ended up on a different one than I started on, but all good. Got a good laugh when I realized one of my fav green runs crossed a black diamond - the “straight down” for green was the “across the hill” for black. Made me laugh anyways.  To be fair, somebody who knew what they were doing planned the routes -- pretty well every chair had at least one green route down.

Found my way to the extreme far side of the mountain which was pretty deserted and stayed there to try and regain my ski legs. There was a lot of snow plowing happening. Embarrassing bad but effective. And so few people out I wasn’t worried about getting run over lol. Spent some time here trying to remind my legs that they have never been able to do the splits and today is not a good day to start!

Random side note, in dance this wk she told us it was “just like skiing” - I’m not actually sure which I’m worse at, but it seems I can’t keep my feet together in either lol. The goal for the trip is to get the skis vaguely parallel and close enough together that my hips don’t hurt afterwards lol. You know you’re old when that’s a viable metric ;-P

Eventually I got my skis pointed somewhat in the same direction, if still very far apart and ventured more to the middle of the hill and found one route that I really liked. Except I was slightly worried because while it was very clearly signed green, and didn’t look to have anything to it, a number of VERY competent skiers were also on this one... Which definitely had me wondering why. In the end I realized there were some snow structures that they could get some good air from. I realized this when I accidentally found myself on top of one. Lol physics for the win here - I was going so slowly it didn’t matter at all. But it showed me what to look for on other hills when there seemed to be good skiers for no reason…

I was having a really good time. Hill was super quiet (middle of the week the same wk as black Monday for the win). Which was great me. I never waited in line and I never had to worry that my zigzagging the hills would result in tragedy ;)

The lift pass, they wave some sort of scanner at you while you’re in line that clearly tells them you have one. I only noticed them checking occasionally although they definitely have one person whose job it is at every lift.   One of the lift attendants told me it tells them my name, what type of pass it is, and whether or not it's valid.

Eventually I noticed they’d turned the hill lights on. I *love* night skiing. Quieter, so peaceful, I’m a night person by every possible take on that so I feel much more alive at night, AND it takes my brain out of the equation - I can’t see the icy parts so I stop stressing about them. Therefore, the whole thing is way more fun.

I slowly was making my way back across the hills to end up at our hotel, but the last run I would have to make was a blue. And I was really enjoying my greens lol. So I did a bunch more of them on the way, some multiple times. Then I clued in that I should prob tackle said blue before I was physically exhausted so over I went. Well there was NOBODY on that hill. After dark it’s the farthest run (there are more in daylight) so I guess everyone not going “home” stayed in the main area. It was my favourite run! Lol no steep section to start and it was a curvy path. So of course I went back up and did it again, literally the only person on the run. And 2 deer ran out in front of me!!! It was completely majestic and I just stopped and watched them till they were long gone. When I got to the bottom I asked the lift operators (who were building snow men - I’m not exaggerating how quiet it was) how common that was. Apparently last year was every night but this year not often. Hopped back on the lift and on the ride up saw a third deer, smaller, looked like it was grazing, so when I skied back down I checked if it was still there and was so tried to take a pic. My phone cam is pretty crap at light though so disappointed in outcome. But still - magical.

Since my deer pic didn't work,
I took a snowman pic the next day :)

Did yet another run just cause, but borrowed snow pants were not waterproof and since this lift was not really being used, all the seats were covered in snow. After 3 or 4 runs I was soaked through and other people had appeared on the hill so I called it for day one.

Laura should be here any minute - she unfortunately had more transportation issues than I between snow, plows, and rush hour starting earlier than it’s supposed to thanks to people avoiding the storm. My legs will definitely feel it tomorrow.

But SO MUCH FUN. I wish we lived somewhere I could do this more regularly. This isn’t far, but it’s just far enough to make a random night ski not reasonable.