back to some sort of reality

the past four days have flown by and with them i've returned to the reality of a non-existent winter in pennsylvania, which isn't flat as a pancake but might as well be, and where all the nuances of my reality come up and smack me in the face regularly. the situation isn't helped by the slight cold i've picked up, either. but i don't mean to dwell on the mundane. jimnerd just pointed out that the daffodils are coming up outside. may as well move onto spring, eh?

but, ah, new hampshire. the hamster. i love it. i'm always sad when it is time to go home. it is a dream being there, surrounded by friends, playing in the snow, cooking and cleaning up after meals together. i took a nap each evening, up in one of the lofts of homero's cabin, and as i fell asleep i was serenaded by the sound of good friends' voices and laughter. it made me happy/sad. happy because i love them, we've shared so many good times and i feel more like myself when i am around them, especially in the hamster, where so many of our memories have been made. sad because i couldn't hang in there and soak up every second of my hamster existence this year. i hated having to succumb to my body's demands for rest (and admittedly didn't rest enough, i'm sure) and headed upstairs to nap while fun and cooking went on below. that was the hardest part of the trip for me, having to miss out on even just a second of what was going on with everyone else.

we had some laughs, though, a few of them, just a couple, of course. it all started with the beef on the roof, using the cold air outside the subi to keep the beef for barney's stew nice and cold on the drive north. mom wagered $30 that it would fly off at some point, ruining the night of whoever was driving behind us. i was skeptical, but barney and wes had faith and so we bungee corded it to the roof and were off. indeed it made it to spruce mountain and the next night we were treated to a delicious bass - i mean, beef stew. good call.

we were able to get out and ski for a couple of half-days and a full one, each time at bretton woods. as you can see from the photo above, it affords great views of the rock pile and with each run the view changed as the slightest change in light changed the whole character of the mountains. it is a spectacular place, and while the snow wasn't in the bezt condition ever, it wasn't the worst i've skied, either.

i loved making turns and feeling pretty healty while i was doing it. we found a nice little steep section with soft, natural snow and made lots of runs down it, and i have been dreaming about that feeling ever since. i didn't feel sick, and i felt like i could do it forever. in reality, i know i couldn't and i am still recovering from that energy output now, but i was the happiest kid on the mountain while we were at it.

other than skiing, we made the mandatory stops at ragged, ime, and ems while in town, and j-nice and i even hit some outlets, where i scored some cycling duds and running shorts and j-nice found herself some professional working duds (one of the few people i know who has to "dress up" for work) before picking up supplies at the grocery store.

it snowed a couple of times, thursday morning and all day saturday, and it is easy to hole up in the warm cabin when it is 10 degrees and snowing outside. it is not so easy to hole up in the cabin when it is 100 degrees in the loft you're supposed to be sleeping in. otus packed the woodstove full of wood about two or three times on saturday night, and while we were happy played cards in our t-shirts downstairs, a disaster was brewing upstairs in the two lofts. when it came time to head to bed, we went up the hill to our loft and otus and j-nice to theirs. holy shit, it was hot. not, oh, i don't need to sleep in a hat hot, but i can't fall asleep - feels like summertime - hot. ridiculous. we opened the window upstairs and couldn't feel ANY air coming IN. and it was 10 outside! the hot air must have been shooting out, but there was so much of it, it took hours for it to cool down upstairs. we were quiet for a bit, then otus called out, is it as hot over there as it is up here? of course it was. we could've cooked a turkey up there. right out in the open. i went downstairs and opened the door for a moment or two. cold air rushed in but it did little to relieve us of the heat. finally, hours later we could sleep comfortably. we kept the window open all night. never again. good thing we all have such good senses of humor.

so, that's about it from hamster. the week has been busy at work and i have been run down from a cold and just trying to stay focused on one day at a time. it is tough. but now, i have to run a couple of errands and head to work for a bit. this time of year it just doesn't stop and i feel bad stopping when i need to.

think snow. it is going to be 75 today.