spring skiing

I'm leaving for Spain, France and possibly Portugal or Italy in 3 days, yay! But in the meanwhile...

We got a foot of snow last night & this morning! Crazy, becuase spring had finally sprung.
So I had to ski into work today, to take advantage.

It's the most awesome feeling, to immerse yourself in such a white world for an hour, and the come down into the city, refreshed and alive, carrying your skis under your arm. The looks you get that say "wow, you're crazy", and you smile back to say "yes, and it's awesome".

The snowfall was the heaviest kind of wet snow, most ideal for snowballs. The snow under my skis was thick, creamy, and delicious. The flakes coming down yesterday were the largest I'd ever seen, as big as plums. So many branches had come down in Mount Royal park overnight, under the weight of the snow. (Sadly, the limbs with the most buds came down first.) Huge limbs, spanning the whole road, as if to say "go back home with your machinery".

The entire mountain is frosted white, every branch bearing snow. No plows have made it through, so the only colour is the sky, the treetrunks, and the underside of the branches. Absolute white, absolute peace, where yesterday there had been mud and the renewed decay of a winter's worth of organic matter.

bleary rain

Weather like this makes me think of the West Coast, and how this time of year, 9 and 10 years ago, each of my grandmothers was dying.
The only consolation is that biking in light +5 drizzle is really exhilarating. City biking is a great way to feel alive.
I think I would be a different person if Erik hadn't taught me how to live so recklessly in Switzerland. The invincible shield of youth and calculated risk.

Yesterday, I packed 7 friends & 1 super-cool mom off to a Cabane a Sucre (sugar shack), which is a big Quebecois tradition. Being April Fool's day, we dressed like fools. Lots of fun, lots of meat, lots of mud, lots of tire, and a few goats.

Happy Birthday Aunt Helga!

My Aunt Helga, who had a really bad fall in December, just told me that she was outside chipping today, practicing for golf season. She says her broken shoulder is all healed.

Oh, and: she had her accident December 15th, and was home from the hospital within a week.

She turned 86 today, nothing can stop her, and she's the most amazing person I know.