Weekend Round-up: Enough Work, Already.
Top o' the mornin' to ya. This past weekend marked the end of my January-February hibernation period, during which I generally shuttle between work, house cleaning, and Oprah with little variation. In New England, the snow, ice, and frigid winds can be depressing, so it's best to just batten down the hatches and wait for the first sign of spring.
Which, and I don't think I'm alone here, doesn't seem like it's ever going to come. But the sun has been making a few more daily appearances, and thought it's still cold, there's an air of hope that wasn't here a week ago that signaled to me 'it is now safe to move away from the remote control.'
After work on Friday, I took a trip down to the Ski Haus to see if there was any hope of repairing the bindings on my old, awesome Elan trick-skis. Sadly, they don't even make parts for them anymore, but Paul at the repair counter was very nice and clued me in on an equipment sale coming up at the end of the season (around April 1) and about an artist in my area who could make a bench or a chair out of my skis, which are special to me because my dad bought them for me. I'm leaning toward making a picture frame out of them.
Meanwhile, ArcherVision was browsing the ski pants and gloves, mentally preparing for what would be his first foray on to the slopes on Saturday. I bought him a pair of Marmot ski pants as an early birthday present, and bought myself a Hot Chilly - the 'Pepper,' a light-weight thermal shirt. I remember when all things Hot Chilly were $100 and up - now they're much more reasonable. The Pepper was on sale for $19.77, and I highly recommend them for skiing, running, or anything else that requires an extra layer. Soooper-comfy.
From the Ski Haus it was on to Abudanza, a brand-new Italian place in our neighborhood. We were seated for three minutes before we decided we wanted this to be 'our place;' we hope to get to know the staff, have our own table, the works. It's cute and unassuming, with great food and a BYOB policy, probably because it's so new they have yet to secure a full liquor-license. But this adds to its charm. For $5, you can bring your own spirits and the staff will uncork and serve for you. It's very homey.
On Saturday morning, we loaded up the Scion with our newly acquired ski accoutrements and headed to Butternut, a ski resort in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. I scored some free passes from my job, which covered lift tickets, rentals, and a lesson for ArcherVision, so the whole day only cost us $30 Space Bucks for Gas, Lunch, and Tolls. Can't say I'm not a little proud.
I left ArcherVision next to the sign that said 'Level I - Never Skied Before' and took off to the Top Flight lift, a quad that led to some pretty well-groomed trails. Late in the season, the snow is wet, heavy, and slushy, but there was good coverage and I was glad that AV would be learning in less-than-optimal conditions, because he'd have to use his skills more. He did really well for just one hour-long lesson - by the end of the day he was skiing blue squares with ease and barely wedging his skis.
On Sunday, we headed out to do a little UrbEx photo shooting at a church being demolished:
and perused a few thrift stores in search of some vases and pitchers for a project we're working on. We found four.
Then it was home to watch a little tube - we watched the Will Ferrell, Nicole Kidman version of Bewitched, which didn't get very good reviews, but I thought it was cute, if not the heaviest of films.
Next weekend, we'd tentatively planned a trip to a hibachi restaurant we dig, to celebrate AV's birthday, but on Sunday night he asked for a change of plans.
"I don't want to go to Goten anymore," he said. "I want to go skiing."
Looks like we have a new recruit on our hands, two-plankers.
I know what you mean about winter being so long this year. The angle of
the sun says that it's time for T-shirts and sunscreen, but the snowbanks
by the side of the road are still almost 4 feet tall. I can't wait for the
melt!
I love the photo of the church.
