Winter, Part Four.

I've managed to get on my x-country skis twice this winter...Which is hardly at all, but the snow has been too deep for ungroomed trails (just an excuse).

 This is Dugan's first x-country ski experience:

 Here he is, quite confident and proud (rightly so- expecting to hate it, he did very well and had fun). 

He did have a couple of quite spectacular falls, though. This one was the best. That creek has got to be at least 2 feet deep and all five of us who crossed got at least a little soaked. We discovered later that that trail was "closed".













Having dragged himself out of the water, Krissy, wearing skis herself,  tries to help him up.

Down she goes....

 

..........we got out of it eventually.

When I go skiing by myself I have to take my own pictures (with my atrocious camera phone. Here I am in my orange hat, enjoying the fresh blanket of snow on the Kennebec river a couple of weeks ago:

 oops.

 That's better.

 Apparently a tradition in the area is to set up your Christmas tree on the river after the holidays are over...I've been seeing them everywhere.

It's a big river......

Winter, Part Three.

Somewhere in there I had a morning to myself on the beach in San Francisco. I swam in my underwear, even though everyone else in the water had a full wetsuit and surfboard. Worth it.

People joke about how it is always grey and foggy in San Francisco. I don't want to believe them, but my experience was of driving accross the Golden Gate Bridge from a sunny warm northern shore into a damp cool fog, which lifted as soon as we neared the airport, just south of the city. It's all true.

Winter, Part Two

Nephew Time!

Last time I saw this guy he pretty much just slept and ate. He still does those things but he's more fun to watch while he eats. He opens his mouth SO big- he is going to be great when he has to go to the dentist.

Emily, Dugan and Meela let me drag them all on a hike in the hills (Em made me go first in case of snakes). Luke likes to sit forward facing and watch the view. He was totally calm and interested the whole time.

There came a point where the path got way too sketchy for the top/front-heavy mama-baby combo and D dog and I went the last few hundred feet to the top on our own while Em and L went to find some grass appropriate for crawling practice.

There's the grass. Luke not only knows how to crawl but also puts leaves in his mouth (not shown, but I promise it happened)

Despite the fact that I go on and on about Luke, it was also great to see Em and Mo. However, they don't grow up nearly as fast and are thus slightly less newsworthy.

Winter, Part One

Ok if I just post every six months?

Boston, New Hampshire, Maine...California...Canada...I've done a lot this winter and not told you any of it. I'm going to give you a couple of catch-up installments here.

Lauren and I finally took our long-planned trip to Boston. This is me with the ducks from "make way for ducklings". You can see Mrs. Mallard's stylish orange glasses if you squint. The weather was insanely cold but we saw some sights and found a fabulous fancy coffee shop that made us fancy fabulous frothy hot drinks.

My classmates Lauren and Claudia live in Milford New Hampshire. Lauren shot these gems while we were out to breakfast at a stupid early hour in a tiny cafe. We had the place to ourselves, and their staff of one made us feel like we were at a friend's house for brunch.

Hiking in New England happens all year 'round. This is a hike Lauren showed me between Milford and Peterborough NH that was long enough that we spent the majority of the time wondering if we'd passed the summit without noticing. We eventually made it to the tower at the top and saw Mt washington in the distance. We took the road back (hiking downhill in the snow and ice is even less appealing than it is in summer)