spring skiiing

me and Lorie at the top of the Gunbarrel

so beautiful last week!!! I went skiing with my cousin Lorie last Thursday, and we had so much fun. It was great taking time and skiing so differently than I do with the kids. I do love skiing with the boys, but it really is different skiing at an adult pace.
The temperature was really warm, and I was hot wearing just a turtleneck! We skied down slowly and stopped alot to chat. It was so nice to really enjoy skiing that way.... and totally different from bombing down with my boys all winter!!
The snow was kind of like skiing in mashed potatoes, and we stuck to going down the Gunbarrel (a black diamond). There was hardly anyone skiing, probably about 40 people on the whole mountain. It was as if we had it to ourselves.

and we thought that would be the end of the skiing with no snow on the ground anywhere else, and no snow on the horizon, Sundown had planned on closing last Monday.... but...... then we got tons of snow over the weekend and they will be open a bit longer now... yeah!!!

one from the archives:

me, Sue, and 2 of my cousins(Francie and Sayre) in Garmisch Partenkirchen spring 1992

good spinning- short version

I am taking a comprehensive business class at University of Hartford's Entrepreneurial Center. I was going to try to start a holistic community center, but there seem too many obstacles at this time. I am going to start a henna business, and do a kick ass job of it, and have fun and make money doing something creative that I enjoy.

I think I am going to let go of my tea business. I am not quite sure how yet, as I want to keep a little bit of it, and need to figure that out. It is a business that I started by the seat of my pants, and didn't do a good job, but it was a great learning experience.

I have been driven with good and positive energy for a few weeks now, and it feels great, and I will keep it. I like the spinning that is happening now with me. I'll keep it, send my energy out into the universe to come back to me again with more good. even my kids have been affected by having such good stuff going on between them (not always, but way more than usual). I feel like I am exuding good energy. oh, and good perfume lately too.....

more old photos

This is me in my old room...... I love the natural light, and me reading..... you can even see my big old Teddy bear in the background .... he must have been waiting for me in my bed.
I still have that old bear. he is older and very well loved now... missing his eyes that my sweet puppy Shiloh chewed off 20 years ago.

oy! the desk! ('n Howie)

me and 'Howie'
summer 1989

I am in the process of cleaning my desk off- how the heck does it get so messy!? except that, yes, it is in the middle of our living space, and it just seems to be a natural place to set things down, including all sorts of papers that I need to get to, but don't. things to file, things to pay, things to deal with, etc....

I am starting a business class and will have a ton of work to do, and will need a good space, and need to organize the home space, as I will have less time to spend on it.
Okay, reality too is that I have been avoiding it and it has piled up and it is horrid. I hate it, but feel somehow overwhelmed by it, and can't figure out how to deal with it. So I have asked my friend Liz to help me. Liz Felter was a camper at Four Winds when I first was a counselor there. We have just reconnected, as she is a professional organizer, and connected when she did some work for my mom. So now, I need her. Help!!!

I love going through all of the stuff though, as I love being organized (I can organize other people, just not me!). I am finding all sorts of things as I get ready for her to come help.

I found these old photos of me and Holland (then she was "Howie"). She is in college now though, so yeah, this is old. My hair was short then, and it was summertime and we were at a horse show. I have great photos of her from then. Lots of old black and whites.

lots of henna

I've been doing a ton of henna in the past week. My friend's church has a world outreach program that, this year, is studying the Berber people of Morocco. They wanted to do henna, and of course she thought of me.... they wanted to serve Moroccan Mint tea also, which I provided too.
We chose 3 designs to do on their hands, and I taught 2 of my friends how to do it. So, we did about 130 people last Sunday, and another 120 or so on Wednesday night. This Sunday we will do another 3 hour stint, so maybe another hundred or so. And we have served about 25 gallons of tea using little 2 ounce cups! yikes!
lots of work, but fun, and good experience. Have been handing out alot of business cards too.

Then I also did this one on my friend Megan the other night. After it was dry, she wrapped it in t.p., and held onto her warm mug of tea. It came out fabulously dark, and looks great.

minivan. I liked!?!

okay, I admit. I liked it. I didn't want to though. it's a minivan. My car was in being fixed (from the wrecked part a few weeks ago). They gave me a minivan to use while my Pilot was in the shop for 4 days. So it was long enough to really get a feel for having this vehicle.

A friend of mine, a while back, told me of an article that described people who owned minivans versus those who had SUVs. The sociologist in me was intrigued by this, but insisted on loving my SUV. and mine isn't a huge-a-mundo one. I do love it, for many reasons. One is that it looks like a car, and I don't feel like I am "mommy " all the time driving it. I can feel like "Lindsey" when I am without my kids, which is something I really need right now.

But..... I did really like using the minivan, even though I didn't want to like it. It fit all of the ski gear so easily, and same with the groceries. My Pilot fits it all too, but this one had a low and cavernous area for it all. And each of the kids had their own bucket seat, their own automatic closing door, etc. They loved it. Lots of little conveniences. Emmett wants to have it back, now that we have my car back from the shop, and all fixed. Oh well.

playground snow

At emmett's school, there is a kindergarten teacher who loves to get out at recess and really do fun stuff with the kids. After the snow last week, he worked with the kids to make creative stuff on the playground. He piled tons of snow at the bottom of the twisty slide, then dug it out so at the end of the slide, the kids go through kind of an igloo. totally fun.
Then he also made this mini labyrynth.....

It was a sunny afternoon, and emmett and his best school buddy, and we moms, had a good time hanging out and playing after school.

henna on hands

I liked this one alot....

a cool moroccan cuff and ring on my friend for a World Outreach program

I have been practicing and getting darker designs using a better henna mix than I was before. Now I am getting such good color using just hot water, henna, fructose, and teatree oil.

There is a world outreach program at my friends church next week. They are studying the berber people, and would like to have something interactive. So.... she has asked me to do henna there, and also to serve moroccan mint tea. Apparently there will be several hundred people attending. So it will be a busy few hours! I have taught her how to do the henna as well, and one other friend too. So the three of us will be giving the attendees a choice of one of three designs, and we will just crank through them all.

Pango's first snow

Pango, our ferret, was completely intrigued in the snow. We scooped some and brought it inside for him. He stuck his nose in, then way in, and was digging as in a frenzy.... snow flying up in chunks. He seemed to not be able to get enough of it. He was really hard to take photos of though, as he was moving soooo fast. Mostly everything came out blurry. He kept pawing the snow out, and in general was totally energized by it. Totally funny.

snow lately

Finally we have gotten a bit more snow. The boys have even had a snow day. Not even close to how much we usually get, and the 'big' snowfalls have only been about 4".... totally lame. But beautiful just the same.

Adam tied a little sled to the quad and was dragging Eli around. totally fun.

We all went skiing together the other day. Adam was blown away when he saw how well the kids were really doing. They took off and left him in the dust....
and yes, I taught them how to 'tuck' so they cruise down this part of the run.

my view on one of the runs.... all three of the 'boys' butts

People complain about driving up this mountain (dangerous driving- frequent accidents), but I love how it is after the snow. and on this day it was sparkling and clear.

Gunbarrel

okay, yeah, both of the boys have now been down this black diamond run with me!

it is such a cool steep and intimidating run. emmett had no idea what he was getting into, but he wanted to do it anyway. He was a trooper and went down, slowly surely, snowplowing and turning all the way. Eli, loved it, and is eager to do it every time we go.

Just after you go down one little quick slope, you turn, and stop on the plateau at the top....

to be stunned by how beautiful it is to take in the view. The hill drops off just below that, and you plunge into paying attention to skiing down the snowy steepness.

cool henna

I liked this one that I did last week. I have gotten inspired by a henna book by Sumita

Eli is ten!?

how did that happen? time seems to go so fast and yet so slow at the same time. He is so grown up, and so young at the same time. So wonderfully smart and sensitive and funny, and intriguing and infuriating and fun to be with. all rolled into one. How can a parent love their child so much?
I feel like I know him so well, yet he is growing older and I do seem to know less now than I used to. But I still love lying down with him at night, as he lets me into his world by talking with me in the darkness. It is then that I am told and questioned about so much. We both love that time together. Somehow it is a safe time to talk.... with no distractions from anything or anyone else. just us. I love my ten year old. immensely.

knitting sale

The local knitting shop is closing and having a good sale. The owner is retiring. Bummer, as it is close by and have been buying yarn from them for many years.

I got some great yarn, and will use it for 2 sweaters once I finish the several projects I am on now!
I used this yarn before for a sweater for Emmett, and will do another one in red and gray for him, and one for me with black, pale green and fabulous blue. but first need to keep working on the eggplant colored alpaca rollneck for my friend Jenny. I am getting close to being done with it! Maybe by next week.