The Snow Bunny Returns!

Thanks to a wonderfully generous couple at church, James and I now each have a complete set of cross-country skis! (Thank you, Dick & Dana!!!) So we took our first jaunt together today. It was James's second time ever on skis—his first outing was on Monday with some church folks—and it was my first time in YEARS. Somehow my parents managed to afford to buy us all cross-country skis one Christmas when I was about 14 or so, and I fell in love with it and spent lots of time on them for the next several years. I lugged the skis to Tucson where they sat in the garage for a decade, sadly unused. It was a major production to go skiing there—the only snow was up on the mountain, and it was a long, winding drive that James and I rarely had the motivation to undertake. Especially in snow. And I couldn't handle the altitude, anyway.

My old skis made it here to Pittsfield with me, too, but they're the kind you need to wax (which always annoyed me, even though my father insisted that was an integral part of the whole experience—personally I can live without the half-hour of scraping off old wax and then putting on new, only to find that I've chosen poorly and that kind of wax isn't working well on the type of snow on the ground...), so I've been less than eager to get them back on my feet. Plus I needed new boots.

The donated skis are no-wax, and the boots that came with them are exactly my size! And I still have my poles, so my equipment is complete now. It took me a few minutes to get my stride back, but then I relaxed into the glide and whooshed off, feeling vibrantly alive in a way I haven't felt in a long, long time. My body may complain tomorrow, but I can't wait for Sunday when we can go skiing again! I haven't quite figured out how to bring Casey along, since he's too senile to trust off the leash now, and how does one go about holding on to a leashed dog while using ski poles? I took him around the yard with me (unleashed) when we got back from our jaunt to see what he thought of me on skis. He was a little worried at first, but then he's always worried at first when anything new comes into his world. James thinks I'm crazy, but I'm determined to work out the logistics of Casey joining us so he can enjoy the great outdoors in winter with us. I'm loving it!