HIT THE SLOPES!

If you don't know much about me let me tell you a secret...I hate being cold, but I love snow.  What I love most about snow?  It gives me a good reason to cuddle up by the fire with a hot cup of tea and read a good book, eat junk food, and then take a nap.  Seriously I've never been one for winter sports so the thought of taking a skiing lesson was kind of frighting.  I was worried about getting cold most of all, I was slightly more afraid of falling-boy, did I have that ass-backwards!  

I talked all of my kids into accompanying me to Mt. Hood-Timberline.  Timberlinelodge.com  I had every hope that the whole family would  make the trip but it turns out that the weekend we had planned was after large amounts of rain had fallen and predictions of local flooding so my husband, who was acting Public Works Director decided to stay in Keizer just in case.  So, off we went; Ryan, Katie and Brandon on the morning of March 30th.  The plan was to go to the cabin where the kids stay, compliments of some very nice people they met in Welches, when they make their trips to the mountain.  Now I had heard many stories of the cabin and the kids friends so I was anxious to learn more about the time they spend up there.  We laughed all the way to Welches where we were going to go to the cabin and drop off our stuff before heading up the mountain...I should have known when Ryan asks me, "so Mom, what do you think the cabin looks like"?  Hmmm, I thought, could it be that he is trying to prepare me for something?  Well, he was.  The place was a small A frame cabin with a small living area, a small kitchen, and best of all two lofts with sleeping quarters...did I mention that only way to get into the loft was to climb a vertical ladder attached to the wall.

Yep, that's where I slept....

Actually it was quite quaint with a pellet stove which warmed it up quickly. We drop our stuff off and then we are headed to the mountain, it's a beautiful day, snowing with a layer of 6 new inches of powder!
We arrive, park, and head into the lodge to rent my gear-boots, skies and poles-had no idea at this point those damn poles would prove to be my best friends over the next 3 hours.  OK, time to put on the boots..hmm, they feel odd while I'm sitting down, stand up...OK they felt more than odd, they hurt like hell!  Thank God my boys were there to help me figure out how to do, I would never have got them on without their help.  Off I got to meet up with the instructor.
Standing under the sign that says real big "Level 1" ...geez, I wonder who the rookies are, oh, maybe the ones who don't know how to put on the skies??  Up skies the instructor, the first words out of his mouth went something like..."I guess I'm teaching level one, I'm not used to that, your going to have to progress quickly"  OK that didn't go over well with me, in fact it scared the hell out of me-as I later found out was the theme of the day!  Off we went-the other people in the group seemed nice and a couple seemed just as unnatural as me.  The instructor showed us the "wedge" which I later learned was the one thing that could very well save your life!  

My half ass attempt at the "wedge"

The actual body position of the wedge does not work with my hips, knees or my ankles so I hurt before I even fell the first time...that would be the time I wrapped myself around the out of bounds rope-yep, you go very fast (not really it just seemed like it) and if you have not perfected the damn wedge that is exactly what happens-thank God for one of the other instructors at the bottom of the hill, he showed me how to get up and also how to clip in my ski.  I say "get up" like it easy-it's not-this is where my poles became oh so important to the whole process.  Throughout the day the instructor was MIA off and on, then he asked me "haven't you figured out what happens when you lean?"  Yes, I reply-I fall. So don't lean-that goes against all of my natural tendencies of survival, when going down hill you DO NOT lean forward-well, YES you do, as least that's what your supposed to do, I never did get the hang of it.  He was such an arrogant ass, it was very clear he didn't have much time for us beginners. One of the gals in my group, she was from England, was worse off then I-she had no sense of balance, so the instructors idea was to take away her poles and send her down the hill; unfortunately he did not follow her and she fell a ways down the hill, slightly further up the hill than I was. She had no poles and could not get up so off I went, side stepping up the mountain ( I like to call it that but it was a "slight slope" we were on, makes me feel better anyway...ha ha!)  I managed to help her get up with the use of my poles, I'm sure we looked like the 2 stooges out there trying to figure out how the hell we were going to get her up without my falling, we would have been done for if I went down too! I got her up and we slowly made it the rest of the way down.
 I had hurt my calf so much the first time I fell I didn't know if I would make it through the rest of the morning, I was about ready to give it up when the kids showed up and encouraged me to forge on---One of my biggest fears was the lift but amazingly enough I mastered that pretty well...never fell getting on, or getting off!

Me and Brandon on the lift!!!!

Finally time for lunch-I had decided I was not going back out but the kids had other ideas so off I went to "hit the slopes" again.  I'm glad I did, I actually got a better feel for skis and actually almost made it all the way down the slope without falling-almost.

 You may notice my son Brandon and Katie come up beside me, when Katie boards away Ryan turns the camera toward Katie and misses my face plant...too bad, it was a good one!

Meanwhile, back at the cabin...we return to the cabin, clean up and head down to the bar for a yummy dinner and some interesting company, we played a little pool, and ate some more...I finally got to meet Ryan and Katie's friends-very nice people.   We returned to the cabin and got settled in, I called Bill to see how he was doing with all the dogs (he now calls himself the dog whisperer, that's a whole other story), we hung up and 10 minutes later he called me back to say that the snow patrol had called to say that they were afraid I was still on the mountain (it was now 10 p.m.) because I had not returned all of my rental gear.  OMG, I would have been dead by then...little did they know I never got off the bunny slope!  Really though, craziness to think that they waited that long, and thank God I had just talked to Bill, could you imagine if I hadn't and he got that call...WOW!

All in all I had a great time, I always enjoy spending time with my kids.  We did go back the next day so the kids could board, I brought my friend Kindle and we snuggled up in the lodge and all was well!!  The trauma that I experienced to my calf on that first fall took 2 days to turn black and blue and 6 weeks for the knot to go away-Here is what I know, I have ruled skiing out as a hobby just as I did duck hunting!  Looking forward to some beach type activities to see if I might need to move to Hawaii to indulge in those activities regularly-Onward and upward!!

p.s.  I was never cold :)

 

Katie, the only female Lawyer snow bunny-I've opted out!

 

Glass Fusion

Fused glass is a term used to describe glass that has been fired (heat-processed) in a kiln at a range of high temperatures from 593 °C (1,099 °F) to 816 °C (1,501 °F). There are 3 main distinctions for temperature application and the resulting effect on the glass.
Firing in the lower ranges of these temperatures 593–677 °C (1099–1251 °F) is called slumping. Firing in the middle ranges of these temperatures 677–732 °C (1251–1350 °F) is considered "tack fusing". Firing the glass at the higher spectrum of this range 732–816 °C (1350–1501 °F) is a "full fuse".
All of these techniques can be applied to one glass work in separate firings to add depth, relief and shape.

 

I am absolutely fascinated by glass, the texture, the colors...everything about it.  I have a lot of glass in my house, blown glass, formed glass, all of this made by artisans near and far.  One of my favorite places to hang out is at the Alder House gallery, there, you can watch the entire glass blowing process from beginning to end.  You can have items made especially for you, you pick the colors, you pick the design; I have many pieces that have been created there.  So, considering my fascination of glass it may not come as a surprise that learning how to create something with glass would be on my list.  I chose fusing because I had a groupon....I know pretty rinky dink, I would have rather gone for blowing it but have to admit, I'm a coupon junkie.   Not only did I have a groupon for the class I had Tina, my very special friend who talked me into this crazy 50 thing, who wanted to go along-she had a groupon for a motel in Lincoln City so between the two of us we were going to have fun at groupon prices!

We planned our trip for the weekend of April 21st and 22nd (coincidentally the same weekend I quit smoking a year ago).  We headed out on Friday afternoon-right on time :)  I was so looking forward to a weekend at the beach, watching the waves, enjoying the clean air and of course eating my share of clam chowder.  On the drive over we talked and talked, it's nice to have a friend that conversations just flow freely and silence is OK too!  So, we arrive at our destination and check in, then off to find something to eat-Pier 101, one of my favorites.  

Saturday, wake up feeling fresh and ready for my lesson.  We finally find the place and then meet Maurice. I will admit right now my gaydar sucks so it took me almost an hour to figure out this guy is sooo gay; I'm sure after I asked if he and the gal helping him were married they had a very good laugh.  So, they showed us what to do and made it very clear that they would be able to help every step of the way.  I'm not very creative so undertaking something like this was very stressful for me, his reassurance gave me that extra bump to forge ahead.  I had decided early on I wanted a piece with a starfish.  I explained that to Maurice and he got me started.  Tina was off and running with a design of a fish-this was all going to work out great! Onward and upward I went, it was glaringly apparent that Maurice had some opinions about how I should do this-He was a real nice guy but not a good teacher-he made a much better doer :)  Maurice picked the colors, the design and gave me instructions on how to do it; Tina on the other hand was on her own making her art all by herself.  Not quite sure why Maurice decided to hover over me but I can honestly say the end result was his vision and my handiwork. 

The finished product before going in the kiln!!!

Tina's project turned out beautiful....

After we finished, said our goodbyes we were off to lunch and shopping-I learned several things about myself that weekend; I am more creative than I ever thought I was; even at the age of 50 I still have a hard time telling people what I need (Maurice's opinions were not in tune with mine); I love being near the beach; I love having friends like Tina who will put up with me no matter what....I was on time Tina!  And most importantly I found out that I do love using my creative side and I need to let go and relax about it!  Here's to ocean air, great friends, great food, shopping, and to Maurice who taught me more then just how to work with glass!