Wednesday

Morning cold.

Breakfast warmth.

Afternoon? Bitter cold still. Nevertheless, I have a plan. Ed doubts the wisdom of it. We're at the warmest point -- a whopping 6F (-9C) and the wind is downright cruel. Arctic level horrors out there. Or at least what you'd expect in the northern most settlements of Canada, where people never shed their puffy parkas. Still, the day had me taking care of business on the computer and now, as the sun is rapidly getting closer to the horizon, I need movement. So I suggest we ski.

But your knee! Don't you need to rest it? 

Ed never gives me advice on what I need or should do, so I know he is coming up with irrelevant excuses. 

The one thing my knee loves is skiing, I tell him. This is true. Gliding on snow only loosens it up and I can use the poles to help bring the weight off that bothersome left leg. Let's go.

 

Does it surprise anyone that both the left and the right parking lots of our local park are just about empty? (There is a car, but it's one of those where a guy sits with the engine running to keep warm as he "chills." The parking lots here often have one or two of those. Either they're chilling or they're waiting for an illegal drop-off, which we probably interrupt with our presence.)

At least I have a scarf. Ed takes the opposite position on scarves to that held by French men (they always wear them, he never does). 

We take on the right-of-the-road segment. A path, really. Not groomed, but trampled down enough to create gliding potential.

And of course, after a few minutes, the bitter cold becomes just a normal winter cold and the rhythmic schussing down that path is so good, so energizing, that there is no question about the rightness of our being there.

We are mountain animals! We are snowbirds! We are alive!

Satisfied, we drive home. The longer way, where at dusk, deer saunter and move freely.

Beautiful. All of it: the snow, the light, the deer. Stunningly beautiful.

I have to rub it in: aren't you glad we went out?

Yes gorgeous.

 

With love...