The new season: Sprinter

Hello again, friends.  We have been enjoyably busy these past few weeks and mother nature has blessed us with both spring and winter weather.  We've had excuses to go exploring the rivers and plants, to ski and throw snowballs, and to stay inside and keep warm.   Our coffers are filled with love and happiness, with new experiences, and, of course, photos.

Many of you are wondering about the "golden monkey".  There's not much news to share (which is a good thing).  We had a successful visit with the doctor in early February and everything looks good.  It was interesting (to say the least) to be able to see his skeleton and his heart beating.  The technician even pointed out his brain!  Science is amazing, and so is our little guy.  He wasn't in the visiting mood, so we didn't get any great pictures of him, but still, we saw enough to know that he is healthy and everything is as it should be.  Sarah is as she should be, too.  She's feeling good and staying healthy.  She has been swimming and doing light lifting and has time to read and sew, so I'd say a good positive lifestyle all around.  A massage here and there has probably helped, too.  The little man is going to be born into a home full of hobbies and hand made gear.  The big news is that after further research, we found out that he will be born in the year of the fire monkey, not the golden monkey.  I'm not sure what this means for his personality or fortune, but fire monkey sounds pretty cool, like something from Dragon Ball Z (that's a reference for Ian).


This all came up when Livia and Darren returned from China with gifts for the monkey and Zhora and stories about the New Year.  Zhora got super into the Chinese Zodiac and now knows the sign for most of the important people and animals in her life.  She got a lovely dress from Livia and Darren, so we were super excited to take her to a Chinese New Year celebration at Cornell a couple weeks ago.

The photo above is mine, but the rest in the series are Darren's (as if it's not obvious!), so credit where credit is due.  Thanks for the lovely time and the great photos, guys!  Zhora's dress was such a hit that several people came up and asked to take pictures with her!  We can't wait to see the reaction to the Fire Monkey's tiger hat!  It's so cool that I would wear it if I could!  Sarah and Zhora are checking out a demonstration of a Chinese tea ceremony... I believe it was abbreviated.

We had such a good time.  There was a Dragon dance and traditional musicians playing traditional and modern instruments including violins and guzheng.  There were several stations set up as well.  Here Sarah and Zhora are learning about the art of paper cutting.

Red is the lucky colour to wear for the new year.  Apparently this was common knowledge to everyone but me.  Zhora had red in her dress and hair, and Sarah wore her red dress, too!  The girls made a couple paper monkey faces with great skill and dexterity.  Sarah did eventually let Zhora do some cutting, too.

Everyone was so friendly and excited to share their knowledge and skill.  These ladies were so much fun as I struggled to make dumplings.  They insisted that my efforts were great and the results represented my own uniqueness rather than my lack of dexterity.  One thing I noticed with this crew was that they had a different notion of personal space from me.  Still, the gregariousness and genuineness of everyone made us feel like one big family, so standing close seemed the natural thing to do!

Great photo, Darren!  How'd the one of all of us turn out?  Darren is kind of like Grandpa Harrington in that he's always behind the camera!  His presence is known by the great photos, but nobody knows what he looks like!  As always, the biggest joy of the evening was spending time with Livia and Darren.  Their kindness, hospitality, and eagerness to share cultures makes our friendship strong and enduring.

Wow!  What can I say about the dragon?!  It was incredible.  I can only imagine what the parades and celebrations are like in China with dancers and dragons and whatever else.  We got a great little show of our own at Cornell.  Great planning, preparation, and execution.  We'll definitely make this an annual event. 

Although there were people stationed at each table, Livia acted as Zhora's docent.  At this station, she helped Zhora learn to write her name and her parents' names in Chinese characters.  Look at what a great job they did together!  Many of those are Zhora's brush strokes based on Livia's input.  Amazing.

The last couple weeks have felt like spring, with no snow and temperatures regularly in the upper 40s.  Jonas and I have taken advantage of this and the lengthening daylight and have taken several hikes together

On one of our hikes we found this old saw mill.  Pretty cool.

Another day, another hike.  Eva came with us to Buttermilk Falls last weekend, but she didn't want to stay in the picture.  She had a blast running up and down the hills, plowing through the weeds, and snuffling for chipmunks.

Eva is out front, then me (being dragged along), and Jonas.  This is the hat that Kurt and Denise got me.  It is the warmest hat ever.  It was much too warm for this hike!  I wish I had stopped to take a picture of the bike riding Zach and I did the day after this.  We rode on the same trail that Vinnie and I had skied on the previous season at the same time.  Last weekend, it was 50 degrees and sunny with no snow.  A year ago, it had been 9 degrees with 18" of snow on the ground... crazy.  And the pictures below are separated from the one above by only a week!  Weather is nuts!

I'm pretty sure this is from a hike we took with Zhora on the weekend she stayed at our place and went to the Chinese New Year.  It's hard to keep track right now, because she's been over quite a bit.  We always have a good time.  Like my father, I really like this age kid.  It's so refreshing and invigorating to see the world through their eyes and experience the joy of self styled learning.  Her folks have done a great job getting her outside and encouraging her imagination, and you can see that paying off in her growing independence, bravery to explore, and unceasing creativity.

"Hey, I found a bunch of these!"

Vinnie came over for the weekend.  We had planned to give camping another go, but it was a complete crap shoot whether we would have any snow to ski on.  Turns out, we got a few inches the day before he came, but the temperature dropped to a blood chilling -15 f.  Crazy!  We opted to ski during the day... because, there was snow and the heck if we weren't going to go out, but we opted for the warmth of home rather than the certain death of the tent.

Zach has been a great companion in the outdoors.  He has a high pain threshold, patient constitution, and a penchant for biting off more than he bargains for... for better or worse, these are qualities that I look for in a friend.  When he took me into the brush, bushwhacking through briers up a steep hill with little snow and no trails, by dying headlamp into the dark of night on our first cross country ski trip, I knew that he would fit in well with Vinnie and me for our ski trips.  So Saturday, we all got up, shuddered as we looked at the thermometer, threw on a couple extra base layers, and headed out.  Vinnie and I skied a couple miles to warm up and check our wax, then we picked up Zach and headed to Hammond HIll where we skied about 6 miles.

We skied most of yellow 1, yellow 5, and yellow 4, with some incidental bushwhacking because skiing uneven terrain in -5 f weather wasn't enough of a challenge.  All in all, Vinnie and I skied a little over 8 miles that day.

This is the reward for those of us willing to suffer... empty parking lots, no crowds, and bragging rights.  Also, when you burn 2000 calories, you can order the cheddar beer soup and have an extra pint, to boot; which we did later that evening at Ithaca Beer Company.

Sunday morning Vinnie and I got up and climbed the hill at the head of Ridgeway Rd to gain access to another untrammeled wilderness.  We felt like the Heroes of Telemark, but with less Nazis and starving... though we were both pretty hungry by the time we got back.

Sunday evening, we packed up the Element with skis and boots and wet gloves and parkas and also beef ragout and rice pudding and headed to Jenn and Bob's.  They have a huge hill in their back yard and we skied to the top of it just so we could ski back down.  I think that's their house down in the valley at the top-center of the picture, but it might be the neighbor's.  Anyway, it's a big hill.  I was feeling inspired to lay down some telemark turns after watching the Norwegian WWII miniseries  Kampen om tungtvannet.  After assessing the decidedly thin snow cover, the preponderance of dead-fall, and density of tree growth, I opted to practice these turns in the open rather than through the woods as I had originally hoped.

Vinnie had the most spectacular wipe out that I have ever witnessed on cross country skis on his way down!  Honestly, it looked like something that defied physics, like when someone gets kicked in a kung-fu flick and the kicker stands in place while the kickee goes flying across the room and through a pillar.  I describe it here for your enjoyment.  After a couple, largely successful turns (as defined by remaining upright rather than grace or efficacy) I stopped to check on Vinnie's location.  Looking up hill, I caught sight of his elegant form, arms and legs spread like you might expect were you to put skis on a star fish, cruising through an inch or two of windblown snow covering ground frozen as solid as permafrost.  I was surprised to see him carving his own path rather than following our tracks back down, when suddenly, he sprang into the air as if launched from a trampoline, skis and poles jettisoned as he flew through the air like superman.  He hit the earth with an audible thud and a force that made my mind jump to thoughts of the creation of Tycho followed by musings on the use of helmets for cross country skiing.  I managed to stifle most laughter until we ascertained that he was un-concussed, but we both burst out when we looked at his tracks.  I have recreated them here for your consideration.

Then we skied down the rest of the hill, changed out of our ski gear one last time and joined Jenn, Bob, Sarah, and Zhora for a lovely dinner.  And now, you are all caught up.  Hope everyone is happy and healthy!  Looking forward to seeing your faces, your posts, or hearing your voice on the phone soon.