April 28, 2022

Traveling with Tulips

Even though the world seems to be in turmoil, Spring arrived here right on schedule. The mini daffodils that my class planted in November popped open just before we dispersed for Spring Break and the forsythia was blushing yellow. A quick stop at Trader Joe’s, that same day on my way home, produced a pot of tulips and I bought them even though I knew we were leaving the next day. At $3.99 who could resist? Sure enough the tulips ended up in the truck the next morning, tucked in precariously between bicycle helmets and ski gear. We headed south to Santa Fe, in the Land of Enchantment, and it…

March 1, 2022

North to Canada, Part 1

A wise friend once told me that when you receive a nice invitation, you should try hard to accept. So last winter, when the ultimate planning Ripper cast out an invite for a Canadian Powder Adventure for 2022, My fellow Ripper and I happily agreed to be part of the posse. At the time we accepted, we hoped beyond hope that the whole world would be vaccinated, and Covid would be in retreat. Fast forward to 2022, the coronavirus stayed put and we started to wonder why we were leaving the country. Crossing the border takes preparation. Canada is serious about testing. It requires a negative PCR test within 72…

January 29, 2022

Waste Not, Want Not

In these pandemic days, it is easy to become a hermit. This is not exactly why I have been absent from these pages since last spring, but it is why I decided to focus on family and my responsibility to be present for 16 young children in the classroom. All the while trying to avoid the Coronavirus, which so far, I have managed to do. I certainly did not stop thinking about the challenge of finding adventures near and far. As my fellow ripper faithfully reports, we are casting our net as far as we dare in new directions while also appreciating what is outside our front door. But now…

December 22, 2021

Seasons Change!

I love seasons. Doesn’t much matter which one. I get just as excited about the change from cold to warm as I do about warm to cold. Each season has its own attributes (and liabilities), and they each seem to last just about the right amount of time before the next one begins. Sometimes the transition takes longer than it should, and sometimes it comes too quickly. This year, finally, winter has arrived. It was too long a wait for us. After all, we live to ski. October started off in a promising manner. An early storm turned everything optimistically white. But then November hit. Temperatures back in the 60’s….