sunday snow day

 

 we woke to more snow falling . .

 

it was a cozy morning spent with the first unitarian congregation of brooklyn's church service, brunch, and then photos from chanda who had gone cross country skiing with emily and emily's parents.

greg had gone out earlier to get us canned baked beans . . we were in the mood for a british type of breakfast (we had tomatoes and bacon also).

the skiing location was in new jersey . .

 

what a beautiful day to be out on the trails . .
 

dinner . . barley soup . .

a new day, a new book . . and morgana passes her test and goes snowboarding . .

yesterday i suddenly remembered that i had bought john leland's book, happiness is a choice you make, in order to take part in the new york time's big city book club online discussion with the author. i had tried to borrow it from the library, but there were 138 holds on 46 copies, and the online discussion will occur this coming monday at 6:30 pm. i'm not sure where this discussion will occur, the times' email about the event did not give a specific event link, and when i click on their "big city book club" link, it takes me to a discussion that occurred in 2015. i think they need to get their online act together. i hope they do so by monday.

i'm on chapter two of the book, and am really loving it. the author spends a year visiting with six new yorkers who are among the "oldest old," men and women eighty five years and older. he meets them with certain assumptions about what it is to be old, only to be confronted with their personal day to day reality that turns everything he assumed upside down. they truly live each moment. they do not look to the future, and their thoughts can teach us so much. spending days with my mom when i go up to connecticut has shown me how little we really spend with our elders . . and how our society separates us, not just by economic levels and race, but by age.

(oh, and that is my temperature blanket, growing larger and larger, day by day!)

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yes!! morgana passed her ski test! she took it on monday around 9 or 10 am tirol time. her host sister accompanied her this time and took a few movies, so we can see a bit of her skiing! here she is on top of the mountain, trying not to look nervous before the test begins.

 what a beautiful place for an exam!

 the slope does look a bit daunting . .

(no, she's not that first person schussing down so fast--actually, that person is weaving down the mountain so i think a different term should be used--she's the second one, carefully executing what looks to me like a snowplow, but she may have another word for it).

of course she was incredibly ecstatic about the results (her sicilian friend passed too!), but she was also pleased that she passed all three parts. she needed to pass two parts to pass the exam, and she thought she might fail the free skiing section (the first two parts were technical maneuvers), but she managed to squeak through with all three. it's a wonderful accomplishment and now she can be a ski instructor.

the next day was spent snowboarding with her host family and friends, an event she was really looking forward to:

and that's the end of the ski/snowboard season! today she is on her way to london for . .  an open ended amount of time . .

last week in austria and a ski race

 walks through the countryside . . 

 with lotta and lara . . 

 lots of skiing . . (a ski test needs to be taken) . .

slowly melting snow . . 

 a neighborhood ski race on tschey . . 

third place . . so wunderbar! however, morgana has been feeling very frustrated with her skiing. we hope she starts feeling better about it soon.

nor'easter and morgana's ski instructor internship

it was an incredibly dark morning when we woke, and it didn't get much lighter. we lit the candle to brighten breakfast up a bit.

 it was an alternate side parking day and i went out to move the car, except that the street cleaner never came by so no one had to drive around the block. we just sat in our cars for a little over an hour. we probably didn't have to . . i don't think any police officers were inclined to hand out tickets in the pouring rain.

 it was cold sitting there, and i needed to run the car heater a few times to warm myself up.

chanda braved the weather for her ballet classes, but thankfully i had all the necessary ingredients for dinner: broccoli rabe, zucchini and garlic from thursday's vegetable box, and fettucine, sour cream, milk and parmesano for pasta with alfredo sauce.

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the cape was hit very hard with this storm and my nephew lost power. massachusetts experienced a lot of flooding and i know that upstate new york (eva and family) had a lot of snow.

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 morgana spent the week as a ski instructor intern. she helped with a class of children five to six years old. they would be out all day, she said, and one little child kept falling off the ski lift! she said he wasn't happy and cried quite a bit, and she was glad when his mother decided to keep him back and put him in a smaller and slower class.

 the dutch cheat sheet . . (the class for this week was mainly dutch children).

 she thought the children did remarkably well, considering how long they were out for. she certainly was always ready for a hot chocolate at the end of the day while waiting for the bus home.

österreich and happy germans!

 tirol has had lots of snow which is great for skiing, and i think morgana has been on the slopes every day this past week.

 she needs to retake her ski test, which will happen in april. until then, she keeps practicing!

 it's looking very busy . .

tired . . after a full day of skiing.

 a view of the alps out the bedroom window . . 

and celebrating a birthday.

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 on another note, chanda and i stayed up late last night watching the pairs figure skating. a dance teacher from whom she took a class with in london had his twin brother skating, so we were especially looking out for him. they are all so very good that you want them all to win, but we were happy with the final winners this year. sometimes the one who wins is not my favorite, but this year the german team of aljona savchenko and bruno massot won and they definitely were a favorite! they skated to la terre vue du ciel by armand amar, with choreography by christopher dean. it was beautiful.

above is a pic from the german team's instagram page. its' amazing how the men throw the women so high in the air. we also loved the italian team of valentina marchei and ondrej hotarek who skated to amarcord by nino rota and i was amazed how he lifted her and spun her around without her holding onto him at all. i was really hoping they could get a medal but everyone is so good that they ended up in seventh place. they skated cleaner than any of the other pairs, but i guess their jumps weren't as difficult. chanda's dance teacher's brother landed in sixteenth place with his partner and they were happy to be included in the final free skate (ruben blommaert and anna hoeke).

click here to view aljona savchenko and bruno massot's 2018 olympic pairs free skate program.

victory skate . .

team selfie pic . .

and here are valentina marchei and ondrej hotarek from italy (same program, but from a different competition):

back in the alps

morgana sent a few photos from austria. it's looking as beautiful as ever and i love this one of dear lara.

 back on the slopes!

leon in his new nyc t-shirt. she brought back nine shirts for family and friends (she purchased them here in chinatown for $7.50 each . . something like that . . it was a good deal and she did well bargaining).

 practicing jumps . . 

 ylvie in her new ballet leotard . .

 all set to dance!

on the slopes . .

 morgana's acting school is on hiatus as it's having a little bit of financial trouble (interesting?! ay yi yi!), so she is currently studying to be a ski instructor.

 today is her third day out on the slopes, and she seems to be enjoying it immensely. i'm sure she's sleeping well at night after all the fresh air and physical activity.

 the cafe on the mountain where she eats lunch.

 in the auditorium for theory class where she says there are students from many countries. they split up for lessons on the slopes, but are together for theory.

hmmm, i hope she's remembering to use sunscreen.

sunset . .

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(i finally posted about her visit in cornwall during the summer with my cousin here.)

tyrol

 morgana has been skiing in austria. here are several of the pics she sent us.

this is a kindergarten skiing class she took with her little kindergarten friend, lotta. those austrian kindergarteners are very good skiiers!

it looks so beautiful and i think she's having a lot of fun. next week she'll start her french language course in paris.

i think she'll miss the alps . . but paris will certainly be wonderful.