more snow, more rain, deep cold, unusual warm, dead calm, extreme wind...a new england winter!

no lie, it has been a roller coaster ride of a winter. while i am not holding my breath, i am hoping for one more good snow storm--hey it's only halfway through march!

since i last posted at the start of february, i have had all kinds of adventures, solo, with pam, with friends, with former MOC students, on snow, on ice, in frigid cold, in downright balmy sunshine, and just today, a wicked west wind. this past week has seen temps swing from below zero, to above fifty, to back into single numbers. three days of warm and sunny, laid all the shovels down again that had been standing for weeks after a couple of good snows in february and a heavy-wet~ish one in march.

some highlights: skiing cardigan 3 or 4 times, once from the chute at dawn after 6 inches of fresh fluff; sledding the same route at least three times, once in powder with olivia; a late afternoon--with a finish in the dark--ski up south peak on moose mtn with justin and olivia; skiing over at the shaker wildlife management area a good number of times solo and once with skip where we met up with dick on a second run; at least a dozen runs up and down town hill in some sweet fresh snows, once with susan and pam; dozens of trips around pam's loop, a couple of them with pam joining me on skis; some stunning sunsets from a number of views; hiking cardigan for more views, one at sunset; socially spaced, outdoor meetup for hot cider and a bernie pose...

looking up, a socked in summit on cardigan, and down the chute, a tiny patch of early light in the valley.

olivia gearing up for a morning sled run on cardigan and then an evening run with justin over on moose mountain.

skip ready to point them down over at the swma and susan's and my ski tracks and pam's snowshoes up on townhill.

the truck, mid trail up on the east side of town hill with the second shot taken out of the windshield.

pam skiing the loop up by where she took this wonderful sunset shot--red at night skiers' delight!

atop cardigan at sunset and with hannah, pam, karen, and bill for hot cider on a cold afternoon.

a snow-bernie inspiration and another sunset out over the garden and moose mtn...

today, i took the opportunity of a frozen track to hike up town hill to the wolf pine at the height of land. my goal was to climb as high as possible--a la a younger sawyer--and tie a white flag to a branch. if we remember to take binoculars with us next time we hike south peak on moose mtn, i was thinking we could get a bead on it. 

you can't really see it up the tall pine in the center, but trust me, it's there. the tree has three rather large trunks and since the two on the left had so many live branches, i took the one to the right with not so much green to obstruct a small white flag. it's not quite so high, but it's more open to the west. the wind was moving the main trunks a good 10 feet, from east to west, so i was distracted and forgot to take a picture until i remembered, halfway back toward earth. it was still a grand view.

it was a good end to the week. and much different from the ~20 mile bike ride i took on friday on the newly refurbished nishiki. dick, cory, josh, and i transformed a classic '84 japanese steel touring bike into a modern one. i am looking forward to taking it for a few rides in this year's version--my 3rd go--of #30daysofbiking in april. it's not necessarily the most suitable time to ride in new england, but always interesting when you're outside and playing.