How often will I post to this blog? Dunno. Hopefully often enough that the casual reader will find it passingly interesting, but not so frequently as to make it simply a log of my daily events. If at some point this starts to sound like "Dear Diary" I'm hoping someone will call me up on it. If any of my grown children follow this blog they will be certain to let me know.
I expect to share more than a few photos of the Canaan Valley area as is very picturesque and often carry a camera as I wander through it. So stay tuned for some of these to start showing up soon.
Presently I am spending a good bit of my time as a ski instructor at a local ski area. I teach kids 4 to 12 years of age to ski. Most days are relaxing and enjoyable. Then there are days like today. I was assigned 5 kids - all age 9 - none of which had ever skied before. Four boys (2 Sams, a Nick, and a Riley) and one girl (Madison). After checking their equipment we tromped out to the practice hill known as The Garden.
The Garden consists of a very gentle slope which new skiers are encourage to climb and slide down learning to both balance and stop. Of course, most of what is learned in The Garden is how to get back up after falling down. My crew quickly took on the appearance of collection of marionettes being manipulated by a drunken puppeteer with every so often a string breaking causing one of them to crash to the ground in a heap. After 90 minutes in The Garden (a more apt name might be Dante's Inferno) we were all worn out and retreated back inside for drinks (sadly in my case this was limited to hot chocolate, lemonade, or water). After another (thankfully briefer) round in The Garden I decided 3 were ready to ride the lift and attempt the Bunny Hill, but first we had have lunch.
During lunch I learned that I was being assigned another boy who, as his instructor succinctly put it, "Isn't getting it." Great! Three steps forward and one step back. Back to The Garden, but this time with a wonderful young lady instructor to assist me. I soon departed The Garden with my top 3 students leaving my assistant to deal with the others. Within an hour or so I had all 3 negotiating the Bunny Hill. Checking back with my assistant she assured me all but maybe one (the not getting it kid) were probably ready for the lift so off I was to the Bunny Hill with my original 4 boys and 1 girl. We soon became the scourge of the slope.
The first 3 boys had quickly bonded and developed the skill to bomb down the slope carving dangerously close any adult attempting to negotiate the hill. The new pair (the remaining boy and girl) stayed a bit closer to me, but soon the added boy joined the other 3 and contributed to the ensuing mayhem. Madison became my close companion and repeated each admonishment I tossed towards the boys to slow down, make turns, and wait for me. In a flash of brilliance I developed a solution. "Okay, here's the deal. If you guys stay behind me all the way down the hill AND manage to not fall you can pelt me with snowballs when we get back up to the top." The little buggers magically transformed into the best skiers on the hill completing 3 trips down without falling, carefully following in my tracks, and being careful to not run into each other so as to cause a fall. Brilliant!
