More Skiing
Spectacular weather on the heels of the great snowfall last week, made for one terrific skiing birthday party at Dodge Ridge. Everyone was in high spirits, eager and cooperative, which made equipping 7 Tippett kids and a Harrelson a quick and easy task.
The four younger boys –Athan, Leon, Aliou and cousin Kyle– took a 2-hour lesson in the morning which made them ALL ski-worthy in no time. Meanwhile, Michael skied first with Mary Autumn and then with his older children–August, Anna Mae, and Gianna as well as some of the Little Red Schoolhouse contingency who were on the hill yesterday. Back at the lodge, JL, Cindy, and I got the birthday party ready on the deck in the beautiful sunshine. Clare poked around entertaining folks who were coming and going with a congenial “Hi!” Cindy snapped pictures of anyone we spotted skiing on nearby hills using her long range lens.
Soon a bunch of hungry kids started trickling in. Once they were fed, we sang happy birthday to first Leon and then Aliou, who wore their birthday crowns with pride and clearly enjoyed having a ski trip birthday.
Papa and August were tardy to the party, but just in time for Mama to don Papa’s ski pants and equipment and take off skiing with the children who were rushing from the deck party to get back on the slopes. Once suited up, JL headed for the rope tow and then skied across to Chair 2 with Athan and the rest of boys. A fifteen year lapse since she last skied had not cramped her style one bit. She shushed right into the swing of things. After a zig-zagging decent down Chair 2 with Athan, she met August and Anna Mae in line at Chair 3 with Leon and Aliou following and begging to go to. “Sure,” she said and soon half of the Tippett family was settled in swinging chairs to climb the face of the mountain. We didn’t see them again for over an hour. (If you click on the pictures below, you can see JL and Athan crossing the hill, and five Tippetts in two chairs–Mae & Aliou in the 1st chair, JL, August, & Leon in the 2nd.)
This prefect mid-week ski excursion and the ease with which my daughter took to the slopes made me think I could ski again. Uncle John, are you there? Can you get Dearma back on the hill?
When I volunteered to drive Huck and Nell to the Oakland airport, I allowed myself plenty of time to get there for the 1:30 pm check-in. After dropping a work project off at the Junction, I made my way up Phoenix Lake Road, driving first through rain, then sleet, and finally softly falling snowflakes. My Subaru negotiated Belleview Road fine. Culley loaded the kids and their baggage in the car, and we were on our way before 9am
Huck and Nell are veteran travelers and great in the car. They took turns listening to stories on the iPod. Huck skillfully set up the story that Nell wanted to hear when it was her turn. The child who was not listening chatted with me. We got to Tracy where we made a pit stop. We all used the rest room and stretched our legs before getting back in the car for the last leg of the journey. It was 10:30.
As we came down off the Altamont Pass, traffic slowed to a crawl and then to a complete standstill. About that time, I got a text from Andrea, saying she was on BART after taxiing around SFO for an hour, but she was sure she would be in Oakland on time. I texted back that we were stuck in traffic in Livermore.
Forty-five minutes later, we had gone less than a mile, so I called Cindy and asked her to see if she could find out what was going on. Using the Internet, she discovered that a big rig had overturned near Livermore, effectively closing all four lanes. The advice was to take an alternate route. But how could I do that when there weren’t any off ramps and I was surrounded by green hills where cows were peacefully grazing oblivious to my plight? Every time one of the lanes started moving, Nell suggested, “Why don’t you get in that line, Dearma?” The kids made a game of shouting at the trucks and cars to get moving, and though it didn’t work, it was entertaining.
At 1pm, we finally crawled past the scattered debris from the big rig, plus a burnt out hull of a van and gathered speed. It was raining pretty hard and I needed a rest-room again, but time was of the essence. I drove fast (for me). By the time I hit 880, it was imperative that I stop for a bathroom. I took the first exit, saying, “I have to go to the bathroom. I’m feeling sick!”
“How can you get sick because you have to go to the bathroom?” asked Huck.
Good question! But my legs were trembling violently and I had a raging headache. I was sick! Maybe toxins were leaking back into my blood stream from my kidneys. I don’t know. I just had to get to a bathroom. “Look for a restroom, you guys,” I said.
“Try that dress shop, Dearma,” said Huck. I pulled into a parking place and waddled into the store, but the clerk was immune to my desperation and directed me across the shopping center parking lot to a Starbucks.
When I got back in the car, Huck said, “That’s weird. People always have bathrooms where they work.”
At Starbucks, I begged to go in front of a woman who just going into the bathroom, and she graciously let me. While I was relieving my bladder, Andrea called. I told her what was happening and said I thought I was close to the Airport. I left the bathroom still buttoning my pants and ran for the car on firm legs, the headache GONE!
“Now I have to get back on the freeway,” I said as I started the car.
“It’s that way,” said Huck helpfully, pointing back the way we’d come.
I could only turn right out of the parking lot, which was the wrong way, so I immediately flipped a U-turn around a cement divider and sailed into a left turn lane squeaking through the signal as it turned red.
“Now you have to go that way,” said Nell pointing right. She knew what she was talking about because a half block later there was a sign for the on-ramp to the freeway. I thought the Airport exit was coming up, but I had not seen any signs yet. Then suddenly there it was: “Oakland International Airport-1 mile.”
“Put all your stuff in your bags, kids,” I directed. “And grab your coats. When we get there, Mommy is going to get you out and you will have to run to catch the plane.”
I drove the Airport ingress road at 70 miles an hour through the pouring rain, scanning signs for Terminal 1- United. “Look for your mommy,” I shouted.
“There she is,” yelled Huck!
I pulled over and leaped out to get the luggage from the back as Andrea got the kids. “Can you wait and see if we make it?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said as they disappeared through the door, Nell running as fast as she could while hiking up her drooping jeans.
That’s when I remembered that the kids’ passports were in my coat pocket. I yanked on the passenger door. Locked! I ran around to the driver’s side, reached across and pulled them from my coat and ran after Andrea, leaving the car running, lights on and windshield wipers slapping. I could see her half way up the sloping runway on her way to the security station. I yelled, “Andrea! Andrea!” She heard me on the second call, and I waved the passports. We ran toward each other. I passed them off and then turned and ran back to my car, where a green and black vested parking Nazi stood frowning at my car. I got in, my heart pounding and breath ragged, and pulled away as the attendant honked her obnoxious horn at me.
I drove the departure circle 3 times at a leisurely pace, scanning the United door each time I passed. As I came around the fourth time, my phone chimed. “We made it!” read the text message.
A big smile! I moved over to the freeway access lanes, and as I left the airport, a second chime came through. “Thanks, Mom!” wrote Culley.
Can I just say that Huck and Nell are simply amazing: cooperative, patient, helpful, and smart. I will always have plenty of time for them.
Two power failures in as many days. The second of two storms rushing in over New Melones Reservoir and two more forecast as coming this way. Radio says this is the most rain in a one week period since 2005.
A ski trip planned for 4 grand-kids canceled due to high winds at Dodge Ridge. Hail so big and intense we thought the metal awnings would be scarred for life. Two cats, who are totally insane whenever it rains, giving us all kinds of grief. A rush of water pouring in over the kitchen window, causing paint to pucker and sag.
But we are nevertheless grateful to get a good deal of water on our parched state and some beautiful photographs on Cindy’s camera.
After watching Andrea knit several gifts for people, including cute little socks for Juniper, I was inspired to learn to knit. I inquired about classes at the local yarn shop, By Hand Yarn, and learned that an ultra beginner class was being offered the second Saturday in January. After writing “Learn to Knit” on my 2010 goals, I emailed Anna Mae to see if she wanted to go with me. I hate going new places by myself and knew that Anna Mae is generally eager to try anything new, so I thought she would make a good companion. She emailed back in a matter of minutes, saying, “Yes!” So I signed us up.
We got there more than an half hour early, and it was a good thing because the teacher said it was the largest beginner class she had ever taught. I guess others made learning to knit a new year’s resolution too. Our teacher Candice helped us select yarn and needles. We took our seats at the table, and she cast on the first row for us and then quickly showed us how to do the basic knit stitch. By the time other members of the class arrived, we were already knitting a second row.
Anna Mae zoomed along, knitting a loose relaxed stitch and chatting with the other women at our table. Meanwhile, I sat in deep concentration knitting tight, uniformed stitches that I counted at the end of each row to ensure that I still had the requisite 25 stitches. The teacher stopped by periodically to offer encouragement and suggestions. By the end of class, we were both immensely satisfied with our progress and envisioning future projects. I saw myself making 30 or 40 scarves, and Anna Mae was already in the throes of designing knit dresses for Clare and herself.
Time will tell how we do, but I can happily report that I sat knitting before bed last night, while my tea steeped this morning, and also later in the car when I got to meditation before the hall was unlocked. I’m making headway with my little scarf and getting a tad bit more relaxed with my stitch. Maybe someday I’ll look and feel the part of a knitting grandmother
Getting back to homeschool this week after the seasonal break underscored the simple pleasures in this occupation. How many grandmother/tutors have the privilege of enjoying:
- a seven-year-old gnawing a chicken leg at second breakfast while doing phonogram drills?
- the burgeoning vocabulary of 18-month-old, sitting happily at the schoolroom table repeating sounds and words from her older brother’s phonics lesson as she marks a paper with her pencil?
- a fashion show– in between geography and Latin lessons–of the new clothes a grand-daughter acquired at Plato’s over the weekend?
- the song of parakeets joining the conversations and questions regarding various and disparate lessons: “Dearma, how do you make an uppercase cursive K?” “Dearma, do you know about librevox?” “Dearma, remember those maze books you used to bring?” “Dearma, what am I supposed to do here? Translate the Latin to English or change the person?”
- the Ah Ha of a child who suddenly sees/hears the relationship between 2 sounds?
- the careful and deliberate penmanship of a 4th grader mastering cursive?
- a phone call from a 9th grader making a date for help with a research paper?
- that same 9th grader remembering the Citation Machine used in a previous lesson, more than year before, to construct a bibliography?
. . . all of this against a constant backdrop of joyful noise: children clamoring to tell about a recent event in their lives.
My life’s work has been entrenched in the laboratory of learning and homeschool is a glorious opportunity to continue doing something I love.
The books I read in 2009 were varied, leaving me quite satisfied about that aspect of the year.
I got an iPod for Christmas 2008, so I was able to listen to a lot of audiobooks, though I had a weird spell starting in August when I repeatedly rejected my audiobook choices. Later, I returned to 2 of 5 of these books and found them quite agreeable. In the interim, I dove into my fallback escape genre–mystery–swallowing whole a number of these by Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cornwall, and P.D. James. Then I listened to The Thirteenth Tale read by Bianca Amato, and I was back in the throes of audiobooks. But wait, I get ahead of myself. The year started with some wonderful non-fiction, many in the spiritual vein, and I also read some great poetry this year.
Of all that I read in 2009, here are some that I recommend to others:
The Barn at the End of the World by Mary Rose O’Reilly
A Love of Impermanent Things by Mary Rose O’Reilly
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Standing in the Light: My Life as a Pantheist by Sharman Apt Russell
Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodron
The Life of Pi by Tann Martel
Interpretive Work by Elizabeth Bradstreet
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon and the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weber
Jewel by Brett Lott
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
So Far from God by Ana Castillo
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer
Into the Wild by John Krakauer
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larrson
Dog Years by Mark Doty
The Sister by Poppy Adams
The Thirteen Tale by Diane Setterfield
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Neffenegger
A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
Stopping on the Edge to Wave by James Baker Hall
See How we Almost Fly by Alison Luterman
The Human Line by Ellen Bass
Mules of Love by Ellen Bass
As you can see, many of these books were published years ago, and I’m just getting to them. I’m so glad that I did, especially Ana Castillo, Jon Krakauer, and Neil Gaiman. I read without direction last year and the result was not bad.
This year, however, I’ve decided to be more purposeful. I’ve made 4 lists of books that I intend to read from:
- 10 books already on my shelves
- 10 books of poetry
- 5 classics I haven’t yet read
- 10 books I will re-read
Next time I’ll post these lists. In the meantime, let me know a few of your favorite reads from 2009.
We interrupted our routine at Wallys to go hopping. At least that’s what Cindy called it. First, we hopped among stores: trying on clothes at Marshalls, purusing the Dollar Store, choosing new shower curtain and towels at Bed, Bath & Beyond for the bathroom Becky is painting while we are gone; and going to Penney’s which carries our favorite underwear brand (since the closing of Mervyns and Gottschalks at home, we had been able to replace the ratty things accumulating in our drawers).
Then we went for a late lunch at Applebee’s. From there we hopped to the movie theater for an early show: Invictus. The last time we came to Wally’s, we saw Morgan Freeman in The Bucket List. We were happy to see him again this time. He made a superb Nelson Mandella. The movie was wonderful in weepy, happy kind of way.
Then we hopped back the Applebees for dessert. Chocolate Lava Cake! Our FAVE!! While we were there we decided to go back to the theater to see The Blind Side. It was a cute movie with a parallel theme to Invictus and also based on a true story.
On the way back to Wally’s, we talked about how popular true stories are in the movies these days, just like non-fiction books and I guess reality TV. We also realized it was the first time either of us had done a double feature at the theater in a VERY long time.
Vacations offer lots of room for spontaneous hopping from place to place. FUN for sure!
The next day it starts all over.
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