Absurd Ski Season!

    Here it is late December and not a snow flake on the ground in my yard!  A series of rainy days possibly continuing through the rest of the week.  My hopes for a magnificent ski season are being dashed.  An unbelievable weather pattern.  It struck me hard this morning as I took the garbage out and saw earthworms crawling on my driveway!  That is a the kind of scene I would normally see as spring approaches in late March.  See photo!

    As you might expect I am feeling severe withdrawal  from my normal routine of heading for the slopes each morning for my daily fix.    When you are a geezer, you recognize your  days on earth are numbered and you don't want to miss the joy of skiing as long as you can.  Perhaps all the gloom in my attitude comes from mourning the recent loss of one of our geezer skiers.   

    On the brighter side, I still have hopes January will bring a change in the weather pattern and some cold weather at least for making snow.  Unfortunately I heard this morning that 2023 will go down as the warmest earth in thousands of years!  Meanwhile, I will maybe write more of this blog, brush up on my piano skills to be able to duet with my grandson, and complete all the chores I probably should be doing at home.  No problem keeping busy next week since I have multiple body maintenance appointments with my doctors.   They don't call us Tough Old Geezer Skiers without a reason.  

And Happy New Year all.   My cup of life is still full and running over!

Valiant Earthworm on My Driveway

December 28, 2023

Encouragement

    As I was coming back from putting the garbage out this morning I was blessed with a low flying flight of geese highlighted against a beautiful blue sky. They were in a ragged vee formation and the morning was filled with sound of their honking.   I understand that geese honk to encourage each other and the formation reduces air drag on the followers of the leaders.  Also  I think the leaders fall back as they tire and new leaders take their place.  What a wonderful example of group cooperation and encouragement.

    From this observation, I am led to thinking about the encouragement I have had from family, friends and groups that I have associated with.  In a few moments I will be going to our Greek Peak Geezer Skiers more or less monthly lunch.  Our group is quite informal, but somehow the task of initiating our lunch outings has fallen to me.   I do not mind the task but recognize the time will come to pass the baton to the next leader.  Meanwhile, I am happy to be the de facto leader since the group has continued to encourage me.   

    With the new ski season essentially upon us, I happy to say my wife, friends and geezer associate are encouraging me to keep at it.  As always in my later senior years, I have some trepidation that I still have the skills to continue an activity that has been so much of my life since I retired.  Okay.  As long as I can do it I'll be hitting the slopes. Maybe I need a honker buddy by my side to show me the way.

Sun and Shadows

     I did my morning exercising a little earlier today.   Looking out the windows of the sun room I was treated to a remarkably beautiful scene of sun and shadows.  The stark demarcation between sun bathing the neighbors house and lawn accentuated the contrast between the sun and shadows in a way that underlined the differences.  In a sense it could be related to the metaphorical sun and shadows of our lives and existence. 

      Without the shadows I think we would not fully appreciate the good things that come to us.   Going through the shadow times of difficulties and then breaking through to the better times can make us fully appreciative of the wonders of the world and our existence.   

     My wife, an ordained pastor in her retirement continues to preach in a couple of churches in the area on a regular basis.  Today's sermon was titled Rejection.   Bear with me now.  I want to tie the sermon message to the contrast between sun and shadow.  The gist of her sermon was to demonstrate that beyond rejection by family or society or circumstances there is redemption.  One can come out these setbacks and find gratifying acceptance of ones self, and for the faithful the bright light of God's love will bring contentment and hope to their lives.

    Beyond the thoughts above, I am reminded of the experiences on the ski slopes on a sunny day when there are a sharp contrasts between the brightly lit snow and the shadows and shapes among the trees.   The patterns of shadows are things of beauty in their own right.  It often inspires me to meditate on the incredible complexity of the evolution of the earth.

Seven Windows!

     During my morning exercise  in my recumbent bike in our sun room,  I was struck by the panorama of the beautiful Autumn morning  framed by the seven bare windows!  Notably, we are in the process of preparing the room for the painters.   All the blinds and curtains are down so there is a new perspective of the neighborhood.  Perhaps this is reminder that change is good.   It changes your view of things and makes you appreciate things that may be partially obscured by veils of one kind or another.

    This leads me to think about other types of veils occurring as we live our lives.   Perhaps we develop cobwebs of thinking in our brain that prevent us from appreciating other viewpoints.  Sometimes in problem solving we let past procedures dominate our attempts to reach a conclusion.   I am a dedicated crossword fanatic.  Often, however, I come up to a brick wall with some of the difficult level puzzles.  Frequently the solution will only come after backing away to refresh new pathways to the answers. 

    Lastly, I am beginning to contemplate the beginning of a new ski season in a couple of months or so.   Will I approach this new season with different perspective?  I have to confess that I am recognizing my physical abilities are suffering decline from aging.   Perhaps the hours on the slope will be shorter and the coffee breaks will be longer.  Also  I regret that more and more of my geezer friends are exiting in one way or another. 

    Returning to the metaphor of the blazing light of bare windows, maybe this is a wake-up call to honor those leaving the Geezer group.  It is also a good reminder to welcome new associates.   

    Finally, who knows what may trigger the above muses on this blog?

Happy Birthday Social Security!

     Today 88 years ago in 1935, the Social Security act was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Coincidentally 1935 is the year of my birth.  Fortunately for my parents, they were able to retire with dignity by the time they reached 65.    I, too, am grateful for this act since Social Security now supplements my income from other retirements awards and allows me and my wife to live comfortably into my late eighties and hopefully for a few more years as well.   

As a reminder, our contributions over the years to this fund is part of the social contract, where we are sharing in the responsibility for our well being as a partner with our government.  I am thankful that a stable government honoring the needs of our people gives us a security we would not otherwise have.

    I'll bet many geezer skiers will join me in congratulating the visionaries that enabled elevating people of this country from the curse of poverty in old age.   And for some, maybe the Social Security income finances their season pass!

Life Well Lived

    A couple of days ago I happened upon the following quote from the author Andre Dubus.   "We don't have to live great lives, we just have to understand and survive the ones we've got."

    It struck me that there is a lot of wisdom in this quote.    This comes from a writer who suffered many tragedies in his life but still soldiered on in spite of the setbacks.  I think that most of us at one time or another, or even continually,  want to live great lives.   Often our hope is to achieve at levels that exceed our contemporaries.  We want to be known for greatness that will stand the test of time.  

     However, life has a way of throwing us curves.  Author Dubus had a daughter who was raped and caused him to continually fear for the safety of his loved ones.   He was also tragically injured in an auto accident which crushed both legs.  Ultimately he suffered amputation of one of his legs.    I am sure he continually struggled to understand these events.   And so it is for all of us.   We encounter the good and the bad.   Beyond that, we survive and deal with our fate, whatever  it may be,  and hopefully we live a good life in harmony with our family, our friends, and our society.  In spite of it all, I am personally happy to say I find joy in  many things that far outweighs the unexpected events of life.

    As a note from a geezer skier, I am grateful that I can anticipate another ski season with my long time companions.   I am not a great skier but I am happy with what skills I have.

Reflections on Rituals

    Almost every day I following the same morning ritual of rising at a particular time followed by a standard breakfast of toast and two cups of hot water.  Later in the morning around nine o'clock I am on my recumbent bike in our sun room,  for an hour of moderate exercise.  I have a panoramic view through the many windows of the street past our home.  The view gives me an observation post regarding the activities of my neighbors.  Just as I am into a routine, I notice that several of my neighbors are faithful with their morning exercise.   

    My view gives me a window on ritual practices by my neighbors.  I can almost set my watch by one lady who enhances her walk by swinging the weights she has in each hand.   She walks clockwise around our block.  Another  neighbor in his walk rotates the block in the opposite direction.  While this is going on eventually I see the neighbor in the residence across the street raise his garage door for an apparent ritual morning excursion.   Obviously, we humans, often become ritualistic creatures of habit.

    Beyond these morning rituals I have observed there are the dog walkers.   One woman walks her dog multiple times around the block until he becomes tired and then she continues solo for a few more turns.   Another gentleman has a very senior dog!  Their pace is painfully slow.  I am not sure how long their ritual dog walk will last, but I will be watching what happens.  

    Probably many people observe me and notice my rituals.  I am alright with that.  Thank God that with my advanced years I am both comfortable with my rituals of daily life and occasionally willing to break out of the routine if necessary.  Visitations by family and to family have a way of changing my rituals.  I tolerate that for a time but I am happy to return to my order of the day.   I am not one to continually live in chaos.   Perhaps that comes from a German ancestry that adheres to the statement:  Alles ist in Ordnung.   

Surprising Legacies

     I started my academic career with an appointment to the faculty of Agricultural Engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University in 1958. As you might expect I am well into geezer territory. I can't quantify the number of students I taught in a nearly 40 year career. I guess it might be in the thousands, especially since I taught large introductory courses for at least 10 years.  Last night I had the opportunity to present a talk on the evolution of tower silos related to transitions in the dairy industry in Cortland County, New York, my current area of residence.   The talk was promoted by a local historical society centered in McClean, New York.  The audience was an eclectic mix of local residents with deep agricultural roots plus others simply interested in local history.   Ultimately an expanded version of my talk will be an archived publication with the Cortland County Historical Society.  I guess that will remain as a part of my legacy.

    At the above mentioned event another form of my legacy came from a member of the audience. Believe it or not, in the audience was an 82 year old former student.  It was a delightful surprise!   I was overwhelmed by his warm regard for the course he took with me way back 64 years ago. What a heartwarming experience to hear how valuable the course was as he went on to be an extremely successful dairy farmer, now retired form the rigors of a huge dairy which as a legacy he has passed on to his son.  Beyond the wonderful exchange with him was good wishes relayed to me by another member of the audience from another former student whom I advised during his studies at Cornell.

    As a teacher, one doesn't always understand the impact you can have during your teaching career.  Many of your students go off into the world and you never get feedback.  However, every so often there comes and encounter or communication that brings great satisfaction that your efforts as a teacher are not in vain.  It is nice to bask in the successes and remember at the same time to be humble because there are always some students you failed to reach regardless of how hard you tried.

    

Connections

     It seems that the geezer years bring into your life long past connections that you have not thought about for years.  Sometimes these connections can bring pleasant things and other times they can be sad events evoking a variety of emotions.

    A few days ago I ran across an obituary of a long forgotten acquaintance who had moved from my area of residence many years ago.   He was a star in his field of endeavor and had a glorious career at Cornell.  I met him in the 1950's when he was a new Assistant Professor on the fast track.  I followed the stories of his career for a long time but over the last 10 years or so had no interaction.  He had the good fortune to keep going to nearly 96 years of age.  I guess all good things come to an end.   But it was still sad to read about his demise.

    Yesterday, I met with a friend from the time we were both studying agricultural engineering at Cornell 1953 to 1957.  He graduated in 1956 and I was the class of 1957.  I hadn't seen him face to face since 1957.  We went our separate ways and really never had a chance to meet in all those years.  It was remarkable that we still had a lot of things to share about the intervening years.  We both had both triumphs and tragedies to share as we did some catching up.  I guess it was a pleasure but reminiscing has its limits.  After an hour of listening to his companion,  I was ready to move on!

    Continuing in the vein of connection, there is the work of mathematician Steve Strogatz and his Ph.D. student who pioneered theories of degrees of separation of people or perhaps the degrees of connection.   Apparently we all are about five degrees of separation from all the people on the planet.  I can believe that when I get friend requests on FaceBook.  When I explore those requests and examine the mutual friends I can see how the chain will spin out if I  accept those requests.   

    In summary there has to be a lesson here.   We do not live in isolation. We are a connected species and it behooves us to be kind to one another.  Perhaps we can find hope in humankind if we can believe that the kindness we extend even to the stranger can spread throughout the world!

Cycle of Life

     Friday I attended the graduation of grandson Cole from RIT.   A delight to see this young man launched into the world with a good education and opportunities galore.  Delighted that he already has a great job with a company building components for the next space telescope.  A wonderful opportunity to contribute to exploration of the universe and perhaps a metaphor for the explorations he will do in his life.   Sixty six years ago when I graduated in 1957 from Cornell University we were in the early stages of the space age.  Sputnik had not yet been launched but was soon to enter the scene to spur the competitive spirits of USA and USSR.

    So it is with the generations in the cycle of life.   We accomplish milestones in our cycle of life that keeps repeating itself century by century.   I can only speculate what the next 66 years might bring for Cole.   Just as my life has had  ups and downs, I am sure he will have both successes and failures.   However, whatever happens he will be a participant in the cycle of life contributing his piece to humankind's survival and progress.  The world turns and we make our mark in it in our own way.  Let's hope we end up contributing to the greater good.  

What to Keep?

     Now that ski season is over, I am spending more time at my Cornell office dealing with archiving papers accumulated from 1958 to present, during my active and emeritus years as an academic.  I think it must be a built in characteristic of humans to save items that are meaningful (or maybe not) in our lives. The items we accumulate can have both physical implications as well as relational aspects.   The physical and the relational usually become intertwined in intricate ways.

    In the ski world, I have found it hard to dispose of obsolete skis that I used for many years.  These antiques have memories embedded in their structures.  However, in the last few years I have taken the bold step to pare down to one pair of skis!  This fits with the minimalist life style my wife and I try to maintain.  If it hasn't been used for a long time, it is appropriate to pass it on to someone who might have a use for it.  I notice that as time passes stuff does build up in spite of our zealous disposal lifestyle.   Decisions in this realm area are easier than in the relational element.

    Here is a thought about sentimental items in the realm of correspondence   involving our human relationships.  How many old greeting cards should one keep?   If you have what my family calls an appreciation file, do you really have to keep everything or is just a sample sufficient?  

    Now I will go  back to the office files I already mentioned.   I had not reviewed my saved correspondence with a multitude of contacts over about 62 plus years!  As I began to go through the files I was led down innumerable memory paths!   The reminders in the files ranged all over the place.   There were numerous notes from former students that warmed my heart to hear of their joys, successes and sometimes troubles.  Significant milestones were highlighted in the saved papers.   Some of the predictions of future events jumped out to me with the realization that many of them had come true.   The question then arose- were they significant enough to preserve for history?  I could go on at length in this vein but will not.   My concluding point is that all of us one time or another have to decide what to keep and what to throw away.   There is even a biblical admonition about this in Ecclesiastes.  There are times to gather and times to throw away.  We need the wisdom of Solomon to know the difference.

Dregs of the Ski Season

       Here we are past the middle of April and bits of snow keep hanging around at some many ski areas in the east.  I still receive multiple postings on Facebook of adventures still being had on the slopes.  Corn snow is the surface and many a fine run can be achieved.   In Utah my son, granddaughter and daughter-in-law just posted some awesome pictures of skiing at Alta and Snowbasin!    Days in the sun slicing through great corn snow!  How long is this transition going to last?  Who knows?

    Although the dregs of the season are still out there to tempt many folks to keep going on the slopes, I have made the transition to summer/spring activities  Even mowed the lawn this past Sunday.   Recently took my first E-bike ride of the season and I am contemplating getting on the tennis court as soon as some warm weather returns.  My data base for my skiing activities has been brought up to date and is filed away.  Although skiing can dominate my thinking during the season, when it is over I find myself ready for other adventures.   

    Time to plan some hiking trips and perhaps some new travel.

     

Birthday Musings

    Today I am celebrating my 88th birthday.   Truly I qualify as a geezer by some measurements and certainly can embrace identification as a Tough Old Geezer Skier at the end of the 2022-23 season.  Thankfully, I have more or less enjoyed 74 days on the slopes enduring a variety of conditions from Bluebird Days to entirely miserable rainy and sleety days as well.  

    I am glowing from a plethora of well wishes form friends and family in multiple forms including US Mail, texting, phone calls and Facebooks postings.  You can forget about Twitter in my universe.  I am at my limit of apps for connection.

    I am musing about my generation in relation to the changes in our society as the decades have progressed.  The most recent shooting in a Kentucky bank shakes me to the core.  It seems our country has gone off the rails regarding compassion and civility for our human companions.  I grew up in a hunting culture!  We didn't need assault weapons to hunt squirrels, rabbits and pheasant.   We didn't need to be armed to go to the store or visit with our neighbors.  In my universe a sidearm was totally unnecessary.   When will this current idiocy end?   When my grandchildren and great grandchildren turn 88 will there be a country that honors human life to the extent it will curb the instincts to destroy?  

    On a more positive note even though I see the deterioration in civility in society, I still see signs of hope.  Each day can be an opportunity to serve.  The support one gets from a whole spectrum of acquaintances, friends and family on a birthday is heartwarming.  Rather than lamenting the decline of good manners I find comfort in living each day to fullest and strive to be a positive force wherever I am.

 

Legendary Figures

     Legendary figures do not always come in the form of famous people.  Many of our friends and neighbors need to be honored as legendary figures as well.  Today I was jolted by seeing the death notice of one of my long time ski partners and friend.  Even though he was into his early nineties, it was a blow to note his passing.  

    Allen Bushnell was a brilliant man.  He became a noted designer and taught at Cornell University for many years.  He could design and make jewelry, do water colors and create interior designs for senior living as well as suggest pedestrian communities.  

    I had the pleasure and challenge of being a friend and companion after he retired and became a member of our Tough Old Geezer Skiers group at Greek Peak Mountain Resort.   Allen was a World War II veteran having served in the United States Navy.  He was just a youngster at the time of his service.  His artistic talent was recognized by a superior officer and ended up giving him an opportunity in his duties to create art to be painted on some ship items.

    Allen was a Ski jumper in the days when you packed your own hill and jumped out onto a frozen lake.  His tales of crashes and successes in this endeavor were thrilling and disturbing.

    Up until a few years ago Allen was a regular on the ski slope at Greek Peak.  He was an accomplished and aggressive skiers up to almost the end of his active days.  Regrettably as he approached his nineties balance became an issue and I can remember a few times in those latter days I was able to assist him recovering from a fall.

Although he has not been skiing for these last few years, all of us in the geezer crowd will not forget his presence.   I mourn his passing as I am sure many others of our group and certainly his family will do likewise.

God bless you my dear friend.  It was quite a ride and may you have eternally joyful ski runs for eternity.

Generations of Skiers

    I had a delightful call from my son yesterday.  Nice to have him checking up on me as he exited his ski area to drive home ahead of the traffic down Little Cottonwood Canyon highway in Utah.  As one might expect he is the second generation skier for our family although we all started together in 1968 at Greek Peak.   As you might expect he was a fast learner along with his siblings and moved on to PSIA certification and working as an instructor.  He lives the grand life of Utah skiing in his retirement! 

    By the time they were out of diapers his children were getting ski instruction and became expert skiers over the years.  One sisters  children likewise have become expert skiers.  On that note in my conversation with my son I caught up on the ski journeys of some of these grandchildren.  One of his daughters is now instructing weekends at Bristol Mountain.  There was also exciting news of a nephew and my grandchild competing in what I would call extreme skiing taking gut wrenching lines down the mountain.  Scares the pants off me to watch the videos of some of his runs.  Obviously I am a proud grandparent and am delighted to hear that he placed as high as third recently.   He is a big kid.  Well over six feet so he has a big frame to work with but it may be a lot to move around as he negotiates some really gnarly terrain.

    As the next generation moves on to marriage and family the new spouses have a lot of pressure to become skiers.    So far those that are continuing to ski have had the good fortune of willing spouses prepared to pick up the sport if they have not already done so.  Thus the generations continue to have a pattern to continue engagement.   I do wonder if they will ever become geezer skiers!  

    I suspect that skiing is only one example of how families carry on certain traditions.   In terms of sports it can be a variety of activities.   It may be golf, tennis, running or something else.   And beyond the recreational activities there can the serious endeavors of different careers.   I am an engineer and have seen this career choice passed on to several of the children I have parented.   A son and one daughter have already spawned three engineers.    As a former college advisor I distinctly recall many of my students who decided to go to medical school came from families with generations of physicians.  

    I would conclude that generational influence can be both a blessing and a curse.  It is a blessing when it gives opportunity but can be a curse to those who march to a different drummer.   I say let everyone find their own bliss and it need not be the family tradition. 

    

Ski Lift Therapy

    A ski lift ride with a stranger often can be quite interesting.    There is something about the isolation of two strangers on the chair that can spark exchanges that wouldn't happen in other circumstances.  I must confess I enjoy drawing people out with leading questions.  Often this leads into confessional statements that make me feel like a priest or a therapist.  Most of the time I am leading the conversation but occasionally my companion will inquire about me.

    Because many of my geezer companions were not in attendance today, I had many solo rides and some new companions who had interesting stories to tell.  Here are three of them that speak to therapy sessions on the lift. 

    My first encounter was with a 52 year old gentleman that had grown up in Canada.  In our conversation about skiing we drifted off into family matters.  He revealed that he was a widower of seven years and was raising two youngsters after the untimely car crash death of his wife.  He confessed that he was unlikely to ever get married again.  This comment came after he heard a bit of my story of marrying a second time and even having a second family in my senior years.  My thought is that maybe he will reconsider his reluctance to marry again after hearing of my 40 years of blessed reprieve.  

    My second encounter was with a tall blonde lady of undetermined age with a massive head of hair.  No helmet but I didn't comment on that!  I'm a bit adamant that helmets are essential for skiers!  She revealed that she was from Wisconsin and had moved to a friends place in the area when covid struck in 2019.  She now plans to return to Wisconsin for a reason that I didn't hear.  I have visited Wisconsin so I asked her what she thought of upstate New York.  Her's was a positive response and we mutually agreed both our areas have a lot to offer.  Somehow we drifted off to discussing of our heritage.  I had asked whether she might be Scandinavian.  Turns out she had a German, Irish, Czech lineage.  I shared with her that we had some things in common since I have a German, Irish and Dutch lineage.  I sensed there was some nostalgia about her return to Wisconsin.

    My third encounter was with a lady from our area who was a retired surgical nurse.  She opened our conversation with the comment that she was having trouble finding time to ski due to her impending move to Virginia Beach.   I never determined whether her spouse had died or there was a divorce, but it seems she was on her own with coping with a transition to a new life,  She had angst about leaving ski country and an established networks to be with children and grandchildren in a new location.  Her son has bought a house for her in Virginia Beach so she is well cared for physically but still there is the emotional adjustment.  As we left the lift I wished her a good run and said that I was sure she would succeed in her transition.   

    I would comment that this piece strays a bit from the skiing focus per se.  However skiing is more that the physical endeavor.   There are the other dimensions of social and cultural interactions.   Actually I enjoy my role as counselor!

Loose Ends

  Yesterday I missed skiing because of the rain and spent  time in my Cornell office preparing for a visit from the archivists who will decide what materials from my past will be saved for the Cornell archives.   It has been 27 years since I retired as an emeritus professor so I guess this is a loose end I need to tie up before it is too late.  All this got me to thinking about the loose ends of life that come at us in one way or another.  Things happen and we leave some things dangling to be picked up later and finished off.  These things can take all kinds of forms from the metaphorical to relational to the physical.  When I told my wife that I was going to write this blog she asked me if I thought I had a lot of loose ends to deal with.  I assured her that in the relational area all is good and we in our marriage are certainly in sync all the way around.  However, I do find that there are always things hanging out there I would like to get done.  Perhaps that is good because it gives meaning to the future for useful engagement.

    This ski season however has seemed to create a lots of loose ends in my geezer skier community.   Too many of our crew have had difficulties that have limited participation in our favorite  pastime.   To me it is a loose end when we no longer have full participation in the social life on the slopes.

    So to wrap this up I have the sad requirement to comment on what has happened to my friend Tim that requires surgery on his shoulder within the next few days.   An unfortunate collision earlier in the season damaged the rotator cuff in his right shoulder.   Since then he has been soldiering along on the slopes in spite of being unable to lift his right arm above his waist.   A recent MRI shows that this is not the best thing for his long term health.  He hasn't a metaphorical loose end but a physical one of ruptured tendons!  Thank heavens his surgeon says if he gets to it now he can repair the damage!  All of us in the geezer community wish him the best of all care and success in taking care of the problem.   We look forward to meeting with him during his recovery and keeping the relational connections with the skiing community.   In my most previous blog I wrote about transitions.   This will be one for a while but we will not let it deter holding things together for the future.

    From time to time  I have heard the expression "I am at loose ends".  Probably meaning one doesn't know where they are going.     We know our friend is not in that situation.  He is moving on and facing his issue and we know he will be the better for it.  Likewise the advice for all of us when we find ourselves at loose ends, it is time to suck it up and move forward.  May I exemplify that in my own behavior.

Transitions

    A few days ago our geezer skier group got together for a noon lunch at Greek Peak's Trax restaurant.  Our gathering included both active skiers and some who were in hiatus from the slopes for one reason or another.  In the past we have often had 10 to 15 in our gathering.  Only eight were able to make it that day.

    It seems our little fun group of Tough Old Geezer Skiers is going through a transition.  A few years ago when we would have our annual lunch meeting in March we could field and many as 30 in attendance.   Of course the covid pandemic kiboshed recent get togethers.   The march of time drives a lot of the transitions.  Health concerns also exacerbates participation as well.   Thankfully many of us are still able to hit the slopes almost at will.   However, the day will come for all us when we will have to make the transition to other endeavors. 

    How we make our transitions reveals our resiliency and character.   Gracefully making exits might be the mark of a life well lived.   Several of our group have seen the inevitable and have gracefully changed to life away from the slopes.  I admire their resiliency and see them as a model for the transition I will have to make some day.  

    The idea of transition transcends the matter of skiing.    In life we go through a multitude of transitions.  We are in flow from birth to toddler to teen to young adult to  maturity and old age.   Along the way we will face many issues of both success and failure.   How well we deal with the vagaries of these changes will relate to our happiness and contributions to human kind.   Perhaps the best we can hope for as a legacy is for our friends and family to say he/she lived a good life.

    In closing I want to assure the reader I am not being melancholy!  In my senior years I am more content than ever in living with the changes each day.   Savoring the latter years is a great gift from the wisdom gained in the past.

Go Fishing?

     I took the garbage out early this morning and discovered a rare event in January.   My driveway had numerous earthworms.   Unbelievable!  Multiple days of rain and warm temperatures must have signaled Spring had come.  Since the ponds and lake are still unfrozen maybe I should take up fishing again.  

    In spite of this weird weather my local Greek Peak ski area has remained open.  Even through several rainy days.   I drew the line on skiing in the rain for several days but out of curiosity I visited the area today to see for myself the state of the slopes.   I was amazed to find that a few of the slopes had enough snow base from the snowmaking to make reasonable paths to the lift.  Kudos to Greek Peak for investing in snowmaking capacity.   To heck with the idea of fishing!  Tomorrow I will hit the slopes for a fix.  Who knows?  My geezer friends might show up too.

Wash Out

   Recently the weather has been weird for January!  Unusually high temperatures and many rainy days.    Although my local ski area has been open through all of this, I find no incentive to hit the slopes.  To say the least that is unusual for me.  Commonly over the past 22 years I have  been on the slopes 10 to 15 days before the first of January.  This year by only six abbreviated days of skiing were completed.          The geezer skier community has been devastated by this turn of events.  Most of us have taken the wait and see approach hoping for colder weather and snow showers.  All of this tries our patience and can be depressing for those of us know that we have limited years to enjoy our sport.   

    Our skiing community of geezers not only enjoy the skiing but delight in our coffee breaks swapping stories and socializing.   Hopefully in a few days the weather will change and our ski and socialize routine will resume.   Meanwhile I am being domestic,   Time to take down the Holiday decorations, do some interior  odd jobs, work on the income taxes and editing my Silo History document.

    Happy New Year everyone.  And we will keep soldiering on trying to be optimistic for the rest of the season.