Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and Valentine's day. I will not be celebrating V-day, as in my home (and relationship) every day is Valentine's day. Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation but it is a day of fast and abstinence, which means no meat, no eating between meals and a small breakfast and lunch followed by a meatless dinner. It's a small way to honor Jesus for humbling Himself to become one of us and then allowing us to torture Him to death so as to pay for our sins.
"Hey, thanks for being whipped bloody, then nailed to a cross and left hanging till you suffocated, just to ransom us from hell! I'll skip the steak tonight."
A very small way.
Jay and I just got back from a lovely long weekend at Margy and Jeff's place. We flew in on Thursday evening. The flight was uneventful but terribly uncomfortable. If you're larger than a nine year old child, airplane seats are too narrow. Fancy problems, right? We arrived on time to have dinner in the big house where all 4 of Margy's boys grew up and sometimes still live. As always, I had to look through Cary's studio/workshop. I know lots of incredibly talented artists but Cary is the only one I will say is a genius. By that I simply mean that the things he creates are different from everything ever other brilliant artist I know has produced. So it's always fun to see what his magnificent brain has come up with.
We got to see BJ, too, who is currently living at home while finishing up barber school. BJ is a delightful man who will make a splendid barber; he likes people and he can talk to anyone! Cary is a genius but he could never be a barber.
On Friday, we drove up to the cabin, which is in the Conifer area. Jeff, who spent his career as a celebrated gastroenterologist, has recently retired from medicine and become a world class wood worker. Attached to the cabin is the 'Garage Majal', where Jeff is teaching himself to make everything under the sun. The stuff he designs is gorgeous. I should have taken some pictures but I didn't think of it. He uses small chunks of wood to practice some skills and turns out tiny boxes which he thinks are silly but Margy and I told him were terrific! He made one for me.
Friday evening, Jay was not with us. He stayed in town to go see a basketball team practice. Jeff, Margy and I went to dinner in Evergreen. It had started snowing and was a full scale blizzard when we came out. Jeff knows the roads and drove us up the mountain safely but I called Jay and told him not to even try to make it to the cabin that night. He agreed and stayed at the house in town with the boys. Up at the cabin, we awoke to 12" of fresh snow. It was spectacular!
Later that afternoon, the three of us went snow shoeing. I had never done that before. I don't think we went all that far...maybe a half a mile? All I know is when we were back to within 50 feet of the cabin I thought "if a grizzly bear were to come out of the woods, I would take one for the team, die a heroic death and let Margy and Jeff make it to safety..." I wouldn't even try to make a break for shelter. No bear showed up to end my misery and when we got back to the cabin, they asked what I thought of snow shoeing.
"That's a mean thing to do to an old lady." I said, trying not to puke. Margy thinks it was not so much the exertion as the elevation that made it so hard for me: the cabin is at 8500 ft. All I know is my thighs, hips and glutes were on fire, while my stomach was in open revolt.
It was much better the second day. I know, I'm kinda shocked I did it again, too. But on Sunday, the sun had come out, Jeff promised he wouldn't lead us up the mountain and we didn't go nearly as far. Jay still managed to almost die.
That's a slight exaggeration: One of Jay's poles accordioned while making our way up the hill behind the cabin and he fell into the snow. The faulty pole was under his body, with the strap around his wrist, so he couldn't use it to lever himself up and in fact it kept him pinned to the snow. We had to turn around, unclip his snow shoes, and pull him uphill and to his feet. If he'd been alone, I don't know how he would have gotten himself upright. Lesson: don't snow shoe alone. JUST DON'T DO IT.
Nobody puked.
Jeff smoked a few racks of ribs for the SuperBowl. Our sister in law, Jen, called an hour before the game to place a bet with Jay. Jay asked who she wanted and she said "Are you kidding? I want TAYLOR'S team to win!"
The game was a blast. We ate the ribs while cheering for the Flyover team and we won!!
Suck it, coasties.
When we weren't out taunting death in the snow or watching sports on TV, we played cards and bananagrams. We played Five Crowns and Jay got so mad at Jeff's misdeals that he quit after three hands and went to bed. I think he was looking for an excuse to retire. We played the rest of the game without him, gave him 0 points (low score wins) for every hand and he still lost by 40 points. You can believe we told him that result first thing in the morning.
Shortly before Christmas, Zach, Sara and #6 visited Margy and Jeff. Margy has a really cool antique cupboard in her kitchen in which she keeps ceramic cups, pitchers and vases. The cupboard doors are eight paned glass panels and three of the four sections haven't had any glass in them for years. Margy told me that when #6 arrived at the house, she marched through to the kitchen and without turning her head or breaking stride as she toddled past that cupboard, she reached inside, grabbed whatever came to hand and frizbeed it across the kitchen. So Margy and Jeff both understood exactly why I've been looking for a new cupboard to replace the microwave stand I've had for years. The current stand is open shelves. It hold our cuisinart, ninja and a few other things no one wants a toddler to play with. Naturally, #6 finds it irresistable. I've been looking for a replacement cupboard with doors but haven't been able to find one that is the right size, shape or look. Jeff is going to build me one! We'll figure out how to get it from the Garage Majal to my kitchen later.
It was a perfect long weekend and we all had so much fun we may make it a Superbowl tradition. Any excuse to visit the mountain cabin is a good one.