I am feeling blue deep blue this morning, though it will change. Emotions change like the surface of the ocean, now still, now waves and froth, last evening that pale mirror blue in the polarized light as we walk along the shore.

I am stiff, from skiing two days ago. The Introverted Thinker is off for spring break. I went up and we skied at Baker for a day. Rented demo skis. She asks me to teach a little. I watch her ski. She is doing parallel turns but her body and shoulders are turning with the skis.

She is a mountain bike racer. "What does your body do in a turn on the bike?" I ask.

"Hands out, elbows up and body bends towards the turn for balance." she says.

"Same with skiing. Use your whole body in the turn, all the axial muscles, and your feet, knees and hips turn without the upper body. Use that strength."

I try to demonstrate what I think she is doing.

She gets it. In two runs she is speeding up and letting the skis out. I keep watching and then lead her down some ungroomed areas, steep and rough. It's not powder, but still pretty light in the morning. "Let each ski float on it's own in the rough bits," I say.

By afternoon it has warmed up enough that the snow is wet and the ungroomed bits are not fun, at least for me. But now when I lead and change from long C swooping turns to short fast ones, she keeps up. She grins with delight: "I can do it now!" Oh, yes. Rats. She'll be faster than me by next year.

She does the last two runs alone, my legs are protesting.

And there, this is why I write. I'm happy again just writing about it....


deep blue