Blink And You Miss It

About 13 years ago, my sister and niece were visiting.  We got caught in a horrendous traffic mess on the way in to town along 395, and spent forever just c-r-a-w-l-i-n-g along.  It was hot, the windows were rolled down, and no one was having any fun staring at the endless line of brake lights stretching down the Lincolnia valley and back up again.  From the carseat in the back came the contribution of a little voice: "Go away, cars!  Shoo, shoo!"

It didn't work, but it was a cute moment from a cute little girl.

Fast (very fast) forward 13 years to their visit this week, in which Niecey is not only a holder of her own driver's permit, but is beginning to look at colleges down here.  Yesterday they toured the University of Maryland and she fell in love with it; last night we met with someone from church who just graduated from George Mason University here in NOVA and she could hear all about life at Mason.  She also has James Madison and my own alma mater, American, on her list of places she wants to look at over the next year.

Somehow it just doesn't seem right that we're looking at colleges for that little three-year-old.  But she's very definitely not three any more, and during her Sweet Sixteen celebrations here this week she's taking her first steps into what will truly be her own life.  While it's thrilling to see, it's also strangely saddening, with a sense of the passing of so much time.

This week also brought another sense of the hastening of the years.  Our in-house newsletter had asked for submissions of interesting/odd/unusual pre-Bureau employment, so I sent in a couple of paragraphs and a photo of me in the air studio at 95XXX.  It ran this week, and so I've had calls, e-mails, and light ribbing from throughout the organization.  But what strikes me is the same sense of time as with our college-bound niece: it just doesn't *feel* like 21 or 22 years since that picture was taken, and yet I'm closer to being eligible for full retirement (14 years this summer) than I am to my first days at 95XXX. 

"I'm not THAT old," my ego wails.

"Oh yes you are," my left knee replies.  "Now get me a Shiner."

Ski Weekend at Canaan Valley

This weekend, I drove David, John Eldredge, and Zach Franklin the four hours to Canaan Valley, WV, for the Troop 688 annual ski weekend.  I've posted some pictures as an addendum to the Snowpocalypse album.

We got a little late a start, owing to my having a few last minute things come up, but made good time getting out to Davis, WV.  We missed the turnoff for the lodge in the dark, though, and so had to double back to find it, making us the last car to arrive for the night.  The boys settled in well.

Saturday morning all three popped right up and began getting dressed for the mountain.  They were excited.  After breakfast (bacon, eggs, bacon, cereal, and bacon), we headed over and got our rental gear, and were among the first people on the mountain.  David had never skied before, so we spent the first hour learning the basics of the wedge (the pizza, the V, the snowplow) and having him ignore them in favor of the 11-year-old boy's favorite ski technique: go fast then fall down to stop.

We stayed on the easy slopes for the most part in the morning, but by the afternoon they were ready to tackle some things at the top of the mountain.  David did really very well for his first exposure to intermediate trails.  He lost control once and went speeding towards a black diamond trail, but saw where he was going and executed a flop-stop to keep it from happening.  We tried a very narrow intermediate trail instead, which was frustrating to him, but we all made it back alive.  The boys all skied on a trail, Face, that was labeled a black diamond on the map, and so can honestly say they were on a black diamond, but in my humble opinion that was a very charitable upgrade: sure it was a little steeper, but it was as wide as a football field...easy turns were very possible.

That night the boys played in the arcade after dinner, and watched some skiing on the Olympics.  Then by 10 everyone was asleep and exhausted.

Sunday morning after breakfast (bacon, eggs, bacon, pancakes, and bacon), we headed back to the mountain.  David was initially reluctant to go, having felt he didn't get it well enough Saturday, but was persuaded by his friends, and off he went.  He had an even better day Sunday: he rode with us to the top of the mountain, and took the one green-circle (easy) trail that runs from the very top to the very bottom of the mountain...and did it WITHOUT falling even ONCE, which was tremendous.  He'd clearly done better Sunday, and his wedge was a lot more pronounced and working well for him.

By the time lunch came around, and the boys had all completed their "yard sale" in the terrain park (don't ask), they were tired and ready to go.  We drove home and got back around 5.  Will David want to go again next year?  He says yes.  Let's see whether he still feels as good then.  And maybe I can add to my list of black diamonds I skied--I did Dark Side of the Moon, Valley View, and Meadows 2.  I was gonna try Gravity, but when you get to the edge of a trail and look over, and can't see the trail any more, hey, that may be a bit above my pay grade.

Sharing An Experience

Last night, I had the opportunity to share the great music of Dave Alvin with Mary and David for the first time.  Glenn and Jill Cook joined us too, and after a rather paltry opening act (thank heavens it was only an half-hour), Dave hit the stage with Cindy Cashdollar; Christy McWilson joined a couple of songs into the act.  The stage was sparse for the night: only the three musicians, not the rest of a band, no rhythm section, nothing.  Just Dave, Cindy and Christy, unplugged.

I'd been playing his music in the car for the kids for awhile, and David had been getting excited about going to his first concert.  On the way there he was asking which songs he would get to hear; he was hoping to get to hear "Haley's Comet." I said I hoped so too, but reminded him that it was an older song of his, and they may just play some of their newer material.

Oh, was I wrong.  This was a terrific way for Dave to introduce himself to Mary and David.  They played not only several of the best tunes off of the "Guilty Women" CD, but also a huge number of his older mainstays.  There was "Fourth of July," "Abeline," and they closed the pre-encore set with "Ashgrove."  But David's face really beamed when he heard the first words of one song, about a third of the way into the show: "Do you know, who I am, said Bill Haley..."

David got tired as the night went on; the encore (the always-raucous "Marie Marie") ended at 10:06, and for a young man who falls asleep by 9 most nights, the combination of the late hour and the often soothing folk-style music ("Potter's Field," for instance) left him both ready to go at the end, and yet disappointed it was all over.  Mary enjoyed the show too; I caught her bopping along with a couple of numbers.  It's been a long week for her at work, and she was tired last night.  So one she really seemed to enjoy was Christy McWilson's "Weight of the World," which she introduced by saying "It's about being a woman, and being...tired.  Just...tired."

Sarah, who spent the evening with Giselle's family, missed us but didn't seem upset about her decision to skip the concert.  She did say, though, that she'd love to go see an Owl City concert...and guess what, they're at Constitution Hall the evening of April 22...

But at the end of the night, despite the exhaustion, I think I may have two more people willing to go back and see Dave Alvin the next time he swings through the Birchmere.  And being able to share with them a musician I enjoy will be terrific.

Snowpocalypse Now

Snow...blinding snow...feet and feet of it...Metro closed aboveground, schools closed through Wednesday, Federal government closed, Western civilization crashing down, angels crying "Woe!" in the heavens, cats and dogs living together...oh, the humanity!

OK, it's really not that bad people.  It's 28" of snow.  It will melt.

We dug out over the weekend; Saturday was a heavy lift, getting the driveway cleared.  Then Sunday was dedicated to expanding the street space in front of the house.  This morning, when Mary's boss texted that he'd be running a little late and she should convene the 10:00 staff meeting without him (mind you, she received it still abed), it became more imperative to get people on the roads.

We haven't seen a plow come through since late Friday night, when it moved the first ~5" of snow.  The other 23", well, that's still there.  So today's task was to dig two parallel sets of tracks into the snow up the length of Overlake Court, wide enough for a Sienna to get through.  Once onto Triple Ridge, she could then hook onto the ruts that people had made through the weekend, then onto Hooes, which I knew was plowed pretty decently.  So that's how she made it to work today.

What's fun is watching the hyperventilating of the DC media and people who haven't lived through a decent snowstorm before.  We're very definitely among the lucky ones: we have power, we have heat, we have food, we haven't lost any trees and there's no damage to our house.  (OK, there's a cedar in the back yard I'm lightly worried about, but it's one of two that have to go anyway before I can build that patio I've wanted in the back.)  With another five to 12" on the way tomorrow and Wednesday, you'd think from the reactions around us that life will cease to be possible.  Not true.  It may become more awkward if you can't get to a Starbucks, and yes, you haven't seen a paper delivery since Friday, but hey, the Internet's up, and we're finally able to get to some of that reading we've been meaning to.

We've posted some photos of the snow, and if this next storm comes to pass I'll add to those as well.  Stay safe, everybody; stay warm; and above all, stay rational about it.  It's just snow, even if it's snow in NoVA.

The Snowpocalypse, Part II: Return Of Snowblivion

The ever-reticent, always-understated Washington media were in full hyperventilation mode heading into today's snowstorm, predicting snow to start around lunchtime or early afternoon and then 16-24" by the time it ends Saturday afternoon.  So when the first flakes began flying just before 9:30 this morning, I imagine many around town reached for their paper bags and began breathing even harder.

But it's been a wet soggy bust so far.

I went out for Chinese at 5:30, and the biggest danger were the, um, drivingly-challenged who think it's best to try to stop on a hill--either on the way down, or on the way up.  The hill on Hooes Road right by our neighborhood had two cars on it who had stopped on the way up and who couldn't get going again.  Just keep moving, people, that's the secret.

With 12 hours gone into this storm, I just finished the first shoveling of the day, moving ~3" of wet, heavy snow.  In some regards this snow was easier to shovel than the last storm: by being so heavy, it schlooped neatly into the shovel and didn't fall out.  But lifting, that was a harder thing.  Fortunately I'd invested in a new, more-ergonomic shovel in the last month.  It worked better.

I took care of our driveway in really no time at all.  I then plowed the driveway of a neighbor who's out of town, then for good measure shoveled the street in front of our house for 2-3 cars to be able to fit there on Chili Bowl night.  All told, I'm tired, but not exhausted.

Now let's see what the night brings.  There's talk of blizzard conditions and 2" per hour and oodles of the stuff by morning.  Mmm, possible.  But color me skeptical.  Not too long ago, the line between where it snows and where it's just rain was only down around Triangle.  If that shifts north only a few miles, we start looking soggier than snowier.  I guess that's part of the uncertainty of weather in NoVA.