Ski Date

It was a date, not our first one though,

He thought it would be fun in the ice and snow.

I’d never skied, never put on a ski boot,

Never rode the tram, never skied down a chute.

He would show me how, it would be such fun.

I turned and asked, “Is there a bunny run?”

“You will be okay I’ll stay by your side.”

My first heart attack came on the tram ride.

“Keep your toes pointed in, it’s called a snow plow

Just lift off the seat, oh, wait, steady now!”

Yes, of course I biffed it right off the tram

And my falling caused a big traffic jam.

He helped me get up and brushed off the snow.

I felt like a two-year-old as he took me in tow.

He checked my bindings, my ski poles and boot.

He led me over to the easiest downhill route.

The first run I wrapped my arms around his waist.

We were going to go slow no need for haste.

His skiis on the outside mine in the middle

We looked like the punch line from some silly riddle.

Snow plowing as we traveled at a turtle’s pace,

We’d have come in dead last if it were a race.

I felt a great triumph as we slid to a stop,

Then I remembered the tram ride back up to the top.

This time my exit was one filled with grace.

Well actually, I was glad I didn’t land on my face.

The second run, I was the one that led

His hands on my waist, my cheeks blazing red.

The pace picked up but not by a lot.

I was keeping my skis in the position I aught

He had words of encouragement as I zigged down the hill

His quick reaction saved me from a fall or a spill.

The triumph I felt as I finished the run

The snow and the ice could actually be fun.

Back to top for a third go around

I jumped off the lift my skis hit the ground

It was time for this little bird to finally leave the nest

I was going to ski solo just like all the rest

I felt my legs get that deep muscle burn

The edge of my skis made the fresh white snow churn

My confidence grew and I looked all around.

My date was skiing backwards and then turned with a bound,

He pivoted and swerved on one ski then both.

I plowed along at the pace of a sloth.

Then a five-year-old schussed passed me in a blur

Next came a one-legged skier in a jacket of fur

 My date’s movements as he skied by my side

Was freaking ballet, I don’t mean to deride,

I pick up the pace the humiliation growing.

I’m pushing my skills so I’ll make a good showing.

I hit a mogul and I’m catching air

My arms are pin wheeling I look everywhere

I land, then I tumble my ski poles take flight

My glove has come off, my hat lost to sight,

My one ski proceeded me down the snow trail,

In kind skiing terms it’s called a yard sale.

I hobbled my way down the rest of the slope

I felt like an idiot, I looked like a dope.

Can you have fun in the ice and the snow?

Don’t ask me right now I really don’t know.

(Written for the Short Shots Contest on Writing.com. Write a poem inspired by the above picture. 80 lines or less. No I didn't win but I got some good reviews.)

Books I read for 2013

The Great Brain by John D Fitzgerald. This was my son-in-laws Christmas book for me. It is the story of a boy growing up in a small town in Utah, Adenville by Cedar City and the antics his older brother Tom, "the Great Brain".As a mother I would like to spank him as a young boy I would have wanted to emulate him. It's amazing how great minds work alike, I gave my son-in-law 'Dandelion Wine' and 'Farewell to Summer' by Ray Bradbury for Christmas.

Gathering Blue and The Son by Lois Lowry. She wrote the Classic Dystopia novel 'The Giver' her followup novels were 'Gathering Blue' and 'The Messenger'. In 'Gathering Blue' Kiri has learned the art of needle work and weaving from her mother but her talent is beyond her mother's. Sometime the needle and thread take control and she creates bits of wonder. So when her mother dies and the village would have her killed because of a deformed leg, she is brought to the administrative building to work on the great ceremonial cloak. My explanation can't do the book justice. It is a nice followup. Lois Lowry's fans have clamored all these years to know what became of the baby from 'the Giver'. Here at last is the answer to that question. Lovely book, well worth the wait!

Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver. Set in the Stone Age. A Demonic Bear kills Turak's father and with his dying breath the father makes Turak promise to go to the Mountain of the World Spirit. A young wolf pup becomes his spirit guide. They are making a movie. The audio book is narrated by Ian McKellan (Gandolf) Dallin says it's magical to listen to.

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo. Very quick read. A lot sadder than I expected but it ended well. Happy endings for all.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon. Told in the voice of Christopher John Francis Boone. Who is a 15 yr old autistic boy. He find the neighbor's dog dead with a pitchfork stuck in him. Christopher loves Sherlock Holmes and decides to investigate. He uncovers more than he could have ever expected. His world is made up of absolutes and math. The chapter headings are all prime numbers. I devoured this in one sitting.

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. He was a contemporary of Lewis Carrol who encouraged him to publish his stories, he was influenced by JRR Tolkein. Princess Ivey lives in a castle next to a mountain that gives work to the miners and is the home to the goblins. The Goblin Queen wants her son (Hairlip) to marry the human princess. Curdie, a young miner, knows the Goblins are up to evil deeds and wants to serve the princess. Cute and sweet with a little magic.

Reached by Allie Condie. Final installment in the Dystopia series. Not as tension driven as the Hunger Games but still a nice read. We grow to love Cassia, Ky and Xander as they try to figure out what side they are on and to find a cure for the plague.

Prayers for Sale, Whiter than Snow and The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas. I highly recommend any of these books. Prayer and Whiter are set in the mining community up in the mountains of Colorado. It's a hard life but these people are so real. The Persian Pickle Club is set in Dust Bowl Kansas. All her books have references to quilting. I loved all of these.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. Lia Lee is brought to the hospital after having experienced a seizure. She is misdiagnosed as having pneumonia. Thus begins the long miscommunication and cultural clash between Lia's Hmong parents and family and American medicine. I like to read a little non-fiction. Ryan recommended this to me several years ago. The author made all the information easily accessible to the lay reader.

Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale. Sequel to Princess Academy. Mira must make her way in a strange new world. Started slow, ended nicely. Shannon Hale writes lovely strong young women. I'm a huge fan of all her books.

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson. Young adult fiction from the master of Fantasy. Rithmatists are magicians that use chalk drawing to preform magic. Joel is a non Rithmatist in a Rithmatist school because his dad used to work at the school before he died. Joel is fascinated by everything Rithmatists do. Then students start coming up missing. It is up to Joel with the help of a rather inept Rithmatist, Melody and a Professor Fitch to battle "the Forgotten". I look forward to the sequel.

The Silver Bowl and The Cup and the Crown by Diane Stanley. I love these kind of Fairy Tale stories. Molly sees visions like her mother who had to be locked away because people thought she was mad. But Molly's special power may be the only thing that can save the royal family from annihilation. In the sequel Molly and her friends set off on another adventure to find the Loving Cup for the new young king.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. An amazing story teller and his characters, world building and magic are very well defined. It's about 1007 pages but read very fast. A little violent for this old girl but of course I preordered the sequel.

Camille by Alexander Dumas. Margarette is a kept woman, beautiful and mysterious; her protectors are Dukes and Counts. But she is living her life so hard and fast that she is becoming ill. Then she meets Armand and falls hopelessly in love. He can not support her as she is accustomed but they decide for one summer to just run away together and live in the country. Though a man may have a mistress in that day and age he can not live with her and his family intercede. Very tragic.

The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter. This was my favorite book I read this year. Jamie is in a convalescent hospital trying to recover from a wound he got in the war. It is not healing as it should. Jamie overhears his doctors deciding to send him to the tuberculosis  hospital to die since he will eventually get TB anyway. Jamie decides if he is going to die anyway he might as well do it his own way. He wants to see the ocean so he sets out, weak and ill as he is, to try to get to the ocean or die trying. He has many adventures along the way and ends up in the home of a Bee Keeper. There he meets the precocious 'Scout'. I loved this book.

The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle. Peter was also a play writer so the animated movie that was made of this book is very true to the original. His writing is so beautiful and the story is delightful. This would make a great read aloud book for children.

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis. Quick read. Sunday is the youngest daughter of the King. This was kind of a mish mash of all the fairy tales you have ever read. I looked at it as kind of a treasure hunt because the fairy tale references sometimes were vague and other times they were pretty blatant.

Autumn Winifred Oliver does things different by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb. Autumn hears the church bells ring eleven times as she runs down her mountain. Someone has played a dirty trick on her and now the whole cove thinks she's dead. This is the story of Cades Cove and how the Great Smokey Mountain State park came into being and drove all the people out. It's a fun romp with Autumn as you get to see the events from a  eleven year old POV and boy does Autumn do things different. Written in the style of Richard Peck's 'A Year Down Yonder'. Lots of adventure and laughs.

Farenheight 451 by Ray Bradbury. This is a Science Fiction classic that Ray Bradbury wrote in the early days of his career. The world is very different. A fireman's job is to answer alarms and burn any books that are found in the homes. Farenheight 451 is the temperature at which books burn. One of the firemen starts to question the why. Hailed as the great book on censorship.

Visions of Glory by John Pontius. A rich telling of life on the other side of the veil. The world all around us we can't see and what could happen in the future. This was a book John and I read aloud together.

Learning to Swim by Sara J. Henry. Troy is riding on a ferry when she sees across the water a small boy plunge into the water from the opposite traveling ferry. She doesn't even think. She just dives in. Now that she has rescued the French speaking 6-year-old Paul she must determine who would want to drown a little boy. Moves along at a gentle pace until the end and bang it hits you between the eyes.

Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, Talking to Dragons and Book of Enchantments by Patricia Wrede. Cimorene does not enjoy being a princess. All the protocol, ettiquette etc. She enjoys learning latin and magic. She finally runs away to become a dragon's princess and the job fits her to a tee. These books are so funny. They whole series is great.

Nation by Terry Pratchett. Mau is paddling back to his village to celebrate becoming a man after building his own canoe. A tidal wave comes while he is in the water and when he gets home every one is gone, no one survived the tidal wave but him. Daphne has been ship wrecked on Mau's island. It is the story of how two people who are so different come together and make a community from the survivors that trickle in from surrounding islands. Really nice read.

Seedfolk by Paul Fleishman. An inner city neighborhood is changed when one little girl plants some beans in a vacant lot to honor her father. This closed off community starts to come together as they turn a vacant lot into a neighborhood garden. Told from 16 viewpoints. Loved this book.

Magic Magee by Jerry Spinelli. Maniac Magee's parents die when he is only five so he goes to live with his aunt and uncle who don't even talk to each other. He finally runs away. After living on his own he finds a neighborhood divided by race and effecst all their lives in amazing and surprising ways. Beautifully written.

Tangerine by Edward Bloor. Paul Fisher's brother is a football superstar. He is a field goal kicker. Their parents live and breathe for his football career they hope will lead to something great after High School. Paul loves to play soccer. His parents barely notice. When Paul's school drops into a sink hole Paul transfers to another school and plays soccer there. But there is a secret he can't quite remember, something about why he is legally blind.

Deathwatch by Robb White. A suspense thriller. A college kid, Ben, takes a big game hunter out into the New Mexico desert to hunt  big horned sheep. When the hunter, Madok, kills an old prospector it becomes a test of wits and wills as Madok strips Ben down to nothing and then leaves him in the desert to die so he won't report the death to the police. Really good, very suspenseful. My son-in-law gave this to me for Christmas this year.

Pathfinders by Orson Scott Card. I love OSC's storytelling. I love the world building that he is so good at. His characters are so much fun. This story is about a world where some of the people can manipulate time. The world is divided into sections and separated by wallfolds that are force fields that are impossible to cross. Rig can see the paths of anyone except his own dad. After his father dies he must figure out what all the things his father taught him are for. This is the first in a trilogy.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. This was on the NPR 100 best SF/Fantasy list. Kvothe is a legendary figure at the age of 23. He is telling his story to a scribe so he can set the record straight and show the difference between fact and the myths that have grown up around him. This first book is day one of the story telling. It follows him from his early days as a traveling performer with his family to seeing his family slaughtered, living on the streets and then going to magic school. His own brilliance is often his own worst enemy. Wonderful storytelling, compelling character, and great world building.