snow

On a clear day, you can see forever...those are mountains on the "mainland" over there....40 miles or so across the water, I think. Oh, sorry. 64 Kilometres, about. If it is this clear at night, you can see the lights of Vancouver. Pretty cool. Like I said, I have had a difficult time thinking of things to write about lately, but I believe that I should write. It's an exercise, of sorts. It makes me digest things I see around me in order to put things into words that make sense. I live my life in a very emotional way and have often found it difficult to articulately communicate what I want to convey...I think that is what my pictures are all about. So, I thought a bit about memories that I have that involve snow...and there aren't many. It never used to snow so much on this west coast. I hardly remember any snow in my childhood winters....but here goes. The winter when I was four it snowed lots. We lived at the top of 5th Street, the top of the steep hill out of downtown. Mom was driving up the hill and had almost made it in what was to be my own car one day(1972 Datsun B510), when the wheels just started slipping and we slid three blocks back down the hill, backwards, into somebody's front yard, just missing the power pole. My mom was hysterical.

I remember a trip with my mom, her boyfriend and his two daughters to Mount Rainier to go "tubing." It must have been warm in Olympia because we arrived at the mountain in shorts. It was cold but we had so much fun riding those giant tubes down the snowy hills, so much fun. Our legs were bright red from the chill of it, but we were all laughing hysterically. It was one of the best days I can remember having with my mom...ever.

I remember one grade school winter when it snowed and I had nothing but a puffy blue sleeveless jacket to wear, which I wore with short sleeves...I think I have seen the same coat on Kelso in "That 70's Show." It made me very nostalgic...

That same winter, we had a cold snap...lasted for two weeks or so. It is the one and only time I have been outdoor iceskating. It was cold enough for long enough to freeze the pond by my uncle's place. That doesn't normally happen in these parts. Absolutely weirdest part of that day is this...my uncle had enough ice skates for at least a dozen of us to go iceskating. Why? When it only freezes like that once every 30 years(maybe) would he have that many pair of ice skates? It still bothers me.

I went cross-country skiing twice in my teen years. Hated it both times. In my mid twenties, I went snowboarding and fell in love with it. It was the early days of boarding, not so "mainstream" and not all the ski hills would let you up there to board. But I couldn't really afford ski hills anyway, so my friends and I would drive out to the real hills and board...you know, walk up the hill dragging the board behind you, go down and then trudge back up? Kind of like "tubing" or sledding, I guess. Lord, it was fun and we were exhausted at the end of the day.

Later, in my late twenties, when I left Oregon to go to Colorado in an old Jeep pulling an ancient trailer, I left in what I thought was spring, but drove through snowstorm after snowstorm until I reached Cortez. One night, I came to a place I believe was called Strawberry Lake, but I couldn't see where the road ended and the lake began due to snow. It was terrifying driving conditions, but even at the time, I was awestruck by the tremendous beauty of it, the force of Mother Nature, and the knowledge that she will win when all is said and done. I stopped at a diner in the middle of nowhere and the waitress ordered me to park in the lot for the night. That night, in the midst of the snowstorm, my trailer was surrounded by a herd of mule deer sheltering on the lee side of the diner with me. That was a surreal night.

Well, that's it for now. Talk to you later.