Category: Jiminy Peak

Starting my Year off Right – On the Slopes Again

Posted in Jiminy Peak, snowboarding, winterTagged , , , 10 Comments
Windmill and Slopes at Jiminy Peak
Windmill and Slopes at Jiminy Peak
Windmill and Slopes at Jiminy Peak

According to my Ski Tracks app, January 16 marked my 13th day on the slopes this season. Thank you Jiminy Peak! Pretty good when you consider last year I went seven times before slipping a disc in my back. And half those times were icy days that made the slopes not-so-fun.

Now, as I approach the one-year-mark of my 2017/18 season’s demise, I’m finding myself extra thankful for slope time.

Last summer I wrote about our new place in Massachusetts. We had a feeling we wouldn’t regret getting a place at Jiminy Peak, but we also didn’t realize how great it would actually be. Before we got the place, we talked with friends and locals and heard about the great grooming there. Sure enough, thanks to a bit of cold, snow guns, and grooming, we were able to hit the slopes November 17, 2018.

Since Chris and I can work from anywhere with an Internet, it’s really easy to set up an office slope-side. Check out my view as I work 🙂

desk and snowy view

You can’t see it in the picture, but there are some trails we can see from our window so when I look up, I can see skiers and boarders coming down.

My job allows me to choose the hours I work so I’m trying a new schedule out. Generally I work four 10-hr days, but I’m testing a five-day week. I generally work ten hours on Saturdays and Sundays, which isn’t a problem since the slopes are busier on those days. Then I work for four hours in the morning, and three hours at night. In the morning time, you will often find me working in front of this fire:

Fireplace at Jiminy Peak
Fireplace at Jiminy Peak

In the early afternoon I hit the slopes with my favorite snowboard buddy.

Chris enjoying play time on the beautiful hills at Jiminy Peak.
Chris enjoying play time on the beautiful hills at Jiminy Peak

I work for a few more hours in the evening then either wind down in the hot tub or in front of the outdoor fire as I watch the skiers and boarders. Chris will sometimes grab extra runs then as well.

Happy Chris at slope base
Fire Pit at Jiminy
hot tub at Jiminy Peak

Of course, we aren’t always there. Often we are back in New York, enjoying the beauty of snow there as well.

Snow through Window

The east coast hasn’t had much snow this year, but the slopes have been fine. My last two days there were amazing. I didn’t want to stop. And now we have a load of fresh snow thanks to the latest storm. I can’t wait to get back out there…

A Diverse December

Posted in Family, Jiminy Peak, winterTagged , , , , 5 Comments

A Diverse December

December is a funky month, full of highs and lows. Perhaps for everyone, and certainly for Chris and me. And this year it seemed particularly diverse in emotions.

In December I:

  • Celebrated exciting life milestones.
  • Mourned for people no longer breathing in our earthly sphere.
  • Re-learned lessons I should have known and came pretty close to burn-out in work.
  • Took some time away from work/computers (hence the lack of blog posts this past month).
  • Relished in some slope therapy.
  • Celebrated a birthday, Christmas, a 27th-year-wedding anniversary with the yin to my yang (and vice versa) and New Year’s Eve. All very simple celebrations, but beautiful–with people who love me and who I love.
  • Felt lost in my own existence.
  • Started finding myself again.

At the end of November, I would not have predicted that December was going to hit so hard. In retrospect, I’m still not sure how or why it did. Perhaps it was because there were no kids in the house, and life was otherwise pretty stable. That gave me time to think about things a bit deeper.

All I can say is that it was a month lived. Highs, lows — that’s how it goes.

Here are some of the month’s highlights:

  • I got to swim after hitting the slopes. So lovely.
  • We spent a bunch of days playing on the hill.
  • Nothing like a good view while snowboarding. It fills my soul with peace.
  • Fire-pit at the base of the slope.
  • An ice cream cake from Mom Pollock for my birthday..
  • An amazing birthday gift – new snowboard boots 🙂
  • Our small Christmas tree inside.
  • Huge tree in the yard is a reflection of the small tree inside.
  • Walking home from church Christmas Eve with snow fairies kissing our noses..
  • Lots of love at church. Mom played the organ for the service.
  • Christmas morning 2018. A gift in itself.

Embrace who you are and your divine purpose. Identify the barriers in your life, and develop discipline, courage and the strength to permanently move beyond them, and keep moving forward.

Germany Kent

Porch Work

Posted in Family, Friends, Jiminy Peak, Nature, Summer, WorkTagged , , , , , 9 Comments
Working on the porch
Working on the porch

One of my favorite things to do in Massachusetts is to walk from my place down to the main lobby, grab a cup of coffee, and head out to the front porch for an hour or two of work. Since I work from home, it can get quite isolating.

When I’m on the porch, people come and go around me, and I love hearing all the different accents, and feeling the energy around me. Since most people are there on vacation, it’s a very happy place generally. There are lot of people from the New York city area, and I have to admit that I feel like I’m home listening to their accents.

I grew up on Long Island then moved to western NY, where I spent a few decades. I hadn’t noticed that I missed the accent, but when I hear the accents around me, it feels so right.

Chairs on the porch

Aside from the general conversations and energy mentioned, I love the view I get. In particular, I love when it’s raining, and I’m cozied on the porch, under shelter, listening to the rain fall as I work, looking at a beautiful view when I glance up. My image collection doesn’t have a record of that, so I will try to get that photo sometime in my future. But I bet you can imagine hills framed by rain and immerse yourself in the beauty of that mental image.

And then there’s one of my favorite parts of porch work. I have a work buddy who is there almost every day. It’s really tempting to offer treats, but I don’t. And yet, the little one still comes regularly to check things out. So fun!

By Jiminy, Life in Massachusetts!

Posted in Family, Jiminy PeakTagged , 3 Comments
It’s still okay to dream when one is in your 40s or 50s right? Chris and I have been dreaming of having a snowboard condo, preferably near our kiddos in Utah. As we researched and dreamed, we realized that Utah wasn’t ideal for our situation, but thanks to computer cookies, we started getting ads for places a bit more local, and found ourselves looking seriously at Jiminy Peak — a medium-size resort in the Berkshires, near where Chris grew up. This seemed kinda ideal because:
  • While our home has tons of snow, there are no “real” hills. We have to travel 90 minutes each way to get to a decent slope.
  • It’s close to a bunch of family and friends.
  • It’s within an hour of the gallery where Chris had shows in the past.
  • It’s right smack in the art corridor so we are surrounded by music, artists and museums when we visit.
  • We walk about 500 feet out the door to get to a ski lift.
  • Summers are super quiet (even though there’s still lots of fun stuff if we want to do it).
  • It has a bed for Mom and is closer to my sisters-in-law, which is nice for her visiting.
  • It has a year-round heated pool 🙂 and coffee in the lobby in the mornings and evenings.
  • It’s only 3.5 hrs from our main home so it’s easy to take quick trips there.
  • A hundred other reasons
Last spring, we visited the place as guests, testing the waters, and next thing you know, we were signing some papers. Now we have a very humble condo (really, a small hotel suite) at the base of some beautiful hills. I’m certain I’ll be writing posts referring to the area, so I wanted to let you all know the story behind it. Maybe I’ll even make my next bunch of posts highlights of what I love about it. There’s an idea…

Nature – Restoring the Soul

Posted in Family, Jiminy PeakTagged , , , , , , 2 Comments

When life gets stressful, sometimes the best medicine is sitting back and looking out a window. Chipmunks scampering, birds flying, the wind rustling tree leaves, and even the occasional hoot of an owl (the video below doesn’t have visuals, but you can hear the owl). How soothing for the soul.

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