Month: January 2021

Today I am planning to go to the local ski area for the first time this season. Armed with my senior pass and new skis I wonder how long I will last.

There are new procedures due to Covid-19. They encourage “Chalet” in your car. That means don’t go into the lodge. I am planning to take a folding chair and a gas space heater. I am not convinced that this scheme is going to work. When I picked up my skis from being tuned at the shop at the slope, I did not notice anyone following the procedures. I could be mistaken.

Usual mishaps: forgot my ski poles and was missing one glove. So, two trips in one day. Did have the heater with a new container of gas and a chair, neither were needed. As I go at low volume times there was plenty of room in the lodge to stay more than Covid-19 separated.

The other Covid-19 precautions in place were omnipresent masks and social distancing in the lift lines. Going at a low volume time made it seem normal. I hope to make it to the slope a couple times a week, as long as the snow lasts.

I have not made a post in a long time. But today is New Years Eve and it is about time I started again. I believe my inspiration came when I picked up my skis from being tuned. I redid my schedule for next week so I can get to the mountain. Outside, staying out of the lodge, six-foot spacing, I figure I can keep as Covid-19 free as anywhere. I will plan to write again during my first ski day.

But, tonight is New Years Eve and Tina and I are looking forward to a fun and very special evening. Looking back at my posts I note that I had not mentioned our guest, Eunice. Eunice is a boarding student at Miss Porter’s School. She is here from Kenya for her junior year at MPS. Eunice was first with us last year for her Christmas break. Due to Covid-19 she has been with us this year since Thanksgiving. (MPS has shut down the campus and is doing remote classes like many other schools). Tonight she and two of her friends, fellow boarding school students from Kenya, are making us a traditional dinner.

Salma is at the Buffalo Seminary in Buffalo, New York, Mollet is at the Brooks School in North Andover, MA and, as I mentioned, Eunice is at Miss Porter’s School here in Connecticut. They are all staying in the Farmington area during the Christmas break.

Cooking in the African style is not easy.

The dinner was great:

Plantains – the banana
Nyama – the stew
Chapati – like tortilla
Ugali – the white wedge, to scoop the Nyama
Sukuma – the greens

Happy New Year to all!