Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

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Heart Art

Valentine's Day always ends too soon.

The Lizard let me choose whatever I wanted for our Valentine's weekend. If I could have taken more vacation time, I would have picked The Wave. That was my favorite Valentine's Day ever!

Next best thing would be cross-country skiing, and my current favorite locale for that is the Grand Mesa.

We got up at 3:30 a.m. this time and were on the road by 4. Last ski trip, I just couldn't pull myself out of bed when the alarm went off. We way slept in. Until 9 or 10, if I remember correctly. We got in only about two hours of cross-country skiing that first day. (Made up for it the second day with five hours, about 500 photos and five miles!)

This time, we had the whole day! We were beat at the end of yet another five-mile day, and we ended up not skiing after church on Valentine's Day, instead opting to beat the storm home. Nevertheless, we left our mark upon the mountain. Until the next storm...

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Skyway

Cross-country skiing didn't see any time on my calendar last year, but we're making up for it this year!

We kicked off the new year (a week late) with a two-day Nordic swoosh atop the Grand Mesa.






Typically, when I first put on my skis again each year, I have to learn to balance, turn and stop all over again. This year, physical therapy since my last time on skis has made me just a bit stronger! I still had to get that balance thing under control again, and I'm still not too sharp on turns and stops, but I had fewer sound effects this time around snapping into my skis.

Typically, The Lizard has had to help me snap into my skis. Not this year! I did it myself the first time ever! And without falling down, too!


Skyway is wonderfully groomed Nordic track along the western edge of the top of the Grand Mesa. Most of the trails are easy for a beginner/klutz like me. Miles and miles of gentle rises and falls, with four feet of padding when the inevitable spill does occur.






I do still need an extra hand to right myself when I go belly up, but I fell down fewer times this trip.

I had to walk up two steeper hills. The Lizard carried my skis when I had to walk.








The weather was gorgeous. Frigid cold, but gorgeous blue sky, occasional peek-a-boos by the sun, and shimmering snowflakes big enough to admire as I slid along. I didn't take my extension tubes or lights, so I couldn't do extreme macro, but I had fun shooting the big luxurious flakes with my portrait lens and available light on the black fabric of my church dress...




the black fabric of my coat...


the car window...




my skis...


and my ski boots!!!






While The Lizard loaded our skis at the end of the day, I went belly down on the nearly empty parking lot to shoot the last rays of light reflecting off the freshly fallen sparkling snowflakes covering the ground.

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